Yearly Archives: 2016

Dishtronix announced as new owner of TEN-TEC

tentec-logo I’m pleased to see that the new owner of TEN-TEC has now been made public; I’d been asked to keep this quiet until a formal announcement was made.

Many thanks to several Post readers who shared the following announcement from the Ten-Tec message boards.

From Mike Dishop of Dishtronix:

“As some of you may be aware, Dishtronix has purchased the assets (but not the liabilities) of Ten Tec from RKR Designs. I had desired to keep this under wraps until Ten Tec is reorganized, but there is too much speculation concerning the service department to continue without an announcement of some sort.

There is a myriad of things that must be accomplished before everything is formalized. Unfortunately these things must be done before we can continue with jobs that were sent in for repair to RKR. At this time I would ask people to be patient and please do not call or email me about your repair. When we get the phone numbers transferred successfully or new phone numbers we will post them. As we progress with the change, someone will contact you about your repair. When service resumes we will be contacting the repair customers.

As some of you may be aware I have been looking at all aspects of operation of the company and restructuring operations has been necessary. In reviewing the service department accounts, it is apparent that some customers use the service department to diagnose the radio and elect to not proceed with the repair. Unfortunately this open door policy costs the company one hour of billable time to receive, unpack, open, diagnose, provide an estimate and repack a radio for return to the customer.

Effective immediately, all radios including those sent in to RKR, will incur a 140.00 minimum charge to look at a radio, even if it is not repaired. Service time is 125 per hour with the average repair requiring from one to two hours. This means you can expect to pay at least 265.00 plus parts and return shipping for any repair.

For customers who sent radios in to RKR which were not repaired, who object to these terms, we will return your unit to you at your expense.

A second problem in the service department is with the time technicians spend on the telephone that quite often ends up having nothing to do with the Ten Tec product but is some other station deficiency. The problem here is Ten Tec is not compensated for that time, yet Ten Tec pays wages to the technician. When the service department resumes operation, Ten Tec will charge the customer for any telephone call or email that consumes more than five minutes of technician time. That time will be billed in quarter hour increments at the prevailing service rate.

I am fully committed to bring Ten Tec back to a sustainable state. This will take some time. Please give us time to finalize these plans since there are so many business related issues to get through. We will definitely need to rely on you as customers to help continue the Ten Tec tradition of innovative product and cutting edge technology.”

Ten-Tec software engineer, John Henry (KI4JPL), followed up the announcement with this message:

Given the content of the new owners announcement above, I (John Henry) also request that if you can wait a while for your product to get serviced in the Ten Tec service department, please let them alone until they get back with you as he described above. If you absolutely have to have your unit back now, then the service@… email address is still working, and will continue to work. The phones are in transition, so I doubt you will be able to call and get an answer for a while. once phones are set up, the numbers will be announced. Once the website is ready, everything will be on it. Remember, if going to tentec.com takes you to rkrdesignsllc.com, then the website transition has not completed yet.

Given the nature of this announcement, and it will almost positively bring out more questions, again, please be patient. The new owner is working through a lot of business issues, and I myself work a full time day job and consult into the evening, so, answers may be few and far between. Though this announcement is going out to a lot of venues, I will attempt to monitor

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ten_tec_radio_net/conversations/messages

73, KI4JPL

Spread the radio love

Casting radio experts for numbers station TV series

8 Replies

SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station

Many of you may have seen the following announcement/casting call floating around the hamospehere recently. This casting company is seeking radio “experts” of all stripes for a new TV series centered around numbers stations. I was contact by them directly last week. I spoke with a representative from this casting company and can verify that this is, indeed, a legitimate casting call.

Want to be on TV?

If you’re interested in applying for the series, simply read through this announcement and send the required info to the email address provided:

NOW CASTING RADIO EXPERTS (HAM Radio, Shortwave/high frequency, technicians, enthusiasts/hobbyists) AND ADVENTURERS WITH A THIRST FOR SOLVING MYSTERIES FOR A NEW SERIES ON A MAJOR CABLE NETWORK!

Seeking a team made up of radio experts, code breakers and adventurers to embark on a mission to uncover the true meaning behind anonymous radio transmissions – “number stations.”

We are looking for experts who have thirst for solving mysteries, are adventurous & charismatic and have a STRONG knowledge of radio (including shortwave and HAM) as well as an interest in ‘number stations’ to be featured in this new and exciting series. We are looking for our ‘Indiana Jones’ of the shortwave world.

We are ALSO looking for ADVENTURERS – people who are not afraid to explore and investigate a wide range of worldwide mysteries; someone who is persistent, charismatic and fearless! We are looking for people who have EXPERIENCE in travel, research and problem solving. For example: code crackers, techies, radio conspiracy theorists, private investigators, former FBI/CIA, hackers, former military, researchers, history buffs and urban explorers.

To be considered, please email the following information ASAP to: [email protected]

Name

Age

Phone number

Email address

Brief bio of you and your relevant experience to this (radio, explorer etc.)

2 recent photos

Spread the radio love

A review of the AOR AR-3000A Wideband Receiver

10 Replies

ar3000Alrg

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN) for the following review:

The AOR AR-3000A Wideband Receiver

by Mario Filippi, N2HUN

(All photos below by author)

The AOR AR-3000A is a wideband communications receiver, made in Japan, covering 100KHz – 2.036 GHz with all popular modes including AM, NFM, WFM, CW, USB and LSB. The AR-3000A was produced in the early ‘90’s at the price of $1063 and came with a telescoping back-of-set antenna, wall-wart power supply, and well written 57 page manual.

AOR is a long time reputable manufacturer of radios and electronic equipment that continues on today producing high quality equipment. While the AR-3000A can be considered a tabletop unit, it is quite small, measuring only 8” x 5” x 3.5”. The AR-3000A has a total of 400 memory channels, with four “Banks” (Banks A- D) each holding up to 100 channels. Each stored channel holds all the necessary parameters such as frequency, mode, attenuator, and step size. An optional mounting bracket for mobile operation was available along with an optional DC cord for those wanting to use it as a scanner for public safety monitoring. It does not run on internal batteries though.

What I like about this radio is it’s wide coverage and it functions as my main longwave/shortwave receiver in addition to a scanner for monitoring local VHF/UHF public safety bands.

AOR 3000

As desktops go, this one has an unusual shape. While the unit is horizontally shaped for the most part, the front panel is angled slightly upward to make the controls easier to read. However, it took a while to get used to the small print on the panel and LCD so if you wear glasses, definitely don them because you’ll need ‘em. As a matter of fact I’m contemplating purchasing a pair of those magnifying eyeglasses to see (pun intended) if they’ll help (hi hi!).

AOR-3000-side view

These units come up for auction on Ebay and on ham classifieds at a much reduced price, most in remarkably good shape for a quarter-century old receiver.

A recent survey of Ebay auctions show they run from about $183 – $350; over several hundred dollars less than the original price. I chose to purchase one from a ham classified website at a higher price but it was well worth it. When it comes to high price tag items I tend to scout out the ham ads first. The seller was a friendly, honest ham who was a great communicator so the deal went smoothly. He included the computer control cable and even replaced the backup memory CR2032 battery, something every buyer should consider when purchasing vintage units.

For advertisements of vintage AOR products check back issues of Monitoring Times at: www.americanradiohistory.com . This site is an excellent resource for old time radio, TV, broadcasting and miscellaneous electronics publications and contains a mind boggling array of books and periodicals from the past.

The front panel is laid out quite well, with soft touch pads in the center allowing easy parameter entry, a tuning knob on lower right, and my favorite, a manual squelch knob. Most of the touch pads have a secondary function which appears in white lettering while primary functions are in yellow. If you’d rather not spin the VFO dial, which is quite small (0.75” diameter) there are up/down arrow keys to accomplish that function. The knob spins smoothly with no obvious détente.

Front panel (sorry about the camera shutter ghost!)

The rear of the unit has several connections: BNC antenna, 12V input, DIN socket for a recorder, external speaker, RS232C for computer remote control, and On/Off switch for computer/manual control. Back in the day you could purchase ScanCat Gold software for about $95.00 that would allow computer control of the unit. I am in the process of finding any existing software that will allow that and it’s not easy to come by, but that is not a priority.

Oh and where is the speaker you might ask? On the underside of the unit.

Plenty of rear connections.

This unit was purchased to save space at my desk as it’s quite small and serves as my main source of longwave, medium wave, shortwave, and VHF/UHF reception. For HF it’s hooked to an S9 43 foot vertical antenna with many (50+) radials. S9 Antennas unfortunately is no longer in business, but when the company had just started up I purchased the 43 footer for ham use. It’s lightweight, made completely of fiberglass, and has been up several years with no problems.

S9 antennas was eventually sold and the antennas were available from LDG Electronics last time I looked. If you check out their pictures at http://www.ldgelectronics.com/c/252/products/12/62/3 you’ll see my house on the left sporting the S9v43 footer. By the way, when I bought the AR-3000A, the seller stated that ”it’s a great radio as long as you don’t connect too big of an antenna to it”(hi hi!). Yes, I found it tends to suffer from overload with my large antenna, but the 3000A has a useful built-in attenuator

As a wideband receiver the AR-3000A fits my needs perfectly. For LW it receives aeronautical beacons as far away as Quebec and New Brunswick, Canada. NAVTEX transmissions on 518 KHz are easily decoded using a SignaLinkUSB and YAND software.

As for HF, I’m mainly a utility listener and have a bank of memory channels for WWV (2.5, 5, 10, 15,20 MHz), WLO (8.471MHz), CB channels, Volmet stations, USCG facsimile frequencies, W1AW on 3.581 for code practice, a slew of RTTY station frequencies, the 10m FM band repeater frequencies, Radio Habana Cuba, 4XZ (great for code practice), WLO maritime weather broadcasts, and several channels for different ham band frequencies of interest.

Radio Shack discone offset –mounted on TV antenna mast.

For scanning, obviously the 3000A can’t compete with modern scanners. It was a different era back then. So, no trunking, no CTCSS tones, and the scanning speed slow compared to today’s standards, but it does have the usual features like channel lockout, scan delay, priority channel, step adjustment, search mode and does cover the military aeronautical band.

As a basic scanner for monitoring local state/local first responders, aeronautical (ATIS, ACARS) channels, NOAA satellites, NOAA weather channels, my local repeater, GMRS, FRS, taxis, railroads, etc., it is a very satisfactory performer. I can even hear the NY City Transit police from my location in W. New Jersey which is a pretty good distance, ATIS from LaGuardia and Philadelphia airports, and taxis in the Philly area, all while using a Radio Shack discone on the chimney.

For a more in-depth review of the AR-3000A by Bob Parnass, check the November 2000 issue of Monitoring Times magazine. Universal Radio has a great archive of discontinued radios so check them also at www.universal-radio.com. User reviews can be found on www.eham.net, that’s one of my favorite feedback sites. There’s also an AR-3000A Yahoo users group that’s a great resource. If you want to see videos of the rig in action then search on YouTube as there’s a good number available. In conclusion, I’m very satisfied with the AR-3000A, it’s exactly what I was looking for and is an integral part of radio receiver history.

If any other AR-3000A owners are out there, let’s hear from you. Thanks and 73’s!

Many thanks for this excellent review, Mario. I always thought the AOR AR-3000A was a cool little receiver. When it was being produced, the price was way beyond my means as a college student. At the time, though, it had to be the most compact, best performing, wideband receiver on the market!

If any Post readers can help Mario find a solution for computer control of the AR-3000A, please comment!

Thanks again, Mario–we look forward to your next contribution!

Spread the radio love

eBay find: the “mythical” Sony CRF-V21

4 Replies

Image source: Universal Radio

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Anil, who writes:

Here is a link to an Ebay auction for the mythical Sony CRF-V21. In all my years, I have never seen one for sale before and it might be interesting for some blog readers…

Click here to view on eBay.

Mythical is, indeed, the correct word for the Sony CRF-V21, Anil!

Check out our previous post that mentions the Sony CRF-V21.

Spread the radio love

Recordings of final mediumwave broadcasts from Luxembourg, France and Germany

13 Replies

AM-Dial-Digital-Grundig-Mediumwave-MW Many thanks to several of you who recorded the final sign-ons and sign-offs of several European broadcasters who pulled the plug on mediumwave transmissions this past weekend.

SRAA contributor, Richard Langley, recorded the following broadcasts and posted them to our Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. Click on the following links for recordings and Richard’s excellent notes:

Bernhard Albicker of IntervalSignals.org and AM-Tuners also contacted me with links to recordings he made of the following:

Radio Luxembourg (RTL) special broadcast in honor of the former English service:

Notes:

00:00:00 CRI german, no closing announcement
00:07:49 RTL special broadcast: final 2 hours of RTL “Great 208” from Dec., 1991
02:12:12 National Anthem of LUX

Deutschlandfunk DLF final sign-off:

A special thanks to Bernhard for including the following notes from the final DLF broadcast (in German):

01:03 Announcement of closure. This announcement was broadcast before the full hour since the month of November followed by time signal and news.
Within the news at 05:05–item about shutdown of Medium Wave “Era of medium wave ends in Germany” followed by weather report at 05:37
46:35 switch from regular programming to interval signal loop
51:57 sign off transmitter Nordkirchen 549kHz
53:13 sign off transmitter Thurnau 549kHz

Spread the radio love

Polish public radio protesting new media law

4 Replies

polskie_radio-Poland-Polish-Radio

New legislation is giving the government of Poland control of the state media and the power to directly appoint the heads of public broadcasters. The new law may jeopardize Poland’s voting rights at the European Council.

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Andrea Borgnino, who notes that Polish public radio “Jedynka” is protesting this new media law by playing the European Anthem every hour, at the top of the hour.

Andrea shared the following SoundCloud recording via Twitter:

[Small correction/Update: The European Anthem (of course) is being played in protest, not the Polish National Anthem as originally posted. Thanks for noting the mistake, Andrea.]

Spread the radio love

Star Wars sound designer is, indeed, a radio enthusiast

10 Replies

SWLing Post readers may remember a post I recently published in which I believed I’d identified a familiar shortwave time signal station in the Battle of Hoth scene from The Empire Strikes Back. If you haven’t read this post, feel free to do so and listen to the embedded video/audio clips.

Upon hearing this, I went so far as to muse that the Star Wars sound designer might be a radio listener. I asked our readers if anyone could confirm this–?

Well, we’ve got our answer! I’m truly indebted to an SWLing Post reader who passed my post along to his friend, Ben, who could provide this definitive response:

“This is Ben Burtt, sound designer of the Star Wars films. A friend sent me a link to this blog thinking I would like to comment.

Ben Burtt with his recording gear, circa 1980. The mike on the stand at Ben’s feet is one from his grandfather’s ham radio station in the 1950s, or possibly earlier.

“The answer is yes, I have always been a ham radio enthusiast.”

“My grandfather, Harold Burtt, operated W8CD out of his home in Columbus, Ohio 1930s-1960s. I was enthralled as a kid listening to the sounds on his receiver. I heard alien worlds and cosmic ‘voices.’

Harold Burtt, W8CD. (Chairman of the Psychology Dept Ohio State) with his attic gear, approximately 1935

“So not only did I record his radio, but continued to do so on the Star Wars series and Star Trek as well.

My memory of the Hoth transmission was that it was WWV but it could have been CHU since I was recording all that interested me on the dial.”

Terrific! Thank you, Ben, for taking the time to respond. As I said, you’ve certainly started off this radio enthusiast’s year on the right wavelength…no doubt some of our readers will agree.

Indeed, the powerful sonic experience of the Star Wars and Star Trek films has, in my estimation, helped shape many of us into the radio/sound enthusiasts we’ve become–myself certainly included. Thank you, Ben, for this! You’ve sharpened my ear to a greater appreciation of sound, especially filmic sound, and your work in particular.

For readers who are less familiar with Ben Burtt’s work, check out his Wikipedia page and IMDB profile–you’ll find he’s been the sound designer on numerous influential films including the recently released Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

A special thanks to Ben Burtt for sharing these wonderful photos and kindly giving me permission to use them here on the SWLing Post. I must say, considering my love of radio in the thirties, I especially like that photo of Harold Burtt (W8CD) in his shack.

Spread the radio love