Bill Hale <phantom2@eaze.net>: I'm looking for a small(er than ICF-2010) radio and have seen the DX-399 at Radio Shack for $130 including AC adapter and carrying case. I would like any and all opinions from our group as to its +++ and --- as far as a DX radio. Thanks in advance.

Robert Foxworth <rfoxwor1@tampabay.rr.com>: I got a DX399 a couple of months ago, it is not really sensitive enough to hear the weaker signals but I find that coupling a RS AM loop next to it inductively is enough to get down to the weak signals, and the loop tunes pretty sharply. Also I use a headset. It will tune to 1 kHz but there is no selectivity or BFO adjust and I think the chances of hearing any 'splits' on it are quite marginal. I like it for its portability. So far I haven't found a way to wire-couple the loop into the antenna jack, the inside ferrite seems to stay connected at all times. For instance at sunset I can go to 1640 and hear WKSH mix with the New Smyrna Beach TIS, on the loop, while there is no signal with the un-aided rx. It works pretty well on FM and SW and covers longwave as well, I'd say, go for it, if 'domestic' is your brand of DX. You can always return it inside of a month.

Powell E. Way III <powell@conterra.com>: Well, I was over at my friend's house and spied a Marantz PMD 221 out on the trash. I asked what happened. He told me that [name deleted] claimed they couldn't fix it. It's a cassette deck, portable that lots of radio stations used. I decided to rescue it and sent it to my friend up in Greensboro. I have not any faith in the place it was sent. Putting in batteries...silent. Hooked it to the walwart and correct voltage and it blasted to life. Recorded JUST FINE from the line output of the DX-398 into it's very own line input. And not a TRACE of wear on any of the 3 (YES!) heads. It seems to be it'd be a bit easier to use than a one of those portable MD recorders. NICE VU meter.

Frederick R. Vobbe <fredv@nrcdxas.org>: Powell, I have those in my studio. They are great decks for news gathering. The biggest PITA with them is the contacts on the side that become intermittent when something is plugged into them for a long time. Also, don't let the machine sit there with the wall wart on it all the time as it can damage the power supply in the recorder. If you use it a lot, order some extra pinch rollers, and use only non-water based cleaners to clean the heads, guides, and roller. Manuals are $40 from Harris Broadcast if you need to work on the deck. Parts are available from Marantz.

Phil Bytheway <phil-bytheway@teknologic.net>: I have just acquired an old Bearcat DX-1000. The front end must be shot as I can just barely hear any locals with their "whip" antenna. Does anyone out there have a schematic, service manual for this set. Would be nice if I knew what part to look for when I tear into it. For Kevin... I'm using a very nice Sony 7600G for DX... all the features of the 2010 at half the size... and it's more sensitive on AM with it's internal antenna. I have quite a few other small portables as well. Thanks folks... best of DX.

Kevin Redding <lwdxer@juno.com>: "I'm using a very nice Sony 7600G for DX." You are the second to say they liked those radios. Mark Durenberger is the second.

Randy Stewart <jrs555t@smsu.edu>: Let me put in my vote for the 7600G... it's a bit less sensitive on shortwave unless you use the clip-on "reel" antenna in addition to the whip, but it's pretty hot on mediumwave. And not only do you have synchronous detection, it's also quite stable for single-sideband reception with a continuously adjustable BFO.

Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@nrcdxas.org>: Bill Hale, take note - several people are using this and like it. Maybe that's an alternative for you!

Powell E. Way III: Welllllllllll lets see, I have 2 digital RS ones, the 12-169 which has pretty good audio, and the newer 12-792 which has clock and alarm...and most likely is made by Sangean. I have a pair of DX-350's which are fairly wide...and that's why I bought them. I have a Zenith Royal 275...and it's fairly hot. Right now the Hammarlund HQ-129-X is warming the room up...but it's tuned to 3885.

Kevin Redding: "and the newer 12-792 which has clock and alarm...and most likely is made by Sangean." I have that. Its great for locals but DO not try to hear even domestic DX with it. The bandwidth is way too wide. Still with the deep bass boost, it sure sounds good. I also have that 12-174 that is the exact duplicate of the Sangean DT-200V and it does a nice job at domestic and Mexican DX for me. I also have an AM stereo Sony SRF-42 p/n 12-127 and a big box full of transistor radios and the like. "I have a Zenith Royal 275...and it's fairly hot." I used to have a Zenith Royal 400 and it was a smokin unit. I have a big radio, a Zenith Royal 94. It also was called a Zenith Interoceanic and its a pretty nice radio even for being 40 years old.

Paul Smith, W4KNX <sunray2@gte.net>: "Universal Pocket Radio circa 1966 5 Transistor 9v radio" I collect those tiny radios by the zillion. I have a friend here in Bradenton, that has over 3,500 of those small radios in his house. His and my favorite is the Zenith Royal 500 E model. A fabulous radio for DXing. Has a lot of history in all those radios, and all of them work. He also collects microphones, motorcycles and old flashlights. He jokes that the only thing he doesn’t collect are wives <grin>.

Ingolf Schulte <ingolfschulte@t-online.de>: Hi to all members! I am not only into the hobby of AM & SW DX but also collect vintage transistor radios of pocket and portable size. Sometime ago I came across a mint Zenith Royal 500H. IMO, it is by far the best pocket set ever built, for a radio of that age (1962) it is extra sensitive, very selective with its 4 tuned circuits, and produces brilliant sound through its large oval speaker. Wherever you'll get one, grab it, you will definitely not regret it. It easily outperforms all comparable Sony and Toshiba sets from that classic era, and is well suited for DXing. As I write this mail it is tuned to 891 Algeria, which is no big sensation over here (grin).

Powell E. Way III: Well all, I have too many radios to count. I even have a battle scarred DX-398...]:) So I have thought about adding a Sony 7600 (the digital one) to the pile. So compared to the DX-398 on the BC band only, what do you think? At Brasstown NC, I couldn't tell too much difference. The Sony has (and has had for some time) a SW77 for $350 refurbished. It BLEW the DX-398 away on AM. At least Larry got his WKDK refrigerator magnet before anyone else...<VERY evil grin>

Frederick R. Vobbe: Where do you buy refurbished gear?

Tom <radio@blazenet.net>: For what it's worth, I have seen some interesting items at: www.dxing.com. Click Universal Radio link, Then click used equipment list link.

Powell E. Way III: "Where do you buy refurbished gear?" At the Sony Factory stores. They have both new and refurbished. There is one in Southern Ohio most likely along an Interstate in a factory store/outlet mall.

Bill Hale: There's a Sony Repair Center in North Dallas near Coit and Campbell. I've taken my ICF-2010 there for a repair a couple of years ago. But... they ain't cheap!!!! Never thought about asking about refurbished gear. However, the list of 12 "factory outlets' around the US is at: http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/outlets/locations.html, and appears that these are located in outlet malls. I know the one in San Marcos, TX is in one.

Frederick R. Vobbe: I'll have to search around and see what I can find. I know there was one in a seedy section of Detroit about 15 years ago.

Ron Gitschier <RGITSCHIER@doyle.navy.mil>: A couple of years ago, I was on a two month road trip, driving from Jacksonville, FL to North Chicago, IL and on to Boston before returning to Jax. I wanted amongst other things to record quirky or unusual stations, using my home cassette deck. Tied to it I could use either of three radios for tuners. A Radio Shack TM 152 (with longwire antenna, an AM Stereo C-QUAM tuner, a Sony SRF-A1 four Mode (wideband) AM Stereo Walkman (with FM), or a Radio Shack DX-398. I originally intended to use my cassette deck in my barracks room in Great Lakes Naval Center, where I went for elevator training. While there, I bought a static inverter so I could, in theory, record AM Stereo stations around Chicagoland near their tx sites and patch it to the cassette deck so I could aircheck these stations on hi bias tape. Au contraire, Ron... that ((*&^%$)_+= static converter even at 20 feet away with a LONG patch cord using the battery powered Sony SRF-A1 let out the worse buzz I'd ever heard over the whole band. Toward the end of my month long stay I ended up looking for picnic areas on base that had 120VAC outlets (that worked) and used the TM 152 and Home cassette deck to make some airchecks in AM Stereo... in the rain and cold dampness on a covered picnic table. At least with the rain it was easy to string out antenna wire, no one was at the park to get caught in it. I felt that trying to find an outlet I could tap into in an urban area and be unmolested for 45 to 90 minutes straight from the criminal element or the police for that matter would prove impossible... Has anyone had any success using a static inverter for airchecking? Probably not... I was able to get a refund on the Static inverter, even with the 'strange' explanation why I couldn't use it... <sigh>. I got the static inverter for use in the van... for aircheck recording with the home cassette deck while parked...

Doug Smith <Doug Smith W9WI>: I'm afraid that doesn't surprise me. The inexpensive ones generate square waves - pretty much suitable for driving a transformer, but very rich in harmonics. I bought one a few years ago so I could DX *FM* in the Land Between the Lakes. It was suitable for the purpose (and the 3-element FM quad antenna worked *great*) but it did induce some nasty buzz into the cheap audio amplifier I was using.

And some advice on where to get log books (not the AM Log, but to keep track of your catches!!)

David P. Jones <dpjones@nlkj.com>: Is there a log book available to record stations, etc? Or maybe a form that can be printed off the internet?

Russ Edmunds: None that I am aware of. One reason is that many people like to record more information on both what they've heard and also on the station than others do. Another reason is that many of us, like myself, no longer maintain a paper log - mine is entirely in computer files, even my old loggings.

Wayne Heinen <Nrclog@aol.com>: Look at item LG on the NRC Catalog on line at our web site http://www.nrcdxas.org

Kevin Redding: Funny that Russ, I have nothing on computer and all my logs are on paper. I know how a hard drive can crash, a disk can be erased by putting it too close to a speaker or an electrical wire or something. I would advise at least having a back up paper copy of your logs. That probably sounds strange from a person that asked for a SDXN.

John Tudenham <w0jrp@earthlink.net>: You may be able to use a ham radio ARRL log. Available from the American Radio Relay League 225 Main St Newington CT 06111.

And we’re going to begin a discussion that became quite involved on the listserv following the talk of the future of DX tests, as we get into the future of NRC, DX News, DXing and other issues relevant to the club. I don’t yet have much of it organized as I would like, so we’ll get the ball rolling with the general idea this time, and by next issue I hope to be able to present more. And yes, I KNOW that this doesn’t necessary help us in our DXing pursuits, but I think it has its place in this column anyway.

Harry Helms <ak6c@earthlink.net>: "Great - another reminder that newcomers like me have missed the Golden Years of AM DXing.:-)" Barry, The "Golden Years of DXing" ended when DX NEWS went to offset from mimeograph!:-) But stick around... I'm still sticking to my prediction that you are going to eventually see a drastic reduction in AM broadcasters once digital and satellite-based radio is common. Music will move to these CD-quality services, talk and ethnic will move to FM, and AM will gradually fade away. The "good old days" might be 20 years into the future!

Richard Toebe <richtoebe@jps.net>: Harry, AM radio may go by the wayside, but will MW? Is IBOC going to work? And aren't we all really MW DXers in NRC (LW BC is the exception because it is more similar to MW radio than other bands.) I checked the NAB website to see if there was anything about the experimental 1700 station; it only mentioned that the revised IBOC standards were about ready for submission to the FCC. If it is up to the British, MW will probably go away. There's a new digital radio receiver coming on the market in England, to be sold as a device you plug into your PC though the signals come from the air. It's called the Psion Wave Finder. Check it out at: http://www.wavefinder.com/frHome.asp?page=home.asp

John Callarman <JohnCallarman@email.msn.com>: "The Golden Years of DX-ing" ended when virtually every station in the United States license for unlimited hours went 24/7. The golden PAGES of DX'ing ended when DX News went offset. There was one advantage to mimeographing DX News. It was possible to airmail IDXD editor Pete Taylor DX-ing results from Monday morning, have them arrive in his P.O. Box in San Francisco Tuesday night, have Pete's stencils typed and in Ray Edge's hands in time for the bulletin to be received by Saturday... or the following Monday at the latest. We - the overall BCB DX'ing community - have developed since the advent of universal NSP operations have developed antennas and filters that clear away a lot of the crud. DX-ing, thus, still has challenging possibilities. But it isn't as easy as it used to be. As far as DX tests are concerned, cheers for those who endure the frustration of stations who neither know nor care about DX-ers and keep trying to find those rare ones who will do something special to help us to hear them. Just because it's a lot harder is no reason to quit trying.

Paul Swearingen <PlsBCBDXER@aol.com>: Through a bit of a fluke, we're coming close to that now - in that DDXD-E contributions e-mailed to me as late as Friday night or even Saturday morning pause only briefly before being socked into the column and the magazine on Saturday afternoon. I take the pages to the printer on Monday morning, pick it up on Thursday afternoon, and mail it out Friday afternoon, so that those within around 100 miles of Topeka can read about DX catches only a week after they happen. But even after Michael resumes his editorship, and Bill continues his, there's a maximum 10-day turnaround for DX to print if the catches are e-mailed directly to Michael and Bill. I wish I did have an offset press and a place to put it (not to mention the camera, plate burner, paper cutter, folder and stapler, etc.)... you'd see about a 4-day reduction in DX-to-print time. But then there's that "day job" to get in the way, hi!

Bruce Conti <BACONTI@aol.com>: Rather than lament the golden years, just look at what we have today and there's no comparison. Advances in technology have provided DXers with instant log reports and international long-distance communication between DXers via the Internet, and a nice offset printing of DX News for reference and archiving.

Harry Helms: Let me throw some gasoline onto this gently glowing ember of a discussion... So when will DX NEWS be distributed in electronic form, probably as a.PDF document? Eventually I think this is the route all radio clubs will have to go to avoid rising postage and printing costs and to save work for the "publisher" (in quotes because I'm not sure what we should/will call someone who prepares and distributes electronic documents). OK, flame away!

Paul Swearingen: "So when will DX NEWS be distributed in electronic form, probably as a.PDF document?" Never, or as long as I am publisher and the current Board of Directors' members are in place. Had not a former self-entitled "general manager" absconded with the AM Log data, not to mention FM station info, both of which he'd gathered from membership input, and published his own logs to line his own pocket, we might not today be so hardline on this subject. We just don't intend to make it easy for anyone else of his ilk to follow the same electronic path. "Eventually I think this is the route all radio clubs will have to go to avoid rising postage and printing costs and to save work for the ‘publisher’" Ironically, in reference to my first rebuttal, I use several computers to prepare the layout for DXN plus the CASS-certified mailing labels. Without them, I'd have to give up my day job; with them, my work load in preparing DXN is easily manageable. I should mention that we haven't raised the price of membership for about 14 years, although the cost of printing DXN has indeed gradually increased over the years. As it is, the subscription price versus the cost of printing and mailing DXN is pretty much a break-even proposition now. By the way, I've found that.pdf files do NOT reproduce very well as black-and-white images suitable for printing. Poetic justice, I guess. "OK, flame away!" Yep, go ahead. Make my day!

Russ Edmunds: To visit the last one first, he is still a publisher, albeit an electronic publisher! If you consider how few members are on the list ( relatively speaking ), that probably gives you an indication of the answer. I'm also quite sure that only 'x' percentage of subscribers to the lists and a much lesser proportion of non-list members would be equipped either in terms of software or in terms of proficiency to do that. Of course, if your definition of 'eventually' is long enough, then you may be right on...

Bruce Conti: The problem is that it's much more expensive for an individual to print hard copies than it is with mass production. Every time I have to replace an ink cartridge, it's another $25 down the drain. It's much more convenient to pay $22 a year for the printed magazine, which comes in a nice portable package, than to have to download magazines and print my own. I don't ever want to see DX News replaced with something on-line. There are already enough resources on the Internet, including the NRCDXAS reflectors and the IRCA's AM DX News Flash.

Phil Bytheway: Not to mention the "soft" DX Monitor.

Russ Edmunds: I think the cost of the ink cartridges is an excellent point, because they don't give you the same number or images I used to get at my former office from an old HP-IV, hi.

Harry Helms: Not trying to be contentious here, but just how does keeping materials in hard copy protect NRC from having the data ripped off? I could VERY easily produce an electronic version of the new NRC log using my scanner and the various text recognition/conversion and page layout programs I have along with Access. It's not rocket science to do so. No disrespect intended, but anyone who thinks keeping material in strictly hard copy is some sort of protection against infringement is kidding themselves. Paul,.PDF files are now emerging as a competing format to PostScript for direct-to-film printing projects. The last couple of books I have worked on were sent to the printer as.PDF files and the final results were great. We also offer our books in downloadable.PDF form, and about 20% of our sales in the most recent quarter were in that form. One other advantage of.PDF is the full-text search capabilities which extend across multiple titles; for example, you could enter "1630" as a search item and all references to that in a full year of DX NEWS would be retrieved (assuming all issues were stored in a single directory). You can also "lock".PDF documents to a single PC to prevent piracy. As far as the printing costs go, I have a feeling most people would only print very few parts of each issue. I don't need DDXD- East in hard copy for example, nor do I need AM Switch in hard copy----I enter the changes directly into my log. I'm not trying to get rid of Paul --- NOT YET ANYWAY!:-) --- but I did want to raise this issue as I think most radio clubs will have to eventually consider going to electronic bulletins to compensate for rising costs and declining membership (fortunately, the latter is not a serious problem for NRC at this time). Bob Grove at Monitoring Times has seen the future and is being very smart about offering MT in.PDF form. OK, back to the dials...

Russ Edmunds: While you are correct, Harry, it was and is far easier and cheaper to simply abscond with the electronic files, which also has the added consequence of leaving the club without copies... "I have a feeling most people would only print very few parts of each issue." But many people like to save from several to very many hard copies of DXN for reference, and only some of us have the hardware ( parallel to my prior comments ) to handle archiving a year's worth of DXN's or more, and I suspect you're probably missing the mark as to how many people would opt to print. In my prior job, I can't begin to conceive of the amount of paper which was wasted by people who insisted on having paper copies of everything -- whether to ensure against the consequences of the not-infrequent hard drive or LAN drive or backup failures or because of legal requirements, or non-progressive senior managers or their own individual reasons...

Bruce Conti: Another reason to keep DX News in print: As technology moves forward, DX News will always be accessible. For example, I have 78 rpm records from the 1940's, and old large-size floppy disks from the 1980's when they were really floppy, but nothing to play them on. I have books from the 1920's, and they can be picked up and read at any time, no antique equipment required (except perhaps an armchair and Tiffany lamp for ambience).

Russ Edmunds: Also another excellent point - today's.pdf files could well be tomorrow's indecipherables...

Harry Helms: However, we are in an era where standards are taking hold and once something is digital it can be converted to new digital storage formats. The data on your big floppies could be rescued and saved to more modern storage media. The flip side of paper is that it will eventually decompose and whatever is written on it will be lost. I have been scanning and saving issues of 1960s electronics magazines I own (like Electronics Illustrated and Radio TV Experimenter) because the paper they are printed on is getting discolored, brittle, and is clearly not much longer for this world.

Russ Edmunds: Only to the extent that the data on them was composed in a software which has been 'mapped' ( for lack of a better word ) for as conversion program or even for something to read it. Been there, tried and failed to do that for the reason cited...

We’ll continue this next time. Finishing up for us this time,

From Scott Fybush’s NorthEast Radio Watch dated October 16, 2000:

Our Albany bureau chief, Gavin Burt, checks in to let us know WMVI (1160 Mechanicville) has indeed flipped to a 60s AC format as "Sunny 1160," though he reports the signal still needs some work in the south end of the market...WTRY (980 Troy) has officially become WOFX ("Fox Sports")...Just north of Albany, the WBZA calls (long heard on 1230 Glens Falls, now WMML) have disappeared from the 1410 South Glens Falls facility where they'd been living. That station is now WENU(AM), simulcasting standards from WENU-FM (101.7 Hudson Falls) and prompting speculation of a format change to come on the FM side...Down in Olean, we hear WOEN (1360) will dump talk for a soft AC format sometime this fall...One bit of news from CANADA, and it comes to us through North Country correspondent Mike Roach: CJET (630) in Smiths Falls, Ontario has turned on its new FM signal at 92.3. Mike reports that "Country 92" began running a test loop of country music Saturday morning (10/14), which means the AM should be dark within a few months. (NERW's suddenly very glad that we made it up to Smiths Falls over the summer, and not just for the Hershey Canada factory tour!)

And from the October 23, 2000 NorthEast Radio Watch:

Citadel's WNSS (1260) in Syracuse dumped its AP all-news format last week, becoming one of the first two broadcast affiliates of the Comedy World network, heretofore a Web-only service. (The other one? KEYF 1050 in the Spokane market...) NERW tuned in 1260 as we passed through the Salt City Saturday morning, and ended up leaving the dial there for about 40 minutes. All-comedy radio hasn't worked on a local level the last few times it's been tried, but you know what? This service sounds pretty good. Imagine a talk format with comedy bits sprinkled in where a typical morning show might play a song or two, and you're pretty close to the concept...Downstate, a reader checked in to let us know that Port Jervis' WDLC (1490), which we'd heard was dark, is on the air and simulcasting sister station WTSX (96.7), so update your logs accordingly...With the Six Flags amusement park closed for the season, WPNT (1600 East Longmeadow) has changed format back to a simulcast -- but not sister FM WAQY (102.1 Springfield). Instead, Saga is using 1600 to relay its new purchase in the Pioneer Valley, WHMP (1400 Northampton). Can WHMP's programming, aimed at listeners in Hampshire County, make inroads against big talk competitors WHYN and WNNZ on their home turf in Hampden County?...There's a new sports radio station in CONNECTICUT, as WSUB (980 Groton) moves from talk to ESPN as "The Ticket Sports Radio 980," with an updated Web site <http://www.wsub.com> to go along...