Vwestlife I just wanted to tell you after a decade of watching your videos, I finally met someone in my city who is also a huge fan of yours. We hit it off instantly and are great friends now. Thanks for all the content you've provided for so many years

@JessHull

Жыл бұрын

how cool, I wish I could find the same.

Yay! We get a Vwestlife/OA crossover! It is sad that Chris Cuff has died. I love his videos. Nice to have that radio to remember him by.

@elektroqtus

Жыл бұрын

You should hear 10Mhz in Kahn mode sometimes. Oh snap. You're going to need a shortwave receiver to convert to 450KHZ. There are time coders upper and lower sideband. Mostly chirping and pips. But it's awesome to hear them all sound off simultaneously on the minute. Whenever I get to it, I'll be back to send links on various topics on this one radio.

Really nice that you have that radio to remember Cuff by. A shame he passed. He inspired me to do all the turntable modding I do.

Interestingly your point about the lightning sounding cool on AM is actually how lightning detectors work. They have RF receivers that listen to AM-like frequencies and feed that back to a central platform, which then triangulates the lightning strikes to give you a location on the map.

Warranty is 1 year. Says to bring that card to the shop to fix it. Becomes void with all the normal things like damaging it, trying to repair it, modify it. Number 5 talks about earthquakes, flood, lighting, other natural disasters, and pollution.. lol. My favorite part is number 1, where they say if its broken to bring it in and they will do their best. Very Japanese Andor Corporation out of Tokyo is the company. It seems they are still around, but not at the address listed. They are listed as a software company on google

I had no idea AM could even do stereo. Impressive! :)

@elektroqtus

Жыл бұрын

I used to wonder why fm was stereo but am was not. I've experiments in 11 meters just a bit under cb radio band. I didn't have a pilot tone at

@elektroqtus

Жыл бұрын

All

I am a fan of devices, but I live in a backward country and all my youth I lived through wars and economic blockades, and I did not enjoy practicing my hobbies by acquiring stereo devices from Sony, Kenwood and Technics brands. It's the first time that I know that there is a stereo AM radio, thank you very much for what you publish

Today I learned that AM Stereo was a thing. Thirty plus years and always thought stereo was FM exclusive. Your knowledge is appreciated, really neat stuff.

I have to confess I found your channel by accident, and I watched two clips before it dawned on me that it wasn’t Ray Romano I was listening to. I subscribed because “this guy is really good, and his voice is a bonus feature.”

Even the AM Mono is seriously wideband and sounds flippin' phenomenal. I wanted one of Cuff's radios but never got around to it. That, I regret.

The perfect crossover doesn't exi-

@elektroqtus

Жыл бұрын

Actually, for am stereo my first one got changed into the perfect analog am stereo. My sideband wide was +/- 13Khz within 1 DB either side. That was a painstakingly arduous task to align wideband to perfect. I had to disassemble that radio at least 100 times to get it right. You're all gonna be mad when I show you the potentiometer that controls the stereo lock range. I need to take you all on a tour of the SRF-A100 for real. I didn't burn my radios up from my real experiments. First one got stolen, 2nd one is maybe on storage and degraded. Got radio 3. Never opened. Look on my channel for my informal introduction to it.

Wow, thanks for sharing this video and also the recording from CFRB. I live in Toronto and that was good piece of nostalgia. The announcer mentioned Kromer Radio, that was a well know store to purchase audio equipment for your home and car. I purchsed a stero system from there. The business closed in 2012 after 55 years in business when the owner decided to retire.

Thanks for the tip regarding turning the stereo distortion pot counter-clockwise. I just acquired an SRF-A1 in the wild after searching for an AM stereo radio for years and its pot was in the middle as well. I’m on the lookout for ways to improve this radio’s performance since there’s lots of interference in my area and the nearest AM stereo station is over 60 miles away. Even at night I can’t seem to catch it at all, so maybe I’ll take a road trip.

Wow. I'm really impressed with the fidelity of AM Stereo, especially at Wide bandwidth. Granted you're very close to the transmitter as well, but it really does sound great. Not at all what I hear from the talk radio stations with bits of music these days.

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

It depends on your radio. Many talk stations transmit with the same 10 kHz audio bandwidth as I demonstrated here, but you'd never hear it if your radio is limited to the typical 4 to 5 kHz audio bandwidth on AM.

@digitalmediafan

Жыл бұрын

Australia use to have many incredible examples of c-quam wideband am stereo for example 3MP in Melbourne. Listen hear to a tape I had sent about 20 years ago kzread.info/dash/bejne/e4SEsaeClriWktI.html

@elektroqtus

Жыл бұрын

@@vwestlife actually the talk stations around here have trimmed down to about 7Khz fidelity and use some kind of reverb delay echo scheme these days. There are still a small handful of stations that still do music. And they sound good. Gentrification and digital have helped kill am radio as well. Not to mention the noise floor has gone through the roof, quality control is deregulated, led lights with screaming computers in them, electrical mains loaded with noise from cracked something or arcing somewhere on the high voltage line creating more rfi than a spark gap transmitter ever could. Am dx is best done away from major metropolitan cities.

@nicklikesradio

Жыл бұрын

@@vwestlife many also run at 4khz to eek out 5 more miles of range for the same 50kW. And it pisses me off. Also. I hate variable carrier. It makes fringe reception sound like ssb on an am radio. Damn you iheart for ruining am radio.

Chris Cuff - he will forever be missed. Among other things over the years, he gifted me a NOS Magnavox 45 changer spindle for my Maggie consolette I have in my office at work. I kept the box he shipped it in and the OEM box the stacker spindle was in which, after he passed a while back, became displayed together beside my Maggie. Rest In Peace my dude.

Both of mine were stolen…still miss them. I still have my Srf A1 packed away somewhere in my move box. The SRF 100 was a DX machine, but didn’t have the extended band. Before it was stolen my radio easily picked up 780 KHZ WBBM Chicago at my QTH in Tucson, Arizona. My trip to Washington DC saw it stolen, liked my previous one in Jacksonville FL. Take good care of yours and watch for thieves. The Chip is Sony proprietary so good luck finding one, the used it in the Sony ICF-2010. Have a great day!

While watching this video. I went digging in my cupboards to find an AM stereo radio I built as a project from the Australian electronics magazine Silicon Chip in 1989. Listening to wide band AM does sound good, but no radio station in Sydney still broadcasts in stereo. It was a good gimmick to sell new radios in the 90s, but the FCCs decision to not choose CQAM first made the radios too expensive for the public to want to buy. From memory it was as good as a 70s cassette recording pre Dolby.

I would be suspicious of the power supply to that daughterboard and the decoder IC, and any passive parts being out of tolerance. For quite some time I had wanted to get another of Chris Cuff's AM stereo transmitters, this time with case and antenna tuner. He also sent me a board for a portable AM Stereo/FM Stereo radio he'd designed, and told me that at some point in the future that he'd give me all the info I needed to put it together. It's too bad he's gone.

@KC4RAE

Жыл бұрын

I would be willing to sell you mine. It is complete.

I remember when 590 VOCM flipped into AM Stereo in 86. Even those of us who only had mono heard an improved sound. I am guessing that improved sound was a result of attention bring given to the overall sound. In 1990 when my hometown 570 CFCB went to AM Stereo, I got to hear it in stereo and I loved it. I’m still using that stereo copy of Jailhouse rock. Hundreds of times at weddings and other public events. I absolutely love the sound.

This video brings back some memories for me. I purchased the SRF-A100 new in 1984. I also had the Realistic AM stereo tuner you briefly showed in this video. I was really hooked on AM Stereo back then. I even did a conversion of a Pioneer SX-850 to AM stereo by adding a CQUAM decoder board. All the units had issues with locking up on a stereo signal, especially at night time as the propagation kept unlocking the decoders. Kind of frustrating at times. Still it was worth the effort when things worked out okay.

That was such a great radio! I squealed the Christmas I got one of those. I must have gotten it Christmas '84. I wore that thing completely out.

To fix the dents in the frontplate (if you can take it off) you can use the backside of a smooth bold handle of a screwdriver to push it (gently) back in original position (on the backside of the frontplate of course). You need to do this on a very flat smooth surface such as a bathing tile and take your time and important, do not use a hammer to tick away the dent it doesn't work. Only use controlled human force. Keep the frontpanel flat on the tile while doing this. I have used this method a couple of times (on speaker grills) and the result is amazing if you don't rush the whole process.

I have one of Chris Cuff's AM Stereo Transmitters. I did not know he has past away. I have not yet mounted the board in a proper designed case. I will do this soon in his memory. Thankyou for this sad information. He was a wonderful guy and a friend of my husband's brother in Prince Edward Island.

I had emailed with Cuff long ago about having him add AM stereo to my Satellit 800, but I never did it. The only AM stereos I ever had were in cars. The one in the Cadillac was remarkably good, best AM radio I ever had and happened to be stereo, too.

I don't think the UK ever really bothered with AM stereo, always just seemed to be the low-end mono odd-sounding stuff that we got, probably because we ended up with FM across the country, and given we're a small island nation compared to the US, we didn't need the long-range of AM, so nobody bothered adding the stereo option...

@ParallelSyntax

Жыл бұрын

I had no idea there was AM Stereo or that it was even possible. But you’re right, it makes sense here in the UK when you think about it.

@BigCar2

Жыл бұрын

I would think all broadcasters rushed to FM. The country is relatively small compared to the USA, so you can get FM almost everywhere, and the quality is so much better than AM, and in stereo.

@MrDuncl

Жыл бұрын

If people switched to AM it was too listen to stations like Radio Luxembourg which was difficult enough to receive on mono. A 9KHz channel spacing and stations all around Europe filling almost every channel at night didn't help. Radio 1 did have to share and FM channel with Radio 2 for a long time though. However, you are right that any money being invested into new transmitters etc in the U.K. was going into FM. Surprisingly, today Smooth Radio is only available on DAB and AM here. I think that is due to some legacy thing about licences and a lack of FM frequencies.

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

C-Quam AM Stereo was tested in the UK in the mid to late 1980s but Ofcom decided not to approve it. But listeners in southern England were able to hear AM Stereo from France Bleu on 864 kHz from Paris, until it got shut down a few years ago.

@ParallelSyntax

Жыл бұрын

@@vwestlife Thanks for the info.

Was hoping this was Ben from Oddity Archive. Very underrated channel for those into retro electronics and technology.

Right before your video I gave up over a week of work on a 1979 Pioneer deck after snapping a wire in the end. I guess nobody is alone in this situation haha.

My mother's '87 Pontiac 6000 S/E had a factory auto-reverse deck with C-QUAM and a 5-band EQ. The tape mech was made by Blaupunkt.

Nice, now Ben can go on vacation again next summer, and look for more Stereo AM stations lol.

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

Maybe with a GoFundMe. Road trip aren't cheap these days.

@CommodoreFan64

Жыл бұрын

@@vwestlife Seriously no joke on that one, and I live in a rural area, where Walmart, Aldi, etc.. are a 30+ minute drive away, so in my family we plan our trips way more carefully now with the gas cost, and say can we get this, or that at the Dollar General, or Famaily Dollar/Dollar Tree combo stores right down the street from us instead. 😅

Still amazed at how good AM stereo sounds. Ugh JCP&L gets honorable mention here, everyone's "favorite" electric company. Not only did their transmission line failure take out their own customers but also Sussex REC. In addition there was also a blackout in Toms River on the east side of town. You were lucky to have power since you also have JCP&L. Generator is a good investment! I was surprised at how little coverage it got on TV. Seems like a pretty big deal to have a transmission line fall on an interstate!

AM stereo is one of those things I was interested in as a teenager when it started in the mid-80s, but if there were stations using it there were few radios to buy, or they weren't affordable for a kid. Years later an occasional radio can be found at a time where I can afford them but few stations still broadcast in stereo. It was an interesting standard that failed to really take off, even though it clearly sounded great.

@dutchbeef8920

7 ай бұрын

I recently picked up a mint Grundig that I coveted many years ago. Its just gorgeous and I love it. Its over 20 years old but I think the design has aged very nicely.

As other comments mention, we never had AM stereo in the UK, I'm sure we all remember 247 Radio 1 in glorious muffled AM mono until the introduction of country wide FM stereo, what I did find interesting is, as per usual, with new tech.introduction, different broadcasting decoding formats before eventual standardisation. Also look at the quality of those Sony pot's!

@James_Ryan

Жыл бұрын

Indeed, it makes me wonder how many listeners the BBC lost until they deployed their FM transmitters in 1988 (as a kid I enjoyed the funny DJs on Radio 1 but the sound quality was so bad that I switched to local FM stations in the early 80s)...

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

C-Quam AM Stereo was tested in the UK in the mid to late 1980s but Ofcom decided not to approve it. But listeners in southern England were able to hear AM Stereo from France Bleu on 864 kHz from Paris, until it got shut down a few years ago.

@James_Ryan

Жыл бұрын

@@vwestlife Darn it, another thing offed by Ofcom, cheers for the info!

@seancuthbert4587

Жыл бұрын

Not sure where they are, But I had an order for a large quantity of 10 watt c-quam transmitters from a guy in Enfield a few years ago. I can only assume they are being used as low power AM in the UK. Might be worth checking out. There could be some stereo stations around.

Never thought I would see an Oddity Archive/vwestlife crossover, great stuff as always.

@veganguy74

Жыл бұрын

Need a VWestlife/OA/Techmoan/LGR super crossover.

@bugdrvr

Жыл бұрын

@@veganguy74 Where they all hide behind a printer paper box.

Consistently entertaining channel from the get go!

Also want to say: I don't understand 90% of the nuts and bolts of this stuff. But I watch and enjoy your videos regardless, and I think that says a ton about the content you put out and the way you produce it. I don't have to fully know the technicals to enjoy and that is much appreciated. That's all for the Sunday morning gratitude - thanks again.

Love this crossover of two of my favorite channels. This video is proof that KZread is indeed a community!

Cool old vintage stuff you've got!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing with us

Yes, AM stereo has so many advantages over what we get today in way of digital, it has that full rich stereo sound and as for 1010 Toronto it is transmitting in mono these days. There is some hope I have been working on a improve AM stereo format for 2020's, that has encoded noise reduction and it can send out timing information, called the C-QuAMv2 system.

3:32 - "Yes, we have no bananas"! :) Let's PARTY!

I had the SRFA1 model you displayed. When I took it apart to clean the switches, the five AM antenna wires broke away spontaneously from the circuit board. I hadn't forced or tugged -- they just flicked away. I couldn't trace where to solder-back the wires, so I gave up and recycled the circuit board. That was the first sony product to ever give me trouble. Though you can still buy AM stereo tuners and converters online, both stereo stations in my region took out their stereo exciters. Though I enjoyed the sound quality when I could get it, the era is finished for me.

I remember when you posted that am stereo technics toyota radio. I was so happy to get that same model when i bought my 86 cressida years later

Great video as usual. I still love radio.

Oh nice a video a bit late but I'm happy and it's radio related. Have a nice Friday tomorrow.

I find that stereo sounds different even if the speakers are close together or you are not even in front of them.. The way sound bounces around even the small separation gives you some extra dimension.

Loving AM at the moment with a Tecsun R9700DX, Tecsun R920C and a Grundig G2000A. I use them all with a passive loop antenna from Tecsun and can listen to stations from across Europe and further afield.

WRNJ! Hackettstown NJ! Born and raised.

AM was always terrible in the UK the day stereo FM BBC Radio 1 started was heaven

Got to miss those old Sony service manuals. I really hope this type of stuff makes a comeback with the right to repair movement taking off.

I had a similar Sony AM stereo over 30 years ago, and when I visited a friend back then, near Boston, MA, and I heard WQXR, 1560, from NYC, at night, then in AM stereo. I also remember, WNBC, 660, NYC, before it changed to WFAN in October 1988, had AM stereo in the 1980's.

11:00 VW sounding like the god of radio repair.

the crossover of the decade!!!

Thanks for the video, Kevin.

My dad had a Sparc-o-matic stereo in his truck in the late 80’s. I remember sitting in the driveway listening to stations in AM stereo. I think that at the time there were at least a couple of stations in Chicago that broadcast in AM stereo. (Now I’m gonna have to look up Sparco-o-matic car stereos to see which model it was.)

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

It's spelled Sparkomatic, and I have one of those too, the SR940.

Well, that's an audio first for me. I have never heard AM stereo before and I have been around a while. Interesting. Thank you.

I was very bullish on AM Stereo when it came out. I still have two Sony SRFA-100 Radios and one Sony SRF-A1. The A1 has a poor jack connector, and both of my SRF-A100s have problems as well. I'd love to get at least one of them fixed. A unique experience was listening to WQXR in Hazeltine stereo sounding great on the stage, with another station carrying Larry King sitting in 7th row, center😀

🤗 "Mine has a glow in the dark sticker on top" 🤗 😭😂🤣

I was admiring your range of Radio Shack stuff. I worked at Tandy in Toronto right when CFRB started transmissions in stereo. So, the TM125, the 1000 & monitor and all the other stuff. I had a 2000. And a Coco3. Man, heady days.

AM Stereo?! I never knew that existed. Mind blown!

i had one and thought it was great at the time, very happy with it.

The joy I felt at saying "capacitors" lol

Great video, never realised am stereo was a thing tbh , only ever thought it was fm

2 of my most watched channels 💯

1010am from Toronto is what I play everyday, which is were I'm from, it used to be CFBR 680AM all music and news back in the 80s. Now it's 680 NEWS ALL DAY AND WITH THE WEATHER.

Didn't know Stereo AM existed and can also sound that good. I only remembered AM as whistling lofi sound.

I'm sorry you didn't fix your favorite radio model man. R.I.P to another AM Stereo receiver.

First time in me life. i hear about AM Stereo 😲

Great to see the bigger KZreadrs in this scene are acknowledging Ben's existence. It was already surprising to see Mat from Techmoan watch Oddity Archive, and I'm glad to know that you watch the silly fool behind the cardboard box as well Kevin. If you happen to read this, what do you think of his (past) music? I think it's not that bad.

@matthewlawrenson3628

Жыл бұрын

Benny Boy's music is ok. Not really to my taste, but no better or worse than the "professional" music of it's genre. His vocals aren't great, though I'm sure he knows that. Ironically, Ben would make a decent voice actor if he so desired.

Oh man... I must have been living under a rock... I didn't realize Chis Cuff passed away. I was friends with him on Facebook through the Antique Radio Forum, though I am not very active on the forum, and left Facebook several years ago. 😢

very necessary crossover

thanks bro! greetings from austria ;-)

He should send it to Shango for an End of Life video 🤣

Hi Kevin the AM Stereo sounds really good. We never had AM Stereo in the UK.

Very cool video 💯⚡📻📻

Liked the old Chrysler car head unit

What was it with the @#$!! battery doors on those Sony products? I've had several Sony radios that I kept in otherwise great condition but those battery doors, yo! First a tab snaps off, then the door goes missing...

The late Chris Cuff? I didn't realise he'd died, I used to watch his videos and I can't remember his KZread handle, I think his videos are still on KZread. I liked his content.

@ct1660

Жыл бұрын

gonna be 2 years since he passed away in a few months.

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

I have a link to his channel in the video description.

here i am, watching this video with one airpod in.

The late Chris Cuff explains why I haven't seen a video from him in a long time. I was thinking about his channel the other day and figured it was lost to the times when KZread was more fun. Sad to hear he passed but glad he can live on in some way with the radio you have.

@ABCEasyas--

Жыл бұрын

I learned from radiotvphononut in a recent video.

I wonder if KLAK will ever convert to AM Stereo? It'd make Sergei sound considerably more rich and timbrous.

@ChaunceyGardener

Жыл бұрын

In old country it is mandatory for all broadcasters that the left channel is reserved for spoken numbers

I was in the UK, and don't think AM Stereo was ever a thing there. And these days I think AM stations in the UK are mostly talk, rather than music.

"Yes, we have no bananas We have no bananas today."

That coil part of the wideband sidebands pass. The lock range is set by a potentiometer. That coil and it's counterpart adjust symmetry of your sidebands. The distortion adjustment is probably the lock range. When I go into mine, I'll post the video soon.

AM Stereo? Wow I had no idea that even existed!

I think this is the clearest I think I’ve even heard AM.

try a guitar pick to remove the knobs . also works great when opening walkmans.

@dennisneo1608

Жыл бұрын

The screwdriver worked fine.

Haha that's funny I used to sub to him on my channel that got deleted by KZread 2 years ago.. so thanks for posting him .

Even though AM stereo seems redundant these days. I remember when Radio Disney was on AM stereo!

The single best crossover just happened. And I was wondering if the AM Stereo uploads on You Can't Download Vinyl was related to this...

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

Yes.

Wow I never knew about stereo AM, that's very cool. Looks like here in the UK it just never got going in the first place which is a shame. Though there is someone on a forum thread from 2018 claiming their local station was broadcasting in stereo (and then an update a few years later saying the regulator told them to stop)!

The FCC had adopted C-Quam as the standard, when Leonard Kahn sued the FCC instead of biting down the FCC said "let the market decide" this is why he SRF-A100 has switches, it was the swiss army knife of AM Stereo receivers, was a great radio if you can find one without paying an arm and leg, I had one as a kid, it accidentally got left outside and that was the end of it. most modern AM broadcast transmitters will pass C-Quam, Nautel I believe its built in and Broadcast Electronics (BE) with a add on card. by the time I became broadcast engineer in January 2022 at a cluster of stations in North Carolina we had sold our AM signals by that point, one of them was running AM Stereo, I believe its been switched off.

Vwestlife & Ben, I Was Always Told AM Stereo Was Just Another Channel Of Noisy, Unlistenable Audio..."There's No Bandwith, Ect...I Heard 2 C-Quam Cuts From Japanese Skywave (About 500 Miles). While I'm Sure This Is The ABSOLUTE Limit Of The System For Demo Purposes, The Clarity And Lack Of Noise Blew Me Away!!! There Is 1 Track Of Boston - More Than A Feeling & Every Breath You Take by The Police. 🤩

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

Yes, I uploaded those recordings to my vinyl channel.

AM and AM stereo is awesome. I wish we had it in Europe. I have this very small AM transmitter for just 1 meter away from ebay. Sounds pretty good though.

I am so sad that there is no AM in Germany anymore. In my car I sometimes get faint reception of French or some Eastern European channels and the French one is sometimes even somewhat audible and listenable to, even though I am like 1,000km from the French border. I wish we still had the Long, Medium and Short Wave AM here im Germany 😢

i do have the full top of the line version of that infinity stereo you showed. it is the infinity 2 stereo by Mitsubishi. the cassette deck still works fine. the big difference to the equalizer is that it uses buttons rather then sliders. it came out of a 1990 chrysler new yorker not a bad radio by any means.

I have both the a1 and the A100. Bought them both in 1984.

I never knew that AM stereo was a thing !

(3:08) I don't really like the way were the stereo speakers are setup like that, When they're too close. Because when you listen to this type of stereo speakers setup from like far away. It's gonna be like. Ah man, that's mono! Well, It couldn't make any difference between AM stereo and AM mono. (But it do make a difference, Unless if you have a Zoom H1N audio recorder being very close to it.) That's why I like a wide stereo speakers setup, Because it gives me a very *W I D E* stereo audio separation.

Even though you weren’t able to fix Ben’s radio, the fact that it still sounds excellent in AM mono makes up for it. It’s really shocking how good a well-processed AM station can sound with the right equipment and the A100, even switched to narrow bandwidth mode, still blows new AM tuners out of the water Do you run your AM station continuously or only on an as-needed basis for testing?

@vwestlife

Жыл бұрын

I have my AM transmitter running most of the time, normally playing the audio stream of softrockradio.net, except during special tests like this.

Glad my radios are working and not junk lol the dents give it caracter