Herculodge

My Brother DCP 7020 Is the Worst Printer I've Ever Purchased

A few months ago, I purchased a Brother DCP 7020 from Amazon for $162.99 with free shipping. I kept it inside the box until today when I decided to mate it with my new iMac. 

The manual is terrible, disorganized, incoherent, lacking crucial details for taking the toner cover off the cartridge for example. 

Worse, the printer won't turn on. Worse still, after installing it--twice!--I've gotten a warning sign from my iMac: "The application LOGINserver quit unexpectedly."

So now what? The printer weighs a ton. It's huge. It doesn't turn on. It's not showing up on my iMac. I'm not sure if the toner is all the way exposed. 

I want to get rid of this nightmare. I'll put my HP back without all the bells and whistles--copier, scanner, etc. I don't care. I'll take simplicity and reliability every time. 

The window to return was April 24, 2008. I'm screwed. With my HP staying home, I refuse to spend more money,including repairs on the Brother, so there will be no printer in my new office. The lesson? Don't buy electronics and let them sit in a box. Open them immediately and make sure they work. 

My Sangean PR-D5 Beats My Sangean WR-2 in AM Reception

I've always been impressed with the AM sound on my Sangean WR-2, but this evening in my office as I was listening to Angels Vs. Dodgers on 830 AM, the signal was fading in and out with a crackling noise during the fade. Fed up, I took the Sangean PR-D5 from the guest bathroom, put it in the office and, guess what, no signal fade, no crackling, just good solid, assured AM reception. 

This should be no surprise since the PR-D5 has the biggest AM ferrite antenna you can get--200 mm or 8 inches.

The cost of the PR-D5 is $80, compared to the $140 price tag of the WR-2 (though today Amazon is selling the WR-2 for an unusually low $120). Plus with the PR-D5 you get a telescopic FM antenna instead of the WR-2's wire pigtail antenna.

So if you don't need an illuminated clock display by your bedside, you might consider getting the PR-D5 over the WR-2. 

Herculodge Reader Disappointed with the New Grundig G6 Aviator

Herculodge reader Robert was kind enough to describe his experience with his Grundig G6 Aviator:

I just purchased one from Amazon.com for $99 and received it two days ago. The reviews about the FM bleeding into the AIR band are correct. Very disappointing. I'll not send the radio back to Amazon but will definitely contact Grundig about it.

The build quality is nice, the buttons are small but easy to push and seem to have positive engagement. The screen is also tiny but has plenty of information on it. The jog wheel works well in both modes and the SSB is implemented well and is easy to use. I also like the rubberized feel of the plastic - it won't easily slip out of my hands. The light is very good.

The antenna does not pop out a fraction of on inch to fully clear the top of the radio like most others, but, if you prop it up on the flip out stand, it seems to point upwards fairly well and is adequate. Position on the stand is good.

A Sony AN-LP1 works with the radio but definitely will overload it sometimes. There is no built in attenuator and the tuning is not as fine as I'd like but the slow jog setting seems to help.

The radio smells funky too. Something I have never had to say about a radio before! Must be the rubberized plastic. Also, the carry strap is internally mounted instead of connecting to an outside metal loop. I hope that doesn't break off any time soon.

Lastly, the reception on the SW bands seems to be pretty good so far in limited testing. The sound is good and it's TINY so it's very portable. Oh, and if you enter in frequencies on the AIR band directly, you tend not to get bothered by the FM bleed. Only a big problem with the jog wheel and slewing.

Oh, I'd also like a decimal point in the frequency readout. I can't imagine that was such a problem to implement that they left it out.

It's worth $100 but could be better. If it had some fixes, it would be worth $150. I would have paid that for a slightly better implementation of this radio.

One more thing I forgot to add. The auto scan function seems to be poorly implemented and may need work.

Last night around 6,000 and above, there are usually plenty of strong stations to hear but auto scanning just seemed to pass them all by!

I slewed manually using the jog wheel and found plenty of stations around that band.

Don't know why the scan was bad. Perhaps it scans too fast for a lock?

Ice Cream with an Edge: Tobacco, Nicotine and Mint

Evan Kleinman's KCRW radio show, Good Food, airing on Saturdays from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM, featured a food adventure eater, Eddie Lin, praised the fearless experimenters at Scoops, a hipster-lover's ice cream parlor in downtown Los Angeles. This adventurous eater described one of the more strange flavors--cigarette, which features mint and nicotine flavor from crushed Nicorettes. 

Not a bad ice cream for those trying to wean themselves off of smoking. 

How to Fix the 17 Volume Limit on Your Boston Acoustics Horizon Solo

Yesterday my BAHS got stuck on volume level "17." I could lower the volume but go no higher. I fixed the problem by unplugging the unit and plugging it in again. However, I e-mailed customer support at Boston Acoustics and the instructions and explanation are as follows:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. It sounds like your radio has had its hospitality mode activated. The hospitality mode is a mode which is often  used by hotels or similar establishments, who wish to set a maximum volume limit on the radio. To remove this volume limiter follow the steps below. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

Turn the unit on
Turn the volume down to minimum, 00, volume
Press and hold power for 10 seconds until volume numbers flash
Turn the volume back up to 50 (max volume)
Press power again to verify new max volume position

I hope I won't have to undo the "courtesy setting." Turning the powerful BAHS to 50 will ruin my ears. If I have to do so, I'll make sure I've got headphones in the headphone jack.

Yesterday my BAHS got stuck on volume level "17." I could lower the volume but go no higher. I fixed the problem by unplugging the unit and plugging it in again. However, I e-mailed customer support at Boston Acoustics and the instructions and explanation are as follows:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. It sounds like your radio has had its hospitality mode activated. The hospitality mode is a mode which is often  used by hotels or similar establishments, who wish to set a maximum volume limit on the radio. To remove this volume limiter follow the steps below. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

Turn the unit on
Turn the volume down to minimum, 00, volume
Press and hold power for 10 seconds until volume numbers flash
Turn the volume back up to 50 (max volume)
Press power again to verify new max volume position

I hope I won't have to undo the "courtesy setting." Turning the powerful BAHS to 50 will ruin my ears. If I have to do so, I'll make sure I've got headphones in the headphone jack.

Dear Herculodge: Save Me from My Computer Addiction!

Dear Herculodge,

Over the last 10 years, a creeping Internet and general computer addiction has afflicted to me so that when my computer goes out or I have to update software or I have to reload my iTunes and iPod I suffer from acute anxiety as if my whole being is being threatened. Is my computer addiction the cause of my unhappiness or does my unhappiness predispose me to my computer addiction?

Dear Reader,

Your sense of anxiety is neither the cause nor symptom of computer addiction or your unhappiness. Rather, your unhappiness and addiction exist in a symbiotic relationship. The interdependence is a messy tangle that millions of people suffer and because being glued to one's computer is so pervasive it is often perceived as "normal" when in fact such a dependence, one that gives profit-glory glee to marketers, is the cause of a host of pathologies, not the least of which is that terminable isolation on the computer causes a warped sense of reality. So as you try to emancipate yourself from your addiction, do not fall into the either/or fallacy or, to use a colloquialism, don't get lost in what came first, the chicken or the egg.

You would be wise to do several "non-computer activities" throughout the day such as rigorous exercise and housework in order to give yourself a healthy distance? 

Is it possible to actually free oneself from the computer? I doubt it. The computer's easy access to commerce, information, and creative tools, the very qualities that make it so dangerous, are also the very qualities that make it such compelling technology. You must concede that there will be a certain degree of addictive behavior but that you will mitigate your addictive tendencies by creating balance through activities that exist outside the realm of your computer. 

The Sanyo RP8880: An Answer to the Grundig Satellit 750?

Tom Welch has provided a link to the amazing looking Sanyo RP8880, very common in appearance to the Grundig Satellit 750. 

eBay Seller Featuring the Sony ICF-5500W for $75 "Buy It Now"

A Herculodge reader with 25 years of vintage radio experience has recommended the Sony 5500, which is selling today on eBay.

I'm tempted to get it but I'm bidding on 4 radios and another is on the way, so I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Has Showtime’s Weeds Lost Its Mojo?

Set in the cookie-cutter nouveau rich suburbs of some nondescript southern California neighborhood with an Orange County flavor to it, Showtime’s Weeds has made for compelling television for the last 3 seasons.

Part of the show’s success has been the juxtaposition of a widowed mother making a living as a pot dealer juxtaposed with a community of infantile hedonists. This juxtaposition blurs the lines of “proper society” and immorality and has the effect of exposing the moral bankruptcy of middle-class consumer values in a way that is always pungent and entertaining. 

Now we’re in Season Four and after a raging fire the family has moved near the Mexican border, the mom makes a living trafficking drugs from Tijuana to a major dealer and we see the family acclimating to a cranky relative’s home. The cranky relative is none other than Albert Brooks, one of my favorite actors.

Having said this, I’m sad to say that after two episodes the show leaves me cold. Albert Brooks is to sensitive and neurotic to be a convincing crank spewing expletives. He seems miscast.

But more damning Weeds seems to run out of ideas. What is the show about? I hate to say this but it seems to be about nothing.

I’ll keep watching to see if I’m wrong. I hope I am, but I’ve got a nagging feeling that this is Weed’s final season.

Herculodge Reader Provides Helpful eBay Radio Recommendations

Herculodge reader Gerald Johnson has provided me a good radio list for those of you searching for vintage radios on eBay.

Don't be discouraged about buying these panasonics and sonys. it's amazing how durable these radios were and i've gotten very few that were "speaker tired". i just put it out there that it happens sometimes you get one thats been played to loudly or just simply abused in some way. by the way that 1080 has crisp sound, it's not a audio powerhouse,  when i said its a damn fine radio, i mean tuning performance and overall quality  is outstanding. after coming to some understanding of your criteria, for furture bidding keep these  radios in mind:
 sony icf-5500- 75.00 range
sony icf-5800 (rare) -depending on condition 100-150
sony icf 5900- 120.00 to 190.00
panasonic rf-1080- l60.00 to 80.00
panasonic rf-1150- 80.00 to 110.00
panasonic rf-1115-60.00 to 90.00 a sleeper
sanyo pr-8700- 100.00 to 125.00
believe it or not montgomery wards house brand "airline"
are damn nice radios generally manufactured by sharp (japan)
theres myriad others but, if ever you have a question on a radio that catches your eye on ebay let me know, chances are i'm familiar with it and can steer you.

I definitely will take up Gerald on his offer.