rock95seven

1200 AM BBR

March 14, 2018 by rock95seven

Blue Bucket Radio is back on the air at 1200 kHz with limited range.

Currently the SStran is pumping out heavy metal on 1200 kHz on an indoor antenna due to the unpredictable weather we have here in Kentucky.

Range is of course limited to about 150 to 200 feet around my property, the antenna is a wire that is too long to mount vertically, so it strung up the wall and across the ceiling. It’s limited in range, but it IS on the air.

About the blog post http://www.part15.us/blogs/rock95seven/99-cent-fm-wireless-microphones , I will try harder to make that range test happen some time this Spring. Right now Kentucky weather is all over the place, one warm day followed by snow over night, a couple more cold days and back to warm again.

So hopefully after Winter finally gives up and we have some truly warm Spring days I can do that test and return to this blog with my results.

Until then, Happy Broadcasting

99 cent Fm Wireless Microphones

November 16, 2017 by rock95seven

My wife and I love to shop the thrift stores and we are always on the look out for something unusual or useful.

This month we walked away with two vintage Realistic Fm Wireless Microphones for the sweet price of 99 cents each!
These are the tiny but bulky lapel microphones Radio Shack sold back in the 90’s for $19.95 and I never bought one because I couldn’t get past the heaviness of this microphone as a lapel mic.

I mean really, they actually pull your lapel down making you almost walk with a lean, which would be difficult if you were giving a lecture on posture and back pain. (note:I don’t own a suit)

The selling points for these gems?
Catalog # 33-1076

Up to 200 foot range
50 – 15,000 Hz Frequency Response
FCC Type Approved (a plus )
Omni Electret Mic
Tie Clip
Includes Battery

The specs to which I won’t type out are as follows in the images below but a couple stand out, Indoor range 100 feet , Outdoor range 200 feet and 50 mV/m at 15 meters……….15 meters??
HUH, interesting. How about the sound quality? Not bad, in fact pretty darn nice considering their age, I will attempt to include either an audio clip or video clip on their sound quality when I have the time.

The wire antenna appears to be a little under a foot long and the tuning tool is attatched to the end of the antenna.
It does tune 88 to 108 mHz and is of course mono. It takes a button cell or watch battery for 50 hours of use.

Meanwhile here are some images:

Who Called Me Today?

October 2, 2017 by rock95seven

No, seriously. Who called me today? Was it you Carl ? It was a Wellsville Missouri number.
If not then it was probably a spoofed number trying to sell me something I don’t want.
If it was you Carl, call back and I will make it a point to answer the call.
I have been busy cleaning house and missed the ph0ne ringing.

Why did I even set up voice mail if no one uses it? lol

Oh and by the way, the old phone number is no longer available, if you want my number I will be more than happy to give it to you. Just email me and I will give out the secret number of Blue Bucket Radio lol

barry.sallade@gmail.com

Cheers.

Getting Closer

September 17, 2017 by rock95seven

We are getting closer to the day where Blue Bucket Radio will return to the airwaves on a more permanent basis.
Software has been installed, currently testing Zararadio 1.4.4 running in Windows XP inside of VirtualBox for Linux on a Linux machine running Ubuntu 16.10 LTS on my trusty HP Pavilion Desktop PC.

I might fire up an FM Transmitter tuned to 105.3 FM later today or after I figure out why Zara Satellite won’t allow Line In to pass audio from the mixer. Something there isn’t clicking, despite the fact that Zara is able to play Mp3’s.

It’s a slow process but the pay out will be worth the effort.
1620 AM will be put into service sometime later this month, until then 105.3 will serve up talk and rock to it’s 250 foot service range.

Eclipse Radio

August 20, 2017 by rock95seven

Digging up all the studio gear so we can gear up for the return of our show The Little Things Radio Show and eventually the return to the airwaves on 1620 AM and 105.3 FM. Fingers crossed this goes off without a hitch.

Mosquito

July 28, 2017 by rock95seven

From the makers of the Spitfire AM transmitter comes the Mosquito 1-Watt Am Transmitter.
Could be a great start to a carrier current setup. $111.00 US Dollars.

Mosquito