Heck..it would give reason to break out the hammer, nails and some wood..build that puppy a cabinet!
Polish it up, give it a nice Earth tone appearance, like a lot of the older audio gear that weighed a ton with wood cabinets! 🙂
RFB
You're right, a homemade cabinet.
But we don't really know if the
thing works. It still puts
the feeling in me of, I've got
to have it - but that would be
completely unethical of me to
try to buy it.
I really really hope that someone
who truly appreciates it gives it
a good home. Heck, the 530 kHz
crystal alone is probably worth
the money. That's about what it
used to cost to have a below 1000 kHz
crystal made to spec. As recently as
a few years ago, I had known of a source
for those crystals. Now I can't find
any company that does it. RFB, do you
know? I'm talking about plans for the
distant future.
Speaking of really tough old gear that's
built like a tank. I just got a space
to put my Hammarlund HQ-140XA. This is
because the DOGGRADIO computer died.
I know of another source for another junk
computer in the not so distant future.
However, using this HQ-140XA is like
being in heaven. As near as I can tell,
it was manufactured in 1953 or 1954.
It is working great, and is cosmetically
very good. It actually would make a good
monitor for the LPB RC-6A. Actually, I
take that back. My Sony SRF-A100 would
be THE monitor.
Hang on to your hat, RFB. Those questions
will be coming.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, DOGGRADIO STUDIO 2
KDX Swims With the Current.
The RF cable just arrived neatly packed in a USPS envelope, gray in color, not blue, but I don't think the color of the cable will change the performance.
Tonight may be the all systems test for this carrier current project.
And Bruce, I am very much following the progress with your transmitter, returned home after a long out of town stay.
As far as auto radios indoors, I've always thought about that, but didn't realize the antenna question would be a main complication.
What about this..... since automobiles work so well with AM radio reception, how about getting cars for use as a transmitting antenna. It would take two or three cars to reach ten feet high.
"But we don't really know if the thing works."
True, there is always the unknown factor...does it function or no.
One can make a pretty good judgement by examining the images provided by the seller very closely and looking for the obvious things that would indicate a non-functioning unit. Things like burn marks on the PC board, frayed wire harness, discolored resistors, puffed capacitors, and things like pings and dents in the faceplate, highly incorrect meter 0 settings, scratched meter face, missing knobs or evidence of pliers used where proper tools should have been used, pre elementary level soldering jobs with blobs covering more than the circuit pad, burnt wires at the tube socket connections, rusty metal parts, should I go on?!
But even if one were to find such a disaster unit, having the extra around just might come in handy with a part or two that can serve as a temporary replacement until a new replacement part is located. And with these older transmitters, finding actual replacement parts in either new or new old stock condition is 99.999999999 percent impossible.
And if the unit looks in great shape, as that one does on the link I posted, and if the seller has a very good rating, chances are very good that the unit is in working condition to serve as a backup transmitter in of itself.
That's the thing about collecting and rebuilding the older electronic devices such as your RC-6A. Having something around that will serve as a backup or emergency part source so the hunt for replacement parts can go on while your station is still on the air.
I would get it but funds had to be spent for my wife's surgery she needed a couple weeks ago. No worries there, everything is fine and she's on her feet and happy as a clam! Dang those up front costs! But I don't care, the money went to a vital and good cause because there is no backup that can replace or take the place of my wife.
RFB
RFB, I'm glad your wife is OK, and
that she is happy. That's real important
after a medical procedure. Give
her our best wishes!
And Carl - hat's off to you for the
joke about stacking automobiles to
make an antenna (One of your best,)
your latest "Blaire On Air," and
LPH #25. I have a lot of comments
about that, but, right now I'll just
say I like your character "PHLOTYLLA"
(Not sure how to spell her name.)
I like her slow voice instead of the
fast one. An explanation for that will
follow.
Best Wishes
Best Wishes, Clogged Pipe 1240 and 1450 Radio
Here in the midwaste we are on the brink of going carrier current.
Make a note of this date and time: at 10:30 PM, today, March 1, 2012, the LPB2-20 which we've been carefully rebuilding was connected by a shiny new RF cable to the TCU-30 Coupler, which was temporarily lost under last week's pile of mail, and has been undergoing stress-testing into a dummy load.
No, I'm not putting anyone down, "dummy load" is a radio term which you probably know, and everything is smooth at 570 on the deal.
Probably by this weekend we will make the big plug into the power grid for the beginning of this historic radio adventure.
Your limo will arrive at the appropriate time, tuxedo is optional, pets on leash are welcome.
Let it be known that yours truly, via a stack of emails, provided the proper guidance and steered the new KDX CC ship on course to its final frontier...CC broadcasting!
Thank you Thank you Thank you!! (takes a bow!)
Good night! 🙂
RFB
From nuts and bolts to wirewound resistors, from BIAS voltage to step-by-step instructions, the carrier current equipment rebuild and proof-of-performance check-out could not have happened without the help of RFB, who spent an entire evening, not to mention weeks before-hand, to guide the project into shore (unlike recent cruise ships).
Amidst the many great resources found on this website, RFB is the absolute master of carrier current, and has the devotion of a religious medical doctor to cure broken equipment and personally walk it back to operation.
Then after a successful evening of launching a transmitter, he makes dinner for his wife.
Thank you Carl! And let me also say that you are an excellent student and now you are an LPB transmitter engineer! If I had degree certificates I would issue one in a nice frame to hang on the wall for you to enjoy with pride!
Yep, that's right folks, Carl went through the course and passed with flying colors! Soon after becoming more familiar with how his new CC system operates, he too will be a valuable resource for information on CC systems.
Here's to the new KDX CC station! And salutes to Carl for being such a great and observant student!
You graduated...now go easy on that bottle of champagne! 😀
RFB
Well, I don't drink champagne, I can't even spell it, but my actual drink list would take up a lot of bandwidth.
Here in the midwaste the weather is misbehaving, with a lot of wind and threats of storms, so it would be kind of a fatalistic thing if I threw the big switch to broadcast on the power lines and the power went out all over the mid-section of the country.
Then I would drink champagne.
For the meantime, this message will
have to be short - I'll explain later.
(It's no big deal - just some logistical
problems.)
Carl, I'm very happy for you, and RFB,
I'm happy for you because you were able
to help Carl.
If I can get my LPB CC rig onto a good
channel, there is a very good chance
I can get a professional CC coupler
to use (borrow) for a very long time.
It all depends if I can get the RC-6A
onto a safe channel. If I can't yet,
I won't be asking for the coupler
until I can.
We'll see.
Best Wishes,
Bruce DOGGRADIO STUDIO 2
Before connecting everything for that final plunge, I went out in the wind and cleared some vines from the side of the building. The thermometer dropped and back indoors, we have been surveying our two frequencies.
We have crystals for 570 and 670, since this is a low-band transmitter, and at 5PM while the sun was still up 570 was clear but 670 was the sports station in Chicago. But the critical hours were hopping and things changed fast.
At 6:15 PM the sun was mostly down and 570 was alive with WNAX, 5kW from Yankton, South Dakota, but by 6:30 PM it was fading.
At 6:15 PM 670 had cleared and was just a jumble of far off energy, but at 6:30 PM a Mexican Spanish speaking station was almost clear, somewhat drifting in and out.
We may have to set up a schedule for using these frequencies when carrier current operation begins.
Yep that weather front moving along through the Eastern part of the nation is wreaking havoc and causing a lot of destruction and unfortunate deaths. And it is an unusual kind of weather pattern taking place. Storms like that are usually in the spring and summer time, not in winter.
The unusual weather patterns are directly linked to solar activity. The most recent is Sunspot 24, which was pointed directly at Earth on February 29 and March 01, which coincides with the current weather activity along the East and in other parts of the nation and world.
Our solar system is interlinked, and when the sun acts up, everything within the solar system is affected..even the most outer planet Pluto, which was registered by NASA almost 2 years ago as rising in temperature.
SUV's and carbon footprints do not cause Pluto to warm up..the sun does. And the sun will most assuredly cause climate changes here on Earth. It is no psudo science like the Gore Bore carbon tax nonsense want's everyone to believe. IT"S THE SUN!!
And to give more direct evidence of solar activity affecting Earth...just examine all the highly increased auroras up to the North which have been making their way further South and seen in areas never seen before.
RFB
The effects and affects from The Sun, which for some unknown reason is not ordinarily capitalized, neither are earth or the moon (?), are very definite and it has been widely reported that Gore Bore built a 3-million dollar home right at sea level by the ocean with the proceeds from his polar bear drowning movie (the polar bears weren't drowning, they swim). If he really believed the oceans were going to rise 2,000-feet he would have moved to Santa Fe, 8,000-feet above sea level.
What we need, however, is something we can pin on the SUV, a vehicle that looks like an over-sized tennis shoe / roller-skate and daily runs down nuns and school children as cell-phone talkers sit so high they are viewing the shopping mall a mile ahead, usually with a dog on their lap.
I know. The high gas prices are to be blamed on the SUV. Logic at 10.
One way to learn how the solar system interacts is to take a set of ball magnets and suspend them on strings, arranged like the solar system, with a large one at the center as the Sun. Then take another ball magnet by hand and slowly move it closer to your hanging magnet solar system and watch how that moving ball magnet in your hand affects the other ball magnets.
The planets, and the Sun, all produce a magnetic field, weak or strong, and are affected by one another as well as affected by other bodies moving through the system, such as meteors and asteroids.
This will also affect how the weather behaves, on Earth and the weather on the other planets that have an atmosphere.
RFB