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Are Receivers still relevant?

I wanted an old vintage warm sounding tube radio for the kitchen table.
Came home with this instead. It was cheap.

Yamahas.jpg

For a warm tubey sound without tubes this is fantastic.

Marantz_18.jpg

This 3-gang tuner in this receiver, pulled stations better than anything I had.

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This network receiver picks up regular FM and AM, and streaming stations.
Along Wi-fi, AirPlay, Bluetooth, has a TT, AUX, USB, mp3 connectivity.
Plus Apple Siri via on my laptop or iPhone works like a hand-off remote with the receiver.

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So yeah... I like receivers.
 
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TakeItEasy said:
Hello, I made some post earlier in this thread. Experimented a bit with indoor Dipole antennas home-made and purchased. Partly brick facade here.
But I got best results in a totally impossible corner behind a brick wall some 2-3m in (from outer wall measured). Even better than hanging the dipole by the window or outside even. Crazy.

Got 14 channels, 6-7 were very good to excellent, the others 50-60% signal level and mostly noise free.

Since then I made some radical changes. Purchased a Nedis omni FM-antenna. Took down the TV-antenna that was on the mast before and put this up instead. Not interested in the Swedish ground network anyway.

I have tried with the old cable that was from the previous owner of the house, to the tv antenna etc. And with a never used cable with pressed on f-connector. And the old cable is best (however I did redo the connector since the shield braid was not much connected properly at all).

Anyway, the results are completely sick, once I hit the sweet spot with turning the antenna.

There is more, but I have only tuned in the ones with good noise free quality, so I left out the ones with 30-40% signal level and some static in the background.

I now pick up 31 stations, some ca 20 of these are with excellent signal level 70 - 100% and instant rds decoding on the ones that transmit that data. Perfect quality.

The others are around 60-70% with instant rds decoding (same as above) and perfect crystal clear stereo.

Of the 31 are now also 7 Danish channels! I live in Sweden, in the north eastern part of Skåne (southest part of Sweden).
5 of these are from Sjaelland and 2 from Bornholm (Rø station) which is some 140km away from me, these 2 are coming in the strongest of the Danish with steady 80% signal level, crystal clear of course.
The signals from this transmitter travels a long way over the water before they come in over Sweden. The other 5 of the Danish, some are steady but lower signal around 50-60% but noise free and perfect rds and stereo etc. But some may come and go depending on weather conditions.

I find the results simply mindblowing and I like listening to radio, so I am very happy now :)

I will now put the cable in its proper place, so I will lose some 2-3 meters of it, which may further improve signal to noise ratio, giving those low signal stations that are barely within reach, an extra push.

The antenna cost around eqv of 23 usd on amazon
Then it was some cable channels and connectors etc for some other eqv 25-30 usd

So a cheap upgrade that added a huge amount of value. Can totally recommend.
Sorry for long post, but wanted to give details.

Some pics also.

The antenna. I have the coolest antenna in the neighbourhood now :) No one of the neighbours has an antenna like this.
https://imgur.com/a/aGD4fhq

One of the Danish channels from Bornholm (some 140km away) coming in super strong and crystal clear
https://imgur.com/a/E8uyZck

The other Bornholm station coming in with a blazing full signal
https://imgur.com/a/SylC4bF

I'll be sure to give this antenna the best review.
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I have an old 5/8-wave CB antenna that I haven't used and was wondering if I could adapt it to receive radio signals. Do you think it would work?
 
losthorizon said:
I have an old 5/8-wave CB antenna that I haven't used and was wondering if I could adapt it to receive radio signals. Do you think it would work?
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Not sure, maybe. It's quite long, around 6 meters?
I guess you could shorten it and make a dipol out of it that in length matches somewhere mid on the FM band (around 75cm per arm on the dipol) Maybe there are parts that can be used as well such as f-connectors and what not.

Bot it is probably easier then to make a purpose made dipol for FM out of wire, just make sure the "arms" on the "T" are 75cm each or else it will not have the correct bandwidth.

Then use coax for the transmission cable up to where the dipol begins, as short as possible.

No need for thick wire, 1.5mm2 will work fine.
 
losthorizon said:
I have an old 5/8-wave CB antenna that I haven't used and was wondering if I could adapt it to receive radio signals. Do you think it would work?
Click to expand...
Not sure, maybe. It's quite long, around 6 meters?
I guess you could shorten it and make a dipol out of it that in length matches somewhere mid on the FM band (around 75cm per arm on the dipol) Maybe there are parts that can be used as well such as f-connectors and what not.

But it is probably easier then to make a purpose made dipol for FM out of wire, just make sure the "arms" on the "T" are 75cm each or else it will not have the correct bandwidth.

Then use coax for the transmission cable up to where the dipol begins, as short as possible. Then you can hang it vertically or horisontally. Try what works best. As high as possible and at least 30-50cm away from metal objects.

No need for thick wire, 1.5mm2 will work fine.
 
TakeItEasy said:
Not sure, maybe. It's quite long, around 6 meters?
I guess you could shorten it and make a dipol out of it that in length matches somewhere mid on the FM band (around 75cm per arm on the dipol) Maybe there are parts that can be used as well such as f-connectors and what not.

But it is probably easier then to make a purpose made dipol for FM out of wire, just make sure the "arms" on the "T" are 75cm each or else it will not have the correct bandwidth.

Then use coax for the transmission cable up to where the dipol begins, as short as possible. Then you can hang it vertically or horisontally. Try what works best. As high as possible and at least 30-50cm away from metal objects.

No need for thick wire, 1.5mm2 will work fine.
Click to expand...
I will give it a try and see what happens, thanks
 
As others have commented, large parts of the country don't have any AM or FM worth a darn.

I'd say all or most of Florida falls under that. Some of you should look up what it takes to start a radio station. It's nuts. Even TV is easier, it seems. Many religious groups seem intent to buy up all the stations for their nonsense, tough to outcompete them during the FCC auctions.

A friend of mine in Lake Worth, FL really tried, too. He has a vast collection of blues and jazz tapes from his time running a popular club. All these performances were taped live. It takes millions to even consider starting a station, and what did exist around there had no interest in selling time to him. So it goes.

My generation (millennial) mostly seems to look at the radio as a source of ads and fringe talk idiocy, basically aural spam. Shame that some of these cool receivers can't be easily reprogrammed for like internet radio or something and all the frequencies changed to bookmarked stations, say something like a bunch of stations from RadioGarden or something.
 
IMG_9839.jpeg

I’d be done with my FM tuner, too, if it didn’t look so purty. Had it since 1990. It worked great in NYC. It’s mostly unused right now, however, waiting for a house/area with better FM stations. Knowing Richard Modafferi’s been inside it twice does give me a certain peace of mind. So I wait… Maybe soon I’ll trade it in on one of them there newfangled streamer machines.
 
Regarding radio, it’s getting to the point where I prefer to listen to a CD or Real Jazz on XM on the way to work than the local news/talk station. Roughly a half hour of each hour are commercials.

I punch the radio for Fox News and here we go — yet another woman affecting that horrid Kim Kardashian vocal fry. I do not get this, although, Google AI says it sounds more “authoritative.”

I have never heard my wife or 18 year old daughter or any woman I know speak like this, but on the radio, there is just no escaping it.

Again though, Real Jazz is definitely worthwhile.
 
I used to a big fan of traditional FM radio. And still love the looks of the classic receivers from the likes of Pioneer, like their SX 737, Marantz, and some Realistic units like the STA 90 I once owned.

But today, with all the commercials and DJ's feeding me mostly trash, a Network Streaming Integrated amp might be a better choice. Something like this NAD. And a subscription to your favorite
streaming service..


This is today's stereo receiver in my book. If I want to listen to trash music stations, I can still get those on the web, along with legitimate local news and weather.

For my main stereo system I use a Cambridge CXN V2 Network Music Streamer/ Digital preamp.

My Magnum Dynalab Hybrid FM Tuner cost me 2x what this streamer cost me and in its day was worth every cent, with the right station and music actually sounds better then the streamer. but those days are gone now.
 
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charles 1973 said:
I used to a big fan of traditional FM radio. And still love the looks of the classic receivers from the likes of Pioneer, like their SX 737, Marantz, and some Realistic units like the STA 90 I once owned.

But today, with all the commercials and DJ's feeding me mostly trash, A Network Streaming Integrated amp is by far my best choice. Something like this NAD. And a subscription to your favorite streaming service. I'm happy with Spotify Premium.


This is today's stereo receiver in my book. If I want to listen to trash music stations, I can still get those on the web, along with legitimate local news and weather.
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Yes. I agree with this statement @charles 1973...

I have some little but marvelous BluDento bluetooth receivers, that I connect to my amps and... Vintage receivers ! It allows me to listen to what I have on my computer or the web.

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Lately, I acquired an EverSolo DMP-A6 Gen.2 streamer, and its little optional remote control :

1mv6Vb-EverSolo-DMP-A6-Gen2-plus-BTR-12-RC.jpg


I am tempted these times to acquire a Marantz 4230 in mint / revised condition at a decent price (600E)...

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... To complete my collection of Receivers... BUT...

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2R2nVb-marantzBG2015.jpg

3R2nVb-marantzBG2270.jpg

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... Honestly : what for, except for the aesthetics ? It's now becoming very questionable ! :rolleyes:

T
 
I put a Winegard omnidirectional FM antenna in my attic with a booster inline and have it routed to my AVR and two tube radios. Mainly for sports and Jazz out of Philly.
 
losthorizon said:
With the old radio as we used to know it- MW, LW, FM, VHF, etc.- being replaced with digital services like DAB and most of the old wavelengths gone now, how relevant are receivers today? I know I have not used mine to listen to the radio for some time now, mainly because there is nothing there. comments please.
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Plenty of stations where I live , less comercials at night ,not like drive time !
 
Mr Boochie said:
BTW, did you have any scanners that had mods to pick up early cellphone calls?

Oh man! Weekend fun listening to those! Private rendezvous. ;)

I actually had dual-trunking ones.
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I had an old Hearhkit that picked up what I figured was a neighbor's cordless phone. Now that I think of it maybe it was an early cell phone? One night I picked up a HAM operator and his buddy sending pictures to each other using what they called slow TV. One guy would send one, a few minutes later, his buddy would key up laughing and send one back. It was a weird scrambled sounding signal when they did.
 
Lavane said:
I had an old Hearhkit that picked up what I figured was a neighbor's cordless phone. Now that I think of it maybe it was an early cell phone? One night I picked up a HAM operator and his buddy sending pictures to each other using what they called slow TV. One guy would send one, a few minutes later, his buddy would key up laughing and send one back. It was a weird scrambled sounding signal when they did.
Click to expand...
Prolly some type of APRS/RTTY (Picoballoon) technology. I never figured that one out.

You can still pick up old analog cordless phones. Anything with DECT is encrypted.
 
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