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Re: Ferrite Sleeve Loop (FSL) Antenna Demonstration Video
Peter Laws
On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 10:44, <D1028Gary@...> wrote:
The video shows the back yard testing site (90' x 70') for multiple Buy it at the auction and knock it down - instant larger antenna test range!! :-) Thanks to both of you for posting it. -- Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!
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Re: Ferrite Sleeve Loop (FSL) Antenna Demonstration Video
Hi Guy,
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Thanks very much for stopping by last night, and for taking the 8" FSL demonstration video. Hopefully the viewers can concentrate on the performance of the antenna, and not on the somewhat eccentric narrator :-) The video shows the back yard testing site (90' x 70') for multiple Ultralight radio loops, both air core and ferrite. Although a site of beauty to me, this nearby antenna range was apparently enough to motivate my sole neighbor to let his house go into foreclosure. 73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
-----Original Message-----
From: Guy Atkins <dx@...> To: ultralightdx <ultralightdx@...>; Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America <irca@...> Sent: Mon, Jul 11, 2011 8:30 am Subject: [ultralightdx] Ferrite Sleeve Loop (FSL) Antenna Demonstration Video Yesterday I had the chance to visit fellow Puyallup resident and DXing pal Gary DeBock and experience his Ferrite Sleeve Loop antennas on medium wave and longwave. The results were very impressive. On a whim I decided to pull out my mobile phone and take a video of the antenna's performance on distant 610 kHz KONA from Pasco, Washington, about 150 miles away. With the small Tecsun PL-380 some distance from the FSL, only background noise was heard. As the receiver approached the antenna, KONA came up from the noise and became clearly audible. In fact, an unidentified co-channel station was also heard in the background on 610. A smaller FSL antenna that Gary built for longwave was even more impressive. NDB beacons totally inaudible on the PL-380 blasted in at very strong levels when the receiver approached the FSL antenna. Here's the link to the Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WUUlMgK0qI Thanks for showing me your FSL antenna projects, Gary, and good luck with the DU reception from the Oregon coast this week! 73, Guy Atkins Puyallup, WA
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Re: Ferrite Sleeve Loop (FSL) Antenna Demonstration Video
Peter Laws
On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 10:30, Guy Atkins <dx@...> wrote:
Thanks for "filming" the demo! I'd love to have one of these FSL rigs but don't have the time/talent/inclination to build one. I do have a credit card, though. Does anyone know if there are plans to commercially produce these? -- Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!
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Ferrite Sleeve Loop (FSL) Antenna Demonstration Video
Yesterday I had the chance to visit fellow Puyallup resident and DXing pal Gary DeBock and experience his Ferrite Sleeve Loop antennas on medium wave and longwave.
The results were very impressive. On a whim I decided to pull out my mobile phone and take a video of the antenna's performance on distant 610 kHz KONA from Pasco, Washington, about 150 miles away. With the small Tecsun PL-380 some distance from the FSL, only background noise was heard. As the receiver approached the antenna, KONA came up from the noise and became clearly audible. In fact, an unidentified co-channel station was also heard in the background on 610.
A smaller FSL antenna that Gary built for longwave was even more impressive. NDB beacons totally inaudible on the PL-380 blasted in at very strong levels when the receiver approached the FSL antenna.
Here's the link to the Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WUUlMgK0qI
Thanks for showing me your FSL antenna projects, Gary, and good luck with the DU reception from the Oregon coast this week!
73,
Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA
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LW ULR / Roberts R9924 review
mischabronstring
Hi,
(I posted this LW/Roberts R9924 review also on Herculodge last week) Lately, I have become more interested in longwave listening. Living in the western part of The Netherlands, this is quite interesting, since there are a number of good stations to catch and to really listen to (BBC Radio 4 and RTE1 from Ireland in particular). A good longwave radio has, in my experience, always been hard to find. Starting my radio hobby two years ago, I bought a Sangean ATS-909, which covers LW as well. However, the reception turned out to be rather 'hissy', most probably caused by the circuitry itself. After the Sangean, I really got bitten by the radio bug, and started buying some DSP-ultralights (Grundig G8 and Tecsun PL-310), all of which were, quite frankly, a joke on LW. Then I bought me a Sony SW11, which surprised me a lot with its relatively good LW performance. Much more hiss-free than the ATS-909. A number of models followed, which had quite reasonable LW-reception. It turned out that the analog models proved to be better than the digital ones. For example, the LW-performance of the Tecsun PL-210 is not bad, but doesn't offer the sensitivity and clear sound of the Sony. I also have an analog Grundig WR5410, which has good LW reception, and lately I have fallen more and more 'in love' (is that possible, with a radio?) with my very small Roberts R9924. The radio is quite small, and stands vertically oriented. The FM-section is surprisingly sensitive and selective. A few always-hard-to-gets come in quite well in my location. MW is nothing to write home about, that is by far the weakest section of this little radio. For example, almost all my radios get good reception of BBC5 on 693Khz, while this radio gets it rather weak, and on top of that suffers from interference of Radio Maria on 675Khz. What is very special about this radio, besides its full sound for its size, the excellent battery life, and being virtually drift-free, is its performance on longwave. A few days ago, around sunset, I managed to receive 14 stations: Deutschlandfunk on 153Khz, France Inter on 162Khz, Deutschlandradio Kultur on 177Khz, Europe1 on 183Khz, BBC Radio 4 on 198Khz, Deutschlandfunk again on 207Khz, Radio Monte Carlo on 216Khz, Polskie Radio 1 on 225Khz, RTL on 234Khz, Kalundborg on 243Khz, RTE1 Ireland and Chaine1 Algeria, both on 252Khz, CRO1 (Czech Republic) on 270Khz and (most probably) Radio Belarus on 279Khz. During daytime, 153, 162, 198, 216, 234 and RTE1 on 252 always come in, with 162, 198 and 234 on 'local' quality, and 252 also quite good. I would say, not bad at all for a radio only 2.75" wide... I'm still looking for the 'holy grail' on longwave. Currently I'm looking into the far bigger Roberts R9927, also an analog model. However, nobody in the Roberts company can tell me what size the ferrite loopstick is:(. Perhaps I'll just take the plunge and see whether it's an improvement over the R9974. Still on my wishlist is Iceland on 189Khz, which I have never been able to pull in yet. Regards, Mischa
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Sony SRF-S86 Alignment and tweaks in Tokyo
Joseph Fan
Hi all,
Anyways, I would like to find an experienced tech in Tokyo that could do the AM and FM alignment and a couple of simple "audiophile" tweaks to a Sony SRF-S86. I just picked up the SRF-S86 in Tokyo after a fairly long search - there aren't a lot of AM/FM tuners being sold here at any size. I wanted the SRF-59 to facilitate tweaking but I couldn't find one. I think this was the best choice of what I could find in a physical store. Interestingly this unit goes from 76-108 mhz. The tweaks are quite simple but I don't have any tools; I also appreciate the complexity of a good alignment. Xin noted apparently some were from the original design but downgraded to save money. As noted per Xin I think these should generally be applicable: http://www.fixup.net/tips/srfs83/srfs83.htm http://www.fixup.net/talk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18 I have seen that Sony made the AM alignment less friendly in some of the later s84s but I am not sure if that is applicable to the s86. Any recommendations welcomed!
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Re: PL-390 FM DX
liceskates <liceskates@...>
I re-read the manual and I think I may have that wrong. It seems that one must press VM on both the PL-390 and PL-660 and in both cases its near the Light/Snooze button; however, it may be that once you have pushed the VM key that you can just leave it in memory mode and don't need to press VM again so its just a one time operation rather than needing to push it each time you go to a preset. This isn't completely clear from the manual.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
--- In ultralightdx@..., "liceskates" <liceskates@...> wrote:
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Re: PL-390 FM DX
liceskates <liceskates@...>
--- In ultralightdx@..., "mikl1962" <mikl1962@...> wrote:
Thanks for the manual. It appears from the PL-390 manual that it does allow turning off of the backlight; however, going to a preset seems more complex on the PL-390. To go to preset 3, say, - on the PL-390 one presses VM + 3 + Enter whereas - on the PL-660 one just presses 3 + Enter, i.e. one fewer keystroke Also the VM button on the PL-390 is not far from the Light/Snooze button so if one were operating it in the dark and did not want the light to come on, one might inadvertently turn on the light anyways by pushing the wrong key. Based on this, the PL-660 seems easier to use. (I think they could make have made the PL-660 even easier to use if it were not necessary to press the Enter key. For example, if the last digit were held down or double pressed quickly then that could be the same as pressing that key plus Enter. For example, some universal remotes allow each key to have three functions by distinguishing between an ordinary key press, a long key press and a fast double key press.)
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
jerry_popiel
Great 95 % Reception Improvement with Ground Connection on MFJ 16010:
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Thanks very much Zim, late last night I unscrewed the side screw & sanded off the black paint a bit and attached a #14 solid wire connected to my cold water meter and Power Ground Clamp - connected it to the side of the MFJ 16010 Antenna Tuner and boy what a difference! I also connected the Antenna Tuner to the Antenna Jack on the Grundig G3 Radio, which also may have helped. Pulled in Stations at 2200 and 2500 Hz that I never had before, is this the Tropical Band? and many other stations. Also the Antenna Tuner is now working well. Thanks to Graeme Zimmer, Michael and many others for their great TIPS. I wiil also look into the Traps issue as suggested by Michael. Thanks guys, the wonderful advice here sure has helped me, this is a great helpful web group!!
--- In ultralightdx@..., Graeme Zimmer <gzimmer@...> wrote:
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
Phil Pasteur
Jerry,
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You may want to try a pre-selector rather than an antenna tuner. Years ago when I got my first Sony 2010 I put up a 90 foot trapped sloper hoping to make things much better. Unfortunately I found that the two 10KW AM stations within a mile or two from my house showed up in images all over the shortwave bands. I got a MFJ 956 pre-selector. It knocked out 95% of the images but let me tune it to the BCB when doing MW DX. Pre-selectors work best at their characteritic impedance, so I had a balun at the antenna, coax to the 956 and coax to a mini plug going into the external antenna input on the 2010. At least this keeps things close. This does require more fiddling with knobs everytime you change frequencies, but I found it to be quite worth it. There are much better pre-selectors around than the 956, and even mod instructions for it to make it much better. http://www.bobsamerica.com/mfj-956.html This is what I am using now. If you browse his site, there is a wealth of information about pre-selectors. http://www.bobsamerica.com/preselect-basics.html I use this device for all of the radios in my shack now, it sits in front of my antenna switch. It makes things much better even for radios like my R8B, Modded R-75 and NRD 545, all with stouter front ends than most portables. If you try the pre-selector route, let us know how it goes. Phil
--- In ultralightdx@..., "Michael" <michael.setaazul@...> wrote:
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Re: PL-390 FM DX
Mike Lukinov
Manual just uploaded in Files
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--- In ultralightdx@..., "liceskates" <liceskates@...> wrote:
I haven't been able to find a manual online for the PL-390.
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
kevin asato <kc6pob@...>
--- On Sun, 7/10/11, jerry_popiel wrote:
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Re: PL-390 FM DX
liceskates <liceskates@...>
Phil and others, You mention on your site that your picks are the Sony SW7600GR for SSB radios and PL-380 or PL-390 for Silicon Labs DSP-based radios. I was thinking of a PL-660 but your write-up made me think that perhaps I should consider a PL-390 too.
One thing that is very important to me is that I be able to operate the radio without any lights coming on. This is a hard requirement for me. I would not even consider a radio for which I can't turn off and keep off the lights. The PL-660 allows you to turn off the back light (by pressing and holding 5 while the radio is off until it says OFF on the screen) and it will stay off unless you specifically turn it on -- i.e. simply tuning the radio or performing other operations won't automatically make the light come back on as far as I can tell from the manual. Also as far as I can tell there are no other lights on the radio or on the AC adapter so if you can force the backlight to stay off then no light at all will come from the radio. 1. Because of the way the light operates I was thinking of a PL-660 but wonder if the PL-390 would do too? I haven't been able to find a manual online for the PL-390. Do the PL-390 lights work that way too? Are there also no other lights aside from the backlight? 2. Also how important is having SSB? 3. Does the PL-390 with its two speakers sound significantly better than the PL-660 which only has one? 4. How do I choose between the PL-390 vs. PL-660? I would mostly use it for a few FM stations but might try the SW -- I have never owned a SW radio before so I don't really know. Might use AM a bit but not much. Thanks.
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
Michael <michael.setaazul@...>
Yes, the qsl jpg below from Graeme is the correct
one,
such as I had in mind. I´m not sure what
effect the low-Z
ouput from the long-wire balun might
have on its tuning sharpness,
however. Fig 2A would probably work best. The L/C would
be tuned
to the unwanted frequency to suppress it. Add a
few turns on top
of the tuned L, one end to earth, the other to the 50ohm cable
centre
conductor from the
balun. If overload is still evident, reduce the number
of turns to one or two. I would also
recommend two reverse-connected diodes
across the tuned circuit to absorb any surge from distant lightening strikes
that gets past the low-Z winding. I would
also suggest protecting the input
and output connections to the balun with self-amalgamating tape or at least
vaseline or grease. This would protect them from
corrosion, which could in time
produce a primitive rectifier between
unlike metals at the connection point.
This can generate spurious mixing products and
inter-modulation - which
we definitely don´t want!
Experiment ! If success is not impressive
enough, you might wish
to consider a loop, which could be above the roof
and remote-tuned
from inside, or a ferrite or FSL.
Keep us posted on your progress!
Michael UK
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
Graeme Zimmer <gzimmer@...>
see www.dxing.com/tnotes/tnote06.pdfJust a note: The circuit shown in fig 2B is incorrect. I think he meant the parallel circuit to be in series with the antenna lead, not in shunt configuration as shown. Like this http://www.qsl.net/vk3gjz//Misc/zim01.JPG ..........Zim
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The Sony T-615 Pulls in Another New Station Here
Kirk
Good Day Everyone,
The trusty T-615 shined here this morning with another new station logging. What makes this one so special to me is that the little rig was able to null our semi-lcl 50,000 watt powerhouse KOKC, Okla City! This is only the 2nd station I've ever been able to log on 1520. 1520, KRHW, Sikeston, MO, 0930 UTC, 7/10/11, hrd in a semi-null of KOKC w/ C&W mx. A clear ID noted right at the BOH. Vy happy with this one! ULR Sta #767- That's all from here. Today begins another HOT work week for me. Have a good one and best of 73 to everyone from northern Oklahoma. Kirk Allen Ponca City, OK
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
Jay <jaypolicow@...>
The G3 is not well suited to an external antenna...my Wellbrook ALA330S overloads it badly even in teh daytime. My PL-660 handles it much better.
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Jay http://radiojayallen.com
--- In ultralightdx@..., Jerry Popiel <jerry_popiel@...> wrote:
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
Graeme Zimmer <gzimmer@...>
What type of trap circuit do you mean? II imagine that Michael is referring to a simple parallel tuned circuit which is inserted in the antenna lead. see www.dxing.com/tnotes/tnote06.pdf if you google on "Wave Trap" you'll find lots of reading! later ...... Zim
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
jerry_popiel
Thanks for the reply Michael. What type of trap circuit do you mean? I do have a MFJ Antenna Tuner in series with the 80 Ft Balun Antenna and Zim just pointed out it needs to be grounded which it wasn't. Is that the type of Trap Circuit you mean or where can I get info on a Trap cct?
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--- In ultralightdx@..., "Michael" <michael.setaazul@...> wrote:
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Re: Reception on Grundig G3 NOT Amazingly Improved with new 80 Ft Longwire Antenna
Graeme Zimmer <gzimmer@...>
Hi Jerry,
Yes, judging by the pix at http://www.mods.dk/picture.php?brandid=15&model=mfj-16010 the MFJ-16010 has coax connectors for both in and out. The earth wire should connect to the case. You could put the wire under a screw, or use one of those dual binding posts, plus a PL259 to BNC adaptor... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Binding_post_adapter.JPG and http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PA3652 But then I'm sure you can figure it out regards ............ Zim
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