[Scan-DC] Ramsey passive air-band monitor?

Fri Jun 6 12:07:29 EDT 2014

I still think that it is the same circuitry/principle as the crystal
receivers of old, and if so yes, you should not have a problem with
receiving from a ***reasonable*** distance.  I used the childhood kit I
referenced from my parent's home in Mount Pleasant DC, and never had a
problem hearing *something (aircraft wise)*.  The problem, which they do at
least tell you, comes when the closest signal wins concept comes into
play.  I would think it would be great when you're listening from the plane
since you will always hear your pilot, my bet is that you won't hear the
controller from the air... but... think about trying to follow a
conversation when you are ground based.  It would probably be like
listening to a scanner in discovery mode where it is programmed to resume
scanning after 2-5 seconds.  Outside of being next to the tower, you're
going to get a different voice every 1-2 minutes.

BTW, I did find the old crystal aircraft receivers which were $10.95 in
1974; http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/1974/hr137.html, and I still
bet that the Ramsey kit is a modern version of the exact same thing, but
without the crude tuner.  The root of that link is also an extremely
valuable resource to anyone looking for old Radio Shack items since it
contains all catalogs between 1939 - 2005.

Dewey

On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 11:47 AM, Andrew Clegg <andrew_w_clegg at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Technically, the general category of "radio receivers" is still not
> allowed on planes at any time, despite the recent relaxation on the use of
> portable electronic devices. (Nevermind that everyone's Wi-Fi equipped PDA
> obviously has a radio receiver in it, and many planes now have Wi-Fi
> available, so people are clearly using radio transmitters and receivers.) A
> scanner or other normal and obvious radio receiver would not be allowed.
> This Ramsey device (or equivalent circuits) is a radio receiver, but it
> doesn't have an LO, so they don't radiate, so, in theory, there should be
> no problem using them on planes, because the origin of the prohibition on
> receivers is rooted, apparently, in concern over radiated emissions from
> the LO.
>
> I would like to use one of these Ramsey devices (or equivalent circuit) to
> listen to the transmissions from the plane I am sitting on. That's their
> main purpose. I recognize that these devices will only pick up very strong
> (and therefore very close) transmissions, but I'm wondering how well they
> do that. If instead of sitting on the plane, if I'm sitting in the terminal
> near a window, will I hear the planes right outside on the tarmac? If so,
> from how far away? 20 ft? 200 ft? 1000 ft? Will I hear the tower? What if
> I'm hanging out at Gravelly Point Park. Will I hear anything? I'm wondering
> if anyone has any experience with the Ramsey unit in these respects.
>
> By the way, my interest in radio started when I built a Radio Shack
> crystal radio kit when I was about 12 years old. Those were the days  --
> when Radio Shack was actually exciting.
>
> 73!
> Andy
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2014 11:33:31 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Ramsey passive air-band monitor?
> From: dewey3 at gmail.com
> To: daniel.h.brown at gmail.com
> CC: andrew_w_clegg at hotmail.com; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
>
>
> Sorry, also should have clarified the below 10,000 feet rule, which also
> recently went away... unless that is what you meant they no longer do.
>
> Dewey
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 11:27 AM, Dewey3 <dewey3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ahh, thanks, I was looking forward to that!!!  I know about the very
> recently lifted electronics ban, but I just knew that the airlines would be
> very slow to relax the rule.  Glad to see that I was wrong.  I still LOVE
> flying but do most of my travels now by Class A motorhome so the retirement
> investment does not go to waste.  I also did a little Googling and found a
> picture of the daddy of the project kits at
> http://craphound.com/images/2729474646_0daed9668f.jpg.  Before that one
> came out, the kits were single function limited, aircraft receiver, fm
> radio, vhf receiver, etc.  That one was the daddy because you configured
> the wiring to which kit you wanted.
>
> Thanks again,
> Dewey
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Daniel Brown <daniel.h.brown at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> Dewey -
>
> Not sure when you last flew but most airlines aren't telling people to
> turn off devices any longer. They ask you to stow larger ones, such as
> laptops and cd/DVD players, but ipods and the like are generally OK these
> days.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 11:14 AM, Dewey3 <dewey3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Andrew...
>
> Opinion only.  Reminds me of the old (1960's and 1970's) Radio Shack
> solderless project boxes where **everything**, battery, wires, diodes,
> resistors, crystal, and tuner were connected by trapping the stripped ends
> in the springs that were pressed into the project board... but now come
> full circle and completely assembled with HIGH dollar price tag.  (My
> favorite one just happened to be the aircraft receiver).  Only "problem" is
> when the flight deck says "turn off all electronic devices", they are not
> going to get into the semantics of oscillators when they tell you to TURN
> IT OFF.
>
> Just an opinion,
> Dewey
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 10:56 AM, Andrew Clegg <andrew_w_clegg at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Has anyone used one of these? Any opinions? The selling point is that
> > since it's not a superhet receiver (therefore no LO), it's legal to use
> on
> > planes.
> >
> >
> http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/Passive-Air-Band-Monitor-Assembled/dp/B00B88L8JU
> > 73 de W4JE
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
> --
> Dan Brown
> brown at brauhaus.org
>
>
>
>