Powering the MLA-30+ Biasing Tee

Posted on February 14, 2025 by Kevin

The Usual Uninteresting Solution

There are a couple of issues one reads about related to the topic of this article. One is that AC powered USB supplies introduce noise, and that battery USB supplies will sometimes automatically shut off because of the low current draw — the battery supply decides noting is connected and shuts down.

The first is solved by using a battery supply, and the second is solved by selecting a supply that stays on under the low-powered load. I personally use a 10000 mAh Bscame BS-1 battery bank that I like a lot.

Bscame portable charger

First World Problems

But what if you don’t have a battery pack handy? Where else can one get power for an MLA-30+? Let’s start by asking what the Biasing Tee needs in terms of power. That’s easily measured.

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World Radio Day – 2025

Posted on February 13, 2025 by Kevin

I think I’ll sit in my recliner with my old friend, Eton Elite Executive, hooked up to my new friend, long wire antenna.

I listened to some shortwave and then thought I’d try out FM. The radio was already tuned to 90.3 MHz and a station was there playing classical music. So I asked Microsoft Copilot the closest FM station to me on 90.3, and it replied WRXT in Roanoke, VA, a contemporary Christian music station. The music was classical, so I asked Copilot again, adding “classical music.” It responded with WHRO in Norfolk. A quick web stream listen confirmed the station.

Here is the WHRO coverage map:

WHRO FM Coverage Map — Radio-Locator.com
Red Arrow is me

The distance is about 132 miles, the transmitter 8800W. I tried it without my 40-ft external antenna and there was nothing. I tried the Qodosen DX-286 and received a slightly better signal, but nothing on its telescopic. One more test with the Jstvro ATS25 max-Decoder yielded a weaker signal.

WHLO FM on Eton Elite Executive with long wire antenna

I had some doubts that the long wire would make a difference on FM, but it clearly does.

And also for World Radio Day I note that Radio Habana Cuba is back on the air on 6000 kHz, heard in English until 02:07 UTC here in central Virginia on my 40 ft long wire antenna on the Qodosen DX-286 as well as the Eton Elite Executive.

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Speaking Truth to Power (watch for updates)

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Kevin

So just how much capacity is in those battery packs and emergency radios?

I measured them using the tools I wrote about in Incoming Tool: UNI-T UT658DUAL USB LCD USB Type C Digital Tester. Consider these not best case results.

I’m testing a range of devices from dedicated battery packs to hand warmers with USB output. I also want to test some 18650 batteries. One approach for those is to put them in a radio like the XHDATA D-608WB an emergency radio that provides 5V USB output. Once discharged, I can charge them back up with my MiBOXER C8 battery charger that gives a value in mAh once the battery is charged.

ModelTypeStated capacity (mAh)Rated
Current
(Amps)		Measured mWhComputed mAh
Bscame BS-1Battery
Pack		10000331460*8502
iRonsnow IR-866Emergency
Radio		10000125662*6936
C311Hand
warmer		100002246546663
Sanyo 35E
3500 mAh		18650 cell350010
XHDATA 3000 mAh18650 cell3000?
Qodosen
3250 mAh		18650 cell3250?
EasyAcc PB15000CBattery
Pack		150002.1
ifrogz IF GLT2-BK0Battery flashlight30002.169401876
Zhiwhis
ZWS-4415		Emergency
Radio		100002.4
Mregb YD-819Battery
Pack		4280035848515806
Batteries, battery packs and power supplies
* See text

Methodology

The USB tester has a significant design flaw; when the test completes (the supply battery is exhausted), it shuts off and loses its measurements. I was lucky to have written down some results from the Bscame BS-1 not too long before it shut down. That didn’t happen with the iRonsnow IR-688. It finished when I wasn’t looking and I have to recharge and start over. These up and down cycles take hours.

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New Radio Gallery

Posted on February 7, 2025 by Kevin

The Blog or Die! menu features a new item, the Radio Gallery. It’s a collection of photos of radios I have known, most actual photos of my radios, but a few product photos. It’s not complete and I will be tinkering with it over time. The old confusing Photo Album is kaput.

Radio Gallery

I’ll try to do some photo editing to make the photos look better; some are a bit dim.

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Lost Loves

Posted on February 5, 2025 by Kevin

I was over on eBay today and they showed me a radio for sale, one that elicited a pang of regret. It was a Grundig G4000A receiver. The one below was my main receiver for a while, starting in 2011. It’s has PLL tuning and SSB.

Grundig G4000A LW/MW/FM/SW/SSB

It has a similar direct frequency entry scheme that I don’t like to my current somewhat similar Sangean ATS-405 (and XHDATA D-808 et al.). Still it brings up pleasant emotions. I could buy the one on eBay that looks pretty good, but I already have too many radios. [Haha. ‘Twas not to be.]

The other is this Realistic DX-300.

Realistic DX-300

Mine died and fool that I was, instead of getting it re-capped (probably the issue) I threw it out in the trash. There, I’ve confessed. I did it. I still have the Radio Shack store sales slip for it, way back in about forty-something years ago. I spent many evenings surfing the tropical bands in the early evening.

I’ve sold a ton of Grundig radios over the years, including GrundigG3, G5, G6 Aviator, G8 Traveler II, Mini300, M400, Platinum Traveler, RK-709 S350DL, S450DLX, Yacht Boy YB-P 2000, Yacht Boy 206, Yacht Boy 230. But I mostly collected those and didn’t use them. The attachment really isn’t there.

I sold a few Tecsuns, including the PL-210, PL-380, PL-390, PL-606, PL-880, R-919 and R9702, but with the exception of the last two less than memorable ones, they were all replaced by something similar.

There was a Sangean ATS 606A that I hardly took out of the box before I sold it — didn’t like how it worked. And there are long gone, Cobys, Degens, Kaitos, Kchibos and Realistics.

Enough nostalgia for one day. If you’d like to view some photos, I have an album.

Radio Gallery

If you dig deep enough on this blog, you’ll find reviews on some of these.

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Radio Silence

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Kevin

I’ve run out of excuses to buy radios. There just isn’t anything interesting out there in the portable category, at least not interesting enough to spend the money and take the time. I have what looks like an acceptable Emergency Weather Radio, the Zhiwhis ZWS-2415, and of course my Qodosen DX-286 daily driver. I have options for SSB. And for testing I have lined up:

  • ATS25 max-Decoder
  • RTL-SDR Blog V4 SDR
  • An array of power banks
  • Reducing EMI in my home
  • New long wire antenna outside

Radios I’m not buying:

Tecsun H-501

Tecsun H-501

By all accounts, it’s a fine radio, but it doesn’t add much beyond a second speaker to my existing PL-990. It’s also really big and it’s expensive, over $300 US.

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Surprise Radio: RTL-SDR Blog V4 SDR

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Kevin

See warning at the end of the post.

I’ve had an RTL-SDR Blog V3 SDR for a few years, but I haven’t blogged much about it beyond the article on SSB. In the intervening years, RTL-SDR Blog has come out with V4 of the dongle, a software defined radio device that one might misidentify as a USB flash drive except for the SMA antenna jack.

It’s really an amazing device, covering from 500 kHz up 1.766 GHz. With software, it supports SSB, FM RDS and digital noise reduction.

RTL-SDR Blog V4 SDR

I decided on the SDR Sharp (SDR#) software to run on my tablet PC back with the V3 dongle and continued with it for V4. Installation is a bit complicated, requiring multiple items to be installed. All I can say is read the instructions carefully and follow exactly. It went smoothly this time, compared to a real mess with the old one.

There is a long list of improvements for V4, detailed on the product data sheet. Notable are improved sensitivity and notch filters to reduce strong broadcast band interference.

I got through the software installation and hooked it up briefly to my new 40-foot outdoor antenna. I got some stations, including a very weak one from Radio France on 21580 MHz. I compared the signal with my Qodosen DX-286 and boosting the gain on the dongle allowed it to surpass the DX-286. It got my attention.

As time permits I’ll post some videos and experiences.

Update:

I installed SDRSharp on my desktop computer and the SDR works there too. I never thought I’d get anything amid all the RF noise, but it’s good.

Warning:

The device drivers provided for the RTL-SDR V4 (and likely V3) are incompatible with Windows 11.

The SDR will work, but the drivers create two significant problems for Windows.

  1. Windows Security cannot implement Core isolation Memory integrity, for more on the importance of this feature, refer to the Microsoft Support discussion. With the RTL-SDR drivers installed you will see a warning and if you attempt to turn on Memory integrity, there will be an error message referring to a list of incompatible drivers. Specifically the errant ones are:

    RTL2832U.sys
    RTL2832UBDA.sys

    The are quite old, dating back to 2009 and 2o1o. That’s the days of Windows 7.
  2. At least on my machine Windows Update will fail installing the 24H2 feature update. It will give error code 0xc1900101 – 0x40017, usually indicating a driver problem.

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