Twanks
Dear Editor:
Bob Gary's "Tweaking Your Turntable" has saved me money and extended the life of my ten-year-old turntable. After reading his article in the May issue, I removed about three grams of excess trim, stylus guard and finger-lift from the pickup shell of my turntable. The results were immediately audible.
For the first time, my Shure V-15 Type III cartridge tracked "ffff" passages flawlessly. I had been told that I shouldn't be using a high-compliance cartridge in a relatively high-mass arm. Now, with the help of Mr. Gary, I feel that I have alleviated that problem, and I am again more than happy with my equipment.
Incidentally, during the installation of my V-15 Type III cartridge, I broke the stylus shank. Thinking the unused diamond might still be of some value, I called Shure Brothers. They immediately replaced the damaged assembly free of charge. Shure Brothers not only makes a great product--they care about their customers.
Joseph Reese; Chicago, Ill.
Wideband Woodpecker
Dear Editor:
In the July, 1979, issue of Audio, Mr. Curtiss R. Schafer makes reference to a particular source of interference on the short-wave bands, and in the editorial reply you state that it "would be interesting" to receive comments from others regarding the interference.
As an active radio amateur (as well as audiophile), I am quite familiar with the interference to which Mr. Schafer refers. For the past year-and-a-half or so, our friend the "Russian Woodpecker" has frequented the 20-meter ham band with his characteristic pulse-modulated signal which has earned him this nickname.
Contrary to what Mr. Schafer's friends' direction-finding equipment may indicate, however, the source of the interference is not within the U.S., but in the eastern part of the USSR.
Believe me, if it were in Bremerton, Washington, as Mr. Schafer's friends indicate, I would know it; I live there.
According to intelligence reports, the offender is an "over-the-horizon" radar prototype which operates in the vicinity of 14 MHz. The pulsed wave form, however, is rich in harmonics, and the total radiated energy from the installation is so great that whenever the Woodpecker comes on the air, the whole world knows it.
Our State Department is aware of the Woodpecker and the trouble he is causing, but appears at this time to be powerless. The Soviets have not denied the existence of the Woodpecker, but have taken no steps to eliminate him, nor to move his frequency to one less likely to interfere with other communications.
Be assured, Mr. Schafer (and others concerned): If the U.S.A. or any other country wished to cause interference to programming in the international shortwave spectrum (3 to 30 MHz), they would do it selectively, not with a broad signal like that of the Wood pecker. It stands to reason that you wouldn't interfere with your own signal (Voice of America, etc.) knowingly, but the Woodpecker not only clobbers VOA, but renders Radio Moscow un intelligible as well.
-Patrick H. Bailey K7KBN Bremerton, Wash.
Somewhere, Over The Horizon...
In reference to Mr. Schafer's letter in your July '79 column, the "noise" he describes as staccato-like is generally accepted as sounding like machine gun fire, and has been unofficially named "Ivan The Terrible." The "noise" usually occurs between 9 and 15 MHz with a bandwidth of 300 to 500 kHz wide (sometimes 1 MHz wide), but is not confined to the above parameters.
In December of 1976, the defense departments of Scandinavian countries found what the "noise" was. They called the U.S. Intelligence Agency and had their suspicions confirmed.
It was a Russian over-the-horizon radar system. The radar systems watch over the Canadian and U.S. missile bases, and also the attack paths to the Soviet Union. The system is still in the testing stages, with four powerful transmitters in the Kiev area.
The "noises" that Mr. Schafer's direction-finding friends found are the American over-the-horizon radar stations. What stage of use or building they are in I don't know, but one station is on the West Coast and the other the East Coast.
So Mr. Schafer can be assured that the FCC is not trying to block signals from European and Canadian stations (they still come in strong as ever).
The information cited here was obtained from a report by the Spanish foreign radio service and a paper by Juan Sanches Belgan entitled "QRM of Ivan the Terrible." I have a taped copy of the program and am willing to share it with readers who would care to send me a blank tape and return postage.
-Dan Wilczek; 27 Grant St. Auburn, N.Y. 13021
Ivan, The Woodpecker
Dear Editor:
I suppose that every editor has to print a silly letter once in a while if only to help keep reader interest, but it has been a long time since I have read such stuff as the letter from Curtiss R. Schafer in your July issue.
The "staccato-like" interference he mentions is known to amateur and other radio operators, to listeners, and to governments worldwide as the "Russian Woodpecker." It is believed to be a long-range radar system. It constantly moves about in frequency during operation, pausing usually for about 10 S at a time on any given center frequency.
There is no evidence whatever that it originates anywhere but within the USSR. Mr. Schafer can test this for himself by noting that the "loudspeaker" can be heard only when European BC stations (Careful! Not their over seas relays!) can be heard. And then usually near the highest frequency at which they are heard.
Rather than write to Audio, Mr. Schafer should write to the FCC, to his Congressman and Senators, and possibly to the State Department. His friends should take up another hobby than direction finding.
-Clair J. Robinson; Minneapolis, Minn.
Recordists Wanted
Dear Editor:
I would like to hear from readers who are interested in forming a club specializing in recording the neglected, lesser-known, and in some cases unknown classical music repertoire.
Operating expenses would be covered by members' subscriptions prior to re cording sessions.
The Opera Rara Record Club of Eng land functions in this manner, al though they specialize in opera. It should be possible to carry over their success to symphonic music provided enough classical music lovers respond to this idea.
-Alex F. Soave, 192 Central Park Rd., Plainview, N.Y. 11803
------ CODA --------
Howard T. Souther, retired Senior Vice President of Engineering/Manufacturing for the Koss Corp., died of a heart attack on September 11 at his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Mr. Souther, who was 69, received his degree in electrical engineering from the Univ. of Arizona. During a long association with the motion picture industry, he was a significant contributor to the improvement of sound quality. As a market director from 1949 to 1959, Souther helped make Electro-Voice a household name in the hi-fi field.
He had been employed by the Koss Corp. since 1967 and was responsible for the development of the world's first self-energized electrostatic stereophone in 1968. His efforts in acoustics formed the basic groundwork for stereophone test measurement, and in 1970 his electro-acoustical research led to the first dynamic element designed exclusively for use in stereophones.
Mr. Souther had remained active with Koss as a consultant since his 1975 retirement, and he developed a facility for the manufacture of transducers at Koss/Ireland in 1976.
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(Audio magazine, Dec. 1979)
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