REA AM Monitor

[flintstone mop]

I almost had a nice QSO on 75M (3885) this morning with a nice group mostly on the East Coast. SSB and other AM QSO's a few KC away made it impossible to continue.
Several stations are using the REA AM monitor...?K2JXX, N1IBV(?) It's a sweet little piece of technology.............BUT the price went up dramatically. I remember when it was first introduced, that it was close to my price range of $395? Now it's $495 and you have to order and pay up front for the next batch to be manufactured.
I'm still happy with my Tektronix 'scope. I may not see Neg carrier shift, I adjust modulation to avoid "baselining" the Neg modulation. The Pos peaks are more than 100% and that's all I need to know.
Fred

[KF1Z]

Hi Fred....

I didn't realize that was you, until Wayne came in... just as you left...
Too bad the "VAN man" had to ruin the QSO!!

Was me, (kf1z), kc2jxx, n1viv, wa3jbt, wa1ssj.



The monitor price (if available) is $449.  "only" a $50 increase..


""....and you have to order and pay up front for the next batch to be manufactured. ""

That was just speculation among the others on frequency.

Some folks are hoping that REA will continue to offer the monitor, and were saying that MAYBE if enough people ordered/payed ahead of time, that it would happen!

The only way for anyone to know for sure is to call , and ask....


Hope next time we can talk for a bit longer!

bruce

[KF1Z]

REA/Radio Engineering Associates is Steve/WA1QIX. The monitor price went up after someone wrote up a review in ER and stated that it was being sold "too cheap". I hope reviewers don't make the price a standard review item any more!

I doubt very much the review had anything to do with the price increase...
Most likely the cost of parts and labor increase.
Lots of other determining factors other than a review.....

[KF1Z]

No way to know for sure, just seemed strange that the price went up immediately after the ER review. It's still a very good deal at the current price, since the old AM BC station monitors sell for so much now and most of them are not useful over a wide frequency range. The required time constant on meters back then makes them suspect for actually displaying true peaks. The LED array should handle the job very accurately. Modulation monitors are not necessary when using properly setup and accurate scopes for monitoring modulation anyway.

Well, maybe just coincident timing......
Some people are the kind that would take advantage, and grab a few extra bucks in the wake of a review ....
Steve isn't that kind of person....


One definite advantage a monitor of this sort is that you can SEE, and HEAR your modulation.....
That alone to me as a "new builder", is worth having for the $$.
You know before getting any signal reports what you sound like on the air....


At any rate... time will tell if more of these are produced in the future!

[kc2ifr]

I have one of Steves mod monitors and love it. IMHO Steve was selling it to cheap. This thing works as well if not better than some of the commercial monitors. After talking with Steve I understand why he raised the price. If he did not, he would have had to discontinue making it. This thing is no toy and Steve is NOT a big company. All the contributions Steve has made to AM radio speak for themselves.
Bill 

[steve_qix]

Well, I guess I'll chime in 

First, the price.  The price of the monitor went up because the price of materials (remember, at the time how much the price of aluminum, copper and other commodities went up dramatically).  Well, parts, labor, pc boards, etc. all went up too, and some more than the 10% increase.  For instance, one of the ICs went from .80 (80 cents) to $6.00 during that period of time.  Weird, but that's what that particular part did.  Fortunately, there is only one in the system!

The review had nothing to do with it.  The price increase was planned from the introduction of the product, because, by the time the monitor was shipping, the price of many of the components (notably, the case (aluminum), the PC board, the RF pickup prices (again, aluminum) and most of the components had also gone up.  If we started again, today, with the current prices, the unit would cost well over $500.00.  Try to buy another modulation monitor for that price (new, obviously) 

Some interesting statistics:  About 1/2 of the monitors went to broadcast stations of various sorts.  The rest went to hams, hobbiests (part 15) and the like.

Only one monitor was returned.  Apparently it didn't fit into the customer's physical space.  One monitor failed in the field due to a power overload.  We repaired it under warrantee anyway.  That customer ended up buying another unit for his small chain of broadcast stations!  10% of the monitors were shipped out of the country.  We had one wall wart fail.  We replaced it under warrantee.   One customer blew out an RF pickup by connecting a 15 watt unit to a 1000 watt broadcast transmitter    Customer repaired the unit after speaking with support about how to do so. 

The monitors are built in the USA.  The case is manufactured in Connecticut.  The PC boards are assembled and tested in Vermont.  The final assembly and test is done in Townsend.  4 people were responsible for the construction, testing and technical support of all the monitors.

Serial number 1 is owned by K6JEK.  Serial number 2 is owned by KD3CN.  I am still using a prototype unit which is over 3 years old.

As a seasoned software developer, and previous owner of 3 software development companies, I can tell you hardware is MUCH MUCH harder to get "out the door" than software     When I first started at Digital Equipment Corporation back in 1980 or so, I was in hardware - and QUICKLY got tired of it and went into software.  Oh well !!!

Interesting stuff, for sure.

Regards,

Steve

[steve_qix]

So Steve, since you're the proverbial "horses mouth" on this deal, is the monitor available now, waiting for another production run or enough orders to start another production run? Where does the future life of the monitor stand at this point?

Well, right at this very moment, the monitors are on back order.  Expecting product within the next couple of weeks.  This will complete the current production run.  We're in the process of acquiring prices to do another run, but at this time, we do not have enough information to make a decision.

That's about it for now !  It's probable all of these last units will go to hams.  The broadcasters can spend the big bucks on the Belar or Inovonics units!

Talk later and Regards,

Steve

[K6JEK]

Unsolicited testimonial:   It's fabulous.

I also have the Belar AMM-3A.   The REA monitor is more useful.   I keep the AMM-3A because, gosh, it has huge back lit meters.   The LED bar graphs on the REA are more useful.   

I also have a scope I can turn on but I find reading the modulation monitor much easier and more precise.   

So here's what I think all you guys who don't have one should do.   Buy one now just in case they aren't available later.

[N1ESE]

I fell in love with the REA unit first time I visited W1IA. I'm definitely going to need one for my AM station.  Hopefully Steve will be doing another run after this run he is working on now. 
 
- JT

[WA3VJB]

Stu AB2EZ has offered an improvement to the monitor, a circuit that automatically sets the carrier level.

Steve did you pass that along to the company (?) that is making these for you ?

Maybe Stu can be another subcontractor for this project; the mysterious 5th Beatle.

It's nice that your group has been able to put this together for so many people. How many do you think were made ?

The monitors are built in the USA.  The case is manufactured in Connecticut.  The PC boards are assembled and tested in Vermont.  The final assembly and test is done in Townsend.  4 people were responsible for the construction, testing and technical support of all the monitors.

[KF1Z]

That AGC  circuit Stu came up with was for using the mod-monitor with a receiver...
To "cancel out"  fading, etc. while using the monitor to look at received signals.

I suppose you could use it as a means of not having to adjust the carrier level, if your transmitter power tends to vary.....


Bruce, in sunny Verminmont......

[WA3VJB]

Exactly, that's what made the monitor all the more useful.
Are you involved in the production, and did that upgrade make it to the design?

[WA1GFZ]

Steve visited me on one of his trips to Ct. for a load of metal. I'm sure he has put many hours of unpaid labor into this product. It is fun to make a few boxes for your friends but when it becomes a business there is no point in busting your butt for nothing in return. How many of you guys would do all that work to make $50 a box.
The mod monitor has many components and lots of labor to assemble. Maybe he could offer a kit as a way to reduce price but be prepared to spend some time building. The nice thing was it ran on low power.

 

[steve_qix]

An AGC circuit may be an add-on accessory for the mod monitor in the future, assuming we make more monitors.  I've got one (an AGC circuit) here that works with the existing RF pickup units.  One of the thoughts is to provide an "accessory plug" on the monitor itself for such things.  However, an AGC can be added right now by simply putting the AGC between the monitor and the RF pickup unit.

Regards,

Steve

[w3jn]

I have a HP8901A mod monitor - a truly great piece of equipment, with freq counter, super lo distortion detector, switchable audio hi/lo pass filters, +/- peak hold, etc.,  but what drives me nuts about its AGC is that the loop sets stepped attenuators in the front end so on a fading signal it's whacking the attenuation back and forth.  You hafta disable the auto attenuation to use it on receive.  Also the thing is at least twice the size of Steve's box vertically and probably 10X the volume.  As an added bonus has a somewhat noisy fan.  Still, for a hunnert bux on eBay it's very useful for testing but not as nice as Steve's solution for in-the-shack, on-air usage.

[WA1GFZ]

Yup, and the average scope needs a hundred watts to light up. So in time it will pay for itself in tricity usage.