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dplatt@coop.radagast.org (Dave Platt): Oct 13 11:16AM -0700 >a diode. Guess that was a big selling point for them as to how many >transistors a radio had. Just like the watches of the time had so many >jewels in them.   Yes, it was a competitive advantage for advertising purposes. And, the manufacturers could use "bad" transistors for this - ones which had failed the test for one reason or another, had an open emitter or open collector, etc. They could get these cheaply, or use the bad ones out of a large lot they'd bought in bulk.

jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 13 11:51AM -0700 Another thing about crappy AM is bandwidth. Normally it is narrow and will not reproduce the highs well. I guess they were going for selectivity and lower noise. With FM the frequency response remains but a narrow bandwidth IF will increase distortion. Some high end FM tuners had switchable bandwidth which allowed for the lower distortion (especially in stereo) when set to wide and better selectivity when set to narrow. I remember seeing an AM with that feature but for the life of me can't remember what make or model. I think it had shortwave.   If you want talk radio shortwave is the way to go, especially the forbidden band. I don't know exactly what frequencies are forbidden but all you have to do is look at the in the stores or read the specs, you will find frequency ranges missing. The politically incorrect go there, like American Dissident Voices. Those bands are omitted ostensibly because the programming is US based and intended for non-domestic audiences.   The same FCC are the ones that mandated tuners must have both AM and FM. This is one reason, people with separate tuners want high fidelity and are not concerned with AM.

"pfjw@aol.com" <pfjw@aol.com>: Oct 13 01:59PM -0700 On Friday, October 13, 2017 at 2:51:46 PM UTC-4, jurb...@gmail.com wrote:   I remember seeing an AM with that feature but for the life of me can't remember what make or model. I think it had shortwave.   The Zenith RD7000Y has that feature as well as a BFO.   Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Trevor Wilson <trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au>: Oct 14 08:38AM +1100 On 13/10/2017 10:23 PM, John-Del wrote: >> Trevor Wilson >> www.rageaudio.com.au   > LOL! They must have hated getting phone calls like that. Is there a schematic anywhere on line for that circuit?   **I knew that question was coming. I am pretty certain I still have the original magazine stored away somewhere (well, I know approximately where). One day, I will dig it out, scan it and post. How long does copyright hold sway? 75 years? Could be a problem, though I suspect no one who was every involved in the magazine is on the right side of the dirt anymore.     > Re: GE Super Radios, they're really good, but the one I have is not quite as sensitive as some of the vintage 8 transistor AM battery radios that I have squirreled away. The Emerson 911 I cited is basically an 8 transistor with a push pull output section. For a small radio it has decent tone. It has an RF amplifier and a separate oscillator and mixer. Since most people don't DX AM for music, it's clear and toney enough. They were also made in large enough numbers that they can be had fairly cheaply, but most vintage domestic radios of the time that were an honest 8 transistor design are very sensitive. Pretty much any leather cased Zenith, Motorola, Admiral and RCA radios of the early 60s are excellent performers, and the larger of them have really nice tone.   > BTW, I remember repairing a 60s Japanese transistor radio that had the transistor count proudly printed on the front of the radio (either 6 or 8 - can't remember), but two of the transistors had a leg cut off and used as diodes. Technically they were transistors but sheesh.   **My old man had this really fancy, National Panasonic, three band, two speaker, 12 transistor radio, back when I was a kid. We used it on caravan holidays. When is was about 12, I acquired this really ancient, Australian made 7 transistor radio. I was built on a chassis, that was clearly derived from a portable valve radio by the same manufacturer. The transistors were inserted into grommets, then mounted in the holes that would have been punched for the valve sockets. The thing was amazing. Superior sensitivity than the old man's fancy Jap set and significantly better sound quality (big old 7" X 5" oval speaker). Still have that too.     -- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

Trevor Wilson <trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au>: Oct 14 08:44AM +1100 > radio stations worth listening to. You may have it completely different > in Australia, but where I live, AM is just talk radio (mostly > politics), or religious stuff. For that, who needs quality sound?   **True enough. Most AM is not worth listening to. Back in the early 1970s (don't forget: We did not have FM back then), I used to visit my girlfriend and we would snuggle (well, fuck our brains out, actually) in her parents lounge room, with the light off, listening to 2CH. 2CH was this station that played 'easy listening' music. Nothing too serious, but great to snuggle by. I have my bedside radio (a DAB+ one) tuned to them. DAB+ is, for all intents, on a portable radio, as good as FM.   http://www.2ch.com.au/   Most of the other AM stations are occupied by right wing 'shock-jocks', whose combined IQ doesn't reach room temperature.     > Since wer are talking AM radio. I recall back in the 90s or was it the > early 2000s, they were working on AM Stereo. What ever happened to that? > I have not heard anything about it in years.   **Dunno if anyone bothers anymore. Certainly not here in Oz. DAB+ or internet radio is pretty much dominant. And FM, of course.     > Ok, now i have to ask..... What kind of music do the kangaroos prefer to > listen to in Australia? :)   **I see that Phil has provided you with the correct answer.   > working for a dairy farm, I changed the radio to a rock station and the > cows seemed happier..... (However, the owner of the farm was not real > pleased).   **Oh well.     -- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com>: Oct 13 07:37PM -0400 In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 13 Oct 2017 11:06:09 -0400, Ralph >a diode. Guess that was a big selling point for them as to how many >transistors a radio had. Just like the watches of the time had so many >jewels in them.   A friend and I were talking for the first time about watch jewels just 2 hours ago. Yours is the first reference I've seen to watch jewels in years.   I think they might still be talking about watch jewels if digital hadn't arrived, though there were tuning fork watches. Didn't they have gears?   It seems to me only the balance wheel (is that it?) and two or three gears beyone it turn enough to need jewels. ????

micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com>: Oct 13 07:40PM -0400 In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 13 Oct 2017 11:16:27 -0700, >had failed the test for one reason or another, had an open emitter or >open collector, etc. They could get these cheaply, or use the bad >ones out of a large lot they'd bought in bulk.   I"ve always guess that the cheap digital watches were made the same as the better ones, but it turned out they didn't keep good time, so they sold them cheaply. ???   BTW, both my and my friend's Philips DVDR with HDD have clocks that keep time badly, It starts recording earlier and earlier as months go on, so wwhen I went away for 3 months, I had to record 1 minute after it should have stopped, and I should have made it 2 minutes.

micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com>: Oct 13 07:46PM -0400 In sci.electronics.repair, on Sat, 14 Oct 2017 08:38:43 +1100, Trevor >amazing. Superior sensitivity than the old man's fancy Jap set and >significantly better sound quality (big old 7" X 5" oval speaker). Still >have that too.   Not nearly as difficult, but somewhere I got a console record player from the 30's or 40' and I removed the ~10" woofer and hte small speaker (not sure what it takes to qualify as a tweeter) and mounted them on a board in a corner of the bathroom ceiling. Got great sound, maybe partly becuase of the tile walls. That was 1975. I've moved once and I'm using it in the new place but the TV might have a week audio. Sound is not loud enough. I have to change tvs.   I take showers in another bathroom and never take steamy baths, but still after 42 years the tan burlap that I used as grill cloth has discolored.

dplatt@coop.radagast.org (Dave Platt): Oct 13 05:24PM -0700 In article <1237d9c8-de45-41d1-85fa-5167dee087d7@googlegroups.com>, >like American Dissident Voices. Those bands are omitted ostensibly >because the programming is US based and intended for non-domestic >audiences.   The only "forbidden" frequencies (as far as radio receiption goes) I've ever heard of, are the UHF frequencies used by the older-generation (analog) cellular phone systems. The FCC prohibited (and still prohibits) making general-purpose radio receivers that can tune to them, reportedly due to influence from the cellphone companies who could then claim that these phone systems were "secure".   As far as shortwave goes... I have never heard of the FCC, or anyone in this country somehow "forbidding" radios from receiving any of these frequencies. Just doing a quick look at multi-band receivers on the market today (a quick web search), most of those which offer shortwave at all have continuous coverage from below 2 MHz up to 22 MHz or more (many to 30 MHz which is the nominal end of the "high frequency" radio range and hence where "short wave" is usually considered to end).   Above 30 MHz, long-distance (e.g. international) signal transmission is difficult and unpredictable... it depends a lot on the state of the ionosphere, which depends on the solar cycle and time of day.   >The same FCC are the ones that mandated tuners must have both AM and >FM.   Can you cite the regulation in which they actually mandated this? I've never heard of it.   Ditto for the "forbidden frequencies" - where are the laws or regulations which "forbid" them?

jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 14 08:46AM -0700 >"where are the laws or regulations which "forbid" them? "   Poor choice of words, there probably is no actual law or regulation, but for some reason manufacturers omit those frequencies.   There is something though because years ago the FCC was considering pulling a station's license because their programming "appeared to be intended for domestic audiences". Need I mention that the station was full of dissidents who were very critical of the US government ?

jurb6006@gmail.com: Oct 14 09:03AM -0700 >"Can you cite the regulation in which they actually mandated this? I've never heard of it. "   The both AM and FM thing I remember distinctly due to my exposure to high fidelity. I'm pretty sure it was in the 1970s. A quick Google does not turn up anything on it though, but that is not uncommon. Much of this older stuff was simply never archived. Suffice it to say I didn't make it up. I didn't imagine it.   I wonder if I could at least get the date from archives of High Fidelity magazine, to which I subscribed for a time. They used Hirsch-Houck (sp) labs to test everything and though AM was no big deal they tested it anyway to see if the manufacturer was lying in the manual. Of course the consistently found poor performance, but then they didn't lie about it. The AM section was there, I bet some people never ever used it.   These old laws and regulations can be hard to find. We've heard about the crazy laws like against French kissing in public, that you can only beat your Wife on Sunday and all that, but that info is from specialty sites. To find them on an actual government site can be nerve wracking.

"Ron D." <ron.dozier@gmail.com>: Oct 13 03:03PM -0700 I have a funny feeling somebody used the wrong switch. I believe what you do manually, is what the switch does.   So, replace the switch with one designed to turn on a florescent light.   The desk lamp I have with that starting system is a single tube. Eons ago, the bas got painted and a new switch installed.   See http://www.edisontechcenter.org/Fluorescent.html for operation.   Here's another place to look. http://www.egaynor.com/edwin_gaynor_lampholders/666.htm These use two ballasts for a two bulb system.

Tim R <timothy42b@aol.com>: Oct 13 11:43AM -0700 We've gone a little off topic, but in Germany we paid $9 a gallon for gas - and there wasn't a pothole from one end of the Autobahn to the other.

John-Del <ohger1s@gmail.com>: Oct 13 02:40PM -0700 On Thursday, October 12, 2017 at 8:57:31 AM UTC-4, pf...@aol.com wrote: and that it would not be diverted for other purposes.   > Peter Wieck > Melrose Park, PA     Well there's the rub Peter. No money will ever not be spent elsewhere as "needed". SSI was solvent as originally devised, but once it was determined that SSI was flush with funds, it got redirected. Now it's part of the entitlement vote buying handout system. People who have never contributed to SSI can collect.   Here in CT, the casino money was supposed to be earmarked to just education. With CT's finances a full fledged dumpster fire all money goes into the general fund.

"malua mada!" <fritzo2ster@gmail.com>: Oct 13 01:17PM -0700 > acting weird. Sometimes it wont turn on, (LED is lit). Or it keeps > cycling on and off. Often, I have to plug it into the cig lighter in my > car repeated times to get it to work.   Cig lighter sockets and plugs (and the fuse holders they may contain) may corrode and otherwise "get weak"

"pfjw@aol.com" <pfjw@aol.com>: Oct 13 01:56PM -0700 On Friday, October 13, 2017 at 4:18:01 PM UTC-4, malua mada! wrote:   > Cig lighter sockets and plugs (and the fuse holders they may contain) may corrode and otherwise "get weak"   They are also limited in capacity by design. For full inverter capacity, you need to connect directly to the battery.   Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

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