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BIC BEAM BOX FM-8 To The Rescue

75.48.12.73

Posted on March 10, 2017 at 08:23:56
FRG7SWL
Audiophile

Posts: 2107
Location: NorCali
Joined: March 26, 2003
Nevada City's KVMR (KCPC Camino) moved to state-of-the-art studios two-plus years ago, across the street from Spring Street to Bridge Street. Their auld studio was in a wood building, & utilized a Kenwood KR-2400 receiver as an over-the-air monitor (with modded Realistic MC-1000 speakers, used also for previewing cds-n-vinyl; replaced a digital Sherwood/Newcastle receiver whose volume control quit working). In the new studios, which is surrounded by aluminum siding, in-house electronic RFI plagued that auld system. So replacement was a Fisher RS-9115 (someone blew out stock MC-1000 woofs, replaced with Celestion G8C-15s for their V30-ish alnico-esque tonality). 9115 is not on par with 70's-era Fisher/Sanyo units perhaps. But it's decent sounding nonetheless, with strong FM tuning section as per its' Fisher heritage. Noise was still a problem, however, & reception remained spotty via various dipole-n-rabbit-ear antennas. Along came a vintage BIC Beam Box FM-8 recently, which needed just a little cleaning-n-sprucing. Doesn't get rid of all that in-studio RFI, but nulls enough noise to have an effective over-air monitor once again, in narrow band mode. Along with a variable tuning capacitor for peaking signal reception, also. Station engineer wishes he'd included an outdoor antenna feed during construction, but BIC's vintage Beam Box FM-8 has become a cure for that shortcoming. Considering their vintage, a little elbow grease will be needed to coax best results from unit. Not really a dxing aid, but useful for cleaning up interference on local signals where outdoor antennas aren't an option. 73s para Sactown

 

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It depends, doesn't it., posted on March 13, 2017 at 04:01:54
Timbo in Oz
Audiophile

Posts: 23221
Location: Canberra - in the ACT - SE Australia
Joined: January 30, 2002
A small indoor and directional passive antenna just won't have much gain but its directional performance can be very useful.


Warmest

Tim Bailey

Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger


 

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