Hello. Please note, there is sensitivity in milliVolts (not microVolts) , so, 2200 uV/meter and 400 uV/meter respectively. Sorry, no miracle happened this time. May be later ... Have a good day and Thank You for video!
Yeah I was about to post that, the Russians are using millivolts and Zenith’s data’s in microvolts. I was watching the full video though, often Dan edits a correction in somewhere in the video.
Whip antennas pick up the electrical part of the wave that doesn’t seem to penetrate obstructions like walls and, in your case, beneath the surface. My loops perform much better indoors than any whip or vertical amplified antenna I own.
Probably not what you want to read, but, Talc and Asbestos go hand in hand, especially in Talc mines. It's been a problem for decades being found in Johnson and Johnson baby powder (talc powder) make sure to wash your clothes thoroughly. Great video !!! BTW what lights did you say you like the best ? I'd like to get some.
With all the manmade noise on the MW AM band, any sensitivity below 30 or 40 microvolts would be unusable. A friend built an AM broadcast receiver with TWO tuned rf amp stages, he estimated the sensitivity to be 40 microvolts. It made no difference in sensitivity due to the inherent noise in the AM band compared to an old vacuum tube car radio, which are incredibly sensitive. And he went to great lengths to get the receiver to achieve 40 microvolt sensitivity. So the radios in the video could not be 1 microvolt sensitivity. Bogus numbers. Possibly 1000 microvolts.
Really enjoyed this longer video, dig the Soviet radios. Love the desert DX tests! Thanks for your hard work on these vids and getting them out consistently, really makes my Saturday mornings. Shango + Mine Explorers crossover 👍
Sadly this is common for the USSR/ Eastern black electronics. Very low quality PCB, bad soldering, damaged parts, sometimes a brand new products not working and with defects. As someone living in former Soviet satellite country, I have seen it all. They had the ideas, but not the material base and the quality. Still, I love old AM radios, handheld, tube, transistor. They have very interesting designs
Yes. Features of a planned economy. They sat and did nothing for the entire quarter, and then in an emergency mode they caught up and exceeded plans overnight. Especially towards the end of the Soviet Union. Well, they’ll buy it anyway. They will also fight in line.
Saturday Morning with Shango love it, really enjoy this channel always nice humor and learn something new. I always look forward to my Saturday morning coffee and Shango. You always have really cool stuff to learn about. I knowledge has really improved many thanks Mike
Actually the CBC maybe be partly funded by the state but are very much independent of the state. Much like the RCMP, they are not afraid to bite the hand that feeds them
Nice to see you testing one of these Chinese TEF6686-based radios too, along with the soviet-era radios and a few more modern ones. These are based on a chip used for car radios and they're excellent FM performers. People seem to not agree on their performance on MW and SW, although a hand-held receiver with a more classic design, the Qodosen SR-286 is getting a whole lot of praise from SWLers and MWLers. It's not cheap either.
I bought one of these Vondior 926 radios. It really is an amazing pocket radio. Fantastic performance and decent fidelity in sound quality for a pocket radio. Might be the best I've ever used in this class of radio. Both AM and FM sound great on mine. Great selectivity and good for DXing. It's a copy of the Sony ICF-S10MK2 but is a digital radio instead of being analog like the old discontinued Sony so there is no similarity in the circuitry from what I understand. Some have compared the two radios and claim that the Vondior actually out performs the Sony.
The good old TCA440 / A244D in russian version. TEF6686 radio software was made by european DX enthusiasts expecially for fm reception. 27000 is the upper limit the chip does.Some newer sw versions allow display-switchoff (screensafer) to minimize interferences.
I can still buy Vacuum tubes from a Russian vendor.... not through Ebay or anything......but directly on their website. There's a number of web sites that sell electronic parts directly from there. I'm sure someone wants to make a political message about it.........but I don't see an independent vendor as equivalent to the government. Governments are stupid.
13:54 litz wire. Just in case anybody else is having trouble coaxing the grey matter in to provide the answer. "Litz wire is a particular type of multistrand wire or cable used in electronics to carry alternating current (AC) at radio frequencies. The wire is designed to reduce the skin effect and proximity effect losses in conductors used at frequencies up to about 1 MHz." (Wikipedia).
I had this Olympic and the only thing that impressed me with it was that it was capable of discharging a shitty Soviet battery in a few minutes. At the time they were being made, everyone had already switched to the FM band and no one needed these receivers. That's why there are so many of them and they are so cheap. The resistor for shunting the coil and changing its frequency response was sometimes bitten off immediately at the factory during adjustment.
Qodosen SR-286 Is on my list. I have the Nevski it is as good as you say. I love the mine exploration, and the car trouble too it made for an exciting vid.
I remember DX'ing in northeast Montana growing up as a kid. We had a station on 1070 daytime but when they signed off at sunset, you could hear KNX pretty nicely at night. After the sun went down, the top of the AM band was always a challenge, just so much coming in at night. It was smooth as glass in the daytime like your reception out in the desert. But I can say I picked up KNX, KCBS, KFBK (Sacramento), and even KRLA (1190), which is now KEIB (Patriot Radio I think it's what it's called). Interestingly enough for a time I remember KIIS-FM was simulcast on 1190 way back when. 1190 was a tough one because there was a pretty strong semi-local station just across the border in Canada about 100 miles away, but it was far enough that it faded out at night.
@@shango066 Thumbing though the info, it looks like KNX has two towers - primary and backup. Perhaps they're working on the primary and currently running on the backup?
i appreciate your heaven comments on everthing im into trying to learn electronics old repair your rare im 61 everthingb you say fact love it perfect on the spot
At the 47.58 mark you said I'll tell you what the noise is .. In the New England area here i live we use the static from the little portable AM radios as an early Severe Thunderstorm or a Hurricane detector back in the 60s and 70s .. Also a nice reflection on you showing who you really are .. Here is a tip to make more videos showing what you really look like ... Great Video love the 2hr long videos and the mine's you explore
@@bigsky1970 It's still their logo... and they are still active... unfortunately... funded by 2 Billion dollars a year of taxpayer's money to tell us how great "dear leader" is.
Enjoyed the video, as I have a Bronco with that exact style shelled AC compressor; I'm sure the whole system is contaminated with aluminum shavings! On the PCB intermittents, If you will solder small-rings on the PCB, in strategic circuit locations (usually the signal-chain first), you can clip the scope probe on, and then use both hands to flex the board. If that doesn't yield a clue, then you move to another location. I have fixed so many of these that I jig and attack the signal chain immediately. Finally, if you really have to, you can place these test-points where you can see voltage changes which will then narrow it down completely. 73...
There's an old coal mine in I think in south Wales U.K where you will find a load of old cars from the 60's that has been dumped down the shaft it's on youtube somewhere.
These fourth class soviet radios have sensitivity about 1-2 millivolts/m. Usually, the first class soviet radios, especially tube radios with 2-3 IF stages have about 50 microvolts sensitivity for shortwave.
Great video as usual Shango. You should do a video on the Toshiba RP-S400 pocket radio from 1979/1980. It has an RF amp for superb sensitivity. Selectivity is pretty good also. It was the first PLL synthesized pocket radio and Toshiba pulled all the stops on it. Mine is an absolute DX hound at my California high desert location. Cheers!
Man that mine has my nerves firing on full blast, I am so damn claustrophobic that a MRI machine puts me in full panic, I need meds to get inside even an MRI machine which I have to go into every 6 months to insure that the cancer has not returned, had my right kidney removed a year ago Christmas. Doc said it was the biggest he ever saw come out of a human, if I had kept it for another month I would not be here any more so they got it in time I guess. I have the Chinese clone of that white radio, it has full scale and when hooked to a decent outdoor antenna it can pull in a lot. My house is a faraday cage I can barely get the local AM station through the steel roof and aluminum insulation.
Great video! I've got one of those Nevsky radios and while it's pretty hot on receive it's pretty noisy too. I got a Qodosen SR-286 about a month ago and it's blown me away with what a micro radio can do. It's based on the TEF6686 chip. Check out some videos on it. Thanks Ted
@@shango066 The SR-286 does not squeal, because there is only a simple display in it. The squealing comes from the big display / display interface . Even with a loop antenna or long wire the squealing will decrease with this model here. In newer sw versions an option to disable the display (sreensafer) can decrese those interferences too.
I once broke a fan belt about 15 miles from town, out in the 100º desert and was able to get back to town by watching the temperature and stopping to let it cool off before it overheated then driving some more, stopping again etc. This was before cell phones so it was either that or walk.
I would have thunked it be better to leave the belt on and driving it kind of like he was until it completely ceased vs over heating the engine and losing battery power all the way there... but it worked so can't argue.
Those are some really nice retro style radios 📻. That only makes me turn away from Walmart radios 📻 of today. Taking these out of town would be a great idea 💡 for the test 🤔. You're probably gonna have to replace the out of tolerance capacitors. Your friend, Jeff.
I'm wondering if that Vondior is using the Skyworks Si4836 radio on a chip. It's amazing how radio reception electronics has developed over the past 100 years. Thanks for the videos.
The big new innovation is SDR, which is really cool. Mr. Armstrong really had us covered when he invented FM and the Superheterodyne radio about a hundred years ago - only now have they been replaced with this fancy quadrature SDR and digital radio stations
Another great video Shango. Who else could be in the middle of the desert and their air compressor locks up only Shango. He didn't panic didn't seem to be mad or aggravated just took care of the problem. Luckily this was during the day because I don't think you would have driven 20 miles at night on just the battery. Shango were is your other channels? Thank you again Shango were look forward to your videos every Saturday!
He also has Mine Explorers on YT. Was watching it in October of 2023 and they went into the Tecopa Mine that a guy named Ross now owns. A great guy and youtuber too!
@@hestheMaster ok Thanks man for the info I will check it out. Does anyone know how long it has been since these mines were in operation and how old they are. It's amazing what these guys did with the limited tools they had.
The plant manufactured the OLYMPIC radios located in Ukraine, Svitlovodsk city, just on the branch of Dnepr river. There is also a gidravlic power plant, so logo on the radio refers to this power plant :-). I am selling these radios on ebay :-)
The Vondior looks like my Powerbear. Yours says VX, mine says HI-FI. It's good, but on a fairly strong AM station, there is crackling with audio on a certain station. It cracks when words are spoken or music. When there's no sound, no crackling. It's the only radio that does that. Interesting radios on this video!
Probably caused by the lcd screen. That’s where an external antenna comes in. Not just that piece of long wire that will overload the radio as it is not designed for that on AM. I have very good results with the Malahit wired up to the Tecsun /Kaito AN100/AN200 passive and tunable small loop. This loop kills the interference caused by the lcd screen. The lcd can be turned off on the Malahit by the way. Unbeatable for an affordable portable radio. Wilhelm.
In 'Radios von Gestern' by Ernst Erb I found that sensitivity is measured as the voltage in micro Volts nesessary to get an output power of 50 milliWatts at 30% modulation. The sensitivity of a super based on a ECH21, 2x EF22 and EBL21 should be between 15 and 50 microvolt for medium wave (MW) and long wave (LW) and 3 to 8 microvolt for the short wave (KW) band.
1:33:59 There must have been a major sedimentary environment change right there for there to be such a huge difference in the rocks. Like maybe the ground became submerged or became dry or something right at that point in the rock layers. It's pretty amazing to see such abrupt changes. The age difference between those 2 layers could be thousands of years.
That radio with the fet front end got me thinking. Have you ever like tried and figure out all of the best ways a radio could be made and then tried to draw out the best radio ever? That be an interesting video.
Newer pocket ones are one chip DSP radios with extremely low IF. TCA440 is a bit noisy (swapping to the original, not soviet copy might lower the noise with some measurable db, but most probably not enough to hear the difference). And yes, super pupper SDR/DSP (russian MalahitTeam, Belka DSP and their chinese knock-offs, this one is chinese knock-off TEF6686, the chinese all band based on Si4732 chip) all suffer from a tone of beaten frequencies, some internally generated, some from the screen and microcontrollers that drives all the internals.
Sensitivity rantings area alway bound to a standard SNR. For AM it's usually in the mV/m. More Sensitivity doesn't make sense due to the larger bandwidth as the SNR depends on it. In other words higher Sensitivity would only amplify the noise. BTW the red ceramic caps are all bypass caps. Back in East Germany we had shit loads of them...
47:46 And Shango runs across Ralph Gordon Stair's "Overcomers' Ministry" shortwave broadcast. He's been dead since 2021, but his cult at that farm in South Carolina carries on, replaying that British Guy Reading the Bible tapes, old sermons of "Brother Stair", and material from their new leader, Pastor James Rice.
They are taking over the entire world. Better get used to it as much I hate the idea. However, I must give them a lot of credits for improving their products in such a way that it seems we (the rest of the world) have been sleeping while they did that. As an example I give you their Malahit DSP2 SDR (improved Russian design) radio that is a small jewel, specially if you take the price into account. Greetings from Holland. Wilhelm.
Gee. Makes me wonder how my Radio Shack DX-402/Sangean ATS-505 would work out in the desert. The sensitivity on mine is incredible. I also modded mine to have a wide open tuning (the silence in-between frequencies is normal on a stock ATS-505/DX-402).
It looks like the Vondior uses AA cells. That's another an advantage if you're building an emergency kit (or even packing for a hike) - fewer battery types to stock up on. AA are used in a lot of things. 9V, not so much.
46:31...that slot head screw is missing the insulating washer like in the other radio @ 46:41. Idk if it's touching the circuit and causing anything. Also, @ 15:06, 15:09 ...it looks like there's a hairline fracture on the board, starting from the cluster of drill holes, running up the board.
Years ago in Indonesia I repaired soviet manufactured portable radio. The main problem was the “plastic” coil formers which were disintegrating (crumbling). Got it working on broadcast band (MF) but not SW bands. Radio total rubbish.
Hey, Dan. I just picked up a Vondior recently and was impressed with the sensitivity DXing at night. The only slight issue I have with it is a hissing sound on AM almost like a noisy germanium transistor. Is this normal, or do I have a defective one? The FM is crystal clear with excellent audio for its small size speaker. Keep those Saturday videos coming! John.
Good grief, they are so "plasticy", but DAMN do they work well. The true measure is SINAD. At RACAL, the little PRM 4700 had a sensitivity of 14uV for a Sinad of 12dB. I set up 100's of them and if you were really careful, it was possible to get as low as 5uV for Sinad of 12dB.
Shango!!!! Just got a HY LITE 1970 transistor radio up and going again. The fault was a bad detector diode and the driver transistor. I replaced the NPN driver transistor, but the radio is too loud. Been experimenting with the emitter lead adding resistors to lower the gain down. But just doesn't sound correct. Appreciate your help.
Ref; Bar antenna winding, this is a poor execution of 'Litz Winding' used for applications where limited space necessitates a conductor with excellent fill factor and copper density. I found the Soviet radios and TV's to be good receivers, I believe that is so they can 'educate ' the great unwashed with CCCP proper-gander. Dodgy plastic lets them down. Great work Shango.
45:00 Why the sensitivity? Because of how vast the USSR was, the Olympic 402 was built for both living in the middle of nowhere in Soviet Kazakhstan or Siberia and also for living in Moscow or Kaunas. You have to build a radio for distance in a country that huge.
At 1:21:16, that must be KAVL in Lancaster. If he's spelunking in those mines, there are likely some odorless gasses in there. It might be a good idea if he would bring along a portable CO gas detector, as pockets of it might be lurking. Carbon monoxide kind of takes your breath away, if you know what I mean. I've heard the FDA has said that talc is carcinogenic. It's best not to touch it, and don't stir up any dust.
There are no odorless gases in talc mines. Talc absorbs odors that's why women pack themselves full of it because they think we want their gases to be odorless
@@shango066 Are you willing to bet your life on this because you won't spend a few bucks on a portable CO detector? Some of those same women had filed lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and other personal care companies because they developed ovarian cancer as the result of using their products. In fact J&J alone was hit by an additional 11,000 lawsuits last September and is attempting to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Male exposure to talc could be an etiology of testicular cancer, with an inevitable bilateral orchiectomy (castration)to stop it.
I have the German made Grundig City Boy 20....it is the same thing as those Russians....I know what U are talking about....in my part of the Pacific KNX 1070 comes in good at night....is the mighty 1090 in Tijuana Mexico always my test stations...😊..it is cool that KCBS 740 makes it in the desert... good radio would make it happen
Why wouldn’t that be good news? If we turn things around you’d get situations as they are over here in the EU where AM is not specified anymore at all by Brussels. So as a consequence manufacturers leave AM out. For stupid reasons like electronics in cars cause interferences in the reception of AM stations. That’t true but the real reason is they leave AM out as it is more cost effective for the manufacturers. And nobody cares apart from those now very few radio addicts like me.
@@TheXGamer969True in general, but I'm of German/Russian descent. My great grandparents' generation came to Kansas in the 1870s. In several videos, Shango seems to know more than just a few Russian words...
You found new radios at the swap meet. That doesn't negate my statement that the mainstream brick and mortar are no longer carrying them. Compare that with the ease you can get a new phone, tablet, or Bluetooth speaker that would allow you to listen to the same station via an app.
Hello. Please note, there is sensitivity in milliVolts (not microVolts) , so, 2200 uV/meter and 400 uV/meter respectively. Sorry, no miracle happened this time. May be later ... Have a good day and Thank You for video!
This would explain what I overlooked
Yeah I was about to post that, the Russians are using millivolts and Zenith’s data’s in microvolts. I was watching the full video though, often Dan edits a correction in somewhere in the video.
Whip antennas pick up the electrical part of the wave that doesn’t seem to penetrate obstructions like walls and, in your case, beneath the surface. My loops perform much better indoors than any whip or vertical amplified antenna I own.
Probably not what you want to read, but, Talc and Asbestos go hand in hand, especially in Talc mines. It's been a problem for decades being found in Johnson and Johnson baby powder (talc powder) make sure to wash your clothes thoroughly. Great video !!! BTW what lights did you say you like the best ? I'd like to get some.
With all the manmade noise on the MW AM band, any sensitivity below 30 or 40 microvolts would be unusable. A friend built an AM broadcast receiver with TWO tuned rf amp stages, he estimated the sensitivity to be 40 microvolts. It made no difference in sensitivity due to the inherent noise in the AM band compared to an old vacuum tube car radio, which are incredibly sensitive. And he went to great lengths to get the receiver to achieve 40 microvolt sensitivity. So the radios in the video could not be 1 microvolt sensitivity. Bogus numbers. Possibly 1000 microvolts.
No, it's millivolts. They were using small "M" for milli, small "MK" for micro.
:)
There are no issues with the purchase of items from Ukraine. I got a Vintage Thermionic Valve teaching kit from Odessa last week. Perfect condition.
Really enjoyed this longer video, dig the Soviet radios. Love the desert DX tests! Thanks for your hard work on these vids and getting them out consistently, really makes my Saturday mornings. Shango + Mine Explorers crossover 👍
Sadly this is common for the USSR/ Eastern black electronics. Very low quality PCB, bad soldering, damaged parts, sometimes a brand new products not working and with defects. As someone living in former Soviet satellite country, I have seen it all. They had the ideas, but not the material base and the quality. Still, I love old AM radios, handheld, tube, transistor. They have very interesting designs
Yes. Features of a planned economy. They sat and did nothing for the entire quarter, and then in an emergency mode they caught up and exceeded plans overnight. Especially towards the end of the Soviet Union. Well, they’ll buy it anyway. They will also fight in line.
Dude "ты гонишь")
Saturday Morning with Shango love it, really enjoy this channel always nice humor and learn something new. I always look forward to my Saturday morning coffee and Shango. You always have really cool stuff to learn about. I knowledge has really improved many thanks Mike
AND we got additional mine video twerko brophilation!
@@michaelyancey3021 He has a mining channel too.
Intro with Punjabi prayer..Of India..thanks shangoo
I wonder if the CBC knows a Russian radio company took there logo 😆
Maybe it was the other way around. Hahaha
Actually the CBC maybe be partly funded by the state but are very much independent of the state. Much like the RCMP, they are not afraid to bite the hand that feeds them
@@alexinnewwest1860 Hahaha. Good one
The old school exploding pizza logo!!
Not quite the same logo...
The mine explore and underground camping part at the end was cool!
Nice to see you testing one of these Chinese TEF6686-based radios too, along with the soviet-era radios and a few more modern ones.
These are based on a chip used for car radios and they're excellent FM performers. People seem to not agree on their performance on MW and SW, although a hand-held receiver with a more classic design, the Qodosen SR-286 is getting a whole lot of praise from SWLers and MWLers. It's not cheap either.
Hi Shango and fans :)
I bought one of these Vondior 926 radios. It really is an amazing pocket radio. Fantastic performance and decent fidelity in sound quality for a pocket radio. Might be the best I've ever used in this class of radio. Both AM and FM sound great on mine. Great selectivity and good for DXing.
It's a copy of the Sony ICF-S10MK2 but is a digital radio instead of being analog like the old discontinued Sony so there is no similarity in the circuitry from what I understand. Some have compared the two radios and claim that the Vondior actually out performs the Sony.
The good old TCA440 / A244D in russian version.
TEF6686 radio software was made by european DX enthusiasts expecially for fm reception.
27000 is the upper limit the chip does.Some newer sw versions allow display-switchoff (screensafer) to minimize interferences.
Oh dear that AC compressor is knackered.
Baked!
Yeah, it's really FUBARed.
I can still buy Vacuum tubes from a Russian vendor.... not through Ebay or anything......but directly on their website. There's a number of web sites that sell electronic parts directly from there. I'm sure someone wants to make a political message about it.........but I don't see an independent vendor as equivalent to the government. Governments are stupid.
13:54 litz wire. Just in case anybody else is having trouble coaxing the grey matter in to provide the answer.
"Litz wire is a particular type of multistrand wire or cable used in electronics to carry alternating current (AC) at radio frequencies. The wire is designed to reduce the skin effect and proximity effect losses in conductors used at frequencies up to about 1 MHz." (Wikipedia).
I had this Olympic and the only thing that impressed me with it was that it was capable of discharging a shitty Soviet battery in a few minutes. At the time they were being made, everyone had already switched to the FM band and no one needed these receivers. That's why there are so many of them and they are so cheap.
The resistor for shunting the coil and changing its frequency response was sometimes bitten off immediately at the factory during adjustment.
I just checked the "Bay" and there are a few listed , but sellers what too much money for broken units. ( Shipping is also crazy )
Great video, Shango.
Shango Time 👍🏻👍🏻
2hr epic! 😝
Very interesting I love your videos keep up the great work
Qodosen SR-286 Is on my list. I have the Nevski it is as good as you say. I love the mine exploration, and the car trouble too it made for an exciting vid.
Great test!
One Mega Heart goes to Shango for outstanding episode!
I remember DX'ing in northeast Montana growing up as a kid. We had a station on 1070 daytime but when they signed off at sunset, you could hear KNX pretty nicely at night. After the sun went down, the top of the AM band was always a challenge, just so much coming in at night. It was smooth as glass in the daytime like your reception out in the desert. But I can say I picked up KNX, KCBS, KFBK (Sacramento), and even KRLA (1190), which is now KEIB (Patriot Radio I think it's what it's called). Interestingly enough for a time I remember KIIS-FM was simulcast on 1190 way back when. 1190 was a tough one because there was a pretty strong semi-local station just across the border in Canada about 100 miles away, but it was far enough that it faded out at night.
I don't think so anymore it really seems like they cut the power way back on knx
@@shango066 I'm sure KNX got permission from the FCC to do that, though.
@@shango066 Thumbing though the info, it looks like KNX has two towers - primary and backup. Perhaps they're working on the primary and currently running on the backup?
the vondior radio has a high-tech modern speaker with mylar cone and neodymium magnet, that's why it sounds so good
I still have that old 5 tube radio up for grabs would make a good resurrection video ….its FREE!!!!!
i appreciate your heaven comments on everthing im into trying to learn electronics old repair your rare im 61 everthingb you say fact love it perfect on the spot
At the 47.58 mark you said I'll tell you what the noise is .. In the New England area here i live we use the static from the little portable AM radios as an early Severe Thunderstorm or a Hurricane detector back in the 60s and 70s .. Also a nice reflection on you showing who you really are .. Here is a tip to make more videos showing what you really look like ... Great Video love the 2hr long videos and the mine's you explore
It is very striking the resemblance between the soviet company logo & that of the canadian broadcasting corp. Lol, truthful.
Its flipped now
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation logo is sometimes referred to as an "exploding pizza".
Yeah, I noticed the striking resemblance to the old Canadian Broadcasting Corp. logo too.
@@bigsky1970 It's still their logo... and they are still active... unfortunately... funded by 2 Billion dollars a year of taxpayer's money to tell us how great "dear leader" is.
@@shango066 It sure has, although cbc's secondary acronym is Constantly Brainwashing Canadians. Always been like that.
It's amazing how big the difference can be between two apparently identical radios 📻🤯 👍
Enjoyed the video, as I have a Bronco with that exact style shelled AC compressor; I'm sure the whole system is contaminated with aluminum shavings!
On the PCB intermittents, If you will solder small-rings on the PCB, in strategic circuit locations (usually the signal-chain first), you can clip the scope probe on, and then use both hands to flex the board. If that doesn't yield a clue, then you move to another location. I have fixed so many of these that I jig and attack the signal chain immediately.
Finally, if you really have to, you can place these test-points where you can see voltage changes which will then narrow it down completely. 73...
That Vondior radio also comes with a weather band model. Has the best sound out of the ones you tested.
There's an old coal mine in I think in south Wales U.K where you will find a load of old cars from the 60's that has been dumped down the shaft it's on youtube somewhere.
And?
It was a trip hearing 98.7 FM Sports blasting from Phoenix, Arizona out of an old USSR made radio.
Bringing new meaning to "ground wave".
These fourth class soviet radios have sensitivity about 1-2 millivolts/m. Usually, the first class soviet radios, especially tube radios with 2-3 IF stages have about 50 microvolts sensitivity for shortwave.
Great video as usual Shango. You should do a video on the Toshiba RP-S400 pocket radio from 1979/1980. It has an RF amp for superb sensitivity. Selectivity is pretty good also. It was the first PLL synthesized pocket radio and Toshiba pulled all the stops on it. Mine is an absolute DX hound at my California high desert location. Cheers!
Love the desert videos…. Wish I could go with😂
Man that mine has my nerves firing on full blast, I am so damn claustrophobic that a MRI machine puts me in full panic, I need meds to get inside even an MRI machine which I have to go into every 6 months to insure that the cancer has not returned, had my right kidney removed a year ago Christmas. Doc said it was the biggest he ever saw come out of a human, if I had kept it for another month I would not be here any more so they got it in time I guess. I have the Chinese clone of that white radio, it has full scale and when hooked to a decent outdoor antenna it can pull in a lot. My house is a faraday cage I can barely get the local AM station through the steel roof and aluminum insulation.
Its called turbo cancer lots of people i know have and are getting it. You know whats causing it right??
Great video! I've got one of those Nevsky radios and while it's pretty hot on receive it's pretty noisy too. I got a Qodosen SR-286 about a month ago and it's blown me away with what a micro radio can do. It's based on the TEF6686 chip. Check out some videos on it. Thanks Ted
Does it squeal on the am band like this one does?
@@shango066 no it doesn't.
@@shango066no it doesn't
@@shango066 The SR-286 does not squeal, because there is only a simple display in it. The squealing comes from the big display / display interface . Even with a loop antenna or long wire the squealing will decrease with this model here. In newer sw versions an option to disable the display (sreensafer) can decrese those interferences too.
There's amateur radio activity down in the long wave area, as of 2013. We were allocated the old defunct maritime band.
Correction... 2017. Not 2013.
I once broke a fan belt about 15 miles from town, out in the 100º desert and was able to get back to town by watching the temperature and stopping to let it cool off before it overheated then driving some more, stopping again etc. This was before cell phones so it was either that or walk.
I would have thunked it be better to leave the belt on and driving it kind of like he was until it completely ceased vs over heating the engine and losing battery power all the way there... but it worked so can't argue.
Those are some really nice retro style radios 📻. That only makes me turn away from Walmart radios 📻 of today. Taking these out of town would be a great idea 💡 for the test 🤔. You're probably gonna have to replace the out of tolerance capacitors. Your friend, Jeff.
Cool Fix for the ole Ford on the fly too !
I'm wondering if that Vondior is using the Skyworks Si4836 radio on a chip. It's amazing how radio reception electronics has developed over the past 100 years. Thanks for the videos.
The big new innovation is SDR, which is really cool. Mr. Armstrong really had us covered when he invented FM and the Superheterodyne radio about a hundred years ago - only now have they been replaced with this fancy quadrature SDR and digital radio stations
Another great video Shango. Who else could be in the middle of the desert and their air compressor locks up only Shango. He didn't panic didn't seem to be mad or aggravated just took care of the problem. Luckily this was during the day because I don't think you would have driven 20 miles at night on just the battery. Shango were is your other channels? Thank you again Shango were look forward to your videos every Saturday!
He also has Mine Explorers on YT. Was watching it in October of 2023 and they went into the Tecopa Mine that a
guy named Ross now owns. A great guy and youtuber too!
@@hestheMaster ok Thanks man for the info I will check it out. Does anyone know how long it has been since these mines were in operation and how old they are. It's amazing what these guys did with the limited tools they had.
The plant manufactured the OLYMPIC radios located in Ukraine, Svitlovodsk city, just on the branch of Dnepr river. There is also a gidravlic power plant, so logo on the radio refers to this power plant :-). I am selling these radios on ebay :-)
The Vondior looks like my Powerbear. Yours says VX, mine says HI-FI. It's good, but on a fairly strong AM station, there is crackling with audio on a certain station. It cracks when words are spoken or music. When there's no sound, no crackling. It's the only radio that does that. Interesting radios on this video!
My go-to test for low end AM is 518 kc NavText.
Probably caused by the lcd screen. That’s where an external antenna comes in. Not just that piece of long wire that will overload the radio as it is not designed for that on AM. I have very good results with the Malahit wired up to the Tecsun /Kaito AN100/AN200 passive and tunable small loop. This loop kills the interference caused by the lcd screen. The lcd can be turned off on the Malahit by the way. Unbeatable for an affordable portable radio. Wilhelm.
40:00 Well that's it, oh Danny boy. The pipes the pipes are calling. That's great work.😊
In 'Radios von Gestern' by Ernst Erb I found that sensitivity is measured as the voltage in micro Volts nesessary to get an output power of 50 milliWatts at 30% modulation. The sensitivity of a super based on a ECH21, 2x EF22 and EBL21 should be between 15 and 50 microvolt for medium wave (MW) and long wave (LW) and 3 to 8 microvolt for the short wave (KW) band.
Hmm are you a Tusken Raider from Tatooine? 😊
Nice video , i like the car repairs in between the radios and tvs
1:33:59 There must have been a major sedimentary environment change right there for there to be such a huge difference in the rocks. Like maybe the ground became submerged or became dry or something right at that point in the rock layers. It's pretty amazing to see such abrupt changes. The age difference between those 2 layers could be thousands of years.
I CANT BELIEVE YOU WERE able to scan the am dial without ads on the gray one
I have fenix lights. Over time contacts can be soiled by lubricant that comes on O rings. Cleaning contacts restored function on both lights for me.
O rings or threads.
i see you r reflection on the full band radio receiver ❤
I suspect that small speaker tech has come a long way since cell phones.
Not micro, but milli. The 0.002 Volts, not 0.000002 one
That radio with the fet front end got me thinking. Have you ever like tried and figure out all of the best ways a radio could be made and then tried to draw out the best radio ever? That be an interesting video.
Newer pocket ones are one chip DSP radios with extremely low IF. TCA440 is a bit noisy (swapping to the original, not soviet copy might lower the noise with some measurable db, but most probably not enough to hear the difference). And yes, super pupper SDR/DSP (russian MalahitTeam, Belka DSP and their chinese knock-offs, this one is chinese knock-off TEF6686, the chinese all band based on Si4732 chip) all suffer from a tone of beaten frequencies, some internally generated, some from the screen and microcontrollers that drives all the internals.
Sensitivity rantings area alway bound to a standard SNR. For AM it's usually in the mV/m. More Sensitivity doesn't make sense due to the larger bandwidth as the SNR depends on it. In other words higher Sensitivity would only amplify the noise.
BTW the red ceramic caps are all bypass caps. Back in East Germany we had shit loads of them...
К174ХА2 = TCA440 = A244D It says on the back of the receiver - a souvenir radio (радиоприёмник сувенирный)
46:34 Also it looks like they used different solder, it's less shiny. The new radio has a DSP (Digital signal processor)
47:46 And Shango runs across Ralph Gordon Stair's "Overcomers' Ministry" shortwave broadcast. He's been dead since 2021, but his cult at that farm in South Carolina carries on, replaying that British Guy Reading the Bible tapes, old sermons of "Brother Stair", and material from their new leader, Pastor James Rice.
They are taking over the entire world. Better get used to it as much I hate the idea. However, I must give them a lot of credits for improving their products in such a way that it seems we (the rest of the world) have been sleeping while they did that. As an example I give you their Malahit DSP2 SDR (improved Russian design) radio that is a small jewel, specially if you take the price into account. Greetings from Holland. Wilhelm.
Gee. Makes me wonder how my Radio Shack DX-402/Sangean ATS-505 would work out in the desert. The sensitivity on mine is incredible. I also modded mine to have a wide open tuning (the silence in-between frequencies is normal on a stock ATS-505/DX-402).
It looks like the Vondior uses AA cells. That's another an advantage if you're building an emergency kit (or even packing for a hike) - fewer battery types to stock up on. AA are used in a lot of things. 9V, not so much.
The output power jumped in the sensitivity comparison from 25mW to 50mW by the way. I wonder whether they are comparable at all.
What is the light we see in the distance once you crawled back out of the mine? Is there a settlement close by?
46:31...that slot head screw is missing the insulating washer like in the other radio @ 46:41. Idk if it's touching the circuit and causing anything.
Also, @ 15:06, 15:09 ...it looks like there's a hairline fracture on the board, starting from the cluster of drill holes, running up the board.
Some unreal vertical stopes in that mine. Be careful dude.
I just wanted to buy an Olympik 402, I guess now due to Shango the price will double.😁
It would be still low, only AM radios have no use in Europe.
vondior... sounds real swanky
@40:00.....congrats.😊
Years ago in Indonesia I repaired soviet manufactured portable radio. The main problem was the “plastic” coil formers which were disintegrating (crumbling). Got it working on broadcast band (MF) but not SW bands. Radio total rubbish.
CCCP's version of the RadioShack Flavor Radios? Love the injected-molded beach scene, that is really sweet!
What we need then is some kind of Hebckuu-Vondior hybrid.
Hey, Dan. I just picked up a Vondior recently and was impressed with the sensitivity DXing at night. The only slight issue I have with it is a hissing sound on AM almost like a noisy germanium transistor. Is this normal, or do I have a defective one? The FM is crystal clear with excellent audio for its small size speaker. Keep those Saturday videos coming! John.
I'm only here for the AM DXing, Your hearing on 840 is KXNT North Las Vegas, NV
a plugged txv would show high head pressure
I'm curious if that swap meet radios fidelity is due to the circuitry or the speaker...
Wait… There’s another channel he has for wrenching???
The last part of the video is awesome but just a little concerned that if there was a quake, you might be trapped down there.
Good grief, they are so "plasticy", but DAMN do they work well.
The true measure is SINAD. At RACAL, the little PRM 4700 had a sensitivity of 14uV for a Sinad of 12dB. I set up 100's of them and if you were really careful, it was possible to get as low as 5uV for Sinad of 12dB.
Shango!!!! Just got a HY LITE 1970 transistor radio up and going again. The fault was a bad detector diode and the driver transistor. I replaced the NPN driver transistor, but the radio is too loud. Been experimenting with the emitter lead adding resistors to lower the gain down. But just doesn't sound correct. Appreciate your help.
Ref; Bar antenna winding, this is a poor execution of 'Litz Winding' used for applications where limited space necessitates a conductor with excellent fill factor and copper density. I found the Soviet radios and TV's to be good receivers, I believe that is so they can 'educate ' the great unwashed with CCCP proper-gander. Dodgy plastic lets them down. Great work Shango.
Orifice Tube. If the tube is grey black with aluminum chunks its Black Death. Seen a lot of that on Ford AC compressors.
45:00 Why the sensitivity? Because of how vast the USSR was, the Olympic 402 was built for both living in the middle of nowhere in Soviet Kazakhstan or Siberia and also for living in Moscow or Kaunas. You have to build a radio for distance in a country that huge.
At 1:21:16, that must be KAVL in Lancaster. If he's spelunking in those mines, there are likely some odorless gasses in there. It might be a good idea if he would bring along a portable CO gas detector, as pockets of it might be lurking. Carbon monoxide kind of takes your breath away, if you know what I mean.
I've heard the FDA has said that talc is carcinogenic. It's best not to touch it, and don't stir up any dust.
There are no odorless gases in talc mines. Talc absorbs odors that's why women pack themselves full of it because they think we want their gases to be odorless
@@shango066 Are you willing to bet your life on this because you won't spend a few bucks on a portable CO detector?
Some of those same women had filed lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and other personal care companies because they developed ovarian cancer as the result of using their products. In fact J&J alone was hit by an additional 11,000 lawsuits last September and is attempting to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Male exposure to talc could be an etiology of testicular cancer, with an inevitable bilateral orchiectomy (castration)to stop it.
I have a four gas analyzer I just don't care enough at this point to take it. Bad air is highly unlikely in this type of mine
@@shango066 I hope your luck to date doesn't fail! It only takes one time, and it's curtains!
5 or 10 dollars shango? Could you forward over a link to some please? Best I’ve found is a few for 25 to 30 dollars not including shipping
Shango says you can pick them up for $5.00 ? eBay they are 20-25.00 plus shipping. I've put in some bids of $10.00.
Next time you ought to try a portable HAM radio, that would be cool.
I have the German made Grundig City Boy 20....it is the same thing as those Russians....I know what U are talking about....in my part of the Pacific KNX 1070 comes in good at night....is the mighty 1090 in Tijuana Mexico always my test stations...😊..it is cool that KCBS 740 makes it in the desert... good radio would make it happen
Zenith specifies the output power at the rated sensitivity, probably not tested the same
What channel on what other platform??? I wanna see those videos, please! 😳😳😳
Don't know if it's good news or not but I hard the FCC is mandating that all New cars Made in US or imported to US must have AM radios in them.
It's, good no doubt.
I'm thinking so also but it's the Gubmint so... you know, I get nervous when they do anything.@@billmyke746
Well there's an AM 730KHz station in my area for traffic info only. No AM radio wouldn't be that usefull for this case.
So the National Panhandler Radio can get to every nook and cranny of the country, no doubt.
Why wouldn’t that be good news? If we turn things around you’d get situations as they are over here in the EU where AM is not specified anymore at all by Brussels. So as a consequence manufacturers leave AM out. For stupid reasons like electronics in cars cause interferences in the reception of AM stations. That’t true but the real reason is they leave AM out as it is more cost effective for the manufacturers. And nobody cares apart from those now very few radio addicts like me.
Thanks, Shango, as always this is golden! Just curious, what's your connection to the Russian language?
Right-wingers seem to have affinity for authoritarian regimes, one of which is Russia/USSR, and used to be popular to idolize.
Conservatives in the US seem to be very fond of authoritarian regimes, of which Russia/USSR seemed to be particularly popular with them.
@@TheXGamer969True in general, but I'm of German/Russian descent. My great grandparents' generation came to Kansas in the 1870s. In several videos, Shango seems to know more than just a few Russian words...
You found new radios at the swap meet. That doesn't negate my statement that the mainstream brick and mortar are no longer carrying them. Compare that with the ease you can get a new phone, tablet, or Bluetooth speaker that would allow you to listen to the same station via an app.
Shango man you look like Kermit the Frog in way you disguise your identity 🤣
You might have mentioned it and I missed it, but what were they mining (guessing gold or silver) ?