SignalGuy

Bits and pieces: I drove up Rt. 309 to see the doctor again yesterday. That gave me a chance to check on that new station on 1620 KHz. It’s still a loop, but, they have a call sign now, and, are stating that they are a joint operation of Quakertown Boro, and, it’s school district. They are also starting to carry local event info, and, promising further development of the station. They seem to have upped the power a bit, now rendering part 15 operator WNAR unlistenable all the way from Mile marker 25, on North to Quakertown. WNAR remains useable through most of Telford, Franconia, parts of Lansdale, and Souderton, and much of Rt 113 between Franconia on down towards Harleysville.

That noisy / buzzy / otherwise unmoderated carrier wave on 106.5 MHZ was back on this weekend, mainly Sunday. I’m wondering if it’s a forgotten part of a church sound system somewhere, coming on and off with some other gear, etc. When it’s on, I can’t hear my own Sainsonic outside of my apartment anymore.

The crystal I have ordered for 1700 KHZ is here! Quite possibly my last custom crystal. But I am finding more and more stuff to replace them with. It looks like it will be something based on the now very popular “Arduino” microcontroller boards.

With good motorcycle riding weather approaching, my part 15 projects will temporarily go on the back burner, but I do hope to be firing up on 1700 KHZ AM this year.

Happy Easter!