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It's been reuploaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkc_Ig87TnM
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May 6, 2010 19:08
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Am I mad for wanting one?
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May 6, 2010 19:14
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biglads posted:Am I mad for wanting one? I'm mad, you're mad, we're all mad here.
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May 6, 2010 19:28
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Sierra posted:It's been reuploaded: Yeah, I was just about to ask what you guys were freaked out about, since they were all still up on his channel.
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May 6, 2010 20:09
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biglads posted:Am I mad for wanting one? We could make our own Goon numbers station. Our call up would just be a high pitched winded voice saying 'Get Out! Get Out!' and signal that the transmission was over would be 'Go back to GBS'
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May 6, 2010 21:42
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BigHustle posted:We could make our own Goon numbers station. Our call up would just be a high pitched winded voice saying 'Get Out! Get Out!' and signal that the transmission was over would be 'Go back to GBS' in German
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May 6, 2010 21:43
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I don't know what page its on, but in this thread there's already a link to an audio file I created of a goon number station.
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May 6, 2010 21:49
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biglads posted:in German No, in an Arabic language. Nothing will make the fundies and preppers poo poo their pants more than a 'Muslim' numbers station being heard.
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May 6, 2010 22:56
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I just made a fairly massive update to the OP, including a bunch of information about external antennas and a handy chart comparing features of different SW portables. Also added a glossary of some portable receiver tech terminology.
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May 7, 2010 02:56
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Ok, another casualty. I got one of these for free from work a while back and I thought it was really cool but didn't really know how to use it at all.  Click here for the full 800x600 image. Then I started reading this thread. I've gained a Grundig G6 and there is speaker wire strung all over my room. I'll probably have a magnetic loop within a week. Total damage so far: $120 But it's worth it.
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May 9, 2010 04:44
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Welcome to the club! It is a remarkably addictive hobby, and is very much a gateway drug to ham radio (I just recently got my ham license, callsign KF7JKA, general class). Radio technology just has a mystique about it that computers and the internet simply don't have. There's something extremely visceral about the hisses, warbles and spooky sounds you have to trudge through to get to your signal.
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May 9, 2010 20:22
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So were any of those antennas from radioshack/ebay worth purchasing? I'm so bad at building stuff I just know I'll get too frustrated with building a magnetic loop.
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May 10, 2010 01:16
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Social Animal posted:So were any of those antennas from radioshack/ebay worth purchasing? I'm so bad at building stuff I just know I'll get too frustrated with building a magnetic loop. I bought RadioShack's AM loop a few years ago when it was on sale, works pretty darn well. Downside is that it only works for the AM broadcast band, not shortwave. For shortwave I bought a Degen 31 which is a amplified shortwave loop antenna and it works pretty well too. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2405978&filterName=Category <- I would not pay anywhere close to $40 for this, I only paid $15 when it was on sale. Maybe eBay offers them cheaper? http://cgi.ebay.com/DEGEN-DE31MS-MW...=item19b455d39a <- Pretty reasonable price, there use to be many more sellers on eBay but I guess these antennas are almost gone.
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May 10, 2010 03:54
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Here's a cool recording, time stations from China, Hawaii, Australia, Japan, and Colorado all on 5.0 MHz being heard at once! http://dodgeblog.nfshost.com/wordpress/?p=769
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May 10, 2010 04:46
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Radio Nowhere posted:I bought RadioShack's AM loop a few years ago when it was on sale, works pretty darn well. Downside is that it only works for the AM broadcast band, not shortwave. For shortwave I bought a Degen 31 which is a amplified shortwave loop antenna and it works pretty well too. Well drat that Degen looks perfect. Thanks a ton.
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May 10, 2010 05:59
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Social Animal posted:Well drat that Degen looks perfect. Thanks a ton. I have the Degen as well and its much better than the built in whip when used indoors. So if you cant build your own and don't/can't run a long-rear end random wire antenna its a nice way to go. There is one downside you constantly have to fiddle with the tuning knob when you are just surfing around for stuff on the air. It's much easier to use if you are going for a particular station. Really the Degen is cheaper than building the Mag loop, I really don't know what works better. I never got decent performance out of my homemade mag loop, but I did a lovely job. With the Degen antenna it was the difference between hearing a station and hearing nothing with just the whip. It's not magic but its not bad to play around with.
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May 10, 2010 09:53
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Capnbigboobies posted:I have the Degen as well and its much better than the built in whip when used indoors. So if you cant build your own and don't/can't run a long-rear end random wire antenna its a nice way to go. There is one downside you constantly have to fiddle with the tuning knob when you are just surfing around for stuff on the air. It's much easier to use if you are going for a particular station. I'm pretty much sold mainly on the price. I don't think I can go wrong with this although as cheap as it is I'm still poor. Next paycheck and it's mine!
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May 11, 2010 03:22
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woohoo! stick another £100 onto the total - picked up an Eton G3 this morning from maplin, couldn't wait for one to be delivered so I went down to the store and got it. Not the cheapest but drat it I HAVE IT RIGHT NOW!
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May 11, 2010 16:50
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Social Animal posted:I'm pretty much sold mainly on the price. I don't think I can go wrong with this although as cheap as it is I'm still poor. Next paycheck and it's mine! Might as well order it sooner rather than later, it takes a long time to get from Hong Kong, so be ready to wait a few weeks from most of the sellers on ebay.
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May 11, 2010 18:46
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Capnbigboobies posted:Might as well order it sooner rather than later, it takes a long time to get from Hong Kong, so be ready to wait a few weeks from most of the sellers on ebay. I just forgot about the shipping haha yeah this is going to have to wait till next week for sure now. Very excited about this, thanks again for the link.
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May 12, 2010 03:53
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Wow, I'm not sure if this was common knowledge but you can tune the Degen 1103 below 100 KHz through some simple button pushing. The same button pushing also allows broadcast AM reception through the ariel whip rather then the internal ferrite antenna. Basically hit 1 - 7 - 1 - 1 'band+' then hold 'Band -' for 2 seconds and from there you can either use the tuning knob or just let it scan. I don't think there's much below 100 KHz beyond time signals (WWVB 60 KHz sets atomic clocks) and digital submarine communcations. There's also a way to button push your way above 30 MHz to 35 MHz but since most transmissions there are FM that isn't too useful. Video sample of reception in the 'radio basement' -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWNsWR5CZ1Q Radio Nowhere fucked around with this message at 15:24 on May 14, 2010 |
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May 14, 2010 15:21
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Well, looks like I've been bitten by the fantastic Eton quality control! My shiny new g3 is an early unit (sn 000024) and has the howling noise when I try to use sync so it looks like it's back off to base for this little one and see if they can send me a more recent problem-free unit. Apart from the non-syncing, I'm having a good time with it, got my long-wire thrown up and listening to all sorts of crazy crap - even got the Mrs freaked out when I told her about number stations, if she gets any more interested it may be a good excuse for another radio!
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May 14, 2010 18:29
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onoj posted:if she gets any more interested it may be a good excuse for another radio! If you got her interested you just doubled the number of female shortwave listeners! If you've ever been to a SWLfest or hamfest you know what I mean.
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May 14, 2010 19:26
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Is it alright if I use copper to build the coupling loop on a magnetic loop antenna? The site linked earlier used steel but never really said if it needed to be that way or not and the "magnetic" part of that name has me unsure.
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May 16, 2010 01:04
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Veruth posted:Is it alright if I use copper to build the coupling loop on a magnetic loop antenna? It should be fine. In fact, I've seen some sites suggest copper. It's not magnetizing the loop, it's using the loop to create a magnetic field. Different.
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May 16, 2010 05:15
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There was some discussion a few pages back of listening to airband comms; for anyone interested, MT has put up their aircomms articles up for free. They list both frequencies, techniques for reception, and radio recommendations.
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May 17, 2010 20:56
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[url posted:http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/2010/05/uniden-open-house-2010-in-dfw-metroplex.html[/url]]
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May 17, 2010 20:59
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 I've been listening to this on 9202khz USB for nearly the last hour now, I found it whilst looking for an E10 broadcast, which is also supposed to pop up on 9202, anyone have any ideas what it is? The signal isn't great, but you can make it out. The pitch changes are just me messing about with fine tune, otherwise it has been the same pitch throughout. EDIT : m51 is on 5184usb, as of ~22:00utc EDIT EDIT : pah, after some more reading, M51 isn't actually a numbers station at all, its a french morse training program. or is that exactly what they want us to think? 
onoj fucked around with this message at 23:23 on May 17, 2010 |
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May 17, 2010 22:18
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Anyone around who wants to check out 3905KHz right now on SSB to see if they can hear the same chatter I'm hearing?
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May 21, 2010 02:09
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Catastrophe posted:Anyone around who wants to check out 3905KHz right now on SSB to see if they can hear the same chatter I'm hearing? I'm guessing it's probably just some hams.
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May 21, 2010 08:17
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So I've got this radio, and I'd like to know if it's a short wave radio. It's from 1925 and according to my father was in working condition last he knew, but he never really knew how to use it. Click here for the full 2048x1536 image.  Click here for the full 1536x2048 image.  Click here for the full 1536x2048 image.  Click here for the full 1536x2048 image. There is some type of instructional card with it, but it's in pretty rough shape. This is pretty much the most intact part of the card.  Click here for the full 2048x1536 image. If you need me to clear up any of the text there, just let me know and I'll do what I can for ya. edit: A bit of research indicates it is a Federal Telephone & Telegraph Type 61 Receiver, but I haven't found anything on whether it receives short wave signals. Lib and let die fucked around with this message at 07:48 on May 24, 2010 |
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May 24, 2010 06:40
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The Miracle posted:So I've got this radio, and I'd like to know if it's a short wave radio. It's from 1925 and according to my father was in working condition last he knew, but he never really knew how to use it. quote:Federal Telephone & Telegraph Co. ($223 is $2779.50 in today's dollars) I don't know whether this is a shortwave radio or not; I put the reference card photo into Photoshop to lighten it up and I don't know exactly what all of the dials do. It might be a shortwave radio, it might not be,  It is worth a decent amount of money; I came across several auction listings for in the neighborhood of $1500. The only other useful information that I could dig up is that it was a hot performer in its day (and still would be), but it's very touchy to adjust.
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May 24, 2010 08:29
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nmfree posted:The only useful information I've been able to find on Google is this: Wow, I had no idea it was worth that much. Later on when I have some time I'll try and put the reference card through my scanner instead of taking lovely cell phone pictures. Is there anything specific I could look for on the dials that would identify it as short wave capable? edit: I checked with my grandmother (the radio belonged to my grandfather before he passed) and it IS a shortwave radio. However, I'm imagining that the battery required for operation would most likely be more expensive than going out and buying a new shortwave receiver, so I don't think I'll be using this mammoth machine. I may try and talk my dad into Craigslisting or eBaying it. I did however find out from my dad ("Why are you so interested in shortwave radio?") that there's another antique radio in the house that only needs an antenna and a new set of tubes to work properly. All I know about it is that it's a Philco radio. I can't find a model number anywhere on it. I'm thinking of getting in contact with the proprietor of one of those antique radio sites I stumbled across and sending him a few pictures, but here it is nonetheless.  Click here for the full 1536x2048 image. Lib and let die fucked around with this message at 18:22 on May 24, 2010 |
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May 24, 2010 17:26
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According to this news piece the BBC World Service radio shortwave audience has dropped 9% just in the last year, from 177 million to 161 million. That's 16 million! Countries with the biggest shortwave audience loss include Bangladesh, India and Nigeria. All this while BBC's audience is growing online and growing in areas where there are local FM relays. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0337712a-666f-11df-aeb1-00144feab49a.html
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May 26, 2010 05:15
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Radio Nowhere posted:According to this news piece the BBC World Service radio shortwave audience has dropped 9% just in the last year, from 177 million to 161 million. That's 16 million! Countries with the biggest shortwave audience loss include Bangladesh, India and Nigeria. All this while BBC's audience is growing online and growing in areas where there are local FM relays. I don't understand now they know this. You can't track reception of radio waves.
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May 26, 2010 21:52
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Catastrophe posted:I don't understand now they know this. You can't track reception of radio waves. Or can they! Really though the BBC can do a statistical survey on an area to see how their broadcasts are being received. It's no different then how Arbitron does it here for AM/FM broadcasts. They won't have concrete numbers but they can see a trend.
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May 26, 2010 22:09
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Welp, I am another victim of this thread. I picked up a Grundig G3 yesterday and some spools of wire/alligator clips/soldering iron from Radio Shack today. I'm going to try and go back through as much of the thread as possible to avoid "stupid questions."
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May 26, 2010 22:25
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ifire posted:Welp, I am another victim of this thread. I picked up a Grundig G3 yesterday and some spools of wire/alligator clips/soldering iron from Radio Shack today. I'm going to try and go back through as much of the thread as possible to avoid "stupid questions." If it's not in the op ask away! I'll admit I'm a nerd and read this whole thread before I posted, it was awesome to find other shortwave nerds under 50 
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May 27, 2010 03:19
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The Miracle posted:So I've got this radio, and I'd like to know if it's a short wave radio. Shortwave is defined as 3MHz to 30MHz, or 10-100 meters. Looks like your "secondary wavelength" dial has numbers that fall in that range, so it should be able to receive shortwave freqs. However, if you're just wanting to use it for listening and don't have any interest in collecting antique radios, I'd sell that thing and buy a G6 or something for <$100 that will be much easier to use.
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May 27, 2010 03:35
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wa27 posted:Shortwave is defined as 3MHz to 30MHz, or 10-100 meters. Looks like your "secondary wavelength" dial has numbers that fall in that range, so it should be able to receive shortwave freqs. My dad's kind of attached to it. It was his grandfather's, so I doubt selling it is an option, although as previously mentioned, something in the ballpark of $1500 would buy me a nice little shortwave radio, and give my father a nice deposit into his checking account. Ah well, looks like I'll just have to tighten my budget for a few weeks if I want to get in on this action.
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May 27, 2010 06:53
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