BDK wrote:

In article ,
says...
- show quoted text -

"Fired my POS $14 portable, and it was blasting in at 5 and 10 MHZ, as
usual at night. In the daytime, I can hear it at 15 and 20 almost all
the time, and often at 10MHZ too. I'm not in a quiet RF zone, so I have
no idea what you're babbling about. . "

Guess it just depends on where each of us lives.

I've lived in CT all my life, and your situation
describes my time signal reception up until about
twenty years ago. Since then, the noise went up
and the time signals faded away. Not for nothing,
I do get them occasionally - 2-3x per week on my
Grundig Buzz Aldrin Edition G6.

wrote:

BDK wrote:

In article ,
says...
- show quoted text -

"Fired my POS $14 portable, and it was blasting in at 5 and 10 MHZ, as
usual at night. In the daytime, I can hear it at 15 and 20 almost all
the time, and often at 10MHZ too. I'm not in a quiet RF zone, so I have
no idea what you're babbling about. . "

Guess it just depends on where each of us lives.

I've lived in CT all my life, and your situation
describes my time signal reception up until about
twenty years ago. Since then, the noise went up
and the time signals faded away. Not for nothing,
I do get them occasionally - 2-3x per week on my
Grundig Buzz Aldrin Edition G6.

Have you used different radios? Alot radios use simple RF stages which
can be damaged by static discharge. The input stage gets knocked out
but the radio still has enough gain to get some reception.

This sort of damage can go unnoitced because it doesn't affect the
internal ferrite antenna and the AM BC band still works fine.

As others have noted, the noise floor is now MUCH higher than it used to
be.

analogdial wrote:
- show quoted text -
"Have you used different radios? Alot radios use simple RF stages which
can be damaged by static discharge. The input stage gets knocked out
but the radio still has enough gain to get some reception.

This sort of damage can go unnoitced because it doesn't affect the
internal ferrite antenna and the AM BC band still works fine.

As others have noted, the noise floor is now MUCH higher than it used to
be. "

At least I know SOMETHING in the SW environment
changed - the noise floor, and for whatever reason,
probably budgetary, they reuduced transmission power
on some of those stations.

wrote:
be. "

At least I know SOMETHING in the SW environment
changed - the noise floor, and for whatever reason,
probably budgetary, they reuduced transmission power
on some of those stations.

Don't know anything about a power change at WWV in the last couple of
decades. I have a 94 WRTH handy and it shows power at 10kW on 5,
10, and 15 MHz or 2.5kW on 2.5 and 20 MHz, same as now.

I've been listenening in the same area for over 40 years, even have the
same radios, and reception is sometimes uncertain but nothing I think
can't be explained by the usual propagation changes and the increased
amount of radio noise.

analogdial wrote: "can be damaged by static discharge. The input stage gets knocked out
but the radio still has enough gain to get some reception. "


Wouldn't it take EMP or outright dropping the
radio on the floor to cause that sort of damage?
Or just years of gentle, normal usage?

analogdial wrote: "can be damaged by static discharge. The input stage gets knocked out
but the radio still has enough gain to get some reception. "

On 6/21/2016 6:56 AM, wrote:

Wouldn't it take EMP or outright dropping the
radio on the floor to cause that sort of damage?
Or just years of gentle, normal usage?


This type of damage occurs on a fairly regular basis -- without anything
as drastic as an EMP. Just walking across a carpet on a dry winter's day
in a home with a low humidity level can create enough static electricity
to damage some radios...no matter how gentle you are. ;-)

Joe from Kokomo wrote:
"This type of damage occurs on a fairly regular basis -- without anything
as drastic as an EMP. Just walking across a carpet on a dry winter's day
in a home with a low humidity level can create enough static electricity
to damage some radios...no matter how gentle you are. ;-) "

So should I just buy a new radio, so I can be assured
I have the latest and best circuitry? The G6 Buzz
Aldrin Ed is about 7-8 years old, but everything
except for the start timer(supposed to turn set on at
user-set time) works on it. AM & FM recept is flawless,
and I get lots of shortwave loud n clear between 2.5 and
30mHz, and occasionally those time signals.


Sony seems to top all the Amazon reviews for compact
units, by external and internal customers. What ever
happened to Sangean?

On Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 12:39:01 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Joe from Kokomo wrote:
"This type of damage occurs on a fairly regular basis -- without anything
as drastic as an EMP. Just walking across a carpet on a dry winter's day
in a home with a low humidity level can create enough static electricity
to damage some radios...no matter how gentle you are. ;-) "

So should I just buy a new radio, so I can be assured
I have the latest and best circuitry? The G6 Buzz
Aldrin Ed is about 7-8 years old, but everything
except for the start timer(supposed to turn set on at
user-set time) works on it. AM & FM recept is flawless,
and I get lots of shortwave loud n clear between 2.5 and
30mHz, and occasionally those time signals.


Sony seems to top all the Amazon reviews for compact
units, by external and internal customers. What ever
happened to Sangean?

No such thing as having too many radios. Go buy that radio.

Joe from Kokomo wrote:
"This type of damage occurs on a fairly regular basis -- without anything
as drastic as an EMP. Just walking across a carpet on a dry winter's day
in a home with a low humidity level can create enough static electricity
to damage some radios...no matter how gentle you are. ;-) "

On 6/21/2016 1:39 PM, wrote:

So should I just buy a new radio, so I can be assured
I have the latest and best circuitry? The G6 Buzz
Aldrin Ed is about 7-8 years old, but everything
except for the start timer(supposed to turn set on at
user-set time) works on it. AM & FM recept is flawless,
and I get lots of shortwave loud n clear between 2.5 and
30mHz, and occasionally those time signals.

So why buy a new radio? Sounds like yours is working just fine.

Sony seems to top all the Amazon reviews for compact
units, by external and internal customers. What ever
happened to Sangean?

No clue what happened to Sangean. Also, price is no indication if you
will have a static problem. The Sony 2010 was a top drawer radio but it
had a MOSFET front end and was thus subject to static damage.

In article ,
says...

analogdial wrote: "can be damaged by static discharge. The input stage gets knocked out
but the radio still has enough gain to get some reception. "


Wouldn't it take EMP or outright dropping the
radio on the floor to cause that sort of damage?
Or just years of gentle, normal usage?

Static common in the winter has been known to blow the input transistor
on a lot of radios. They put diodes across the inputs to protect them,
but they cause problems in some cases with reception, so many times,
they are clipped out of the radio. I've found out they were gone the
hard way, a couple of times.

--
BDK: Head Government Shill, Psychotronic World Dominator. Master of
Remote Viewing. Level 6 expert in kOOkStudies.
Former FEMA camp activities director. Head Strategic Writer. Former
Black Helicopter color consultant.