IMHO, the microphone is the most important piece of equipment to get good sounding transmit audio. One of my friends on the local 10m net actually used those words in his signal report, he said I sounded like the BBC. I was using an AKG P220 condenser microphone.
Great demonstration. As soon as I saw the nice neat waterfall display on the Weston SDR and listening to G6TBJ audio, I immediately thought Optimod. Superb well modulated, high density, punchy audio. I used to work on ILR before retirement, so I'm familiar with the 9100 and the FM 8200. Being sub kilowatt local services, we were allowed 6Khz audio which gave us the edge over the 4.5Khz limits on the high power nationals. Unfortunately almost all AM locals have now closed, so there should be a few 9100's going for a song, depending on what Arqiva decide to do with redundant equipment. I enjoy listening to you guys on 3615Khz first thing in the morning via various SDRs and you are teaching me things at 71 I didn't know, despite my 40 years plus working in telecoms.
Great interesting video, Justin. I heard you live this morning on my AR88 and the Optimod was stellar. The audio quality is as good as a broadcast station, booming out of the 10-inch speaker on my set. Best wishes and keep the videos coming!
I had an Optimod AM at one station I managed here in the USA. They are awesome boxes. Do you have a modulation monitor to listen to and check your levels? These boxes can easily and nominally do 125% positive peaks and 100% negative peaks for regular AM radio broadcasts. I'm not sure what you guys do on SW. See if you can find a manual for this so you know how to accurately set the filters and other "bells and whistles" on this thing. Don't be afraid of the knobs inside! It will give your audio real punch but keeps you well within parameters. You can push it fairly hard and still have it sounding nice, but I don't suggest pushing it to the wall. I hope you're able to hang on to this for a long time. You'll find a way to buy one! Also, look at CRL AM processors. They're not Optimods, but will give you additional punch on the air!
Great job ++++ For those interested in nostalgia the old Optimod-AM is a bucket filled of awesomeness. It really showed what could be done with a truck load of analogue op-amps. If I could buy one I would get a Optimod-AM just for the fun of it , but that's not likely to happen (I am peasant poor) ... so I use a Behringer Optivoice Pro ? , or something like that. They are discontinued now but work great for vocals , in fact , that is what they were designed for. I feed that with a good quality , but not crazy expensive condenser mic , and I regularly get compliments on the broadcast quality audio , even in SSB. Thumbs UP for the great Optimod video +++ !
Hi Justin, coming across your You Tube channel for the first time. Thanks for demoing the Opitmod-AM, boy, even through the pissy speakers in the Laptop here I can tell the difference!...so much so that I have recently bought a 9100B a week ago and have it sitting right next to me waiting for that first turn on. I have a Telefunken S2525/3 I plan to use it on AM as you say a very impressive bit of kit!...Cheers Clint - VK3CSJ Melbourne
The Optimod 9000A dates from about 1983. It is easily one of the best analog AM processors made. Today there are far more sophisticated digital processors from which broadcasters can choose. However, many prefer to stick with the 9000A.
Be fantastic if you can get your hands on a La2a leveling compressor and do a comparison, used in some of the greatest music studios around the world in the 60s giving the beach boys etc that famous sound.
Fantastic piece of equipment Justin. I can remember seeing the Optimod-AM processor on a video tour of the Radio Caroline Ross Revenge transmitter room which is on youtube. I did wonder what one would sound like on the early morning 80m AM net and I`m very impressed. I bet you don`t want to give this back to Ian now LOL. Pity I missed this transmission but will listen again for you. Thanks for sharing this video. 73 M0DAD
Justin, Nice video and love the Optimod AM. I have a still new in box CRL (Orban) Amigo AM HF. A processor specifically designed for shortwave broadcasting. Can I ask where you sourced those nice digital meters from?
Radio sound they are used by the BBC and digital orban optimod 8600 is used by bbc radio 2 now days you can set jumper switch for pre emphasis on the orban so the high frequency reduces noise at high frequency especially in bad cb or ham and broadcast area
The Optimod is an excellent piece of equipment. I also have a Model 9100A, and they are quite common here in the U.S., for AM broadcast station use. One caveat about the AM-Optimods: their effectiveness can be of limited value when used with a plate modulated transmitter, particularly one using a modulation reactor and DC blocking capacitor, as such a circuit is comprised of multiple complex impedances, and is subject to ringing, etc., when excited by the clipped output of a processor such as the Optimod. This results in difficult-to-control modulation characteristics of the transmitter. In such an instance, it may be difficult to obtain good density of modulation without constantly hitting the baseline. Bob Orban goes into this situation in detail in the operating manual for the AM-Optimod units, going so far as to not advocating their use with the older plate-modulated rigs. My Optimod remains on the shelf, awaiting service with some future class-E type of rig, which is a very synergistic match for the aggressive audio processing available from an AM-Optimod. For my homebrew kilowatt-class plate-modulated AM rig, which utilizes a pair of 4-400As, plate and screen modulated by a pair of class B 833As, With this transmitter, I use an Inovonics Model 222; I can achieve very tight control of the modulation with this processor, and it allows me to achieve 135% positive-going peaks while the negative-going peaks never exceed 95%. With the Optimod-AM and this transmitter, such tight control of the modulation would be impossible. 73, Bruce, W2XR
Thanks Bruce for that! I was wondering how the Optimod would work with my Marconi T1509 transmitter which is a pair of 813s modulated by a pair of 813s. I guess you have answered the question!!!
Hi,informative video, good subject,,,but on SSB,, BBC,, like sound is not so good an idea ,difficult to understand,,,,,much better lose all the LOW frequencies and just concentrate more on the more audible higher tones,,,,BBC and AMATEUR radio,,,not the same thing,,,,,,thanks from Rotterdam 👍
IMHO, the microphone is the most important piece of equipment to get good sounding transmit audio. One of my friends on the local 10m net actually used those words in his signal report, he said I sounded like the BBC. I was using an AKG P220 condenser microphone.
Great demonstration. As soon as I saw the nice neat waterfall display on the Weston SDR and listening to G6TBJ audio, I immediately thought Optimod. Superb well modulated, high density, punchy audio. I used to work on ILR before retirement, so I'm familiar with the 9100 and the FM 8200. Being sub kilowatt local services, we were allowed 6Khz audio which gave us the edge over the 4.5Khz limits on the high power nationals. Unfortunately almost all AM locals have now closed, so there should be a few 9100's going for a song, depending on what Arqiva decide to do with redundant equipment.
I enjoy listening to you guys on 3615Khz first thing in the morning via various SDRs and you are teaching me things at 71 I didn't know, despite my 40 years plus working in telecoms.
Great interesting video, Justin. I heard you live this morning on my AR88 and the Optimod was stellar. The audio quality is as good as a broadcast station, booming out of the 10-inch speaker on my set. Best wishes and keep the videos coming!
I had an Optimod AM at one station I managed here in the USA. They are awesome boxes. Do you have a modulation monitor to listen to and check your levels? These boxes can easily and nominally do 125% positive peaks and 100% negative peaks for regular AM radio broadcasts. I'm not sure what you guys do on SW. See if you can find a manual for this so you know how to accurately set the filters and other "bells and whistles" on this thing. Don't be afraid of the knobs inside! It will give your audio real punch but keeps you well within parameters. You can push it fairly hard and still have it sounding nice, but I don't suggest pushing it to the wall. I hope you're able to hang on to this for a long time. You'll find a way to buy one! Also, look at CRL AM processors. They're not Optimods, but will give you additional punch on the air!
Great job ++++
For those interested in nostalgia the old Optimod-AM is a bucket filled of awesomeness.
It really showed what could be done with a truck load of analogue op-amps.
If I could buy one I would get a Optimod-AM just for the fun of it , but that's not likely to happen (I am peasant poor) ... so I use a Behringer Optivoice Pro ? , or something like that.
They are discontinued now but work great for vocals , in fact , that is what they were designed for.
I feed that with a good quality , but not crazy expensive condenser mic , and I regularly get compliments on the broadcast quality audio , even in SSB.
Thumbs UP for the great Optimod video +++ !
That audio sounds so good! I never thought AM could sound like that!
Hi Justin, coming across your You Tube channel for the first time. Thanks for demoing the Opitmod-AM, boy, even through the pissy speakers in the Laptop here I can tell the difference!...so much so that I have recently bought a 9100B a week ago and have it sitting right next to me waiting for that first turn on. I have a Telefunken S2525/3 I plan to use it on AM as you say a very impressive bit of kit!...Cheers Clint - VK3CSJ Melbourne
Crystal clear with the Optimod. A fantastic piece of kit! 👌
Oh wow, a T1509! I loved using the one we had in our radio room when I was in the Air Cadets in the 1980s.
what an amazing sound im really impressed
You really need an Optimod-HF 9105 - better for HF than the 9100. I have both! In fact several of each!
Going cheap? PM me!
The Optimod 9000A dates from about 1983. It is easily one of the best analog AM processors made. Today there are far more sophisticated digital processors from which broadcasters can choose. However, many prefer to stick with the 9000A.
Haven’t seen an RE50 in some time, I think I have a couple somewhere.
Excellent stuff Justin, very interesting. :-)
Nice to listen to with the Optimod, without sounds a bit woolly and muffled...
Be fantastic if you can get your hands on a La2a leveling compressor and do a comparison, used in some of the greatest music studios around the world in the 60s giving the beach boys etc that famous sound.
Fantastic piece of equipment Justin. I can remember seeing the Optimod-AM processor on a video tour of the Radio Caroline Ross Revenge transmitter room which is on youtube. I did wonder what one would sound like on the early morning 80m AM net and I`m very impressed. I bet you don`t want to give this back to Ian now LOL. Pity I missed this transmission but will listen again for you. Thanks for sharing this video. 73 M0DAD
Justin, Nice video and love the Optimod AM. I have a still new in box CRL (Orban) Amigo AM HF. A processor specifically designed for shortwave broadcasting. Can I ask where you sourced those nice digital meters from?
Hi David, they are made by Trumeter. Farnell stock them . Order code: 2475691. Not cheap though!!
@@thewtf Many thanks.
@@davidshapiro383 Would you be willing to part with it?
Very impressive 👍🇬🇧
Radio sound they are used by the BBC and digital orban optimod 8600 is used by bbc radio 2 now days you can set jumper switch for pre emphasis on the orban so the high frequency reduces noise at high frequency especially in bad cb or ham and broadcast area
What is the audio bandwidth in AM ham radio?
Should’nt really exceed 10khz but it often does!!
The Optimod is an excellent piece of equipment. I also have a Model 9100A, and they are quite common here in the U.S., for AM broadcast station use.
One caveat about the AM-Optimods: their effectiveness can be of limited value when used with a plate modulated transmitter, particularly one using a modulation reactor and DC blocking capacitor, as such a circuit is comprised of multiple complex impedances, and is subject to ringing, etc., when excited by the clipped output of a processor such as the Optimod.
This results in difficult-to-control modulation characteristics of the transmitter. In such an instance, it may be difficult to obtain good density of modulation without constantly hitting the baseline.
Bob Orban goes into this situation in detail in the operating manual for the AM-Optimod units, going so far as to not advocating their use with the older plate-modulated rigs.
My Optimod remains on the shelf, awaiting service with some future class-E type of rig, which is a very synergistic match for the aggressive audio processing available from an AM-Optimod.
For my homebrew kilowatt-class plate-modulated AM rig, which utilizes a pair of 4-400As, plate and screen modulated by a pair of class B 833As, With this transmitter, I use an Inovonics Model 222; I can achieve very tight control of the modulation with this processor, and it allows me to achieve 135% positive-going peaks while the negative-going peaks never exceed 95%. With the Optimod-AM and this transmitter, such tight control of the modulation would be impossible.
73,
Bruce, W2XR
Thanks Bruce for that! I was wondering how the Optimod would work with my Marconi T1509 transmitter which is a pair of 813s modulated by a pair of 813s. I guess you have answered the question!!!
Cool!
Oh, and I have a 9100A for sale right now...
Chalk and cheese
Have seen optimod stereo am not bad at all
Hi,informative video, good subject,,,but on SSB,, BBC,, like sound is not so good an idea ,difficult to understand,,,,,much better lose all the LOW frequencies and just concentrate more on the more audible higher tones,,,,BBC and AMATEUR radio,,,not the same thing,,,,,,thanks from Rotterdam 👍
Not sure I'd want to sound like The BBC.
Using an Broadcast sound processor for CB, is the most STUPID thing i ever seen till today!!!
Not CB my clever friend!
Nice set up and seeing the classic AR88 takes me back to my swl day's.
Never had an Optimod but maybe one day?
73
G7HFS/PA3IKH
Dear Santa. Can I have one for Christmas. 73 de M0VFX