[R-390] R390A Noise Floor and otherness

Tue Sep 11 12:27:12 EDT 2012

If the receiver is working properly AND it has aged kindly, rotating the 
ANT TRIM control with no antenna attached will result in a noise peak.

When the receiver peaks on ITS OWN NOISE, you "have arrived."

Be careful setting the IF Gain pot !  Too much gain results in excess RX 
noise and unrecoverable audio !  There is a "sweet spot"
for setting the IF gain; I'm sure that technique is demonstrated in the 
videos.  Unfortunately, it takes test equipment to set that properly.

Tune 'em up now !   The season is approaching fast !  Who's planning on 
doing SWBC DX or MW DX besides me ?

Also, is anyone interested in seeing some of the loggings the SWBC heavy 
hitters are harvesting?  I can post them on the list or...?  Gives you 
some targets to go after.

Here is a recent example.  Go get 'em:

ETHIOPIA   5950   V.O. the Tigray Revolution.  First hrd w/simple HoA 
Washint flute
IS at 0252 under R. Taiwan Int.  In the clear when RTI went off between 
pgms at
0258.  Canned echo ID by M, then M w/opening ID anmnt including apparent 
sked w/abt
a half dozen ments of "meterband" and website as www.dimtsiwoyane.com . 
More
Washint mx and RTI returned.  Finally diff. HoA mx at 0917.  Another 
song at 0921.
Vcl songs after 0326.  W anncr at 0336 but had weakened a lot by this 
time.  Nice
and clear when RTI off.  (9 Sept.)

ETHIOPIA   6110   R. Fana   Signal on the air at 0250:20.  OC till brief 
tone at
0254:21, then chime IS.  0259 M anncr w/ID "?? Fana Broadcastings 
Corporation ??",
then another ID over instru. mx, followed by live M w/opening anmnts 
including at
least 2 more Fana Bdcsting Corp. IDs. and ment of radio until 0301. 
0301 mx
bridge, coo-coo clock SFX and canned M anncr very briefly, and hammering 
on wood.
0302-0306 lively instru. mx.  0306-0311 M vcls w/HoA mx.  0311-0318 tlk 
by live
studio M w/ID ".one nation, one ??, Fana Broadcasting Corporation." at 
beginning.
Ment of Somalia.  0318-0323 lively booming HoA vcl and choral mx. 
0324-0325 canned
tlk by W in echo mixed w/mx.  0325-0343 discussion between live M and W 
anncrs
w/occas. instru. mx bridges.  0343 more HoA mx w/M vcl.  Of course the 
signal faded
and was pretty much inaudible by 0420.  Fair w/quick QSB.  A little slop 
QRM from
6105.  (9 Sept.)

CHAD   6164.96   R. N'Djimena   Signal suddenly on at 0451:55 w/Hi-life 
African mx.
M anncr briefly at 0458 w.ment of N'Djimena, Africa.  Finally in the 
clear at 0458
w/Japan going off.  Tlk by M at 0501.  Really great mx.  0508 M anncr in 
FR
returned including couple quick "R. Diffusion Tchadienne" IDs.  (9 
Sept.)

PIRATE (EUROPE)   6285.4   R. Focus Int.   Noted as soon as I started 
the Perseus
recording at 0243 w/"Down Under" by Men at Work.  0307 "I'm Only Human" 
by Human
League.  0312 R. Mi Amigo theme, then M anncr briefly.  0332 "Nothings 
Going to
Break My Stride" by Mathew Wilder, then "Love Grows (Where My Rosemanry 
Goes" by
Edison Lighthouse.  Jingle at 0438 w/ment of International. Good at 0348 
on peak.
Decent signal at 0443, then M anncr w/e-mail addr repeated at 0445, then 
into "Who
Can It Be Now" by Men at Work. 0449 "Wishing" by A Flock of Seagulls. 
0453 jingle
and back to mx. 0456:10 ID "This is Focus International...free radio". 
0523 "Stray
Cat Strut" by Brian Setzer.  0526:45 anmnt mentioning "...shortwave 
band...",
followed by "All the Day and All the Night" by The Kinks, then "Elenore" 
by The
Turtles.  0615 "Band on the Run" by Wings, followed by "You Wear it 
Well" by Rod
Stewart, then "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty, and "Mr. Blue Sky" by 
ELO.  Fading
after that and lost audio by 0650.  Last saw the signal around 0745. 
Surprised to
find this here.  (9 Sept.)

No sign of R. 6150 on 6070.  CFRB was on 6069.96 and there was another 
signal on 6070
the entire time until I stopped the recording at 0952 which must be part 
of the CFRB signal.  (9 Sept.)

PERU??   4790.02   R. Vision (pres.)   Back on apparently.  First hrd 
carrier 2
days ago but no audio to speak of.  This morning, definite M in SP 
w/live preaching
at 0953, brief mx bridge at one point, then cont. tlk.  1004 audience 
noise.
Fairly strong but horribly distorted 'rumbling' audio.  Looked like 
there were
multiple carriers on the signal.  Could see at least 5 distinct peaks. 
Also
noticed most of the distortion was in the lower side.  In USB with the 
PSB shifted
away from the carrier, it was almost readable.  (9 Sept.)

Chuck Rippel

On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 12:03 PM, r-390-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:

> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: R-390A DIY alignment completed at last! (Roger Ruszkowski)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2012 19:16:01 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Roger Ruszkowski <flowertime01 at wmconnect.com>
> Subject: Re: [R-390] R-390A DIY alignment completed at last!
> To: r-390 at mailman.qth.net
> Message-ID: <8CF5DC16065254A-624-44279 at webmail-m057.sysops.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
> Frank,
>
> Once you can hear all their is to hear, and have pushed the noise as 
> low as it will go, then readings from the test equipment are not of 
> any value. You do not listen to test equipment. You are just after 
> signals from the antenna.