AM (Nite+Day) & FM Scans in '99 Astro (blown head gasket; radio worth saving?)

[pianoplayer88key]

Hi all...

My dad's '99 Astro apparently blew a head gasket this week, so he's planning to get rid of it soon (he hopes within a week or less). I'm not sure yet how, though, but if it gets junked, I was thinking ...

I've heard that some GM/Delco radios have had a good reputation. Would this one possibly be one of those? Here are a few bandscans I recorded earlier today. They were recorded a couple miles south of El Cajon, CA, within about 1/4 mile or so of 32°45'40"N 116°56'40"W.

AM Nighttime - 4:52am
FM - 5:11am
AM Daytime - 3:05pm

From my observation, the FM's selectivity isn't quite as good as on my Tecsuns. Sensitivity may be ok, though, as evidenced by being able to hear 103.3 KVYB 212 miles away, being on the wrong side of a hill.

As for AM, on 1150 in the daytime scan, all I get is splash from 1170 (KCBQ), but on my Tecsun PL-398mp I can get a weak mix of KTLK and XERM. (I have to go into the back yard, getting away from electrical QRN, and enter a special undocumented mode to do this. Switch to SW, use the VF button to start scanning then rotate the tuning wheel down quickly, then go back to AM.)

Also, on the AM daytime scan, I was unable to hear...
1680 KAVT
1640 KDIA
1580 KMIK (even pest KBLA was barely there if at all)
1570 KPRO
1560 KNZR (there was something on 1560, but it's a spur from my local 1700 XEPE that's heard on all radios with sufficient sensitivity.)
1550 KUAZ (but I guess a whip antenna isn't directional enough to null a local co-channel? )
1530 KFBK
1360 KPXQ (whip not directional enough to null local KLSD)
1180 KERN
1170 KFAQ or KJNP (kinda hard to null a 50kW co-channel local 9 miles away with just a whip antenna)
1160 KSL (or even XEQIN)
1140 KNWQ
1100 KFNX
1060 KDUS
1040 WHO (local KURS is silent, and rbrucecarter5 has gotten 1000+ mile DX...)
920 XESDA (or KPSI)
900 KALI
890 KDXU (local Cabrillo TIS may have been there, but it has long silent periods between announcements and I wasn't patient enough to keep waiting.)
880 KRVN (or KKMC)
850 KOA (XEZF was a pest)
(not sure if I had 840 KXNT or not)
830 KFLT (couldn't dodge KLAA)
820 WBAP (XEABCA was in the way)
810 KGO
800 XEROK (whip can't null local XESPN)
780 KKOH or KAZM (would have also blocked desired WBBM)
770 KKOB or KCBC
760 KKZN or WJR (even if I could null local KFMB, Denver's still in the way of Detroit.)
750 KFQD, KXTG, KHWG, KOAL or WSB
740 KCBS, KRMG or CFZM (KBRT was surprisingly weak on this radio, comparable to 730 XEEBC. KLAA was much stronger. On my PL-398mp, KBRT was almost equal to KLAA, and XEEBC was barely readable. Why's that?)
730 XEX (XEEBC, while weak, was still a pest)
720 KDWN (also would have blocked WGN)
700 KALL or WLW
690 CBU
680 KNBR
670 KBOI or KLTT
660 KTNN
650 KENI, KMTI or WSM
630 KIDD or KHOW
620 KTAR (local XESS was too pesky)
610 KEAR (600 KOGO's IBOC was blocking would-be pest KAVL)
590 KTIE
580 KMJ or KSAZ
560 KSFO (weak though it was, KBLU still was a pest)
550 KUZZ or KFYI
540 XEWA or CBK (I'd need a better nulling antenna to get around local XESURF)

I'm sure there were other desired targets I forgot about. Considering I was unable to get 1000+ mile daytime AM DX on this radio, and some local stations prevented hearing some first-adjacents ... would this radio still be worth seeing if my dad would let me salvage it? Or, is there a better one that would hear all the above desired stations at midday and has C-Quam AM Stereo, for the same price?

 

[spunker88]

Re: AM (Nite+Day) & FM Scans in '99 Astro (blown head gasket; radio worth saving?)

Some of the GM/Delco radios from this era came with a feature called Theftlock that ties them to the vehicle they came from and the radio will refuse to operate when put in another vehicle or run off a 12v supply, though some units can be unlocked. I don't have any experience with Theftlock feature, I just read about it when I was researching OEM car stereos that had CQUAM. But I don't see the Theftlock logo on your radio so it may not have that feature, its possible it was only on high end stereo models.

I recently bought a 2000 Ford stereo off eBay since it did CQUAM and had RDS. From what I saw on eBay Ford stereos in the late 90s and early 2000s Ford stereos that have RDS were the higher end units in that also have CQUAM (but this may not always be true). Heres a bandscan I did at night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8n_BpAe5iE

 

[Buckeyes2001]

Re: AM (Nite+Day) & FM Scans in '99 Astro (blown head gasket; radio worth saving?)

You might be able to install DSP chip(s) to improve adjacent channel selectivity but the cost may be more than just buying an Alpine HD car radio. Also I wonder if there's a way to switch the AM to 9 kHz tuning or install a chip that would allow for it.

Also, what was the strange noise heard on 97.9, 98.5, and 99.1 and then again on 100.3, 100.5, 101.9, 104.1, 106.9? Sounded like computer noise.

 

[Geographer]

Re: AM (Nite+Day) & FM Scans in '99 Astro (blown head gasket; radio worth saving?)

I enjoyed listening to your bandscan. I was surprised that KNX sounded stronger than KFI. I expected KFI to sound stronger because of its lower dial position.