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HowTo Wire Radio Speakers to Audio-In on TV-VCR Combo

I like to record the Coast To Coast AM radio program which airs on local radio from 12am to 5am nightly. I have a TV-VCR combo that will support recording an external source.

In the front of the TV-VCR there are two female RCA [1] inputs, one input labeled Video and the other input labeled Audio. In the rear of the TV-VCR there are -- two pairs -- of RCA inputs, one pair labeled Audio in and Audio out and the other pair labeled Audio in and Audio out.

I know I can set the TV-VCR to Line 1 to record input from an external device. Can somebody help explain to me how to wire the speakers (output) of an AM radio to interface with the TV-VCR to enable recording radio programming (input) to the VCR?

Reply to
12 String
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"12 String" wrote in news:46d6e469$0$18945$ snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com:

As far as I know, AM is always mono, even though there have been stereo AM broadcasts tried, so you only need to tap one speaker output.

First see if the radio has a line output, and use it if so.

Second, try the connection direct to an audio line input IF you have a volume control directly on that input to attenuate the signal. I doubt your system has one though, but if it does, setting the input (record) volume low, and the radio speaker volume about 2/3 of the way up and carefully raising the record volume is an easy way to get a decent signal to noise ratio as well as safely matching levels.

Third, and you might need to do this, get an 8 ohm wirewound speaker volume control pot, and connect one speaker across that and set the volume sent to wiper referencing the ground end for the line to the recorder. If you can't find such a pot, get 8 to 10 small metal film resistors, 1 ohm each, in a series chain and tap from the ground end till you get a decent signal. (If you hear distortion, go down a notch on the chain, unless you always hear it, in which case back off on the radio volume instead).

There are plenty of far more sophisticated plans to follow but this one will probably get you there most cheaply.

Reply to
Lostgallifreyan

It likely that the volume need to turned up just barely. The VCR's have a wide range of automatic volume control, and turning it up will just make the VCR turn it down. Hum could be a problem, and an input isolation transformer can eliminate ground loops. Chances are it will work anyway. If listening to the radio at the same time is necesary, then the resistor attenuator can be used.

greg

Reply to
GregS

snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net (GregS) wrote in news:fb6rk9$rkf$ snipped-for-privacy@usenet01.srv.cis.pitt.edu:

Great, so turn it UP. That's the only way to over-ride the otherwise poor signal to noise ratio you'll get. Ask any studio engineer, the way to avoid accumulating noise is to feed a strong signal into an attenuator, not to boost a weak one when you don't need to.

Reply to
Lostgallifreyan

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