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JacquelineDempsey posted:What's the deal with skipping frequencies, anyways? Both of my radios do that. Do the manufacturers just figure "eh, who wants to listen to nautical signals and robot women counting in Spanish"? Although I don't see why they'd still do it now in most of the developed world, since most SW listeners in the first world are hobbyists who enjoy arsing around with it rather than buying the radios as, well, radios, if you know what I mean.
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Aug 22, 2008 06:01
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Can shortwave pick up cell phone conversations? I hope not but wasn't it possible about a decade or so ago?
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Aug 22, 2008 06:33
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Social Animal posted:Can shortwave pick up cell phone conversations? I hope not but wasn't it possible about a decade or so ago?
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Aug 22, 2008 09:43
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If you're lucky you can find old cordless phones at around 31MHz but that's not technically shortwave. Close, though.
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Aug 22, 2008 10:13
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TetsuoTW posted:I think it's basically the same concept as with normal AM/FM radios - restrict it to the broadcast bands since that's what the (theoretical) majority of buyers are going to use it for anyway, and by just skipping to each broadcast band without the big gaps in the middle, it makes it easier for the less educated customer.
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Aug 22, 2008 10:18
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The G5 gets brought up a lot and I've looked at it and it seems pretty nice... I was wondering though, if there were any suggestions for a relatively inexpensive full coverage receiver that differentiates between USB and LSB. I noticed that the G5 does SSB, but no way to switch from USB to LSB. I realize that's not an issue considering it only covers the broadcast SW frequencies, but I'd like to find one that covers that and the ham bands, and allows both USB and LSB distinction. I have a couple ham TXceivers, but I'd like to find a receiver that is relatively inexpensive, full frequency coverage and portable.
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Aug 22, 2008 20:20
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bladernr posted:The G5 gets brought up a lot and I've looked at it and it seems pretty nice... The G5 has a dedicated dial on the side under the tuning knob, up is USB and down is LSB. It's not the best but it certainly gets the job done.
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Aug 23, 2008 01:21
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w_hat posted:The G5 has a dedicated dial on the side under the tuning knob, up is USB and down is LSB. It's not the best but it certainly gets the job done. Exactly. It doesn't have a switch that says "USB here, LDB there," but it does have a "fine tuning" SSB dial that tunes between the two to narrow in on the signal. A little challenging at first, but it sure works.
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Aug 23, 2008 02:37
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 SAD NEWS IN THE WORLD OF CLANDESTINE RADIO After going off the air in June from the Cyprus site, and only intermittent activity through early August which has now ceased from the Guam site, it appears that MI6's famed number stations E03 and E03a, better known by the names of "Lincolnshire Poacher" and "Cherry Ripe" ARE NO LONGER ON THE AIR. This is a sad blow to lovers of weird poo poo everywhere, and a sad loss of one of the quirkier number stations still on the airwaves. Joshua R. on Simon Mason's Site posted:"On 2nd December at 21:44, E3 dropped off air halfway through a group. I would have thought this was a one off but the previous hour on the same frequency, the final closing melody was not aired. On top of this, on the 20th November, the 21:00 message, broadcast on the same frequency, was missing, or has part of, the first number of the group. This also affected the message header and the Identification melody (the first of the melody, not the bar though, was partially there.) I probably wouldn't contact you about this but I believe this might be of value because of the fact that E3 is notorious for it's consistently." Uh oh. Things seemed to be going south since December. Simon Mason posted:The first logging of this station by myself was on 21 December 1988, so it would be the 20th anniversary this year. However, it seems that the station won't be around to celebrate its birthday as the last logging I have is on 29 June 2008. Whether it will return or not only time will tell. Its sister station E3a (Cherry Ripe) is also off air. The Enigma group has declared the British network officially "Inactive." Members of the spooks list have concurred with this determination.  RIP, Lincolnshire Poacher and Cherry Ripe. 
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Aug 24, 2008 05:14
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Just wait a few years for the all-episodes LE commemorative set.
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Aug 24, 2008 10:11
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aw, man, I'll miss the Poacher. Always used to bring a smile when I heard that tune while cruising through the bands. I just happen to be in a numbers frame of mind at the moment too, given that I am simultaneously listening to the Conet Project and this: http://arcade.hofle.com/ Which is strange. But kinda cool.
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Aug 24, 2008 15:48
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Oh poo poo, that sucks! At least The Buzzer is still buzzing away.
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Aug 24, 2008 19:55
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OP, you can add another $111 to the financial drain stats for the Eton E5 and forums account I bought recently due to this thread. Also, SWL UK Goons may find this of some interest: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SaveShortwave
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Aug 25, 2008 18:14
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Coryne posted:OP, you can add another $111 to the financial drain stats for the Eton E5 and forums account I bought recently due to this thread. Signed my name and callsign. I hate that those devices are allowed to pump out so much RF.
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Aug 25, 2008 20:25
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w_hat posted:The G5 has a dedicated dial on the side under the tuning knob, up is USB and down is LSB. It's not the best but it certainly gets the job done. Oh... crap. I picked one up at the local Rat Shack the other day and didn't even notice that... I'll just have to stop in and have a second look... and maybe this time they'll even put batteries in it so I can actually try the damned thing out. Thanks for the info though... I really didn't even notice any USB tuning knob...
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Aug 25, 2008 21:42
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bladernr posted:
To be fair it's labeled - Fine +
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Aug 26, 2008 01:03
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Goons!!! My shortwave just arrived! I'm going to open the box now and play with it  I gotta admit, I don't really know what I'm doin', but I'll see if I can't figure it out!edit: Crap, can I put Japanese batteries in an American radio and expect the same performance? edit2: ...Y'know, I have trouble even getting FM where I live, and I just went through all of FM and got 1 station. Then, I scanned half of all frequencies in SW. I got 1 station, barely. And it was Japanese. I didn't expect anything epic, but several thousand clicks of static is kind of disappointing. I really hate where I live sometimes. edit3: I read the first page of this thread again and walked around outside with it. I was able to pick up quite a few stations, but absolutely none inside my own house 
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Aug 26, 2008 07:05
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Was it daytime when you tried? I had a similarly frustrating experience the first few times I tried listening, until I learned that all the good stuff comes out at night, thanks to the ionosphere. Japanese house-brand batteries shouldn't make too big a difference, but I'd suggest getting some fresh, quality ones when you can. That may also improve signal for you. What kind of radio didya get?
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Aug 26, 2008 18:21
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I can't even remember where, but I heard about this website today - Numbers Station Bingo. Does what it says on the tin - it's a game of bingo using recordings from Conet to call out the numbers.
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Aug 26, 2008 18:35
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TetsuoTW posted:I can't even remember where, but I heard about this website today - Numbers Station Bingo. Does what it says on the tin - it's a game of bingo using recordings from Conet to call out the numbers.  Best post in the entire thread, that's awesome.
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Aug 26, 2008 20:41
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TetsuoTW posted:I can't even remember where, but I heard about this website today - Numbers Station Bingo. Does what it says on the tin - it's a game of bingo using recordings from Conet to call out the numbers. Holy loving christ on a cheddar biscuit... I wish I had thought of that. I love "Congratulations: you have now been activated."
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Aug 27, 2008 01:57
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Was it daytime when you tried? I had a similarly frustrating experience the first few times I tried listening, until I learned that all the good stuff comes out at night, thanks to the ionosphere. I found some good ol' fashioned industrial American batteries, so I went with those. It was night time when I tried, so I was really disappointed. I don't know what it is about my building that nerfs my reception. They've recently started doing construction outside and constructed a huge railing thing that goes all the way around my entire building. That wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it? Also, I got a Sony ICF SW7600GR.
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Aug 27, 2008 03:31
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ddblue posted:I found some good ol' fashioned industrial American batteries, so I went with those. That railing sounds like it's begging for a longwire antenna.
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Aug 27, 2008 03:51
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Had some fine DXing last night. As well as the usual ones I manage to pick up here in the UK I also managed to identify Radio Mauritanie Radio Havana Radio Ukraine WWCR WEWN Voice of Greece Radio Cairo Radio Prague WEWN were as reliably insane as expected. "Make sure you have plenty of Freeze Dried food to hand, because the Russians are coming and you know they can't wait for the new Jimmy Carter to become president. Later we'll be telling you how to make a camp shower." Radio Ukraine was basically "FFS let us into NATO, and Georgia too!" There was also some weird 'Chirping' noises alongside 'the buzzer'. The 'chirp' was repeating about twice a second and fiddling about it seemed to be strongest on 4620kHz in USB. It was incredibly strong (stronger than UVB-76) when listening on AM mode. I heard it between 2345 & 2355 UTC, when I retuned at 0025 it had gone.
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Aug 29, 2008 11:53
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biglads posted:There was also some weird 'Chirping' noises alongside 'the buzzer'. The 'chirp' was repeating about twice a second and fiddling about it seemed to be strongest on 4620kHz in USB. It was incredibly strong (stronger than UVB-76) when listening on AM mode. I heard it between 2345 & 2355 UTC, when I retuned at 0025 it had gone. Did it sound like a jammer? Also, is it just me, or is HF reception around the UK absolute poo poo at the moment? My three "test" stations for HF reception are: RAF Volmet: 5450 and 11253 khz Shannon Volmet: 5505 khz If I can hear those 3 stations pretty well I know I have decent coverage across the bands and that it's coming in from a good range of directions. Lately they are barely audible. RAF Volmet is one of the strongest HF stations in the country so you expect to get it everywhere.
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Aug 29, 2008 13:10
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thehustler posted:Did it sound like a jammer? Didn't sound like a jammer - if it was trying to jam UVB-76 it was failing because the Buzzer was still audible beneath the chirping. Mind, I'm not an expert or anything. Reception last night was pretty good. I'm in Hertfordshire using a ICF-7600GR with the normal antenna. That was the first time I'd done any DXing for a while tho'.
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Aug 29, 2008 14:28
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Hey guys! I took a walk with my shortwave today and discovered CRI English. Has this already been ranted about in this thread? It's basically a Chinese propaganda station in English. 2 VERY friendly sounding people (it's creepy - an almost 'Disney-esque' friendliness), go on and on about how great China is. Today they were reading mail from people who loved the olympics, which is fine and good - until it got ridiculous (which was about 2 minutes in). One person wrote about how they expected China to be rural, but when they arrived it was nothing but huge buildings and skyscrapers! Another talked about how they long for Beijing now that they're back in Australia, and how they could talk all day about Beijing and never run out of positive things to say. The dj's would read each letter, thank the writer and say something to the effect of, "Thanks. We'll do our best to remain awesome." Yet another talked about how the UK would never be able to follow the wonderful opening ceremony that China had orchestrated, and things of this nature. I swear they stopped just short of something like, "Another fan writes, 'Why are Chinese people so much nicer than other people?'". It was my 7th bookmarked station
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Aug 30, 2008 16:40
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ddblue posted:Hey guys! I took a walk with my shortwave today and discovered CRI English. Has this already been ranted about in this thread? It's basically a Chinese propaganda station in English. 2 VERY friendly sounding people (it's creepy - an almost 'Disney-esque' friendliness), go on and on about how great China is. quote:One person wrote about how they expected China to be rural, but when they arrived it was nothing but huge buildings and skyscrapers!
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Aug 30, 2008 17:25
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TetsuoTW posted:The description of the hosts sounds familiar, but I never really found CRI to be too hideously propagandistic. Personally I've found CRI more boring than anything. Although I haven't listened at all for a month and change - mostly to dodge the inevitable HOLY poo poo THE BEIJING OLYMPICS ARE THE BEST, MOST PEACEFUL OLYMPICS EVER sentiment. Maybe it just seemed ultra-propagandaish because of the olympics. I listened for about 15 minutes, and there was literally no address of anything even remotely negative - everything was ultra positive, so much so that even I wanted to move to China by the end of it. A friend of mine was telling me that there were all these flattering pictures of sprawling Chinese cities floating about around the time of the olympics, but in many cases (I believe it was proven, but this friend is kind of a pot-head so who knows), there were particularly contrasting slums just out of frame. Anyway, I don't wanna derail or anything - was just happy to finally get a station that I got kind of a kick out of
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Aug 30, 2008 17:50
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Does anyone have any experiences with the old Zenith TransOceanic 7000 series? I'd like to pick one up; they seem to be a good gateway into the world of older receivers. I've seen some favourable reviews on eham, but would love to hear about the series from anyone here.
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Aug 30, 2008 20:58
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softbomb posted:Does anyone have any experiences with the old Zenith TransOceanic 7000 series? I had one when I was a kid and I used it alot. It was a great radio. I replaced it with a Kenwood R-1000 and over the years the old Zenith got lost in the shuffle. If I ran across one in good working order for less than a hundred bucks I'd buy it without hesitation. The Kenwood may have a more sensitive receiver, better filters, and digital 0-30MHz tuning, but the Transoceanic wins in the sexy department hands down.
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Aug 31, 2008 23:35
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I finally got to play around with a Grundig G6 today, an it DEFINITELY has my endorsement over the G5/E5. This is one tight little radio. For the most part, it is just like my E5, only smaller and does a few more things. This thing is loving TINY. I also REALLY like the fact that it uses a red backlight, which helps preserve night vision. Since I do a lot of amateur astronomy work, and I like to listen to SW while I observe, this makes a huge difference. Hmmmm.... I might have to obtain one of these now. Dammit, just when I got resigned to wanting a Satellit 750...
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Sep 1, 2008 00:17
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AstroZamboni posted:Hmmmm.... I might have to obtain one of these now. Dammit, just when I got resigned to wanting a Satellit 750...
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Sep 1, 2008 00:30
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nmfree posted:I hate to say it, but from the looks of Passport's blog, the 750 doesn't look like it's a very good radio for the price; it did just come out, though, so I guess the smart money would be to wait a few months to get some reactions/ read about it in the 2009 Passport. Link, por favor? For the record, the exact same thing happened with the Satellit 800 AND the E1/E1XM. There was a long breaking in period with defective units and people having to get repairs/replacements. After a while, the radios built up a very solid reputation. I'll wait on the Satellit 750, and exercise caution before I buy. I DO like the fact that its Digital Radio Mondiale upgradable. Edit: OP has FINALLY been upgraded with the latest financial drain stats.
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Sep 1, 2008 00:44
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AstroZamboni posted:Link, por favor? quote:Yep, we’re testing it for Passport 2009, and coming to the home stretch. Bottom line, it’s a pleasant-sounding radio with superior shortwave sensitivity (less so on MW AM, and the aero band is like a brick) and terrific dynamic range.
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Sep 1, 2008 01:15
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I think I did something wrong when I put on the replacement whip antenna on my G5. I'm getting reception, but I'm noticing pretty startling improvements in reception (mostly a reduction of noise) when I squeeze the antenna with my fingers. Is that normal? Should I tighten the screw, loosen it, or something?
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Sep 1, 2008 06:24
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Foggy posted:I think I did something wrong when I put on the replacement whip antenna on my G5. I'm getting reception, but I'm noticing pretty startling improvements in reception (mostly a reduction of noise) when I squeeze the antenna with my fingers. Is that normal? Should I tighten the screw, loosen it, or something?
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Sep 1, 2008 08:02
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nmfree posted:when you touch the antenna your body becomes part of the antenna system. I can feel the power!! Thanks
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Sep 1, 2008 08:51
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nmfree posted:Yes, that's completely normal, when you touch the antenna your body becomes part of the antenna system. Unless the antenna flops over on its own/really easily there's no need to tighten the adjustment screw. Same thing happens when you're adjusting the bunny ears on a ghetto TV set. When you're handling the antenna and moving it, the picture looks crystal clear. When you let go, it gets fuzzy again.
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Sep 1, 2008 15:56
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While we're on the subject of antennae: I'm pretty sure I've read in this thread that if you're gonna hook up a wire antenna, you should run a ground to a cold water pipe. I just got Shortwave Listening Guidebook (1993) by Harry Helms out of the library, and he says:Harry Helms posted:For years, SWLs have been urged to "properly ground" their receivers by running an insulated wire... to a cold water pipe or metal rod driven into the earth. Even contemporary SW receiver manuals recommend this practice. SWL "folk wisdom" holds that grounding a receiver increases its performance and protects the receiver from lightning. He goes on to say that this is a holdover from ye olden days of vacuum tubes, and can actually introduce more noise into the signal (if the signal does improve, it's not the grounding but the fact that you've just added a second antenna, in essence). Thoughts? Anyone else heard this? In other news --- Bad news: my DX-370 has flaked out and is constantly in travel lock mode (the button seems sketchy). I'm a circuit-bender, so I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron; gonna see if I can't fix it. Good news: if I can't fix it, well, that's a good reason to plunk down for a E-5/G-5, amirite? (Bonus: circuit-bending the DX-370  )
JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Sep 3, 2008 |
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Sep 3, 2008 01:50
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