FCC authorizes digital on AM

[K9DAK]

Maybe we should move this to a VW forum... wait, I can make it radio related... I replaced some hoses and the pickup tube in the windshield washer system, pressurized it... no joy. The switch on the dash was leaking, but I didn't figure that out 'till the ww solution dripped all over and soaked the new Kenwood stereo head unit I had just installed a week earlier! (See, there's the radio related part.) Fortunately a few blasts with compressed air, WD-40 on the connectors and overnight with a fan blowing on it cured the radio problem. Still need to get a new wiper switch. In winter storage now... a project for next summer.

In '69 I bought a used '61 VW Beetle for $284, which was all I could afford back then. It was the first car I ever owned, and was a rust bucket from one end to the other. The handle at the front (for the trunk; the engine hood was at the rear) had fallen through, so that the trunk lid had to be tied down to the bumper to keep it shut. I eventually managed to fix the handle in place by surrounding it with an epoxy body filler.

Talk about minimalist: The windshield washer used pressure from the spare tire as a pump. The windshield could not be defrosted, as there was no fan to circulate the warm air, which was from the engine block. There was also no gas gauge! A lever on the floor could be flipped to a small reserve of gas at the bottom of the tank. I was never sure whether I was running on the reserve or the main supply, until I ran out of gas one day in the middle of a mountain highway with a logging truck bearing down on me. Fortunately I was able to coast to the side of the road just in time, and managed to complete the trip on the reserve.

That was the car in which I learned how to use a manual transmission, and the gear synchronization was way off, so that I had to learn the technique of double-clutching. I got stuck in neutral one day as I was about to turn a corner, and nearly lost control of the car.

Wish I still had a picture of that old wreck!

 

[WB9YBM]

Everyone here is a serious radio enthusiast. Now let me ask how many here will replace their car radio with a HD radio? I will not spend money on this for a vehicle. How many average listeners will replace their car or home radios? Most people who listen to AM do that in their cars during their drive time. If their favourite news station were to go all digital I bet that most would say the hell with that and just listen on their phones. It would be cheaper to stream rather than buy new radios.

I'm not even sure it's still possible for a "regular person" to replace a modern car stereo--it probably has something to do with it being tied in with all those other systems like navigation and whatever else all they're attaching through one common screen on the dashboard. I don't even see that as an option from the dealer (it's been a few decades since I've seen displays in the showrooms showing stereo options).

 

[MUTNAV]

I think that if you are willing to drill a hole in your roof for a NMO mount, you should have the mechanical skills for installing an aftermarket stereo.

Of course I personally wouldn't be drilling a hole in a modern car without a WHOLE lot of guidance, side and pillar airbags seem to be all over the place.

As far as the possibility of MW going ALL digital (which I hope is a bust), even the IDEA of people still building crystal radios (there's a yearly Crystal DX contest, so even adults still do it) makes it worthwhile to keep.

Thanks
Joel

In '69 I bought a used '61 VW Beetle for $284, which was all I could afford back then. It was the first car I ever owned, and was a rust bucket from one end to the other. The handle at the front (for the trunk; the engine hood was at the rear) had fallen through, so that the trunk lid had to be tied down to the bumper to keep it shut. I eventually managed to fix the handle in place by surrounding it with an epoxy body filler.

Talk about minimalist: The windshield washer used pressure from the spare tire as a pump. The windshield could not be defrosted, as there was no fan to circulate the warm air, which was from the engine block.

Wish I still had a picture of that old wreck!

If it makes you feel better, by '67 they had electric wipers, in 89 when I bought mine (which I later sold) it had an aftermarket centrifugal advance and electronic ignition also.

Also the 2 1/2 ton that I sometimes had to drive for work (up through 1998) had its wipers powered by air pressure, and had a little handle that you could use to help it along when there wasn't enough uumph available.


Thanks
Joel

 

[WB9YBM]

I think that if you are willing to drill a hole in your roof for a NMO mount, you should have the mechanical skills for installing an aftermarket stereo.

If it were an older style radio (i.e. when the radio was still only a radio, before it was combined with GPS & all the other modern stuff), I'd agree--but they've gotten so much more complex in recent years, I wonder if that's even still possible...

 

[GB46]

I'm not sure if my Sangean portable is a computer that thinks it's a radio, or a radio that think's it's a computer. At any rate, I do know that it will occasionally crash like a computer and automatically power down, maybe about once a month. No harm done, however; all the memories are retained, and all that's needed is to turn it back on and reset the clock.