[TenTec] A little off subject

[AC5E@aol.com]

Considering some of the stuff, including a comment or two of mine, that has 
shown up here lately I don't know that anything is off limits. But...

It's strictly a guess but my GUESS is that your neighbor's signal is getting 
into and overloading the mixer in your AM radio. It does not take a whole lot 
of RF to turn said mixer into a detector of sorts, and the 15M signal then 
modulates everything the mixer puts out. You can't understand him because 
your AM radio does not have a beat frequency oscillator. So it does not work 
well for SSB demodulation. 

If that signal is getting into the radio through the line cord wrapping a few 
turns of the cord on a Radio Shack snap on ferrite and adding an AC rated .1 
capacitor across the line on the PC board may clear the problem up. 

If it's getting in through the loopstick it will take a major redesign to put 
a lo-pass filter at the mixer. And, odd as it seems, I did exactly that once 
on a similar problem. Folks will pay big bux to preserve something with a lot 
of sentiment attached. 

If your AM radio is a BOSE or some other high end box it might be worth the 
trouble to do exactly that. But if it's a run of the mill squawk box with no 
great sentimental attachment I think I would stop by WalMart, pick up a 
decent looking radio, and try it. If it cures the problem, fine, if not, 
repack it and take it back. 

73  Pete Allen  AC5E