You know what? You're 100% right.
Mike You should definitely make a longwire antenna. As long as possible and get it up as high as possible.
Is Short-Wave Radio Still a Thing?
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You know what? You're 100% right.
Mike You should definitely make a longwire antenna. As long as possible and get it up as high as possible.
I had a Grundig that supposedly covered shortwave channels but it never really worked. Maybe didn't have the correct antenna.
Any idea where the antenna wire should go? The icons on the back of the radio is all Greek to me.
Mike, look for something like a coaxial socket. If you find one you need to attach your aerial to the centre core of the coax socket.
Regards,
Jay.
Regards,
Jay.
Our whole radio shack of voice and coded transmitters and receivers, though not the teletype machines we used, from the USS Gallant MSO 489, would probably fit in my pocket today. The radioman rating and shoulder patch are both historical; the patch featured a cluster of sparks. Somehow I managed to change from radioman to journalist with a quill pen patch. I worked very hard, mostly on midnight to 0800 watch, but was never the crackerjack radio jockey some my shipmates were. As I recall, we were deep in transistor technology, not vacuum tubes (that was WWII and Korea). Still, it is remarkable how small some of the tube gear was for aircraft and small craft. (My change of job rating is quite a story, but too long here.)
If you see screws or a coax next to something that looks like an upside down Xmas tree, that'll be it.
Somewhere in the garage is an old Telefunken Bajazzo my grandmother gave me for high school graduation bookoodles ago. I don't even know if it still works. I know a lot of hardcore SWL fans still do the radio bit & a lot of what was over the air SW is on the net now.I have fond memories as a kid playing with my great-grandfather's Grundig radio and listening to the Short wave band. It had a great big antenna and if you rolled the tuner slowly enough I could get stations from Ecuador.
I still have it, and thought it might be fun for the kids now. But is short wave still around? I know you can find anything instantly on the internet, but are there still some channels?
Mine is like this one:
I bought a shortwave radio from Amazon a few years back. I was looking for a simple battery powered radio Incase of power outages. The shortwave was only a few bucks more and included the weather bands.
I take it outside on Saturday nights, throw a wire with a lead fishing weight into the top of one of my palm trees, & clamp the other end the radio antenna. Mostly picks up American religious shows. Also get a lot of great live jazz from clubs in Havana. I’m in Orlando so those come in clearly. Of course it’s loaded with the usual propaganda but the live music is great. I can sometime get music from Athens, Greece, Ankara, Turkey, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Those fade in and out pretty quickly. Interesting to listen to while you have them. I’ll usually fool around with it until my pipes burns out and then it’s time to reel in my wire.
I take it outside on Saturday nights, throw a wire with a lead fishing weight into the top of one of my palm trees, & clamp the other end the radio antenna. Mostly picks up American religious shows. Also get a lot of great live jazz from clubs in Havana. I’m in Orlando so those come in clearly. Of course it’s loaded with the usual propaganda but the live music is great. I can sometime get music from Athens, Greece, Ankara, Turkey, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Those fade in and out pretty quickly. Interesting to listen to while you have them. I’ll usually fool around with it until my pipes burns out and then it’s time to reel in my wire.
But where is the fun in that Bill? I'm also seeing if I can turn this into some sort of science lesson for my impromptu home schooling academy.
That sounds just about perfect.
"Of course it’s loaded with the usual propaganda but...."
Magicpiper, I remember well my contacts with Pyongyang in North Korea as a kid back in the 1970's. As a young teenager I was pretty ignorant but after my QSL request, which was confirmed, I was inundated with political bumf from said station (still have most) but my father was concerned (partly due to his occupation) so advised me not to contact Pyongyang Radio ever again!
Regards,
Jay.
Magicpiper, I remember well my contacts with Pyongyang in North Korea as a kid back in the 1970's. As a young teenager I was pretty ignorant but after my QSL request, which was confirmed, I was inundated with political bumf from said station (still have most) but my father was concerned (partly due to his occupation) so advised me not to contact Pyongyang Radio ever again!
Regards,
Jay.
Much appreciated! I didn't get a chance to play with it last night. I have some electronics cleaner in going to use in there for though, its pretty dirty.
I'd be thrilled to get something from that far away.
These days you don't even need a physical radio if you want to explore and listen to the shortwave bands. There's many online SDR radios (software defined radio).
A good one to try is the radio at the University of Twente (Netherlands).
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
You can zoom in and out on the whole shortwave spectrum, select your modulation type (e.g. AM) and click your mouse on a strong broadcast signal and you should hear it from your computer speakers.
There are other signals you can listen to such as CW (Morse Code, yes still used!), SSB (single side band), there are even still spy stations with coded messages.
A good one to try is the radio at the University of Twente (Netherlands).
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
You can zoom in and out on the whole shortwave spectrum, select your modulation type (e.g. AM) and click your mouse on a strong broadcast signal and you should hear it from your computer speakers.
There are other signals you can listen to such as CW (Morse Code, yes still used!), SSB (single side band), there are even still spy stations with coded messages.
"These days you don't even need a physical radio if you want to explore and listen to the shortwave bands. There's many online SDR radios (software defined radio)."
Sholto, you are quite correct but I think you are missing the whole point. There's nothing quite like weeding out a very weak signal from half way around the world and fighting through the mush (interference, static etc) to listen to say La Voz De Los Andes in Quito, Ecuador.
Regards,
Jay. ?
Sholto, you are quite correct but I think you are missing the whole point. There's nothing quite like weeding out a very weak signal from half way around the world and fighting through the mush (interference, static etc) to listen to say La Voz De Los Andes in Quito, Ecuador.
Regards,
Jay. ?
I love hands on radio as much as anyone!
I've built and operate many of my own radios. I get a lot of nostalgic pleasure out of using Morse Code and other methods to chat with friends around the world often using about the same power as a flashlight.Check out the RSPdx on the SDRplay website. I have the earlier RSPPro it was cheap and it works great. Harnessing the computing power of today’s PCs for signal processing and monitor spectrum display and audio is far advanced over the capability of even the finest radios of yesterday. Using such a device, or any receiver or scanner, requires understanding of spectrum propagation characteristics and proper feedlines and antennas in addition to how the spectrum segments are used. There are many online resources and many effective antennas can be homebrewed. Not necessary to sell off your pipe collection to do this. De K4UQ K
I pulled out my shortwave a couple of years ago. A lot of the better stations have closed. I would guess this is due to access to the internet being everywhere. It used to be when you would travel abroad you could throw your shortwave into suitcase and use it to keep up on news from back home, but it is so easy now just to pull out your phone or laptop.
That being said, there are still interesting things to be found. On 20 meters I found a DX event being run on the east Coast of the US. It was interesting to hear from where all each station was checking in from.
I have been reading with C19 that there is a surge of interest in radio comms. People stuck at home with not so much to do looking for ways to connect.
That being said, there are still interesting things to be found. On 20 meters I found a DX event being run on the east Coast of the US. It was interesting to hear from where all each station was checking in from.
I have been reading with C19 that there is a surge of interest in radio comms. People stuck at home with not so much to do looking for ways to connect.
I'd like just to see what's out there. Sure there are apps where you can hear stations from anywhere, but I like the idea of just seeing what I can pickup.
If I have an antenna on my roof for TV, could I hook up a wire to it for the radio and make it serve two purposes?
If I have an antenna on my roof for TV, could I hook up a wire to it for the radio and make it serve two purposes?
Yes.
There is a difference between an antenna to get your feet wet and the antenna you should have if you enjoy this. Your TV antenna and the wire going to it will make a good enough starter antenna.
Eventually, something like this would be what you want.
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