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SONAR VHF SENTRY model FR-103

T

TandyMan100

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Could someone please tell me what this is/how to work it? It is in mint, working condition, AM VHF radio, but I don't know what to do with it. If it can be used for ameture radio, then I might go and get a license, but I'm not sure, here's a description:

1. Tuning dial with a "vhf" marking on it.
2. Volume dial
3. antenna
4. battery indicator
5. speaker
6. some sort of jack for headphones or something
7. BC/VHF button on side
8. VHF CHANNEL 1/2 switch on other side.

any help is apreciated.
 
Isn't VHF a TV signal? I used to have a clock that let me pickup TV sounds with it, maybe thats an AM/TV radio?

--Ryan
 
VHF just means Very High Frequency. 30 to 300MHz is the generally accepted range.

Google is your friend here. The VHF Sentry FR-103 works as a receiver on the AM broadcast bands and can have 2 additional VHF (probably FM) frequencies by adding or changing crystals.

It would be OK for monitoring the local 2m repeater, but it does not transmit. I suggest getting your license anyway. It's very easy. They even let me in.

Kelly
 
If the crystal controlled receiver is truly AM, it could be intended for the VHF aircraft band that lies between the FM boradcast band (108MHz) and the 2 meter ham band (144MHz). Aircraft transmissions are AM.

Lou (N2MIY)
 
Bc & noaa

Bc & noaa

The BC switch might be for beat cancellation. I dug up a picture of it, I'm willing to bet that it's a real old weather radio. NOAA broadcasts weather warnings on various VHF bands in the U.S. Newer ones figure out where you are, older ones you'd have to manually select the band, hence, I suspect, the VHF 1/2 switch on the side. I don't think it has anything to do with TV, since we all know when and where channel 1 went bye-bye, and this thing doesn't look nearly old enough.
patscc
 
patscc said:
The BC switch might be for beat cancellation. I dug up a picture of it, I'm willing to bet that it's a real old weather radio. NOAA broadcasts weather warnings on various VHF bands in the U.S. Newer ones figure out where you are, older ones you'd have to manually select the band, hence, I suspect, the VHF 1/2 switch on the side. I don't think it has anything to do with TV, since we all know when and where channel 1 went bye-bye, and this thing doesn't look nearly old enough.
patscc
Click to expand...

There was a channel 1? (Well, somebody had to ask)...

So, what about channel 13?

--T
 
patscc said:
That's where FM radio originally lived.
patscc
Click to expand...

I'd love to find an old dual band FM receiver (42-50 and 88-108 MHz).

I suspect that a lot of the frequency jockeying after WWII was due to some underhanded shenanigans by David Sarnoff.

I had an old Stromberg Carlson BW set with continuous tuner many many years ago. It tuned in two ranges--1 through 6, and 7 through 13. But it tuned channel 1.

The local CBS station here occupies Channel 13 (until February 17, anyway).

I still have a not-that-old color set that tunes 70-83. I used to be able to listen to analog cellphone conversations on it.
 
Most of the sets we had when I was growing up had tuners that could be set for VHF 1-12, and UHF 14-82. I always wondered why there was no channel 13? (In those days, my 'posse' and I would use 'channel 13' as a euphemism for sum'n else, ie, "Whatcha doin', man?" "Aw, just watchin' channel 13.*", (ie, hallucinating)).

*See 'Injun Movie'.

--T
 
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Old TV's

Old TV's

On some of those 60's RCA sets. the UHF tuner was an extra option, so once in a while you'll see an old RCA with no UHF barrel tuner.
patscc
 
patscc said:
On some of those 60's RCA sets. the UHF tuner was an extra option, so once in a while you'll see an old RCA with no UHF barrel tuner.
patscc
Click to expand...


Zenith, too. My grandparents had a Zenith console (b/w) with no UHF tuner. Channels 2 through 13 only. That was okay since the Fort Smith, Arkansas area didn't have a UHF broadcast channel until the late sixties. It was channel 5 (KFSA) or nothing. Well, almost nothing. On a good day channel 8 (KTUL) from Tulsa was almost viewable.

BTW, the local PBS affiliate has broadcast on channel 13 for a number of years.

Kent
 
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