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Old 08-23-2004, 07:56 PM
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My new Blaupunkt and Radio Shack Babies

Here's an inside shot of the Blaupunkt Sultan Type 22203 I just acquired. It appears to be fully radio functional, except for the FM tuning which is somewhat resistant to turning the knob. It looks like getting to the mechanism will be a challenge though, so it will be a while before I get to that. AM comes in extremely well though, and since the BBC is on there, that's all that matters. I'll play with SW as well of course.

Here's piccie no. 1:
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Old 08-23-2004, 07:58 PM
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And pic 2. Note the thingy which is turned a bit off kilter on the left, with the tube sticking out. It appears to be interntional
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Old 08-23-2004, 08:03 PM
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And last but not least the Realistic radio which the owner threw in for free (only paid $20 for the lot). It's got much of the same tuning bands as well as two VHF and one UHF. There's two separate antennae built in for UHF and VHF/FM, as well as a rather old-fashioned female connector for an external antenna. The headphone jack is 1/4", so it has to be mid-70's or earlier.

Not exactly antique, but I must say it has amazing sound quality when I tuned in a TV broadcast.
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Old 08-23-2004, 09:03 PM
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Tom Bavis Tom Bavis is offline
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I didn't find that number in Sams, 20203 is the closest, in #552. Don't have that one anyway.
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Old 08-23-2004, 09:39 PM
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That's Ok Tom, I just appreciate you looking out for me. As it seems functional right now I'm content to just listen to the Beeb It was obviously well loved and not at all abused, except for the curious burn mark on the grille cloth. Not even a dead varmint inside either - very rare to find a tube unit in Bermuda that hasn't become the tomb of the unknown cockroach.

It has now taken pride of place in my shelving unit, perfectly positioned within knob-twiddling reach.

Cheers
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Old 08-24-2004, 09:27 AM
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So Dennis, how close are you to cornering the market on all analogue radio equipment in Bermuda? :-)
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Old 08-24-2004, 12:38 PM
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Indeed I am - hey, that's less radios people will have to listen to the "grass roots" type idiots who phone in to David Lopes' show in the morning - "Ya b'y, de gummint should be lookin' out for de people, you know, like makin' sure dey get de good jobs instead of these bleddy expats" etc.

Serously, I really couldn't let this Blaupunkt go to the dump and the Realistic unit was a freebie, so what the heck

But SW listening is loads of fun - I picked up Radio Vietnam in English last night - brilliant! It seems that South America is huge on SW; guess I'll have to learn Spanish now *grin*. Also heard an American broadcast with some conspiracy theorist types spouting off - love it!

Cheers
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Old 08-24-2004, 12:53 PM
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You are absolutely right about the Blaupunkt, and it's a nice looking radio to boot.

I love SWL and DXing AM (MW) too in the wintertime. Bought a "Select A Tenna" inductively coupled AM loop antenna at the Westford antique radio fleamarket last winter and it works quite well. You might want to snag one of these for AM and low frequency SW (up to about 2 MHz IIRC). Alternatively, there are lots of websites and web-based groups with plans and information on loop antennas for AM and SW. Some examples include:

http://www.mindspring.com/~loop_antenna/
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/antenna/index.html
http://www.greertech.com/hfloop/mymagloop.html
http://www.frontiernet.net/~jadale/Loop.htm

There's also a loop antennas group on Yahoo.


BTW, I have an AM/FM R/S portable that looks a whole lot like your new multiband unit :-)

Cheers!
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Old 08-24-2004, 02:16 PM
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I do indeed want a proper antenna for both the 'punkt (isn't that a show on MTV?) and the RS. The RS has a Motorola style plug for antenna and two separate antennae built in for the different bands. Very funky looking. And the RS dates to 1982 or so, according to the copyright notice in the handbook (which includes the guide to SW stations - too cool! And a bit outdated, but what the heck ;-)

Oh, just wanted to ask about the guide to SW stations: At the end of the guide it lists some stations as "Clandestine". This has me infinitely intrigued - do you know what that means? Is this a vestige of the Cold War perhaps, sort of pirate radio for communist countries perhaps?

Thanks!
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Old 08-24-2004, 07:38 PM
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Many, many kinds of clandestine stations, to this day. One type was known as "spy and numbers" and typically broadcast strings of numbers (digits) spoken in any of a number of languages by a single voice. Others are pirate stations, others are indeed rebels broadcasting within (or to) their countries.

There are still some AM hams, too. You'll eventually want a receiver with a BFO so you can listen to SSB (single sideband) hams so they don't sound like ducks.

Do you know these guys? http://www.universal-radio.com/
Everything you could need, or want, for SWL, amateur, and more. Print catalog available, too.

Get a copy of the PASSPORT TO WORLD BAND RADIO
and/or WORLD RADIO TV HANDBOOK. These are both yearbooks; you might be able to find a few-years old edition at a library book sale or fleamarket. Great resources including reviews of (new) radios.

Radio Nederland's still about the best SW game in town. Lots of info on their website, too (ironically enough): http://www.rnw.nl/cgi-bin/home/enhome.pl
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Old 08-24-2004, 11:16 PM
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Many thanks again for such great info, Mark

Hey, how does one get a DJ slot on one of those Spy and Numbers stations?

I'll have to bone up on my amateur radio technology - I've heard terms such as DXing, single sideband, etc., but have long forgotten what it all means.

Cheers
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Old 08-25-2004, 08:01 AM
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I think they tell YOU that you're gonna be their announcer on the numbers stations...Not a question of asking. Most of the ones I've heard are in Spanish (Ocho, cinco,nueve, cerro,cerro,,,) female and/or computer generated. As far as I know, NOBODY has EVER owned up to being "The Daddy" behind one of them either. After communism kinda went out of business in the early -90s, it was funny-numbers station traffic actually increased for awhile. Pirates are good, too. Most of the ones I've heard have been on SSB-some of 'em are obviously "a bunch of kids playing radio" but some of 'em are quite professional sounding. lots of 'em have mailing addresses wher you can send reception reports to. I actually heard back from one of 'em about 10 years ago-turns out the guy had gone to college here in NE Tennessee. It all sounds like mucho fun, but Uncle Charlie (FCC) takes a VERY dim view of such proceedings, & WILL hit you w/draconian fines, seizure of equipment, etc. The Gummint takes their role of being the sole arbiter of who gets to be on the airwaves EXTREMELY seriously. -Sandy G.
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Old 08-25-2004, 08:48 AM
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So those numbers stations are sending out secret codes and such? Hmm... I can't say I've ever encountered any on my travels over the SW airwaves. I'll keep an ear open now.

Hey I can open my own pirate station here in Bermuda - I'm not in the US My format - all Ralph Nader all the time. For no particular reason, just to be a lAyMeRzzz

I'm getting sill - time to go. Thanks for the info Sandy. Ths SW stuff is getting more intriguing all the time. I guess cuz it's a bit like a wild west area of radio or something, where the big corporations don't roam.

Cheers
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Old 08-25-2004, 09:31 AM
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One of the numbers stations was "triangulated" to be in Cuba, another in E. Germany, & another in northern Virginia-guess who THAT one could have been-but of course, no confirmation or denial on anything. There were allsorts of "friend of a friend of a friend" type stories about who & what they were, but it was always speculation. Best one I knew of was back in late 1990 when there was a lot of traffic about "broken arrows & faded giants"-apparently compromised nuclear facilities. Seems like a bunch of Islamic terrorists broke into a Soviet base in one of the "-stan" countries, killed all the Ruskies, & made off w/the nukes to parts unknown. We were lookin for 'em, so were the Russians, etc. 6 months later we had the 1st Gulf war-but I don't know if we got 'em back or what. And then, shortly after that, the Soviet Union collapsed. Prolly a lot of bovine scatology, but ain't it a fun world we live in, kiddies?!?-Sandy G.
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Old 08-25-2004, 09:49 AM
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He-he, I love that sort of thing. It sounds like the intro to a Clancy novel (it was, actually). Rather unlikely, but fun nonetheless. I get the feeling that if the Islamistanistas had any nukes they would have set it off by now just so they could say they had the ultimate suicide bomb

Do you remember those transmissions which consisted of only thuds (as I vaguely recall)? I'd heard that it was a special Soviet low-frequency radar system. Does that ring a bell?

Said the old man as he pissed into the wind: "It all comes back to me now..."


Cheers
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