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AstroZamboni posted:You will enjoy many sleepless nights, and the days after these sleepless nights you will rue the day this thread came to be. Welcome to the party! Bought an e5, 100' of speaker wire, and the Passport to World Band Radio.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 17:45 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 10:38 |
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Okay, monetary drain stats added to the OP. Frightening, actually. Looking at the numbers I'm stunned that this happened.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 18:45 |
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AstroZamboni posted:Okay, monetary drain stats added to the OP. Frightening, actually. Looking at the numbers I'm stunned that this happened. I bet the actual numbers are higher than that too -- but people either don't want to admit they got sucked in, or went and bought something and then never checked back in.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 18:50 |
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StarkRavingMad posted:I bet the actual numbers are higher than that too -- but people either don't want to admit they got sucked in, or went and bought something and then never checked back in. Yikes.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 19:03 |
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StarkRavingMad posted:I bet the actual numbers are higher than that too -- but people either don't want to admit they got sucked in, or went and bought something and then never checked back in. Yeah, I just bought Passport to World Band Radio too.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 20:45 |
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The monetary drain figure does not include my Grundig Satellit 700 or Panasonic RF-1150, purchased for a total of 60. Although once I actually get around to buying an antenna that will surely increase. The contact on the Satellit is loose so it loses power sometimes. I am thinking of taking it in to get some soldering done to correct that, since I don't want to do the job myself and risk losing it. I am also still trying to locate a manual. edit: Oh, I get it. The financial drain is for radios purchased as a result of reading this thread. We should have someone with archives access go back through our several dozen SW threads and total the amount that goons have spent due to them. I know in every thread there are at least 4 goons who buy decent radios. Hell, I bought mine because of one of the old SW threads.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 20:51 |
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I bought Passport to World Band radio, World Radio TV Handbook and The ARRL Antenna Book about 4 months ago. I got a good deal on the ARRL book since the cover is creased and the CD is smashed. Way to go warehouse handling (I hate the bastards in the dairy warehouse for smashing my eggs all the time). I have to get around to reading these sometime. I've been reading Old Time Radios! on and off for the last 8 months. Anything remotely technical puts me right off to sleep after 3 pages. I refuse to look at any of the new digital radios for fear of wanting one and further increasing my debt. Besides, I'd probably buy one, listen to it for like a couple weeks tops then move onto something else.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 22:05 |
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Well my wire and antenna connectors and such ran me $10, I was already planning on buying my Yaesu (as in before this thread), and have been saving for it for a couple months, but if you want to count it it was $300.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 23:20 |
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AstroZamboni posted:Okay, monetary drain stats added to the OP. Frightening, actually. Looking at the numbers I'm stunned that this happened. Just dropped another $105 for a Sony AN-LP1 antenna off of eBay.
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 23:40 |
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I was poking around a pawn shop today during lunch and there was a Grundig S350DL for 40 dollars, I said what the hell and got it. After getting home and starting to read reviews online it seems I got a really expensive AM radio that will never get anything interesting. Any rays of hope or are the negative reviews pretty much spot on?
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# ? Jun 14, 2007 23:52 |
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4outof5 posted:I was poking around a pawn shop today during lunch and there was a Grundig S350DL for 40 dollars, I said what the hell and got it. After getting home and starting to read reviews online it seems I got a really expensive AM radio that will never get anything interesting. Any rays of hope or are the negative reviews pretty much spot on? Hey, no matter what a review says, just give it a spin and see what comes up. You may be surprised!
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 00:00 |
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4outof5 posted:I was poking around a pawn shop today during lunch and there was a Grundig S350DL for 40 dollars, I said what the hell and got it. After getting home and starting to read reviews online it seems I got a really expensive AM radio that will never get anything interesting. Any rays of hope or are the negative reviews pretty much spot on? I ordered the S350DL online and paid $40. It got here and turned out to be a S350 (sans DL), you can pickup some decent stuff with it outside at night. Have fun with it, it was probably worth the $40.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 00:11 |
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4outof5 posted:I was poking around a pawn shop today during lunch and there was a Grundig S350DL for 40 dollars, I said what the hell and got it. After getting home and starting to read reviews online it seems I got a really expensive AM radio that will never get anything interesting. Any rays of hope or are the negative reviews pretty much spot on? S350DL actually has very good sound quality and sensitivity, and it has the frequency lock feature (which the S350 standard lacks). It should actually be a pretty good radio, from my experience.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 00:22 |
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blugu64 posted:I ordered the S350DL online and paid $40. It got here and turned out to be a S350 (sans DL), you can pickup some decent stuff with it outside at night. Have fun with it, it was probably worth the $40.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 00:24 |
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I just thought of something. I have the Gordon West General class upgrade study CD. One of the tracks discusses (with examples) the different pops and hisses you hear on the SW frequencies (lightning, electricity, flourescent bulbs, etc.) Would it be to share short examples of each sound? I'll ask a mod, it might be helpful to people new to the waves.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 00:31 |
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Halah posted:I just thought of something. I have the Gordon West General class upgrade study CD. One of the tracks discusses (with examples) the different pops and hisses you hear on the SW frequencies (lightning, electricity, flourescent bulbs, etc.) Would it be to share short examples of each sound? I'll ask a mod, it might be helpful to people new to the waves. This would be very interesting to hear. I hope you can post them!
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 00:35 |
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What should I do for an antenna? I live in an apartment, but it's an on-campus one, and I don't think housing would particularly like it if I strung wire everywhere and hit me with a potential fire hazard violation bs deal. Anything that could be nice and neat? (I decided to go with the Eton E5, just because I can go down to the Circuit City and look at one hands on. But not until the weekend, because that's when I get paid!)
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 00:37 |
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DarkSol posted:What should I do for an antenna? I live in an apartment, but it's an on-campus one, and I don't think housing would particularly like it if I strung wire everywhere and hit me with a potential fire hazard violation bs deal. Anything that could be nice and neat? I also live in an apartment. If you don't mind getting your nerd on, I just go outside to the pool area and tune up, that or the wire looped around a window trick works pretty well I hear.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 01:17 |
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DarkSol posted:What should I do for an antenna? I live in an apartment, but it's an on-campus one, and I don't think housing would particularly like it if I strung wire everywhere and hit me with a potential fire hazard violation bs deal. Anything that could be nice and neat? Oddly enough, Bed Bath and Beyond sometimes has good sales on Eton radios. Might be worth checking out.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 01:29 |
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AstroZamboni posted:Oddly enough, Bed Bath and Beyond sometimes has good sales on Eton radios. Might be worth checking out. Bed, Bath and Beyond? You have to be joking! Or is that part of the "Beyond" part?
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 01:30 |
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Ok stupid question number two, what works best for an in window wire antenna. any particular length or pattern (square, triangle, circle, swirl, braid, etc.)?
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 01:32 |
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4outof5 posted:Ok stupid question number two, what works best for an in window wire antenna. any particular length or pattern (square, triangle, circle, swirl, braid, etc.)?
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 01:56 |
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Kinda hoping to get an Eton E5 for my birthday in two weeks, but there's only one for sale in the
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 01:59 |
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Holy hell, what's all that noise I'm hearing?!? Most of the time it's normal radio white noise, but shortwave is very prone to interference. Sometimes the interference can block a signal completely, and possibly frustrate a new listener. With the aid of Gordon West's ham CD's I can share some common noises and maybe help cure them (I got mod approval for this post.)
In addition, locating your receiver near a monitor or TV will impair reception. (minor spelling edit.) Halah fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Jun 15, 2007 |
# ? Jun 15, 2007 03:18 |
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I heard a guy had good reception by running a folded wire antenna in his attic. Basically a big square shaped length of wire up as high as you can get it seems to work ok. An old Army manual from the 50's says if you are going to run a wire up a tree, dead trees work best. I'd try running a length of wire around the top of your walls near the ceiling of your room. You can experiment with the number of turns and total length. It's worth a shot.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 03:20 |
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Halah posted:Holy hell, what's all that noise I'm hearing?!? Most of the time it's normal radio white noise, but shortwave is very prone to interference. Sometimes the interference can block a signal completely, and possibly frustrate a new listener. With the aid of Gordon West's ham CD's I can share some common noises and maybe help cure them (I got mod approval for this post.) Exceedingly cool. Thanks! I've got a problem with my CFL lighting that I need to turn off all the time.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 03:22 |
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Halah posted:Holy hell, what's all that noise I'm hearing?!? Most of the time it's normal radio white noise, but shortwave is very prone to interference. Sometimes the interference can block a signal completely, and possibly frustrate a new listener. With the aid of Gordon West's ham CD's I can share some common noises and maybe help cure them (I got mod approval for this post.) Totally awesome. Do you mind if I add this to the OP?
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 03:41 |
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DarkSol posted:Bed, Bath and Beyond? You have to be joking! Or is that part of the "Beyond" part? Indeed. I was rather stunned when I went there to buy towels and found SW receivers. Bizarre.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 03:42 |
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AstroZamboni posted:Totally awesome. Do you mind if I add this to the OP? Halah fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Jun 15, 2007 |
# ? Jun 15, 2007 04:56 |
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Halah posted:Go right ahead. Earwicker told me to keep the samples under 45 seconds (OK, one is 46 seconds) so it's all cool. Edit: Do me a favor and use the edited post if you can. I had some horrendous spelling errors Which CD was this? It sounds like it could be a pretty good resource.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 05:15 |
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Hah, good old WB6NOA. Sometime I heard Gordo transmitting on one of the repeater nets I used to listen to. I picked up a Sony 7600 at the Ham Radio Outlet on the way home from work today. The receiver I've been using hasn't aged too well so I figured I'd try this one out. Hoping RHC will come in clearer with my new setup. It's sad, but one of the main reasons I'm looking to move into a house is so I can drape antennas all over the loving place.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 05:20 |
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Oh my god, I can't believe I'm actually thinking about taking this. You guys make it sound so interesting and fun... Sorry for the stupid question, but I live in Hawaii and I'm wondering how this would affect reception. Would I be able to hear things differently because I'm in the middle of loving nowhere? I'm checking google right now. Everything you guys have posted in this thread sounds neato, and this would be a good excuse to drive way out into the boonies every once and a while.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 05:26 |
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blugu64 posted:Which CD was this? It sounds like it could be a pretty good resource.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 06:32 |
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Aqua Bear posted:Oh my god, I can't believe I'm actually thinking about taking this. You guys make it sound so interesting and fun...
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 06:37 |
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I picked up radio Taiwan for about a minute last night -- not enough for a QSL card, as I only managed to hear half of the schedule and frequencies announcement, but cool nonetheless. Missed the current frequency in the list, though, so I don't know which broadcast it was.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 08:50 |
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Anyone use the softrock40 rxtx or lite? It seems like a fairly decent setup for 30-60$. It is a SDR radio and has fairly decent support for most of the ham SDR software packages out there.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 09:45 |
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After digging around the internet all night I came across something kind of interesting for people with non ssb shortwaves or for people who want to buy sub-100 dollar tuners and hear some of the interesting stuff. http://radio.tentec.com/kits/Fun Scroll down to the "Universal BFO" $11.00 quote:Got an old (or very new) AM only shortwave radio with no CW-SSB capability? If you want to enjoy casual CW-SSB reception, this varactor-tuned 455 kHz oscillator may be built into larger receivers or else mounted in its own case and placed near your portable SWL radio. The on board tuning control compensates for alignment variations from one receiver to another in addition to permitting fine-tuning of SSB/CW signals. Operates on 6 to 15 VDC. We recommend (undrilled, no holes) enclosure TPx-13 for this item. Order TP-13 for unpainted aluminum, TPB-13 for black, TPC-13 for charcoal.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 11:51 |
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ValhallaSmith posted:Anyone use the softrock40 rxtx or lite? It seems like a fairly decent setup for 30-60$. It is a SDR radio and has fairly decent support for most of the ham SDR software packages out there. No but I'm intensely curious. Buy it and post about it?
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 15:47 |
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Aqua Bear posted:Sorry for the stupid question, but I live in Hawaii and I'm wondering how this would affect reception. Would I be able to hear things differently because I'm in the middle of loving nowhere? I'm checking google right now. Actually, Hawaii means your well placed for receiving broadcasts from both the continental US and Asia. You should be able to hear all kinds of interesting poo poo. Haydez posted:I picked up a Sony 7600 at the Ham Radio Outlet on the way home from work today. The receiver I've been using hasn't aged too well so I figured I'd try this one out. Hoping RHC will come in clearer with my new setup. It's sad, but one of the main reasons I'm looking to move into a house is so I can drape antennas all over the loving place. How much did you spend on it? I can update the stats in the OP.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 16:20 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 10:38 |
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This thread inspired me to grab my Sony 7600GR and give it a shot. I had always meant to use it for listening for SW, but I hadn't tried it in a year and a half. It's a kick-rear end AM/FM radio though and I use it daily. Picked up Voice of Russia(?), a BBC Morning in Africa program, and some Chinese program. Very cool.
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# ? Jun 15, 2007 16:50 |