Buggy radio

[WQ9E]

It wouldn't be surprising for a fairly early synthesized shortwave receiver to have a computer bug but my recently acquired Panasonic RF-B600 shortwave receiver  (circa 1985) sometimes suffered from erratic tuning when using the knob control.  Since cycling the switches (one locks the tuning and the other shifts from 1 Khz to 100 hz steps) would sometimes seem to cure the problem I assumed the problem lay with them or the circuit board.  However I found nothing wrong there and a closer look at the optical encoder used for tuning revealed a cute little silver spider who apparently had set up housekeeping and would sometimes perch on one of the LED emitters or receptors.  I guess when he was bored he probably went for a spin on the encoder wheel.  After moving him to a houseplant, the radio works fine.  It will make a nice bedside tabletop radio.

[W1FVB]

I've heard about this... I think it's called web radio 

[w3jn]

Wow, of ALL the places in that radio for the spider to take up residence 

[KA2DZT]

Having worked on antennas for decades, I can tell you that nearly every antenna has a little spider that lives in the space between the mast and the brackets.  I always called them antenna spiders.  I have no idea what the hell he is doing way up there,  but he is there.  I've seen these little guys hundreds of times.

Fred

[WA3VJB]

What is it with spiders, lately ?

Mazda recalled some of their late model cars after finding spiders taking up roost in the gasoline plumbing.

[W1RKW]

I had a tiny little spider get into the bedroom smoke detector some time ago.  The detector would intermittently go off in the middle of the night always around 2AM.  Took it apart to clean it and a tiny little spider came out from the sensor.

[W2DU]

When I first saw the title to this thread I thought it was going to be about installing a radio in a buggy. I conjured up Amish or Mennonites. Talk about creative minds!

Walt

[K6JEK]

Spider set my antenna on fire.  Whoosh.  I had a W9INN with it's patented Resonactors i.e, coils wound on PVC.  I could see the antenna from the shack.  One fine 75M rag chewing day as I was explaining the intricacies of special relativity on 3870 I saw a patented resonactor smoking, not a little, a lot.  SWR had been fine. Power was normal.  What the hell?  I shut down.  It stopped burning.

A spider had made a regular rope of web from the terminal at one end to the terminal at the other end.  That plus damp conditions made a resistor which didn't agree with what I was saying and got hot enough to smoke the PVC.  Why it went out, I don't know.

[WQ9E]

The spider free Panasonic RF-B600 is doing receive duty with the Ranger/Desk KW this morning but it definitely isn't a permanent replacement for the SX-88 and Drake R-8 that are normally used.  I was just curious how well it works under tougher conditions and it isn't bad for a moderately priced consumer grade shortwave receiver.

The saboteur spider is living in the banana tree which will soon go outside for the spring.  Except for the antenna issue mentioned by a previous poster generally spiders don't cause much damage unlike mice.  So far I have not come across a rig with spider chewed insulation nor do I feel the need to clean "spider droppings".  I was cautioned by the seller of my homebrew rack transmitter that it had been stored in a warehouse known to be inhabited by brown recluse spiders so it was fumigated inside a plastic tent before it moved inside.