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I promised it ages ago, but here's some UK-centric information for you: http://www.ofcom.org.uk - The UK regulator of telecommunications and radiocommunications. A good starting guide for lots of information, including... http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/isu/ukfat/ukfat07.pdf - A list of the entire UK frequency spectrum, to help nail down those hard to determine frequencies. You'll also find some information on amateur radio licensing, if that is your sort of thing (see HAM radio thread, obviously), which leads to... http://www.rsgb.org.uk - The Radio Society of Great Britain - this is more suited to HAM radio than listening, but you might find information on new allocations and special event stations that might be worth a listen. Places to spend your hard earned cash: http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk - Nevada Radio, a pretty cheap online shop that sells a good range of stuff http://www.wsplc.com - Waters and Stanton, pretty much the main place for radio gear in the country, stocks a wider range of stuff than Nevada, and the prices are usually pretty comparable. Both places stock a huge range of shortware and HAM gear, as well as other cool radio-based stuff. Tonight I'm going to finish stringing out the long wire around the wall and see what I can get. Although, that handheld I have (the Kenwood F7E) isn't really suited to it. It's a VHF/UHF tranceiver first and foremost. It does a decentish job though. In a few weeks time I'm off to the Lake District again to do some walking and kayaking, so hopefully I'll be able to do some listening in the countryside away from noisy RF, and I'll try and get some far off poo poo.
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Jun 25, 2007 08:57
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| # ? May 10, 2024 00:56 |
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Getting some spanish numbers on 5900 right now (0925 UTC) on west coast of California.
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Jun 25, 2007 09:30
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meatpotato posted:Getting some spanish numbers on 5900 right now (0925 UTC) on west coast of California.
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Jun 25, 2007 09:35
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thehustler posted:In a few weeks time I'm off to the Lake District again to do some walking and kayaking, so hopefully I'll be able to do some listening in the countryside away from noisy RF, and I'll try and get some far off poo poo.
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Jun 25, 2007 09:37
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OK, I read through the dry parts of the passband book this weekend, can someone explain to me what an inverted-L antenna is and what the difference between that and longwire is? Does the reel-up antenna that I got with my E10 count as a longwire? Also, what's this Yagi that I keep hearing about? Furthermore if I want to catch a station for example from the east, should I set up a longwire pointing towards the east, or towards north-south? I understand that since these stations use antenna nets to broadcast, polarity wouldn't matter.
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Jun 25, 2007 12:50
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Another MAJOR OP update. Just a heads up, yall.
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Jun 25, 2007 16:33
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I have a question about grounding my SW7600GR. The radio has no coax connector or grounding terminal at all. It has a 1/8" audio mini jack connector labeled "AM External Antenna," but that's it. Should I get a male connector and attach one part to ANT, another to GND? I'm guessing the outer jacket it ground, the innter "core" being antenna.
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Jun 25, 2007 18:50
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meatpotato posted:I have a question about grounding my SW7600GR. The radio has no coax connector or grounding terminal at all. It has a 1/8" audio mini jack connector labeled "AM External Antenna," but that's it. Should I get a male connector and attach one part to ANT, another to GND? I'm guessing the outer jacket it ground, the innter "core" being antenna. I was just about to post about this. For the SW7600GR, the antenna jack is only supposed to be used with the Sony AN-1/AN-102 antennas. The jack outputs DC for those antennas' operation. (According to the 7600GR manual, anyway. An EE-type can probably give you more information or a workaround if you still want to use it.) The good news is that you really don't need to ground the antenna if you are using a portable. Just connect your wire to the whip antenna with an alligator clip. Disconnect it if there's a storm nearby. Antenna grounds, static suppressors, etc. are really only necessary if you've got a tabletop and you don't want your $2000+ radio to go up in smoke. But even then, I bet that 99% of dudes disconnect their rigs from the antennas when they hear thunder.
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Jun 25, 2007 20:08
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Milka posted:http://www.spynumbers.com/numbersDB/ That is exactly what I was hoping to find. Thanks! hudibrastic posted:The good news is that you really don't need to ground the antenna if you are using a portable. Just connect your wire to the whip antenna with an alligator clip. Disconnect it if there's a storm nearby. I was wondering about that. I'm using a portable and I live in a relatively dry climate -- it's not like a sudden freak thunderstorm is going to sneak up on me in San Diego. When there's rain like that on the way it's all "STORMWATCH 2007" on the news and I'll have enough advance warning to not leave the alligator clip on. But does grounding the wire do anything other than protection from lightning bolts? Like, does it help in weeding out random electrical interference or anything?
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Jun 25, 2007 20:19
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I was under the impression that a grounded antenna is a better antenna. Maybe this is only true for transmitting, I don't really know. Thanks for the tip, I'll try to use alligator clips because I've just been wrapping the copper wire around the whip, and it doesn't like to stay on by itself.
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Jun 25, 2007 20:26
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Just heard a Spanish number station on 17435 khz at about 17:30 UTC. It was very clear and spynumbers.com says this is a new one, so it was sort of exciting.
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Jun 25, 2007 20:40
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how weird for this to pop up. I just bought a sangean ATS-505 a couple days ago. I love it. It's much better than my old piece of crap I got on ebay, and it's got SSB so I have been listening in on a lot of ham stuff. Gonna have fun reading through this whole thread tonight  edit: for the running total, I spent $114 shipped and I bought it from C-Crane. GutBomb fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Jun 26, 2007 |
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Jun 25, 2007 20:42
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Oh you bastards. I got to reading back through this thread and something a couple people said caught my eye and then I started reading some reviews and... Well, you can add $104 to the running total in the OP, since I went and ordered a Sony AN-LP1 antenna off eBay. Probably the same guy everyone else is buying them from. He only has 3 left!
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Jun 25, 2007 20:47
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So I think I'm gonna head up to Radioshack today and try to find an extension for my antenna, or some other store nearby. First question: Any suggestions on where to shop (mainstream, or if anybody here is from the greater Seattle area, around there)? Second question: What would be a suggested good antenna for my Grundig G2000A? If I have to I'll just buy it off a website, but patience is not one of my virtues.
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Jun 25, 2007 20:56
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Milka posted:OK, I read through the dry parts of the passband book this weekend, can someone explain to me what an inverted-L antenna is and what the difference between that and longwire is? Does the reel-up antenna that I got with my E10 count as a longwire? Also, what's this Yagi that I keep hearing about? If you have a NetLibrary account, they have Joe Carr's Practical Antenna Handbook available for free; there are better books that are more specialized and in-depth, but this is the best generalized handbook to read and keep around hands down. Milka posted:Furthermore if I want to catch a station for example from the east, should I set up a longwire pointing towards the east, or towards north-south? I understand that since these stations use antenna nets to broadcast, polarity wouldn't matter. Polarity doesn't matter much, since the polarity gets scrambled as a result of bouncing off the ionosphere.
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Jun 25, 2007 21:49
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Just got my AN-LP1 today. buyfromjapan is selling them on eBay. Only took 5 days to get here. That's good in my book. I had some gun parts take 2 weeks to get here from Virgina. They must have been relaying my package on foot. Now that I've been warned, I think I'll sink some copper pipe into the ground near my shed/shop for an RF ground. One Ham said find a way to hook a water hose to one end and it will bury itself into the dirt like butter. We'll see this weekend. Edit: Found several misc. lengths of copper tubing with a pointed end perfect for driving into the ground. Dad was going to use them to make wind chimes. Read somewhere that you can use shorter rods but you need more of them and they need to be attached with high guage wire. This is going to be fun. 2nd Edit: I think this is the only antenna buyfromjapan sells. Well, I think it's the only one Sony made for portables and then up and discontinued without a replacement model. Sadly they must have broke the bank dumping money into the PS3. Paperweight fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Jun 26, 2007 |
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Jun 25, 2007 22:21
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Bought a Grundig G5 today and am pouring over the owners manual. I havent been able to pick anything up so far outside of normal am/fm signals. Thanks for turning me on to a new hobby!
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Jun 26, 2007 00:27
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Ol' Tortoiseblossom posted:Oh you bastards. I got to reading back through this thread and something a couple people said caught my eye and then I started reading some reviews and... Welcome to the AN-LP1 club. That guy has got to be wondering what the hell is going on with all these people suddenly wanting to buy the same antenna!
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Jun 26, 2007 00:35
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foobar posted:Welcome to the AN-LP1 club. That guy has got to be wondering what the hell is going on with all these people suddenly wanting to buy the same antenna! Spoiler: AstroZamboni is buyfromjapan.
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Jun 26, 2007 01:46
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Score dudes, alien conspiracy theorist on 7315, even managed to get his website: https://www.soldoutwarning.com
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Jun 26, 2007 03:23
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hudibrastic posted:Spoiler: gently caress, I wish. At least then I would be making some money. As it is, I'm one of you chumps shelling out cash for equipment.
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Jun 26, 2007 03:28
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Here's something not everyone will know. If you find USB CW transmissions on known Cuban number traffic (atencion) frequencies, those are a station known as "M8" and are the Cuban morse number stations. So when going through frequency lists for Cuban numbers, check USB while you're at it to see if M8 is transmitting. It transmits about as frequently as our dear Spanish lady on AM.
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Jun 26, 2007 03:37
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PancakeMan posted:Score dudes, alien conspiracy theorist on 7315, even managed to get his website:
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Jun 26, 2007 05:13
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Halah posted:Hahaha yup, that's American SW in a nutshell right there. Contrast with Canada, for example. Even though America Jr.'s only major SW presence is RCI (which is now nothing more than rebroadcasting/simulcasting the CBC), there are a number of small stations situated in more remote areas that rebroadcast the MW programming. Passport lists only four in the 2007 edition, but there used to be twice as many, and you could actually hear several of them, especially during the daytime. ah, gently caress it [ramble] The sorry state of affairs regarding SW broadcasting in the US is because of a unique rule imposed by the FCC: no SW broadcasts may be targeted to the USA itself. All SW broadcasts must be targeted, both in programming and broadcast pattern, to foreign lands, including the official propaganda arm of the United States, the VOA. (In fact, VOA is prohibited by Federal Statute from giving away freebies to United States addresses. I don't even think they can give a QSL card, but they can verify reception.) Many domestic broadcasters get around this by claiming they are doing missionary work in Mexico or Canada or some such nonsense with a wink and nod toward the FCC. Even stations like the now defunct WRNO, which used to simulcast Rush Limbaugh, had to make some flimsy pretext of broadcasting to Americans abroad (or something) in order to get their license. There is hope, however. The FCC has started to understand the power and potential of SW, and a few years ago greatly loosened the international target rule. AFAIK, however, the basic idea is still being enforced, which is unfortunate. I am willing to wager that a number of stations in the US would be greatly interested in simulcasting on SW. Imagine being able to listen to a baseball game while driving across the country in your car. Or getting local news updates from across the country while camping. The possibilities are endless. [/rambling]
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Jun 26, 2007 08:54
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Hijacking the thread with something thats only BARELY shortwave related, but it's still radio related  I'm probably a little late seen as all the stuff was going on yesterday, but 5680khz was lighting up like a christmas tree with rescue comms from RAF helicopters and coastguard yesterday across the UK with all of the bad flooding we have. If you're around Europe you might get lucky, or if the conditions are good you might pick it up further afield. 5680khz is an international frequency for search and rescue use, though, so you might just pick up more local stuff. Hurrah for shortwave lift! And for anyone in the affected areas with a radio scanner: Coastguard might be on channels 0 and 16 marine band (156.000/156.800) Local councils will be on UHF probably, check 453/456Mhz Fire brigade will be on low VHF, 70Mhz or so, with rescue and water pumping ops. And finally, you might find your local ambulance service attending emergencies relating to the flooding on 166-167Mhz. This might continue for a few more days, I would think. Happy scanning!
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Jun 26, 2007 13:14
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I recently bought a cheap-o Radioshack portable (as I am poor...), and to my disappointment, I was not able to pick up anything at all in my transient home. However, when I went home for a weekend, I brought it with me and was ecstatic when I could pick up some sort of oriental station, the CLR (or was it a CTR? It was a Chinese news station that broadcasts in English), and a bunch of odd transmissions there and there (one sounded like a Coast Guard transmission or similar). Bunch of spanish stations, too. No numbers I don't think. However, the oddest transmission I received during my expirement at home was what sounded like an older black guy telling a story how he bought the judge's dog. It was actually interesting to listen to for a few moments, and every so often some really honky-tonky country music would play. But, in short, you can add me to a growing list of converts due to this thread.
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Jun 26, 2007 13:48
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Got the spanish number station lady last night on 5883 at around 5 world time, thanks to that frequency database posted earlier
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Jun 26, 2007 15:38
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Clock Explosion posted:However, when I went home for a weekend, I brought it with me and was ecstatic when I could pick up some sort of oriental station, the CLR (or was it a CTR? It was a Chinese news station that broadcasts in English)
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Jun 26, 2007 19:23
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Free shortwave receiver for indigent goon. I'm moving to a new place next week and in going through my stuff I found an old RadioShack DX-375 radio that I forgot I had. PM if you are interested. I'll even pay postage to anywhere in the US. Edit: Radio has been claimed and mailed. Thanks to everyone for their interest. hudibrastic fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Jun 28, 2007 |
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Jun 26, 2007 21:48
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hudibrastic posted:Free shortwave receiver for indigent goon.
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Jun 27, 2007 06:02
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hudibrastic posted:Free shortwave receiver for indigent goon. hey i am interested i dont have pm wanna email me at capnbigboobies at gmail dot com? ! I am too broke to buy one right now hahah. EDIT: Hey I will at least pay postage! REEDIT!: gently caress it the 25th was my birthday I bought plat. I wanted to be able to search anyways.
Capnbigboobies fucked around with this message at 09:49 on Jun 27, 2007 |
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Jun 27, 2007 09:34
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hudibrastic posted:Free shortwave receiver for indigent goon. You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar and an evil, soulless bastard. Way to drag somebody into the financially ruinous addiction. All I did was write about it, you're taking the drug dealer route. "Here kid, the first one's free!" Fucker. Actually, I'm kidding. You are a fine upstanding citizen and I salute you. How goes the quest to get an E1XM? Has the SO given permission?
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Jun 27, 2007 18:39
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Last night was a particularly good reception night for me. Radio Netherlands and Radio Havana were perfectly clear and I had a lot of unidentified signals that I hadn't heard before. The crazy DX-specific show on Radio Havana, in between yammering about a lot of technical stuff that I didn't understand, was talking about how the solar flux is getting better for reception, so maybe we have some good reception times ahead.
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Jun 27, 2007 18:49
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Ol' Tortoiseblossom posted:Last night was a particularly good reception night for me. Radio Netherlands and Radio Havana were perfectly clear and I had a lot of unidentified signals that I hadn't heard before. The crazy DX-specific show on Radio Havana, in between yammering about a lot of technical stuff that I didn't understand, was talking about how the solar flux is getting better for reception, so maybe we have some good reception times ahead. No kidding! Last night was the first time I was able to pick up WWV AND WWVH simultaneously, almost equally strong on all 5 frequencies (2.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20 Megahertz) using ONLY THE WHIP ANTENNA ON MY E5. Jesus christ, last night's reception was amazing. I had Netherlands and Havana picked up nice and strong, and found a bunch of Morse number stations! Good times ahead, comrades!
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Jun 27, 2007 18:55
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AstroZamboni posted:No kidding! Last night was the first time I was able to pick up WWV AND WWVH simultaneously, almost equally strong on all 5 frequencies (2.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20 Megahertz) using ONLY THE WHIP ANTENNA ON MY E5. Jesus christ, last night's reception was amazing. I had Netherlands and Havana picked up nice and strong, and found a bunch of Morse number stations! Here's hoping tonight will be decent. I've been out of town/busy with worth the past couple nights so I haven't been able to spin the dial lately. Also thanks Halah for the avatar!
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Jun 27, 2007 19:11
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Seriously crazy good signals last night. For the first time I picked up Radio Havana, but no numbers stations. I think I might drive up to the top of a high hill tonight with ~ 100' of wire and try to get really good reception!
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Jun 27, 2007 19:32
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blugu64 posted:Here's hoping tonight will be decent. I've been out of town/busy with worth the past couple nights so I haven't been able to spin the dial lately. Also thanks Halah for the avatar! Jesus, I was just watching that last night! Great avatar!
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Jun 27, 2007 19:45
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Just got done soldering connections and burying my ground rods. Go into the house to get something to drink and what do you know, the power's out. Now I'm bored what do I do? Whip out the Sony and try out the AN-LP1. It picked up some good signals. Without it they wouldn't be listenable with just the built in antenna. And it was 4 in the afternoon. I think I picked up a Spanish female voice numbers station on 7885 (I think that was the freq.) Now that the power's back on I think I'm starting to feel the effects of a sunburn on my bald head and neck. Go figure. Last night I took all of my old R-392 apart to clean and align. I always dred starting up a project but I get really involved once I get going. This time around I'll be very patient and not smash the poo poo out of something when it breaks. Edit: No, I didn't ground the AN-LP1. I have a bunch of old vacuum tube AM radios that do need to be grounded. They all have A and G screw terminals. Since people have been telling me that using AC ground as a connection is dangerous, I went and pounded 3 four foot copper tubes 6' apart in the dirt to act as a RF ground point. I then run wire between them and soldered them together and then run a lead into my shed. Using copper clamps and 6 guage wire would have worked better but I didn't have any handy. I don't expect this to hold up to a lightning strike but if it makes an ok ground I'll be happy. Paperweight fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jun 27, 2007 |
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Jun 27, 2007 22:29
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Paperweight posted:Just got done soldering connections and burying my ground rods. Go into the house to get something to drink and what do you know, the power's out. Now I'm bored what do I do? Whip out the Sony and try out the AN-LP1. It picked up some good signals. Without it they wouldn't be listenable with just the built in antenna. And it was 4 in the afternoon. I think I picked up a Spanish female voice numbers station on 7885 (I think that was the freq.) Now that the power's back on I think I'm starting to feel the effects of a sunburn on my bald head and neck. Go figure. Wait, are you grounding the AN-LP1? I didn't think that was necessary.
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Jun 27, 2007 22:34
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| # ? May 10, 2024 00:56 |
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So I've got good news, and I've got bad news. The good news is, my good friend is getting married and I helped him out with getting the ring. And he's going to pay me back. The bad news is, that's going to delay me getting the E1, potentially. I'm dying over here, guys. I'm loving envious of you all.  I want to hear this stuff and explore the world of shortwave. 
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Jun 27, 2007 22:49
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