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Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now
looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
Gregg wrote:
OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote:
Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter... |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
bpnjensen wrote:
On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce Is that the Sangean ATS909? It has a real front end. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On 5/19/2010 3:23 PM, dave wrote:
bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce Is that the Sangean ATS909? It has a real front end. Dave, i believe he has the super 398. I'm not sure what all the mods are from radiolabs. but, Bruce is not the first person to state this. i guess they do something on the front end of this port. if it behaves on the DX-ultra, it's doing great. i have one here in a tight inverted V , and it works super. Drifter... |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 9:06*am, dave wrote:
Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. *Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Well, I'll have to see more, like I said I just started out there and don't even have an hour in yet. But from the little time I clipped on with the GE I didn't noticed any overload, we'll see. I did get a station out of Beckley {sp} Bexley W.Va - I forget what freq. though but I have it wrote down out there. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 10:51*am, Drifter wrote:
On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I'll have to check on the 398 overloading, I know for a fact it would have when I bought it new because it did in here (house) - - but after Radio Labs did their mods I have been able to use it with the sloper with no problem so far. I don't really use the 398 as much as I should, I bet I don't have twenty hours of listening on it. Not that I don't like it, I just have other receivers I use....every receiver has its niche and it just seems the 398's isn't here in the house - but out there in the barn it'd be fine because of the portability. I don't have electric out there but I've thought about it for years and now that I cleaned it up a bit - I may consider that...it would be sweet. As for any leaks - not a one- but the shingles should be redone in the next couple of years. But I definitely won't be in there once the temperature goes up, but for now or while it's cool outside at night - - I like it and I do bring my radios in with me when I'm done.:-) |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 11:58*am, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 19, 7:51*am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft.. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. *They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. *If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. *The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Exactly Bruce. I just don't understand why these companies don't do it right the first time. IMO- both the 398/909 and the DX394 were basically nothing I could use when I bought them new and actually I thought there wouldn't be much of a difference, but what a difference those receivers are now with all the mods. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 3:23*pm, dave wrote:
bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft.. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. *They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. *If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. *The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce Is that the Sangean ATS909? *It has a real front end.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Indeed it is Dave. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 3:38*pm, Drifter wrote:
On 5/19/2010 3:23 PM, dave wrote: bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 3:38*pm, Drifter wrote:
On 5/19/2010 3:23 PM, dave wrote: bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
Be sure to keep a couple of rat traps in your barn/shed.
cuhulin |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 4:40*pm, Gregg wrote:
On May 19, 3:38*pm, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 3:23 PM, dave wrote: bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose.. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce Is that the Sangean ATS909? It has a real front end. Dave, i believe he has the super 398. I'm not sure what all the mods are from radiolabs. but, Bruce is not the first person to state this. i guess they do something on the front end of this port. if it behaves on the DX-ultra, it's doing great. i have one here in a tight inverted V , and it works super. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - That's right Drifter. Here is the site and specs.http://www.radiolabs.com/products/re...s/super909.php Yepp, they gave mine that treatment too. Very nice :-) The sound and sensitivity and selectivity are all significantly improved, has a real RF Gain control and well-chosen narrow/wide filters. Me like! Bruce |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 10:55*pm, wrote:
Be sure to keep a couple of rat traps in your barn/shed. cuhulin Ha! It's cool Cuh, not that there aren't critters around (because there are) but I've never seen a rat in my area before. Lots of coons / bunny wabbits / squirrels / some kittie cats. But I have to say, the barn/shed was built like freeking Noah's Ark, if you can overdo a small area like that....IMO it was overdone and I literally paid for it $$$ - but that's cool. I'll measure it today so you guys have a better idea, it's not a big space, but it was built like a mini barn - but not as big as a barn - follow me? But definitely more than enough room to store my extra kitchen set / ladders/shovels etc. stuff like that. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 11:05*pm, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 19, 4:40*pm, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 3:38*pm, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 3:23 PM, dave wrote: bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce Is that the Sangean ATS909? It has a real front end. Dave, i believe he has the super 398. I'm not sure what all the mods are from radiolabs. but, Bruce is not the first person to state this. i guess they do something on the front end of this port. if it behaves on the DX-ultra, it's doing great. i have one here in a tight inverted V , and it works super. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - That's right Drifter. Here is the site and specs.http://www.radiolabs.com/products/re...s/super909.php Yepp, they gave mine that treatment too. *Very nice :-) *The sound and sensitivity and selectivity are all significantly improved, has a real RF Gain control and well-chosen narrow/wide filters. *Me like! Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - No doubt Bruce. I did my own little mod myself after they returned it. On the tuning knob, I used the cap of some tuner cleaner I had - and it fit "perfectly" over the tuning knob. At least for me, the tuning knob was a little small - not that big a deal - but I wanted something bigger. It ( the cap mod) looks like it was made with it. I used three of those little square shaped sticky things, they're yellow in color, they were made to stick things to whatever....they're like little squares of chewing gum. The mod has never come off on it's own, maybe a year ago I took it off to see how easy it would pull off and I wanted to clean the mod cap because it's white in color. But it definitely makes it easier to spin the dial. :-) |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 11:05*pm, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 19, 4:40*pm, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 3:38*pm, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 3:23 PM, dave wrote: bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce Is that the Sangean ATS909? It has a real front end. Dave, i believe he has the super 398. I'm not sure what all the mods are from radiolabs. but, Bruce is not the first person to state this. i guess they do something on the front end of this port. if it behaves on the DX-ultra, it's doing great. i have one here in a tight inverted V , and it works super. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - That's right Drifter. Here is the site and specs.http://www.radiolabs.com/products/re...s/super909.php Yepp, they gave mine that treatment too. *Very nice :-) *The sound and sensitivity and selectivity are all significantly improved, has a real RF Gain control and well-chosen narrow/wide filters. *Me like! Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Bruce, I forgot to ask you. What do you keep your "tone" on? They have the normal/ talk ( I think)/ and music. Before I sent mine to RL I had to keep it set on talk. But when they sent it back to me - I couldn't believe the difference in the audio. It was so much better, that I keep my setting on "music" for everything and it sounds great. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 19, 11:58*am, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 19, 7:51*am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft.. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. *They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. *If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. *The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Just so you know, RL either includes the mod for the whip or if you asked them to do it they would. I got my 398 basically as soon as they came out. I kind of had mixed feelings on Chris Justice for the drama between him and Grove (I'm sure you read the story), it was pretty hairy on both sides IMO. But when I sent mine to Chris he had just broke away from Grove and I think I was one of the first to get mine modded....I'm not saying literally the first but you know what I mean. But I had asked him about the whip and he wasn't quite sure at the time if I remember right but later he sent me an email explaining to me why the whip sucked and that he would take care of it. After he started modding the 398/909's in earnest I noticed that ( I think) there was no mention of doing anything to the whip itself on their site....I don't know - I could be wrong. {?} But when I got mine back there was a HUGE difference just off the whip itself - in a way it ****ed me off that the radio wasn't like that from go get. But I've never even used the original external antenna jack or the add on antenna socket on the back of the case he added. I've always just used a little length of 12 gauge and rolled it up real tight and placed it over the whip itself with a quarter inch of wire showing and clipped onto that. Have you used the add on antenna socket he put on the back of your radio? Do you like it - good results? |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On 5/19/10 18:35 , Gregg wrote:
Exactly Bruce. I just don't understand why these companies don't do it right the first time. IMO- both the 398/909 and the DX394 were basically nothing I could use when I bought them new and actually I thought there wouldn't be much of a difference, but what a difference those receivers are now with all the mods. Products like these radios are manufactured to a price point. To keep a profit in the line, every shortcut that can be taken, must be. The end product is usually a shade of its potential self. Peter G, here, has often recommended some staightforward upgrades to receivers that include swapping diodes, and making mods to circuitry that cost the end user little, and could well have been done at the beginning, during manufacture. But we don't know what decisions are made by the manufacturer to keep the product at its price point. Or, if compromises are not made, what the actual cost differential may be. Parts sources dry up, some parts are discontinued, and replacements must be found. In a lot of cases, manufacturers take a shortcut such as found in your 398/909, and the dreadful DX394, and avoid more advanced designs or using some types of part in the first place, both to facilitate a long production cycle, and to retain the price point. There was a discussion in this newsgroup about 15 years, ago about a function that was missing from a radio, I don't recall which, but the solution was the addition of a single switch. Which many users had done. After much talk, and many complaints, someone from the manufacturer jumped in and said that they were aware that the solution was simple, but that adding the switch at the manufacturing stage would add another $100 to the price of the radio. And then explained why. So the decision had been made to retain the current product design, and let users make the mod themselves. The hard reality is that if all desigin compromises were eliminated at the manufacturers' end, that 909 would cost about the same as an RX 350. As it is, you can do the mods yourself and save about $900. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 20, 7:19*am, "D. Peter Maus" wrote:
On 5/19/10 18:35 , Gregg wrote: Exactly Bruce. I just don't understand why these companies don't do it right the first time. IMO- both the 398/909 and the DX394 were basically nothing I could use when I bought them new and actually I thought there wouldn't be much of a difference, but what a difference those receivers are now with all the mods. * *Products like these radios are manufactured to a price point. To keep a profit in the line, every shortcut that can be taken, must be. The end product is usually a shade of its potential self. * *Peter G, here, has often recommended some staightforward upgrades to receivers that include swapping diodes, and making mods to circuitry that cost the end user little, and could well have been done at the beginning, during manufacture. But we don't know what decisions are made by the manufacturer to keep the product at its price point. Or, if compromises are not made, what the actual cost differential may be. * *Parts sources dry up, some parts are discontinued, and replacements must be found. In a lot of cases, manufacturers take a shortcut such as found in your 398/909, and the dreadful DX394, and avoid more advanced designs or using some types of part in the first place, both to facilitate a long production cycle, and to retain the price point. * *There was a discussion in this newsgroup about 15 years, ago about a function that was missing from a radio, I don't recall which, but the solution was the addition of a single switch. Which many users had done. *After much talk, and many complaints, someone from the manufacturer jumped in and said that they were aware that the solution was simple, but that adding the switch at the manufacturing stage would add another $100 to the price of the radio. And then explained why. So the decision had been made to retain the current product design, and let users make the mod themselves. * *The hard reality is that if all desigin compromises were eliminated at the manufacturers' end, that 909 would cost about the same as an RX 350. As it is, you can do the mods yourself and save about $900. Thanks for the response Peter. You would think though (at least I do) that they're having these radio done overseas where the pay is miniscule in comparison to the US to begin. I mean, how much money per radio do these guys have to make for it to be feasible to put out on the market? You know what I'm saying? I guess if the 909/398 was all done over here by US workers the price would have been close to a thousand dollars or a little more, no wonder this country has dipped like it has. FWIW the dreadful 394 with the mods out performs the modded 909/398, at least it did at my QTH using the same antenna. That was just a two to three hour test - might be different on a different day who knows - but the modified 394 really does perform well or it'd be in my closet. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On 5/20/10 07:35 , Gregg wrote:
On May 20, 7:19 am, "D. Peter wrote: On 5/19/10 18:35 , Gregg wrote: Exactly Bruce. I just don't understand why these companies don't do it right the first time. IMO- both the 398/909 and the DX394 were basically nothing I could use when I bought them new and actually I thought there wouldn't be much of a difference, but what a difference those receivers are now with all the mods. Products like these radios are manufactured to a price point. To keep a profit in the line, every shortcut that can be taken, must be. The end product is usually a shade of its potential self. Peter G, here, has often recommended some staightforward upgrades to receivers that include swapping diodes, and making mods to circuitry that cost the end user little, and could well have been done at the beginning, during manufacture. But we don't know what decisions are made by the manufacturer to keep the product at its price point. Or, if compromises are not made, what the actual cost differential may be. Parts sources dry up, some parts are discontinued, and replacements must be found. In a lot of cases, manufacturers take a shortcut such as found in your 398/909, and the dreadful DX394, and avoid more advanced designs or using some types of part in the first place, both to facilitate a long production cycle, and to retain the price point. There was a discussion in this newsgroup about 15 years, ago about a function that was missing from a radio, I don't recall which, but the solution was the addition of a single switch. Which many users had done. After much talk, and many complaints, someone from the manufacturer jumped in and said that they were aware that the solution was simple, but that adding the switch at the manufacturing stage would add another $100 to the price of the radio. And then explained why. So the decision had been made to retain the current product design, and let users make the mod themselves. The hard reality is that if all desigin compromises were eliminated at the manufacturers' end, that 909 would cost about the same as an RX 350. As it is, you can do the mods yourself and save about $900. Thanks for the response Peter. You would think though (at least I do) that they're having these radio done overseas where the pay is miniscule in comparison to the US to begin. I mean, how much money per radio do these guys have to make for it to be feasible to put out on the market? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I do. But consider that though labor for manufacture may be lower, the practical issues of manufacturing don't change. Parts must still be sourced. Designs have to be made manufacture-compatible. The way things move down the assembly line do have an impact on how things can be practically built. In the end, the price of labor can be a smaller issue compared to the cost of a more advanced design on the assembly line. Using foreign labor may make a $200 difference in price of a radio. A more advanced design may make a much greater difference. So, regardless of labor costs, compromises are made. During a CES, in the early 90's, I got to meet David Belles, an audio designer of some repute. He had built an amp that was to be manufactured by and sold through Magnum Dynalab. He was an interesting guy, and his amplifier was simply magnificent. It never made it to production. Why? Because, as designed, it simply could not be practically manufactured. Even at the price point, which was quite steep already. So, the engineers at Magnum Dynalab, no slouches in their own right, looked at the Belles design and proposed modifications that would be more manufacture-friendly. Belles insisted that subtleties of performance would be compromised, and resisted. The project was dropped. Many things beyond just labor may affect how a product comes to the assembly line. I guess if the 909/398 was all done over here by US workers the price would have been close to a thousand dollars or a little more, no wonder this country has dipped like it has. FWIW the dreadful 394 with the mods out performs the modded 909/398, at least it did at my QTH using the same antenna. That was just a two to three hour test - might be different on a different day who knows - but the modified 394 really does perform well or it'd be in my closet. I have no doubt. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 20, 12:51*am, Gregg wrote:
On May 19, 11:05*pm, bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 4:40*pm, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 3:38*pm, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 3:23 PM, dave wrote: bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up.. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce Is that the Sangean ATS909? It has a real front end. Dave, i believe he has the super 398. I'm not sure what all the mods are from radiolabs. but, Bruce is not the first person to state this. i guess they do something on the front end of this port. if it behaves on the DX-ultra, it's doing great. i have one here in a tight inverted V , and it works super. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - That's right Drifter. Here is the site and specs.http://www.radiolabs..com/products/r...s/super909.php Yepp, they gave mine that treatment too. *Very nice :-) *The sound and sensitivity and selectivity are all significantly improved, has a real RF Gain control and well-chosen narrow/wide filters. *Me like! Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Bruce, I forgot to ask you. What do you keep your "tone" on? They have the normal/ talk ( I think)/ and music. Before I sent mine to RL I had to keep it set on talk. But when they sent it back to me - I couldn't believe the difference in the audio. It was so much better, that I keep my setting on "music" for everything and it sounds great. Well, we use ours mostly for FM music, so that's what I keep it on usually - but when it goes to SW, I put nit on talk. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 20, 1:18*am, Gregg wrote:
On May 19, 11:58*am, bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51*am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. *They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. *If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. *The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Just so you know, RL either includes the mod for the whip or if you asked them to do it they would. I got my 398 basically as soon as they came out. I kind of had mixed feelings on Chris Justice for the drama between him and Grove (I'm sure you read the story), it was pretty hairy on both sides IMO. But when I sent mine to Chris he had just broke away from Grove and I think I was one of the first to get mine modded....I'm not saying literally the first but you know what I mean. But I had asked him about the whip and he wasn't quite sure at the time if I remember right but later he sent me an email explaining to me why the whip sucked and that he would take care of it. After he started modding the 398/909's in earnest I noticed that ( I think) there was no mention of doing anything to the whip itself on their site....I don't know - I could be wrong. *{?} But when I got mine back there was a HUGE difference just off the whip itself - in a way it ****ed me off that the radio wasn't like that from go get. But I've never even used the original external antenna jack or the add on antenna socket on the back of the case he added. I've always just used a little length of 12 gauge and rolled it up real tight and placed it over the whip itself with a quarter inch of wire showing and clipped onto that. Have you used the add on antenna socket he put on the back of your radio? Do you like it - good results? I have used the new antenna socket on the back with RCA plug hooked up to my PL-259 from the antenna phaser. Works great, as does the standard side plug. For the whip, I would not make a direct metal- metal connection to a wire; just coil up the incoming wire insulated and place it over the whip. Induction does the rest for you, minimizes images and the potential for static damage. Bruce |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
Gregg wrote:
On May 19, 10:55 pm, wrote: Be sure to keep a couple of rat traps in your barn/shed. cuhulin Ha! It's cool Cuh, not that there aren't critters around (because there are) but I've never seen a rat in my area before. Lots of coons / bunny wabbits / squirrels / some kittie cats. But I have to say, the barn/shed was built like freeking Noah's Ark, if you can overdo a small area like that....IMO it was overdone and I literally paid for it $$$ - but that's cool. I'll measure it today so you guys have a better idea, it's not a big space, but it was built like a mini barn - but not as big as a barn - follow me? But definitely more than enough room to store my extra kitchen set / ladders/shovels etc. stuff like that. Nice shed |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 20, 10:05*am, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 20, 1:18*am, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 11:58*am, bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51*am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. *They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. *If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. *The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Just so you know, RL either includes the mod for the whip or if you asked them to do it they would. I got my 398 basically as soon as they came out. I kind of had mixed feelings on Chris Justice for the drama between him and Grove (I'm sure you read the story), it was pretty hairy on both sides IMO. But when I sent mine to Chris he had just broke away from Grove and I think I was one of the first to get mine modded....I'm not saying literally the first but you know what I mean. But I had asked him about the whip and he wasn't quite sure at the time if I remember right but later he sent me an email explaining to me why the whip sucked and that he would take care of it. After he started modding the 398/909's in earnest I noticed that ( I think) there was no mention of doing anything to the whip itself on their site....I don't know - I could be wrong. *{?} But when I got mine back there was a HUGE difference just off the whip itself - in a way it ****ed me off that the radio wasn't like that from go get. But I've never even used the original external antenna jack or the add on antenna socket on the back of the case he added. I've always just used a little length of 12 gauge and rolled it up real tight and placed it over the whip itself with a quarter inch of wire showing and clipped onto that. Have you used the add on antenna socket he put on the back of your radio? Do you like it - good results? I have used the new antenna socket on the back with RCA plug hooked up to my PL-259 from the antenna phaser. *Works great, as does the standard side plug. *For the whip, I would not make a direct metal- metal connection to a wire; just coil up the incoming wire insulated and place it over the whip. *Induction does the rest for you, minimizes images and the potential for static damage. Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Right, that is what I did. There is no actual wire touching the whip itself. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 20, 10:31*am, dave wrote:
Gregg wrote: On May 19, 10:55 pm, wrote: Be sure to keep a couple of rat traps in your barn/shed. cuhulin Ha! It's cool Cuh, not that there aren't critters around (because there are) but I've never seen a rat in my area before. Lots of coons / bunny wabbits / squirrels / some kittie cats. But I have to say, the barn/shed was built like freeking Noah's Ark, if you can overdo a small area like that....IMO it was overdone and I literally paid for it $$$ - but that's cool. I'll measure it today so you guys have a better idea, it's not a big space, but it was built like a mini barn - but not as big as a barn - follow me? But definitely more than enough room to store my extra kitchen set / ladders/shovels etc. stuff like that. Nice shed- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - OK - I went out there in the freeking dark and measured my "shed." I was close in what I was thinking , but off pretty much in the height. The "Heavyweight Champ Of Sheds"heh comes in peaked at "exactly" eleven and a quarter X eleven and a quarter X nineteen and three quarter. The height of nineteen and three quarter though.... that is at the tallest part, the rooftop is like a house, follow me? That is where I measured, but the slant coming down isn't dramatic - it's pretty gradual. I'm 6ft.2" and have no problem at all in there with room or fear of bumping into anything and once I put four more shelves in there with the two already there - - I can move some more fun stuff in there. If only I had electricity in there, I could put in a window (it's windowless) and a little AC unit and a little heater for the winter. It wouldn't take much IMO to cool or heat a little area like that. But I have a spot where I can put things above me, but once I do, I can't see them which kind of sucks, but I just use my little wooden six step ladder to take a peak up there. The walls were made ( I'm not too technical here so I don't know how to phrase it in building lingo) with the outside wall and then the spray foam insulation and then another wall to cover it up, still with me? The floor is just your typical floor, it creaks in a couple spots, I would say the floor is the worst in terms of stability but in my "not really knowing how to build a shed mind" .....it would be the easiest to replace - I hope. But after I measured it I had to walk into the hallowed area...lol...pretty cool to see that wire clipped to the AD dissapear into the shed and there she stood when I opened that heavy ass door start the baptist church choir music my lazy susan with the Vaunted GE P-780 sitting proudly on top of her. Pathetically I felt somewhat aroused snicker so I HAD TO sit in my very comfy rocking chair where I then turned on the GE. I have to say.....HUGE difference with the wire to the AD. Every little turn of the dial produced something I could work with in turning the table to bring in the signal or peaking or nulling with the loop. So I'm very pleased, it's one of those things I always wanted to do but just never got around to doing it. So I have to get another set of fresh D cells for my other 780 because I don't want to miss having one in the house. Now knowing the dimensions and how it was built, does it sound safe enough to keep it out there all the time? Drifter, if you're reading this - let me know your opinion. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 20, 10:01*am, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 20, 12:51*am, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 11:05*pm, bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 4:40*pm, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 3:38*pm, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 3:23 PM, dave wrote: bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51 am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce Is that the Sangean ATS909? It has a real front end. Dave, i believe he has the super 398. I'm not sure what all the mods are from radiolabs. but, Bruce is not the first person to state this. i guess they do something on the front end of this port. if it behaves on the DX-ultra, it's doing great. i have one here in a tight inverted V , and it works super. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - That's right Drifter. Here is the site and specs.http://www.radiolabs.com/products/re...s/super909.php Yepp, they gave mine that treatment too. *Very nice :-) *The sound and sensitivity and selectivity are all significantly improved, has a real RF Gain control and well-chosen narrow/wide filters. *Me like! Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Bruce, I forgot to ask you. What do you keep your "tone" on? They have the normal/ talk ( I think)/ and music. Before I sent mine to RL I had to keep it set on talk. But when they sent it back to me - I couldn't believe the difference in the audio. It was so much better, that I keep my setting on "music" for everything and it sounds great. Well, we use ours mostly for FM music, so that's what I keep it on usually - but when it goes to SW, I put nit on talk.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Yeah, I can picture that, it sounds great on FM and the RDS is pretty cool. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 20, 10:05*am, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 20, 1:18*am, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 11:58*am, bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51*am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. *They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. *If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. *The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Just so you know, RL either includes the mod for the whip or if you asked them to do it they would. I got my 398 basically as soon as they came out. I kind of had mixed feelings on Chris Justice for the drama between him and Grove (I'm sure you read the story), it was pretty hairy on both sides IMO. But when I sent mine to Chris he had just broke away from Grove and I think I was one of the first to get mine modded....I'm not saying literally the first but you know what I mean. But I had asked him about the whip and he wasn't quite sure at the time if I remember right but later he sent me an email explaining to me why the whip sucked and that he would take care of it. After he started modding the 398/909's in earnest I noticed that ( I think) there was no mention of doing anything to the whip itself on their site....I don't know - I could be wrong. *{?} But when I got mine back there was a HUGE difference just off the whip itself - in a way it ****ed me off that the radio wasn't like that from go get. But I've never even used the original external antenna jack or the add on antenna socket on the back of the case he added. I've always just used a little length of 12 gauge and rolled it up real tight and placed it over the whip itself with a quarter inch of wire showing and clipped onto that. Have you used the add on antenna socket he put on the back of your radio? Do you like it - good results? I have used the new antenna socket on the back with RCA plug hooked up to my PL-259 from the antenna phaser. *Works great, as does the standard side plug. *For the whip, I would not make a direct metal- metal connection to a wire; just coil up the incoming wire insulated and place it over the whip. *Induction does the rest for you, minimizes images and the potential for static damage. Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I forget, can those external antennas - especially the RCA plug - you could hook up an external FM antenna just for music, right? DX the FM band. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
Gregg wrote:
On May 20, 10:31 am, wrote: Gregg wrote: On May 19, 10:55 pm, wrote: Be sure to keep a couple of rat traps in your barn/shed. cuhulin Ha! It's cool Cuh, not that there aren't critters around (because there are) but I've never seen a rat in my area before. Lots of coons / bunny wabbits / squirrels / some kittie cats. But I have to say, the barn/shed was built like freeking Noah's Ark, if you can overdo a small area like that....IMO it was overdone and I literally paid for it $$$ - but that's cool. I'll measure it today so you guys have a better idea, it's not a big space, but it was built like a mini barn - but not as big as a barn - follow me? But definitely more than enough room to store my extra kitchen set / ladders/shovels etc. stuff like that. Nice shed- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - OK - I went out there in the freeking dark and measured my "shed." I was close in what I was thinking , but off pretty much in the height. The "Heavyweight Champ Of Sheds"heh comes in peaked at "exactly" eleven and a quarter X eleven and a quarter X nineteen and three quarter. The height of nineteen and three quarter though.... that is at the tallest part, the rooftop is like a house, follow me? That is where I measured, but the slant coming down isn't dramatic - it's pretty gradual. I'm 6ft.2" and have no problem at all in there with room or fear of bumping into anything and once I put four more shelves in there with the two already there - - I can move some more fun stuff in there. If only I had electricity in there, I could put in a window (it's windowless) and a little AC unit and a little heater for the winter. It wouldn't take much IMO to cool or heat a little area like that. But I have a spot where I can put things above me, but once I do, I can't see them which kind of sucks, but I just use my little wooden six step ladder to take a peak up there. The walls were made ( I'm not too technical here so I don't know how to phrase it in building lingo) with the outside wall and then the spray foam insulation and then another wall to cover it up, still with me? The floor is just your typical floor, it creaks in a couple spots, I would say the floor is the worst in terms of stability but in my "not really knowing how to build a shed mind" .....it would be the easiest to replace - I hope. But after I measured it I had to walk into the hallowed area...lol...pretty cool to see that wire clipped to the AD dissapear into the shed and there she stood when I opened that heavy ass door start the baptist church choir music my lazy susan with the Vaunted GE P-780 sitting proudly on top of her. Pathetically I felt somewhat arousedsnicker so I HAD TO sit in my very comfy rocking chair where I then turned on the GE. I have to say.....HUGE difference with the wire to the AD. Every little turn of the dial produced something I could work with in turning the table to bring in the signal or peaking or nulling with the loop. So I'm very pleased, it's one of those things I always wanted to do but just never got around to doing it. So I have to get another set of fresh D cells for my other 780 because I don't want to miss having one in the house. Now knowing the dimensions and how it was built, does it sound safe enough to keep it out there all the time? Drifter, if you're reading this - let me know your opinion. A radio shack? You'll need a fan in the winter to bring the warm air down. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 21, 12:42*am, Gregg wrote:
On May 20, 10:05*am, bpnjensen wrote: On May 20, 1:18*am, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 11:58*am, bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51*am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property.. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. *They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. *If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. *The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Just so you know, RL either includes the mod for the whip or if you asked them to do it they would. I got my 398 basically as soon as they came out. I kind of had mixed feelings on Chris Justice for the drama between him and Grove (I'm sure you read the story), it was pretty hairy on both sides IMO. But when I sent mine to Chris he had just broke away from Grove and I think I was one of the first to get mine modded....I'm not saying literally the first but you know what I mean. But I had asked him about the whip and he wasn't quite sure at the time if I remember right but later he sent me an email explaining to me why the whip sucked and that he would take care of it. After he started modding the 398/909's in earnest I noticed that ( I think) there was no mention of doing anything to the whip itself on their site....I don't know - I could be wrong. *{?} But when I got mine back there was a HUGE difference just off the whip itself - in a way it ****ed me off that the radio wasn't like that from go get. But I've never even used the original external antenna jack or the add on antenna socket on the back of the case he added. I've always just used a little length of 12 gauge and rolled it up real tight and placed it over the whip itself with a quarter inch of wire showing and clipped onto that. Have you used the add on antenna socket he put on the back of your radio? Do you like it - good results? I have used the new antenna socket on the back with RCA plug hooked up to my PL-259 from the antenna phaser. *Works great, as does the standard side plug. *For the whip, I would not make a direct metal- metal connection to a wire; just coil up the incoming wire insulated and place it over the whip. *Induction does the rest for you, minimizes images and the potential for static damage. Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I forget, can those external antennas - especially the RCA plug - you could hook up an external FM antenna just for music, right? DX the FM band.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I think so - I'd have to check. What you'd need to do is put up an external FM-designed antenna as high as possible. I have tried my big outdoor wires on FM and VHF and UHF on one of my portables, and the little whip antennas are usually as good or better for most applications, just because the wavelengths are a better match. In this case, height is more important than excess size. |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 21, 9:19*am, dave wrote:
Gregg wrote: On May 20, 10:31 am, *wrote: Gregg wrote: On May 19, 10:55 pm, wrote: Be sure to keep a couple of rat traps in your barn/shed. cuhulin Ha! It's cool Cuh, not that there aren't critters around (because there are) but I've never seen a rat in my area before. Lots of coons / bunny wabbits / squirrels / some kittie cats. But I have to say, the barn/shed was built like freeking Noah's Ark, if you can overdo a small area like that....IMO it was overdone and I literally paid for it $$$ - but that's cool. I'll measure it today so you guys have a better idea, it's not a big space, but it was built like a mini barn - but not as big as a barn - follow me? But definitely more than enough room to store my extra kitchen set / ladders/shovels etc. stuff like that. Nice shed- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - OK - I went out there in the freeking dark and measured my "shed." I was close in what I was thinking , but off pretty much in the height. The "Heavyweight Champ Of Sheds"heh *comes in peaked at "exactly" eleven and a quarter X eleven and a quarter X nineteen and three quarter. The height of nineteen and three quarter though.... that is at the tallest part, the rooftop is like a house, follow me? That is where I measured, but the slant coming down isn't dramatic - it's pretty gradual. I'm 6ft.2" and have no problem at all in there with room or fear of bumping into anything and once I put four more shelves in there with the two already there - - I can move some more fun stuff in there. If only I had electricity in there, I could put in a window (it's windowless) and a little AC unit and a little heater for the winter. It wouldn't take much IMO to cool or heat a little area like that. But I have a spot where I can put things above me, but once I do, I can't see them which kind of sucks, but I just use my little wooden six step ladder to take a peak up there. The walls were made ( I'm not too technical here so I don't know how to phrase it in building lingo) with the outside wall and then the spray foam insulation and then another wall to cover it up, still with me? The floor is just your typical floor, it creaks in a couple spots, I would say the floor is the worst in terms of stability but in my "not really knowing how to build a shed mind" .....it would be the easiest to replace - I hope. But after I measured it I had to walk into the hallowed area...lol...pretty cool to see that wire clipped to the AD dissapear into the shed and there she stood when I opened that heavy ass door start the baptist church choir music *my lazy susan with the Vaunted GE P-780 sitting proudly on top of her. Pathetically I felt somewhat arousedsnicker *so I HAD TO sit in my very comfy rocking chair where I then turned on the GE. I have to say.....HUGE difference with the wire to the AD. Every little turn of the dial produced something I could work with in turning the table to bring in the signal or peaking or nulling with the loop. So I'm very pleased, it's one of those things I always wanted to do but just never got around to doing it. So I have to get another set of fresh D cells for my other 780 because I don't want to miss having one in the house. Now knowing the dimensions and how it was built, does it sound safe enough to keep it out there all the time? Drifter, if you're reading this - let me know your opinion. A radio shack? *You'll need a fan in the winter to bring the warm air down.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Ha! You think? :-) I guess one Hammarlund HQ in the winter should keep it toasty (if there was electric.) |
Question For The Smarter Than Me Radio People
On May 21, 12:36*pm, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 21, 12:42*am, Gregg wrote: On May 20, 10:05*am, bpnjensen wrote: On May 20, 1:18*am, Gregg wrote: On May 19, 11:58*am, bpnjensen wrote: On May 19, 7:51*am, Drifter wrote: On 5/19/2010 9:06 AM, dave wrote: Gregg wrote: OK. I cleaned out my mini barn on the back part of my property. It now looks like what I wanted when I had it build. I've got two shelves up and I'm going to add six more throughout the area. It is now primed and ready for me to bring some of my equipment out there. I brought out the lasy susan table and my GE P780 and later today I'm going to bring the DX398 out there. I have my Pop Comm / MT mags - my killer rocking chair :-) - I've been having fun. Even though I live in a pretty good area whereas there isn't much RFI to deal with, I did notice a big difference just being roughly 70 ft. away from the house. OK - here is the question. With the GE and even the 398 I suppose. I ran a length of 12 gauge to my AD DX Sloper with a alligator clip and ran it back to the GE. My thinking was that I could couple that to both of my radios that way, which I did with the GE already- along with having my loop out there. Will this work? I noticed a big difference out there, but I was only out there for maybe 45 minutes and it was around 5pm - so I don't know if the radio came alive just because I was away from everything or because I hooked up to the antenna. Any comments would be appreciated. Antenna overload will be your enemy. Figure a way to couple the energy to the receivers without swamping the front-ends. Gregg. I have to go with Dave on this. the 398 has a lose front-end, and almost any bit of wire over 20 ft. will give you trouble. i would say the less hash is your big winner. that sloper is a real keeper, but I would try your set-up on a few desk tops. I believe you will see a bigger difference, from the house out there. it's like going from a random long wire, to a good loop. you really don't receive more, you just "hear" more. a lot of those low signals have always been there, but now they kind of jump out at you. sounds like a cool set up.. is your barn dry? if you keep your receivers there, ya gotta watch the humidity. and don't forget the winter cold, ya don't want to kill a good receiver. have fun. Drifter...- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I have used my DX-398 (Radiolabs mods) with my Alpha Delta DX-ULTRA and a 60-foot wire outside, with lots of MW blowtorches nearby (like 2 - 50 kW stations within 2 miles on salt flats and another 5 miles away or so, plus several others not far), and on SW anyway, it is no worse than any other radio. *They all get some level of images below 3.5 MHz, bit nothing serious above. *If I got even ten miles away from this crummy place, most of that would cease too. The 398, for real signals, leaps ahead dramatically with an external wire or active antenna. *The built-in whip is too weak - because, as I understand it, Sangean places a resistor either in series with the darn thing, or across to the ground, either of which is a dumb idea and both of which are bypassed by the external antenna socket(s) :-/ Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Just so you know, RL either includes the mod for the whip or if you asked them to do it they would. I got my 398 basically as soon as they came out. I kind of had mixed feelings on Chris Justice for the drama between him and Grove (I'm sure you read the story), it was pretty hairy on both sides IMO. But when I sent mine to Chris he had just broke away from Grove and I think I was one of the first to get mine modded....I'm not saying literally the first but you know what I mean. But I had asked him about the whip and he wasn't quite sure at the time if I remember right but later he sent me an email explaining to me why the whip sucked and that he would take care of it. After he started modding the 398/909's in earnest I noticed that ( I think) there was no mention of doing anything to the whip itself on their site....I don't know - I could be wrong. *{?} But when I got mine back there was a HUGE difference just off the whip itself - in a way it ****ed me off that the radio wasn't like that from go get. But I've never even used the original external antenna jack or the add on antenna socket on the back of the case he added. I've always just used a little length of 12 gauge and rolled it up real tight and placed it over the whip itself with a quarter inch of wire showing and clipped onto that. Have you used the add on antenna socket he put on the back of your radio? Do you like it - good results? I have used the new antenna socket on the back with RCA plug hooked up to my PL-259 from the antenna phaser. *Works great, as does the standard side plug. *For the whip, I would not make a direct metal- metal connection to a wire; just coil up the incoming wire insulated and place it over the whip. *Induction does the rest for you, minimizes images and the potential for static damage. Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I forget, can those external antennas - especially the RCA plug - you could hook up an external FM antenna just for music, right? DX the FM band.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I think so - I'd have to check. *What you'd need to do is put up an external FM-designed antenna as high as possible. *I have tried my big outdoor wires on FM and VHF and UHF on one of my portables, and the little whip antennas are usually as good or better for most applications, just because the wavelengths are a better match. *In this case, height is more important than excess size.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Yeah, an old acquaintance of mine turned me on to a FM Antenna - still have it with the Yagi and big ass Channel Master and a few others. One day. :-) |
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