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| Sony 32 & 40 LCD for football. (1080p &1080i) |
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| Tube & Theater Systems in the new house. |
Jan 09: Whoops, put the Cayin on hold again. After getting the 22" LCD for the computer, I decided to get an
NVIDIA GeForce 8400 video card (changed to 9500GT in June) so I could use the digital input of the monitor. Then I thought,
why not upgrade the whole darn system. I ordered the parts and now have an AMD Phenom X3 triple core with 4GB of DDR-2 1066.
I also sprung for a 500GB SATA drive. Then I found out that I now can get fiber to the house internet, so I got that too.
Whoo-Hoo, high tech! Still, I want that Cayin.
My daughter was given a digital camera by a friend who told her it didn't work. Well, it helps to have
a charged battery. The LCD screen is bad due to too many drops. The camera's list price is 360 bucks. I've spent 75 for a
battery charger and a replacement LCD screen. Nice camera. The picture below showing all the D-104 mics was taken with it. 08/14/09: OK, I did it. I got myself a Panasonic 42 inch plasma that is
720p only. Looks great and is just in time for the 2009 football season. Also got the daughter a 16GB touchscreen IPod for
her B-day. Went by Cox and got a third digital HD box with DVR. Looks like a little overkill going on here. I'm watching the
movie Titanic in HD on the new TV with the surround sound on, and it is impressive. Sub-woofer is shaking the house. Oh well,
another toy. Hurry up football season. 09/12/09: Just ordered some RCA black plate 12AU7's and Genelex KT77's. Time for a change in sound.
Also got some extra 12AU7's that are RCA clear top with side getters. Two of my My EH EL34's went bad this weekend and I had
to use my Svetlana spares. They sound OK with very intricate detail, but are not as dynamic as the EH. 09/17/09: The KT77's and clear-top RCA 12au7's are installed. See Blog for insane reaction. 09/18/09: So now the question
becomes, will purchasing the Cayin be a case of diminishing returns? The ASL is sounding so good it's almost painful. With
the combination of the Mundorf caps, Riken Ohm resistors, Genelex KT77, and RCA 12au7, I now have something that may be as
good as I'm going to get without a significant outlay of cash. I think I'll just wait, enjoy what I have, and think about
upgrading in a couple of years.
| Wife's 42 in plasma (720p) |
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On the middle shelf of the TV stand above, is the Yamaha
TSX-130. I bought as an anniversary gift for my wife. It has OK sound for such a small box. Similar sound to the Bose
Wave systems, but about $100 less. This, or the Bose, would probably be enough sound for most people. A lot easier
to use than what I have. That is one reason I bought it for her.
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| El-Cheapo 32 in LCD for my new bedroom. (720p) |
Above is my work bench. I started my radio
hobby in CB back in the 70's. I rarely talk on CB any more. I do have a restored Courier 23 with a D-104 Silver Eagle microphone.
I also have the matching BL-100 amp, but it's not needed (illegal too). There is also an inexpensive Cobra 200GTL, hanging
on the bench for 10 Meters using the W2IHY for audio (it needs it!). Some of the test equipment I use is : B&K models
177 VTM, 1040,2040. LG O'scope OS-5100, Heathkit SM-2410, and various multi-meters and signal generators. My dummy loads are
Heathkit Cantennas.
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| Polk Atrium 55 with Niles volume control. |
The above
picture is a good simple test of your display. It should not have a crazy pattern across the speaker grill.
I enjoy restoring D-104 mic's, even though
I don't care much for the sound when used on SSB with modern transceivers. I do have an unamplified 10-DA with a matching
transformer that sounds pretty good on my Yaesu. The D-104 above with the red felt was in poor condition when I
got it. It now almost rivals the Silver Eagle next to it. Below is the 10-DA, with blue felt, next to a Golden Eagle.
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| D-104 base before & after. |
By the way, if you need a new element for your D-104, go to Mouser.com.
Get the high Z crystal element. It has a good frequency response and cost about 4 bucks. I have used it to replace both Astatic
and Turner elements.
These are traps that I constructed and
tuned using the oscillator of a grid dip meter and my receiver. I will soon add them to the 40m V Beam so I will
have 80m again. I've been without it since I took down the Hustler vertical.
Below are the Astatic 77A and the Turner 22X. The Astatic is in perfect condition. The 22X is a 9 of 10.
| Mics crowded on the parts bin. PR-40 in the box. |
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| The round one is a Nady RSM-4, the rest are Shure mics. The 522, 444, 450, & 526T |
Antennas: Coax is LMR-400 except for the Comet. These pictures load slowly.
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| Comet GP-15. Covers 6, 2, and 440. Coax is LMR-600. |
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| Cushcraft AR-10 for 10 meters. |
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| 20 meter inverted V and 40 meter V-beam. Using 1:1 baluns. |
The voice recordings
were made using an ART Tube MP with USB output and a Nady RSM-4 ribbon microphone,the Shure 55SH, or the EV Raven. The soundcard
is the Xonar DS. The software is either Cakewalk or Audio Studio. The songs were recorded using a Behringer mixer and may
be a tad long, as I wanted them to be of the highest quality I could make them, without them being excessivly long to load.
The levels were carefully monitored as digital clipping is horrible. Most of the music was recorded using my 1989 Sony CDP-C515
CD player with varible output. It's twenty years old and outperforms all my others except the Marantz.
| At the radio desk, December 2010. |
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| Heil PR-40 and Shure 550L in front of me. |
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