[IRCA] AM Splatter Monitor - yes there is such a device

["Robert Foxworth" <rfoxwor1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I dont think they have figured that out yet, Rene, They just published
> NRSC-5 or NRSC-V which are the specs.  It will be interesting to see
if
> there is much difference in the "Mask"
>
> Paul Smith

Speaking of the NRSC mask, I have just been given a piece
of equipment that is considered to be obsolete, given the
direction the industry AM is seen as headed. Maybe someone
on the list has heard of it. It is reportedly built to measure
compliance with the NRSC mask for analog AM radio, and
had a sizable price tag.

It is an AM Splatter Monitor, made by Delta Electronics of
Alexandria VA. The test sticker is dated in 1994 and the unit
serial number is in 2 digits, i.e. well below 100.

It is in a 5-1/4 inch rack panel, 12 inch deep including all
protrusions.

Front panel:
    power off-on switch.
    Analog panel meter with two scales "dB below carrier"
        and scales are 0 to -40 and -40 to -80 dB.
    Detector switch, 4 positions:  Inphase (I), Quadrature (Q),
        Chopped I+Q, External.
    Alarm/PeakHold switch, 4 positions:  Off, Alarm Set, Alarm
        On, Peak Hold.
    Alarm Set, rotary pot, uncalibrated, with Alarm LED next to it
    Headphone jack, Audio Gain rotary pot, 2-inch internal speaker
    RF Cal, rotary pot, uncalibrated (sets FS on panel meter)
    Measurement, 5 position switch:  RF Cal, 0-100 kHz, 11 to 100 kHz,
        0 to -45 dB, -40 to -85 dB (scale select for panel meter)
    Offset B/W switch, 4 position:  0.5 kHz, 3 kHz, NRSC, Option
        (this switch only works for last 2 settings of Measurement)
    Thumbwheel switch, 4 decades, labeled Carrier kHz, tunes
        in 1 kHz steps to 1999
    Thumbwheel switch, 2 decades, labeled Offset kHz, tunes
        in 1 kHz steps from 10 to 99

Rear Panel:
    Power connector, 2 fuses, ext. 12 VDC barrel connector,
    Barrier strip for "ext audio in", "remote meter out", "remote alarm
out"
    RF Attenuator switch, 4 positions: 1V, 2.7V, 7.4V, 20V
    Four BNC connectors marked "Active antenna in", RF IN",
        "In-phase detector out", "quadrature detector out"

Anyone ever see or use one of these? The active antenna has been
lost, but there may be an instruction manual they can find for it.

Looks as if it probably doesn't have a lot of gain for "DXing".

More later, when I get a chance to fiddle with it.   Also, got an
Otari MX-5050 tape machine in a wheelable mini-rack stand.
It must weigh near to 100 pounds, hopefully will allow
me to set up do one-pass copies of my old tapes onto CD.
I say one-pass because sometimes on these old tapes,
one pass is all you get before the oxide sheds off...at
least this is what I hear. All I need is for it to playback.

I got to hear IBOC in real IBOC mode on a $500-ish Kenwood
unit in the truck of the CE of a station who will be using it on FM.
We tuned in WFLA-970. It does sound as advertised, but the
question remains, who will be getting it. The difference in
the WUSF 89.7 signal was, to me, not remarkable. One of the
plans is to extend the STL's out to 20 kHz to allow for the
extra bandwidth capability. There is supposed to be a HD set
available soon in the 150-200$ range, and I will try to get more
info.

There is an ongoing discussion among the industry people
including, among other things, discussion on how to identify
the secondary channels in a manner that the consumer can
understand. Two main choices are to use the main channel
identifier with a -1 (or such) appended to it, or to use a totally
new channel number bearing no relation to the main channel
number. A big issue with this is Arbitron diaries and how the
listener identifies stations with common management but with
separate (secondary) streams. This works in with the idea that
one of the HD value issues is the ability to have multiple streams
of information, compared to just increased fidelity on the main.

This also will accelerate the trend for radios to have menus
and pushbuttons for tuning, and get away from the old
rotary knob idea, which probably is a safety-on-the-road issue
similar to the cell-phone issue.  Ticketed for TWD? Tuning-while-
driving? Could be?

- Bob


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