My New Shortwave Reciever Is Awesome

[Don_G]

The local stations and cable TV provider is no longer my "source" of news and music and I can listen to anyone of the Ham Operaters in the area and in the world when "news" happens.

The Internet will be my secondary source as Dimbo has proved a "robot.txt" command in HTML will guarentee search engines will "overlook" the information.

[madrchsod]

1. ok what did you buy and

what kind of aerial are you using..

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

2. I want one !

where can I ge a shortwave?
I would have to listen to english broadcasts but that'd be cool.

[Mika]

3. Please, fill us in

Hi Don :hi:

Whatcha get? Got a link?

What do you do for a "program guide" w/SW?

Thanks in advance.

[Don_G]

4. Icom R-75 Reciever

With a home-brew AARL antenna.

I'll let you know how far my experiments take me, but I've also bought my equipment from a "cat-friendly" dealer in Ohio who was more than willing to work with me to get the equpiment delivered.

Damm, there's something worth listening to Radio again and it's all outside America!!!

[stevedeshazer]

6. That is an awesome receiver

What's your 20?

[jmowreader]

8. QTH, not "20"

On http://www.fgbestcommunications.com/qcodes.html you can find a list of most of the Q codes telegraphers use. QTH is "your location."

10-20 is so CB.

QSP Don_G?

[BiggJawn]

13. R-75 is a good 'un!

My main rig is a Hallicrafter's SX-73

Check out the interior pix here:
http://hug-a-bug.com/SX-73.html

It's a bitch to align and overhaul...

And never mind the cats, I'd like to meet the Office Manager (Mrowr!)

[DemoTex]

14. Boat anchor

But a damned good boat anchor. I'd love a SX-73 in my shack.

[cprise]

5. Hey cool, you can listen to shortwave radios on the Internet!

http://www.javoradio.com/servlet/IBMainServlet/?ib_page=1

This is new to me...

[NJCher]

7. keep us posted

About your impressions, perspectives.

I would love to dump U.S. radio and go with a setup like yours.


Cher

[thatgemguy]

9. Welcome to the world....

of shortwave listening. I've had shortwave receivers most of my life, and I don't know how I could get by without them.

Just being able to hear different news broadcasts from around the world and all of the different viewpoints. Even the VOA is interesting, to hear the spin that our government broadcasts to the rest of the world.

I'd recommend getting your hands on an issue of "Monitoring Times" it's like a monthly program guide with frequencies and programs of stations around the world. You can download a sample copy to your computer at .

Another great source of entertainment on shortwave are the unlicensed "Pirate Radio" broadcasts. Learn more at .

One of my favorite stations is WBCQ from Kennebunk, ME.(5105, 7415, 9330 kHz. evenings) real free speech radio. They carry a wide variety of diverse programming. Not all of it is for everyone, but it's great to hear and to be able to sort out the BS for yourself. Radio New York International, with Johnny Lightning on Sunday evenings (7415) at 8 P.M. Eastern., is a must hear...

I know the cat friendly radio place in Ohio, if you ever get to stop in there, you'll love it!!! The ultimate big boys toy store!

Consider getting your amateur radio license too. The No-Code Tech ticket is the easiest way into the hobby, a simple test which you can master with a couple of nights study.

Again, welcome to the WORLD!!!!

[NJCher]

10. thanks gemguy!

I intend to follow up on your suggestions. I'm really excited about getting away from U.S. media.


Cher

[DemoTex]

11. Welcome to the world of SWLing!

ICOM makes great gear. I have an ICOM 756-PRO HF transciever and an ICOM 706 for mobile HF/6 and 2 meter ham operations.

You might want to look into subscribing to Monitoring Times http://www.grove-ent.com/ . It is a great source of up-to-date worldwide frequency and program information.

[Pobeka]

12. My shortwave links -- various and sundry

The first link here is a cool website that gives frequency listings for what's currently playing.

A lot of these are antenna and antenna tuning related sites.

http://www.anarc.org/naswa/swlguide/
http://home.t-online.de/home/jgrossklass/sony7600.htm
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/
http://www.hfradio.org/
http://www.fineware-swl.com/schedules/TextListing.html
http://www.seboldt.net/k0jd/z-match.html
http://bellota.ele.uva.es/~jesus/rtty/rtty-2.0/
http://www.circuitsage.com/matching.html
http://users.erols.com/k3mt/hla/hla.htm
http://www.qrz.com/download/antennas/index.html
http://pages.ca.inter.net/~funk/page6.html
http://www.tpub.com/neets/book9/34h.htm
http://www.bavarian-contest-club.de/projects/presel/list.htm
http://www.nzart.org.nz/nzart/examinat/amateur%20radio%20study%20guide/Course%20Files/Caps%20Inductors%20Resonance/STUDY%20NOTES%20-%20CAPACITORS%20INDUCTORS%20&%20RESONANCE.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuits/AC/AC_6.html
http://rleweb.mit.edu/vlsi/codes.htm
http://www.qsl.net/in3otd/cg_readme.html
http://www.qsl.net/in3otd/indcalc.html
http://fermi.la.asu.edu/w9cf/articles/tuner/
http://www.scudc.scu.edu/mentortu/ucb_spice3.html
http://www.radiohc.org/Distributions/arnie.html
http://telecomanda.go.ro/linkuri/schemepentrutoti.htm
http://www.w7dk.org/main.htm
http://www.cebik.com/radio.html
http://www.cebik.com/
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/antenna/special/bromstik.html
http://www.aksarbenarc.org/links/antenna-homebrew.shtml
http://members.fortunecity.com/xe1bef/loop.htm
http://www.qsl.net/g4fon/
http://www.qsl.net/dl9rdz/#psk

[welshTerrier2]

15. my best shortwave advice

there is an excellent website (radio netherlands) to read shortwave radio reviews: http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/rx_sort2.html

i would also highly recommend buying or checking out at your library the 2004 edition of "Passport to World Band Radio" ... they also include excellent reviews of radios ... this book is a must for those who have shortwave radios ... the program schedules are invaluable ...

for what it's worth, i narrowed my shopping down to 2 portable models ... they are not as good as the high-end tabletops but they cost way less and you probably don't need an expensive radio unless you're really into hunting for obscure stuff ... the main international broadcast stations can be heard fairly easily with a good portable ...

my decision came down to the Sony 7600GR (between $139 and $179) and the Sangean 909 (around $239 ?)... both got excellent reviews ... i went with the Sony because it has "synchronous detection" which helps the radio "lock on" a signal ... the Sangean may be more feature- rich, but i think the Sony has the edge on signal reception ...

one important note, the a/c adapter on the Sony appears to be a known problem ... the a/c works great for fm and also for the am band ... but on shortwave there is plenty of hum ... i've solved this problem by buying nickel hydride rechargeable batteries (and a recharger) from radio shack (about $22.95 includes the 4 batteries) ... the Sony 7600GR works great on batteries and the unit becomes a real portable ... btw, the a/c is usually extra ... you may not really need it ... my rechargeables last for around 2 months using the radio for about an hour a day ... recharging takes about 15 hours ...

2 great stations that are at times almost as good as reading DU posts are Radio for Peace International (7445 khz) (UPDATE: are they still on the air??) and Radio Havana Cuba (6000 khz) ... both are on the air in english for many hours in the evening ... both have very strong signals in the US ...

finally, i'll repeat the info i posted about english language shortwave broadcasts available on the web WITHOUT a radio ...

check out the following websites:

australia: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/audio/englishlive.htm
canada: http://www.rcinet.ca/Scripts/default.asp?s1=Programmes
china: http://www.crienglish.com/news/# (couldn't get audio to work)
france: http://www.radiofranceinternationale.com/ (click on english)
germany: http://www.dw-world.de/english
great britain: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml (bbc)
iran: http://www.iribnews.com/front_en.ASP?sec=front_en (website only ... no audio)
israel: http://www.israelradio.org/english.html (2 newscasts per day)
japan: http://www.nhk.or.jp/rj/index_e.html
netherlands: http://www.rnw.nl/distrib/realaudio/html/english.html
new zealand: http://xtramsn.co.nz/musicandvideo/0,,6151,00.html
pakistan: http://www.arab2.com/radiotv/pakistan-tv-television.htm
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=100 (french audio - english website)
vietnam: http://www.vov.org.vn/amthanh1/weeklypage.htm

[Pobeka]

16. I decided on a Sony 7600GR as well.

For the same reasons as you. I don't fantasize it's as good as tabletop, but it fits my needs for now. I have had it about a year and am quite happy with it. I just today got a more legitimate external antenna up (was using my downspout).

Listening to the BBC on 6135 khz right now...

Thanks for your links!