On 90 it's time to celebrate 7, as Worldround Radio, producer of the Low Power Hour, looks back to the beginnings.
It began with an AMT3000 kit from SSTran.com, built in about 6-hours at the personal hand of Carl Blare.
Then we spent a few months trying to stream on the internet, and when it was figured out, this whole thing was launched.
We are joined in celebration by the Patio Parade Promenade Orchestra and the party is still going on here at the Internet Building in the center of North America.
To download the show for friends and affiliates
To listen right away select KDX5 on
http://kdxradio.com/demand.html
Drive safely.
Will there be an open bar?
Yes, we have a well stocked radio bar. You can hear it but not see it.
First Carl, let me say that I have almost
no access to a computer, so I'm sorry this is
a late reply. I can't see any of the laptops
(at home) well enough for practical use, even with
mag software. (I'm sure another home computer
is on the way.)
I can use a computer at work, during breaks. It has
a gigantic monitor.
So anyway, when I heard Ädventures in the 3rd
Dimentia (sp) - I knew I remembered a lot of it
from when you originally broadcast it 7 years ago.
At least that's what I think. That's when it was, right?
(And yet, I can't remember what I had for breakfast
this morning.) It seems to me that your audio from then
is exactly the same as it is now. So when you switch from
a current announcement on the show to an old recording -
all of the audio characteristics are the same. Pretty cool.
The info about streaming was interesting. There is so
much I don't know.
So Carl, you have another one in the virtual can.
As always, a lot of fun.
Bruce, sitting next to an HQ-140X right now
Bruce, you have been all through the years the number one inspiration for doing the Low Power shows.
You will get your computer shortage solved somehow, because that's what you are trying to do.
As William Shakespeare said, "There is more different stuff in low power than anywhere in heaven and earth."
thank you, Carl. You always have a
great way with words.
I appreciate it.
Bruce, 12AX7
Bruce 12AX7, you have named yourself after an electron tube? I always liked the 12AX7 and the 12AU7.
I feel like I have to put SOMETHING after
my name.
I put this entry in a few days ago. That was all I could
think of.
You said you like 12AX7s and 12AU7s. That reminds me -
didn't you build one of your first audio mixers with 12AX7s?
That's not why I put the tube name after "Bruce," but
it is a funny coincidence.
I was going to say something like, "Owner Of LPB RC-6A
0n carrier current.
But my carrier current transmitter just developed some major
problems and might not be used again if I can't fix it.
That's a subject for another thread. Well - the RC-6A os more
than 40 years old. I guess we'll see.
Best Wishes
Bruce, 12AX7
My first mixer was a 3-pot passive mixer with GE tube RIAA preamps on the turntables and one of the same GE pre-amps strapped for flat microphone curve and giving the mic the needed boost. That was the studio that fed a Knight Kit Part 15 transmitter.
When I built a recording service and went into business I built a giant mixer with a flip open big hunk of aluminum as the face, copper sreen lining the inside of the wooden housing for isolation from interferences, and the circuits were mounted on cut-outs from aluminum cookie sheets and mounted vertically on aluminum framing.
The mixer was about 8-expensive audio-taper pots driving 12AX7 tubes, one per input, with circuits that kept changing as I tried this and that.
It did a tremendous job and the quality was comparable with anybody in town.
My next professional mixer was the Ramko being discussed in another thread. It was more "delicate" than the mixer I built, but it was the beginning of solid state and now I guess it's the midst of solid state, probably not yet the end of it.
When I design a Part 15 tube transmitter it might use 12AX7 somewhere in the circuit, maybe the modulator or oscillator.
Yeah, that's REALLY impressive, Carl.
Especially with all of that metal work.
And then to build a mixer that is so well
made, it could be used for a business. wow.
That's in a higher class altogether.
I had friends who built mixers - but
solid state.
There were atleast four serious Part 15 FM stations
in West Hartford starting around 1969
or 1970. They all had fairly regular programming.
Almost every one had tried to be on the AM band
without much luck. They all had control boards
which were homemade, except for mine. I used
my Sony reel to reel deck as a three channel mixer.
(Sort of.) It was all mono anyway. I couldn't build
a board for obvious reasons. All stations went to FM
using either the Radio Shack FM wireless mike kit,
or, FM transmitter modules. I guess we were all beyond
the legal limits for FM signal strength but we had no
concept about legalities. We were all absolutely
CRAZY for electronics and radio.
Anyway, it's nice that you made a career in what you enjoyed.
What a great deal!
Bruce, 12AX7