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Post by BBB on Aug 11, 2015 19:54:49 GMT -5
Well the 8/5 edition of CRR was very subdued and indicative of competing summer activities. I was unable to make it at all, due to other commitments, Sparky and Night Train also seemed to be absent, and Pete ducked out early. Much of the lackluster interest was only amplified by the typical south of the border Spanish skip that serves no useful purpose, and only raises the noise level. Hopefully we'll have a few more nights where the E-layer skip shows up before that cycle hibernates until its next appearance in December-January. Hopefully things will be better next week. Thanks for the CRR summery You guessed right on the summer camping vacation special. I was beach bound for a week in Delmarva and lived on Crabs, Bay Scallops and Little Neck Clams with a side order of melted butter and sand. Oh, the other food group too, local corn and peaches. Shoot, I almost forgot all the beer consumed without looking at any clocks, phones or screens of any kind
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 11, 2015 21:08:56 GMT -5
Well the 8/5 edition of CRR was very subdued and indicative of competing summer activities. I was unable to make it at all, due to other commitments, Sparky and Night Train also seemed to be absent, and Pete ducked out early. Much of the lackluster interest was only amplified by the typical south of the border Spanish skip that serves no useful purpose, and only raises the noise level. Hopefully we'll have a few more nights where the E-layer skip shows up before that cycle hibernates until its next appearance in December-January. Hopefully things will be better next week. Thanks for the CRR summery You guessed right on the summer camping vacation special. I was beach bound for a week in Delmarva and lived on Crabs, Bay Scallops and Little Neck Clams with a side order of melted butter and sand. Oh, the other food group too, local corn and peaches. Shoot, I almost forgot all the beer consumed without looking at any clocks, phones or screens of any kind One of the things I like best about my vacation escapes is being "unplugged" from the world. I don't watch the news, I have no internet, phones don't work well. It's great. It's a great mental stress reliever.
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 12, 2015 6:25:09 GMT -5
Well, it's time for the 8/12 edition of CRR. Baring any last minute issues, I should be able to make it this time. As usual, I'll have to choose a rig to run, and that will most likely be a last minute decision. It's been a while since I've run my Browning, so if it's not too hot in the shack tonight, I might take that rig out for a drive. We'll have to see. When summer is finally over, and indoor activities resume at full speed, I'll get back to coming up with themes to base future CRR's on.....
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Post by MonkeyMan on Aug 12, 2015 7:06:22 GMT -5
I have to fire up the Pluto one of these nights and blow out the cobwebs. It hasn't even been powered up for months now and the longer it sits unused the more likely the wife will suggest I pack it all up for storage.
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Post by BBB on Aug 12, 2015 15:50:59 GMT -5
Great browning idea. Tonight should be cool enough to fire up some t00bs. After a week away from the shack, I jumped on CH 13 and talked to 44, Ron and Skeeter for a few minutes. I reached under the bench, not really looking, and flicked on CB Helper. While I was looking at the watt meter and the analyzer, I mentioned that I wasn't getting the normal amount of schwang and saw a bit more of a wider analyzer trace than usual at the 80 watts DK I usually run with the bigger box to get over the noise. After about 20 minutes it got quiet so I was shutting every thing down only to find I was running on the baby driver box (2 x 2879). Oops moment: hitting the 2 pill with the 1 pill radio which normally wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but the 2 pill Fat Boy trucker special doesn't have a fan. It was a bit warm shall we say, so I quickly tossed a fan on it and that smoothed out the scope. Normally I run a fan off to the side of it, so I guess it's time to mount one on top of it and wire it to the switch permanently to prevent any possible future 0-5 moments
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 12, 2015 16:44:06 GMT -5
Great browning idea. Tonight should be cool enough to fire up some t00bs. After a week away from the shack, I jumped on CH 13 and talked to 44, Ron and Skeeter for a few minutes. I reached under the bench, not really looking, and flicked on CB Helper. While I was looking at the watt meter and the analyzer, I mentioned that I wasn't getting the normal amount of schwang and saw a bit more of a wider analyzer trace than usual at the 80 watts DK I usually run with the bigger box to get over the noise. After about 20 minutes it got quiet so I was shutting every thing down only to find I was running on the baby driver box (2 x 2879). Oops moment: hitting the 2 pill with the 1 pill radio which normally wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but the 2 pill Fat Boy trucker special doesn't have a fan. It was a bit warm shall we say, so I quickly tossed a fan on it and that smoothed out the scope. Normally I run a fan off to the side of it, so I guess it's time to mount one on top of it and wire it to the switch permanently to prevent any possible future 0-5 moments You should never drive a 2-pill with 2290's with more than about 3 watts (carrier, 12 watts PEP), and with a pair of 2879's, you shouldn't exceed 5 watts (carrier, 20 watts PEP)) if you want to stay in the linear range of the amp, and not start getting "wide" and driving into compression.
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Post by BBB on Aug 13, 2015 9:43:20 GMT -5
Understood. It was a 2290 in the radio feeding the high drive amp with a pair of 2879's in it. DK on the radio was about 10 watts so no apparent damage to the box. It just got hot due to lack of fan on the box, hence the "trucker special" name I applied to the casing. On the analyzer I definitely saw the non-linear operation starting to occur after the box heated up, but kept it in check with the variable output on the radio all the while scratching my head wondering why she wouldn't swing to 400+ like normal It had no problem reaching 200+ as one would assume with (2) 2879's. Amplifier tip of the day: For longevity sake, always get the High Drive option if your getting a transistor style amp Great browning Mark III turnout for CRR last night!
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 13, 2015 13:38:30 GMT -5
Understood. It was a 2290 in the radio feeding the high drive amp with a pair of 2879's in it. DK on the radio was about 10 watts so no apparent damage to the box. It just got hot due to lack of fan on the box, hence the "trucker special" name I applied to the casing. On the analyzer I definitely saw the non-linear operation starting to occur after the box heated up, but kept it in check with the variable output on the radio all the while scratching my head wondering why she wouldn't swing to 400+ like normal It had no problem reaching 200+ as one would assume with (2) 2879's. Amplifier tip of the day: For longevity sake, always get the High Drive option if your getting a transistor style amp Great browning Mark III turnout for CRR last night! Yes, it ended up being Browning night, for at least 3 of us. But it does look like mine is going to need some work on the transmitter. Looks like some filter caps are going bad, as even the spot has a hum when I hit it. No biggie though, but most likely a winter project.
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Post by BBB on Aug 20, 2015 9:01:41 GMT -5
Fun round up last night with great local conditions. So good, a few of us broke out the Walkie Talkies. Even 500mw was gettin' out Yet again, some new folks showed up like Double D. I ran a slant faced Sears RoadTalker 40 SSB base/mobile rig for the majority of the show.
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 20, 2015 11:57:15 GMT -5
Fun round up last night with great local conditions. So good, a few of us broke out the Walkie Talkies. Even 500mw was gettin' out Yet again, some new folks showed up like Double D. I ran a slant faced Sears RoadTalker 40 SSB base/mobile rig for the majority of the show. Yea, it was a purely spontaneous roundup on 8/19. I started off with the TRC-451 (while I worked on the MK III transmitter on the bench), switched to my TRC-210 40 channel walkie talkie for our brief walkie-talkie theme. Then I put my Browning back on to verify that I could set the bias correctly again, and the hum was gone, after replacing the bias supply filter caps. Finally, I ended running a Lafayette Telsat SSB-140. Lot's of radio switching, but not too many people. We did have that guy singing and partying in the background, and the other guy running the walkie-talkie (and an amp) in his mobile. A fun night.....
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Post by BBB on Aug 21, 2015 14:39:35 GMT -5
You got that browning sounding really good... I'll tell ya that. I know you said that something was causing the bias to run high and cause a 120Hz hum. Was it just a cap you replaced and if so which one?
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 24, 2015 13:52:34 GMT -5
You got that browning sounding really good... I'll tell ya that. I know you said that something was causing the bias to run high and cause a 120Hz hum. Was it just a cap you replaced and if so which one? The problem I had was that the two caps (C59 & C60) that filter the -40V bias supply started losing value, which increased the ripple and dropped the voltage. The first clue that something was going bad was when the spot button was pressed and the carrier had a nasty hum on it. I also could no longer set the bias, as the voltage had dropped to about 25V. Replacing those two caps solved the problem(s). But just another reminder that old radios need periodic TLC, as the parts age.
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 26, 2015 6:14:20 GMT -5
Here it is, another Wednesday night CRR is looming large. Solar flares, sporadic-E skip, Sweaty Maria? It's anyone's guess how the band conditions will be looking tonight. So we'll have to play it by ear. Not sure what I will be running tonight, although after last week, anything is possible, even spontaneous walkie-talkies or 3 knob radios with stock mics......
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Post by BBB on Aug 27, 2015 15:29:48 GMT -5
Turn out was decent but is wasn't really crowded. Quite a few QRP operators in there getting their learn on. I ran my old bone stock Cobra 21 LTD Classic with it's un-awesome 1:2 modulation
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 27, 2015 16:05:27 GMT -5
Turn out was decent but is wasn't really crowded. Quite a few QRP operators in there getting their learn on. I ran my old bone stock Cobra 21 LTD Classic with it's un-awesome 1:2 modulation My radios of choice were a Midland 13-862B mobile. A 3-knob radio with the channel numbers and meter on top of the faceplate (presumably so they would be easier to see when mounted under a car's dashboard). The 2nd half of the night was courtesy of a Midland 13-898B SSB base station. Turnout was light, and it was a bit disappointing because the skip was low as was the ambient noise level. A great night for longer distance local shots. But there weren't any to be had. I guess we'll have to wait until the leaves are off the trees......
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Post by Sandbagger on Sept 3, 2015 6:28:48 GMT -5
The first CRR of September turned out to be quite a bit more lively that the previous week. We had two new radio grace the channel in the form of a $5 flea-market special Midland 13-863 base, and a Tram Titan 4. The Midland was Pete's latest addition, and he was running it with a stock mic, and it sounded pretty good for a 40 year old radio. The Tram was Night Train's and it was also working fairly well. But in a great example of the spirit of camaraderie of CRR operator, we helped Train get a little more modulation, when it became apparent that the limiter was set a little too tightly. Thanks to Pete, who had a SAM's for the Tram, for identifying the correct pot to adjust the modulation, which Train carefully adjusted until the modulation was sounding louder but still clean.
We also welcomed a new member to the group, "Double D", who was amazed that we were able to identify and correct a radio's faults over the air
I was running a Midland 13-898B (which I had previously had to re-align the transmitter) for the first half, and a Cobra 2000 on the second half. Other notable radio's heard were a JC Penney Pinto 23 channel SSB mobile/base, a Spark(y)-O-Matic 40 channel base, SBE Trinidad, and a Regency CR-123.
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Post by BBB on Sept 17, 2015 9:38:25 GMT -5
Pretty good turnout for a fall like evening on 9/16. Some of the more entertaining moments where when Tickle was trying to get his Lake CB base station going with various D104 mics delivering different levels of fuzziness. Without a station monitor, he was all over the place Things finally cooled down enough in the shack to run the twin Cetron 572b heater paired up with a 101EE I picked up from silent key "Wolf" years ago. Haven't heard his son "Thor" in ages. What a pleasure it is to run this classic tube hybrid pair. I set the final carrier around 80-90 watts and it swings nicely to around 300-400 watts AM PEP.
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Post by Sandbagger on Sept 17, 2015 11:40:18 GMT -5
Pretty good turnout for a fall like evening on 9/16. Some of the more entertaining moments where when Tickle was trying to get his Lake CB base station going with various D104 mics delivering different levels of fuzziness. Without a station monitor, he was all over the place Things finally cooled down enough in the shack to run the twin Cetron 572b heater paired up with a 101EE I picked up from silent key "Wolf" years ago. Haven't heard his son "Thor" in ages. What a pleasure it is to run this classic tube hybrid pair. I set the final carrier around 80-90 watts and it swings nicely to around 300-400 watts AM PEP. And not a single "Boofy" claim to be had........ Some radios just become temperamental on certain mics, especially if you're also trying to drive an amp. Sometimes the radio might be a little stronger on output than the original radio, and the result is fuzzy and/or squeals, which is what he was running into.
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Post by BBB on Sept 17, 2015 18:36:55 GMT -5
Pretty good turnout for a fall like evening on 9/16. Some of the more entertaining moments where when Tickle was trying to get his Lake CB base station going with various D104 mics delivering different levels of fuzziness. Without a station monitor, he was all over the place Things finally cooled down enough in the shack to run the twin Cetron 572b heater paired up with a 101EE I picked up from silent key "Wolf" years ago. Haven't heard his son "Thor" in ages. What a pleasure it is to run this classic tube hybrid pair. I set the final carrier around 80-90 watts and it swings nicely to around 300-400 watts AM PEP. And not a single "Boofy" claim to be had........ Some radios just become temperamental on certain mics, especially if you're also trying to drive an amp. Sometimes the radio might be a little stronger on output than the original radio, and the result is fuzzy and/or squeals, which is what he was running into. Right after he tweaked something and was finally at the pinnacle of overdrive, I told him he sounded perfect and to mark the mic gain on the radio and the TUG8 base potentiometer with a sharpie. He ran that way for a few more minutes and I was totally cracking up laughing because he was saying "You mean right there is good? bzzz-buzz-squeel... Okay, okay, I'll leave it right there... buzzz-buzzz-screech-buzzz.
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Post by Sandbagger on Sept 19, 2015 15:45:44 GMT -5
Looks like they did it to me again....... Although it's probably been at least 6 months or more since the last time. What the heck am I talking about? Looks like my ISP changed my IP address again. I was wondering why I had no check-ins on the Spew Radio server during last week's CRR. I just checked the log again, and - NOTHING! That never happens, so I went on a search to find out what's wrong, and yep, the IP address was changed. Tonight, when I have some time, I'll update the website links. For anyone else who wants to update their bookmarks, the new link is mms://75.97.119.251:81Spew Radio
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Post by BBB on Sept 19, 2015 21:59:40 GMT -5
Much thanks.
SPEW Radio is a widely accepted and utilized privately owned, public service provider. We know that operators in the adjoining communities rely on quality reliable CB radio emulation and web proliferation. Please stay tuned while we improve our networking strategies to fulfill future expansion of the SPEW RADIO NETWORK in your area.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Sept 21, 2015 6:19:45 GMT -5
Much thanks.
SPEW Radio is a widely accepted and utilized privately owned, public service provider. We know that operators in the adjoining communities rely on quality reliable CB radio emulation and web proliferation. Please stay tuned while we improve our networking strategies to fulfill future expansion of the SPEW RADIO NETWORK in your area. Lots of people use it as their private test watergate. It kind of sucks when there are all sorts of test whistles and other bleeps and bloops occurring on the channel, by people fiddling with their setups. And it's tough for those who are west of me, as they're pretty much non-existent at the back of the beam.
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Post by BBB on Sept 24, 2015 8:59:42 GMT -5
Alright gates again, yeehaw! Figures the night I run a hand mic with low claudio, the gate rolls I ran a Panasonic RJ-3660 40 Ch base station with an Astatic Road Devil mic. The base station is unique in the fact that it has a separate tuner that covers the Public Safety Band (PSB) and 2 Meters. You can monitor both CB and the PSB at the same time with separate squelches for both. There is a telescopic antenna just for PSB. The radio is quite heavy and the big internal speaker sounds good.
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Post by Sandbagger on Sept 30, 2015 6:16:46 GMT -5
Well, the last CRR of September will be on tonight at 8:00PM EDT. There are reports of potential solar flares, which may keep the south-of-the-border nonsense in there. There could also be torrential rain. On the other hand, it's also rumored that we'll be gated tonight through a Hallicrafters receiver, so it may be time to dig out the hi-fidelity radio gear. As always, you never know what may happen, and who may show up. So tune in and find out. As always, those who can't attend in person can always tune in via the Spew Radio server, which I'll test to make sure my ISP isn't playing games again...... And don't forget to wish Skeeter a Happy Birthday!
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Post by BBB on Oct 4, 2015 8:40:37 GMT -5
Here's the Sears 23 PLL three knob mobile radio I got in a box of dusty radio stuff a while back. Indecently a rig just like this was my first real CB radio when I was a kid. I ran it for the first half of the last CRR gate and it sounded like it had some decent audio. Interestingly it came with a sister 40 channel radio that was exactly the same internally.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 6, 2015 6:34:12 GMT -5
Here's the Sears 23 PLL three knob mobile radio I got in a box of dusty radio stuff a while back. Indecently a rig just like this was my first real CB radio when I was a kid. I ran it for the first half of the last CRR gate and it sounded like it had some decent audio. Interestingly it came with a sister 40 channel radio that was exactly the same internally. The only difference was the channel selector switch. The 23 channel radio can be expanded to 40 channels by simply adding a single spst switch.
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Post by BBB on Oct 8, 2015 10:43:26 GMT -5
Got the beginning of the show after all Thank you sir. For the first half of the show, I ran a Jackson silver face mobile rig. Kind of unique in the fact that this was one of the last releases. It has all the old original components inside. Basically like they found a shipping crate of the old main boards and released them 20 years later. Now known as the Superstar JA. Got a compliment from Skeeter that all my radios sound the same No small feat, I'll say that. A little history on this particular radio that Grumpy owned and mentioned on another forum: "After finding out these radios were available I sent a few emails out to two well known retailers to see exactly what these radios were before I bought one. One of the shops was DTB Radio, here is what Dave told me via email..... " " This radio is 100% Jackson. Its apparently a batch of original Jackson boards (numbered in the thousands I'm told) that someone was hoarding and is now assembling into full radios again. I'm not sure what final, but its labeled MRF477. It doesnt look like the original motorola part to me, so I'm not sure what it actually is. Numbers vary a bit, but 30-35 AM, and a bit more SSB on my bench"" The other shop that I sent an email to also told me the same thing, they don't have them as of now. I ordered one from Dave at DTB, it should be here this week sometime! "
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Post by whitetail on Oct 12, 2015 20:27:31 GMT -5
I been away from the radio for awhile, enjoying the last bit of nice weather and getting things done outside. Just wondering if the radio roundup is still going on? I have my base station up now and been listening on 13.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 13, 2015 6:09:37 GMT -5
I been away from the radio for awhile, enjoying the last bit of nice weather and getting things done outside. Just wondering if the radio roundup is still going on? I have my base station up now and been listening on 13. The roundup has being going strong now for 8+ years, every Wednesday night. We'll be there then!
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Post by whitetail on Oct 13, 2015 8:31:05 GMT -5
I been away from the radio for awhile, enjoying the last bit of nice weather and getting things done outside. Just wondering if the radio roundup is still going on? I have my base station up now and been listening on 13. The roundup has being going strong now for 8+ years, every Wednesday night. We'll be there then! Thanks sandbagger, I will be tuned in on wednesdays, Hope to make the trip down to ya!!
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