On Jun 24, 2025, Richard Owlett wrote: > On 6/23/25 9:28 AM, Dan Purgert wrote: > > On Jun 23, 2025, Richard Owlett wrote: > > > [https://www.adafruit.com/product/1497 approaches my goal] > > > > That adafruit one is OK. I'm not a big fan of the MCX connector, since > > you're a bit tied to that antenna then -- similar to older TVs that only > > had the 300-ohm twin-lead connection instead of an F-connector. > > I mentioned the adafruit as it came up as an early hit that leaned in > general direction of my personal goal.
Yeah, it's not a bad receiver in general -- just a case of that connector *potentially* being a source of headaches. > > > > > It's certainly not the end of the world by any means, just gets annoying > > if/when the antenna needs to be moved around for better reception (I > > don't like adding adapters if I can avoid it). > > As I'm interested in local broadcasts only, sensitivity/directivity is not > an issue. A screw post would serve for antenna connection - short wire is > "good enough antenna" for my el cheapo clock radio ;} Oh, that's good then -- I'm in an area where it's "oh if you wanna listen to THAT station, the radio has to be THERE; but if you want THIS station, it has to be HERE" Granted it's just some old boombox (probably from the 90s) that's seen better days. > > > > > > All this excess reminds me of 1990's B&W line-art precursors of cartoon at > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_swing_cartoon ;/ > > > > Which bit is the "excess" here? The breadth of ranges at which the > > receiver works? > > > > Essentially ;} > Featuritis can get in way of usability. The selection of tuner chip(s) is what gives the possibility of wide input range -- in this case the R820T, which runs from ~40 MHz to ~1000 MHz; allowing it to receive basically all globally-transmitted VHF and UHF television signals (here in the US, they're broadcast roughly between 50 and 800 MHz). It's not all that special of a tuner, in the sense that televisions have used something like this for probably 40+ years now; basically ever since you had to stop worrying about whether to tune VHF or UHF to get what you wanted to watch. Tuner works for "radio" simply because FM broadcasts (88-108 MHz in the US) are between the former VHF stations 6 (87.75 MHz) and 7 (177 MHz); though I think those have been long decommissioned in the US (2005? '08? something like that). -- |_|O|_| |_|_|O| Github: https://github.com/dpurgert |O|O|O| PGP: DDAB 23FB 19FA 7D85 1CC1 E067 6D65 70E5 4CE7 2860
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