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Crossposting this since the ham thread told me to GTFO: I'm in the UK and I have the opportunity to get my Grandad's old scanner. I don't know much about it except that maybe 10-20 years ago he used it to listen in on taxis, police, airplanes, even oldschool mobile phones. With digital and encrypted transmissions, is it worth owning a scanner these days? I don't really want to be a voyeur, but is there still a good variety of stuff on the airwaves worth listening to? I'd very much enjoy having one running in the background relaying whatever the hell is being transmitted but it's a lot of hassle and cash if the only thing to hear is some digital screeching and the BBC world service. Any UK goons that can offer advice?
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May 8, 2009 14:37
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Crash Bandicoot posted:Crossposting this since the ham thread told me to GTFO: You weren't really kicked out, we were just pointing you to the correct thread for the job. Most of us do both actually. Anyway, I'm not to sure about the UK, but scanners are becoming less and less useful do to the changes going on. I'm sure you can find something on it if you just start scanning. Find out what the English frequency allocations are and start your scanning based upon that. Plus, you can probably catch the ham boring conversations about old fart related ailments.
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May 8, 2009 16:21
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HFX posted:You weren't really kicked out, we were just pointing you to the correct thread for the job. I was kidding, I forgot this thread existed and appreciated the link 
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May 8, 2009 16:46
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Crash Bandicoot posted:I was kidding, I forgot this thread existed and appreciated the link It has been quiet which is a real shame because shortwave should be carrying better now that we are in the summer unless you like the really low bands. Plus, you can sit out on your porch now and listen. In the southern hemisphere, AM reception should be increasing.
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May 8, 2009 20:11
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Regarding scanning in the UK - there's still some stuff around and you might find it interesting. Coppers, alas, long gone onto tetra digital encrypted radios. Where I am (west Wales) we can still hear various other services including fire and ambulance (which can be depressing, hearing how many grannies have fallen over of a weekend, or amusing hearing about all the drunk injuries on a Friday night). I also pick up airband (which is montly boring most of the time but can occasionally be amusing and interesting), I've picked up the ISS a few times now, and I probably know most of the local taxi dispatchers by voice even though I've never met them . And I get to hear the radio chatter of the Hawks that often thunder overhead in remote parts of Wales. So there's some traffic around even though I am right out in the sticks. Close to town you will get a lot more stuff, various kinds of business radio and people using PMR446, a low power license free radio system. If you can plug the scanner into a PC then you can intercept and decode all the pager traffic that's still flying around, somewhat surprisingly in this day and age of SMS pagers are still going strong. There is still some stuff out there (driving through town the other day I was treated to the sound of someone else's baby crying, must have been a 446 baby monitor I suppose. Buggers didn't tend to the poor little bleeder either). A lot of it is boring, some of it is interesting and/or amusing, but as ever with scanning patience and luck play a big part. I do miss the days of being able to listen to the cops on a big bust and neighbours doing phone sex calls, but even with those amusements lost to encryption there's enough stuff still floating around to make it interesting enough to have a listen every now and again.
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May 8, 2009 20:26
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I was listening to hams chew the rag on 80 meters the other day... My Cat decided that he likes the heat generated by my Hallicrafters SX-24.  Click here for the full 1440x1139 image. MullardEL34 fucked around with this message at 04:04 on May 27, 2009 |
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May 27, 2009 04:01
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That figures, my G5 goes extinct and they offer a new radio with the aeronautical band. More money to the money pit this summer.
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May 27, 2009 05:14
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Anyone have any opinions on the Grundig S350 (Amazon link)? I got a gift card to Cabella's that I need to spend and I was looking at that one. They also sell the Grundig G6 for the same price. I'm having trouble deciding which one to get, or if they're both rubbish and I should just spend the money on something else. It will mainly be a desk radio, so the portability of the G6 isn't really a factor. The 350 lacks "Dual-conversion" and SSB. To be honest, I don't know much at all about those things so I don't know how big of a factor they are for a recreational listener. I really like how the 350 looks. Maybe I just subconsciously think that "bigger + more knobs = BETTER!"
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May 27, 2009 06:48
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Anyone who can, try and check out Voice of Korea over the next few days. I got it this morning, although the reception was a bit poo poo, but it was a little odd - there were a lot more Kim Il Sung mentions than Kim Jong Il ones. Noticeably so. If this keeps up over the next few days....MullardEL34 posted:I was listening to hams chew the rag on 80 meters the other day...
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May 27, 2009 07:37
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stinky ox posted:I do miss the days of being able to listen to the cops on a big bust and neighbours doing phone sex calls, but even with those amusements lost to encryption there's enough stuff still floating around to make it interesting enough to have a listen every now and again. You'll still be able to get the odd analogue cordless on 30-31MHz but I really miss the days when I used to go on top of Coniston Old Man in the Lake District and listen to analogue mobile phones. Being that high you could pick up every drat cell in Cumbria, I'm sure of it 
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May 27, 2009 08:03
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wa27 posted:Anyone have any opinions on the Grundig S350 (Amazon link)? I got a gift card to Cabella's that I need to spend and I was looking at that one. They also sell the Grundig G6 for the same price. I'm having trouble deciding which one to get, or if they're both rubbish and I should just spend the money on something else. For the same money, get the G6. Otherwise you'll be kicking yourself when you want to listen to stuff on SSB and can't.
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May 27, 2009 08:16
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wa27 posted:Anyone have any opinions on the Grundig S350 (Amazon link)? I got a gift card to Cabella's that I need to spend and I was looking at that one. They also sell the Grundig G6 for the same price. I'm having trouble deciding which one to get, or if they're both rubbish and I should just spend the money on something else. Get the G6. I should note though, the width on SSB is a little wide and it only supports upper side band. Great for commercial radio which the few SSB broadcasts I've gotten have all been USB, not so good if you want to listen to the hams talk about their health problems on 160m/80m/40m. It's good to go on the ham 60m, 20m, and above.
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May 27, 2009 13:20
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Alright, which one of you stole my 2009 Passport book? I know i bought it and my radio is withering without it for reference
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May 31, 2009 12:13
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Wasn't me, I just bought a copy tho ($22 to go on the tally). It's coming up to Summer and I got lazy last year and didn't do anything further than scan the ranges by hand.. my Passport 2008 got delivered to an old address, returned to the book shop then they ignored my requests to remail it or refund my money. Hmph. Gonna look into what the best kind of aerial would be for my situation (5 floors up in a city centre) that's affordable and give it another whirl. stinky ox : greetings (only?) other fellow Wales dweller in this thread. I'll have to head West and feed your Llamas some day  ninjaedit : 2 year anniversary of the thread in 4 days, don't forget!
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Jun 1, 2009 17:39
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The pHo posted:Wasn't me, I just bought a copy tho ($22 to go on the tally). It is summer also which means better DX propagation into the later evenings (and sometimes past midnight).
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Jun 1, 2009 17:52
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Don't suppose anyones heard anything from their dealers about the G3 release date? The web is still saying April and that blatantly didn't happen. Eton's Grundig section lists the radio and links to Amazon, who don't have a date in place. Longshot I know, but I'm trying to convince my friend to wait until the G3 is out rather than buying the G6 now (this is the right choice, yeah?) edit: Ah typical, the second I post I find a link to Universal Radio that states it's out 19th June. Not too long then!
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Jun 2, 2009 14:13
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The pHo posted:
*waves* greetings . Just be sure and bring Digestive biscuits, the sheep and llamas are anybody's for a nice Digestive, the tarts.A little antenna maintenance is needed here at the moment, the G5RV I use for my shortwave listening came down in some high winds a few weeks ago, and the other day to add insult to injury I ran over some of the wire now lying on the ground with my lawnmower. More wire and stronger fixings needed...
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Jun 3, 2009 08:40
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I don't know if anyone is interested, but I'm selling my Grundig G6. It haven't used it much (and none since I got my ham transceiver). If anyone is interested, here's my post in SA-Mart.
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Jun 4, 2009 02:42
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This is my first time posting in this thread but I've been following it for many weeks. I don't have a radio, probably wouldn't know how to use one if I had it in front of me, but Numbers Stations fascinate me. Tonight I heard on the news about a married Cuban couple who, since 1979, have been sending spy messages to Cuba. The husband had top security clearance since 1985, and the wife transmitted information by radio, and her agent number was 634. According to a judge involved they've "seen it all." Have any of you heard messages in the past from Cuban number stations (Attencion?) with such a number? It seemed familiar to me.
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Jun 6, 2009 00:18
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Is there any compelling reason I shouldn't bring my G5 with me to the Netherlands in two weeks? I'd like to be able to listen to some of the local radio stations as well and see what I can pick up on shortwave in Europe. Not sure how traveling with a radio works, though...
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Jun 7, 2009 07:02
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Accursed posted:Is there any compelling reason I shouldn't bring my G5 with me to the Netherlands in two weeks? I'd like to be able to listen to some of the local radio stations as well and see what I can pick up on shortwave in Europe. Not sure how traveling with a radio works, though... Nope, bring it. You will get all those delicious Europe stations a lot better. However, you may miss some of the ones from the Netherlands do to the skip being right over where you are staying (and not being close enough for ground waves). However, this is true no matter where you are. Report back to us anything cool you hear. Just pack it in your bag of electronic gear and carry some extra batteries. The power there will not be 110v so your transformer is useless without a transformer to step the power down to 110v.
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Jun 7, 2009 07:57
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Accursed posted:Not sure how traveling with a radio works, though... That's probably just paranoia though. I took my Sangean 505 (I think) from Taiwan to Hong Kong last year and they didn't even notice, let alone say anything.
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Jun 7, 2009 08:11
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I wouldn't worry about it, I always take my G6 with me whenever I travel and I've never had any hassle for it. It's just a radio after all. Airport electronics shops often sell SW radios as they are the kind of thing that "world travellers" might be expected to use, so carrying one wouldn't be any kind of a problem. I even bought a cheap one on a plane once when I'd forgotten to bring my G6. (Unless you're going to North Korea or something).
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Jun 7, 2009 11:31
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stinky ox posted:(Unless you're going to North Korea or something).
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Jun 7, 2009 16:43
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I've noticed a huge increase in Cuban numbers station activity over the last few days. I've heard ATENCION, twice, and another that uses a live female voice about three times in the last four days, usually somewhere around 6.600-7.000mhz, at around 12-2AM EST. Some of the transmissions last upwards of 45 minutes, and are quite strong, with good modulation. I'm guessing it has something to do with the arrest of the two alleged cuban spies in Washington DC last week. I'll try to record one when I have the radio on later tonight. EDIT: Oh, and another interesting thing. The station that uses a live female voice had what sounds like some kind of data pulses or other form of digital transmission in the background. Turning on the BFO and sliding it slightly off frequency seems to seperate them from the voice transmission. It's definitely not interference from another transmitter, as the pulses end at the exact same time the station completes it's broadcast and the carrier cuts out. MullardEL34 fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Jun 9, 2009 |
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Jun 9, 2009 03:32
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Just got a G6 and went to airnav.com looked up Bush Airport in Houston (IAH) and can't understand what to set my radio too that have 116.60 but i don't see how do put a decmil point in on my G6. So I assumed I should just put in 11660 but don't get anything. Help me goons.
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Jun 17, 2009 00:27
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So, I read the first page, checked craigslist, and then jumped straight here to ask if I should pay $20 for an Eton E10. Amazon tells me it's worth $100, so it seems like a good deal. How hard would it be for me to pick up N. Korean propaganda with this thing? What about other international stations? I don't care much about listening to preachers or old guys talking about radios, I want to hear crazy poo poo from other countries!
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Jun 17, 2009 01:05
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jebrown84 posted:Just got a G6 and went to airnav.com looked up Bush Airport in Houston (IAH) and can't understand what to set my radio too that have 116.60 but i don't see how do put a decmil point in on my G6. So I assumed I should just put in 11660 but don't get anything. Help me goons. That is 116.60 Mhz which is VHF. Put it in your radio as 116600 KHZ (the G6 does everything in Kilohertz as far as I remember). On a sad note I gave my G6 to my dad and it seems a power surge has ruined it. I think it is still in warranty and if not I'll try fixing it. Doc Faustus posted:So, I read the first page, checked craigslist, and then jumped straight here to ask if I should pay $20 for an Eton E10. Amazon tells me it's worth $100, so it seems like a good deal. How hard would it be for me to pick up N. Korean propaganda with this thing? What about other international stations? I don't care much about listening to preachers or old guys talking about radios, I want to hear crazy poo poo from other countries! Where do you live? West coast you have a very good chance. East coast is a bit harder. You may need to rig up a decent antenna.
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Jun 17, 2009 02:53
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HFX posted:Where do you live? West coast you have a very good chance. East coast is a bit harder. You may need to rig up a decent antenna. Arizona, so West Coast. Looks like it's time to buy a shortwave radio on Craigslist! If I need an antenna, would it be feasible to just run some wire along the outside of my house? Currently all the coax is routed outside the house, so it wouldn't be any great effort to run it.
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Jun 17, 2009 03:24
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Doc Faustus posted:Arizona, so West Coast. Looks like it's time to buy a shortwave radio on Craigslist! Yep. Sometimes you can be surprised with what you will receive / can do.
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Jun 17, 2009 03:51
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Doc Faustus posted:Arizona, so West Coast. Looks like it's time to buy a shortwave radio on Craigslist! Sup, fellow Arizona Shortwave goon? What part of this god-forsaken hellhole do you live in?
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Jun 18, 2009 16:08
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AstroZamboni posted:Sup, fellow Arizona Shortwave goon? What part of this god-forsaken hellhole do you live in? Tempe (the good part.) Guy on craigslist fell through, so I'm back to square zero. Not quite ready to drop $100 on a radio, but I also don't want to half-rear end this, since if I can't pick up crazy international radio, then what's the point?
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Jun 18, 2009 18:33
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Doc Faustus posted:Tempe (the good part.) Guy on craigslist fell through, so I'm back to square zero. Not quite ready to drop $100 on a radio, but I also don't want to half-rear end this, since if I can't pick up crazy international radio, then what's the point? Maybe you can troll ebay for a KA1102/DE1102 or KA1103/DE1103. I got my KA1102 for like 40 dollars. Does SSB, antenna port and everything. A quick ebay search shows the DE1102/3 for about 65 dollars. I don't know how good they are compared to the nice Eton radio's like the E5 but my Kaito seems ok for the money. Passport gave it a decent review. Maybe some people upgrading to a G3 would be willing to sell their G5 to you?
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Jun 22, 2009 07:44
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Capnbigboobies posted:Maybe you can troll ebay for a KA1102/DE1102 or KA1103/DE1103. I got my KA1102 for like 40 dollars. Does SSB, antenna port and everything. A quick ebay search shows the DE1102/3 for about 65 dollars. I don't know how good they are compared to the nice Eton radio's like the E5 but my Kaito seems ok for the money. Passport gave it a decent review. I was inspired by this thread to buy a Grundig G5 and Sony AN-LP1 active antenna. Since purchasing this, I have used it a total of 3 times. I just didn't catch the bug. If anyone is interested, I'll let the G5 go for $75 and the AN-LP1 for $50. I'm not positive that those are acceptable prices (I just did a Google search for the G5 and the cheapest I saw it was $129, and I couldn't find a price on the antenna at all and I don't remember what I paid for it). If anyone's interested, PM me for more info.
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Jun 22, 2009 23:56
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Sup Arizona shortwave goons! I'm down in Tucson. Haven't been able to hear much, but I'm not really sure how to find good stations to listen to. Any AZ goons want to give me heads up on some good channels? I have a G5.
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Jun 23, 2009 23:48
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So I was messing around with an Eton FR200 I got for emergencies (fire at the substation the other day knocked out half the city's power for hours) and well, I now know how to spot the mark of the beast. I wish I could get something cooler with this little unit but for what it is it's impressive. Mostly getting American god-god-god stations, but one kind of amusing conspiracy station where they were hawking silver and talking about Ron Paul.
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Jun 25, 2009 22:22
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Had a few quick moments last night to spend with the radio and managed to pick up UVB-76! It was one of the stations I had wanted to hear (even though it's just that buzzing tone), so I'm pretty glad I brought the radio over here to the Netherlands.
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Jun 26, 2009 08:42
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I saw this thread was at the bottom of my bookmark list because the last post is from a month ago, so I thought I'd pass this along:quote:http://www.passband.com/passport-to-world-band-radio%C2%AE-in-limbo/
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Jul 19, 2009 09:27
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That would suck. Any idea what the issues are?
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Jul 19, 2009 09:53
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RadioShack.com currently has a sale on the Grundig G6 Buzz Aldrin edition for only $60 with free shipping. If you're on the fence about getting a shortwave radio, this is a perfect opportunity to get one for a pretty reasonable price.
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Jul 24, 2009 18:37
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