Resurrection of a different sort

I just finished a full alignment of my Kenwood R-2000 receiver and tonight I am treated with the pleasing tones of “Jazz from the Left,” on WRMI. Jazz from the left means the west coast sound, aka Smooth Jazz as I am given to understand. I spent some time on the west coast and beyond. I have fond memories of those years.

It is amazing to me still, that a simple AM receiver demodulating +/- 4.5 Khz audio bandwidth from 1,057 miles (1701 km) away can sound that good. That is being received directly; no Internet Service Provider, no satellite service, just a transmitter, and a receiver.

There is an art to all this, which is being forgotten. A few minutes with a manual, a volt meter, a tone generator, and a non-conductive screwdriver can bring something that was neglected back to life sounding as good as the day it left the factory 35 years ago. Try that with your very expensive iPhone 10,000,000x! Of course, you will need those tiny pentalobe tools to get the screws out. Apple would rather you return your expensive i device to their expensive i store so that their i geniuses can fix it for you.

I don’t know, maybe I am an old fart. Perhaps the right to repair the appliances that I purchased and therefore should own is an old-fashioned point of view. After all, all of these corporations have my best interests at heart, right?

I recommend you support your not-so-local shortwave stations by listening to and supporting their programmers. Even in 2021, there are still many shortwave broadcasts that are worth listening to!

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4 thoughts on “Resurrection of a different sort”

  1. Fully agree with the whole idea of having a right to repair things. There’s something very rewarding in that. I do not own a short wave radio but it is on my list of things to eventually acquire.

    West Coast jazz is a sub genre of traditional, real jazz. Definitely not smooth jazz which is neither smooth nor jazz but that’s a whole other story.

    There’s a very good book about the history of West Coast jazz by Ted Gioia.

  2. You’re welcome! It’s a great book.

    Also, glad to see you posting again. I missed your updates.

  3. Oof, this is an old post, but any suggestions on someone looking for something similar to that Kenwood that can be had for under $100 on eBay?

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