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#1
10-12-2007, 11:29 PM
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Messing with distance on my radios
Mapquest says I am 451 miles from Nashville TN,, in which I am listening to WSM 650 AM. My Hallicrafters barely pulls it in. I have an Emerson 541 that pulls it in fine, no outside antenna. But, I have 2 other Emerson 541's that wont pick up the station. Anyone know why? Does not really matter, but just bugs me.
Dan 
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#2
10-13-2007, 12:36 AM
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All am antennas have a sweet spot one of your radios likes that station more than the others .Also some radios are just alighned better than others out of 10 GE super radios 1 will out shine all the others, 7 or so will just be good and one or two might be half def by comparison.
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#3
10-13-2007, 12:55 AM
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probably the weaker sets need an alignment. The caps and stuff drift out of spec after a while, and the IF and RF cans need a re-peak to perform optimally. I've done it just by tuning in a weak station mid-band, and tweaking the cans till the station was at it's loudest, but its not the ideal way. Best method would involve injecting a carrier at the IF frequency and tuning the IF cans with an o-scope, but generally speaking the earhole method for AM sets works acceptably.
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Random bits of stuff in the collection: Yamaha YP-D4 turntable with B&O MMC 10E cart Allied 495 receiver 2 Magnavox amps, AMP150 and an AMP178, currently under the knife. Onkyo TX-4500 Onkyo Radian III speakers
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#4
10-13-2007, 05:29 PM
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I would check tubes (Oscillator/mixer, IF) before alignment...weak tubes are usually not all that evident on strong stations but certainly can affect distant ones.
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#5
10-13-2007, 07:34 PM
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Sometime in the middle 70's my Mother was hospitalized and she wanted an FM radio so she could listen to what she wanted in her room. I was working for the Magnavox dealer and Dad came in to get her a radio. He selected a Magnavox model 270 which is just a pretty nondescript moderate sized plastic AM-FM set that used "C" cells so she would be able to get better battery life than one that used "AA's". The hospital would not let patients have anything that had to be plugged in.
I was playing around with the little set and it was receiving FM stations from over 65 miles away clearly inside a metal building located in a valley, I tried several other sets we had in the display and none of them would touch it for sensitivity. Since that radio was a display I went and got a new one in the box and opened it up, put batteries in it and tried it, like the others it wouldn't come anywhere near the display set for sensitivity. Mother passed away in 1984 and I now have the radio, it's still hotter than a $2.00 pistol.
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"proximo satis pro administratio" KAØSCR
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#6
10-13-2007, 07:55 PM
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Now you all make alot of sense. The Emerson that pulled in the station is freshly redone by a known radio man. One other Emerson and the Hallicrafters are original sets, which I seldom use, but mess with once in awhile. The other Emerson I bought of Ebay and I play it alot, but just local stations. I am bidding on a nice tube tester on Ebay and hopefully I get it. I need to start building some tools to work with this stuff. Thanks all for the response. And as a note, the Emerson that pulled in the station was bought by my Grandmother new in 1947. She lived with us and I was raised with the radio, it was in our kitchen for most of my life and we listened to it every morning for news and entertainment.
Dan
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