[Jack-UK]

Hi everyone,

I have just purchased a Sony SB-920 tuner from Ebay, so I would like to know, what is the best type of antenna I could use to DX. Of course I'd also like to get better reception on the distant stations. I have heard people have had impressive results with loop antennas but the problem is I wouldn't know how to make one (I am rubbish at things like that!). I would like to get a Triax antenna, probably FM-5 or FM-8 but I have no place to mount it (I live with parents and they wouldn't want me mounting things on their houses). Unless there is a way I could somehow mount a Triax antenna onto a ground stand, like what I use for my satellite dish, and rotate it myself to the direction I want. Would this be possible to do? Let me know.

Thanks

[ACL777]

Congratulations . I just checked eBay and wondered where it had gone. I'm still waiting on a bid for the Sony st sb920. I've got an fm triax that I plan to hook up if I'm successful . I know a base with a stand can be purchased because that's what I'm looking at buying from HS publications in Derby. They work very well. I've only got a small balcony and can't attach anything so this looks like my best solution. If you get this you can manually polarise it very quickly during tropos .

[Jack-UK]

Originally Posted by ACL777

Congratulations . I just checked eBay and wondered where it had gone. I'm still waiting on a bid for the Sony st sb920. I've got an fm triax that I plan to hook up if I'm successful . I know a base with a stand can be purchased because that's what I'm looking at buying from HS publications in Derby. They work very well. I've only got a small balcony and can't attach anything so this looks like my best solution. If you get this you can manually polarise it very quickly during tropos .

Thanks haha, I've seen lots of videos of these tuners on YouTube and they look really good so I couldn't resist this opportunity to purchase one. I'd love to take it abroad and test it. I may take it to New York with me in August. I will look into putting it onto a stand where I can manually change it's polarisation and direction, probably the best option. I do the same thing for my satellite dish to watch foreign channels, I move it myself.

[ACL777]

Just won my bid so mine should arrive this week. Everyone speaks highly of them and modifications are supposed to be easy. I think it's probably the best affordable fm tuner with Rds for Dxing .

[Jack-UK]

Originally Posted by ACL777

Just won my bid so mine should arrive this week. Everyone speaks highly of them and modifications are supposed to be easy. I think it's probably the best affordable fm tuner with Rds for Dxing .

Cool! I would modify it, but I'm rubbish at that, I wouldn't want to break something! lol. I paid extra for the express delivery btw so mine should come on Tuesday. I hope so anyway as I'm going on holiday to Egypt on Wednesday and want to play with my new toy.

[uksoundz]

Triax FM5 gets my vote, I have one, best thing is to get a rotator too. Check eBay.

[Jack-UK]

Originally Posted by uksoundz

Triax FM5 gets my vote, I have one, best thing is to get a rotator too. Check eBay.

Ok I'll look into that, thanks. My satellite dish happens to be a Triax 88TD, I assume it's the same people who make the antennas also make the satellite dishes?

[Gary Brenton]

To get the very best from a Sony ST-SB920, it has to be modified for optimum results.

This specific tuner can be modified in two ways as I have mentioned in other posts. To make an effective (but simple) modification, the 'sensitivity' (orange interior) gain controls need adjusting just below 'full' turn and just for slightly better performance...it would be advisable to add more solder to the aerial connectors as they have a habit of coming very loose very easily. (mine are solid) and adding more solder to secure the aerial sockets also gives a better conncection.

The second modification is to replace the 'I'F filters (4 in total) which can be quite tricky if you don't know what you are doing...and this modification is the main procedure to gain full optimum performance.

To obtain the very best reception, you will need a rooftop aerial (without doubt) clear of obstructions, and if their is no way of installing a decent aerial for the ST-SB920 this tuner will not deliver much better than a bog standard tuner.

[Jack-UK]

Originally Posted by Gary Brenton

To get the very best from a Sony ST-SB920, it has to be modified for optimum results.

This specific tuner can be modified in two ways as I have mentioned in other posts. To make an effective (but simple) modification, the 'sensitivity' (orange interior) gain controls need adjusting just below 'full' turn and just for slightly better performance...it would be advisable to add more solder to the aerial connectors as they have a habit of coming very loose very easily. (mine are solid) and adding more solder to secure the aerial sockets also gives a better conncection.

The second modification is to replace the 'I'F filters (4 in total) which can be quite tricky if you don't know what you are doing...and this modification is the main procedure to gain full optimum performance.

To obtain the very best reception, you will need a rooftop aerial (without doubt) clear of obstructions, and if their is no way of installing a decent aerial for the ST-SB920 this tuner will not deliver much better than a bog standard tuner.

Well, if I have to mod it I would rather have someone do it who knows what they are doing. I probably will get a rooftop antenna at some point, when I do it is the question.

[Jack-UK]

One question if anyone can answer, this tuner has Narrow Band, what is this for and when would I use it?

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by Jack-UK

One question if anyone can answer, this tuner has Narrow Band, what is this for and when would I use it?

Narrowband is used to seperate two stations of which broadcast very close to each other.

Forinstance....if you have a station on 101.6 and on 101.8, the chances are that one station will 'bleed-over' the other station...this is where 'narrowband' does it's job by narrowing the input signal as normal FM is 'wideband' as standard. Also if you have a tuner that has been modified (ie...the internal I.F filters replaced to very narrow filters) it has been known to seperate two stations (ie...) on 101.6 and 101.7 with no bleed-over.

Normally if a tuner has narrowband...it can also have an 'attenuator' of which acts similar to a 'squelch' control and that 'lowers' the input of the incoming signal.

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by Jack-UK

Well, if I have to mod it I would rather have someone do it who knows what they are doing. I probably will get a rooftop antenna at some point, when I do it is the question.

There is a graphical website of which shows you exactly how to adjust the internal gain controls, it is very easy to do this if you simply want more gain and slightly better reception.

Here is the link: http://www.band2dx.info/sony/sony_sb920.htm the latter part maybe a little too complex for most (it is for me to be honest)

Look for the: *RF GAIN & STEREO SENSIVITY* section and you need to adjust the gain controls just short of full.

[Jack-UK]

Originally Posted by Gary Brenton

There is a graphical website of which shows you exactly how to adjust the internal gain controls, it is very easy to do this if you simply want more gain and slightly better reception.

Here is the link: http://www.band2dx.info/sony/sony_sb920.htm the latter part maybe a little too complex for most (it is for me to be honest)

Look for the: *RF GAIN & STEREO SENSIVITY* section and you need to adjust the gain controls just short of full.

Thanks, another question, if I mod the receiver for better reception and gain, what the chances of me destroying it? lol. Need to know what risks I am taking.

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by Jack-UK

Thanks, another question, if I mod the receiver for better reception and gain, what the chances of me destroying it? lol. Need to know what risks I am taking.

I would stick to the simple 'gain' control adjustments of which are effective...but easy and normally there would be no chance of destroying the tuner unless you turn the gain controls with a drill

You are perfectly safe...

[Jack-UK]

Originally Posted by Gary Brenton

I would stick to the simple 'gain' control adjustments of which are effective...but easy and normally there would be no chance of destroying the tuner unless you turn the gain controls with a drill

You are perfectly safe...

Cool well I've got the tuner now and it works really well, only problem is, I have no idea which screws to remove to get the cover off the box. There's so many different screws on the device I don't want to unscrew the wrong one and end up loosening a component or something. Any help? lol.

[brumlad36]

Originally Posted by Jack-UK

Cool well I've got the tuner now and it works really well, only problem is, I have no idea which screws to remove to get the cover off the box. There's so many different screws on the device I don't want to unscrew the wrong one and end up loosening a component or something. Any help? lol.

6 screws in total. 2 screws on the top and 4 screws (2 on each side) need to be undone.

Be careful not to get too carried away with the "Narrow Gain" control. I ended up putting it back to just over half way. Yes, the RDS and stereo do come in more readily, if the "Narrow Gain" control is set high, but you'll find that weak stations will disappear into the noise. Do the adjusting on a very weak station in mono and just listen to the noise level.

http://www.band2dx.info/sony/sony_sb920.htm

The "Stereo Level" adjustment is for the point at which the tuner goes into stereo. I've adjusted this to full, so that even weak stations go into stereo. Weak stations are hissy in stereo, but can be switched to mono by pressing the mono button on the front of the tuner, to remove the stereo hiss.

Chris.

[Jack-UK]

Originally Posted by brumlad36

6 screws in total. 2 screws on the top and 4 screws (2 on each side) need to be undone.

Be careful not to get too carried away with the "Narrow Gain" control. I ended up putting it back to just over half way. Yes, the RDS and stereo do come in more readily, if the "Narrow Gain" control is set high, but you'll find that weak stations will disappear into the noise. Do the adjusting on a very weak station in mono and just listen to the noise level.

http://www.band2dx.info/sony/sony_sb920.htm

The "Stereo Level" adjustment is for the point at which the tuner goes into stereo. I've adjusted this to full, so that even weak stations go into stereo. Weak stations are hissy in stereo, but can be switched to mono by pressing the mono button on the front of the tuner, to remove the stereo hiss.

Chris.

Thanks

[Jack-UK]

Just modded the tuner's gain control and I get RDS on Metro Radio (97.1) and BBC York (104.3) and Radio Hartlepool (102.4) it tries but doesn't come through

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by brumlad36

6 screws in total. 2 screws on the top and 4 screws (2 on each side) need to be undone.

Be careful not to get too carried away with the "Narrow Gain" control. I ended up putting it back to just over half way. Yes, the RDS and stereo do come in more readily, if the "Narrow Gain" control is set high, but you'll find that weak stations will disappear into the noise. Do the adjusting on a very weak station in mono and just listen to the noise level.

http://www.band2dx.info/sony/sony_sb920.htm

The "Stereo Level" adjustment is for the point at which the tuner goes into stereo. I've adjusted this to full, so that even weak stations go into stereo. Weak stations are hissy in stereo, but can be switched to mono by pressing the mono button on the front of the tuner, to remove the stereo hiss.

Chris.

I have my gain controls set just under full, and I was wondering if completely disabling the squelch would make any significant improvement? (JW75)

Weak stations are already hissy (which is the norm if the gains are adjusted) but if this is the case...what difference would disabling the squelch do?

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by Jack-UK

Just modded the tuner's gain control and I get RDS on Metro Radio (97.1) and BBC York (104.3) and Radio Hartlepool (102.4) it tries but doesn't come through

RDS will come through more on some stations more than others.

There are a couple of weak...but very listenable stations I can pick up...but with no RDS. A lot of the time it usually is the stations RDS encoder as some require more signal input than others.

Recently a station outside my area (107.2 The Wyre) had changed hands to Signal 107...and I could never recieve RDS on the wyre...but I can now since it has changed. They have obviously changed their RDS encoder or adjusted it as my tuner now locks into RDS straight away

[brumlad36]

Originally Posted by Gary Brenton

I have my gain controls set just under full, and I was wondering if completely disabling the squelch would make any significant improvement? (JW75)

Weak stations are already hissy (which is the norm if the gains are adjusted) but if this is the case...what difference would disabling the squelch do?

Hi Gary,

Removing the "Squelch/Mute" (links JW72 & JW75) makes no difference to the tuner's ability to receive signals, it just removes the irritating silence between each tuning step (only we DXers seem to want this)!

http://www.band2dx.info/sony/sony_sb920.htm

It's best to just cut the links, using small but sharp wire cutters. I say small, because JW72 is a very small link, located close to other components, so be careful!

As I said in my above message, I've ended up with the "Narrow Gain" control back to almost where it was set originally, (now on approx 1 o'clock position). I found that turning up the "Narrow Gain" too much, tends to make very weak stations get lost in the noise. So, it's a compromise between receiving reasonably strong stations with RDS, or the tuner being able to "hear" very weak stations.

Chris.