Memorial Day and the First Days of Summer

My three flags out for Memorial Day.

As I write this, it's a bright sunny morning, and it's 18C out (around 65F or so). It looks like Summer is already here -- the next few days it's supposed to reach 90 degrees F, which is hot for Seattle. Today it is supposed to be in the 70's F.

I decided to put a small flag on my mailbox this holiday.

Two weekends ago was the holiday that kicks off summer here in the U.S.: Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a three day weekend when many Americans go on short vacations.

Others have cookouts where they grill hamburgers or hot dogs. Here in Seattle people either go to the ocean, or they head east to Eastern Washington's drier, desert areas where sunshine is usually guaranteed.

What's a summer holiday without roasted hot dogs? I don't eat them all at once... I put them in the refrigerator and have them during the week. Good protein -- and they taste better than protein powder. :-)

The Memorial Day holiday started during our Civil War in the 1860's, when families of Union soldiers honored the Union dead by visiting their graves and placing flowers and flags on them. They called it Decoration Day.

The sun came out brightly when I took a ride on my bike early Memorial Day.

Years later the holiday became "Memorial Day", and when I was younger it was used to place flowers on the graves of the dead, whether veteran or not. Over the past few years it has become more veteran oriented, and although most Americans do not visit a cemetery during the holiday there are programs on TV and radio about the country's fallen soldiers.

The local river was clear and green the week after Memorial Day. During the weekend there were some brave swimmers -- the water is still a little on the cool side...

Here in Seattle the Memorial Day weekend weather is variable. Sometimes it's sunny, other years it's cloudy. Most Memorial Days are partly sunny at least.

Bright, bright morning sun a few days after Memorial Day, 2016.

FLOWERS OF THE FOREST

This Memorial Day I put out my flags, including some smaller flags on my mailbox and the nearby street sign. During Memorial Day afternoon I did some weed-whacking with my gas powered weed whacker.

I grilled some hot dogs the night before Memorial Day, and I played the tunes "Amazing Grace" and "Flowers Of The Forest" for the neighbors on the bagpipes.

What happens when nylon weed whacker blades hit enough Himalayan blackberry canes: the tips break. Luckily, the blades are easy to replace.

Flowers Of The Forest is probably the most beautiful bagpipe tune out there, and it is generally reserved for military funerals and such special occasions.

When I fired up the 'pipes to play, my chanter reed (the chanter is the pipe with finger-holes, the pipe that actually plays the tune) sputtered and wouldn't sound. I figured it had gotten loose. Instead, it was coated with bagpipe bag seasoning. Bagpipe seasoning is a thick liquid that makes the leather bag pliable, more airtight, and it also has antiseptic qualities. I had 'seasoned' the leather bag with seasoning I made up myself from various ingredients... And I had thought I'd drained it all out of the bag before playing. But I guess not.

A photo of me playing Flowers Of The Forest at a funeral in 2011 for an uncle who was a veteran. I was about 15-20 pounds heavier than I am now.

Luckily I play with a synthetic, plastic chanter reed, so the reed was easily cleaned off and I could go out to the neighbors' and play the tunes. If I had used a traditional cane reed, it would have been wrecked.

A few days after Memorial Day the clouds rolled in for a few days -- typical June weather here in Seattle can be variable. It usually clears up after the 4th of July.

RADIO SHACK POCKET RADIO FIXED -- HOPEFULLY

I seem to get a lot of readers who are MW DXers (Long Distance AM Radio listeners), who read my articles on various radios. As some may be aware, I have a Radio Shack Pocket Radio -- a radio which surprised me in its MW performance. It began to act up a bit, taking a long time to fire up -- the chip that makes it work is a software chip that needs a second to initialise. My radio was taking 15-20 seconds or so. I finally found the problem -- the battery holder was a little loose. Software DSP chips apparently need a steady source of power or they will either take a long, long time to initialise, or they won't initialise at all.

I tightened the battery clasp a bit, and will figure out a way to short it up, either with glue or soldered wire, or perhaps an extra spring added to the negative terminal.

My second Pocket Radio is on the left. Slight difference in the case and logo. I haven't take the back off to see if the insides are any different -- my guess is that they are the same. It works well. The old one still needs the battery clip worked on.

I also bought a second Pocket Radio at one of the few Radio Shack stores still remaining locally -- it was still just $14. It works excellently. It has a few cosmetic changes, but performs the same. I have it as a backup, because I take a Pocket Radio to work, and they store easily in my briefcase.

I haven't been DXing the MW band much -- conditions have been fair to blah this past year. I heard CKDO in Oshawa, Ontario a few nights back. I was tuning around on my Panasonic RF-B45 digital portable radio and there it was, playing oldies, audible underneath a radio station from Oregon (news-talk KGAL, Lebanon). Aside from that new catch, I have been hearing the same 300 stations every night. The RF-B45 is an excellent performer on MW. It was the last Panasonic radio made in Japan, and the last one actually made by Panasonic. There aren't many MW DX'ers who seem to use them.

As I post this, it's a couple weeks after I first put together this blog post.

Right now it's a bit cold out, maybe 7 degrees C. Our weather is supposed to warm up over the next few days, and hopefully so. 

Last night I heard of another tragedy that occurred in Orlando, Florida -- a family was vacationing at Disney World and their 2 year old boy was a victim of an alligator attack. My thoughts and prayers go out to that poor family.

Here's hoping everyone has a better end of June.

CC 6-15-2016

A Solstice Sundial

Cirrus clouds high in the sunset sky.

It's June, which means the start of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, and it also means the sun is reaching its highest point in the sky.

Here in the Seattle area -- as we are located near 47 degrees North -- the sun stays out late during solstice time. Around June 21st (St. John's Eve -- which is never celebrated over here) the sky remains light as late as 10:30 at night. Over the years you can track the points where the sun sets over the months, and it is setting farther and farther to the north right now.

My own shadow on a sunlit section of a local trail.

Every neighborhood probably has a type of 'sundial' -- a street or area which is aligned with the sun's setting or rising. Apparently New York City is aligned in such a way that on one particular day every year the sun sets in alignment with its East-West streets, and when the sun sets, it creates a spectacular glow down the corridors between the tall buildings.

Near the area where I live there is a section of a local trail that receives the sunshine much later than any other part of the surrounding area. It is located at just the right position that it is still sunny when all the surrounding areas are in the shade.

Here you can see a small area lit up by sunlight while the surrounding area is mostly in shadows.

A few days ago I took a spin on my bike and took my camera, and snapped a couple pictures of a bridge bathed in sunlight, while surrounding areas are in the shade.

June is my favorite time of the year, following October and Christmas. It's because the sun is so bright and cheery during this time of year. It has a special energy about it that is hard to describe, but the mornings are awesome and the evenings are usually bright and often balmy.

The sunset was spectacular. By solstice it will set a few degrees to the right, closer to the two trees you can just see on the distant ridge.

We are just entering Cottonwood season here, which seems to be hitting us late this year for some reason. There was a short period where the 'cotton' was creating drifts beside the Trail, but then it stopped.

The sunset using a slightly different setting on my camera, and taken from a slightly different angle.

The Swainson's Thrush, a faithful harbinger of late Spring, has just started its piccolo like song that can be heard echoing through the woods. There is one that nests near the beaver's pond that sings away every morning and afternoon during June.

Soon after the sun set over the hill, a pair of kayakers floated past on the river. The river used to carry small coal barges in the early 1900's -- now it is used by recreational floaters during summer season.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ORLANDO TRAGEDY

As most of you are probably aware, last Saturday night (the early morning of June 13th) there was a mass shooting at a popular night club in Orlando, Florida. It was a definite shock to hear about it on the radio, and the following day there was extensive coverage of the terrorist act on radio as well as other media.

It's hard to fathom the pain and suffering the families of the victims are going through. No one goes to a club expecting a shooting to happen.

Spring flowers near a frog pond.

MY FRIEND IS SAFE, THANK GOD

I have a friend who lives in Orlando: very thankfully, she wasn't there at that nightclub when the mass shooting occurred.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the victims.

CC 6-15-2016

Spring Blahs

The first daffodil of Spring 2016, taken March 12th near the Cedar River Trail.

As I wrote in my last post, it's Spring here in the PNW. Temperatures are moderate -- around 8-12C during the daytime (45-52F), and it has sometimes been a little chilly at night, but we've only had one bit of frost and that was a week ago.


A week or so ago we had a bit of summer, the local temperature was 85F. And Monday last week it was also 80+F during the afternoon. This Monday it was over 75F.

A local area house with St. Patrick's Day lights!

So we have had some summer-like weather this Spring so far.

Overall life has been the same, but the in-between nature of the weather and other things in life have given me a case of the Spring blahs. Work has improved. I work in the legal field and have been doing a lot of legal research to help my boss who's in the middle of a complex court case.

Legal research takes a lot of reading time. It's not all tedious because some of the cases have these very interesting stories. All of them seem to -- sooner or later -- revolve around money. It seems that where there is any money involved, families split, friendships deteriorate, business partnerships dissolve, etc. You can see it in a lot of the legal decisions.

The Sky on Fire: an early March sunrise. Photo taken with my Nikon L32 snapshot camera.

I've still been working out with weights, and reached 215 lbs on the bench press (somewhere around 90 kg).  My goal, of course, is to go much higher, and improve the technique to get more from it. But I'm making progress, and that's fine with me. I've been eating a lot of eggs / egg whites, taking protein powder, etc. etc.

Diet is a very big thing if one wants to gain muscle. When I was younger I worked out nearly every day and got nowhere -- because I hadn't yet discovered protein powder and other diet factors.

A rainbow in South Renton, March 10th, 2016.

THE DUMPS, BLAHS, ETC. AND HARRY POTTER

Overall this past month or so I've been fighting a case of the dumps, as they sometime call it. I suppose once the weather improves and the sun shines more often it will help. I'm still working on an action novel, and then once I finish it, it will be time to re-edit it and smooth it out a bit. But for the time being, it's still a work in progress. I wrote a short story eBook based on rediscovering the bagpipes, which needs editing and a cover before I publish that on Amazon.

A lone snail crosses the Cedar River Trail on a rainy March morning, 2016.

I haven't been reading much lately -- although I did start the first Harry Potter book, to see what all the fuss was about. I got about 1/4 through, and set it aside... I'll finish it. It's a very charming book, much better than I thought it would be. I tend to read books in shifts.... I start reading one, and then take a break from it. It's pretty rare I read a book from start to finish in a few days or so... And lately I've been doing more writing than reading.

The photo near the top of this post is an example of cheeriness in otherwise grey weather: a local house -- the same house which had Valentine's Day lights a couple months ago -- had St. Patrick's Day lights up. It's hard to see in the photograph, but the owner of the house also put up a few small leprechauns in the front garden.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

St. Patrick's Day here is a fairly popular drinking holiday, and those of Irish descent -- especially those Irish Americans of any means -- often celebrate it with large dinners. The rest of them just wear something green and think about shamrocks and leprechauns and green beer.

I myself am about a third Irish, depending on how you look at it. My father's mother was from a full-on Irish American family. My father's father came from Scotland. My mom's side is mostly Canadian, with some Ulster Irish in there somewhere -- she's about a quarter Ulster Irish -- at least the ones we know about. Which makes me about a third Irish -- an eighth and a quarter is darned close to a third in my book. :-)

My genealogy includes a Confederate deserter, a Canadian preacher, an Wisconsin miner/cowboy, and a Scottish house painter.

Yet another fiery sunrise, February 21st, 2016. Here in an area famous for its damp Winter and Spring climate, we do enjoy some nice sunrises.

I once told a guy (at a Scottish gathering -- this was back when I played in a bagpipe band) that I was one third Irish, and he was alarmed. "You can't be a third anything," he said, being a stickler for the numbers. Everything in genealogy is in quarters, eighths, sixteenths, etc. The man explained this thoroughly. It was almost as if he were insulted by my proposition that I am a third Irish. I found it a bit amusing.

I myself am not so anal-retentive about genealogy. I mean, I love reading about the old country, and the history of it. And I suppose some of what your ancestors went through sticks with you. But I wasn't born in Scotland or Ireland: I was born in Renton.

So a third Irish it is.

Me playing the bagpipes at a neighbor's birthday party several years ago.

BAGPIPES

This St. Patrick's Day I stayed home, but the following Saturday night I played the bagpipes at a local pub. I hadn't pulled my bagpipes out of the case in years. I used to play in a band, but when I quit, I stopped playing them. It always was a hassle to get the main reed -- the one that plays the tune (the "chanter" reed) -- working without squealing or cutting off.

With a new synthetic reed the bagpipes worked fine.

But then the instrument dredged up the past... I started remembering a lot of old tunes and old friends... People who played in the band, that I've lost contact with; days when my father was still around, etc.. That's what got me to writing a story loosely based on rediscovering it through the music (with extra stuff thrown in, of course).

My cat sure doesn't like me playing the bagpipes, though. When I play them she runs up to me and starts clawing at my pants leg, like "Dad, turn off that noise!" The dog, of course, howls. I don't punish my neighbors with the instrument very often. Although my neighbor across the street loves to hear them.

And with that, dear readers, I shall close this entry, and hope all of you worldwide had a great St. Patrick's Day, and a great Easter also.
CC 3-29-2016 & 5-31-2016

105.7 THE BEAR -- Real Rock Radio on 1660 Khz

I have always loved hard rock and heavy rock music.

I have always loved hearing California stations on the MW-AM band (their FM stations, of course, don't reach Seattle -- except online). It may be due to the fact that hearing the California stations fade and flutter over the distances during the cold Winters here reminds me of sunshine and women in bikinis, or perhaps it reminds me of my various trips down the I-5 corridor to California where I was always impressed by the weather and people there.

Anyway -- imagine my surprise when I tuned my Sangean to 1660 Khz one night a month ago and -- instead of the usual Spanish ranchero music -- I heard heavy rock instead: Shinedown's "Cut The Cord", the Deftones, Halestorm's "I Miss The Misery", Pink Floyd, Offspring, Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff", Pantera, Papa Roach, Days Of The New, Ozzy Osbourne's "Flying High Again", Pop Evil's "Footsteps", and even Judas Priest -- a lot of heavy rock tracks a lot of rock stations seemed to stop playing a few years ago, when a lot of them went classic-rock heavy.

My PR-D5 pulls in KBRE 105.7 The Bear on 1660 AM with listenable levels most nights. Some nights, when atmospheric conditions are great to California, it comes in quite loud.

I was hearing rock music on 1660 because the Spanish ranchero station from Utah was no longer on the air, and the Spanish religious station from Merced, California had gone rock.

Apparently KBRE in Merced bought the Merced Spanish station on 1660, to supplement their FM transmitter on 105.7. They apparently cover that area of Central California (Merced, Atwater, and Los Banos) with two FM transmitters and the 1660 AM station.

KBRE play a great mix of new rock along with a lot of heavy rock from the 00's and heavier stuff from the 90's, and just a few snippets of classic rock (Ozzy, etc.) from earlier rock eras.

They are available online, at www.radiomerced.com/images/bearstream

They don't geo-fence, at least as of this writing, which is well appreciated.

Or just bring up 1057 The Bear on your favorite search engine.

Or, better yet: here is their website, with a "Listen Live" button.:

Merced's Rock Station – 1660AM | The Bear 105.7 FM (1057thebear.com)

If you like Rock Music, they are well worth a listen. Give them a 'like' on Facebook, perhaps they won't start geo-fencing soon, like a lot of other radio stations have started doing.

KISW 99.9 FM

Locally, KISW 99.9 (check them out on www.kisw.com) has been the local rock mainstay. Their playlist varies from year to year, but usually they play a good rock mix. They often push the envelope, for example in 2006 they added Army Of Anyone's great track "It Doesn't Seem To Matter" when other rockers around the country didn't play it.

There used to be a local station here (based out of Tacoma) on 104.9, The Funky Monkey, that played nothing but Active Rock -- heavy rock, rap rock and nu-metal. But they went under around 2010.

I often plug my Kindle tablet into my PR-D5 mini boombox and listen to online radio. Usually they are stations from overseas, like the NRK's P3 (Norway has some excellent pop bands) and Sveriges Radio's Sami channel (excellent Sami folk, rock and pop music on that channel) - but I also listen frequently to 105.7 The Bear when the MW band conditions are mediocre towards California.

Most nights, KBRE's signal on 1660 AM comes in well, at listenable levels, but like most AM signals from long distances (Merced is 800 miles / roughly 1000 km away) it varies. Many nights it's fair to poor listening. Other nights it can come in well, even on my Radio Shack Pocket Radio. On nights when it's grainy conditions on the MW band, I just plug the tablet into the AUX on my PR-D5 and listen to The Bear that way.

Check out 105.7 The Bear, rock fans. You'll like it.

And if you are located within earshot of the Western United States, tune your Sangean or Sony or GE to 1660 khz and see if you hear the Bear's rock music phasing in over the airways!

UPDATE:
KBRE 105.7 The Bear started geo-fencing their stream about a month after I wrote this post. But I've just discovered that they are on TuneIn, the streaming radio site. And as of this writing (Feb. 2017) their TuneIn stream works well, even for those who are out of the Merced area.

So if you're not in California, or you are overseas, and want to check out The Bear, get the TuneIn app and you should be able to hear them that way.
Rock on, everybody.
CC 2-5-2017

Update, 7-5-2018:
KBRE's web stream is once again audible here in the NW. They apparently turned off the geo-fencing. Just go their website and their stream can be found under 'Music'. Or use TuneIn.
CC 7-5-2018

Update: 1-9-2023:

Stupid me -- I never added a link to KBRE's website! What was I thinking? I wasn't.

Here it is, complete with a "Listen Live" button, that works even here in the NW US, 900 miles away from Merced. I've also inserted this link into the article, which I wrote a few years ago.:

Merced's Rock Station – 1660AM | The Bear 105.7 FM (1057thebear.com)

The Lost Art of Journalism

It is The Lost Profession of Journalism, probably.

I took journalism in college. I was an avid learner. I did rather well as a student journalist -- I became editor, and in time we received a national award: top of our class in student newspapers.

What we excelled at was the very thing that seems to be lacking in even professional newspapers today: integrity and objectivity.

In journalism class we were taught the five W's: who, what, when, where, and why.

We were also taught that the most important paragraphs of a news story -- the ones that give the most important information -- were to come at the front of the news story, NOT near the end of it.

Part of this practice was due to the fact that many readers gloss through stories, just reading the top few paragraphs to get the jist of the story, and then move on to another one.

Today, you often see stories that are a jumble of facts in varying levels of importance, often written poorly, and often the most important part of the story is shoved somewhere near the end of the story. Even when I was going to school, it would be called sloppy writing and sloppy journalism. Today it's the new standard.

If I had a dollar for every news story in the local newspaper that had the most important information buried near the bottom of a news story, I'd at least be a couple hundred dollars richer.

WHO NEEDS TO KNOW WHERE IT HAPPENED, ANYWAY

A few years ago the local Seattle newspaper had a story about some left wing writer who had given a talk at a local hall.

Imagine my surprise when I read the story, and the neither the story, nor the caption under the photograph, told where the hall was, nor the date of the talk.

I emailed the writer of the story, and she told me (basically) "ooops!" When I politely asked her further why there was no information on the location of the speech, or the date, she said something to this effect: "the five W's are old school, they don't emphasise them any more."

No kidding. It seems they don't emphasise integrity anymore, either.

I've even seen top, front page news stories where the writer wrote something that was the exact opposite of statistics printed in the paper's business section the day before. And those statistics didn't change -- the reporter simply hadn't bothered to check the facts. It's pretty sad when a news writer doesn't even read their own newspaper.

OBJECTIVITY -- THE WAY OF THE DODO

We were taught objectivity in writing and reporting. Opinions were meant for the page marked "opinion". Editorialising was a no-no.  You were supposed to suppress your feelings about a subject and just present the news, and both sides, if possible.

Increasingly, that has gone the way of the Dodo as well.

You see this in stories that present an issue but don't present any response from the other side. I saw this in a top page news story (mentioned above), where the writer reported that all the economists were saying that 2014 was supposed to be a fantastic year in the U.S. economically. In fact, it was going to be just like the 1990's.  This was a top, front page story with contributions from a major West Coast newspaper (the L.A. Times) and additions by someone at the local paper.

There were no economists quoted saying that 2014 would be just another recession year (which is actually how 2014 turned out). The writers of the news article didn't bother to get the other side. Instead, they placed a story on the top of the front page, which would have been better placed on the opinions page or as a commentary in the business section.

And -- of course -- 2014 was nothing at all like the 1990's. In fact, we're still in a Recession, if you look at most economic indicators. Manufacturing is down, employment is nowhere near where it should be, housing is still struggling, retail is still struggling -- all the rosy views of that news article were wrong. Yet they never bothered to find an economist who perhaps had a different view from the rosy one emphasised in that front page article.

So much for integrity.

GOOD BYE NEW YORK TIMES, HELLO INFOTAINMENT

I read in a news story that 30% of Americans get their news from social media websites -- probably in the form of mostly partisan "news" links and 'memes', which often are exaggerations and sometimes are even outright lies and misconceptions.

Considering the amount of false crap that is placed on social media (which, of course, is in no way social media's fault -- it's the fault of many of its users), that is scary.

Over the past few years, newspapers have lost circulation -- both print and online -- and many have started to die, and news magazines are starting to die off along with them. Many have gone online only. One of our local newspapers quit printing issues and went online only.

When it was printed, it was a real newspaper. Now -- half of the stories are outsourced infotainment "news" stories, like you see on the sidebar of a lot of websites -- stories that are maybe two degrees above the fluff you see in the tabloids and infotainment magazines.

WHO NEEDS CREDENTIALS WHEN YOU HAVE A COMPUTER AND AN INTERNET CONNECTION?

Journalism -- even with all of its flaws, and looking over the long past of journalism, and there have been many of them -- used to be an actual profession.

Now, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can be a "journalist".

Think about this scenario: Would you go to a doctor who didn't really have credentials?

If you were sick, would you rather go to a doctor who actually went to medical school -- or one who just got out of high school and thought it would be cool to play doctor, and put a sign out front of his office?

Would you rather trust your teeth to a dentist who actually went to dental college, and got the credentials -- or go to a guy who just thought it would be cool to work on teeth, bought some tools and a dentist's chair, and hung out a cool looking sign, saying he was a dentist?

Most people probably would prefer the guys (or gals) with the actual credentials.

But we will trust "news" websites that pose as "newspapers", where the stories are often very poorly written, partisan opinions masquerading as objective news stories, and most people won't bat an eyelash.

To be fair, not all news blogs / partisan "news" sites are bad. Not all of them print half truths and lies. Not all of them are manned by untrained hacks. In fact, maybe most of them are manned by people who went through journalism schools and actually can write.

But I've seen enough hack writing and "news" on some of these sites -- many of them very popular and quoted and linked on social media daily -- that it baffles me when I read them and think that people are trusting in them. People even use the 'news' and information they read on such sites to help them decide issues, or even to vote.

A NEW PHASE -- THE ERA OF THE HACK

As a news junkie of sorts, I think it's sad to see the demise of journalism. And it's not just the idea of newspapers fading away -- obviously, just like buggy whips and typewriters, print is a thing of the past.

It's the integrity and objectivity -- to see that go away is the most sad thing of all.

We're entering a new phase in news media -- the era of the hack. I just hope that somehow, the situation can right itself and objectivity, integrity, and clear writing will eventually prevail.

The REALISTIC DX-375 -- a great MW Long Distance Sangean-made Radio

As any radio enthusiast in the U.S. knows, for years Radio Shack was the place to buy radios if you were into long distance radio listening. Most of their radios were very good performers for the money and they usually had more than one model to choose from. Before the 1990's many of Radio Shack's radios were custom made in Taiwan and Japan. Around 1989-90 they began to carry Sangean radios, and placed the "Realistic" badge on the front.

The DX-370 radio, tuned to KFNQ 1090, a local Seattle area sports station that carries the CBS Sports Radio network.

The Realistic DX-375 is unique, in that at first look isn't clear whether the radio is a Sangean or not. It looks like a Sangean radio, with its build quality and the slightly rounded case in front of the speaker (similar to the Sangean ATS-800A). However, unlike many other Radio Shack portable radio models, the DX-375 was not a re-badged, popular Sangean radio available elsewhere under the Sangean name. For a long time, it was a mystery sourced radio.

There are some DXers online who claimed this radio was possibly built by Tecsun, a well known Chinese radio brand.

However, internal evidence (as well as an email back from Sangean) shows that that DX-375 is a Sangean radio.

IT'S A SANGEAN RADIO -- MS-305A

I've taken the back off my DX-375 twice, to hit the volume control with some lube. The second time I had the back and front off, I looked over the radio and took pictures. I noticed it had a large MW loopstick, and I also noticed the factory model number, which is clearly seen underneath the speaker cut-out.

As shown below, the PCB on my DX-375 says 20-212 (the Radio Shack catalog number) and "MS-305A", which is apparently a factory model number. The "MS-" prefix is a Sangean radio prefix (a Google search brings up a Sangean MS-112, MS-101, and MS-103L). So the MS- number is evidence that this radio was custom built by Sangean for Radio Shack. Other factors, including similarities in the circuitry of this radio to the Sangean ATS-305 (same IF chip, same coverage, same switching transistors, similar PCB#, similar RF amp transistor used in the SW-MW chain, etc.), also hint that the DX-375 was made by Sangean.

The Sangean factory model number "MS-305A" and Radio Shack catalog number "20-212" can both be seen in this pic. Up above the two numbers is the FM front end chip, which amplifies FM coming off of the whip antenna.

SANGEAN CONFIRMS THE DX-375 IS A SANGEAN RADIO

After suspecting that the DX-375 was a Sangean radio, I emailed Sangean. I described the radio, told them about the "MS-305A" model number on the PCB, and sent them some pictures, both of the inside and outside of the DX-375.

They confirmed that yes, the DX-375 is indeed a Sangean radio.

When the DX-375 first came out, it had the traditional "Realistic" brand name on its front. Some time before they quit selling this radio, Radio Shack started branding the DX-375 with the less classic-looking "Radio Shack" badge on the front of it. Presumably, the guts and perfomance of the radio were identical (this was during a time other radios, like the DX-390 and 392, were also being re-badged).

A closer look at the back of the DX-375's PCB, showing the "MS-305A" factory model number at top, the thickness of the loopstick, and the TA8132 IF chip, which is the small chip in the center of the pic.

The DX-375 tunes the SW bands, receives FM in stereo (there is only one speaker, but FM is in stereo through the headphone jack) and also receives the MW/AM band. It is decent on SW, as long as you direct tune with the keypad, as scan tuning is a bit tedious (as will be described later here). It has decent sensitivity off the whip antenna on SW.

The radio is made in China, and has good build quality.

A diagram showing some of the Sangean ATS-305's components, showing the RF transistor serving MW as well as SW. The IF chip, TA8132 (same as used in the DX-375) can be seen to the right of the RF transistor. It's possible the RF section of the DX-375 is a similar design to that shown on this diagram.

SHORTWAVE PERFORMANCE -- GOOD OFF THE WHIP, SLOW BANDSCAN TUNING

The DX-375 has good sensitivity off the whip on Shortwave, and is a good performer with one drawback: the tuning across the band is slow. When tuning across a SW band you have about a one second lag between channels. If you're in a high signals area, you can watch the red tuning LED and it will immediately tell you if there is a strong signal even if you can't hear it yet because of the muting (see below).

If you're in a low signals area (as I am), it will help to add a length of wire to the whip antenna to boost signals to the radio. I use a 25 ft. indoor wire (about 7-8 meters), which I attach to the whip with an alligator clip. It makes it easier to use the DX-375 because I can tune across a SW band more quickly and keep an eye on the red LED tuning indicator to check for SW stations. In a high signals area, using the the whip might work O.K.

Because of the tuning lag, I usually use the DX-375 on SW by tuning to several stations I already know by heart: 5025 khz Rebelde, 11780 khz and 6180 khz Radiobras, 6160 khz CKZU Canada, etc. I generally tune into those stations by directly entering their frequencies using the buttons on the front of the radio. I also will program stations into the 10 SW memories and listen that way. Sometimes I'll tune around and keep an eye on the red LED indicator. But mostly if I bandscan the SW, I'll use a different radio (usually my DX-370 or Grundig G2).

If it seems to be a good night for SW I'll go ahead and tune across the 49 meter band, which is the most crowded SW band here in the NW, especially in the morning when Asia comes in. With some stations, the internal loop (designed to receive SW as high as 7.3 Mhz) will bring the stations in. One morning I heard the China Radio Russian station coming in just off the loopstick, which was cool. I've also nulled out Radio Rebelde on 5025 khz with it.

THE DX-375 REALLY SHINES ON MW

Although it works well on FM and SW, it is on MW/AM where the DX-375 radio really shines. It has really good sensitivity for a non-TRF portable, and the selectivity is good enough for DXing. When I A-B it with a Superadio II the DX-375 sounds like it's about 1 db or so weaker on very weak DX channels (depending on how good conditions are. PS -- I live in a low signals area). The DX-375 doesn't have a tuned RF stage and 200 mm loopstick like an SRII has, but considering its circuitry and antenna, the DX-375 is an excellent performer. I usually use mine with an external loop -- which I do with all my radios, including the SRII and PR-D5 (when needed).

On MW it sounds like the bandwidth is around 6-7 khz wide, but it's adequate for separating a weak station from a nearby local station.

There is a tone switch on the side of the radio to reduce the treble which helps reduce some splatter on the AM and SW bands, as well as smooth out the highs on FM when listening through the speaker. There is a "DX-Local" switch on the other side of the radio that I never have used. The radio has a 3V in jack, for a plug from an AC adapter, but the radio does so well on C Cells an AC adapter really isn't needed.

The only negative sound-wise with this radio is that the AM band could use a bit more bass response through headphones. There is apparently a 'bass cut' adjustment off the IF chip somewhere and in my view that bass cut isn't needed. It still sounds good -- I just prefer a bit more bass response on AM when DXing.

The DX-375's AGC (Audio Gain Control) is just about right -- low signals are increased in volume and loud stations don't blast your eardrums once you tune into them. Unlike a couple of Radio Shack's more popular digital portables (like the DX-398 and DX-390, also made by Sangean) the AGC doesn't pump; and overall sound through headphones is good enough for DXing for longer periods.

The DX-375 has a decent, full sound through the speaker on AM, and an even fuller sound through the speaker on FM. Through headphones the radio isn't midrangy or shrill like some DX radios -- it is smooth sounding audio, with a much better sound than the more expensive DX-398 on headphones. There is no listener's fatigue with a DX-375.

The DX-375 picking up Radio Rebelde on 5025 khz using just its internal ferrite loopstick antenna. As you can see, it is receiving Rebelde strong enough to light up the tuning signal LED -- the DX-370 below, which is not designed to receive SW on its loopstick, is receiving the station but extremely weak -- it's not even triggering the DX-370's LCD tuning indicator. I've found that the DX-375's loopstick -- used with or without the whip antenna -- can in some cases reduce RFI on SW -- but not by much. Household RFI is just too powerful for the vast majority of SW listening.

TUNING LAG, BUT THERE IS A WORKAROUND

If you tune with the up and down buttons there is almost a one second lag in tuning steps (due to muting), which makes it a bit time consuming when you want to scan through a SW band -- it's not so much of a problem on the MW band or FM band, where there are many more signals.

If you 'auto-search' on SW (press an up or down button and hold it) the radio will sometimes skip over audible stations instead of stopping on them, because the SW station's strength may not be above the radio's search threshhold. If you press the up or down key repeatedly, you can toggle through the channels, but on some SW bands that can be time consuming.

DURING AUTO-SCAN, OR TOGGLING UP THE BAND, WATCH THE RED LED

But because the tuning increment works slowly (about a second), it's best to watch the red LED indicator, because the LED indicator will light up on stations that don't stop the auto-tuning, and it will also light up before the sound breaks through the muting.

On AM the DX-375 is very good, coming surprisingly close to a Superadio in performance (maybe 1 db weaker on weak MW channels), considering it has a shorter, smaller loopstick antenna and isn't a TRF design. It's good because the IF chip is high gain and the radio has a very good loopstick antenna (140mm x 9 or 10mm -- the thickness is hard to measure accurately, but it's over 8 mm), which is large for a portable. I believe the loopstick is larger than the one used in most of the Sangean 800- and 900-series SW radios

The slow tuning of this radio isn't as big a deal on the MW/AM band because usually every channel has a station on it, and most times I just use the keypad if I want to jump up the band. And usually when tuning the MW band I listen to each channel to see what's on, anyway.

The DX-375 has a TA8132 IF chip, which is a fairly high gain chip, which also adds to the radio's performance. Although I can't find a schematic for this radio anywhere online, the similar ATS-305 has an FET in the SW-MW IF chain, and there are a couple FET's in the DX-375's parts list. So it's probable that an FET in the IF amp chain adds to the DX-375's performance on the MW band.

It has an FM RF/IF front end chip (TA7358) but it doesn't quite pull in FM stations as strongly as my Realistic DX-370. I don't know why that is -- technically, there shouldn't be much of a difference.

A plastic shim inside the back cover of the battery compartment can help extend the life of C Cells in a DX-375. The spongy material breaks down over time, and sometimes isn't sufficient enough to keep the batteries tight in place. The plastic shim I made from the top of a protein shake bottle can be seen inside the battery cover in the picture above.

USE A PLASTIC OR CARDBOARD SHIM IN THE BATTERY COMPARTMENT TO GET MORE OUT OF YOUR BATTERIES

The DX-375 runs on two C batteries, and they last a reasonably long time. I've had decent results with heavy duty batteries, especially if I use headphones. The batteries last a while because the radio has no clock, so when the radio is 'OFF', it's actually OFF! (well -- there still is a tiny bit of current drain to run the power switch -- but you get the idea!). The low battery indicator will come on when the radio hits around 2.0-2.4 volts, then -- after a bit -- the radio simply cuts off.

The batteries last longer on MW/AM than they do on FM or SW (according to the specifications the radio uses about 25% less power on the MW band). I have noticed that when the batteries get down around 2.4 V or so the battery indicator will flash on SW and FM, but the radio will still operate normally on MW for a while longer.

I usually can tell when the batteries are lower than 3 volts because after a while I'll have to press the power switch two times to switch on the radio. It's been that way since the radio was new. This happened a lot more often before I discovered the benefits of adding a plastic shim beneath the battery compartment cover, which presses the C cells together better.

Batteries will last longer in the radio with the plastic shim in the battery compartment. I've found that the battery compartment is larger in diameter than some brands of C cell batteries. Consequently, without a shim, the battery indicator may come on earlier than necessary, and you can possibly get lower battery life because of it.

I cut a shim from the lid to a big plastic bottle, and then shoved it in between the batteries and the battery compartment cover. C Cells last longer in my DX-375 now. I still have to press the power button more than once when the batteries are weak, but not as much as I used to. And I get longer battery life with the shim, than without.

OTHER PECULIARITIES

Sometimes I get an image on the DX-375 high up in the MW band, and sometimes another one in the low band -- but they're not always there. They don't get in the way of DXing with the radio, though.

The only 'maintenance' I've had to do with my DX-375 was squirting some DeOxit into the volume control. There is a convenient, very small hole near the side of the radio's PCB that allows for you to squirt some lube into the control -- if you take the back off the radio.

The DX-375 with the back off. The loopstick is fairly large, as can be seen (along the top side of the radio). The tiny hole that makes it easy to lube the volume control is near volume control's upper right solder pad in this picture (hard to see ). Whether the hole is intended to be there or not, I don't know -- but it works.

You can also squirt lube with the radio's back case left on, by squirting it down the side of the volume control knob, but not all of it will get inside the control where it's more useful.

The only glitch with this radio is on rare occasions the microprocessor can apparently wig out. You reset it by taking the batteries out and putting them back in a few minutes (or even a half hour) later. I've had mine for over a decade and the radio's never wigged. So this problem is fairly uncommon.

The DX-375 has built in back-to-back diode protection for the whip antenna (the diodes are on the component side of the PCB, near the FM RF amp chip) which means if you happen to touch the radio with a static charge in Winter, it probably won't zap the RF amp transistors.

The memories are extremely easy to program, and work quickly. It has a 'memory scan' feature in which the radio will search through each memory location and stop when it 'sees' a strong enough signal. I've never used this feature, but I can see where it could be useful with SW, and maybe even with MW. Once again, the red LED will light up long before the scan stops on a channel.

The DX-375 with the front off. The buttons are discrete buttons, similar to those used in some Panasonic radios -- as can clearly be seen in this pic. They have an excellent tactile feel to them.

The buttons on the DX-375 have a positive feel, and the radio is well built. Mine took a dive to the floor within a year after I got the radio; the dive left a small dent in the whip antenna -- the radio has worked fine ever since.

A GOOD DXer, POSSIBLY A DECENT PREPAREDNESS RADIO, TOO

If you happen to find a DX-375, they are excellent for MW DXing and pretty good for SW listening, and FM is in stereo through the headphones, which is always a plus. :-)

Although the DX-375 doesn't have the extended battery life of a GE Superadio, Sony SRF-59 or Sony ICF-38, it has better battery life than other digital SW radios, like the DX-398 and more recent Radio Shack ATS-505/200-629 World Receiver (both of those are good radios, but both of those radios eat batteries). A set of two C cells is relatively cheap and they will last a couple weeks or more in a DX-375 depending on how much it is used. And, naturally, if you use headphones, the batteries will last much longer.

For emergency preparedness I'd choose a DX-375 over a Grundig G2, Tecsun or other recent model radio that has a rechargeable battery, as there is little you can do when the power is out for an extended period when rechargeables go dead (unless you charge them in your car, which can apparently be done, if you want to run your car's battery that long. My G2 takes 4-5 hours to charge from the AC adapter). C Cells are easy to pack away in a drawer or closet, and are relatively cheap.

NO LONGER IN PRODUCTION, BUT AVAILABLE USED ONLINE

The DX-375 is no longer made, they are available on the used market, and I've seen them for as low as $40 on auction sites online.

A lot of DXers might even have one of these radios around and haven't thought about using one to DX the MW band with. If you have a DX-375 and are into MW distance listening, they're definitely worth trying out. Place an external loop next to one and it will give a Superadio a run for the money.

Rainy February

A moody sky in early morning.

Although Winter seems to have passed us by here in Seattle, it seems we're definitely into Spring mode.

Beauty bushes green with buds during the second week of February.

Spring usually means rain -- and I'll call it Spring, because the temperatures are similar to Spring, and some of the bushes are beginning to bud out already -- and so far, this Spring has been typical: 50 degrees (around 6C) and rain.

The cloudy February sky reflected in a shallow pool of water at street's edge.

Last weekend was Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is generally a day of enjoyment for those who have committed partners, and a day for the rest to endure. However, on rare occasions, there are things that bring a smile to anyone's face, and one of those things I saw recently was a house in a nearby neighborhood where a guy put up Valentine's Day lights!

A house in a nearby neighborhood with Valentine's Day lights!

I also found a Valentine's balloon that got away -- about a mile (Km and a half) from the nearest developed area. It had to float over several stands of trees, the river, and maybe a hill or two before it landed where it did in the brush by my favorite cottonwood tree.

The one that got away -- a Valentine heart balloon stuck in some brush at a park -- the balloon had to float about mile or more from the nearest houses or businesses.

In late January I took some photos of the Seattle skyline and harbor area with my Nikon; some of them came out better than I thought they would. Seattle is known for its coffee and software industry, but for decades the backbone of Seattle was the Duwamish River corridor.  Most of the photos I already put up on my blog post last week.

The Seattle Skyline (in the far distance) from Interstate 5.

The Duwamish River -- named after the local tribe of Native Americans -- is where the shipyards are located; the Duwamish River is where Boeing built its aircraft factories; and the Duwamish River is where numerous industries located during the early 1900's -- and many of them are still there.

The industrial Duwamish Waterway during a late, rainy afternoon in late January.

Aside from the weather, it's been life per usual here. I'm still doing a lot of writing, but my music has taken a back seat to everything else. My radio DXing hobby has been mostly shelved because conditions have been crappy and I'm sort of bored with it at present.

West Seattle's "Junction" business district on a rainy evening in late January.

I'm looking forward for the rains to stop, and the sun to get warmer. But that will take time. One thing I've learned over the past several years is to enjoy the seasons as they come. I used to hate the rainy season because it was no fun to go out and ride a bike when its raining -- but since I've been taking daily rides on the Trail most mornings I just slow down and look at nature, and it makes it more pleasant.

Happy February.
CC 2-17-2016