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Post by BBB on Jun 12, 2014 19:30:34 GMT -5
Thanks for posting the gate. Seems to be a glitch during a long QSO right around 30.50 boom boom...out go the lights.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 12, 2014 20:50:14 GMT -5
Thanks for posting the gate. Seems to be a glitch during a long QSO right around 30.50 boom boom...out go the lights. Looks like he ended the gate right before I got in there from the mobile. Darn! I was hoping to hear how that sounded from way out there. But the way the skip was tearing everyone up, I probably would've been disappointed anyway.
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Post by BBB on Jun 19, 2014 16:02:21 GMT -5
I ran a Royce 1-650 Module Transceiver for CRR 6/19. It's a basic three knob 23 channel crystal radio with some decent audio. I picked this up at yard sale for $5 with a RS mag Mount antenna stuck to the top of it. There is a main board with minimal components and the other "module" boards are soldered perpendicular onto the main board like a computer. I like the larger black meter. This time the skip wasn't too bad and we were able to here one of the locals that moved to FL come thru for a few minutes.
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 19, 2014 19:41:52 GMT -5
I ran a Royce 1-650 Module Transceiver for CRR 6/19. It's a basic three knob 23 channel crystal radio with some decent audio. I picked this up at yard sale for $5 with a RS mag Mount antenna stuck to the top of it. There is a main board with minimal components and the other "module" boards are soldered perpendicular onto the main board like a computer. I like the larger black meter. This time the skip wasn't too bad and we were able to here one of the locals that moved to FL come thru for a few minutes. I saw one of those Royce radios brand new in the box on Ebay. I had to talk myself out of pouncing on it since I already have too many radios. I have not heard PA skip in to South Carolina much yet, but the sporadic E skip is picking up. UPDATE: I listened to Sandbagger and Spitfire's live feed (6/19/2014 around 8:30 p.m.), I could not hear much skip on them, but when I went out to my car in South Carolina there was alot of skip coming in from Florida. No skip from up North though. Night Ranger
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Post by BBB on Jun 21, 2014 8:28:52 GMT -5
I too have seen these on the bay, but wouldn't pay more than $5-10 bucks.
Tis the season of yard sales and if you stop at one don't forget to ask if the have any CB's or ham gear.
Case in point, just yesterday I stopped at one and the lady brought out a Cobra 29 LTD Classic (1996) with a Turner RK 56 mic, a couple of radar detectors and external speaker for $10. Turns out her husband was a truck driver and the Cobra 29 had a Connex echo board in it! Of course the diode and cap were removed but that's an easy fix. That thing is loud! I was quite surprised to have some of the locals get back to me when I was about 10 miles from them on the way home.
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Post by BBB on Jul 4, 2014 12:03:05 GMT -5
July 2nd, I ran my big 'ol Johnson Messenger 223 tube radio with matching desk mic. The Johnson desk mic looks just like a non-powered Turner +2 SSB desk mic. The rig is pretty basic with just three knobs and a nice big meter. It worked so well I kept it going for the whole show Some skip rolled and we got a DX check in from our CH 13 friend Murphy in St Louis. As usual, quite a few locals were in there and all sounded good!
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Post by spitfire441 on Jul 6, 2014 6:55:07 GMT -5
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Post by BBB on Jul 6, 2014 8:42:07 GMT -5
Thanks for the gate! That week 6/20 I was running a Midland 13-898B base station. Sort of looks like a 1970's stereo with real wood end caps on the brushed aluminum faceplate Love the sound of that Utopia that Sandbagger was on Been keeping my eye to the curb for one of those fine rigs.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jul 7, 2014 6:15:01 GMT -5
Thanks for the gate! That week 6/20 I was running a Midland 13-898B base station. Sort of looks like a 1970's stereo with real wood end caps on the brushed aluminum faceplate Love the sound of that Utopia that Sandbagger was on Been keeping my eye to the curb for one of those fine rigs. I was surprised at how low in audio frequency the Utopia would go in its stock configuration. That probably explains why it always sounds so warm.
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Post by spitfire441 on Oct 23, 2014 6:28:05 GMT -5
Back from recording vacation. This week was a skip filled Classic Radio Round Up. Using my B&K Cobra 98. SFI well over 200. The skip was rolling long after dark.
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Post by BBB on Oct 23, 2014 9:13:12 GMT -5
Thanks for the gate County Wide I ran a Montgomery Ward 702 40 channel base station for the bulk of the show, then switched to HiFi mode with the help of Mr Yaesu towards the end of it. The skip was crystal clear at times. There were as many DX check-ins as there were locals.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 23, 2014 13:17:29 GMT -5
Thanks for the gate County Wide I ran a Montgomery Ward 702 40 channel base station for the bulk of the show, then switched to HiFi mode with the help of Mr Yaesu towards the end of it. The skip was crystal clear at times. There were as many DX check-ins as there were locals. Every time I look at that radio, it reminds me of my Panasonic 8-Track recorder/player. The space where your clock is, even looks like you could shove an 8-track tape in there.......
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Post by BBB on Oct 24, 2014 19:08:05 GMT -5
Is this the rare Wards Airline FM-AM-FM 8 Track Record 702 CB Base station you were dreaming of ?
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 24, 2014 20:48:18 GMT -5
Is this the rare Wards Airline FM-AM-FM 8 Track Record 702 CB Base station you were dreaming of ? That's the one!
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Post by Night Ranger on Oct 25, 2014 11:30:16 GMT -5
Is this the rare Wards Airline FM-AM-FM 8 Track Record 702 CB Base station you were dreaming of ? That's the one! Not quite. I want the Quadraphonic version. : ) Night Ranger
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Post by spitfire441 on Oct 30, 2014 6:15:31 GMT -5
More Classic Radio Round Up. Featuring my Multi Elmac AF-67 and Hallicrafters R-274D with a special visit from KOMX Kosmic Radio. 441
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Post by BBB on Oct 30, 2014 9:50:45 GMT -5
Darn, I missed CRR. I was at the Fleetwood Mac concert in Philly and didn't get back until 12 AM, then spoke to local operator Tickle for a while. Christine McVie is 71 and they still sounded great.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 30, 2014 13:29:58 GMT -5
Darn, I missed CRR. I was at the Fleetwood Mac concert in Philly and didn't get back until 12 AM, then spoke to local operator Tickle for a while. Christine McVie is 71 and they still sounded great. We did miss you but you only get a few chances to enjoy something like the geriatric tours of old 70's rock bands.
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Post by BBB on Nov 1, 2014 9:33:58 GMT -5
I figured since I missed the bands 30 years ago I'd give them a shot if they have the means to make it up on stage without a stair lift.
Up coming Philly geriatric concert series events include, Bob Dylan (old as dirt tour), Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders face lift procurement tour), Cher (Wig awareness tour series), Slayer (big hair no longer tour), Pat Benitar (rocking little gray beyotch tour), Goverment Mule (remaining Grateful Dead heads rave), Billy Idol (dances with walker series), Neil Diamond (still sitting tour) and the Who (who knows if they'll finish)
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Post by ab5ni on Nov 1, 2014 11:03:56 GMT -5
I figured since I missed the bands 30 years ago I'd give them a shot if they have the means to make it up on stage without a stair lift. Up coming Philly geriatric concert series events include, Bob Dylan (old as dirt tour), Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders face lift procurement tour), Cher (Wig awareness tour series), Slayer (big hair no longer tour), Pat Benitar (rocking little gray beyotch tour), Goverment Mule (remaining Grateful Dead heads rave), Billy Idol (dances with walker series), Neil Diamond (still sitting tour) and the Who (who knows if they'll finish) Man, that's one thing I really, really miss about living in Houston. Every weekend, somebody in some well-known band was playing, and when the Rodeo was in town, which lasted an entire month, everybody was in town and playing . What I don't miss about Houston is the constant background "hum" of cars (noise pollution that keeps the mind constantly active and amped up); air pollution (the air quality was horrendous and detrimental to health); 2nd worst traffic in the USA, and the crime rate really sucked. The great things were the music and art scenes, awesome museums, awesome sports entertainment, and the cost of living was pretty cheap, especially when compared to other big towns. "Those were the days, my friend, we'd thought they'd never end..." That should be the theme song of CRR . 73, Randy AB5NI
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Post by ab5ni on Nov 1, 2014 11:11:19 GMT -5
Darn, I missed CRR. I was at the Fleetwood Mac concert in Philly and didn't get back until 12 AM, then spoke to local operator Tickle for a while. Christine McVie is 71 and they still sounded great. We did miss you but you only get a few chances to enjoy something like the geriatric tours of old 70's rock bands. The first time you realize you're and old fart is when the geriatric tours are filmed and shown on PBS . If I still lived in Houston, I'd be at most of them, too . 73, Randy AB5NI
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Post by ab5ni on Nov 3, 2014 3:46:13 GMT -5
More Classic Radio Round Up. Featuring my Multi Elmac AF-67 and Hallicrafters R-274D with a special visit from KOMX Kosmic Radio. 441 What I really want to know is this: WHY do some of you guys insist on turning your mic gain up way, way too high? It's too damn high -- period -- so I don't want here this "AM audio quality punch" stuff. Another thing that gets me is that you guys refuse to tell the other operators they're too damn loud and need to turn down their mic gain. I know u guys are friends and don't want to stomp on feelings and all, but somebody has to tell you your mics are turned up too high, so I'll do it and suffer the hate mail . 73, Rand AB5NI
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Nov 3, 2014 7:26:12 GMT -5
More Classic Radio Round Up. Featuring my Multi Elmac AF-67 and Hallicrafters R-274D with a special visit from KOMX Kosmic Radio. 441 What I really want to know is this: WHY do some of you guys insist on turning your mic gain up way, way too high? It's too damn high -- period -- so I don't want here this "AM audio quality punch" stuff. Another thing that gets me is that you guys refuse to tell the other operators they're too damn loud and need to turn down their mic gain. I know u guys are friends and don't want to stomp on feelings and all, but somebody has to tell you your mics are turned up too high, so I'll do it and suffer the hate mail . As long as the audio is clean and not overmodulated, I'm not critical of "loudness". And being continually critical of other operators only leads to conflicts.
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Post by spitfire441 on Nov 3, 2014 7:30:33 GMT -5
More Classic Radio Round Up. Featuring my Multi Elmac AF-67 and Hallicrafters R-274D with a special visit from KOMX Kosmic Radio. 441 What I really want to know is this: WHY do some of you guys insist on turning your mic gain up way, way too high? It's too damn high -- period -- so I don't want here this "AM audio quality punch" stuff. Another thing that gets me is that you guys refuse to tell the other operators they're too damn loud and need to turn down their mic gain. I know u guys are friends and don't want to stomp on feelings and all, but somebody has to tell you your mics are turned up too high, so I'll do it and suffer the hate mail . 73, Rand AB5NI Tongue firmly in cheek>>>>>That's why the radio is equipped with a volume knob.
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Post by cbrown on Nov 3, 2014 9:40:52 GMT -5
As long as the audio is clean and not overmodulated, I'm not critical of "loudness". And being continually critical of other operators only leads to conflicts. I agree with this 100%. It's a hobby, try and enjoy it more.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Nov 3, 2014 10:12:10 GMT -5
As long as the audio is clean and not overmodulated, I'm not critical of "loudness". And being continually critical of other operators only leads to conflicts. I agree with this 100%. It's a hobby, try and enjoy it more. On further reflection, this is "Classic Radio Roundup", not "Classic, try to sound like a ham radio roundup". We take vintage CB radios, pair them with equivalent period microphones, and run them as we did back in the day. Microphones like the D-104 do not have a flat response, and typically pooch at about 2 Khz. This gives the radio a bit of a "bright" sound, which helps to punch through noise and other interference. I would rather this than a flat and weak sounding stock mic for signals under S9 when the noise is running. As long as the audio is not distorted or overmodulated (and most of our radios have the modulation limiters intact), then it should not be a problem. Once in a while I'll pop on my hi-fi modified Galaxy, mainly when Pete is running his Hallicrafters receiver, because that receiver reproduces the hifi sound so well, it just sounds nice to hear. But that is cheating when it comes to CRR. 1960's and 70's radios didn't sound like that.
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Post by ab5ni on Nov 3, 2014 10:39:19 GMT -5
What I really want to know is this: WHY do some of you guys insist on turning your mic gain up way, way too high? It's too damn high -- period -- so I don't want here this "AM audio quality punch" stuff. Another thing that gets me is that you guys refuse to tell the other operators they're too damn loud and need to turn down their mic gain. I know u guys are friends and don't want to stomp on feelings and all, but somebody has to tell you your mics are turned up too high, so I'll do it and suffer the hate mail . As long as the audio is clean and not overmodulated, I'm not critical of "loudness". And being continually critical of other operators only leads to conflicts. Since I don't have a receiver that can hear u guys, and I'm listening to you via spitfire's videogates, I can't go off channel to check for splatter, which would be the important thing here. OTOH, there are times I just go, "DAMN! That dude is so dang loud, I could hear a gnat fart at 1000 yards! ." In many videos, I've heard SF go "WOW, that dude is LOUD!" and I'm sitting there waiting for one of you guys to ask the other operator to back off on his mic gain a bit. I wait...and wait...and wait . Nothing. Personally, I would want somebody to tell me that I'm too damn loud and possibly over modulating. I do realize, however, that some of you guys are flipping radios for CRR, and one mic setting might be great on one rig, yet it's too loud on another. The main problem here is that SF does turn down his volume sometimes, and when he does that, it becomes very hard to hear his video. Now I have to turn up my volume almost to the point that my audio amplifier distorts to hear the video . Since you guys are all good friends of many years, I seriously doubt that one of you would be upset if another said to back off on the mic gain a bit. I know I would never be upset if a friend was trying to help me sound better. (Shrug.) 73, Randy AB5NI
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Post by ab5ni on Nov 3, 2014 10:50:04 GMT -5
As long as the audio is clean and not overmodulated, I'm not critical of "loudness". And being continually critical of other operators only leads to conflicts. I agree with this 100%. It's a hobby, try and enjoy it more. I know. I know, CB, but somebody had to mention this, and I figured it should be me rather than one of you guys, possibly insulting your friends. OTOH, I'm not an insensitive ass, and I do try to follow common courtesy, which is why I think most operators would rather hear this from a friend instead of some blow-hard like myself . I only bring this up because, the way I see things, there is no possible way in this world that some of them aren't splattering with that much modulation. It's just not going to happen, and that level of splattering is most definitely going to lead to some kind of channel conflict further on down the road. 73, Randy AB5NI
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Post by ab5ni on Nov 3, 2014 11:08:00 GMT -5
I agree with this 100%. It's a hobby, try and enjoy it more. On further reflection, this is "Classic Radio Roundup", not "Classic, try to sound like a ham radio roundup". We take vintage CB radios, pair them with equivalent period microphones, and run them as we did back in the day. Microphones like the D-104 do not have a flat response, and typically pooch at about 2 Khz. This gives the radio a bit of a "bright" sound, which helps to punch through noise and other interference. I would rather this than a flat and weak sounding stock mic for signals under S9 when the noise is running. As long as the audio is not distorted or overmodulated (and most of our radios have the modulation limiters intact), then it should not be a problem. Once in a while I'll pop on my hi-fi modified Galaxy, mainly when Pete is running his Hallicrafters receiver, because that receiver reproduces the hifi sound so well, it just sounds nice to hear. But that is cheating when it comes to CRR. 1960's and 70's radios didn't sound like that. I get it, SB, but I'm sticking by my guns here, dude . Some of you guys are too damn loud, and there is no possible way they aren't splattering. I also understand that loudness on AM can sometimes make the difference from having a copy on a mobile signal to no copy whatsoever, so I'm also a bit lenient as well. OTOH, when I see one of you guys 40 over on Pete's meter and the mic gain set up to the where I can hear your fans in the background and pencils drop, I have to wonder when somebody is going to mention this. I'd appreciate it if you'd do a test for me, SB. When somebody is really loud, flip channels and see if they're splattering. I'd be willing to bet my last buck that most of them are, dude. For the record, I also hate the flat response that most stock mics have on AM, and, most of the time, the rigs do sound a lot better with amplification. It is also important to note that most decent ham rigs come with a mic gain control on the front panel, where as a lot of CB radios have left this out and use fixed levels of modulation. I get it. Still, some of u guys are WAY TOO LOUD and need to turn that crap down!! . 73, Randy AB5NI
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Nov 3, 2014 11:11:05 GMT -5
As long as the audio is clean and not overmodulated, I'm not critical of "loudness". And being continually critical of other operators only leads to conflicts. Since I don't have a receiver that can hear u guys, and I'm listening to you via spitfire's videogates, I can't go off channel to check for splatter, which would be the important thing here. OTOH, there are times I just go, "DAMN! That dude is so dang loud, I could hear a gnat fart at 1000 yards! ." In many videos, I've heard SF go "WOW, that dude is LOUD!" and I'm sitting there waiting for one of you guys to ask the other operator to back off on his mic gain a bit. I wait...and wait...and wait . Nothing. Personally, I would want somebody to tell me that I'm too damn loud and possibly over modulating. I do realize, however, that some of you guys are flipping radios for CRR, and one mic setting might be great on one rig, yet it's too loud on another. The main problem here is that SF does turn down his volume sometimes, and when he does that, it becomes very hard to hear his video. Now I have to turn up my volume almost to the point that my audio amplifier distorts to hear the video . Since you guys are all good friends of many years, I seriously doubt that one of you would be upset if another said to back off on the mic gain a bit. I know I would never be upset if a friend was trying to help me sound better. (Shrug.) The thing is, the difference in loudness on Pete's gates are far more apparent than what I hear on my end over the radio. I don't know if it's the way his tablet's record levels work, or the receiver's AGC or what, but some of the closer people (like Sparky) sound a heck of a lot louder than some of the further out people, with a similar level of audio. But on my end, the difference in loudness isn't quite as pronounced. Where I am, most of the regulars fall between an S8 and an S9 on my meter, so their audio is much closer in level than at Pete's where there is a much more diverse level of signals. Also, because most of our rigs have the modulation limiters intact, the amount of splatter is very small. I can turn channels up or down one and I never hear more than the very slightest of scratch from the majority of our group. I can't say the same for the guys who run on 14, who have the class C amps and the "clipped" radios. Also if someone does happen to be distorted or overmodulated, I'll be the first to tell them so. I'm a bit of a stickler for clean audio. So if it sounds too tinny or too "boofy"(to borrow Night Train's term), it's time to change mics. Some rigs like the Turner +3 or Super Sidekick better than a D-104. That's why we sometimes go through a period of "musical mics" when someone has a new rig, just to see which combination works best. I have 6 different amplified base mics that interchange with most of my rigs. And I like to see which combo sounds the most natural, but at the same time has a decent degree of audio punch.
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