Obviously they couldn't use "Beat Off" as the nomenclature for that switch.
@danny-li6io
Жыл бұрын
😂 nice!
@erictaylor5462
Жыл бұрын
It's like on a fishing boat. They never call the person in charged of the bait the "Master Baiter"
@3rdalbum
Жыл бұрын
They should have called it "Whistle Out"
@Wstarlights
Жыл бұрын
"Sometimes you just gotta 'choke the chicken' when recording AM radio" ~ every AM radio recording enthusiast ever.
@SalMinella
Жыл бұрын
Kinky
@ok4todd
Жыл бұрын
Dude. You took the time to demonstrate for the world a puzzling mystery for me and my generation of radio geeks. Thank you!
@frankd.4528
Жыл бұрын
Agreed. I would’ve paid to know what the beat cancel button meant on my boom box on 1980!
@blaircox1589
Жыл бұрын
Lol, would have been helpful three decades ago! 😂
@AstrosElectronicsLab
Жыл бұрын
I figured it out a few years in to my adulthood and experimentation with radio receivers (building them and such) that they were referring to "beat frequency". But, when I was 10, I was just as perplexed as to what is this "beat" switch for as switching it on or off did nothing.
@SofaKingShit
Жыл бұрын
Before the internet you just had to ask around. Any book at the public library which might have helped was already stolen and that was that. Nowadays no one on You Tube even knows what a library is any more.
@lunarmodule6419
Жыл бұрын
Exactly!
@volvo480
Жыл бұрын
I have been tinkering with radios and recording since I was a kid and those devices were new, have a full amateur radio license and have a degree in high frequency electronic engineering AND I NEVER KNEW UNTIL TODAY WHERE THAT SWITCH WAS FOR! Thank you for explaining this unusual but very useful feature. 😅
@Recordology
Жыл бұрын
I think it’s interesting that over the years they didn’t come out with a marketing term that would explain its function better for people who had no idea. Something like “Radio Noise Reduction” akin to Dolby.
@rijjhb9467
Жыл бұрын
Sony got close: ISS "interference suppression switch"
@GaryKeepItSimple
Жыл бұрын
@@rijjhb9467 The term Beat is technically correct it is a beat frequency.
@Owyn_Merrilin
Жыл бұрын
@@GaryKeepItSimple And the technically correct term for what Dolby Noise Reduction does is compansion, but they sure as hell didn't market it as a compander to the general public.
@andrewstewart8704
Жыл бұрын
The all new (beat) function allows you to cut the whining noise when recording AM stations lol Marketing timing 50 years too late lol
@AstrosElectronicsLab
Жыл бұрын
Why would they. It's like "2000W PMPO" found on boom boxes in the late '90's, early 2000's. No one actually knew what that meant, either - except maybe for people like me. Another fictitious marketing measurement of perceived output power. It's interesting that they can get 2000 watts from an amplifier that was running on 12V maximum producing under 3 watts.
@disgruntledfaerie
Жыл бұрын
Having parts of your narration play from cassettes was a really cool touch in this!
@toasTr0n
Жыл бұрын
Finally! The answer to one of those technical quandaries that used to drive me crazy, and an answer I had all but forgotten that I wanted to know. LOL! I wish I had been able to solve this about 35 years ago, but better late than never. Although I am unlikely to ever use one of these switches again, this satisfies me greatly. Great demonstration, too. Thank you! 😁
@kpanic23
Жыл бұрын
When recording from FM radio it's actually the opposite: The 19kHz pilot tone of the stereo multiplex interferes with the bias frequency or the frequency of the erase head, causing a beat frequency resulting in an audible whine. That's what the MPX filter is for: It's just a notch filter that removes the 19kHz pilot tone and the 38kHz subcarrier.
@davidg4288
Жыл бұрын
The 19kHz can also interfere with Dolby noise reduction when recording tapes. I also discovered another use for the MPX filter, some CD's and even LP's were very hard to record, they'd produce distortion on cymbals when recording. Changing the bias and recording levels reduced but would not eliminate the problem. Other cassette decks and even reel to reel would also have the problem. I finally realized frequencies in the cymbal sound were mixing with the tape bias in a nonlinear way and producing an unpleasant sound. I don't know if this was intentional analog copy protection or just an artifact. MPX filter would almost completely solve the problem even though the recording was from CD or LP and not FM stereo.
@circattle
Жыл бұрын
@@davidg4288 Did this happen mainly with rock music recordings? I guess the reason is because the drum sounds and cymbals are always very compressed on that genre of music making them consistently loud at a relatively high level. That would do it.
@davidg4288
Жыл бұрын
@@circattle This was a long time ago, I recall it happening in progressive rock and fusion jazz which was NOT very compressed but did have all the highs they could record. Recording at a lower level did not fix it, it was more frequency than loudness related. I no longer have working tape machines to test with.
@shipsahoy1793
Жыл бұрын
BNMRR .. Beat Noise Mitigation for Radio Recording!😉
@EddieJazzFan
Жыл бұрын
This was very well done and explained so you can easily understand. Next, you should do a video on the "MPX' filter button on cassette decks.
@CraigTube
Жыл бұрын
Yes, sort of a related topic but different.
@nakazul1
Жыл бұрын
Yes please, if anybody can make me understand MPX it is Mr VW 👌
@eDoc2020
Жыл бұрын
MPX is FM stereo. It works with a nearly inaudible 19kHz carrier tone which could beat with the recorder's bias oscillator. The MPX filter removes this high frequency so this doesn't happen.
@Anon-fv9ee
Жыл бұрын
MPX is short for "multiplex". An FM signal can have up to 6 signals mixed together - L+R, 19kHz pilot, L-R, 57kHz RDS (scrolling text) plus 2 hidden subcarriers at 67kHz & 92kHz. I've never seen an MPX filter button but it would work on the same principle. I have seen MPX line-out sockets on vintage Sonys (mid-70's). This was when FM was new and allowed outboard equipment to decode the stereo or subcarriers.
@chrislawuk
Жыл бұрын
@@Anon-fv9ee wow, that’s very cool. As fascinating as the Beat Cut issue although I never saw an MPX marking on the many radio recorders I had growing up, unlike Beat Cut which was a constant mystery. I’d love to know what the optional FM subcarriers were used for - audio? Surely not? Do the illuminati have their own commercial free versions of popular radio stations? Military use?
@duprie37
Жыл бұрын
I remember back in 1985 I was 12 years old and had saved up for months & months to buy a boombox costing AU$120 (AU$390 in today's money). It looked a lot like the one you used to show what DC bias sounds like. When I got home I was so disappointed and took it back saying the record function is broken, it sounds all hissy and distorted. So they gave me another unit, different brand, same build. It had exactly the same problem and I took it back again. This time the salesman got annoyed with me: "what are you talking about, it works fine, I can't hear a thing!" I played him the hissy FM recording & he stood there saying he couldn't hear anything. He must have known it was DC bias that was causing it. But anyway I had to keep it. These days I know what the issue was: they were indeed using cheap DC bias circuits in many "cheap" mid-80s boomboxes. Unbelievable that they were charging the equivalent of $400 for such a rubbish product! I was so upset I didn't buy another boombox for 4 years. Everyone's nostalgic for 80s gear now but it was mostly just one massive scam as I remember it. The quality of audio gear you can get for a fraction of the price nowadays is just incredible.
@AVERYhornyMrDinosaur
Жыл бұрын
everything's still a scam.. the target just moved away from sound systems a bit
@jenx5870
Жыл бұрын
I am your age. I have misophonia, and I have very sensitive ears, but I also have extremely good hearing. I can hear people whispering across a room when I teach classes (I am an RN trainer, and sometimes surprise my students when I hear what they say). The point is, my ears picked up everything when the music coming out of a cassette or record player was good or bad. My parents had both good and bad stereos, and I had a good Walkman growing up. There weren't scams, unless you bought from a less than reputable dealer who gave you a fake product. There were, however, limitations in the technology available back then. We didn't have the dehissers that we have now, the ability to compress like we do now, etc. It was limited in the recording, so the sound coming out was less than ideal, therefore, the sound we heard was less than ideal. Stereo was a newer concept, and the mono songs were being converted. Some hiss was expected, because that was part of the original recording process, and needed to be removed by using the dials on your equipment and dialing the treble and bass, etc. Audiophiles, such as myself, have grown to love the familiar pops and crackles of vinyl. It's the imperfections of recordings that bring them to life. It's nostalgia. If you go back and listen to the original recordings, you will hear those same hissy (and in the case of mono, tinny) imperfections. It is what it is. The music was far superior back then, despite the technological recording limitations. We had creativity on our side. I will take the 80s any day.
@GeneSavage
Жыл бұрын
I NEVER knew the difference in the sound quality of certain recorders was DC bias vs. AC bias. Holy crud! This video amped up my knowledge in several areas. Thank you!!
@dolphincliffs8864
Жыл бұрын
AC/DC
@AudioMobil
Жыл бұрын
Thank you very much this video! For many years I've seen these switches again and again...but never could figure out any difference when turning them to a different position (because I never recorded AM radio).
@CoolDudeClem
Жыл бұрын
A long time ago back when I was a kid I didn't know what that button did, so I tried it and smoke came out! It was obviously faulty but for a long time after that I stayed away from ever using that on anything else that had it.
@blitzstrahl
Жыл бұрын
So it did what it said, it "cut your beats".
@crazyrickhixon5977
Жыл бұрын
😂
@PassengersMusic777
Жыл бұрын
I think you had a Mission Impossible tape recorder
@BradTheProducer
Жыл бұрын
In the 90's, I inherited my dad's 1982 F100 pickup that only had an AM radio in it (the kind with the 5 preset buttons that go KER-CHUNK when you press them.) The only station I could stand listening to that wasn't Hits of the 50's or hardline conservative talk radio was Radio Disney. But that station always had a high-pitched squeal that directly lined up with how hard I was pressing the gas pedal. So as I was accelerating, the sound would drown out whatever S Club 7 sounding stuff I was trying to rock out to. Now I think I understand what was happening.
@brianleeper5737
Жыл бұрын
High pitched squeals that change with the engine speed are almost always due to alternator noise. Either the radio or the alternator had a problem.
@vanhetgoor
Жыл бұрын
I think it was somewhere around the year 2006 when AM radio was switched off for over here in Holland. I live approximately 15 kilometers from where a big transmission site was, one megaWatt of power and all over the band there were hums and hisses, clicks and tones, everything else was completely unlistenable caused by the disturbance. Recently I bought again an AM radio and to my surprise the disturbance was gone and so where all AM radio stations, I knew that the biggest part of them were closing down, but I never bothered to try. Now there is some talk radio in foreign languages and so now and then a far away station with unrecognisable local pop music. It sounds like going on a holiday, then I always listen to whatever station that is on the air. Recipes and politics in French and people worrying about nothing important. Goodbye AM, it was nice 40 years ago, but not any more.
@JesperD87
Жыл бұрын
I'm also from The Netherlands, the last high power AM transmitter here was switched off in 2019: 1008 kHz from the Flevoland transmitter. Originally 400 kW daytime power, only 100 kW or so in the later years. Shortly after the final closedown, the transmitter was demolished. It was a nice piece of engineering, an anti fading antenna transmitting on both 747 and 1008 kHz, 400 kW each. 747 went off air in 2015. Nowadays, several low power AM stations are legally on air all over the country on numerous frequencies, power levels between 1 W and 100 W. Maybe one of them is nearby, maybe you're able to receive several after dark. I like that :) Apart from that, I tune in to Radio Caroline on 648 kHz broadcasting from Orfordness, UK from time to time. One of the few music stations transmitting on AM/medium wave.
@vanhetgoor
Жыл бұрын
@@JesperD87 Yes, it was a year in the two thousand range, the programmes were aimed at elderly women ("de Muzikale Fruitmand" and that programme with Willy Walden and Ase Rasmussen, "Raad een Lied of Niet").
@RealEpikCartfrenYT
Жыл бұрын
I'm from Bosnia. I sometimes catch a Romanian AM station but they seem to be exclusively a talk show station. Other times, when I'm out in the field, I catch a (I think) military station all the way from Russia at night.
@nazznomad
Жыл бұрын
I'm amazed and blown away that you even thought of a video like this. Only you Sir and what a great video !
@gideon3648
Жыл бұрын
An excellent video. Despite being big into recording I never knew this, but then pretty much all my radio recordings were from FM and like many others I obviously didn't read manuals as fully as I could have. Thinking about it, I feel the switch should really be called AM Whine Cut.
@circattle
Жыл бұрын
@Vaquero357 But that is superheterodyne beating caused by two stations in close proximity, rather than that caused by the tape bias oscillator. I think the marketing departments of these products wouldn't want to claim they are solving that problem which is actually most of the whistling sounds on AM.
@dukeofthebump
Жыл бұрын
For anyone who doesn't know, "beat" in this sense can refer to the observable difference between *any* two frequencies, not just audio (although audio is where the term is encountered most often, which no doubt adds to the confusion with the musical homonym.) But for example, if the turn signals on two cars seem to be flashing in sync, but the signal on car A is just a little bit slower and starts flashing more and more behind that of car B, you're seeing the signals' beat frequency
@crabby7668
Жыл бұрын
Pilots of multi engined bombers during ww2 used to synchronise their engines to prevent the loud "pulsing" of the beat frequencies between the engines. Allegedly the Germans didn't bother so much and people could tell the difference between formations of German and allied planes because the German aircraft had a distinctive drone caused by the beats.
@paulh5293
Жыл бұрын
100%. If it's of interest: before the days of digital tuning meters this is exactly how pipe-organ tuners used to "lay down" the middle octave of a set of pipes, playing fifths and fourths - each interval between 2 notes should have a specific number of "beats" (different for each two notes) in the same way as you describe. Once you've laid the bearings of that reference octave, you then simply tune the rest to exact octaves of each note with no beat audible.
@crabby7668
Жыл бұрын
Irc another example is when you see wheels or propellers in films, slow right down or even reverse as the vehicle is moving. This happens because the "frame speed" or frequency of the camera is interacting with the frequency of rotation of the wheel or propellor. When the frequencies get close to each other, you start to see the beat frequency or difference between them. This is what gives the odd looking effects and can often be seen best in old movies with stage coaches or steam trains with spoked wheels.
@TheParadiseParadox
Жыл бұрын
In music I have heard it referred to as "beating" which can be a clearer term
@Intimatycal
Жыл бұрын
@@crabby7668 not true. Germans used tiny propelers on their wings that would create siren-like sounds during high speed dives so they can psychologically dominate over people by frightening them further more. Look it up
@nickvickers3486
Жыл бұрын
Fascinating video, I didn't know what it was for either! What I do know is that after seeing this many folks will be flocking to MW, popping in a tape, pressing record and seeing if their old machine rocks a 'beat cut' facility... Let the good times and the cassette decks roll!))
@pcno2832
Жыл бұрын
I remember those switches. I think there was even one one, or the markings for one, on a boombox that had a flip-out erase magnet and wouldn't have needed such a switch. The other mysterious switch I remember from that era was the "stereo wide" switch, which emphasized the sounds that were different from left to right, making the stereo effect more pronounced, despite the close spacing between the speakers. It was a cool feature, but if the speakers had been angled out on more boomboxes, there would have been less of a need for it.
@MacPhantom
Жыл бұрын
This was a genuinely good and informative video, even if AM is pretty much dead where I normally live. I just recently even came across beat cut switches and at some point even mistakenly assumed they were for signal rewiring to cancel the centre portion of a stereo song (i.e., cut out vocals on cheap Karaoke systems). D'oh!
@Hotpack7279
Жыл бұрын
You solved a mystery for me I never knew I had. 😂
@kaitlyn__L
Жыл бұрын
Always wondered why it was sometimes called an oscillator switch. I’d assumed it introduced a 180° out of phase signal into the tape recording to filter out something from the radio, didn’t realise it was the tape deck’s own bias frequency. Slightly altering the frequency so it’s no longer harmonic makes much more sense than a phase inversion too, especially since you need the switch in one position for some frequencies, another for others, and makes no difference in yet others. Nice demonstration. Also makes your recent poll contextualised ;) I always saw MW called AM or AM/MW here because I’m a child of the 90s, but had figured it was “medium” by means of exclusion from being included alongside SW and LW even though it wasn’t labelled MW on my dad’s fancy receiver.
@DerCrawlerVomUrAnus
Жыл бұрын
Finally I get an answer to a question I never thought about but I hope that one day that knowledge will come in useful. Thanks for the informative and well put together video!
@garp32
Жыл бұрын
Great job explaining that. I myself have always wondered what that was all about. Very cool you had some real life samples and could duplicate the issue. Thanks for the new wrinkle in my brain!
@richmorrison8194
Жыл бұрын
I used to work in retail electronics and did not have a friggin' clue what that beat cut switch was for. I too looked through the manuals for an explanation to no avail. Thank you for clarifying that for me.
@HelloKittyFanMan
Жыл бұрын
And you even explained what sort of disadvantage might come from just leaving beat cut on all the time, hence the ability to turn it off. So thanks, nice video!
@Narayan_1996
Жыл бұрын
This video was so nice to watch, I love both cassettes and AM/FM Radio, I used to record music from the air broadcasts of my city on my tapes back when I was a kid, and oh boy, I miss those days with my little and cheap Lennox all-in-one.
@samsungtvset3398
Жыл бұрын
I always thought it was in reference to a possible beat between the bias oscillator and the 38kHz FM pilot tone. You learn something new every day.
@ukstevengill
Жыл бұрын
Seen this on various products growing up and never knew what it was for! My father said 'its mainly for LW and we dont really listen to those frequencies' so thank you for that! Very informative!!
@grantm902
Жыл бұрын
"Beat Cut" is why Edward Scissorhands never looked at naughty magazines
@molybd3num823
Жыл бұрын
lol
@misters2837
Жыл бұрын
😂
@rocktech7144
Жыл бұрын
Hahahaha
@zakskinner4780
Жыл бұрын
🥇
@chrissanders2562
Жыл бұрын
🤣
@rniamath
Жыл бұрын
Adding my thanks for the explanation as well. As a young audiophile, I too was perplexed by this switch many, many years ago - for some reason I equated "beats" to "bass" and was wondering why anyone would want to cut the bass. I never did try to record from AM though as my recordings were primarily audio off FM.
@klafong1
Жыл бұрын
In a previous job, I worked as an applications engineer, serving customers from around the world. I observed that having to translate technical jargon or describe phenomena was quite challenging for our customers who were not native English speakers. Thus, I can appreciate that these stereos were designed overseas, and the engineers recognized that some cost-effective means of eliminating the bias oscillator interference was needed. Very likely, somebody else was tasked with designing the control labels for these products. This person or persons likely looked in some Japanese-to-English dictionary, and "beat" came up as a synonym for the Japanese word. While the translation was correct, the big picture was missed in that in English vernacular, "beat" is associated with musical rhythms.
@Taketimeout3
Жыл бұрын
I truly learned something today. And just because you have spoken about them the under appreciated cheap end stereo systems of the 80s might get the respect they deserve. There were some great systems produced round then, like the Aria FX series, even the cheapest FX 20 came with a neat linear tracking turntable. No kidding.
@davidsmall6322
Жыл бұрын
Excellent stuff. Always good. But, this one in particular scratched a very deep itch.
@HeffeJeffe78
Жыл бұрын
Love the DAK catalog page at 10:41. I purchased my favorite SW radio from DAK back in 91.
@PrinceWesterburg
Жыл бұрын
You answered a great many questions, and I’m a technically minded guy and recording engineer! However none knew this stuff back in the day! Lol BTW The ‘bias’ is a 60khz signal thats sent to the erase head, its outside the tape’s freq range and so it wipes the tape by making the magnetic particles seemingly of random polarity. DC bias sets the particles to just N or S magnetically, while this wipes any recorded signal it delimits recording i.e. If the tape is biased N and your waveform swings S then the waveform recorded has to overcome a huge N bias and thus is reduced in value - exactly like listening to a push-pull valve amp with one dead valve.
@atrainradio929
Жыл бұрын
Thank you VWestlife for making these well done videos on topics few know about.
@judsonleach5248
Жыл бұрын
OK!.... "It's Official" - You are NOW my New Hero! - They NEVER taught is this stuff back at Berklee in Boston in the 80s! - So GLAD I found your channel!!! 🙂
@Earcandy73
Жыл бұрын
Great explanation! While living in the UK, I had a 1980 mono radio-cassette recorder manufactured by PYE. The beat switch was labeled RIF. Later on, here in NJ I received a crappy Soundesign boombox (1988). It had a beat-cut switch.
@dougbrowning82
Жыл бұрын
It becomes more confusing when, as on a couple of units in the video, the same switch has multiple functions, ie: tape playback eq, ISS mode, and FM stereo mode.
@omrik3252
Ай бұрын
Great video 👍 thank you! At last...an answer to the mystery 😅 I have the same stereo system for 30 years...and I NEVER dared to touch that Beat-cut button!!! thank you for this insight 🙏❤
@z400b
Жыл бұрын
In the Uk AM radio started being replaced in the 80s with most major stations swiching in that decade leaving some duplicate stations talk radio or smaller on AM. My recordings back in the 80s I always made off fm stations as they were stereo and no AM stations were. Thus the beat cut swich never got used, though I might deliberately try it out now.😂
@lawrencedoliveiro9104
Жыл бұрын
Consider that DAB can offer FM-or-better quality within the same bandwidth as an AM signal. The MW band offers better range than FM/VHF/UHF ones; wouldn’t it be handy to be able to put some DAB stations on the MW band?
@TheVintageApplianceEmporium
Жыл бұрын
Wow, you learn something new every day. Thank you! Always wondered what that switch did
@Chester200100
Жыл бұрын
VWestlife quest to demistify the quirks and features of old electronic equipment is my favorite series on this chanel keep it up.
@MrZedblade
Жыл бұрын
I grew up in the 80s and 90s. I think I owned (or more likely my parents owned) at least two of the exact stereos shown in this video. I used to record music from the radio all the time. I had no idea what that "beat"/"iss" button did. It only took like 40 years but now I finally understand it!
@Hydra360ci
Жыл бұрын
yeah... well... who in the 80 and 90's recorded from AM, regardless?
@michelealessandrini3421
Жыл бұрын
My god I had it too in the 80s and never had any idea of what it was! But here in Italy AM radio was never used, even back then. I remember asking my cousin (expert in all kind of audio equipment) and he was like "uh sure that's... uhm... the beat... cut" and changed topic 😂
@dav1dbone
Жыл бұрын
Wow, never knew that, also think there could be a reason to do a video on bias too, maybe comparing different methods and frequencies, could also record in Audacity and pitch shift so we can hear different AC bias signals, cool!
@error52
Жыл бұрын
I remember I found what that switch is for, when I read the manual for my favorite soviet boombox - the VEF 260. That thing is an excellent AM receiver, with the regular medium wave band split in two for better selectivity, so the engineers who designed it put some care in explaining what the bias switch does. The switch has three positions, but what was NOT explained was that it would shift the bias frequency enough to allow recording on chrome tapes.
@damnperrys1
Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much for improving my knowledge! I humbly thank you for your efforts!
@mathuetax
Жыл бұрын
10:37 I recognize where that ad was from! I wish I'd kept those old DAK catalogues. Also, thanks for explaining what the Beat Switch was for, I never knew.
@grandpaseed
Жыл бұрын
Bravo i'm in my 60's so yes I have wondered about this , it's never to late to learn thanks.
@LakeNipissing
Жыл бұрын
Best description (and demonstration) of this function in history !!
@thomaslau8806
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for the explanation, my younger self back in the 80's always wonder what the beat cut switch did.
@JaredConnell
Жыл бұрын
I dont even own any tapes, records, or even cds anymore but i love watching your channel on subjects like this! Thanks for all the entertaining and educational videos!
@romaneberle
Жыл бұрын
it took almost 40 years. now i am complete. thank you.
@axiezimmah
Жыл бұрын
Ah, such an interesting knowledge to have in 2023, this might come in handy sometime
@markenetube
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for answering something that puzzled me 40 years ago. I never knew as there was no internet to look it up. As most of us would never dream of recording from AM, I don't suppose it was a big deal.
@2muchrubik
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for another interesting and informative video! I use those exact same AM loop antennas that you briefly showed in the video. I was wondering if you’d ever do a video on those types of antennas and the FM ones too, as I have always gotten mixed results using them. It feels like they’re super finicky trying to find the best position for them.
@vwestlife
Жыл бұрын
Loop antennas are indeed directional. That's not so good if you're trying to receive stations from different directions, but the advantage is that it also lets you position the antenna to null out interference or an unwanted signal.
@straightpipediesel
Жыл бұрын
Many ham radios and high-end shortwave radios have a "beat shift" or "clock shift" as well. The interference is from the local oscillators and CPU clocks. With CPUs, IFs, and internal buses now in the tens to hundreds of MHz, it can affect VHF/FM radio, and similarly, the feature changes oscillator frequency slightly to place the "birdies" off the frequency you're listening to. Most modern radios have firmware that automatically activates this when you punch in a problematic frequency, so you'd never know it's being used.
@Ale.K7
Жыл бұрын
Thanks! I remember being confused by this when younger.
@James_Knott
Жыл бұрын
This takes me back to the late 60s, when I was in high school and getting into audio. The bias was a concern then too, but not because there was an AM radio near the bias oscillator. AM was very sensitive to interference from various sources, including nearby channels. AM channels were 10 KHz apart and sometimes you'd get 2 channels interfering and producing a 10 KHz tone. Then there was the local oscillator, which was used to bring the AM channel down to the (usually) 455 KHz intermediate frequency. The AM band was roughly 1 MHz wide, which meant the local oscillator could mix with 2 channels, 910 KHz apart, to put them both on the IF frequency. Back then, there were lots of articles on bias level and it's effect on distortion of a recording. Both too much and too little bias were bad. There was a lot of stuff to know back then and I have fortunately forgotten most of it. 🙂
@christophermoody6840
Жыл бұрын
@1:10 😲 I had that same boom box. Got it for Christmas in 1991/1992, it was my first CD Player. Still had it up till maybe 10 years ago.
@atomicagegamer3693
Жыл бұрын
Holy Crow; that was a good explanation! Just based on the term "Beat Cut", I would have thought that it had something to do with adding blank sound, before the start of a recording, which wasn't even close.
@gregmorris2022
Жыл бұрын
I LOVED this video. Such an obscure topic.
@Retroaria
Жыл бұрын
I remember having already read in some manual of one of my devices about a switch that, when activated (during AM radio recording) would serve to reduce the hiss and increase the quality of the recording.
@RacerX-
Жыл бұрын
Nice clear explanation. I did always wonder about it back in the 80s but I never recorded AM. Still, it’s nice to get an explanation decades later. Thanks!
@dhpbear2
Жыл бұрын
4:06 - Aww :( I was hoping to hear examples of the same track with too much and too little bias!
@Umski
Жыл бұрын
Wow, my dad had that Sanyo music centre - I now have it as a retro relic - always wondered what that button was for 😂
@SlaughterDog
Жыл бұрын
I forgot I used to see those switches. Back then, reading the owner’s manual was kinda required for a lot of things if you wanted to get the full functionality from your device.
@MrPitatom
Жыл бұрын
Finally! Someone has explained what beat cut is. Thank you.
@PascalGienger
Жыл бұрын
I learned now that "beat" or "beat frequency" is what is called in German "Schwebung" - the amplitude changing signal resulting in two frequencies next to each other. The amplitude changing frequency is then approximately the difference of the two involved frequencies (in first order). Was an effect very used by musicians on their analog synthesizers ;-)
@lawrencedoliveiro9104
Жыл бұрын
The English technical term is “heterodyne”. Also used as the basis for higher-frequency radio receivers (e.g. FM).
@hotboiorlando
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for making this video I always wandered what that switch did an if I had it in the right place so that it didn't mess up my audio
@SydneyDrums
Жыл бұрын
2:53 that cassette/8 track deck is awesome
@Sierra747
Жыл бұрын
Very interesting. I’ve seen those buttons years ago in the 80’s and 90’s on my old boom box radios but as never recorded off mw radio I didn’t need it not that I knew what it did back then anyway!
@KarlAdamsAudio
Жыл бұрын
Very well explained. I would imagine that the 'correct' setting moves the beat frequency above the audible range. I suppose it would even have been possible to automate this - with a modern radio tuner having a digital display, there's enough information available to pick a bias frequency that won't beat in the audible range without requiring user input, not that this would have ever been cost-effective in the sort of devices that actually needed it.
@jpsned
Жыл бұрын
I love this video. I haven't heard AM radio interference in a long time! N.B.: I recognized the "DAK" (standing for Drew Alan Kaplan, the company's founder) catalog at 10:35.
@coondogtheman
Жыл бұрын
I've had a few stereos that had this beat cut switch but I could never figure out what it did. I now know thanks to your video. Back in the 80s my parents had a JCPenney stereo system which was a receiver, a tape deck, and turntable up top. I remember it having those function symbols in blue on your stereo seen in the beginning of the video but clear because they lit up on a gray background when a function is selected.
@CommodoreFan64
Жыл бұрын
I have the last Sony Boombox you showed got at Goodwill super cheap, and it worked fine for a few weeks, but now when I plug it in, it will say on for like 30sec to a minute max before just dying, and I dread doing a teardown on it. 😤
@vwestlife
Жыл бұрын
Make sure the power cord is plugged in firmly, and that you're using the original power cord that came with it. Mine does the same thing if I try to use it with another power cord besides the original Sony one.
@CommodoreFan64
Жыл бұрын
@@vwestlife I've got the original Sony cord, and I tried a few others, all do the same thing, so yeah it's got to be internal to the power supply. Also I have a elder neighbor who bought one off Walmart's website new back in 2021 after I showed her what to get, and the first one had the same power supply issues, so she took it back to the store, ordered a 2nd one, and some of the buttons just did not work unless you pressed them really hard, or just right, she took that one back to the store, then ordered another one, and the 3rd one works correctly, and she can finally play all her old tapes from church, so i'm seeing this as a sign of Sony having some bad QC issues with these, and it's sad to see from one of the last big well known companies(a company your average Joe 6 pack, or mother Jane could name without much thought) still making Cassette/CD boomboxes.
@GrandCamino6
11 ай бұрын
Very cool! I never knew this and wondered for many years. When I was a kid in the 80’s I used to stay up late and see how far away of a AM station I could tune in. From Northern California the farthest station I was able to tune in was in Utah. I remember those whining noises very well.
@KeepsOnBurning
Жыл бұрын
More than 30 years I have been waiting for this explanation. Thank you so much.
@HammondDirk
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for explaining, I knew it had to do with beating frequencies, but didn't know that it had to do with the recording bias...
@pedrodaniellopesferreira2916
Жыл бұрын
I already knew this... but found it completely by chance, tbh. I actually found it with a faulty bias on a Sanyo G2005. It had support for ferric tapes and metal, but not chrome (why? Don't ask me what they were thinking about when they design it). The faul was a transistor on the oscillator, and when I replaced it, the am station I had it tuned in started to whistle. I took me a good hour of troubleshooting until I found the beat cut switch in the back...
@ctrlaltrees
Жыл бұрын
What a fascinating video - today I finally learned what the mysterious "beat cut" was all about! Thanks! 🙂
@2011joser
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for solving a 40 year old question for me. That switch has mystified me since my first boombox.
@lukasgayer5393
Жыл бұрын
This video fixed my childhood! And I am pretty sure not just my childhood. Thanks for the explanation!
@NickNorton
Жыл бұрын
On the other hand, SSB reception needs Beat. Good video. Very well explained.
@pristbaiser9443
Жыл бұрын
The video is really very didactic and if you had asked me a million times, so thank you very much for your great explanation!
@Linuxpunk81
Жыл бұрын
😂Wow I don't remember this at all, probably because I would never have used it. But as soon as you mentioned AM radio I knew exactly what it was for 😊I could hear the AM beat in my head, my mom used to listen to a lot of am radio, she was older and AM played music from the 40s and 50s etc. Great video 🖖
@webspaghetti
Жыл бұрын
I only googled this a couple of weeks ago. Great explanation thanks!
@steeviebops
Жыл бұрын
Great video, I never knew what this switch did either! Since you mentioned long wave, the Irish station on 252 kHz (RTÉ Radio 1) is closing it's LW transmitter on Friday 14th April, less than two weeks away. Not much left although BBC Radio 4 on 198 kHz is still clinging on for now.
@JustAPersonWhoComments
Жыл бұрын
Me trying to figure out that beat cut switch: Step 1: Presses the mysterious button Step 2: Listens intently Step 3: Nothing happens Step 4: Starts questioning the meaning of life
@jensschroder8214
Жыл бұрын
I never knew what beat cut meant. But even in the 1990s, AM was rarely heard in Europe. Today almost all radio stations have given up AM and instead broadcast digital radio in Band III in addition to FM (Band II).
@jaydunstan1618
Жыл бұрын
I love your work. Thank you from the UK. Utterly beautiful work.
@gordonwelcher9598
Жыл бұрын
As an amateur radio operator I immediately recognized the function.
@TorontoJon
Жыл бұрын
Thanks, VWestlife, for your in-depth video about the beat cut switch. I recall seeing that switch on some of my previous boomboxes from the mid-1980's to the 90's (Prosonic, Samsung, Fisher, etc.) and never understood what it was for. Now I know and knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe! All the best. :)
@EpicLPer
Жыл бұрын
WAIT A GODDAMN SECOND, the beat from the keyboard at 2:25 is the very beginning from a German Song from EAV called "Burli"! Whaaaaaaaaat... did they really sample THAT keyboard???
@cheapnoiseinthehouse5578
Жыл бұрын
Really nice video. I also wondered what this setting was. And wow, you still have a Casio SK-1? That's amazing. One of the very few sampling keyboards and one of the best.
@widicamdotnet
Жыл бұрын
A switch that doesn't have "on" and "off" positions, but a choice of 2-3 seemingly identical options for a technical detail that the user is not supposed to know about - that *is* hard to label correctly for any UI designer. I knew that switch and roughly what situation it was for, but not what the source of the problem was. Thanks!
@godsownkannur
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the explanation.. have wondered everytime i saw that switch..😎
@ntsecrets
Жыл бұрын
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a deck with this control but now I’m going to look for it!
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