Victorian Radio Discussion

[J. Wilhelm]

Correct, but the spike and knife edge did not as far as i know came in the picture for real until the 1960s. 
I am on the hobbyist level among those who fly plastic rocket models on the fields and DX in my hobby room to be honest, netiher am i a real collector of antiques, i mainly collect cheaper things i like to study how they where made back in the days and hawe as a referense (for example the Ruhmkorff apparates, and they still work and produce sparks after more than 130 years! I wonder how many modern apparates will still be fully functional after 100 years... ) , but it is indeed an old childhood dream to build a liquid fuel engine, however a modernized replica of for example one of Goddards demonstration models would be in reach to achive even with "garage equipment" i think.

Not realy steampunk, but 1940s SiFi, but i am still a big fan of Eugen Semitjovs cartoon books whan it come to estetic spacecraft design, unfortunatly i only managed to get one collection book so far, they are quite hard to find, but i hope they will be digitalized in the future, but i must admit that there is something more to sit down in grandmas rocking chair with an old scool paperbook compared to sitting in front of a computer/cellphone screen and trying to read a book.

Whan i was a kid i did draw the historical line exactly with the year 1900 for things i concidered as genuine, but since stempunk is not realy by any means historicaly correct i don't think there is any major issues to mix in later elements if one so desire. Personaly i love to use actual 1800 SiFi pictures and try to remake them into reasonably functional with today existing tecnology but as close as possibly to what they in another universe or so could had achieved in their own time, 1940s rockets still had skeletal frame and a lot of rivets and bolts to them for example, they are very easy to punk up a bit if one want to use rockets in the 1800 alternative universe for example.

You mean aerospikes and linear aerospikes?  And there's a lot more beyond that right now.

Re aesthetics, technically we also include other retro sci-fi topics, such as Dieselpunk here, we just don't see a lot of it, but we have it.  My current boombox project is going into the mid century aesthetic for the moment...

For the spaceflight topic, I recommend taking a look at the Meta Club thread "The Guild of Icarus." I've abandoned the thread for some time, only dusting it off for NASAs Artemis Program. But it seems we may start seeing the use of stratospheric lighter than air craft soon enough.

Reality is stranger than fiction; it looks like we need Hypersonic missiles and Zeppelins too!!  Also there's been strong progress on Hypersonic sustained flight lately as Americans respond to adversaries (avoiding the subject due to politics, though). I may be able to avoid politics and stille talk about late research on propulsion, thanks to a professor from UT San Antonio (my Alma mater is UT Austin), whom I follow over Twitter. The faculty have built a Hypersonic wind tunnel there. There's some interesting developments in new hypersonic capable propulsion methods like rotating detonation engines outside of current military uses, and if we can convince the public that space planes are worth the effort over Space X style launches, then we may see a successor to the Space Shuttle.

On the lighter-than-air side, we have potential room for stratospheric launch platforms as well. That might be more intertwined with Brassgoggles interest.

[J. Wilhelm]

I don't know where to put this, but I thought it might be of interest in this thread. Since I'm building a retro-ish boombox, I've encountered a lot in the way of dedicated Internet Radio projects. Basically based on some processor like Raspberry Pi or Arduino, these projects use dedicated software like Volumio to turn a computer into a dumb Internet appliance. Some might not see the point, given that we have tablets and smartphones perfectly and capable of doing the same thing, but this really is a discussion of aesthetics and dedicated appliances for the home, the way consumer radio was born.

Here's some photos, discussion is welcome!

https://youtu.be/LucC-uq2xJs

Who would like to see a project like this?

[SeVeNeVeS]

snip

Who would like to see a project like this?

Goes without saying, all of us would like to see the project from start to finish (although all your graphs and technical specs go right over my head  ) Bring it on good sir!

[J. Wilhelm]

snip

Who would like to see a project like this?

Goes without saying, all of us would like to see the project from start to finish (although all your graphs and technical specs go right over my head  ) Bring it on good sir!

Thank you for your confidence on me! A more stylized Vicwardian project like this will come eventually, but I don't know when, because for the moment I'm focusing all my attention on the nuts and bolts of the present "mid century" styled Mk. IV boombox.

The reason is that now I'm short one week in wages (COVID) and I just got notice my boss closed another shop in the franchise. I expected that, he delayed closing the shop for one year and he warned me, but the end is nigh for my boss' business, I suspect. I may be looking at another job before the end of year (!) and available time and resources are running low, I'm afraid. 

Alas, I'm too advanced to stop the Mk. IV project as I have already sunk a lot of resources into it. It'd be a shame and a waste to stop now. It's a matter of deciding what exactly I can do quicky and how much money I believe I can get out of it. The way I see it, I may need the it to compliment my income. While I'm still employed, I now have to see the Mk. IV finished to a workable state and other units based on it on sale by Summer if I can!!

Maybe by Fall I'll see a return on this project (usually by Halloween you find out if you were successful). All units will have the same mid 20th century style (call it Diesel/Atompunk); I can't afford to waste time on changing aesthetics. Luckily, that project is turning out very well performance-wise, and even with some hiccups here and there something will come out of it. Nothing like a little pressure to push you forward.

[mizzarrogh]

Yes, of course we want to see more! Is there any function that allows to upload pictures to the forum? Or do one need to use external storage sites?
(i a buisy with my dollhouse at the moment, but in case some of You are interested in pictures of things i currently restoring or still keep in my collection)

[von Corax]

Yes, of course we want to see more! Is there any function that allows to upload pictures to the forum? Or do one need to use external storage sites?
(i a buisy with my dollhouse at the moment, but in case some of You are interested in pictures of things i currently restoring or still keep in my collection)

You need to use an external storage site. I use Imgur, but I know DeviantArt works as well, and I know there are others. And we are absolutely interested in seeing your pictures.

[J. Wilhelm]

I'm considering using DeviantArt as a repository. I've just never done it before. I have a second fairly unused account which is basically invisible due to lack of activity. Things on Twitter are going from bad to worse, and Mastodon doesn't have reliable and fast servers. Because all servers are private, you tend to have lower capacity than Twitter and DeviantArt.

[J. Wilhelm]

Yes, of course we want to see more! Is there any function that allows to upload pictures to the forum? Or do one need to use external storage sites?
(i a buisy with my dollhouse at the moment, but in case some of You are interested in pictures of things i currently restoring or still keep in my collection)

For the moment all work I have will be on this thread: http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,53047.0.html

until I completed the project. But I'm pondering posting pictures on my DeviantArt on a second account (not the original one); it's just that I ignore whether the kind of stuff I'm building is interesting to the art crowd. I haven't seen anyone posting radio builds, for example on dA. I have my old Steampunk maker account there, but that was for business and had way more traffic back when teenagers, the convention crowd, and middle aged people whose children left for college, were interested in Steampunk about 12 years ago.

[J. Wilhelm]

Well, I don't know where to post this, but this thread is as close as possible.  I'm afraid commercial Amplitude Modulation bands (corresponding to LW MW in Europe) will be a thing of the past soon enough. Ford Motor Company has decided to not include AM band in their cars starting in the next model year.  Given that the primary market in America is automotive, and since AM Stereo really never took off with the public, then that spells the end for both AM and AM Stereo in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and quite likely Central America as well, due to market ties.

https://www.insideradio.com/free/ford-to-discontinue-am-radio-in-most-new-and-updated-models/article_9904fc40-c43f-11ed-9acf-2ffe06be4c20.html

[RJBowman]

Well, I don't know where to post this, but this thread is as close as possible.  I'm afraid commercial Amplitude Modulation bands (corresponding to LW MW in Europe) will be a thing of the past soon enough. Ford Motor Company has decided to not include AM band in their cars starting in the next model year.  Given that the primary market in America is automotive, and since AM Stereo really never took off with the public, then that spells the end for both AM and AM Stereo in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and quite likely Central America as well, due to market ties.

https://www.insideradio.com/free/ford-to-discontinue-am-radio-in-most-new-and-updated-models/article_9904fc40-c43f-11ed-9acf-2ffe06be4c20.html

Ford is located in Detroit, and anyone driving in Detroit who wants a traffic report tunes into WWJ AM, one of the oldest commercial radio stations in the world, which offers a traffic report every 10 minutes.

I think they are doing this to make people pay for an upgraded radio.

[J. Wilhelm]

Well, I don't know where to post this, but this thread is as close as possible.  I'm afraid commercial Amplitude Modulation bands (corresponding to LW MW in Europe) will be a thing of the past soon enough. Ford Motor Company has decided to not include AM band in their cars starting in the next model year.  Given that the primary market in America is automotive, and since AM Stereo really never took off with the public, then that spells the end for both AM and AM Stereo in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and quite likely Central America as well, due to market ties.

https://www.insideradio.com/free/ford-to-discontinue-am-radio-in-most-new-and-updated-models/article_9904fc40-c43f-11ed-9acf-2ffe06be4c20.html

Ford is located in Detroit, and anyone driving in Detroit who wants a traffic report tunes into WWJ AM, one of the oldest commercial radio stations in the world, which offers a traffic report every 10 minutes.

I think they are doing this to make people pay for an upgraded radio.

Oh, there's no question money is always involved. All things being equal, down these parts AM is mostly talk shows. The argument Tesla pushed is that interference from electric motors makes AM listening impractical. I know electric motors can do that, but what about other cars like Toyota? Prius, etc?

I'd have to listen myself to believe that excuse

[RJBowman]

I heard an ad on the radio encouraging people to contact their congressman to support legislation to force auto makers to put AM radio in cars.

I think it's a mistake by the auto makers to do away with AM, but I oppose legislation to force them to keep it. It's not like seat belts.

[Sorontar]

It will be vital for any car exported to Australia. The national broadcaster ABC is used as the primary source of information during emergencies like floods and bushfires, mainly through the local AM channels. It doesn't have local FM channels and FM can't broadcast as far.

Sorontar

[mizzarrogh]

We barely even have any analogue station at all left in Scandinavia, not even moose hunters communication radios are using AM anymore since like the 80s. 
However a few radio amateurs do use it for vintage radios. (I have receivers with AM function for my DX corner because of that.)

Perhaps it is considered to be more failsafe in Australia?

[RJBowman]

The word is that this is all about making drivers pay for streaming services.

Does anyone know an of upstart company that makes a small AM radio that gets its power from the lighter jack or USB port in your car? I'd like to invest.

[J. Wilhelm]

The word is that this is all about making drivers pay for streaming services.

Does anyone know an of upstart company that makes a small AM radio that gets its power from the lighter jack or USB port in your car? I'd like to invest.

There are many AM radios in the market, but come from outside of the American market. For investment purposes, I'm not sure. I don't think there's too many American or Western companies doing that. Most of the radios are made in China under Chinese brand names, save for Ham/Shortwave oriented products, and many of those Chinese brands are sold in the US by mail only. Just search on eBay and Amazon. Look for brands like Sihuadon, they make a large number of pocket and tabletop radios.

Most portable radios I see are made with new technology that no longer uses Mid Century style RLC tuning and 1980s style Phase Locked Loop tuning methods, and instead they use a digital processor that performs direct mathematical processing on the RF signal - quite impressive, actually. I imagine the process involves sampling of a very wide bandwidth tuned signal with Discrete Fourier Transform, to extract narrower bands and individual stations,  so you'll see a lot of very small and even cigarette -pack sized All Band radios in their offers. Making an AM (ie MW/LW) only radio is becoming less attractive with time when the hardware can detect so many other frequencies, to be honest, so you won't find many people developing AM Band-only radios.

Take a look at the radio I intend to use in my boombox project (Mk IV). A lot of them nowadays have a mini USB or micro USB charge port and a lithium battery. Mine is an "All Band" radio, but it'd be difficult to try to operate the radio while driving. Some of them will be more user friendly. I don't know if any one uses a Bluetooth transmitter, or an FM transmitter to connect to your car stereo, though. You might need one of those aftermarket kits to do that.

[mizzarrogh]

The LW band are practically dead in northern Europe, only really old radios even has it on the scale, but i can see some technical benefits using it under certain circumstances, so why not.

[J. Wilhelm]

The LW band are practically dead in northern Europe, only really old radios even has it on the scale, but i can see some technical benefits using it under certain circumstances, so why not.

LW is not used at all in the Americas. AM Radio over here is basically MW extended to 1700 KHz separated into 10 KHz steps. But regardless, those frequencies still can be used for something... There has been no real effort to reinvent AM, other than an analog quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) stereo system introduced in the 1980s, which is not used by anyone I know.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_stereo

The one that would be a shame to lose to disuse is the American digital HD Radio in FM. It's backward compatible with Analog FM, but somehow it's basically not being used outside of automotive applications, and it's way better than analog FM.

HD Radio is at risk for becoming a hi-tech curiosity like Mini Discs, which by the way, also failed due to mp3 -but Mini Discs used ATRAC, a Sony compression format that is more advanced than mp3.

[mizzarrogh]

LW where used by the military here until a few decades ago.

[J. Wilhelm]

Out of curiosity, I asked patience AI to render a "Photograph of a 19th century styled tabletop radio receiver made from wood" and it came back with a few interesting pictures. Here's two of them. Perhaps they'll serve as inspiration for someone. I can see these made from old furniture drawers to good effect. Imagine using Nixie tubes and DVD drives. Actual low power tube amplifiers are available for relatively low cost.

Admiral Wilhelm's Radio Console


An Anachronistic Radio Console

Also I should probably direct the reader to the progress on the Victorian Boombox Mk. IV. I'm trying to exploit the capabilities of Android TV sticks and it looks like the most promising route to making compact multimedia Steampunk devices, including optical drives.

Another route is the use of Web based radios with a USB Software Defined Radio dongle.This is a bit more difficult to integrate and I'll have to experiment in the future, but it could be coupled to an Android TV stick to hook to a larger television receiver with an HDMI input. I downloaded and installed an HD radio script that works as a Chrome browser (Chromium in Linux)

For a much simpler Old School approach, Admiral Wilhelm's Console above looks like an easy project.  I just got a very compact and inexpensive SW AM FM radio module, about 2 x3 inches in size, which could fit in any radio project with minimal hardware. Pair with a tube amplifier bought online and two wooden drawers then add a pair of inexpensive computer speakers from the Goodwill second hand shop.

If connecting to the electrical mains, relatively inexpensive (~$50) real vacuum tube pre-amplifiers can be coupled to second hand computer speakers:

For a battery powered radio, and a fun twist, pair radio components with an emergency rechargeable torch with a hand cranked dynamo (see top of "Wilhelm's Console"). It would make a fun "Magneto Powered Radio Device."