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

Våren -- Spring is already here

 Rainy windshield, First Hill in Seattle, the last week of January, 2016.

Our Winter here in the Seattle area didn't last long. The past few nights and mornings have been between 38-42F (around 4-5C). We haven't had a freeze since just after New Year's. The trees and bushes aren't budding yet, but there are more Spring birds chirping and singing, and I even heard a Northern Flicker (our local woodpecker) tapping on the metal chimney of someone's house a couple mornings ago.

Fog over a pond on a cloudy, misty morning in late January.

Lately we've had a lot of rain. And a lot of cloudy weather. But it's fairly warm for us, for this time of year. It's even been 60F during the day here. Not bad. Back East, people are having another Winter storm.

A picture of the Duwamish River, and the spires of the Seattle Skyline are in the far background, at the very center of the photo.

Personally, work has been picking up, and that's good.

I still have been working out, and have reached one of my goals, benching over 200 pounds (91 Kg) this week, and that feels good also. I intend to keep going until I max out. My bench will only support so much weight safely, so I may need to buy a new bench this year.

The Seattle harbor and skyline during a rainy afternoon in late January, 2016.

I am still working on my action novel. It's about 250 pages and gaining. Hopefully, it will be ready to publish on Amazon Kindle some time this summer.

I have two other books in the works -- one of them already half done. They will have action also. The one I have about half done is an action sort of novel featuring some homeless guys. I got the inspiration from seeing what goes on with many homeless in my area, and from knowing some people who would be homeless if it weren't for the good graces of their families. The rest of the inspiration was from talking to friends about some of the industrial jobs that a lot of people have to take in the Green River Valley -- some of which have poor safety conditions, bad hours, and low wages. Of course, a lot of that second novel is little more than pure fiction. But most novels are. :-)

A pair of ducks has adopted a local pond. Hopefully, they will stay.

Meanwhile, nationwide, the country is getting into election mode, which means that my Facebook newsfeed is heating up with lots of political crap.

SOME MW DXers READ MY BLOG / PR-D5 and HEADPHONES

I notice that my MW DXing articles get read by a lot of people. I have a few more of those articles in the works. On that front, I've been turning on the radio at least once a night, and tuning around. The only new station has been KWKW 1330, an ESPN Deportes station from Los Angeles, which I logged on my Sangean PR-D5.

Göteborg, Sweden have their Elverommet (a building with a large mural of their river on the side of it)... Seattle has its equivalent: The South Park Transfer Station!

I re-learned that I need to use my old Radio Shack headphones with that radio (I've since updated my PR-D5 article, adding a section about headphones). The PR-D5, being a mini-boombox, has a loudness circuit, which boosts bass at low volumes. It is part of what gives the PR-D5 a big sound through the speakers. But if you have bassy headphones (like my Sonys, which I got with a Sony SRF-59 headset radio), the bass will cover some of the highs, and you can miss ID's on stations on crowded frequencies.

Tåke på vannet... Ghostly fog over the local Beaver's Pond.

My old set of Radio Shack headphones -- which broke last year and I rewired for mono, using speaker cable -- are excellent for DXing and distance listening. They have clarity, but not a ton of bass. And they don't emphasise the midrange like some cheap headsets can do, which just gives you listener's fatigue -- I get zilch listener's fatigue with these headphones. For a while I misplaced them. Now that I found them again, I'm using them with the PR-D5 more.

Finally, I got a decent picture of a duck that wasn't blurry. Taken the first week of February.

My PR-D5 is so good on MW I usually don't need an external loop to DX with it. It's light enough to hold in my hand and turn from side to side, angle it slightly, etc. -- strengthening some radio stations and weakening others. One morning a week ago I heard an unidentifiable Spanish station on 1650 khz. My external loop only boosted the signal by about a db or so -- I still couldn't read the language 100%, but I heard "kilo" and "ahora" -- definitely Spanish. There is a distant Deportes station on that frequency, but this station didn't sound like Deportes at all.

I don't understand a lot of Spanish, even though I took it in high school. But sometimes I'll listen to the Spanish speaking stations to see if I can understand anything.

The last week of January we had some rains... One of the small local creeks, which comes down off of a hillside, got muddy, turning the frog pond yellow.

The only other languages I can read are Norwegian and Swedish -- Norwegian a bit better than Swedish (I took Norsk in college and learned Swedish on my own, as they are related languages). The only way I can hear those languages is through online listening, by logging in to NRK or Sveriges Radio, which -- thankfully -- do not 'geofence' their broadcasts. Jeg kan ikke forstå dem når jeg høre dem, men jeg kan lese dem OK.

ESPN Deportes stations like KWKW 1330, KTRB 860 (in the Bay Area of California), KBRO 1490 (across the Puget Sound from me) etc. are fun to listen to because the announcers are very peppy, and the bumper music is lively -- sometimes rock, sometimes hip-hop oriented pop. I understand the language just enough to know that they usually talk about Mexican soccer and European soccer. NFL football isn't that big amongst US Hispanics, unless they are 2nd or 3rd generation. The farthest Deportes station I've logged is the one in El Paso on 1650, KSVE.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

On a sports related note, I enjoyed the NFL Super Bowl earlier this month. As most of you probably know, the Super Bowl is a very big deal here in the U.S., even with people who aren't into NFL football. This year it was a game between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers.

As it turned out, it was a tough game. The Denver defense kept Carolina from doing much. Carolina's quarterback got 'sacked' about seven times, losing the ball a couple of times. Before the game, a lot of sports experts were all saying Carolina was going to win. But during the game, they were barely able to move the ball.

It wasn't a high scoring game, but was a fun game to watch.

I'm not much for 'selfies'. As close as I'll get to one. I'm all dressed up to watch the Super Bowl.

Hope all have a great February -- and Happy Valentine's Day, if you're into that....
CC  2-13-2016

Medium Wave DXing with the REALISTIC DX-370

As I have mentioned previously, one of my hobbies is Long Distance MW radio listening. And one of the radios I use frequently is one that is hardly ever mentioned in MW distance listener circles, the Realistic DX-370.

The Realistic DX-370 -- like most Radio Shack portable radios -- was made by Sangean. In many cases Radio Shack just put their name on a Sangean radio and marketed it in their stores. In the case of the DX-370, they combined two versions of a Sangean model -- the ATS-800 and 800A -- to sort of make their own model.

When it first came out, the DX-370 was intended to be an 'entry level' model of digital readout SW radio. The larger DX-390 (a Radio Shack re-branded Sangean ATS-818) was more expensive and had more features, including SSB and a tuning knob. The 370 was more of a bare bones radio (less memories, no SSB, no tuning knob, less SW frequency range), but still was worth the money, as it worked rather well.


The DX-370 is a Sangean ATS-800A with Sangean ATS-800 firmware and features, but unlike either the Sangean 800 or 800A it tunes all the way up to 1710 khz on the MW band. The DX-370 was made in Taiwan.

The Realistic DX-370, a digital portable radio made in the 1990's. It was a budget Sangean digitally tuned AM-FM-SW radio. As you can see from this picture, the LCD display doesn't like 60F or less temperatures (106.1 Mhz is a local pop station in the Seattle area).

The DX-370 is a digitally tuned radio, but you just use the up and down buttons, which can tune very fast if needed. They speed up the longer you press down the up or down tuning button. This can take some getting used to for someone used to a tuning knob or direct-entry buttons. You have very little muting while tuning the radio.

Like the Sangean ATS-800, the DX-370 covers AM, FM, and SW in two "bands", on going from 90 meters to 41 meters, and the other SW "band" covering 31 meters up to 13 meters.

Like the Sangean ATS-800, and unlike the Sangean ATS-800A which the DX-370 is built upon, there is no 9 khz switch, which sucks if you want to take it overseas.

But the radio is actually capable of tuning in 9 khz steps -- one evening I turned my DX-370 on and it was tuning the AM band in 9 khz steps for some reason! It's the only time it's happened in the years I've had the radio. Obviously it was a microprocessor glitch, but it shows that there probably is a diode or resistor somewhere on the DX-370's PCB that keeps it locked in 10 khz mode. If it just had a switch added, it would probably tune in 10 khz or 9 khz steps -- the two khz standards for the MW band around the world.

The DX-370 has the best MW selectivity of all my portables except my Sangean PR-D5. It has the same ceramic filter used by the Radio Shack DX-398, as well as the same TA7758 IF chip.

It has narrow selectivity (sounds like maybe 5-6 khz bandwidth?) on the AM band, but it's not so narrow that the AM or SW bands sound muddy. The trebles are suppressed somewhat, but it has a full, listenable sound. And it has a pleasant sound through headphones, with more treble available than my PR-D5.

My DX-370 with the back off. I hard wired the FM/SW whip antenna to the terminal on the radio's PCB to keep it from ever breaking down or glitching. That's the white wire you see on the right side of the picture. I also added back-to-back protection diodes, which I ran between the whip antenna terminal and the negative side of the battery -- which also can be seen. The radio's 120mm loopstick can be seen, and also my power jack diode repair (diode soldered over the jack, extreme lower right of the radio's PCB) can be seen. I plugged in the wrong power supply by accident once -- it was the wrong polarity -- and fried the original power jack protection diode. I was lucky in that -- at that time -- I was unaware of how easy it is to wreck surface mount PCB connections. :-)

I use the DX-370 a lot because it is small, handy, tunes quickly, sounds good through headphones, it is probably the easiest Radio Shack or Sangean digital portable on AA batteries (especially for a digitally-tuned SW portable radio -- designed to work with 6 Volts, it can work on 3.6V according to specs). It has a clock -- which is handy -- if you want to check the time while listening you just toggle the middle button from radio to alarm to clock and back. It has an alarm which I think I've used once -- the alarm will switch on the radio or give you a piercing tone.

GOOD ON FM

The DX-370 is also is pretty sensitive on FM (it has a TA7358 FM RF amp chip). One Christmas when I took it with me to northern Louisiana I was able to hear FM stations from as far away as Longview and Nacogdoches, TX, as well as Texarkana, Arkansas. I would turn the whip and get two different FM stations from 100 miles or more away, in full stereo. It was amazing.

Another shot of the DX-370 with the back off showing the protection diodes (surrounded by thick, clear shipping tape) that I added to the radio because I'm not 100% certain it has them otherwise. The white wire hardwires the FM / SW antenna because of the way it's attached to the main PCB. I prefer my radios to have their whip antennas hardwired where possible. If you look carefully in the upper left hand side of the PCB you'll see "ATS-800A", which is the Sangean board the DX-370 is made from.

The DX-370 is one of my best FM radios, both in sensitivity and the rich, full sound you get through the headphones. It has FM in stereo through headphones, which is very nice. The memories are quick to program and very easy to use -- you get five memories on each band.

The back of the DX-370. AS you can tell, it's an updated model (the "A" in 20-211A designates an updated version of the radio). The back also says it tunes from 535-1705 on the MW band, which is a mis-print: the radio definitely doesn't tune in that range (unless the microprocessor glitches). It tunes MW from 530-1710, using the North American MW standard. It's an example of the DX-370 being unique to Radio Shack: it is an ATS-800A circuit board with ATS-800 features and North American X-band added on MW.

USING THE PROXIMITY EFFECT WITH A LONG WIRE ANTENNA ON SHORTWAVE

I also use my DX-370 to scan through the 49, 41, and 31 meter SW broadcast bands at night to see what's on. It tunes quickly up and down the band, and it's fairly sensitive off the whip. If you're in a low signal area, you can use it with a longer wire by clipping a wire to the DX-370's whip antenna, using an alligator clip. I often use a 25 ft. indoor wire (about 8-9 meters) with my DX-370, by alligator-clipping the antenna to the radio's whip.

If your wire antenna is longer than 25-30 feet (8-10 meters), you can place the radio's whip antenna near the wire antenna's feedline, using the "proximity effect" to boost signals to the radio. That way you can use a longer wire with the radio without overloading the DX-370's RF circuits. When I had a 100 ft. wire, I was able to hear much of the world this way without overload to the radio.

For example, one early evening a few years ago I heard Tunisia fade in and out on 41 meters. With just the whip, I could barely hear the station. When I placed the whip near the 100 ft. wire's feedline, it came in readable enough to catch an ID. The proximity effect is useful if you have a small radio with no external antenna jack. And one plus is you never have to worry about static charges frying an RF amp transistor.


The DX-370's LCD readout doesn't like the cold. If it gets down below 60F/10C it tends to fade on some of the characters.

It has a 120mm x 7 mm MW loopstick, which is probably very adequate if you are in a high signal area. If you're in a low signal area like I am, an external loop will make the radio shine on AMDX -- which it does.

I tend to use my DX-370 the most, of all my portables, for MW DXing, because of its convenience, quick tuning, smallish size, full sound through headphones, and good selectivity. As I live in a low signal area, I usually use an external loop with it when DXing. But I have read accounts by other radio aficionados who have used this radio in high signal areas without an external loop, and they have had good results.

GOOD MWDX RADIOS IF YOU CAN FIND ONE -- OF IF YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE

Although I haven't priced any of these radios recently, I think they are probably fairly inexpensive online, as they weren't "fancy", high end models with a lot of memories or extra features. A quick search shows some DX-370's for sale as low as $40 online, used.

For those of you who live overseas, where the DX-370 apparently wasn't sold, the Sangean ATS-800A undoubtedly has the same performance (as the DX-370 has an 800A board inside), and I would suggest you try it out on MW with a loop and see what you hear. I've seen some Sangean ATS-800A's for sale online at moderate prices.

A lot of DXers might even have one one of these radios around and haven't thought about using one to DX the MW band with. In my view it's well worth it to try it out on the MW band, especially if you have a loop. And when you're tired of MW DXing, switch it over to FM. The sound is really good (on headphones -- it has a fair sound through the speaker) -- and a DX-370 pulls in a lot of FM signals, too!

ADDENDUM, Dec. 1st, 2019:
I've noticed a couple comments to my article here, which is cool -- it means there are others using this useful little radio for MW DXing. Unfortunately, it seems to be difficult to respond to comments directly. In one of the comments, a reader asks if there is a service manual available for the DX-370. As far as I know, they are hard to find. I have been unable to find one in any of the online manual websites. Perhaps a service manual for the Sangean 800A would work -- I haven't looked for one of those, and I'm not sure how easy those manuals are to find. 

Information on these 1990's-era radios is unfortunately a bit rare.
73
C.C.

New Year's and Winter Pictures

Beaver pond reflection, Jan. 10th, 2016.

A couple of posts back, I said I'd post some Winter pictures, as well as a couple pictures from New Year's. Here are some pictures I took on New Year's Eve morning, New Year's Eve, and a few days after New Year's.

Uncle Mo's karaoke pub in Renton at the turn of the year, New Year's Eve, 2015-16. The Space Needle can be seen glowing with fireworks in the big TV screen.

A karaoke singer brings down the house singing a pop song, standing on the table. New Year's Eve, 2015-16.

On New Year's Eve I went to a local karaoke pub which is one of the most popular bars in Renton, and it was a fun time. The following morning I took my Nikon snapshot camera out on my bike and snapped some pictures.

During our two to three weeks of Winter, the pond froze over solid. Photo taken early morning, New Year's Day, when it was around -4C / 24F. Within a week and a half or so, the pond was back to normal, with a pair of ducks swimming in it.

Since then, the weather here has felt more like Spring than Winter. Right now as I write this, the temperature outside is 9 degrees C (about 50F) and the sun is shining. Outside I can hear chickadees and red winged blackbirds.

An early fog raising from the Cedar River on a -4C/24F day, New Year's Morning 2016.

Red Winged Blackbirds are a summer bird here in Western Washington -- they usually appear in Spring, and nest in the ponds and swamps during late Spring and early Summer, when their "kong-ka-ree" call can be heard. It is a pleasant sound of Summer.

Morning traffic on the early morning of January 6th, 2016.

When I go out on my bike, it feels like Spring already. Winter right now seems to have come and gone. I love all the seasons, but now that Christmas season is over, I say bring on Summer!

New Year's Morning it was very cold for us, about 24F/-4C. The frost was so thick on the Cedar River Trail that it looked like a light coating of snow. This picture was taken just after sunrise, as you can see the sun lighting the hill behind the grove of cottonwood trees.

Some parts of the U.S. have warmer weather this time of year, but they also have other problems, like tornadoes and rainstorms that cause mudslides and the like. Other parts of the U.S., like Minnesota, where the Seattle Seahawks football team played a couple weeks ago, have -10F weather this time of year.

A ravine set in the hillside just off the Cedar River. One wouldn't know that this bit of wild nature was only a kilometer from a heavily urbanized area. Taken a few days before Christmas, 2015.

Here in Seattle we have none of that, really.... It's usually mild in the Winter, and this Winter seems milder than usual. Technically, we are a Mediterranean climate. You wouldn't know it from all the trees around here, but similar to other Mediterranean climate areas we really don't have that many freezing nights here. And this Winter has been the least freezing in a few years.

A drop of water in a small trailside pond on a rainy morning in early December, 2015.

A BIG FOOTBALL DAY

Today is a big NFL football day here in the U.S., with two major games being played. One of the games features the Arizona Cardinals playing the Carolina Panthers. Carolina is a tough team and they beat our Seattle Seahawks last weekend. The Carolina quarterback, who is very talented, ripped down a Seahawks '12' flag after winning the game against us last week: that's unnecessary, and it's a bit ungracious in winning. I hope Arizona wins. Go Arizona.

On the morning of January 2nd, the frost was even thicker than New Year's Morning, looking like snow. It was our dose of Winter this year.

The sun rising through a small break in the fir and maple trees on the hillside overlooking the Cedar River Trail frog pond. The pond was created in the 1890's when the Pacific Coast Railroad (and the transcontinental Milwaukee Road) cut off the flow of a stream, causing the pond, which has existed until this day.

The other game will be the Denver Broncos playing the New England Patriots. Both of those teams are very good, with star veteran quarterbacks. It should be a good game. New England play NFL football the way the German team played soccer during the World Cup -- they're like a well-oiled machine, and very efficient at playing the game. They beat Seattle last year at the Super Bowl. My guess is they will go all the way this year.


So I shall be spending the rest of the day watching football, and working out some.

A pair of ducks recently decided to take over a local pond -- it's the same pond that is frozen in the photo up above. The two ducks stayed there for a while, but I think they've gone. Maybe the raccoons that wander through there at night scared them off. Photo taken January 14th, 2016.

Here's hoping you have had a great January.

CC 1-23-2016

CHRISTMAS Cheer in 2015

The past few Christmases here at my place have been mostly sedate affairs. Living alone with a small extended family doesn't really add up to rip-roaring holidays. My previous post on Christmas ("The Man Out Of Dickens") sort of sums up the way many Christmases have been in my life.

The Piazza Christmas lights in Renton, December 2015.

But the past two or three Christmases I've sort of rediscovered the beauty of the holiday. I've made sure to put up my decorations, even though I sometimes don't really feel like Christmas. I have to lock my cat away from the living room because she loves to attack the ornaments on the Christmas tree.

This year I bought some inexpensive Christmas ornaments to use on my hawthorn tree outside. They are made of plastic -- rain won't bother them, and they are unbreakable. Really nice Chinese made glass ornaments, that were readily available in the 2000's, are getting rarer and rarer.

This year I got a new decoration: a Julbock. The Yule Goat. It's apparently a tradition in Sweden to have a straw goat under your tree. I saw one -- brand new -- at a local thrift store and grabbed it. Now, I'm not Swedish (Scottish & Irish here), and the only thing I really know about Sweden is it's a land of nice looking women and terrific holiday traditions. But the Julbock seems like a nice thing to have under your tree. A couple days after Christmas, I found a "Julnisse" -- a Norwegian Christmas Elf, for sale at the same thrift store. In the box, never used. $3. Not bad.

A Julenisse and Julbock. I'm not Scandinavian (I'm Scottish/Irish) but I've always thought their decorations and Christmas customs were cool.

This gradual renovation of my own Christmas spirit started during the Christmas before last (Christmas 2013), when I wrote and finished my children's Christmas eBook, "Woody The Woodchuck Saves Christmas". It's a story where Woody (a stuffed animal puppet) and his puppet friends (who live in the woods near a big farm) save Christmas from the mean, grinchy Green Pigs From Mars.

One of the better local Christmas displays this year.

Earlier that year I had wanted to do a Woody children's story after I discovered I could draw him and his puppet friends. But I was clueless as to what sort of story to write for him. However, that December, a former Facebook friend of mine was posting tirade after tirade of anti-Christmas memes and posts, saying it was a phony, pagan, anti-Christian holiday -- a time when people "lie" to their children about that evil, pagan Santa Claus and his elves and the like.

One of the local Christmas displays, with a brightly lit polar bear.

I decided then and there to make my children's book support Christmas. While I was writing the story and drawing the illustrations, I realised that Christmas is a really magical time of year, and by that, I mean it is a time that people feel nostalgic as well as hopeful about the oncoming year, and it's a time of year they at least try to think about others -- and for those with children, it's an opportunity to give them happy memories they will carry throughout their lifetime.

A couple of my outdoor Christmas ornaments on New Year's Eve morning.

If you're alone, you may be depressed because you feel you're missing out: but that is a sign of the importance of being connected with other people, as well as the importance of family and social connections, many of which are fragmented in today's world. But Christmas gives us the opportunity to reach out, give someone a gift, a donation, a Christmas card, say "Merry Christmas". To think more of others than ourselves.

The half moon on New Year's Eve morning. The big tree is a cottonwood. The moon came out quite well on my Nikon L32 Coolpix snapshot camera, showing that it can take decent low light pictures -- hand held -- when you use the "night" setting.

My Christmas this year was much like the previous two years. Low key. On Christmas Eve my family (mother, aunt & uncle and a friend of my mother's) had dinner at a local diner. Then my mother came over to my place and we watched a version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", the excellent one starring Patrick Stewart. I have four versions of A Christmas Carol on DVD: Patrick Stewart's, George C. Scott's, the black and white Alaister Sim one, and Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol. The last two Christmases I also have read the Charles Dickens story, which still has a certain magic about it 150 years after it was first published.

My mother and I also watched "Cowboys and Aliens", just for fun.

A neighbor had a small, but nice Nativity scene out in front of their house, its colors matching the frost on a cold, -2C New Year's Eve morning.

Right now, as I write this, it is New Year's Day. I'm not a huge fan of New Year's, as the vast majority of them haven't exactly been memorable. One New Year's I played the bagpipes at a pub and nearly caused a fight -- a woman wanted to pay me to quit playing, while the ones who requested I play the pipes wanted to pay me to keep playing.

Last night, on New Year's Eve, I was at a local karaoke pub. I sang once, had a couple Cokes and ate a bit of popcorn. Before I went down to the pub there were a few fireworks lit off in the neighborhood, which was nice. New Year's fireworks did not used to be a tradition here in Washington, but over the past couple of years you hear them more and more on New Year's Eve. I'm sure the killjoys will figure out a way to try to stop that tradition from continuing. :-)

The closest thing I had to Christmas candles were inexpensive votives, which still gave off a Christmassy cheer early Christmas morning.

I will make another blog post soon with some Winter pictures I took over New Year's and the days right after it. Until then, here's hoping you had a great holiday season, and have a healthy and great 2016.

C.C. 1-1-2016 and 1-10-2016