[Lowfer] Re: 600MRG> Boat Anchor Receiver Test

[Tom]

Lee:

Well written...I love these stories relating to old time radio.....Tom
N8TL

On Thu, 2008-09-11 at 16:02 -0500, Lee Mushel wrote:
> Ya know, you guys, I guess I never warned Fritz when I told him that I was
> interested in this stuff that I have the habit of, from time to time,
> slipping into a story telling mode.  Sometimes I am even guilty of slipping
> off topic.   If you are a person averse to such activity and you don't have
> a sense of humor I suggest you reach for your delete button right now.
> Anyway, I do still have my novice station from 1959 or so and I have taken
> note of what I consider to be marginal performance by some very expensive
> asian equipment.   And the fact that the latest copy of QEX discusses
> receiver performance made me sit up and take notice of the boat anchor
> discussion on this reflector.  To digress slightly I want to point out that
> the same issue of QEX has an article on crystal sets.   Some might question
> why such a topic would be included in that magazine but  I can trace my own
> interest in ham radio to such a thing given to me when I was four or five by
> my grandfather who explained in great detail what a  marvelous a thing it
> was.   And this was followed by a school science club where I learned the
> code and then built a crystal set with O1A amplifier!
> 
> Anyway, when I learned of the existence of the lowfer project I thought it
> would be a fun thing for me and I immediately contacted Fritz.  I explained
> to him that I liked and could build my own equipment but even more
> importantly, since I have some of the most leading edge ham gear available
> right now I was certain that I could contribute to the effort without
> difficulty!
> 
> >From time to time, maybe daily, the XYL says I get confused.  You have no
> idea how shocked I was when I first hooked this highly esteemed piece of
> gear to a 1,500 ft. beverage and found nothing that I could identify as a
> ham-originated signal.   Certainly no CW anyway.   There was nothing but
> very strong images from the broadcast band.   In discussion with the owner
> of the company who manufactured the radio I learned that the extremely broad
> front end----I think 100khz to 54 mhz with no tuned circuits was going to
> require some sort of low pass filter.   After much effort and money expended
> on my part I only recently learned that sensitivity is also deliberately
> reduced to minimize the image problems  and even the 160 meter band is
> affected by this!   This is something I learned on Monday of this week.
> Yesterday I won an auction on Ebay for what I hope will prove to be a low
> frequency boat anchor-type receiver.
> 
> Now, am I upset with my high tech radio?   Absolutely not!   It has simply
> remarkable characteristics and if I was a 40, 80 and twenty meter contester
> I would find its capabilities amazing!  But the designers never anticipated
> that some old duck educated in a school heated with a wood stove (but only
> until the third grade when the oil burner appeared) would come along and
> actually test the limits of coverage!
> 
> Surely, these are the most exciting times for ham radio!
> 
> 73
> 
> Lee   K9WRU
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <jrusgrove at comcast.net>
> To: "shmrg at piobaire.mines.uida" <shmrg at piobaire.mines.uidaho.edu>;
> <lowfer at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 12:34 PM
> Subject: 600MRG> Boat Anchor Receiver Test
> 
> 
> > Somewhat LF and MF related...
> >
> > I've always been curious how boat anchor receivers stacked up in terms of
> > minimum discernable signal (MDS), blocking and two-tone dynamic range so I
> > made  measurements on some of the highly prized receivers 'of the day'.
> > Turns out they did pretty well!
> >
> > http://www.w1vd.com/BAreceivertest.html
> >
> > Jay W1VD
> >
> >
> >
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> 
> 
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