Programming $10 Event Radio

I bought one of those $10 Event Radios at the Flying tent at OSH last
month. They said they can be reprogrammed if you bring it back to them
when they are at another event. (www.eventradio.com [annoying Flash site])

Naturally, the simple design has gotten me curious. I was wondering if
it could be used to pick up some local air frequencies. Has anyone seen
how they program them? I looked up the patent number that's on the
case, but that only shows the concept of the radio, not any programming
function. I don't see any connections on the outside, or inside.

Naturally, the simple design has gotten me curious. I was wondering if
it could be used to pick up some local air frequencies. Has anyone seen
how they program them?

When we bought our kids' radios at OSH, they only told us how to
convert it into a regular FM radio. Simply hold one of the buttons in
for "x" seconds, and it will no longer pick up the pre-programmed OSH
tower frequencies, becoming, instead, a regular FM band radio.

To switch it BACK to OSH radio, hold the button in again.

They never mentioned a way to re-program the individual pre-set
aviation frequencies. I'll be curious to hear if that's possible, cuz
they are VERY cool little radios.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article . com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

Naturally, the simple design has gotten me curious. I was wondering if
it could be used to pick up some local air frequencies. Has anyone seen
how they program them?

When we bought our kids' radios at OSH, they only told us how to
convert it into a regular FM radio. Simply hold one of the buttons in
for "x" seconds, and it will no longer pick up the pre-programmed OSH
tower frequencies, becoming, instead, a regular FM band radio.

To switch it BACK to OSH radio, hold the button in again.

They never mentioned a way to re-program the individual pre-set
aviation frequencies. I'll be curious to hear if that's possible, cuz
they are VERY cool little radios.

Airband is AM. They most likely have some form of repeater/retransmitter
for each event.

"john smith" wrote in message
...

Airband is AM. They most likely have some form of repeater/retransmitter
for each event.


More likely they can receive both FM and AM signals. It is pretty hard to
find cheap radio receiver chips that can't receive both.

On 2006-08-23, Paul Dow (Remove Caps in mail address) wrote:
I bought one of those $10 Event Radios at the Flying tent at OSH last
month.

Well, if someone wants to send me one, I'd try to figure it out. And
I have the right equipment for it. ;-)

--
Ben Jackson AD7GD

http://www.ben.com/

It is damned near impossible to find a chip that WILL do both.

Jim




"soxinbox" wrote in message
...
"john smith" wrote in message
...

More likely they can receive both FM and AM signals. It is pretty hard to
find cheap radio receiver chips that can't receive both.

Paul Dow (Remove Caps in mail address) wrote:
I don't see any connections on the outside, or inside.


Are there any "DIP" switches inside? These look like plastic blocks
with a row of tiny rocker or slide switches.

We used to call it "slope detection". An AM radio is tuned slightly
off the FM transmitter frequency. The response of the AM circuit is
maximum right at the carrier frequency and falls off as you move away
from it. An FM signal will get detected because it moves up and down
the slope. It's not exactly hifi, but it works. Of course, a nice
digitally tuned receiver will defeat the idea.




RST Engineering wrote:
It is damned near impossible to find a chip that WILL do both.

Jim




"soxinbox" wrote in message
...
"john smith" wrote in message
...

More likely they can receive both FM and AM signals. It is pretty hard to
find cheap radio receiver chips that can't receive both.

"Paul Dow (Remove Caps in mail address)" wrote in
message news:dw3Hg.5822$SZ3.1516@dukeread04...
I bought one of those $10 Event Radios at the Flying tent at OSH last
month. They said they can be reprogrammed if you bring it back to them
when they are at another event. (www.eventradio.com [annoying Flash site])

Naturally, the simple design has gotten me curious. I was wondering if
it could be used to pick up some local air frequencies. Has anyone seen
how they program them? I looked up the patent number that's on the
case, but that only shows the concept of the radio, not any programming
function. I don't see any connections on the outside, or inside.

After looking at their annoying flash site, it looks like they simply
receive whatever the eventradio people are transmitting. I doubt it will
directly pick up anything else.

If there's an FCC database somewhere, you may be able to find out if they
are licensed to broadcast on a specific frequency.

The thing is easier to open than I thought. Just 2 small philips
screws. I thought the case was glued. The only switches are the
volume/power rotary switch/pot, and the two up/down/mode changing micro
switches.

It's all analog circuits except for a CD9088CB integrated circuit. I
haven't had much luck finding a data sheet for it. Only wholesale sites
that want to sell me 100,000 units. The manufacturer's logo is a
triangle with
_____
| |
| | | | |
|___|___|

inside.

I'm leaning toward John's idea that they use a low power transmitter to
rebroadcast certain channels.

B A R R Y wrote:
Are there any "DIP" switches inside? These look like plastic blocks
with a row of tiny rocker or slide switches.