@PooltoyWolf I often hear “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I think they mean you should set up your own pirate radio station (in somebody else’s back yard).
@xobzoo One of my perpetually backburnered projects is constructing a vacuum tube powered AM transmitter that would be powerful enough to send a signal to every radio in the house from a centrally located position, but not powerful enough to be picked up past the front yard.
@PooltoyWolf@xobzoo doing that in tube is neat, but getting the tubes to be quite that low power may be a challenge. They did make them, certainly, but they haven’t been very popular for quite a while longer than most tube radios have been out of fashion. At that power, you’d almost be plugging the antenna (or tuner) straight into the exciter, which may not be especially healthy for it, either. There are (were?) plenty of prebuilt and kits for solid-state variations on this theme, but I can respect the desire to do it in tube and all yourself. 73 OM
@jsfs@xobzoo I’ve got quite a large knowledge base with respect to vacuum tubes and sold them for years, so I know I’m capable…it’s the buying parts and actually setting aside the time to build the project that might take me a while.
@jsfs@PooltoyWolf@xobzoo don’t they have prebuilt rigs for this? I remember ages ago my friend didn’t want to get a car CD player or the 3.5mm to tape deck adapter so they bought something that used the cigarette lighter to power that bumped certain AM (FM?) bands off while they played from their CD walkman.
@jsfs@pakopako@xobzoo Where’s the fun in that? I wanna build a piece that matches my receivers in appearance, functionality, and chronology.
(I do have a few modern battery-powered FM transmitters and they work well enough. AM transmitters also exist, but are harder to find, since most people who still use such devices prefer the higher fidelity of FM. These devices just allow you to send your audio to a vacant spot on the dial, using a low-power carrier signal that in most cases can’t even be received in a car in an adjacent lane. A lot of the earlier models were handicapped in certain geographical areas because all of their limited frequency selections were already occupied by actual radio stations.)
@PooltoyWolf@Tadlem43 I can’t hear “We’ll Meet Again” without mentally experiencing the end of Doctor Strangelove. Although I really like this version.
@Tadlem43 Whoops, sorry - I should explain! Members ($5/month) have access to an AI art generation tool that can be used by typing ‘/showme’ (sans quotes) on its own line, immediately followed by a text description, in a message, which will, if done correctly, generate an image from the text prompt. I was unsure if this tool works if there is other text in the message besides the prompt.
@PooltoyWolf I’m still mad that they ended the oldies format on WJJD in the greater Chicagoland area, and that happened in 1994 (I had to look it up). It was serious oldies, Perry Como, etc. I rarely listened, but it was such a comfort knowing it was there…
Does the ‘showme’ command work when there is other text in the post?
It doesn’t. And it has to be just the /showme command in a separate comment, not a reply.
You can always generate the image that way, and then copy it and paste it where you want it afterwards though.
Which is what I did here:
@mossygreen@PooltoyWolf A Portland OR radio station (KMHD) has a regular program, “Jukebox Saturday Night”, where they play 2 hours of oldies from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. from 6PM to 8PM Pacific Time on (you guessed it!) Saturday nights. The station is available via streaming. https://audioplayer.opb.org/kmhd
@Kyeh@Tadlem43 Thanks! Did you use the same prompt I did? The bot gets props for making something that is unmistakably a vacuum tube (if a little visually complex) but it’s definitely not an 811A, looks more like a 12AX7 haha.
My complaint with music on the radio is that nobody runs a mix that matches me. For example, I could choose “Golden oldies,” but are they going to play the ones I like, or some other random mix of old music that I don’t care for?
As another anecdote, at one point my wife and I discovered that our dads both played to John Denver while we were growing up. While trying to find some of the songs I remembered and liked, it became apparent that our dads played different halves of John Denver’s music. So while we both said we liked the artist, we couldn’t agree on which of his songs were the better ones.
I also used to say I like the Beatles … until I heard more of their music. Now I have to say that I mostly only like the 90-minute mix tape my parents had curated.
So if there was a radio station that played an odd mix of John Denver and the Beatles, I might like it and I might not. (of course, if that’s all they played, I almost certainly wouldn’t like it)
And 80’s music is great… but not all of it. And so on, all across the musical map.
@xobzoo that is the Sum of it, you also have XM radio, but everyone had that. Yes I loved John Denver, I have a lot of his LPs & CDs, but he died way too young. A couple of his songs I really liked his grandma’s feather bed and thank God I’m a country boy and of course the one about West Virginia
@ybmuG We have a college-based station that mostly plays jazz that you can stream at wdcb.org. Old time radio on Saturday afternoons! That is if you’re not driving around the western suburbs.
@chienfou I’m always the CD DJ when in the passenger seat of my dad’s car. My biggest fear is trying to slot in a disc at the moment the car goes over a pothole, cracking the disc. CDs don’t lend themselves too well to use in moving vehicles, though I guess they’re a step up from those in-dash record players! (Yep, they were briefly a thing!)
Also, love the radio station name. Do they have a fox mascot?
@PooltoyWolf
Used to listen to CDs in the car a lot more when we had the Pontiac vibe since it had a five (?) disc changer in it. Our current RAV is a single disc so unless you burn your own MP3s you’re looking at 45 minutes tops.
RE: 95.1
Yes they do.
@yakkoTDI I like being able to hear what’s going on - like some kid tearing up behind me on an electric bike right in my blind spot or something. Or outside of town, meadowlarks singing.
But I go into beast mode if some bozo in a smalldick pickup is waiting next to me for the light to change blasting drill rap out of his windows or something.
My cars have stereos that can play music from a USB stick, so I have a large collection of my favorite music available on the road.
Unfortunately, the SW in one of the cars reads different metadata for the tracks than the data that was embedded while ripping (from what I’ve read, crappy Korean SW that many vehicles apparently use), so the tracks on many of the albums play out of order. Not a big deal for most albums, but kind of spoils some music that has a particular order of play (e.g., most Pink Floyd) or ones that I have listened to for years and am familiar with the original song order.
We just got a new car and I haven’t tried playing ripped music yet - I hope it has better SW.
@pmarin Small block V8, dual 2-1/4" exhaust with H-pipe crossover, with a pair of NOS vintage Walker Continental II glass pack mufflers. Pure music, no drone. No radio needed as long as there’s not some tweeker in a roller-skated honda with fart cans nearby.
Earworms. I have a good supply already on rotation, so no big deal. They are portable, don’t need power or a Bluetooth connection, and the player battery recharges when I sleep. Alone on a long stretch of road, I might sing along with whatever is playing.
NPR or the local community radio station.
Silence.
96.5 KOMA out of OKC.
Local news.
I just wish we still had an oldies station on the AM band so I could listen to it on my antique radios.
@PooltoyWolf I often hear “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I think they mean you should set up your own pirate radio station (in somebody else’s back yard).
@xobzoo One of my perpetually backburnered projects is constructing a vacuum tube powered AM transmitter that would be powerful enough to send a signal to every radio in the house from a centrally located position, but not powerful enough to be picked up past the front yard.
@PooltoyWolf @xobzoo doing that in tube is neat, but getting the tubes to be quite that low power may be a challenge. They did make them, certainly, but they haven’t been very popular for quite a while longer than most tube radios have been out of fashion. At that power, you’d almost be plugging the antenna (or tuner) straight into the exciter, which may not be especially healthy for it, either. There are (were?) plenty of prebuilt and kits for solid-state variations on this theme, but I can respect the desire to do it in tube and all yourself. 73 OM
@jsfs @xobzoo I’ve got quite a large knowledge base with respect to vacuum tubes and sold them for years, so I know I’m capable…it’s the buying parts and actually setting aside the time to build the project that might take me a while.
@PooltoyWolf Define ‘oldies’. In Dallas there’s KEOM, a Mesquite high school station that plays music from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. 88.5
@Tadlem43 Preferably, nothing newer than 1960.
EDIT: 88.5 MHz is on the FM band, so even if I were in the area, most of my radios would be unable to receive the station.
@jsfs @PooltoyWolf @xobzoo don’t they have prebuilt rigs for this? I remember ages ago my friend didn’t want to get a car CD player or the 3.5mm to tape deck adapter so they bought something that used the cigarette lighter to power that bumped certain AM (FM?) bands off while they played from their CD walkman.
@jsfs @pakopako @xobzoo Where’s the fun in that? I wanna build a piece that matches my receivers in appearance, functionality, and chronology.
(I do have a few modern battery-powered FM transmitters and they work well enough. AM transmitters also exist, but are harder to find, since most people who still use such devices prefer the higher fidelity of FM. These devices just allow you to send your audio to a vacant spot on the dial, using a low-power carrier signal that in most cases can’t even be received in a car in an adjacent lane. A lot of the earlier models were handicapped in certain geographical areas because all of their limited frequency selections were already occupied by actual radio stations.)
@PooltoyWolf True… sorry. If you like WW II songs, go on youtube and listen to the D-Day Darlings. I love those songs!
@Tadlem43 No need to apologize, I just love bantering about this stuff!
/showme an 811A vacuum tube
@PooltoyWolf @Tadlem43 I can’t hear “We’ll Meet Again” without mentally experiencing the end of Doctor Strangelove. Although I really like this version.
@Tadlem43 (Does the ‘showme’ command work when there is other text in the post?)
@PooltoyWolf lol I have no idea what that means. I just copied and pasted the URL into the chat box here.
@PooltoyWolf @stolicat I love these old songs and I love the way they sing them. I should have posted ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’.
@Tadlem43 Whoops, sorry - I should explain! Members ($5/month) have access to an AI art generation tool that can be used by typing ‘/showme’ (sans quotes) on its own line, immediately followed by a text description, in a message, which will, if done correctly, generate an image from the text prompt. I was unsure if this tool works if there is other text in the message besides the prompt.
@PooltoyWolf Oh… I have no idea. I gave up my membership and I don’t use those kinds of things. I’m doing well to just type and hit ‘say it’. lol
@PooltoyWolf I think it’s $6 a month now
@pakopako Close enough!
@PooltoyWolf I’m still mad that they ended the oldies format on WJJD in the greater Chicagoland area, and that happened in 1994 (I had to look it up). It was serious oldies, Perry Como, etc. I rarely listened, but it was such a comfort knowing it was there…
@PooltoyWolf @Tadlem43
It doesn’t. And it has to be just the /showme command in a separate comment, not a reply.
You can always generate the image that way, and then copy it and paste it where you want it afterwards though.
Which is what I did here:
@mossygreen @PooltoyWolf A Portland OR radio station (KMHD) has a regular program, “Jukebox Saturday Night”, where they play 2 hours of oldies from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. from 6PM to 8PM Pacific Time on (you guessed it!) Saturday nights. The station is available via streaming.
https://audioplayer.opb.org/kmhd
@mossygreen I’d love to have a station like that here; that would be perfect for my radios! Just what the doctor ordered, so to speak. LOL
@Kyeh @Tadlem43 Thanks! Did you use the same prompt I did? The bot gets props for making something that is unmistakably a vacuum tube (if a little visually complex) but it’s definitely not an 811A, looks more like a 12AX7 haha.
@macromeh @mossygreen I’m gonna check that one out, thanks!
@PooltoyWolf @Tadlem43 I did use your exact wording, below. I’m clueless about vacuum tubes so I’ll take your word for it!
@Kyeh @Tadlem43 More proof that AI isn’t quite there yet.
Howard Stern, Dan Patrick Show, and anything else on Sirius
My complaint with music on the radio is that nobody runs a mix that matches me. For example, I could choose “Golden oldies,” but are they going to play the ones I like, or some other random mix of old music that I don’t care for?
As another anecdote, at one point my wife and I discovered that our dads both played to John Denver while we were growing up. While trying to find some of the songs I remembered and liked, it became apparent that our dads played different halves of John Denver’s music. So while we both said we liked the artist, we couldn’t agree on which of his songs were the better ones.
I also used to say I like the Beatles … until I heard more of their music. Now I have to say that I mostly only like the 90-minute mix tape my parents had curated.
So if there was a radio station that played an odd mix of John Denver and the Beatles, I might like it and I might not. (of course, if that’s all they played, I almost certainly wouldn’t like it)
And 80’s music is great… but not all of it. And so on, all across the musical map.
@xobzoo that is the Sum of it, you also have XM radio, but everyone had that. Yes I loved John Denver, I have a lot of his LPs & CDs, but he died way too young. A couple of his songs I really liked his grandma’s feather bed and thank God I’m a country boy and of course the one about West Virginia
pass the aux
Jazz/Blues…if I can find one
@ybmuG We have a college-based station that mostly plays jazz that you can stream at wdcb.org. Old time radio on Saturday afternoons! That is if you’re not driving around the western suburbs.
@mossygreen Sure, and our local station (WGMC - jazz901.org) is available on iHeart, but the OP said no BT, so no streaming.
@ybmuG Yeah, remembered after I posted. Only useful in Glen Ellyn.
Doctor Radio on SiriusXM. Unless I stop paying for it, then I listen to NPR.
@chienfou I’m always the CD DJ when in the passenger seat of my dad’s car. My biggest fear is trying to slot in a disc at the moment the car goes over a pothole, cracking the disc. CDs don’t lend themselves too well to use in moving vehicles, though I guess they’re a step up from those in-dash record players! (Yep, they were briefly a thing!)
Also, love the radio station name. Do they have a fox mascot?
@PooltoyWolf
Used to listen to CDs in the car a lot more when we had the Pontiac vibe since it had a five (?) disc changer in it. Our current RAV is a single disc so unless you burn your own MP3s you’re looking at 45 minutes tops.
RE: 95.1
Yes they do.
@chienfou Love him! The 90’s vibe takes me back, heh.
None.
@Kyeh But music has charms to soothe the savage beast. We can’t have you going into Hulk Mode while driving. You could get into trouble.
@yakkoTDI
I like being able to hear what’s going on - like some kid tearing up behind me on an electric bike right in my blind spot or something. Or outside of town, meadowlarks singing.
But I go into beast mode if some bozo in a smalldick pickup is waiting next to me for the light to change blasting drill rap out of his windows or something.
NB - I don’t really buy into the stupid “biggest is best” dick size theory but obviously guys with obnoxiously huge vehicles do!
@Kyeh
@chienfou
!!!
Bluegrass on that satellite pay station
KPIG FM 107.5
You need to be within the Santa Cruz/SLO area, but you can stream it for only $0.17/day.
https://www.kpig.com/station-kpig.htm
Whatever station I tune my Bluetooth FM tuner to… Which, of course, is my back up Bluetooth device.
Where’s the redundancy people?
Classical
Bluesville or Bluegrass Junction on XM
NPR getting some respect!
Ned Ulaby
Terry Gross
Ira Flatow
Killin’ it!
My cars have stereos that can play music from a USB stick, so I have a large collection of my favorite music available on the road.
Unfortunately, the SW in one of the cars reads different metadata for the tracks than the data that was embedded while ripping (from what I’ve read, crappy Korean SW that many vehicles apparently use), so the tracks on many of the albums play out of order. Not a big deal for most albums, but kind of spoils some music that has a particular order of play (e.g., most Pink Floyd) or ones that I have listened to for years and am familiar with the original song order.
We just got a new car and I haven’t tried playing ripped music yet - I hope it has better SW.
You can listen to the engine moaning out its one note song
@pmarin Small block V8, dual 2-1/4" exhaust with H-pipe crossover, with a pair of NOS vintage Walker Continental II glass pack mufflers. Pure music, no drone. No radio needed as long as there’s not some tweeker in a roller-skated honda with fart cans nearby.
Is there still an AM radio with just good music (any style)?
I thought it was all Anger and Misinformation talk now.
/showme an 811A vacuum tube
/youtube Andy sing car the office
Earworms. I have a good supply already on rotation, so no big deal. They are portable, don’t need power or a Bluetooth connection, and the player battery recharges when I sleep. Alone on a long stretch of road, I might sing along with whatever is playing.