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I'd just like to say that this thread turned me onto some interesting programming, even if I was never able to get the shortwave-compatible equipment I had to work, particularly with antennas. I'd recommend that people who are interested in hearing English-language programming from abroad without having to buy into radios and futzing around with technology your grandfather used (nothing wrong with that, for some people it's half the fun!) try listening to WRN, which airs a selection of foreign services' English content on a rotational basis. Sometimes the programmes aren't complete (I know that The Link on Radio Canada gets cut off) but if you find something you like you can investigate it more fully. I started off futzing around with Dad's old radio just trying to get WWIV to tune in right (needed a new antenna just for that, as the one the radio came with was busted from me using it as a plaything as a child) and eventually wound up learning a lot about foreign governments and international broadcasting. I now wander around the city listening to WRN on an iPhone. Quite a nice journey, if I do say so myself.
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Jan 10, 2009 22:09
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5883 again right now for anyone looking for a numbers station. It's been pretty consistent lately.
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Jan 13, 2009 08:01
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E2M1 posted:5883 again right now for anyone looking for a numbers station. It's been pretty consistent lately. Clearest one I've ever heard (Chicago). edit: final, final, final Foggy fucked around with this message at 08:41 on Jan 13, 2009 |
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Jan 13, 2009 08:36
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Any idea what's beeping on 5170? It goes "bip" 11 (or 12, the last one is on top of the static noise) times and then there's a short static burst, then it repeats. The entire sequence is about five seconds.
Foggy fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Jan 13, 2009 |
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Jan 13, 2009 08:46
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E2M1 posted:5883 again right now for anyone looking for a numbers station. It's been pretty consistent lately. Dammit. I've been at this for half a year now and still haven't snagged a number station. I'm subscribed to the Spooks mailing list, I check the "spy stations that might be on now" page listed in the OP... nothing. If there's anyone in the east/southern US that knows of a consistent signal, especially between 0000z and 0300z, I'm all ears. You'd think I'd be drowning in Cuban ones given where I'm at, but nada. To contribute: For the rash of new G6 owners in this thread, two tips which just popped into my head while I was dicking around with mine... 1. That battery life indicator isn't terribly accurate. A few months ago I noticed I couldn't get jack for signal. Changed the batteries despite the G6 saying they were still half good, and suddenly my situation improved. (They were crappy batteries; ymmv.) 2. If you're going to change the batteries, do it fast --- have the new ones in hand. Otherwise, you have to set the clock again. I think it's a 30 second window.
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Jan 14, 2009 02:03
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Still no reply from act electronics regarding the E5 repair. What the gently caress?
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Jan 14, 2009 06:16
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Let me just say that the pro-197 is awesome. I downloaded about 100 different talkgroups for the Seattle area and I'm currently controlling my rig with my laptop. It's pretty neat to listen to all the different stuff happening around the area.
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Jan 15, 2009 05:45
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When I got this on Christmas day, there was some beeping going on on 222 khz. It eventually went off and I don't think it's morse code, and I haven't heard it again on that frequency until today. I don't think it's anything creepy or anything, but does anyone know what it is? It's going on now as I type this.JacquelineDempsey posted:Dammit. I've been at this for half a year now and still haven't snagged a number station. Yeah, I haven't heard a single numbers station yet. I'm not entirely sure when to use the SSB thing though. Most of the time it just yields pure noise. We need a goon shortwave radio IRC channel for this stuff. Jack Does Jihad fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Jan 16, 2009 |
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Jan 15, 2009 23:49
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Jack Does Jihad posted:When I got this on Christmas day, there was some beeping going on on 222 khz. It eventually went off and I don't think it's morse code, and I haven't heard it again on that frequency until today. I don't think it's anything creepy or anything, but does anyone know what it is? It's going on now as I type this. Anyway,  ing "222khz" led me to http://www.thiecom.de/ftp/, which has a ton of owners' manuals and service manuals.
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Jan 16, 2009 03:08
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Jack Does Jihad posted:We need a goon shortwave radio IRC channel for this stuff. Seconding this, a goon shortwave radio channel would be a great idea. There already seems to be a channel on the usual server, irc.synirc.net, called #shortwave. Would love to  with other people looking for number stations.EDIT: I'm camped there now. Another guy in the channel pointed out to me that this channel is referenced in the OP as well. Come in!! Reasonable Man fucked around with this message at 23:07 on Jan 16, 2009 |
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Jan 16, 2009 13:48
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Yeah, come and join us in the #shortwave channel on irc.synirc.org! Right now it's just me and Reasonable, but it would be more fun if we could share numbers station hits and such in real time so that we could all try and find them!
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Jan 16, 2009 23:13
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Dammit. I've been at this for half a year now and still haven't snagged a number station. I'm subscribed to the Spooks mailing list, I check the "spy stations that might be on now" page listed in the OP... nothing. If there's anyone in the east/southern US that knows of a consistent signal, especially between 0000z and 0300z, I'm all ears. You'd think I'd be drowning in Cuban ones given where I'm at, but nada. Are you able to get Voice of Cuba at all? If so, you should definitely be able to hit the one I am talking about. Try between 5880 and 5885 between 2AM and 3AM your time, non-SSB. It's usually 5883 but sometimes the signal gets stepped on a bit and it's better a few digits off. There's a bit of variation, it's not always there, but it tends to be relatively consistent for a numbers station.
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Jan 17, 2009 04:10
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E2M1 posted:Are you able to get Voice of Cuba at all? If so, you should definitely be able to hit the one I am talking about. Try between 5880 and 5885 between 2AM and 3AM your time, non-SSB. It's usually 5883 but sometimes the signal gets stepped on a bit and it's better a few digits off. There's a bit of variation, it's not always there, but it tends to be relatively consistent for a numbers station. Holy poo poo, this worked for me. Thanks! This is also the least creepy numbers station.
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Jan 17, 2009 08:27
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E2M1 posted:Try between 5880 and 5885 between 2AM and 3AM your time, non-SSB. Might see if I can get this - what time UTC is that?
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Jan 17, 2009 10:51
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TetsuoTW posted:Might see if I can get this - what time UTC is that? I believe that is 0700 UTC.
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Jan 17, 2009 11:33
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Jack Does Jihad posted:Holy poo poo, this worked for me. Thanks! This is also the least creepy numbers station. Yeah, no creepy music or anything, just numbers, so it's not the most interesting one, but it's easy to find and a strong signal. But at least it's clearly recorded numbers put together and not live reading (the pronunciation for each digit never varies).
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Jan 17, 2009 23:08
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She's staticy and there's a lot of interference from closer stations over her, but right on time our favorite Cuban is on 5883 tonight.
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Jan 18, 2009 08:29
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I'm only on page 5 of this long-rear end thread, so forgive me for asking a question that's likely already been answered. I'm very out of practice with radio knowledge these days. Suppose I want a handheld receiver that can pick up both SW broadcasts and police band? I'm very rusty at this point, but since a lot of police transmissions use some form of frequency hopping, it'd need to be programmable. Any suggestions?
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Jan 18, 2009 19:03
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I'm picking up E10 on 5435kHz (at 19:45z) if anyone in Europe wants a numbers spot and hasn't had one yet.
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Jan 18, 2009 20:45
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StarkRavingMad posted:Are you able to get Voice of Cuba at all? If so, you should definitely be able to hit the one I am talking about. Try between 5880 and 5885 between 2AM and 3AM your time, non-SSB. It's usually 5883 but sometimes the signal gets stepped on a bit and it's better a few digits off. There's a bit of variation, it's not always there, but it tends to be relatively consistent for a numbers station. I'm normally not up that late, but due to work I am tonight. Thanks for the tip; fingers crossed. Edit: Do spy stations generally start at the top/half of the hour, or do they pop in at any old time? JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Jan 19, 2009 |
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Jan 19, 2009 05:38
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dividebyzero posted:I'm only on page 5 of this long-rear end thread, so forgive me for asking a question that's likely already been answered.
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Jan 19, 2009 05:54
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Our Lady of Atencion (5883; 5881-2 is working best for me) is broadcasting loud and clear! I've got my minidisc recording it as we speak. Thanks again for the tip, Stark.
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Jan 19, 2009 08:15
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Can anyone recommend a good, sub-100 radio? I used to own a Satellit 700 that I bought for 40 (I believe it's mentioned on the first page) but I sold it. I regret selling it.  I've been looking at the Grundig S350DL or S350, it looks like a field radio from the 70s or 80s and I like that.
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Jan 19, 2009 23:30
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Niklas Kronwall posted:Can anyone recommend a good, sub-100 radio? I used to own a Satellit 700 that I bought for 40 (I believe it's mentioned on the first page) but I sold it. I regret selling it. Not a bad radio, but if you're used to a Satellit 700 I'd imagine you'd be disappointed. No SSB, lots of drift in the non deluxe version, analog tuning and no memory.
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Jan 20, 2009 00:19
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Niklas Kronwall posted:Can anyone recommend a good, sub-100 radio? I used to own a Satellit 700 that I bought for 40 (I believe it's mentioned on the first page) but I sold it. I regret selling it. I've been seeing the G6 on eBay and other online stores for around $100. I'm not sure why it is less than the G5, but I'm no expert on the radio market. Everyone seems to like that. I was thinking about getting one myself, but knowing my luck, a newer model will come out the day I do.
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Jan 20, 2009 00:43
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blugu64 posted:Not a bad radio, but if you're used to a Satellit 700 I'd imagine you'd be disappointed. No SSB, lots of drift in the non deluxe version, analog tuning and no memory.
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Jan 20, 2009 03:44
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nmfree posted:OTOH, a friend has an S350 (or a rebrand) and I can agree with Passport that the sound quality is really good. I've got a S350 I bought used a year or so ago, best AM/FM radio I've ever owned, full stop. Great alarm clock too as it's nice and loud, and it lasts forever on the batteries, a few months listening to it a few hours each night. However the non-deluxe version drifts so badly it is near impossible to listen to more then a few minutes of any shortwave broadcast weaker then WWCR or Radio Havanna without fiddling with the tuning every few minutes. That said, it still is probably better then 99% of radios most people will ever own. If you can get a deal on it, it's a great radio to own.
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Jan 20, 2009 08:18
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Illegal Clown posted:I've been seeing the G6 on eBay and other online stores for around $100. I'm not sure why it is less than the G5, but I'm no expert on the radio market. Everyone seems to like that. I was thinking about getting one myself, but knowing my luck, a newer model will come out the day I do. If you get one fairly soon, you likely aren't going to run into that problem. I think they introduced it at a lower price point because they knew they would soon be releasing the E5's successor at the 150 price point and that it would be a vastly superior radio to the G6, so they set the price lower for the G6. After really having put it through its paces, I have to say the G6 is an outstanding radio. However, if you want the edge in features/performance, I bet you ANYTHING that the upcoming G3 radio will completely put the G6 to shame in terms of features and performance. It will pretty much be exactly like the e5/G5 except for the following features: RDS system on FM Synchronous Detector with selectable sideband (which puts the radio on par with the E1 in terms of selectivity with even better raw RF sensitivity than the E1) Aircraft Band Honestly, I think the synchronous detection will make it worth the extra 50 bucks over the g6.
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Jan 21, 2009 03:54
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AstroZamboni posted:If you get one fairly soon, you likely aren't going to run into that problem. I think they introduced it at a lower price point because they knew they would soon be releasing the E5's successor at the 150 price point and that it would be a vastly superior radio to the G6, so they set the price lower for the G6. I'm inclined to agree. I'm not really in the market for a new radio but when you first mentioned the G3 it seemed like it had everything I really wanted in a radio. I'm thinking I may have to pick up one of those when they come out.
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Jan 21, 2009 04:50
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yeah I am quite tempted to upgrade from my g5 to the g3 when it becomes available. The synchronous detection is something I really miss when using the g5; I'm spoiled by having an e1 as my main indoor radio. It'd be nice to have that and airband on my travelling radio too. Speaking of airband (well, a bit above I guess) yesterday I was sitting coding when my scanner came to life and it was a lady astronaut on the ISS answering questions about how they take a shower and go to the bathroom and stuff. I guess she was talking to some school students (I couldn't hear the questions as they were on a different frequency). Kinda cool to just be sitting there working and suddenly hear someone in Earth orbit telling you how difficult it is to have a poo up there.
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Jan 21, 2009 13:55
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Illegal Clown posted:I'm inclined to agree. I'm not really in the market for a new radio but when you first mentioned the G3 it seemed like it had everything I really wanted in a radio. I'm thinking I may have to pick up one of those when they come out. I used to have an old Patrolman radio that covered pretty much every band except the SWs, having access to marine and air radio was pretty awesome. That must have been a great radio back when it was released because I am fairly confident you could pick up all local radio communication with it. I tried using it with crappy modern motorola radios that broadcast in it's range, and it just picked up noise when I used them, so it was useless in the modern age. However, the air band was pretty awesome. I am probably going to wait for the G3. I am confident my 700 had synchronous detection and it's awesome. Even cooler was having RDS on a radio that was first produced in like, 1991 or 1992. I know Europe is more advanced than the US in terms of radio and whatnot, but that was still pretty awesome. I would like to get a Sat 750 or 800 because it has this awesome "I AM A GIANT RADIO" look going, complete with fuckoff big handles on the sides, but I can't drop 500 on a radio.
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Jan 21, 2009 15:11
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stinky ox posted:Speaking of airband (well, a bit above I guess) yesterday I was sitting coding when my scanner came to life and it was a lady astronaut on the ISS answering questions about how they take a shower and go to the bathroom and stuff. I guess she was talking to some school students (I couldn't hear the questions as they were on a different frequency). Kinda cool to just be sitting there working and suddenly hear someone in Earth orbit telling you how difficult it is to have a poo up there. That is beyond awesome.
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Jan 21, 2009 16:40
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AstroZamboni posted:That is beyond awesome. It'd be Sandra Magnus. quote:Frequencies in use
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Jan 21, 2009 17:06
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Niklas Kronwall posted:Can anyone recommend a good, sub-100 radio? I used to own a Satellit 700 that I bought for 40 (I believe it's mentioned on the first page) but I sold it. I regret selling it. I bought the G6 at a Radio Shack for $99.
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Jan 21, 2009 20:18
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Last weekend, my partner and I went to a local hamfest/junk sale, and picked up some nice gear. I picked up an old Kenwood R-2000 comunications receiver which can pick up from 100kHz to 30MHz. Anyway I have to say this radio does so much better with AM than my IC706mkIIg (well it seems that most modern ham radios am is just an afterthought.) So far I've been able to pick up a large amount of AM airport beacons (they tend to be in the area of 200kHz to 500kHz) most of these just send out a morse identifier and sometimes weather conditions of airport in question. also it does very well on all of the MW am broadcast band, the AM reception on this radio is wonderful. Now moving on up through the HF bands is also great, as the radio does also have the filters for SSB and CW. so through all the ham bands it works quite well (there is a little weirdness though with how it tunes, if someone is transmitting on 3.5950 Mhz in lower sideband, you need to tune to 3.5947 MHz this is due to the way that the filters are set up on this receiver.) Also have found Voice of Korea around 3.6MHz, which is quite annoying as it's right in the middle of the 80 metre ham band, and as I do tend to rag chew on 3.595 MHz in the morning and we've had to move if it's coming in strong. Also working through all of the bands, I've been able to pick up a large amount of the east asian shortwave stations. Aircraft, and all sorts of things. Including a fair few numbers stations, the most interesting was one in Manderin. If you're interested in listening to any of the "utility bands" they are generally always in USP (upper side band) where the ham stuff below 10MHz is in LSB (lower sideband) and above 10 is in USB.
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Jan 21, 2009 23:17
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thehustler posted:It'd be Sandra Magnus. Yeah  . I have 145.8 in my scan list as a "just in case" frequency but not had much luck with it until the last few days. I was getting odd scan stops there but it was all too noisy to make out, but then she came through and I got to hear a fair chunk of what she said. I recorded some of it, was gonna put it up just now but for some reason Adobe Audition isn't actually making any noise at the moment. Goddam Windows audio can be flaky at times, I blame a recent Vista update. I'll put some up when I get it working again.The only other stuff from space I've had (apart from hods of NOAA wesat of course) was a little bit of chatter between the shuttle and Houston during a launch, so I was glad to get to hear ISS at last.
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Jan 22, 2009 01:55
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AstroZamboni posted:That is beyond awesome. They also had this on the ARISS page: quote:CAN I USE MY SHORTWAVE RADIO TO EAVESDROP ON THE CREW?
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Jan 23, 2009 01:44
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nmfree posted:They also had this on the ARISS page: I suppose that's cool for times when there's nothing on NASA TV. They do show a couple of hours on there daily I think. And it's 24/7 during Shuttle missions.
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Jan 23, 2009 19:13
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I'm impatient and want a radio now, so I'm probably going to get something today. What's this about the G5 shorting out somewhat if you touch the antenna? Several people mention this in the reviews on Radio Shack's site. Since I'm beyond new at this and want to avoid any headaches like that, I'm planning to get the Buzz Aldrin radio, but I'm curious if anyone else has had such problems with the G5. Plus, I know nobody can tell the future, but that new G3 may end up having the same problem if it's manufactured similarly, which is what ultimately made me decide not to wait.
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Jan 24, 2009 16:26
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Jeffe posted:I'm impatient and want a radio now, so I'm probably going to get something today. What's this about the G5 shorting out somewhat if you touch the antenna? Several people mention this in the reviews on Radio Shack's site. Never had any such issue with the G5, even when clamping a active power antenna to it with a monkey clip or wrapping a lead around it from a long line antenna before I soldiered the minijack lead. I've had mine for a year and a half now with no issues. I've never even heard of such a problem with it before looking at the Radio Shack site, the review in the Passport to World Band Radio doesn't say anything about it.
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Jan 24, 2009 20:16
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