Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 2, 2016 20:56:05 GMT -5
A very lively CRR was enjoyed on 6/1. Several new or returning op's have thrown together a radio station and joined in the fray. I'm not sure if this is purely a coincidental thing, or whether people have stumbled across this forum, websites, videogates and are influenced by them to "get back into it". Whatever the case, the ranks are swelling, which is a good thing, especially when summertime is traditionally a time where other competing activities pull people away from the radio. I want to acknowledge Slammin' Sam, Dangerous Dan, Ranger Rick, Security, Byte Buster, and Grease Monkey for joining the ranks. It was also great to hear "Doc" Hammer and Hy-Tower once again connecting into the area via the internet and Pete's new Yaesu. Preliminary results seem to indicate that the Yaesu has better AM audio than the old Kenwood (RIP ). The skip conditions were weak at beast last night, but Sparky claims to have heard Night Ranger in there for a split second. The informal theme last night was Regency. So in keeping with the theme, I ran my slightly ill (in the receiver) Formula 23: View AttachmentNice looking Regency rig for sure Sandbagger. Are those your old FCC numbers on the Dymo stickers? No, those are the call letters of (presumably) the original owner. I left them on there as a classic radio nostalgic touch. I got the radio from Pete, and I think he got it from E-Bay. So who knows where it came from originally.
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 2, 2016 20:57:43 GMT -5
A very lively CRR was enjoyed on 6/1. Several new or returning op's have thrown together a radio station and joined in the fray. I'm not sure if this is purely a coincidental thing, or whether people have stumbled across this forum, websites, videogates and are influenced by them to "get back into it". Whatever the case, the ranks are swelling, which is a good thing, especially when summertime is traditionally a time where other competing activities pull people away from the radio. I want to acknowledge Slammin' Sam, Dangerous Dan, Ranger Rick, Security, Byte Buster, and Grease Monkey for joining the ranks. It was also great to hear "Doc" Hammer and Hy-Tower once again connecting into the area via the internet and Pete's new Yaesu. Preliminary results seem to indicate that the Yaesu has better AM audio than the old Kenwood (RIP ). The skip conditions were weak at beast last night, but Sparky claims to have heard Night Ranger in there for a split second. The informal theme last night was Regency. So in keeping with the theme, I ran my slightly ill (in the receiver) Formula 23: View AttachmentI'm listening to 1/4 Wave Dave talking to someone on and off right now. We had rain earlier and the ladder line is wet and detuned. Night Ranger
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Post by BBB on Jun 2, 2016 21:05:27 GMT -5
Oh so close I heard ya Night Ranger for a few seconds again. Dave and I came in together
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Post by BBB on Jun 2, 2016 21:08:13 GMT -5
KASS7775 standing by...Darn heard ya one more time Night Ranger. Whomever said there was no one on CB radio anymore was certainly incorrect because there were like, 10+ DX conversations going on tonight just on 27.115 AM alone when you were in there
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 2, 2016 21:46:36 GMT -5
KASS7775 standing by...Darn heard ya one more time Night Ranger. Whomever said there was no one on CB radio anymore was certainly incorrect because there were like, 10+ DX conversations going on tonight just on 27.115 AM alone when you were in there I had better conditions to areas around PA tonight. We are moving in to the time of year when I do get a few hot nights to your area. So far the DX has been weak and unstable to your area from South Carolina. Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 8, 2016 6:58:29 GMT -5
Tonight's (6/8) CRR informal (IOW, last minute) theme will be a combination of two themes. Realistic radios and stock mic's. So if you have either one or both, break them out and we'll see how many combos we can find out there tonight. As always, we can't predict just who will be in there, what the conditions will be, or whether we'll hear another rendition of "Barbie Girl" . So tune it tonight and find out.....
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 9, 2016 7:34:37 GMT -5
Classic Radio Roundup on June 8, 2016 from South Carolina videogate. The video starts out with random skip talking and then the skip windows opens up to the Classic Radio Roundup in Pennsylvania.
Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 9, 2016 12:47:01 GMT -5
Classic Radio Roundup on June 8, 2016 from South Carolina videogate. The video starts out with random skip talking and then the skip windows opens up to the Classic Radio Roundup in Pennsylvania. Night Ranger I am always amazed at the subtle differences in conditions between our local stations. We're no more than 10 miles apart from each other, yet our signals take turns hitting the red zone. I've seen it where Train is over 9, and I'm in the mud. Then next transmission, he fades out and I jump up. Same holds for the rest of the group. We're all fairly close, yet there are still differences. It's fun watching the skip play whack-a-mole with our signals.
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 9, 2016 13:17:57 GMT -5
Classic Radio Roundup on June 8, 2016 from South Carolina videogate. The video starts out with random skip talking and then the skip windows opens up to the Classic Radio Roundup in Pennsylvania. Night Ranger I am always amazed at the subtle differences in conditions between our local stations. We're no more than 10 miles apart from each other, yet our signals take turns hitting the red zone. I've seen it where Train is over 9, and I'm in the mud. Then next transmission, he fades out and I jump up. Same holds for the rest of the group. We're all fairly close, yet there are still differences. It's fun watching the skip play whack-a-mole with our signals. Yep, and that means you should not get to bummed out if someone randomly puts out a bigger signal than you to skip stations. Now if it happens every single time them maybe. A few weeks ago I was on channel 28 on the J-Pole vertical. One of the locals about 15 miles away said someone in Texas was calling for me. I could not even hear them, and yet the other local carried on a conversation with him. The other local was on a Solarcon Max-2000. Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 9, 2016 21:13:02 GMT -5
I am always amazed at the subtle differences in conditions between our local stations. We're no more than 10 miles apart from each other, yet our signals take turns hitting the red zone. I've seen it where Train is over 9, and I'm in the mud. Then next transmission, he fades out and I jump up. Same holds for the rest of the group. We're all fairly close, yet there are still differences. It's fun watching the skip play whack-a-mole with our signals. Yep, and that means you should not get to bummed out if someone randomly puts out a bigger signal than you to skip stations. Now if it happens every single time them maybe. A few weeks ago I was on channel 28 on the J-Pole vertical. One of the locals about 15 miles away said someone in Texas was calling for me. I could not even hear them, and yet the other local carried on a conversation with him. The other local was on a Solarcon Max-2000. Night Ranger This illustrates the differences in radiation angle between different antennas. There are many nights that I hear skip far stronger on my gutter mount 102" whip than I do on the beam. Each one of us runs a different type of antenna. I have a single 3 element beam, Pete has an Imax, Sparky has that Sirio, Train has an Imax and a Jo-Gunn, Skeeter has the stacked 4's. Silver Bullet (271) just put up a vintage NIB Super Scanner. So the differences between antenna types and heights probably accounts for the variations between each of us. As the skip varies in phase and polarity, we each take turns hitting the red zone.....
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 10, 2016 7:09:43 GMT -5
Yea, I'm a little late with my Classic Radio Roundup Wrap up post. Suddenly got busy at work, and at home..... Anyway, like I've said before, you never know what you might get during any given roundup. This week's CRR was the "E-Skip" edition. It was wild and crazy. And if anyone thinks CB radio is dead, they only need to listen to the video gates to know that there are still a lot of operators out there. Originally Pete and I decided to make the last minute theme a combination of Realistic radios and/or stock mic night. Well, that turned out to be a really bad call, when the skip started rolling, so we both ended up changing to radios which had a bit more audio punch, so we could work the skip as it came in there. I also want to give a shout-out to Crazy Bob, who was trying to get up to us from his place in New Jersey, about 70 miles away from me. He's been able to do it in the past, but with the skip in there, there was no way we'd be able to hear him. But we did hear skip stations working him, so we know he was in there trying! Once again, Grumpy's forum was well represented, and we did hear several stations, including Sgt Pepper, out there giving a shout out. As usual, when the conditions are running that way, Night Ranger with that Lazy-H homebrew wire antenna, just about rules the pipeline. One thing I did find amusing, was Hy-Tower. He was logged into Pete's new Yaesu, to join the group. But his signal and audio was so low that the skip was covering him up to me. But I heard him better through Night Ranger's videogate in South Carolina. My apologies to those who tried, but didn't get acknowledged. It was really busy and it was bedlam. Not too many chances to have conversations. Too many people working different skip stations simultaneously, and the strongest signals won. But we sure did have a lot of people out there running their classic rigs. Makes me feel good!
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Post by BBB on Jun 16, 2016 10:03:30 GMT -5
Ping...Excellent turn out for CRR last night. Ping...everybody got a shot even some DXing from the Old-Timers. Ping...have you guessed I was running my browning Mark III
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 16, 2016 11:31:55 GMT -5
Ping...Excellent turn out for CRR last night. Ping...everybody got a shot even some DXing from the Old-Timers. Ping...have you guessed I was running my browning Mark III I was listening to all those real pings and one fake Eagle ping (Spitfire) on Spew Radio last night. I had a Royce 1-612 listening on my Lazy H, but I never heard a peep out of PA. There was some skip, but I think it was more in the direction of Texas. Royce 1-612 23 channel mobile Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 16, 2016 18:34:51 GMT -5
Ping...Excellent turn out for CRR last night. Ping...everybody got a shot even some DXing from the Old-Timers. Ping...have you guessed I was running my browning Mark III I was listening to all those real pings and one fake Eagle ping (Spitfire) on Spew Radio last night. I had a Royce 1-612 listening on my Lazy H, but I never heard a peep out of PA. There was some skip, but I think it was more in the direction of Texas. Royce 1-612 23 channel mobile Night Ranger Finally took that Royce out of the bag eh?
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 16, 2016 18:55:38 GMT -5
I was listening to all those real pings and one fake Eagle ping (Spitfire) on Spew Radio last night. I had a Royce 1-612 listening on my Lazy H, but I never heard a peep out of PA. There was some skip, but I think it was more in the direction of Texas. Royce 1-612 23 channel mobile Night Ranger Finally took that Royce out of the bag eh? Nope. That's another one. I think have three total. The other two are moderately used, but after a little restoration they work well. The little vertical potentiometers fall apart with age on those Royce 1-612s, and I had to replace them with new ones. Also on one of them the VCO drifted in between channels after warming up. Resoldering the traces around the PLL circuit fixed that. The NIB/NOS one is still NIB/NOS. Maybe I'll break it open (along with a bottle of champagne) for an old radio night. Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 22, 2016 6:26:13 GMT -5
Tonight's (6/22) CRR looks to be a potluck affair. "Run what you brung". I have not decided what I'm going to run yet. Depending on whether we have skip or not, will play a large part. Also the summer heating of my shack pretty much means no tubes tonight....
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 22, 2016 12:37:34 GMT -5
Tonight's (6/22) CRR looks to be a potluck affair. "Run what you brung". I have not decided what I'm going to run yet. Depending on whether we have skip or not, will play a large part. Also the summer heating of my shack pretty much means no tubes tonight.... I'm leaning towards my Royce 1-612, Royce 619, Royce 620 or possibly my Teaberry T-Dispatch. I also have a brand new old stock Regency CR-230 I need to break out at some point. Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 23, 2016 6:25:35 GMT -5
Tonight's (6/22) CRR looks to be a potluck affair. "Run what you brung". I have not decided what I'm going to run yet. Depending on whether we have skip or not, will play a large part. Also the summer heating of my shack pretty much means no tubes tonight.... Well, last night was a pretty light CRR. I started out running from the "big" mobile, as I ran out to get some late dinner. Not much in the way of useful skip, just a few blurbs here and there, jumping up out of the grass for a moment and then gone again. Once home on the base, I decided on my Midland 13-885. I was hindered by a steady whining noise level which was about 1 S unit higher than my normal hash noise level, so I wasn't able to hear some of the more distant stations very well. Kudos to Pete for finding the right setting to boost the modulation level for Hy-Tower's link, so that he now sounds a lot stronger.
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Post by BBB on Jun 23, 2016 9:58:36 GMT -5
Tonight's (6/22) CRR looks to be a potluck affair. "Run what you brung". I have not decided what I'm going to run yet. Depending on whether we have skip or not, will play a large part. Also the summer heating of my shack pretty much means no tubes tonight.... I'm leaning towards my Royce 1-612, Royce 619, Royce 620 or possibly my Teaberry T-Dispatch. I also have a brand new old stock Regency CR-230 I need to break out at some point. Night Ranger I went with the Royce brand also for CRR. The old 642 AM/ SSB base station worked well. It has a very good receiver with selective AGC, Noise Blank and Automatic Noise Level. Then there's also variable RF Gain, Clarifier and Tone controls... all to help to make it sound how you like it
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Post by BBB on Jun 30, 2016 10:45:02 GMT -5
So many folks on CRR last night, including our friend skip. I ran two 23 channel Robyn mobile/ base radios. The Robyn GT-7C has a solenoid controlled channel selector like the old TV sets of the early 70's. I figured out that my mic adapter for a Teaberry 4 pin to Cobra 4 pin worked on the GT-7C so I was finally able to run an after market mic on it for the first time.
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Post by BBB on Jun 30, 2016 10:46:33 GMT -5
These full sized Robyn mobile radios slide into the base boxes like an 8 track cartridge. I'll see if I can get a video of the channel selector in action. Ker-chunk... ker-chunk, ker-chunk.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 30, 2016 13:20:27 GMT -5
A great idea that needed to wait until electronic switching technology could eliminate that mechanical clicking.
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Post by BBB on Jun 30, 2016 15:12:32 GMT -5
I can just imagine the 1975 marketing meeting... "we need something that really sets our radio apart from the others. I know sir, auto magic channel scan no other radio has it yet"
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 30, 2016 18:37:32 GMT -5
I can just imagine the 1975 marketing meeting... "we need something that really sets our radio apart from the others. I know sir, auto magic channel scan no other radio has it yet" They needed to one-up those radios with channel 9 scans......
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Post by BBB on Jul 6, 2016 17:10:50 GMT -5
Not sure what to run tonight. I do know the shack is around 80° so it will probably not involve t00bs. Maybe thinking about something I haven't run in awhile that needs the caps exercised.
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Post by No Streak on Jul 7, 2016 5:34:23 GMT -5
Not sure what to run tonight. I do know the shack is around 80° so it will probably not involve t00bs. Maybe thinking about something I haven't run in awhile that needs the caps exercised. What did you run last night I thought that I hear you last night? So you must have went the Pump House for sure!
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Post by BBB on Jul 7, 2016 8:37:51 GMT -5
Skip, skip and more skip. That's what I heard. At least it was north of the border stuff. My plans for the show changed when our neighborhood lost power due to a downed tree 15 minutes before the show. I had to go into emergency power back up mode and wheeled out the Honda Gen Set plus all the other household system prep that goes along with that. Power finally came back on around 12:30 am. Good news was that the big genny pasted the RF noise test very well (no hash) and was able to run the lights, fridge and most important the well pump. You thought I was going to say the CB radio, haha. I did run the switcher PS, radio & amp on the generator and they worked well, albeit one of my non-classic daily drivers. The mic was a classic Turner +2 Hey at least I got on the show and heard from about 10+ operators over the coarse of the loud skip filled evening.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jul 7, 2016 21:06:52 GMT -5
Skip, skip and more skip. That's what I heard. At least it was north of the border stuff. My plans for the show changed when our neighborhood lost power due to a downed tree 15 minutes before the show. I had to go into emergency power back up mode and wheeled out the Honda Gen Set plus all the other household system prep that goes along with that. Power finally came back on around 12:30 am. Good news was that the big genny pasted the RF noise test very well (no hash) and was able to run the lights, fridge and most important the well pump. You thought I was going to say the CB radio, haha. I did run the switcher PS, radio & amp on the generator and they worked well, albeit one of my non-classic daily drivers. The mic was a classic Turner +2 Hey at least I got on the show and heard from about 10+ operators over the coarse of the loud skip filled evening. Sounds like a fun time. Shame I missed it...... No radio gear up at the lake......
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Post by No Streak on Jul 12, 2016 11:13:06 GMT -5
OH Man! Where was everybody for last weeks Classic Radio Roundup? All I heard was Spitfire and Sparky. It's been a long time since I've seen it that dead on CRR. The skip was bad that night, it was ruff in Delaware County! It good to see even though a power outage you can keep Sparky down!
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jul 12, 2016 11:40:24 GMT -5
OH Man! Where was everybody for last weeks Classic Radio Roundup? All I heard was Spitfire and Sparky. It's been a long time since I've seen it that dead on CRR. The skip was bad that night, it was ruff in Delaware County! It good to see even though a power outage you can keep Sparky down! I would imagine that many of the usual participants were vacationing over the week following the holiday (as I was), and were not around. Hopefully this week will be a bit better. I should be there, unless something strange happens.
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