[IRCA] Poor Man's BFO

["Stephen Ponder" <n5wbi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Found this article on the rec.radio.shortwave
Usenet group ...

>
> SSB on your DX375 Or YB305!
>
> It will work on other shortwaves without
> sideband too.  This is  a well known trick
> to some, but not to everybody. When I tried
> it, I was suprised how well it worked! You
> will need an additional little AM radio with
> your shortwave. I used a little Sony Walkman
> analog (SRF42) with a YB305. I like it because
> it's small, although the tuning is rather
> coarse. It will work with any AM portable
> though, as long as it's not a digital. The
> shortwave can of course be digital. Prop up
> a little portable AM radio next to the whip
> (for stong modulation).Tune in a ssb station
> on your DX375/YB305. Now slowly tune the
> little AM radio until you hear the signal
> clear up. You will now need to turn up the
> volume on your shortwave. The volume on the
> little radio should be off. Now slowly tune
> in the mickey mouse voice until it sounds
> human. You can move the little am radio to
> the right to lesson the modulation on weak
> signals.  You need to be able to get the
> two radios close together as stated above
> for it to work. You can modulate SSB from
> around 520 to 7000. If you want to modulate
> above, say at 41 meters and 20 meters, you
> will need to buy a cheap analog SW portable,
> so you can modulate at those frequencies.
> I tried it on my JVC boombox that has SW1
> and SW2 and it worked fine.
> Rick
>

I tried it using my YB-305 and my CountyComm
GP-4L (analog with digital freq counter).
It really DOES work!  I was able to listen
to some of the 80 Meter SSB nets last night.

The reason it works is that you're using the
local oscillator frequency of the analog
radio to "beat" against the frequency on your
digital radio.  Hence the old term "Beat
Frequency Oscillator" or BFO.

Cool!  Try it!

73 and GREAT DX!

Stephen Ponder N5WBI
Houston TX USA


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