Fofio!

Taking the step

2012-01-30T15:53:00.000-05:00

Through some of my recent posts you might have found out that I have been listening to shortwave radio since I was a kid. The first ham radio operator that I knew was my uncle Win (Irwin), W1PVC from Norwalk, CT. Uncle Win was an engineer, and had a nice shack in the basement of his house. I think he had most of his old equipment displayed around on various shelves, but used a Hallicrafters transceiver. I've looked through photos of Hallicrafters equipment, and I'm pretty sure it was a Cyclone III. He knew of my interest in shortwave and always tried to encourage me to study for my ham license.

At some point, my father also decided that it was a good idea for me to get licensed.
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February LIMARC column: Some thoughts on streaming radio and EchoLink

2012-01-25T16:32:00.000-05:00

This is an article I wrote for the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club for their February newsletter (e-log).

Last month I wrote about something not directly radio-related, but of interest to a lot of our members, especially after polling people as to what version of Windows they were still using. This month I would like to spout off a bit about something a little more radio-related.

To start, I think to keep some of this relevant, I must mention that I started out as a
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Great deal on the Grundig G4000a at Amazon

2012-01-23T17:18:00.001-05:00

Amazon is selling the aforementioned Grundig G4000a for $69.79
A great deal for this radio, which most people describe as having the best audio in its class.

Grundig G4000a at Amazon.com for $69.79

Streaming radio for the SWL

2012-01-23T16:19:00.000-05:00

I recently wrote a piece for the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club on streaming radio and where it fits into our hobby. Although many die-hard SWLers consider streaming radio to be one of the technologies bringing a slow and painful death to the hobby, I have found that those of us who listen to the programs themselves seem to appreciate it.

If you are interested only with the thrill of the catch, then this is obviously not for you. For those of you that may actually enjoy music from Africa No. 1 or Intellectual Factor from Radio Belarus, streaming is the best way to actually listen to the programs. I use these examples because they are
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Shortwave Primer

2012-01-18T10:55:00.000-05:00

Panasonic RF-2200

I had a fellow Ham ask about Shortwave listening the other day, and I told him I would put together a collection of links and radio reviews. A lot of this is my own opinion, but much of it from reading the sites listed below. Enjoy!

I've been listening since I was a little kid. My first radios were National Panasonic analog models, given to me by a family friend. I have owned many of the legendary portables from the 70's and 80's including the Panasonic RF-2200, Sony ICF-6500W, Sony ICF-2010, and Sony ICF-SW7600GR.

Current inventory: Radio Shack DX-160, Redsun RP-2000, Tecsun PL-390, Eton E100, Degen DE-1123, Degen DE-321, Sony ICF-SW20, Kchibo D96L, Bulova 885. The first SW radio I ever bought (at age 15 I think) was given
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Windows Windows Windows! Which version of Windows should I be running?

2012-01-08T21:10:00.000-05:00

This is an article I wrote for the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club (LIMARC)

With an apology to our Macintosh folks, I want to talk about Windows today, since it is what most of our members are using. At my pre-meeting last month, I asked how many people were still running Windows XP. A majority of the room raised their hands. I wanted to address the positives and negatives of the last three versions of Microsoft’s desktop operating system and make some recommendations for those of you who might be unsure of where to go from here. An additional note: If you are running anything older than Windows XP, You may be doing so due to the age of the hardware it is running on. Anything older than XP at this point is not being updated or supported, and has numerous security holes.

Windows XP arrived on the scene in 2002. It is very similar to Windows 2000 underneath. The interface was almost the same as Windows 2000, 98, 95, NT4, and ME, so most of us made the transition well. Service pack 2 added more stability and some very important security features. Service pack 3 added more of the same, and much improved support for wireless networking. Today, the statistics are alarming (or, flattering depending on how you look at it). 32 percent of Windows users are still using XP, an operating system that is going on 10 years old! At the enterprise level that number is actually higher. XP was a great product for Microsoft, and the support has been great. Today though, if you are still running it, there are issues that you need to be aware of.

First of all, Microsoft is still supporting XP, but at a minimum level. There will be no more service packs. Major security holes are being patched (if you run updates), but not for much longer. Mainstream support for XP (hotfixes for problems other than major security holes) ended in 2009, and extended support will end in 2014. One of the issues with security is also browser-related. The newest version of Internet Explorer (9) will not run on XP. I know many of you at this point are saying, “but Neil, I run Firefox (or Chrome or Safari, or even Opera)”. Yes, and so do I, but as we all know, every now and then we encounter an IE-only page, and have to run IE, and besides: The newer versions of IE are actually not that bad now (8 and higher). Really.

Speaking of software, most likely the next versions of MS Office are also for only Vista and above. There will be many other applications that will not support XP in the near future. One of the reasons is that software manufacturers will be starting to write software for the 64-bit versions of Windows only (since that is what most manufacturers are currently installing), and no one in the software industry wants to support the 64-bit version of XP (a major failure, in both sales and implementation). More on 64-bit Windows later.

Hardware support for XP is starting to become a big problem too. There are more and more computers coming out now that cannot be down-graded to XP. To sum it up: If you are still running XP it is time to consider moving up, but where to go? Vista? No-way! is the answer to the last question. While Vista and 7 are similar in appearance and what is underneath, 7 is the better choice by a long-shot. Why? Well, let’s talk Vista a bit

Windows Vista arrived in 2007, after Microsoft had hyped the development version for 2 years (referred to as Longhorn internally). Vista was not even close to what Microsoft had primed us for, and had several major shortcomings.

For one, Vista seemed slow. The speed issues were due to several problems. There were problems with Vista’s networking components that made file-transfers extremely slow. There were driver issues across the board, and the hardware requirements were so high that most systems dragged and complained under Vista.

There were also bugs, and issues common with the first release of any operating system, but they seemed worse with all of the speed issues. On top of all of these problems, Vista introduced a whole new Windows interface. While this interface would not have seemed so bad if Vista had functioned better, for most of us it was just insult on top of injury. After dealing with the issues in Vista the new interface seemed like change for the sake of change.

Another major issue with Vista was the upgrade process. XP and Vista are different enough that the upgrade is not a technically smooth process, and frequently left users with non-working or poorly working systems. On top of that, Microsoft released so many different versions of Vista, that it was confusing as to which one you wanted to upgrade to.

Microsoft at least realized the issues were hurting them, and set about correcting Vista. Instead of changing Vista though, they released a whole new version of Windows.

Windows 7 arrived in 2009 and fixes most of the issues with Vista. Better drivers, better networking, better security, and less versions to confuse us. The upgrade problems have been both simplified and complicated now. Simplified, because there is only one upgrade path to come from: Vista! Complicated, because if you are coming from XP, there is no longer and upgrade for you. You will need to back up your files and re-install from scratch. Don’t be afraid though. There are backup wizards on the install DVD to guide you through the process. Just back up your files, and make sure you have the installation discs for any software you need to re-install. If this idea overwhelms you, you can hire someone to do it for you. You’ll pay for the software, and the time involved to install.

There is a common myth out there that Vista, with all of the service packs and updates is just as good as 7. This is not so. There is a huge difference with the overhead required to run the two. 7 has less than half the overhead at boot-time than Vista, and that’s with nothing added on! Another myth is that you need even faster and newer hardware to run 7. 7 will pretty much run on anything that can run XP, as well XP was running, as long as it has at least 2 Gigs of memory (4 is ideal here), and was made after about 2006. If your system is running Vista, 7 will run better!

If your computer can handle more than 4 Gigs of ram (look it up), then use the 64-bit version of Windows 7. 32-bit Windows can only see up to 4 Gigs. Many of us are afraid of the 64-bit versions of Windows and compatibility issues (after the XP-64 fiasco), but there are very few issues now, and no reason not to use the 64-bit version if you can take advantage of it. If you do any video processing or work with very large images in Adobe-like applications, you will notice a difference in performance with 64-bit Windows and more than 4 Gigs of RAM.

So, to sum up, if you have XP, and it’s working, for you, it will continue to work, but you should consider moving up to Windows 7 soon or you may start to have compatibility issues with your aging software. If you have Vista, there is no reason not to upgrade to 7 other than cost. You won’t be sorry with the performance.

As always, if you need assistance, drop me an email, or leave a comment over at one of my blogs. 73, and happy computing!

A review of the Degen DE321 DSP shortwave radio

2011-11-22T09:42:00.001-05:00

I recently purchased a Degen DE321 radio from one of our favorite eBay vendors: TQUCHINA.
Tao Qu has consistently been excellent with his offerings, and this is another hit. The DE321 is based on the Silicon Labs Si4835 radio-on-a-chip. This newer Silicon Labs offering is an analog-tuned DSP radio, allowing for a pretty high performance radio (compared to other low-cost analog-tuned portables) with very few components, at a very low cost. I have been pleased with the performance, and the audio quality for what I paid.

Rather than launch into a full revue, I am going to recommend you head over to The SWLing Post for Thomas' great review of the 321. I may revue the 321 at a later date in a comparison with some other radios I have. Until then please enjoy Thomas' excellent website.

The Verge

2011-11-09T23:28:00.000-05:00

My former Aol / Engadget colleagues from ThisIsMyNext have finally launched their new technology site, TheVerge.com. Check it out!

Must AM Band Sound Bad? A Debate

2011-09-23T12:30:00.002-04:00

Here's a debate on AM audio quality over at Jeff McMahon's Herculodge that was started by some random comments about the Sangean K-200 kitchen radio I purchased recently.

http://herculodge.typepad.com/herculodge/2011/09/must-am-band-sound-bad-a-debate.html

I added the following comments this morning:

I didn't realize until this morning how much discussion this had sparked. I agree that modern AM radio will not sound as good as FM, but I'm not listening to music on it. For news and talk it is fine. This does not pass as an excuse for a poor-sounding AM radio though. The K-200 discussion that started this whole thread has been a bit exaggerated (possibly by my not clarifying the extent of the problem). Yes, it is muffled, but NOT to an unpleasant level. All in all it is much easier to listen to than some of my cheaper pocket models (Degen DE-205 for instance).

There are some radios that make AM very pleasing to listen to though. Even though having adjustable bandwidth is a big help, my best sounding AM radio would probably be my antique Sears Silvertone tube radio. This is followed by the Redsun RP-2000, and the Tecsun PL390. The 390 is limited by speaker size, but has nice clear audio. My SuperRadio III (currently in my mother's senior apartment) is also pleasant enough to not cause migraines. The Kchibo D96L is actually a bit too bright, and sounds better with a dust cloth over the speaker. There is also a strange, and annoying "pumping" affect on strong AM stations (remedied by off-tuning by a couple kHz, but then that causes the soft-mute to kick in).

The small headphone models that the Ultralight DX group recommend also sound very good when amplified through some basic computer or iPod speakers. The Sony SRF-M37 models are a bit too broad on bandwidth for serious DX-ing at times, but that shortcoming makes for great audio with strong local stations. The SRF-59 is also good amplified or through headphones. The mini that really disappoints in the audio department for me is my Degen DE-1123, which excels on FM for its size, but makes AM a bit murky.

The K-200 will continue to play WCBS 880 every morning here on Long Island, and either the local NPR stations or WXPK-FM from White Plains the rest of the time. As I said, up on the fridge the acoustics are actually pleasant. There is a new FM all-news station in NYC now, but it's pretty awful.

By the way, our other AM all-news station, 1010 WINS, still plays the teletype-ticker-tape sound effect in the background during the newscasts. Anyone else out there have this? I find it pretty hilarious.

Blackout survival 101

2011-08-30T10:20:00.001-04:00

Power still out since Sunday 2AM. There was still enough hot water left this morning for a quick warm shower. Candles working well, thanks to Jill's intelligent use of aluminum foil. The oil lamp has become more than a decoration. Special thanks to P&T Surplus in Kingston, NY for the amazing LED flashlights. I collect radios, so we have had plenty of battery power for news and music. Cell phones have remained charged, and we still have some laptop battery life left, plus Internet service through my phone. We cooked about 10 meals worth of defrosted meat last night and put back in the fridge with ice bags. The weather has been cool enough that we're comfortable at night. Can't wait for the power to come back on though so I can buy some ICE CREAM! Our thoughts out to Lee and Dawn who sustained some damage which will keep them off the grid for awhile.

You see, because of all of the hype (some say over-hype), we were ready. We froze lots of water bottles in advance. Didn't buy any perishable food starting earlier in the week, and picked up only shelf-stable things. Why do we still have hot water? Because we have ONLY used it for quick showers. If you have a tank water heater, it will keep the water at least warm for a few days. We made sure we had more than one phone charger for the cars, so the phones could be recharged. I have a campstove. Just a small butane one (like the ones they sell in the gourmet shops). A quick trip to Chinatown Thursday netted 4 extra cans of fuel. I know it's hard to believe, but candles were once used for lighting. No, they are not as bright as your Gucci torchiere, but along with something reflective, they throw more light than you think. The grill has a full tank of propane too. You'd be surprised what you can cook on a gas grill if you need to. I intend to bake on it tonight or tomorrow if the power is still out. Some preparation and common sense is all you need.

I cannot believe the idiotic remarks over at LIPA's Facebook page. People downright cursing and screaming about them not doing their job, and not being prepared. How do you prepare for this? Oh, yeah, that's right. Build a big dome over Long Island. Someone suggested burying the wires. OK dude, here's a shovel. Start burying. If it was that easy, it would have been done. Others saying that the trucks and crews should have been in place BEFORE the storm hit. Well, that one is interesting. I think you would need a psychic to tell you where to put them, and some suicidal maniac crew members.

A bunch of other people asked if they were going to be reimbursed for the days they were out. Hello? You don't SUBSCRIBE to electricity. You USE it. If it is off, then you aren't using any. After that, the cost of food thrown away was mentioned. OK. You KNOW there is a hurricane possibly coming. What do you do? Buy LOTS of perishable food? NO! Run down the fridge. Cook what you can. Get a cooler. Freeze some water bottles and 2-Liter soda bottles filled with water. Be ready folks. Last I checked Long Island looked like a bad place to be in bad weather. This is nothing new. Winter and summer here are like this. Don't want hurricane weather? Tired of snow? Move to Oklahoma. I here it's safe there. No really. Trust me. Tornadoes hate trailers.

Some more discussion was about how ConEd was doing such great job compared to LIPA. Ummm... ConEd has mostly buried electrical service. Plus, the storm hit not that far from the Queens-Nassau line, meaning everything to the left of that line got lots of rain, while we got wind. LOTS of wind. Why were the crews not out immediately after the storm left? Well... the wind folks. The wind continued for hours. Last I checked being high up in a bucket truck in a 60 mph gust was not something that many people can manage without becoming a projectile themselves. Dorothy, Dorothy! It's a twister!

We will continue to camp out in the house till the convenience of electricity returns. In the meantime... read up on how the electric grid works, why you should prepare for bad things, and HOW MANY 500,000 really is. End of lesson.

A web of lies (how NOT to rent an apartment)

2011-08-24T21:54:00.001-04:00

I've been wanting to tell this story for awhile. I think now is the time to get it all down for the sake of remembering, learning, and helping to prevent others from getting in a situation like this.

Jill and I were renting an apartment in East Northport from a great landlord. The apartment was in a nice private house, in a great neighborhood, walking distance to the train station. It was a huge two-bedroom with two full baths, a laundry room and lots of storage. The only complaints we had were the tiny kitchen, and a funky entryway which made it hard to move large things in or out. Otherwise, great apartment, and great landlord.

Unfortunately, our apartment got targeted by the Town of Huntington rental enforcement people. Even though, it had the required number of exits, many large windows, smoke and CO detectors, a range hood, and everything else it needed for safety regulations, It was one of three apartments in the house, and local zoning laws allowed only two. The landlord contacted us about the inspection and told us we might need to move.

He was very fair. We got our whole deposit back in advance of leaving to assist with finding a new place, plus some extra dollars for moving expenses. He gave us 60 days to leave. Further confirming that he was a good person, and a quality landlord.

We found an ad for the place pictured above.
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New posts - new radios!

2011-07-07T16:50:00.002-04:00

I know this space has been blank for too long. There's a lot going on in my life at the moment. I have picked up a couple of new radios (Tecsun PL-390 and Sangean K-200) and begun using my ultralights correctly with a Super Select-a-Tenna. Also, a great trip to Ed's farm again, and a BIG rant coming aimed at a certain landlord. Stay tuned!

Unidentified Warbling Objects

2011-04-14T19:32:00.002-04:00

My oldest memories of shortwave radio are of sounds. Interval signals come to mind first. For those of you not in the loop, Shortwave stations usually broadcast a short song, or just notes before signing on. This made it easier to find the station you were looking for back before direct frequency readouts were affordable. Many stations still use them today, but it's not as necessary. Utility stations created the most interesting sounds. I learned quickly that almost everything that seemed like noise, was actually some form of communication, except for static of course. I figured out from reading my guides and magazines what most of these were.

There were two mystery noises though that were very interesting. The first was only a mystery for a little while. The woodpecker. On several bands at once, a noise like a woodpecker would travel across the frequencies. It was usually annoying, and sometimes would be powerful enough to cover up what you were listening to. It had been speculated that the noise was some sort of over-the-horizon radar. This theory was confirmed after the fall of the USSR, and was in fact called Duga-3. The woodpecker disappeared altogether in 1989. The other noise I never figured out. I always described it as bagpipes. It would play a short sequence of about 10-20 notes, and repeat. The tune was almost always the same. It also seemed to be on multiple bands at once, but not spread across many frequencies like the woodpecker. Does anyone else remember this? The only other detail I remember is that the tune changed slightly before it disappeared for good.

Photo: nate steiner, Flickr

This is my next..

2011-04-14T16:38:00.001-04:00

The former editors at Engadget who have left over the last couple of months have a temporary home to publish their reviews and editorials until they get their all new site up this fall. For now you can read posts from Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller, Joanna Stern, Ross Miller, and Chris Ziegler at This is my next .com

Good luck everyone! Can't wait to see the new site

Dad's Sony

2011-04-12T13:07:00.004-04:00

My father grew up in the 'Radio Era' which made him more radio-aware than my children are now. He was by no means a hobbyist, but knew enough to tell good from bad. He knew that AM radios had to be turned for best reception, and a good swiveling whip antenna was necessary for FM reception. For him, the radio needed to be able to pick up his NPR stations, WCBS-AM, and get the Mets games when he was on the road.

I ran a sales territory for our family business. As Dad got older, he eventually came off the road, and ran the company from inside. Every now and then though, he would schedule to ride with one of his salespeople to keep an eye on things. He rode with me for few days once on my Northern New Jersey run. Thursdays on that run, I would sometimes stop at the offices of Gilfer Shortwave, and chat with the Jeanne Ferrell & Paul Lannuier. I had purchased several radios there over the years, and would buy the various shortwave books and guides from them as they were released.

That one Thursday that Dad came along, he got a kick out of Gilfer, and all of the radios. He and Paul talked for a bit, and he purchased a Sony ICF-SW20. Partly because he really liked the quality of the little radio, and partly because I think he liked the folks at Gilfer as much as I did.

Dad had this radio from then, till he passed away in December 2009. It was his main radio. I saw it on his nightstand, in the bathroom, and on trips back east to visit us. Even with all of the selling and swapping I've done lately with my radio collection, I will never get rid of this radio. To me it was an acknowledgment from dad that my interests in radio were appreciated, and is a memory of the man I miss. It currently lives on my desk at work, sometimes called to duty for news, and music. Thanks for the radio Dad! I'll pass it down the line someday to Alec.

More Radio Reminiscing....

2011-03-19T06:27:00.006-04:00

In the seventies, the idea of a radio with ACCURATE display of the frequency was at first left to high priced bench radios. The rest of us would have to guess at the frequencies with our portables. As some of the earlier direct-readout radios appeared that were more mainstream (read: affordable), I started to save up for something that would work better for me.

Sony and Panasonic seemed to be competing at the time, releasing similar technology, and features at about the same price point. Panasonic's entry was the now highly-regarded RF-2200/DR22 model. The Panasonic was a large analog set, known for it's performance. It had a crystal-based calibration setup that allowed you to calibrate a band-spread readout for each band you were tuning, Sony's entry was the ICF-5900W. The reviews at the time praised both radios. The Panasonic had the edge on audio (partially because of its HUGE cabinet), while the Sony was clearly more compact and easier to deal with. I had saved up for one of them, and the Panasonic won, after a local department store advertised it one Sunday for somewhere around $140 I think. For the first time, I knew what frequency I was on without having to find a known station first and play "creep-and-guess". It was also my first portable with a useful BFO for utility and ham listening. The Panasonic became the center of the collection, with a couple of portables surrounding it, and a Mosley CM-1 ham receiver that was purchased to encourage me to get my license.

As digital portables evolved, one Sony model stood out as a particular bargain in performance. Sometime in the early 80's I purchased a Sony ICF-6500L. The Sony was much more portable than the RF-2200, and didn't need to be re-calibrated every 1 or 2 MHz. I gave the RF-2200 to my brother Paul. My sister in law still proudly displays it front and center as her main radio. The 6500 was accompanied by some less expensive portable at the time. A Toshiba RP-F11, a Magnavox D1875, an Emerson PSW-4010, a Realistic DX-370, and a few others that I may not remember. The Emerson recently turned up though when I was cleaning out my old garage. It had unfortunately not weathered the years so well. The Emerson was an interesting find. I think I purchased it at the Emerson factory outlet store in NJ. For a cheap radio, it performed very well, and had very powerful audio output. I used to to drive a good-size set of external speakers with it, and used it as a shop radio for years.

All of these were sold off at some point, or given away, except the Emerson. The Sony went to a good friend who I think still uses it. The Mosley went at a ham auction, along with some other ham gear. I'd love to pick up another 6500 but they bring quite a premium on eBay in good condition. I think the Emerson is another I would like to replace. I missed a NIB example once recently that came up for auction. Have to keep watching.

The next evolution for me was to PLL-tuned radios. More later.

Photo by Radio Rover on Flickr

Reminiscing...

2011-03-16T12:35:00.003-04:00

11 and a half years ago, I joined the Tech industry. My career and my hobby merged at that point. I know that some people say that you should keep the two separate, but it works for me. I've decided to look back at the various technical interests I have had, and write a bit about them. I feel that everyone has something they do well. The secret is to find it.

As a child, my first fascination was with record players. I was obsessed with them and constantly tried to learn how they worked. I broke a few family phonographs trying to figure them out, and my mother tells me that I was always trying to make phonographs out of my tinker toys. One even "played" records. I used a safety pin as a needle and wedged a plastic margarine cup in for basic amplification. The record player obsession mellowed and in later years, turned into a great love for high fidelity equipment. More on that in a later post.

My brothers had radios. I remember Lee had a Wards Airline radio at some point and he used to see how many stations he could get. Chicago, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, these were places that were far away. Listening to a voice from these places was like magic to me. I started to listen myself.

We had a close family friend who called herself The Baroness Charlotte Serneaux Gregorin. Charlotte had travelled the world, and collected many worldly things. Upon hearing that I was interested in radio, she gave me a small National Panasonic 2-band portable radio, an R-803H. The AM portion of the radio got used right away. The shortwave band confused me though. I caught stations, but they moved around, and changed languages. I had a copy of Communications World laying around for the White's Radio Log AM guide, and there was a small section on shortwave in the back. I think it was finally a book I found at Radio Shack that explained things. Then the radio really got a workout.

This original radio started a lifelong love of shortwave radios. Not just for me though. When Charlotte upgraded me to another National Panasonic, an RF-355 I gave the R-803H to my friend David. He recently got back in touch with me after quite a few years, and thanked me for getting him interested in Radio, which he said started him along a path that defined his career. I still have the RF-355. It has long since passed it's mechanical half-life, and barely holds together, but is a reminder of where I came from, and the amazing woman that pointed me in the right direction.

Windows Mobile Revisited

2011-03-02T12:19:00.007-05:00

After ending up with a bricked LG Optimus S the other day, I pulled Alec's old HTC Touch out of the mothballs as a quick stand-in. I have experimented with getting this WM 6.1 device to run Android several times (succesfully... see here) which it did a lot better than I expected. Now with getting used to Android on the Touch, and a few months with the Optimus, (plus time with iOS on my work-issued iPhone) I found that I had to flash the Touch back to its original WM 6.1 state to re-activate it.

I cannot believe I ever successfully used this device without throwing it from a speeding train (preferably into the path of a second speeding train passing by). It once made sense. Once. Now I cannot begin to tell of the frustrations of trying to navigate emails and other necessities of the day on this thing. The browser is a cruel joke against humanity. Also the lack of a decent podcasting app (Google Listen is great on Android), and a Google Reader client were killing me.

Upon hearing that I would have to wait a couple more days for the replacement Optimus, I re-flashed the Touch to Android 2.2. A little slow? Yes. A little buggy? Yes. I'll live with buggy slowness though. I recently heard that Microsoft's founder was a BIG fan of stylus interfaces, and felt that was the way to go in this emerging market. I think he's also the guy who thought the internet was a passing fad once. Fail Fail FAIL

With that said, I will be trying out a Windows Phone 7 device soon. Stay tuned.

Some Good Radio Reviews

2011-02-05T07:35:00.003-05:00

Mark Roberts, over at The Cosmos Monitor has 2 nice reviews of the new Tecsun PL-606, and a review of the Degen DE1123 (A radio I carry in my backpack).

Praise for Ebay radio seller TQUCHINA

2010-06-04T08:13:00.001-04:00

I ordered a bfo-ssb adapter for my Silicon Scientific #75498
(Redsun RP2000) from Ebay. I had been waiting for the Ebay seller tquchina to offer them again. The tracking info states that China Post sent the item on May 18th, but no further info. I fired off a quick email to tquchina asking for clarification that the item was still on its way. I know that ordering items from Asia through Ebay does sometimes take awhile, but my experiences have usually been better than this.

Tquchina responded this morning explaining that the item was tied up in customs due to extra security in place for the Asia Games. He then offered to refund the shipping portion of the sale. I haven't responded yet, but intend to decline his offer of a discount, and thank him for the rapid and polite response. I wish all business dealings in life were this good.
Sent from my BlackBerry®

Questions about streaming audio on the Blackberry

2010-06-01T09:39:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite blogs, Herculodge, had been posting links to my radio-related posts here. After my post about listening to radio on the Blackberry, a reader named Keith posted the following question:

Neil, wouldn't it be simpler and cheaper to just listen to a radio when you're above ground, and switch to an mp3 player when you go underground?
I've always been a broadcast radio listener, and probably always will be, as long as it still exists, but web radio and podcasts are a fun alternative.

Here is my reply:

Listening to regular radio stations on the train has proved to be a bit difficult. My commute is about 40 miles on the LIRR. There's too much RFI for AM stations until I get about half way into the trip where the NYC stations are closer, and forget about any shortwave. FM, is the same issue as AM, and if I start out listening to the NPR station I get at home, I eventually lose it about 20-30 minutes later. When I switch to the next available NPR station, the programming is time-shifted so that I sometimes hear the same stories again. Streaming allows me to listen to anything with very minor interruptions.

There's also something cool about listening to a station half way around the world from a place where we never could before. I guess this is what attracted many of us to the radio hobby in the first place.

Years ago, I was in sales and drove for a living. I had a Y-splitter on my car antenna, and used to put the SONY 2010 on the passenger seat on long trips patched in to the car stereo. I do this in the car now with the Blackberry. Where it's really nice is driving upstate, which I do quite often, and keeping whatever station I had on in the city streaming as I drive out of range. Also, music from Pandora, Slacker, and Radio Paradise, etc., is nice to have on the road instead of local radio at times. There are places where the choices are getting awful with companies like Clear Channel buying everything in sight.

Photo: David Reeves, Flickr

Satisfying my radio hobby with a Blackberry

2010-05-28T08:14:00.001-04:00

About 2 hours and 20 minutes of every work day is spent commuting on the LIRR. This isn't as bad as it sounds. First of all, the trains are comfortable and rarely full on the line I take. Plus, since my destination is actually in Queens (I take the subway from there to work) I have a usable data stream for most of the trip. Crossing into Manhattan leaves you in "radio silence" for anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes.

I can remember trying to hack together a way to listen to streaming radio on the first Blackberry that AOL issued me. I was spoiled from my Windows Mobile device which would stream almost anything (with the assistance of an app called TCPMP). This proved to be close to impossible, even with one or more of the cludgy apps that had appeared to try to work around the shortcomings of those earlier devices. As the devices and BB OS revisions evolved though, so did the streaming abilities.

BB OS version 5 and up now offers many options. Some in the form of apps, but direct streaming seems to work sporadically too. The challenge of trying to find a way to get certain streams to work has added a level of difficulty to the process that makes it interesting. So instead of trying to wade through QRM and adjacent channel interference, I'm looking for ways to hack pls files and other stream links.

Several apps, most in BB app world, make this easier. Flycast offers a nice directory by area and genre, and offers podcasts, and other little extras. Some of the stations even allow for timeshifting. The paid version allows downloading and offline listening.

Nobex Radio Companion started as a way to look up what was playing on a radio station, and then added a streaming feature for most stations. Although not as reliable as other choices, there are stations here I cannot find anywhere else.

CBS and AOL have radio apps from the same developer. I've heard good things about these but cannot try them as they seem to only work on certain BB devices for now.

For podcasting I like Stitcher. Although the search too gets a bit strange, I have been able to find most podcasts I like in their directory and they cache quickly. Very useful for loading just before heading on to the subway.

The browser itself works too. By itself, certain streams work right from the links. A good example is Radio Paradise. Others can be obtained through YourMuze.fm (formerly known as Moodio). You create an account on your computer and then add stations through a search function. Then your stations show up on a custom mobile page that streams well to BB's.

I have an iPhone coming soon, so I may revise this a bit, but I hope this helps a bit for some of you BB radio fans out there. Happy listening.

Sent from my BlackBerry®

Living with the Kchibo D96L DSP Radio

2010-05-27T09:26:00.007-04:00

I purchased a Kchibo D96L DSP Radio awhile back on Ebay. The D96L is probably the best of Kchibo's DSP offerings, all based on the Silicon Labs si4734 DSP chip used in the Grundig G8, and Tecsun PL-310, PL-380, and several other radios. I also own a Degen DE1123 based on this chip (to be reviewed at a later date). This was an evaluation model sent to a radio reviewer, and was barely used. I like the radio a lot, but have a few reservations. Here are my views on this model: (reception results from the north shore of Long Island)

Sensitivity: The radio is amazing on AM and FM, probably like many of the better DSP radios I have read about. It is the only radio that reliably pulls WPKT from Meriden CT, on 90.5. On AM I can receive WBZ, Boston during the day, as well as getting pretty clean reception of some of the lower-power NYC AM stations like WNYC AM on 820. Reception is almost as good as my GE SuperRadio II, and with the Select-A-Tenna nearby, even better. Shortwave reception is good. I can usually receive anything on the internal whip that I can get on the RP2100, G5, or the Sony SW7600GR with their own antennas. It doesn't seem to like my Degen amplified antenna much, just adding more noise to the mix. I haven't put up a longwire yet at this place. SW reception is good here, but the last two places I lived, it was hampered by the dynamic range. If you live anywhere near strong AM stations, even extending the whip on this radio will have AM interference killing most SW stations.

Selectivity: The D96L has all of the available bandwidth choices available for AM and SW that the other si4734-based radios offer. This allows for reception of stations unavailable to me on the RP2100, or my G5. The Sony does OK here because of the Sync feature. I wonder if we'll see a radio with the si4734 chip AND sync sometime soon? FM selectivity is also great, as indicated with WPKT again which sits between 2 very strong stations on 90.3, and 90.7.

Audio Quality: The internal speaker is not bad. Not up to the bass response of the G5 (and obviously the RP2100) but well defined, and excellent treble response. The wide bandwidth on strong AM stations is great, and there's an adjustment for de-emphasis on FM that gives you a little extra high end response. FM Stereo sounds good through external speakers, or headphones.

Ergonomics: OK. This is where things get odd. Hard to say when I am still guessing what many of the buttons do from day-to-day. Everything is labeled in Chinese. The keypad layout is odd, with the zero to the right of the 9. I do appreciate the two-level lock ("tuning", and "all"), and the dual speed tuning.

Build Quality: This is my first Kchibo. I hadn't heard good things about their past models, but kept seeing that this one was a significant improvement in other reviews I have read. Definitely not up to the Sony standards, or even the G5 for that matter, but better than most of the cheap models I have had. The tuning knob feels a bit cheap, but the buttons are fine. One issue that would be a major one if I could read Chinese: All of the printing is wearing off of the plastic areas. The rubber buttons are retaining their labeling but anywhere the radio is labeled on the plastic surface it seems to come off very easily. Since I can't read the labels anyway it has not been an issue.

Amenities: The radio came with a decent soft case, earphones, a USB charging cable, a USB wall plug, and 2 Li-Ion Batteries (cellphone style). The USB wall plug is standard 2-prong, but expects 200 volts, and does not have auto-switching. Luckily, with the included USB cable, I can charge it from any 5 volt USB source. Battery life has been very good.

Overall: For what I paid, it has been an excellent radio. Not good for those of you that live near strong AM stations, unless you don't intend to use the SW bands much. For the prices I see it selling for new, the Tecsun PL310, or 380 might be a better value, even though I don't own either one yet to do a proper comparison. The reviews of the Tecsun models seem similar to my results with the D96L, without the overloading issues.

LOL PADZ

2010-05-17T10:05:00.008-04:00

So I ended up with the department iPad for the weekend. I thought I would give some thoughts on how it worked.

First of all let's just say what everyone else has been saying: It's slick! Apple has design down with technology the way that Ferrari has it down with cars. Just looking at it in a profile view reveals that same "this thing is designed to look thinner than it really is" look that the MacBook Air has. Setup was painless, since I already had an iTunes account. It synced my music, podcasts, and pictures from the iTunes install on my Acer Hackintosh seamlessly. After syncing, startup is instant, and everything is self explanatory. Typing takes a bit to get used to, but once you do, it isn't bad (this post was typed on it). The auto capitalization and auto correct features are not as annoying as some other devices I have used.

I tried several free apps including Pandora, the ABC player, and Accuweather. All three of these took good advantage of the iPad interface and worked well. The ABC player was especially impressive, automatically switching to full-screen mode in the landscape view, and providing a smooth, and crisp video experience. Reading a book is a great experience. I can imagine that some gadget lovers have made the decision to buy this just on the incredibly cool page-turning animations alone.

As much as I really enjoyed this thing though, there are things I think I want to change before I would plunk down the cash. It definitely needs multitasking. Just as with the iPhone, it would be nice to be able to play music from Pandora while browsing the web. I think this is coming though. Some sort of USB connectivity, or card reader would be nice. I know Apple doesn't want to give us a real filesystem, but even something app-embedded would be good for grabbing pics, video, and music off of an external device of some sort. A front facing camera would work very well for conferencing. I'm still surprised that they left that out.

As much as I would like the 3G model, I really don't need more monthly service charges from a second carrier. I think I would invest in the EVO 4G phone when it comes this summer and create a wifi hot spot instead. As far as the Flash argument that this device seems to have precipitated, I agree with Apple's take on Flash. That said, it would still be nice to have Flash support for now, at least until Apple wins the war. While browsing the Sunday sale ads I found one that didn't have an HTML fallback mode and could not be read.

I can see myself buying one. Maybe 2nd generation though. Anyone else care to chime in?

Adventures in healthy eating, part 2: Almond meal

2010-05-11T14:16:00.003-04:00

I love bread. Anyone who had attempted a low carb diet knows what kind of low carb options there are for bread lovers. With that said, I have heard that there are ways to get around this. I have been buying almond meal at Trader Joe's for a bit now. I use it in place of bread crumbs, and sometimes flour. So far I have made cookies, crackers, cake, and used it to bread chicken, and fish. Jill used it in her meatballs last night, and although they didn't hold together quite as well as the usual ones, they were quite good.

I've also made a wonderful bread-machine bread from a mixture of almond meal, flax meal, and wheat gluten. I found the original recipe here at recipe zaar, but used almond meal in place of the soy flour, and added about 1/4 teaspoon more yeast. Also, I recommend sifting the dry ingredients in an OLD FASHIONED SIFTER only. The almond and flax meals will clog up and ruin the new style ones. Sift as much as you can and dump the unsiftables into the bread machine too for texture. I used the rapid yeast and the rapid setting on my Hitachi bread machine. The results were very good, and add up to about 2 grams net carbs per slice, if you get about 10 slices out of it.