I'm not sure whether I qualify to post notes on this newsgroups, since I
don't know what qualifies as a boat anchor radio. I'm interested in
general coverage receiving, but I'm not a Ham and haven't got into
transcievers or transmitting stations. - I have a Realistic DX-160,
bought recently from Ebay, and also a Radio Shack portable similar to
the Sangean ATS-909. Is this group directed only to HAM radio, or would
general DX receivers also qualify? I would guess that my small portable
wouldn't, but I'm not sure about the DX-160?

Can anyone tell me what whether general DX receiving would be within the
general subject matter of the ng?

Thanks,
Jim Cate

"JimC" wrote in message
et...
I'm not sure whether I qualify to post notes on this newsgroups, since I
don't know what qualifies as a boat anchor radio. I'm interested in
general coverage receiving, but I'm not a Ham and haven't got into
transcievers or transmitting stations. - I have a Realistic DX-160, bought
recently from Ebay, and also a Radio Shack portable similar to the Sangean
ATS-909. Is this group directed only to HAM radio, or would general DX
receivers also qualify? I would guess that my small portable wouldn't, but
I'm not sure about the DX-160?

Can anyone tell me what whether general DX receiving would be within the
general subject matter of the ng?

Thanks,
Jim Cate

Hi Jim - Boatanchors are usually very old heavy tube type radio/transmitters
etc.

Probably a better grpup for you is rec.radio.shortwave -- lots of info and
posts about Shortwave Listening and variuos radio madels.

Happy SWL Listening
CL -- Radio Shack DX-398

JimC wrote:
I'm not sure whether I qualify to post notes on this newsgroups, since I
don't know what qualifies as a boat anchor radio. I'm interested in
general coverage receiving, but I'm not a Ham and haven't got into
transcievers or transmitting stations. - I have a Realistic DX-160,
bought recently from Ebay, and also a Radio Shack portable similar to
the Sangean ATS-909. Is this group directed only to HAM radio, or would
general DX receivers also qualify? I would guess that my small portable
wouldn't, but I'm not sure about the DX-160?

Can anyone tell me what whether general DX receiving would be within the
general subject matter of the ng?

Thanks,
Jim Cate

Hi Jim,

Boat Anchor's are usually heavy radios with big power transformers, and lots
of vacuum tubes. The definition has loosened up somewhat to include some of
the slightly more modern ham radio gear that is partly solid state, and partly
tubes (hybrid).

The only requirement for joining this group is having an interest in things
of this sort.

Although there is some discussion of receiving, and such, it is mostly in
connection with describing the performance of a particular radio vs some other
radio. DX receiving is not in the general focus of this group. There are other
groups in the rec.radio hierarchy that do focus on SWL receiving.

-Chuck

The general category of boat anchors is met by something big and heavy
enough to literally be used as an anchor for a small boat.

The true determination is generally made by your spouse. If you can walk in
the front door with it, without your spouse asking "and what are you
planning to do with that?", it is not a boat anchor. Boat anchors are
brought in during the night or on long weekends.

My triumph in a lifetime of packratting was to bring home 14,000 tubes and
hide them in the basement and barn so that it was 3 weeks before my wife
realized there was more stuff there.

Acquiring boatanchors is an art form. Being on eBay helps. When you sell
something on eBay (preferably a small item that you do not need), let your
wife know that you have sold something. Say nothing when you acquire things
and at first you must sneak in the big stufft.

Remember, that you need to justify the existence of your giant ham shack and
storage. When the family tv goes out, this is an opportunity. Take it out
to the shop and tell your wife you are going to work on it. Then, early the
next morning, before she gets up, sneak out to the shop and get the tv and
put it in the trunk of your car. Later, take it to the tv shop to get
fixed. Make sure they have your cell phone to call you when it is ready.
Then pick it up and sneak it out to the shop. Later, in full view of your
wife, bring it into the house and proclaim that your knowledge and equipment
has fixed her tv.

The perfect boat anchor collector is Lamont Cranston (aka The Shadow), for
he can cloud the mind of spouses so that they cannot see all the piles and
piles of boatanchors. At times, I am convinced I have achieved that level,
but then my wife exclaims "how come more and more crap accumulates in all
the rooms?" But, by quickly changing the subject, the mind control works
again.

I cannot tell you all my secrets, but I can now get one or two boxes a week
without more than a mutter from my wife. It is based upon years of practice
and honing a fine art.

Colin K7FM

Chuck Harris wrote:

JimC wrote:

I'm not sure whether I qualify to post notes on this newsgroups, since
I don't know what qualifies as a boat anchor radio. I'm interested in
general coverage receiving, but I'm not a Ham and haven't got into
transcievers or transmitting stations. - I have a Realistic DX-160,
bought recently from Ebay, and also a Radio Shack portable similar to
the Sangean ATS-909. Is this group directed only to HAM radio, or
would general DX receivers also qualify? I would guess that my small
portable wouldn't, but I'm not sure about the DX-160?

Can anyone tell me what whether general DX receiving would be within
the general subject matter of the ng?

Thanks,
Jim Cate


Hi Jim,

Boat Anchor's are usually heavy radios with big power transformers, and
lots
of vacuum tubes. The definition has loosened up somewhat to include
some of
the slightly more modern ham radio gear that is partly solid state, and
partly
tubes (hybrid).

The only requirement for joining this group is having an interest in things
of this sort.

Although there is some discussion of receiving, and such, it is mostly in
connection with describing the performance of a particular radio vs some
other
radio. DX receiving is not in the general focus of this group. There
are other
groups in the rec.radio hierarchy that do focus on SWL receiving.

-Chuck

My DX-160 receiver is rather large, around 1 ft, 2 in. wide, and it is
about 30 years old. However, it's solid state, because I was more
interested in using it than in collecting or fixing it up. Years ago I
did use tube shortwave radios (a Zenith table model and a Hallicrafter
S-38, when they were popular and in general use.

How do these old tube models compare with current or recent SS models in
the same general price range?

Jim

The DX-160 is comparable to the Hallicraters S-85 - a $120 general coverage
receiver ala 1958.

The DX-160 is analog and single conversion. That means the dial calibration
is not great nor is the image rejection very good above about 12 MHz. Also,
the selectivity is average.

For listening to short wave broadcast stations below 12 MHz, the DX-160 is
adequate. Really not that bad. But, it lacks a noise blanker, any
rejection tuning and is generally just ok.

The modern true short wave radio will have digital tuning, double
conversion, excellent stability and image rejection and generally lack all
of the qualities that boatanchor lovers covet.

R-390A receivers are big and heavy, but they lack the instability, poor
calibration and poor image rejection of many of the true boat anchors. We
tolerate those owners in this group merely because the receivers are very
heavy and have sharp corners, which makes a great anchor. In addition, they
probably can be used for anchors for months before the electrical quality is
affected.

Colin K7FM

On Fri, 02 Feb 2007 02:40:49 +0000, COLIN LAMB wrote:

The true determination is generally made by your spouse. If you can walk in
the front door with it, without your spouse asking "and what are you
planning to do with that?", it is not a boat anchor. Boat anchors are
brought in during the night or on long weekends.

That is CLASSIC! :-)

Cheers,

Gregg

JimC wrote:
I'm not sure whether I qualify to post notes on this newsgroups, since I
don't know what qualifies as a boat anchor radio. I'm interested in
general coverage receiving, but I'm not a Ham and haven't got into
transcievers or transmitting stations. - I have a Realistic DX-160,
bought recently from Ebay, and also a Radio Shack portable similar to
the Sangean ATS-909. Is this group directed only to HAM radio, or would
general DX receivers also qualify? I would guess that my small portable
wouldn't, but I'm not sure about the DX-160?

You probably want rec.radio.shortwave.

Discussions of general coverage receivers is welcome here, if the receivers
are actually boatanchors. The DX-160 is on the borderline of the boatanchor
mark since they can comfortably be lifted in one hand.

In the case of transmitters, the "watts per pound" measure is helpful to
determine if a device is a boatanchor or not. In the case of receivers it
is somewhat more vague.

Can anyone tell me what whether general DX receiving would be within the
general subject matter of the ng?

No, but care and alignment of a DX-160 wouldn't be too far out.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 16:03:10 -0800, Caveat Lector wrote in :

"JimC" wrote in message
et...
I'm not sure whether I qualify to post notes on this newsgroups, since I
don't know what qualifies as a boat anchor radio. I'm interested in
general coverage receiving, but I'm not a Ham and haven't got into
transcievers or transmitting stations. - I have a Realistic DX-160, bought
recently from Ebay, and also a Radio Shack portable similar to the Sangean
ATS-909. Is this group directed only to HAM radio, or would general DX
receivers also qualify? I would guess that my small portable wouldn't, but
I'm not sure about the DX-160?

Can anyone tell me what whether general DX receiving would be within the
general subject matter of the ng?

Hi Jim - Boatanchors are usually very old heavy tube type radio/transmitters
etc.

Probably a better grpup for you is rec.radio.shortwave -- lots of info and
posts about Shortwave Listening and variuos radio madels.

This group really is more about the radios than about their use, in
my experience. The boatanchors we discuss are indeed old, heavy, big
boxes, usually but not always all-vacuum-tube, and usually but not always
rack-mountable. Some examples can be found by Googling on `R-390 OR R-390A
OR FRR-59 OR R-1051 radio receiver', without the quotes; the string _is_
case sensitive: the "OR" must be in upper case to have Google do the
alternation correctly.

Or you can look at the following URLs on my website to see the R-390,
R-390A, R-1051B, and R-1051H:
http://mikea.ath.cx/R-390/
http://mikea.ath.cx/R-390A/
http://mikea.ath.cx/R-1051/

--
'Dianetics' and 'Battlefield Earth'. "Burning books is *wrong*. So we shot
them instead." Apparently they do quite well as targets; whatever he was
using had as much trouble getting all the way through BE as many a human
reader. -- David Gerard, posting as Brian Harradine, in the Monastery

COLIN LAMB wrote:
The DX-160 is comparable to the Hallicraters S-85 - a $120 general coverage
receiver ala 1958.

The DX-160 is analog and single conversion. That means the dial calibration
is not great nor is the image rejection very good above about 12 MHz. Also,
the selectivity is average.

For listening to short wave broadcast stations below 12 MHz, the DX-160 is
adequate. Really not that bad. But, it lacks a noise blanker, any
rejection tuning and is generally just ok.

The modern true short wave radio will have digital tuning, double
conversion, excellent stability and image rejection and generally lack all
of the qualities that boatanchor lovers covet.

R-390A receivers are big and heavy, but they lack the instability, poor
calibration and poor image rejection of many of the true boat anchors. We
tolerate those owners in this group merely because the receivers are very
heavy and have sharp corners, which makes a great anchor. In addition, they
probably can be used for anchors for months before the electrical quality is
affected.

Colin K7FM


Thanks. I also have a Radio Shack DX-398, which has double conversion,
digital tuning, and tuning memory provisions. - Obviously, it wouldn't
qualify as a boat anchor, but it's a good supplement to the DX-160. - I
wanted the DX-160 because it has analog tuning, and an easily read
display. I'm in the process of constructing an outdoor antenna.

Jim