{"id":52798,"date":"2022-05-24T08:06:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T12:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=52798"},"modified":"2022-05-24T08:06:50","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T12:06:50","slug":"radio-waves-broadcast-tower-climbers-sony-icf-sw1-repair-franken-fm-status-and-marconi-in-a-van","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/radio-waves-broadcast-tower-climbers-sony-icf-sw1-repair-franken-fm-status-and-marconi-in-a-van\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Waves: Broadcast Tower Climbers, Sony ICF-SW1 Repair, Franken-FM Status, and Marconi in a Van"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio<\/h2>\n

Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019s<\/em> Radio Waves<\/em>, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.\u00a0<\/strong>Enjoy!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Spotlight on Broadcast Tower Climbers in New Documentary (Radio World)<\/a><\/h2>\n

NATE, in collaboration with Storybuilt Media, has created a feature-length documentary titled \u201cVertical Freedom,\u201d which highlights the professional and personal lives of six communications infrastructure workers in the United States.<\/p>\n

Throughout the film, these cellular and broadcast tower climbers share what compels and excites them about their line of work. Plus, how to overcome every-day danger in order to connect us all.<\/p>\n

Ky Nguyen is just one of the climbers featured in the film. He has worked with RIO Steel and Tower out of Alvarado, Texas for the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

After the Great Recession, Nguyen wanted to move away from his job in construction and \u2014 while he is skilled at his craft now \u2014 he was initially hired onto the tower communication service\u2019s team with zero experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started as a climber and then just kept working my way up,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I became foreman and began project managing. I\u2019m one of those types of guys where, if you want it done a certain way, you have to be with them, showing them, leading by example \u2013 so I\u2019m climbing every day.\u201d [Continue reading…<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Repairing the Sony ICF SW1 Receiver — Used for Numbers Station Reception? Why no replacement for C-625? (Soldersmoke)<\/a><\/h2>\n

Ten years ago, my friend John gave me this tiny Sony receiver. It wasn’t working. I tried to fix it but quickly discovered that the tiny size of the device made repair difficult. All you needed to do was to swap out some leaking electrolytics, but they are surface mount electrolytics — replacing them is not for the faint of heart. Kits are available, but again, this is not easy.<\/p>\n

In 2020 I got one of the kits, but didn’t try to use it until yesterday. It only supplied six of the electrolytics. In the video above, they discuss replacing seven electrolytics, including the one that seems to be placed in the round black holder. C-625. Why didn’t my kit include a replacement for that one? Could it be that this capacitor was not one of the leaky SMD caps?<\/p>\n

Replacing these caps really wasn’t easy. At one point I inadvertently removed not just the bad cap, but also a nearby surface mount resistor. Luckily the schematic showed it to be 0 ohms. That was easily replaced. I lifted one of the pads on one of the other caps — I just slid it back into place and hoped for the best. [Continue reading at Soldersmoke…<\/a>]<\/p>\n