Small Portable Radio's?

[Gene]

I have 18650's that I use on flashlights, my PL-880, and portable fans. I've actually upgraded the capacity of the 18650's in all of those devices, and I appreciate the run times and power of those cells. However, in my opinion, lithium-ion cells are not a good idea for use in emergency equipment for the average person. Cheap chargers are OK, but not a good idea for use with lithium-ion cells, in my opinion. The same is true for charging the cells inside the device. There is a risk of fire and explosion that should be minimized by using a good charger, good-quality cells, and a safe charging protocol that minimizes the risk of harm from fire. Most people aren't prepared to take those precautions all the time.

In addition, the cold weather performance of lithium-ion cells is severely compromised, compared to the performance of NiMH rechargeables and single-use lithium cells. This is a serious drawback of relying solely on lithium-ion cells in an emergency for most people in cold weather environments. AA and AAA cells are also more readily found at retail, which can be another advantage of those cells for use in emergency equipment. I think it would be a good idea in cold weather areas to have equipment available that can use AA and AAA NiMH cells, to complement equipment that uses lithium-ion cells.

I mostly agree MS but even good chargers are inexpensive nowadays and quality, hicap 18650 cells aren't too expensive if you shop around. We have two lights in each one of our two cars and all contain CR123 primary cells. We get temps here ranging from 10 to 100+ degrees and have experienced no problems and the cells have been in the lights for approximately four years and are still operating fine.

I can understand people's concerns using Li-Ion in lights in automobiles and the risks but we choose to do so.

 

[mightysparrow]

Whatever works for you is A OK with me, Gene! I use flashlights with 18650's in cold weather - I keep them close to my body when not in use, so they aren't too cold to perform well when I turn them on.

 

[mightysparrow]

What's going on with my FM lately ? is it tropo skip, sunspot activity, or solar flares? my local stations that come in 5 x 5 are now fading or picking up stations from other states. I'm even getting other people's GPS on my car radio

That's weird. I'll try to listen more to FM and see if I find that happening. So far, I haven't encountered that problem here in the mid-Atlantic.

 

[aginthelaw]

This has been happening for a few weeks now

 

[archimedes]

Looks like pretty close to solar minimum at the moment ...

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/solar-cycle-progression

 

[chillinn]

I listen to one FM radio station around here that broadcasts from about 10 miles from me to a wide area. It is the only station I can find that has NPR. I have listened to it for over two years, comes in strong, no interference. The last two weeks, some other station playing annoying Peter and the Wolf-sounding music has been cutting in on the same frequency, never happened before. My personal conspiracy theory is that, along with the dismantling of the USPS, radical anti-media groups are jamming radio news outlets leading up to the coup... wait a sec, that's not the right word for it... its something that sounds like "infection," I think. Needless to say, there has been a great disturbance in The Force.

 

[mightysparrow]

One suggestion for trying to find a cause of the FM radio disturbances: this is just a wild guess, but going beyond checking for solar flares, maybe you could look at this website to check to geomagnetic disturbances on earth that might have some effect. https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/notifications-timeline

I don't know if such changes in the earth's geomagnetic field might cause changes in FM reception similar to those you experienced, but the above is a desperate guess in an attempt to be of some help.

 

[aginthelaw]

All i had to do was put it out in public. I guess they don't want us looking into it. All stations were clear as a bell today with no bleeding from other stations. The only thing I changed to the car was put air in the tire

 

[Lebkuecher]

I thought by now Thomas would have posted his review, hopefully Thomas will provide audio samples on FM to better compare the two speakers.

Thomas posted a short recap of his impressions of the Tecsun PL-990 on his website. Not a lot new and no audio samples.

Field Notes: Comparing the Tecsun PL-990x and PL-880

 

[Gene]

I agree in that our cable TV and WiFi and everything else has been acting weird. Maybe sun flares or the fact that everything here in California is burning.

 

[5S8Zh5]

Thomas posted a short recap of his impressions of the Tecsun PL-990 on his website. Not a lot new and no audio samples.

Field Notes: Comparing the Tecsun PL-990x and PL-880

But since the PL-880 has a slightly better built-in speaker, it really can take advantage of FM radio audio fidelity when listening to music, for example. This is not to say that the PL-990 has crappy audio–far from the truth. Indeed, I was impressed with the audio when I first put the PL-990 on the air. You only notice the PL-880's superior audio while doing side-by-side comparisons. Is it enough to sway my purchase decision? No, not really. For AM and shortwave–which is where I spend most of my time–the PL-990 audio is robust.

 

[aginthelaw]

I agree in that our cable TV and WiFi and everything else has been acting weird. Maybe sun flares or the fact that everything here in California is burning.

I feel for everyone out there. Good luck to you and your neighbors.

 

[Gene]

I feel for everyone out there. Good luck to you and your neighbors.

Thank you my friend. That's very nice. It's choking smoke everywhere. Hopefully, winter with rain and snow will come early to stop all this mess.

 

[Lebkuecher]

I bought a Amazon Echo Studio and few months ago and while I am impressed with the sound quality when playing music I also enjoy streaming radio stations from across the world. As I type I this post am listening to RNZ (Radio New Zealand) via TuneIn. I think most of us who follow this thread know there is a lot of content now available via streaming and I am sure streaming is one of the reasons international broadcaster are dropping the expensive SW broadcast. After reading a recent article on SWLing I am beginning to wonder what the future of streaming may look like and if the court ruling in the UK may be a sign of things to come to the US and across the world. I don't think I would invest in a internet radio now.

TuneIn ruling may lead to a more restrictive future for UK smart speaker and Internet radio users

 

[aginthelaw]

Thank you my friend. That's very nice. It's choking smoke everywhere. Hopefully, winter with rain and snow will come early to stop all this mess.

This is what it looks like here after sunrise 3 hours ago. The haze is from the California fires. I'm in New Jersey!

 

[chillinn]

Here in Virginia, too. Looked more like the Moon.

 

[Lebkuecher]

Jay Allen posted a nice review of the new Tecsun PL-990 on his site.

Tecsun PL-990X AM/SW/LW/MP Bluetooth MP3 Player

 

[Sway]

My local FM station 8 miles away was fading in and out a little again this morning. I moved the antenna just a little and BOOM a station 75 miles away on the same freq came in strong. Anybody else notice anything lately?

 

[Sway]

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I remember when AM stereo bombed out. I have a feeling digital AM radio may have the same problem and that competition with the internet and apps would make it a yawner. HD radio is cool but still nowhere near mainstream either it is too bad many manufacturers don't want to pay royalties to include it in their radios.