I've been asked to play oldies music at a local car show. But my Rangemaster is locked into 1620. Will most -- or any -- pre-expanded band car radios be able to receive and play a signal at 1620? Anybody had any experience with this?
When I broadcast with a Knight Kit Phono Oscillator I got the variable tuning to what I believed was 1630 kHz on radios that officially topped off at 1600 kHz.
They did have some "play room" above 1600, although I had no way of actually knowing what frequency I really had, we have a station on 1600 and I was well clear of it, so it was at least 1620.
However, I just remebered an exception. I have a Zentih Transoceanic Radio and it cuts off right past 1600, and requires flipping to the first shortwave band to access any of the expanded AM band. What that says is that some old radios might cut-off abruptly, therefore results probably vary.
I have a 1959 Ford pickup and the radio gets my station at 1620 just fine, but it's way at the very end of the dial. I also have a 1951 Buick that's not on the road yet (My Dad bought it new in 1951, I've since inherited it when Dad passed last year) I'll have to pop out to the garage tomorrow and see if I can tune up to 1620 in the Buick. But I think Carl is right -- it's going to vary among cars and radios.
Tim in Bovey
The standard for radios before the expanded band was 1610, sometimes 1600. 1620 on a lot of them was only if you could turn the tuning dial to the max and you may get it.....could be a little detuned though. You might get just a bit of it.
If you retuned the transmitter to 1590 for this event you'd be great.
Grew up in the 60s so I know
The 1951 Buick tunes to 1620 , just barely. I gt my station clear but the tuning is tuned right to the stop at the right end of the dial. The '59 Ford PU makes it with a bit of room to spare to the right of the dial.
I'm betting most cars at the show will not have stock radios in them. And of those I bet you hit more than 50% that could get it at 1620.
Tim in Bovey
Thanks, everyone. I think to be safe, I'll buy a 1600 module. That way, only the pre-WWII car guys will complain!
If I go AM part time at least the old cars with AM radios in them can listen to Rock. Im kooking at 1630 Khz.
A good thing to do is check and make sure that 1600 is open where ever the car show is held. For WW2 cars, see about 1500, or even 1000 if that's open, those seem to be easy frequencies to get. One transmitter I experiemted with was on 1000, because oscillators are easy to get for that freq. You can find a 1000 khz made from an oscilllaror can, as a science project for students.
As for 1620, I think all of my old analogue radios can pick that up, some go up to 1650, don't know about car radios, but I'd imagine they would. Let us know how it goes at the car show when you do this.