Hi everybody:
This is a long story that I will shorten a lot.
I am now running different AM frequencies day and
night because one frequency is clear during
Hi everybody:
This is a long story that I will shorten a lot.
I am now running different AM frequencies day and
night because one frequency is clear during
the day (1690) and the other one is clearer at
night (1700). The switching is automatic. I rigged
this up just for fun recently. A power supply in the
studio on a timer sends a control voltage out
to a relay I put in my SSTran, across the frequency
programing dip-switches. When the timer comes
on at 5:30 AM, 12 volts goes out to the relay, it
closes (just in time for sign-on) and the station is
on 1690. At 7:30 PM the timer turns off, the relay
opens, and the station jumps up to 1700. The station
shuts down at 1:AM with the appropriate announcement,
and then the next day everything repeats. Is anybody
else doing anything like this or similar to it?
Thanks a lot!
Bruce, Micro 1690 day/1700 night for now
That's a really cool idea.
I just wonder where are you located Bruce?
Here at night WEUP-AM 1700 blasts through here with 1000 watts nighttime power. Their daytime power is 10,000 watts.
Check them out on http://www.radio-locator.com
I sometimes wonder if they are one of the few stations that choose to ignore the required nighttime power decrease. I moved my station off of 1700 because even in the daylight hours WEUP would interfere with my station.
At any rate, your approach to channel hopping is genius and reminds me of shortwave transmitters that operate on different bands to avoid interference taking advantage of the unique "skip" properties of each shortwave band.
Some of these transmitters have a larger version of the tuning circuits found in the Talking House.
Great job
Hi there!
Well thank you so much for your kind comments.
I am in Connecticut. 1700 was absolutely clear
until a few weeks ago. A station has come on there
that says it's part 15 and I'll just go with that.
I tend to be very low key. Since my station is an
experiment and I have just a few listeners moving
to 1690 was no big deal. I do not hear that other station
at night. Either it is off the air then, or it is covered
up by a station in Florida that I hear at night, which is
listed as 10kW day and 1kW night. I don't remember
the current callsign of the Florida station. The call
has changed many times and it's signal is not that strong.
My set-up with the SStran is a bit different. I have
a tuning coil (that must have fairly good Q) attached
right into the circuit board of the SSTran. It is tuned
with a ferrite rod and various taps I put in it.
It is probably not as good as the usual set-up but it
works OK. The station has been heard weakly but
readable on a car radio 2 miles away. I have a less
than 3 meter antenna and a bunch of radials.
The local coverage within 1/4 to 1/2 miles is pretty
good. It sounded OK on a generic boombox indoors
about 8 houses from mine. (Although our lots are
quite narrow.)
The coil set-up must have a fairly good Q because
(and I didn't expect this) the night-time 1700 signal
only goes about 500 feet and vanishes. The 1690 frequency
went about 1000 feet at night until is disappeared
under strong interference from Maryland and Canada.
I'm going to have to figure out how to put in another
relay to change the tap on the tuning coil for the
sunset frequency change to 1700 so it goes farther.
To me this is tons of fun! Thank again for your comments
I have enjoyed reading about your station, too!
Best Wishes, Bruce Micro1690 day/1700 night
Have used it myself to control audio inputs to the transmitter.
http://www.geocities.com/scwis/scasp.html
Thank you SCWIS. I have seen that item on
your website about using minimal old computers -
I have always been interested in that. I have an
old 486 that has no sound card or I would try it.
I have enjoyed your website a great deal. And
rock95seven, I really like your website, too.
As far as the frequency change project goes,
I will let all you guys know what happens. Whether
I use two separate tuning coils for the day and night
frequencies, or the same one for both with relay
switched taps and a motor to move the ferrite rod -
well, I don't know.
But that's what makes it so much fun!
Best Regards, Bruce, Micro1690Day/1700Night
Hi SCWIS:
I just took another look at your SCASP projects and
they really are cool. You certainly know a lot
about computers.
Best Wishes, Bruce, MICRO1690/1700