Foundations of Amateur Radio - Episode 121 Today I have a confession to make. Looking back it's clear that once your brain goes down a certain path, it's easier to follow the path than to find an alternative one. When I was growing up, above my bed, bolted to the wall were two brackets. On top of those brackets, secured with double-sided tape was a radio-cassette player. If you're unfamiliar with what an audio cassette is, don't worry, this is about the radio side of things and is from the days when Digital Music was not in wide use like it is today. This week I have an a-ha! moment when I discover something that's so obvious that I missed it. Foundations of Amateur Radio is a weekly podcast about the 1000 different hobbies - including being a short-wave listener - that make up this wonderful community. You can listen on-air, on-line and on-demand. Download your personal copy from the website at http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/, or subscribe using your favourite podcasting tool. Onno VK6FLAB
Whatya think John...is that there one of those FRACTAL ANTENNAS on that squawk box in the picture? Infringement;-)?
I did not have a squawk box when i was young, i purchased this second hand when i was 15 years old. The old HMV in a suitcase radio gram that had valves, great sound and still have today and working.
For a few various reasons many Ham Radios are poor General Coverage receivers even if they cover the frequency of interest. Some work OK , some really SUCK , and none beat a receiver designed specifically for General Coverage. Ultimately a Ham Radio is designed for best performance in the Ham bands for Ham Radio communications. Their MW - SW - VHF or UHF coverage is just a extra , but less important bonus. That being the case , the manufacturers didn't and don't optimize the design for that purpose. The expensive Ham Radio may even work worse than a 10 dollar K-Mart radio when used for General Coverage duties. gregW OH2FFY
The tradeoffs in design and performance between general coverage and communications receivers are common knowledge for most technically oriented and/or veteran amateurs. For a long time there has been a substantial group of so called "Ultralight" radio listening enthusiasts. No doubt strongly connected with the QRP movement in HR. Explanation from Scandinavia, https://barentsdx.wordpress.com/ultralight-dxing/ My favorite Ultralight AM BCB rig is the Sony SRF-59 with its unique architecture and proprietary IC. I have several. It has a cult following, many have modified it, including for SWL. Read about its Theory of Operation in the first link below, http://earmark.net/gesr/srf59.htm https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/am-broadcast-band-dxing-with-a-3-50-radio/ John, WØPV
When I was a child of about 5 yrs. of age 1953 my parents had an old floor model radio that covered the shortwave bands as well as std. AM radio stations. We lived on a farm near a very a small town with about pop.about 100 people counting cats and dogs lol. But I do remember the hours that I spent listening to foreign stations on that radio, my father even put up a world map in my bedroom where I placed pins for countries that could hear at night. Then jump to the early 70's when I found CB radios and at the time would "shoot skip" as it was referred to at the time, not legal but still did it. In 1975 I bought a Sony CRF-320 receiver which I promptly installed a multi-band SW antenna about 150' long, was living in the Denver foothills then so had good listening area. Those were the foundations that brought me finally to ham radio later in life, wish it had been sooner instead of later for me, as no one can do everything in the hobby in a single lifetime! 73, Fred/N0AZZ
this segment is bs all of my hf radios work well on shortwave. depending on what radio you buy the cheap ones suck you get what you pay for. this is not rocket science the antenna is the heart of what you are working or listening. this guy is annoying did he go to a high end school to talk I know it all. stick a fork in it.
I find that my HF Communications Gear (All commercial marine equipment) to be generally inferior to my general coverage shortwave broadcast receivers for general short wave listening. Here is why: . Narrow Communications Filters - Generally 2.7Khz or less : this makes tuning AM in AM mode (if the radio has AM RX painful, and even after tuning the audio is restricted) . As noted above not all have AM RX, many count on zero beating the am signal in SSB. . Slow tuning of wide frequency ranges. : with my Halicrafters S-240 (transistor AM/FM/SW set with BFO from the 1970s) I can tune the entire SW spectrum in 3 bands and quickly find broadcast stations, even if some of them move around from time to time. : With my TW-100 I have 100Hz steps to walk through the entire spectrum and it takes a while. : With my SGC SG-2000's I do have the ability to change tuning rate, but it is still cumbersome to try to find a SW Broadcast station in what is now a vast wasteland of un-used SW spectrum. : Even my Sony portable cassette/AM/FM/SW with no bfo that only covers 6-18Mhz, which was my seagoing broadcast RX when I was traversing the oceans for a living does a better job for general listening than my much more expensive communications gear. I still use this radio on my sailboat for broadcast in spite of having an Icom Marine SSB with 1.8-30 Mhz coverage on the boat. . For broadcasts there is nothing that beats a nice wide filter. : If I am listening to a broadcast with a good signal I want the fidelity. : If the SNR is not good and I really need to listen to the station for important information I can tune it in on my communications gear and hit it with a 2.7 Khz or less filter in USB, but I hate to listen to music that way, and even female radio hosts are nasty on the ears under those circumstances. If I could not own a general coverage SW RX and had to only use my communications gear for SW listening I could, but I find it suboptimal, even when the gear is designed to cover the entire SW spectrum. Communications quality audio is exactly what one needs to get messages through in difficult conditions, but it does not allow for the full enjoyment of what are much wider bandwidth BROADCASTS from high powered stations. Check the power levels of some of the shortwave broadcasters. The VOA out of SC runs over 250MW. Most other broadcasters run similar power levels, so it is rare that SNR is an issue with shortwave listening.
Try a Software Defined Radio. Join the 21st Century. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/new-rtl-sdr...software-switchable-bias-tee-less-noisespurs/ $25 AF4RK
AF4RK - SDR has it's place, but they are very subject to front end overload and desense. I have more than one SDR and find that in New York City they are often sub optimal when one wants to listen to a specific signal. When I travel out of the city the SDR preforms as one would hope.
Even my basic TS-440 has a filter passband of 6khz for wide setting. So did my 140, and my friend's 570. Calling BS!
