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Radio near a TXer

D

dxer2_2000

Hi

Has anyone ever heard of a radio/receiver burning out as a result to getting TOO MUCH signal, like when near a radio station's transmission mast?

dxer2_2000
 
> Hi
>
> Has anyone ever heard of a radio/receiver burning out as a
> result to getting TOO MUCH signal, like when near a radio
> station's transmission mast?
>
> dxer2_2000

Can't say I have. In fact, I've used several radios right under the tower of a local station for extended periods of time, and none of them have ever "burned out" due to signal strength.

Now hearing local AM stations bouncing off of your bathroom plumbing because their towers are down the block... that I've heard myself! Freaked me out late one night right after I'd moved into the place!<P ID="signature">______________
radiodude.jpg

http://theradioblog.blogspot.com</P>
 
> > Hi
> >
> > Has anyone ever heard of a radio/receiver burning out as a
>
> > result to getting TOO MUCH signal, like when near a radio
> > station's transmission mast?
> >
> > dxer2_2000
>
> Can't say I have. In fact, I've used several radios right
> under the tower of a local station for extended periods of
> time, and none of them have ever "burned out" due to signal
> strength.
>
> Now hearing local AM stations bouncing off of your bathroom
> plumbing because their towers are down the block... that
> I've heard myself! Freaked me out late one night right
> after I'd moved into the place!
>

here's something i read recently along the same lines
http://www.wbcq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=46
 
> Hi
>
> Has anyone ever heard of a radio/receiver burning out as a
> result to getting TOO MUCH signal, like when near a radio
> station's transmission mast?

Yes, I have, but it wasn't on broadcast band.

I was driving a fleet vehicle with a two-way radio in the VHF business band with a roof-mounted antenna. I also had a programmable digital tuning police scanner in the same vehicle, with a magnet-mount antenna on the same roof as the vehicles two-way antenna, and one of the frequencies it was scanning was the two-way system installed in the car.

When I spoke to the dispatcher on the two-way and my scanner caught that signal literally a few feet from it's own antenna, it emitted a strange screeching noise that was not audio feedback, and the scanner was never the same again.

I gather that what must've happened was the two-way radio transmitting so close to the scanner overloaded and fried the VHF receiving circuit in the scanner, because the VHF sensitivity of the scanner was shot from that moment on. However, the scanner also covered the UHF police and business band, and that circuit still worked fine.

I had to buy a new scanner (for VHF), and make sure I never did that again.
 
> Hi
>
> Has anyone ever heard of a radio/receiver burning out as a
> result to getting TOO MUCH signal, like when near a radio
> station's transmission mast?
>
> dxer2_2000
>
I have taken my portable radio up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, about 200 feet from the master antenna. There are many full powered Class B stations (plus their IBOC sidebands) on that stick (only about 6.12 kW each including IBOC, but it adds up). Nothing happened to it. While it was up there, it was hard to hear any station, even the ones from the Empire State Building itself. I could even hear traces of FM stations on the AM band.

I'm sure that putting a radio right next to a high powered transmitter will be similar to putting it in the microwave.<P ID="signature">______________
17-year-old radio geek
Location: Princeton Junction, NJ
AIM: KewlDude471
WWPH 107.9 FM: http://wwph1079fm.no-ip.org</P>
 
> I had to buy a new scanner (for VHF), and make sure I never
> did that again.

Similar situation -- I never lost anything on an AM or FM radio due to even the most extreme overload. But, I have a Panasonic RF-2600 AM/FM/SW that lost the upper two of four SW bands. The radio was on a shelf in the garage tuned to 27.205, about 5 feet away from the CB antenna on the car. After keying the mic on CB Channel 20, bands SW3 and SW4 were forever toast. The analog-driven digital display reads 97.000 across both bands with no audio. AM, FM, SW1 and SW2 work fine.

That double-superheterodyne receiver has a LOT of discrete components and, other than the fluorescent display module, no integrated circuits.

As far as AM/FM receivers go, I have yet to witness a newer receiver with ICs failing. Near very strong transmitters, the front end desensitizes until only the local TX can be tuned (like my Blaupunkt car receiver), the tuner breaks into oscillation like my Sangean ATS-909, or a dozen images of the TX spreads across the entire band.
 
> > Hi
> >
> > Has anyone ever heard of a radio/receiver burning out as a
>
> > result to getting TOO MUCH signal, like when near a radio
> > station's transmission mast?
> >
> > dxer2_2000
> >
> I have taken my portable radio up to the observation deck of
> the Empire State Building, about 200 feet from the master
> antenna. There are many full powered Class B stations (plus
> their IBOC sidebands) on that stick (only about 6.12 kW each
> including IBOC, but it adds up). Nothing happened to it.
> While it was up there, it was hard to hear any station, even
> the ones from the Empire State Building itself. I could
> even hear traces of FM stations on the AM band.
>
> I'm sure that putting a radio right next to a high powered
> transmitter will be similar to putting it in the microwave.
>

Ahhh how's ol Princeton Jct? Jersey-born&bred New Brunswick (now in Orange County, CA).... when I was a kid (teen) my older brother and I got a ride to Carteret before they moved WOR's towers to Lyndhurst and we went with our portable radio right up to the fence guarding their 50kw towers. No harm no foul.
 
Nick said:
> Hi> > Has anyone ever heard of a radio/receiver burning out as a> result to getting TOO MUCH signal, like when near a radio> station's transmission mast?> > dxer2_2000> I have taken my portable radio up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, about 200 feet from the master antenna. There are many full powered Class B stations (plus their IBOC sidebands) on that stick (only about 6.12 kW each including IBOC, but it adds up). Nothing happened to it. While it was up there, it was hard to hear any station, even the ones from the Empire State Building itself. I could even hear traces of FM stations on the AM band.I'm sure that putting a radio right next to a high powered transmitter will be similar to putting it in the microwave.<P ID="signature">______________17-year-old radio geekLocation: Princeton Junction, NJAIM: KewlDude471WWPH 107.9 FM: http://wwph1079fm.no-ip.org</P>
Click to expand...
If you were very close to some FM transmitters, you were probably picking them up on the amplifier circuit of your AM radio.I have lived near several high-powered FM towers, and this happens frequently. If the signal is strong enough, it will jumpright into the amp regardless of what (if anything) is tuned. I used to get very annoying FM reception in my AM radios,tape decks, televisions.....everything but the toaster! Had a neighbor with a hearing aid who kept complaining that hewas always hearing voices.
 
I live about 4 miles down the street from the WLW transmitter. The only weird thing that has happened was the bathroom thing that Josh C mentioned. It freaked me out at first, but then I was just like, "This is pretty cool!"I can usually pick up WGN pretty well considering my proximity to WLW. WOR is out of the question though. I fondly recall one night when they shut WLW down for transmitter maintenance. I had fun listening to WOR for a few hours.
 
I lived near 94.1 WWGL and 1340 WPOL, back when I was in Winston-Salem. I can remember one day hearing 94.1 on my computer speakers and the computer was turned-off. :eek: Even though 1340 was slightly closer than WWGL, I could hear 94.1 WWGL around 1350 AM and it sounded just like a local AM station. It covered-up one or two local AM signals (including WPOL) on a good quality radio. You could also hear it cut-in on cable TV channels 2 and 6. Fortunately there was nothing on 2 and 6 but Public School TV (PTA meetings) and Public Access (garage bands and home movies). WWGL is now 80's/90's formated Hitz 94.1 (WTHZ) and still has the same signal strength I remember. You need a really good radio to live there. It took a while to find the right receiver (one that could receive 94.5 and 93.5 out of Wadesboro). A small adjustment of the antenna on the radio I selected would allow me to listen to 93.9 out of the Raleigh-Durham market. With the right radio and the right antenna, you can enjoy a station for almost every frequency on the dial in Winston-Salem, due to elevation and the close proximity to Charlotte, Roanoke, Hickory, mountains and Raleigh. No other city I've lived-in can compare. It was nothing to find five or more CHRs or two FMs with standards. Listen to a station from Asheville and tune down the dial and listen to 101.5 out of Raleigh. Tune to 94.9 out of Roanoke (VA) or 105.3 from Gaffney (SC). Georgia can't compare. :( I never lost a receiver due to the extreme signal overload though.
 
Here in New Britain, CT (9 miles southwest of Hartford), I struggle to get the daytime signal of WMMW-AM 1470 of Meriden, CT, about 7 miles to the south. Especially during the daytime, it's nearly wiped out by WPOP-AM 1410 of Hartford, even in the one position I turn the radio's AM loop to make WPOP-AM "weak". The WPOP-AM 5,000 watt transmitter is along Cedar Street (CT 175) in Newington, CT, near Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), or about 3.5 miles from my house. At night, I can attenuate it enough and it isn't too bad. Similar things happen when I try to listen to WCBS-AM 880 of New York City during the day (which isn't that bad of a signal). Turn that AM loop the wrong way and both WRYM-AM 840 of New Britain (transmitter on Willard Avenue in Newington) and WLAT-AM 910 of New Britain/Hartford (5 Kw from Radio Park in Farmington) wipe WCBS-AM out. It's not quite as bad with 50,000 watt WTIC-AM 1080 of Hartford, as their Avon Mountain site is further away than the WPOP-AM site is. :p
 
Those are some rather interesting stories about FM signals "jumping" into the AM band... I've had the converse problem when visiting my parents in Prior Lake, MN (a southern suburb of Minneapolis.) They live less than three miles from the nine-tower array of KFAN-AM (50 kW, somewhat directional favoring the north)... and many receivers, even a fairly decent Radio Shack DX-392, would bring in KFAN on 88.1 FM. (When this first happened to me, I knew nothing of receiver overload, and thought I was hearing some kind of 78th harmonic on 88.14! ;))A couple of questions, though -- even though I can understand how an amplifier circuit would act as a receiver for very strong signals, I can't seem to wrap my mind around how AM receiver circuitry could decode a frequency-modulated signal (or, for that matter, vice-versa.) Anyone able to explain that to a semi-layman like myself? :)
 
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