Blast from the past...

[Capn Nik]

lucky me....i have just aquired a NEW Pearce-Simpson/Gladding Newport radio set. It not only has the AM, FM, and VHF bands but also MB and LW bands....thats the rub I dont know what those bands are.....It is also a automatic direction finder and has 2 weather channels(that I cant seem to find any weather on)...there is a knob marked AFC and one marked BFO that I have no idea what they are as well....no manual nor web sources....anyone know anything about these unkowns on my radio?

[bmartinsen]

I believe BFO is "Beat Frequency Oscillator" used to help tune in SSB by injecting a carrier onto the signal. Use this on the MB and LW bands, these are the Ham freq between 1.6 and 30 mhz. Find a signal that sounds like the chipmonks then start turning the bfo. I can't remember the afc audio freq contol maybe like gain or volume. The weather channels may not be broadcasting on those freq in your area
there are now 10 weather channels that I know of.
Have fun.

[Hud3]

Try this for the weather radio:

Olympia NOAA Weather Radio
WXM62
162.475 MHz

[Capn Nik]

I will try that freq.....it is on the vhf band?....the weather channels are operated by a switch rather thn a tuning dial....is there a list that compares the freq to the channel numbers? the dial only has frequencies

[Hud3]

Nik,

The weather channels are in the VHF band. Olympia is WX3.

NOAA Weather Radio Frequencies, in MHz


WX1 162.550
WX2 162.400
WX3 162.475
WX4 162.425
WX5 162.450
WX6 162.500
WX7 162.525

[David M]

This is the amateur radio band plan.

These are the frequencies that the hams operate on. Ham-Shack.com : Amateur Radio Band Plans Towards the bottom are links to a broader spectrum of frequencies including the entire US frequency allocation chart.

Try the frequencies above 10MHz USB during the day and below 10MHz LSB at night.

Have fun with it.

[Capn Nik]

thanx...I have a steel boat, i think i will take unit outside to try....Im not getting anything on those freqs..it has two whip type antennas, i wonder if i can wire it to the triatic stay(I have itinsulated as an antenna)and make it work.....is it possible to rig an external antenna?

[David M]

Yes, inside of a steel boat and you might as well be inside a cave.

Take any old wire and run it up the mast with a halyard. Use a short length of something non-conductive like a short piece of nylon line or nylon wire tie between the metal halyard and wire antenna. Try this at night when radio propagation is better because of a more favorable ionospheric bounce. Just keep tuning around until you get something. Write down the freq so you can go back to it if you wish and keep going. Some nights are better than others for receiving radio signals.

Ionosphere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Capn Nik]

the stay is already wired as an antenna...I just dont know where to attach it to the radio as it has the collpsable whip type antennas

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Capn Nik

lucky me....i have just aquired a NEW Pearce-Simpson/Gladding Newport radio set. It not only has the AM, FM, and VHF bands but also MB and LW bands....there is a knob marked AFC and one marked BFO that I have no idea what they are as well.

BFO is indeed beat frequency oscillator and has been correctly described.
AFC stands for Automatic Frequency Control. It's most likely only active on the FM band on your radio. Back in the olden days, the tuning of high frequencies wasn't very stable with temperature changes, so the AFC circuit was added. To use it, with the AFC turned off, tune in an FM station, then turn on the AFC. It acts similarly to an autopilot as long as the tuning drift is not excessive. It won't hold the station if the radio tuning goes too far away from the proper setting.

Steve B.