Herculodge

Passband Has Decided It's the End of an Era

It's the end of the SW radio era, as Tom Weatherall, blogger of Cobalt Pet, writes:

Passband passes on....http://www.passband.com/moving-on/

Redsun Rep Says the "RP-3100" Will be Made But Under a Different Name

Neil, like many readers, has been eager for a Redsun RP-3100. Here's an email from a Redsun rep to Neil:

Dear Neil Goldstein,

 

Thank you so much for your patience,patience is a good thing!

 

Well,RP3100 will be changed to another version due to complicated software design.

hardware was completed,but software still has some bugs which need to be addressed.

 

Anyway,it will be launched on the market finally. Just it depends on development schedule.

 

Sorry to keep you waiting for so long time.

 

Kind regards

 

Jackie

Zero Bids on This Apex Performer: Sony TR-1000

Perhaps because this seller hasn't put the Sony TR-1000 name in the heading, this apex performer is not getting any attention. Described in good working condition. 

Don't Hold Your Breath for the "English Labeled" Anjan DTS-10

Thanks, Pablo:

I´ve contacted one of my trusted chinese ebay sellers, Aerpix, and he told me that there is no date to get the "english labeled" DTS-10. Maybe in a month, maybe never (as happened with the Kchibo ultraportable line). Anyway, despite I am very interested in the form factor of the DTS-10 and the bass and treble controls, with a nice speaker, receiver performance is my main concern regarding the previous fiasco the DTS-09 with its awful AM performance. I will wait for a in deep report before trying to buy one of this.

CCrane CCR-2 Presets, Tuner Switch, and LCD Screen Acting Funny

With tax and shipping, my CCR-2 cost me $183 back in August of 2009. Some disturbing developments. A week ago I pressed the band selector from FM to AM and instead of turning to AM, the radio went from FM preset 1 to preset 6. I pressed band select again and the tuner switched to AM but didn't "remember" that I was on preset 1 KFI 640. It went to preset 3 ESPN 710. This has happened three times in one week.

Also 3 days ago, my LCD screen was completely blank for about 10 seconds. 

Could this be the beginning of the end of my putatively improved CCR-2? 

Will the Anjan DTS-10 Show Up on eBay Soon?

For the last several days Andreas has kept us apprised of the newAnjan DTS-10, which some say looks like a Redsun. Look at those presets. Is this the "Redsun RP-3100" we've been waiting for? Does anyone know if and when it will show up on eBay? Stay tuned. 

 

Cowherd Criticizes His Employer ESPN for Diluting Its Product with Too Much Sports Coverage

In an act of independent-minded courage, Colin Cowherd criticized ESPN, his employer, today for diluting its product by expanding its coverage of everything, trying to add too much selection, and scrutinizing the minutiae of every sports scenario. 

Cowherd wants leaner, meaner sports coverage. "Tighten it up," he said. In other words, cover the urgent games more and leave the rest. 

He said too much of a good thing was compromising his show, which he recently cut down from 4 to 3 hours a day. 

This call for more focus, and making things leaner and meaner, conflates with Cowherd's confession today that he's in "therapy" with a life coach who's teaching him to focus more. Cowherd says he's battling a serious case of ADD. He's confident he'll have his ADD licked in a month. 

Would You Rather Have a Good Marriage Or a Good Career?

Today on ESPN radio Colin Cowherd talked about David Brook's NYT essay "The Sandra Bullock Trade" in which he states that in happiness studies a good career can't make a person happy if that person is in a bad marriage. But a good marriage can keep people going strong even through bad career patches. 

Cowherd made reference to the number one cause of unhappiness in America: A long, insufferable commute. If you can, try to get a job close to home. 

Russ Takes a Look Inside the Sangean U3 and Sangean LB-100 Lunchbox Radios: Updated

 

I took a quick look inside the Sangean U3 and the LB100 Lunchbox mainly to answer the question about the AM antennas. I discovered some interesting things about how these radios are engineered and built. Both radios are well designed and use high quality components. While not up to the standards of the old Panasonic radios for build quality, it's probably safe to say that this is about as good as it gets for today's radios. Both radios seem to be designed to be worked on and repaired. The large number of connectors allow easy dis-assembly and access to circuit boards.  

 
I've included an inside view of the U3's large speaker and the single coil AM antenna which measures about 5 inches long. The speaker is 8 ohms and is rated at 15 Watts, which is twice the rated 7 Watt output. It appears to be a high quality speaker. I want to do a more complete dis-assembly of the U3 later on and see what ICs it uses so they can be compared to what the Lunchbox has.

 

The LB100 also has a high quality speaker. I couldn't tell the ratings since they covered the magnet with foam. One half of the radio has the display and related control circuitry on one circuit board. The other board appears to be the power and audio output board. It also has the AM/FM radio circuitry and the 3 inch AM antenna mounted on it. Note the massive heatsink on the TDA7266L 5 Watt Mono Bridge Amplifier IC. The other IC is a UTC 4580 Dual Op Amp for the tone control. The unmarked IC on the reverse side of this board is probably the combined AM/FM function chip which is probably a proprietary Sangean-designed circuit.

 

The AM performance of the Lunchbox is not as good as the U3 mainly because of its smaller ferrite bar antenna. The FM performance is almost as good as the U3 because they both have very similar designs and probably use the same antenna and ICs. I'll try to confirm that when I take the U3 apart completely. I hope this answers at least some of the questions a lot of you have had about these two radios. More to come later.

Update:

There's a glaring error in the article I wanted to correct. (I blame being in a hurry, having a senior moment, my cat ate the schematic, etc.) I stated that the dual op-amp chip was for the tone control. The LB100 obviously has no tone control. It does need at least one stage of amplification before the output transistor so my guess is that's what it's for. The spec sheet for the chip says that's what they are commonly used for and I just ran with that. I like to be as accurate as I can, so if anybody sees any other errors like this, please call me on it.

 
 

One of My Favorite Vintages Bidding on eBay: Excellent Condition Panasonic RF-888

Currently bidding for $35, expect this Panasonic RF-888 to go for $100 or so. It's worth every penny. Heavy, solid, great looking, strong performance, and the biggest speaker sound you'll hear.

If I rig my Sangean U3 with an FM dipole in the next few weeks, the U3 will go by my bedside and my RF-888 will go back into the workout room.