The Radiophile's Impulse to Tinker Is a Good Thing

The radiophile can be distinguished by his constant hunger for not just a better radio but for creating the ultimate "radio system." In his quest to maximize sound, reception, and ergonomics he will compulsively tinker endlessly, never satisfying his finicky standards. 

Here are some "tinkerings" that readers have described:

Example #1: Use the aux out on a Panasonic RF-2200 and connect it to a Boston Acoustics Horizon Duo. This will effectively give the Duo a MW gyro antenna, and sound great. Or hook up the RF-2200 with a stereo plug to the PR-D5 with a mono cable. 

Example #2: Establish a wireless connection between two radios: Plug a "rebroadcaster", ie FM transmtter, into a Panasonic RF-888. Tune the Duo to the transmitter's FM frequency and, voila, you have the best of both worlds. 

Example #3: One reader writes: "Back when 570 KLAC and 1110 KRLA played music (these are So. Cal. stations, and that's the old rock oldies KRLA) I "patched" the audio from a Sony CFS-6000 into an NAD 7400 receiver. The CFS-6000 had AM stereo and an extra wide AM bandwidth setting for extended high frequency reception. I think the tuner was the same as the SRF-A100 you posted a while back. With this setup I enjoyed not hi-fi but mid-fi audio and neither Sony or NAD were harmed. Some might think it a sacrilege to feed the input of a hi-fi amplifier such as the NAD with a plastic boombox of a radio and then listen to AM!"

Example #4: Another reader writes: "My Sangean WR-1 is the usual occupant of our piano as well. I like the looks of the black Tivoli there, but my wife likes the Tivoli in the kitchen. It is elevated higher than the WR-1, due to a "brick" that it lives on. The brick is there to improve the bass response of the radio. I built a nice wooden frame around the brick, then painted it to match the radio. The bottom-facing bass port sounds less boomy with the brick. My wife likes it, as the added height makes the radio easier to hear when there is clutter on the counter."

Example #5: Another reader writes: "I got much of the drift out of my Tivoli by lubing the 5:1 tuning gearbox with WD-40. My Tivoli drifted badly, and was a bit stiff to turn. Now, it is quite smooth to turn and doesn't drift much at all. You could see the thick grease around the shaft that goes from the 5:1 gearbox to the actual tuner. Perhaps they put the stuff in to dampen things, but I didn't like the feel."

Example #6: Another reader writes: "Tecsun R-308 arrived a few weeks ago. Speaker audio sounded a bit flat, I thought, so I changed from a Radio parts shop here in Oz. It's 8 ohms like original. Power rating is 10w vs 2w original; seems to be just as sensitive/efficient though - the low power radio amp distorts at highest volume anyway. Replacement was simple - plenty of room in the large cabinet to work in. A Phillips head screwdriver was required to remove speaker and a couple of circuit boards. The new 4 inch speaker has the same standard square shape and mounting holes as the original. So it was a simple matter to replace speaker and screws, then solder wire. The magnet on the the new speaker is, however considerably larger in diameter (and weight), so I had to neatly cut away a section of the battery compartment to refit the rear panel (cabinet is just deep enough to accept speaker depth). Batteries fit easily now. Otherwise, the whole operation was dead easy. And the result is a spectacular improvement in sound quality. The rolled cone surround and whizzer cone has greatly broadened the frequency range. Lovely warm and bright balanced sound, particularly on FM (AM is OK, but I wish the radio had a more comprehensive tone control)." 

Many will scoff at these tinkerings as eccentric or geekish, but I argue this impulse to tinker is the same impulse that sent man across the Seven Seas and to the Moon. It is the same impulse that produced the car, the airplane, and, on a more pedestrian note, the microwave oven. It is the same impulse that developed a vaccine. To tinker is to innovate and to explore and such explorations are the result of curiosity. When we lose our curiosity, we are no longer alive. 

Comments

[Ed]

All your points are valid. As they say, "All progress is made by the unreasonable radiophile."

[jeffrey McMahon]

I'm not sure I've heard that aphorism, but it makes sense.

[Ed]

Hmm. Looks like today's tour de force column by Jeff has left the rest of us temporarily intimidated!

[Scooby214]

Just ask my parents... I started tinkering with electronics before I was ten years old. My dad gave me a wood burning iron when I was nine, and I quickly figured out that it doubled as a soldering iron! I would hide in the walk-in attic with an extension cord running the soldering iron. I'm lucky I didn't burn down the house!

[jeffrey McMahon]

Did my tour de force of my high-falutin rhetoric silence the troops? Dang. I hope they're just resting and enjoying a good meal.

[Ed]

I'm thinking of proposing that we consider desktop communications receivers, vintage or modern. Get away from the Panny's and Sony's, and into good ol' US brands like Hallicrafters and Knight.

[Paul]

Ed's suggestion is a good one. I know next to nothing about Hallicrafters and Knights, but a fair amount on the more modern ones. Currently have an Icom IC-R75, a Yaesu FRG-7, and if you can call it a desktop RX, a TenTec RX320.

[jeffrey McMahon]

I've probably exhausted the Panny's and Sony's. I've got no knowledge of the desktop comm receivers. I may be out of my league but of course I'll post contributions.

[Brian (Scooby214)]

I have no knowledge of the desktop receivers, but am interested.

I think the reason I've been interested in the Sonys, Panasonics, etc. is that they fit into my budjet. I've considered setting aside a bit each month toward getting a serious desktop rig.

[jeffrey McMahon]

Budget directs my interests as well.

[Stetsiwawa]

Obsessive tinkering should be a mandatory personality trait for all chief radio designers – I mean the guy who oversees and coordinates all the various design departments (cabinet, button layout, firmware, electronics, antenna, speaker, tuner, etc). He should go home with every prototype and fiddle with it for weeks, then report back with the likes of “the volume suddenly leaps from near inaudible to way too loud for midnight, fix it… why the friggin’ hell is the on/off button bottom right instead of top left… The LCD lighting fades away top centre, make it perfectly uniform…. Make the tuning knob a little bigger, a little smoother, and increase the grip indents by 1/8 of a millimeter… There’s room enough in the cabinet for 57mm speaker, why is there a only 50mm one?... Broaden the bandwidth a notch on AM… The preset button is a little too clicky, dampen it a touch… None of this high/low tone nonsense; a proper tone wheel please!… Why AAAs? Make the cabinet 3mm deeper and triple the battery life with AAs…”
Ah yes, if only we had such an obsessive artist in control, we’d all have access to the radio equivalent of… the Homer car!

[Brian (Scooby214)]

The Homer car! I hadn't thought of that in years. The only problem I can think of is that most radio manufacturers are in the business to make money, not radios. The bean counters would never let the tinkering designer out of his cage.

[jeffrey McMahon]

It's sad that most radio buyers are content with the "Homer Car" version of a radio.

[Stetsiwawa]

Indeed, and if I mock the condition of compulsive tinkering, it’s only because I am entirely, eternally in the grip of it myself. What was it Nietzsche said? “If I am so well able to diagnose and analyze decadence and neurosis, it is only because I am myself a decadent neurotic!”

[jeffrey McMahon]

I suspect there's a fine line between neurosis and passion for excellence.