Now the modern AM radio's I buy are all crap, esp
car radio's. They can not pull in stations, for nothing.

That's why I have a 60,000(original miles from the aunt) 1983 Dodge Omni. Well,
that's not why, she gave it to me, but it has an AC Delco radio in it, that has
either five or six (I think five) preset push-buttons.

But they aren't 'buttons'..they're slants (I call them, real thin.) That is one
good AM car receiver. I don't know if it has a tube in it, I wouldn't think.
But when you turn it on, the backlight will come on but the sound won't for
about five seconds, and it says that in the original radio manual in the glove
compartment. The one speaker is directly above it, all I need, a good DXer for
a cruise.

It has just two knobs, but the on/off/volume knob also has a pull-out
attenuator which works like a dream. My suggestion is, if you're truly wanting
a good AM radio (I don't do music-so loss of FM isn't a biggie) go to a 'good
reputable' junkyard and get you one that is strictly just for the BCB.

The one up here where I live, actually two of them,as soon as you walk in they
have hundreds that they've pulled and have in a glass cabinet. They don't cost
that much either and your problem is solved.;-)

~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+Howell
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Sloper
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*

The AM section in the Cambridge Audio Model T500 tuner is good, and it is a
dual conversion design. The sound of it is nothing to write home about,
though.

Pete

"Mediaguy500" wrote in message
...
In many, many applications today where an AM tuner is included (a
low-priced stereo reciever is a good example) the AM circuitry is not
even as good as the better "pocket" transistor radios of the 1960's.
The designer's view is: "Hey, they aren't buying a stereo rceiver to

listen to AM, fercryinoutloud!" - and they save some nickles there

exactly. That has been my experience also. No matter what modern radios I
buy
or hear at someone else's house (no matter what the price is) does not do
good
at picking up AM and in fact, is very poor at picking up AM, while the FM
side
is good.

While the old radios I have seen pick up AM as well as today's radios pick
up
FM.

The FM broadcast band first gained popularity over the AM broadcast band
sometime in the mid-1970's to late 1970's).

altthough I'm not sure when the manufacturers decided to stop making AM
reception on radios any good.

The older radios are probably the better bet for good AM reception, in my
opinion.

If I were a DXer and not a SWLer, I would get a WWII military receiver. Those
were no-frills radios that could just about hear anything that was on the
air.
And when a band was open, the receiver would sound dead -- except when there

was a signal.

I know and totally agree with what you said. Do you mean though for a car? If
so, where would one find one of these? Would it mount in a car or take some
ingenuity?

That's kind of the way it is with that old Delco, is it possible it has a tube
in it? No volume right away just like my tube receivers here at home.
It'll be quiet while I'm driving a straight ten mile stretch along the river
slowly turning the knob and then bam- there's a station, or if two are on top
of each other, I pull out on the on/off/volume and presto, I have only one
station.

I love it and will keep it till I die, but if I could find what your talking
about, I'd definitely put it in and moves the Delco inside or maybe keep both
of them in there. :-D

~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+Howell
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Sloper
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*

A few hundred feet of wire hooked to just about any halfway-decent radio
will bring in plenty of DX.

That'd look killer while driving. ;-)

~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+Howell
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Sloper
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*

In article ,
says...

What modern (new or used) AM radio can I buy that can pull in distant stations?
Is there a way to boast the strength of a common AM radio (by placing a pipe
alongside it...or some such)? Lately, I buy cheap (old transistor) radio's at
yard sales, hoping that some of them will have good AM reception. Very few do
have.

How much are you looking to spend? What do you consider distant? I've
pulled in stations from 1000 miles away on a modern pocket radio, but I
still wouldn't consider it much of a DX machine by itself. (Hook up a
decent external antenna and it's a different story.) Are you just
looking for the big guys (50kW) or are you fishing for the small fry? It
makes a world of difference in which radio would be most appropriate.

I have a Realistic DX-100 like that. I suppose it was factory
aligned at 455 kHz, but the IF had a double peak. I realigned it to the
center frequency of the ceramic

************rest snipped****************

You have one of those Frank? You like? LOL. I love mine. I had two and traded
with DXZoner, who used to post in here about a year ago.

It was my first 'I thought' real receiver. I think the definition of your
'first' receiver is the one that peaked your curiousity and then you continued
in the radio hobby.

That's the DX100 for me. Matter of fact, I went in the living room about
fifteen minutes ago and turned it on to let it warm up. It's in mint condition,
got the box and papers for it. Had a tech buddie of mine get in it with his
equipment and he said it was just a tad off. I don't know how much a tad
was/is. But I'll measure it with my DX399 hooked to a yo-yo antenna wire from
Bil'ls company (that antenna has been everywhere and been put through crap) and
match it up to see the exact freq. at it's always dead on.

But it has to be on for about a good 45minutes to be stable. How's the drift on
yours? When does it even out for you on your piece?

~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+Howell
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Sloper
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*

"GO BEARCATS" wrote in message
...

You have one of those Frank? You like? LOL. I love mine. I had two and
traded
with DXZoner, who used to post in here about a year ago.

I've got mixed feelings about it. The sensitivity and selectitivity are OK.
The radio rejects power line noise well. It doesn't use much power, and it
looks like it would be easy to make an external battery pack for it if I
wanted to go portable with it.


The image rejection is poor, especially on the top two bands. The stability
is OK for AM.. None of the problems are unexpected on an unexpensive radio.

In my opinion, the radio's real drawback is it's tuning. The tuning has too
much drag and backlash. It feels rubbery. The dial graduations are too
coarse. The fine tuning isn't nearly as useful as a real bandspread.

I've only seen pictures of the DX-200. It does have a sort of family
resembelance to the DX-100. The DX-200 looks to have better dial
graduations and a real bandspread. If the 200 is the 100 with better
tuning, it's probably a pretty good radio.

The DX-100 is a decent radio for AM DXing. I can often hear WLW during the
day here in the Chicago area off the internal ferrite antenna. The radio's
weaknesses get more troublesome on the higher bands.



It was my first 'I thought' real receiver. I think the definition of your
'first' receiver is the one that peaked your curiousity and then you
continued
in the radio hobby.

That's the DX100 for me. Matter of fact, I went in the living room about
fifteen minutes ago and turned it on to let it warm up. It's in mint
condition,
got the box and papers for it. Had a tech buddie of mine get in it with
his
equipment and he said it was just a tad off. I don't know how much a tad
was/is. But I'll measure it with my DX399 hooked to a yo-yo antenna wire
from
Bil'ls company (that antenna has been everywhere and been put through
crap) and
match it up to see the exact freq. at it's always dead on.

But it has to be on for about a good 45minutes to be stable. How's the
drift on
yours? When does it even out for you on your piece?


Maybe fifteen minutes to half an hour and there's no noticable drift on AM.
It never stabilizes enough to be "set and forget" on SSB. It will drift
noticably with room temperature changes.

Frank Dresser

My DX-200 is a drifter. Pretty worthless with tinny sound.
It does "look" cool though....



"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...

"GO BEARCATS" wrote in message
...

You have one of those Frank? You like? LOL. I love mine. I had two and
traded
with DXZoner, who used to post in here about a year ago.

I've got mixed feelings about it. The sensitivity and selectitivity are
OK.
The radio rejects power line noise well. It doesn't use much power, and
it
looks like it would be easy to make an external battery pack for it if I
wanted to go portable with it.


The image rejection is poor, especially on the top two bands. The
stability
is OK for AM.. None of the problems are unexpected on an unexpensive
radio.

In my opinion, the radio's real drawback is it's tuning. The tuning has
too
much drag and backlash. It feels rubbery. The dial graduations are too
coarse. The fine tuning isn't nearly as useful as a real bandspread.

I've only seen pictures of the DX-200. It does have a sort of family
resembelance to the DX-100. The DX-200 looks to have better dial
graduations and a real bandspread. If the 200 is the 100 with better
tuning, it's probably a pretty good radio.

The DX-100 is a decent radio for AM DXing. I can often hear WLW during
the
day here in the Chicago area off the internal ferrite antenna. The
radio's
weaknesses get more troublesome on the higher bands.



It was my first 'I thought' real receiver. I think the definition of
your
'first' receiver is the one that peaked your curiousity and then you
continued
in the radio hobby.

That's the DX100 for me. Matter of fact, I went in the living room about
fifteen minutes ago and turned it on to let it warm up. It's in mint
condition,
got the box and papers for it. Had a tech buddie of mine get in it with
his
equipment and he said it was just a tad off. I don't know how much a tad
was/is. But I'll measure it with my DX399 hooked to a yo-yo antenna wire
from
Bil'ls company (that antenna has been everywhere and been put through
crap) and
match it up to see the exact freq. at it's always dead on.

But it has to be on for about a good 45minutes to be stable. How's the
drift on
yours? When does it even out for you on your piece?


Maybe fifteen minutes to half an hour and there's no noticable drift on
AM.
It never stabilizes enough to be "set and forget" on SSB. It will drift
noticably with room temperature changes.

Frank Dresser

(MossadAgent86) wrote in message ...



Hey Moss, go to eBay item #2243069341, there's a GE P-780 for auction right now.

Grumpus


I want to rant a short while and then ask a question about AM reception.

Years ago (I think) all radio's had superheterodyne circuits which allowed for
great sensitivity and selectivity. I figured that, for all time, all radio's
would be superhet circuitry. Now the modern AM radio's I buy are all crap, esp
car radio's. They can not pull in stations, for nothing.

What modern (new or used) AM radio can I buy that can pull in distant stations?
Is there a way to boast the strength of a common AM radio (by placing a pipe
alongside it...or some such)? Lately, I buy cheap (old transistor) radio's at
yard sales, hoping that some of them will have good AM reception. Very few do
have.

"Jim Hackett" wrote in message
hlink.net...
My DX-200 is a drifter. Pretty worthless with tinny sound.

The appearant drift of my DX-100 was reduced after I aligned it. The
ceramic IF filter didn't peak at exactly 455 kHz. The IF had a dip between
two peaks. I was tuning it in on the bigger of the two peaks, but didn't
take much drift for it to get detuned. I religned the IF cans to the peak
of the ceramic filter, something like 456 kHz. Really very little
difference. But after the relignment, I'm sure the bandpass was more
symmetrical, and a drift of a few hundred Hz didn't produce so much audio
distortion. No doubt the local oscillator was just as drifty as it always
had been, but the tuning was a bit less critical.

If tuning across a strong station seems to give an unsymerical response on
the S-meter, a careful alignment may fix a couple of problems.


It does "look" cool though....




And I'm sure making cool looking radios was a big part of the business plan
of the Hallidrifters Corporation.

Frank Dresser