![]() Recently I started keeping a radio switched on in the kitchen all day, and the family seems to like it. I've scored some interesting radio gear from the street and found that in the worst case, I can at least give it a good cleaning and pass it along, even if I decide not to fix it. I frequently hear police now asking specific colleagues to call them, I assume because the info shouldn't be shared over the regular dispatch frequency or would take too long to explain and tie up the channel. When I first got started decades ago there was a Boston police channel that a gang unit sometimes used but since then they appear to have migrated to a non-public frequency. Then there are the serious emergencies: fires, armed robberies, once a car chase. ![]() Seniors wandering the street, who have forgotten where they live. "Domestic calls," usually fights between spouses or parents and adult children. Lots of medical calls where someone is unresponsive, which could be anything from an OD to a heart attack. Much of the activity I have heard on scanners is mundane: running plates, responding to alarms, ambulance calls, noise complaints, accidents blocking traffic, minor disputes where one side feels compelled to summon the police. I don't know if anyone was listening on the scanner, though. I matched the basic description (WM, dark T-shirt) and all a sudden a police officer pops out of the bushes and asks to see my ID. I had an experience about 10 years ago when I unknowingly jogged in a large park that an armed robbery suspect had just escaped into. Please don't try this unless you are as mad as I am-and even then don't do it! A fascinating exercise, it's an excellent illustration of how good aluminum oxide is as an insulator and dielectric. I even stuck my finger on the Al foil and could feel very little until I pushed hard and then suddenly whammo-ouch. ![]() I recall several years back being so shocked that some of those old wet electros still worked that I pulled the top seals off several and stuck my multimeter in the electrolyte and noticed that essentially there was no voltage between the electrolyte and the case. Be warned, you can not only blow up the rectifiers but also the power transformer and that'll likely be much harder to replace than the tubes. Mind you, I certainly don't recommend you do that-do as I say not as I do (I'm rather gung ho about such matters and rather enjoy the fireworks). What's more I've even had some of those ancient wet electrolytic caps (the 1930s-style 8μF/400V types in vertical cans mounted on the chassis) actually work. I've switched them on expecting fireworks-the plates in the 5Y3G/T or 80 rectifiers glowing red hot because the electrolytic caps had shorted to deck-but no they actually still worked. Whilst it doesn't happen very often it never ceases to amaze me that some of those old radios will still work after being switched off for about half century.
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