Achtung! Its the one and only Shortwave Radio Uberthread!

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Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

I couldn't pick it up. In fact I'm not having much luck at all tonight. I've settled in to listening to a couple hams talk about antennas. SoundMonkey, if you're around they're on 3988 USB.

E: Hey Astro, did you ever think you'd have a 10 page thread about SW?

# ¿ Jun 24, 2007 06:56

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 11:31

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Curly Shuffle posted:

Thanks for this. I'm listening in now, trying to get the hang of the SSB fine tuning on my E5.

For anyone who wants to play with SSB, W4DW is running net control for a field day contest on 3830 USB right now. There are a ton of people checking in.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2007 08:33

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Paperweight posted:

Had my first late night listening session where I didn't have to get up in the morning to go to work. I heard a lot of ham traffic on 3600 KHz and up. Got to try out the SSB adjustment. On plain old AM broadcast, I picked up an Atlanta, GA news station on 750 KHz from here in Lexington, NC. Picked up what I guess are standards stations or beacons at 10000 and 3330 KHz. They gave the time every once in a while.

Since every one else is yelling about the grounding issue (yeah bad idea), I'll go ahead and tell you that 3330 is CHU, Canada's time standard station. 10000 is WWV, the atomic clock station in Ft. Collins, CO.

Also, the Atencion lady is on right now on 7887.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2007 21:05

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

nmfree posted:

You're talking about a scanner, which is completely different.

I wouldn't discount a cheap scanner as a spiffy time waster either

My trusty Pro-2006 has been going strong for years.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 00:21

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

SpunkyRedKnight posted:

Does anyone know if it's worth looking into wideband receivers or would it be better to buy a shortwave radio and scanner separately if I was looking into the AM to GHz range?

I'm not aware of any scanners that go low enough to be used on the shortwave bands. Mine only goes down to 25 mhz. At least as far as my setup is concerned, one picks up where the other leaves off.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 00:35

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

PancakeMan posted:

This thread is what finally made me man up and buy a SA account.

Hahahaha this has to be the most quietly awesome thread going.

PancakeMan posted:

Sad thing is that for some reason it skips a few chunks of frequency. Anybody else have one of these and find a way around this? (For example I was trying to get the 6.6 shortwave frequency this morning and the radio skips from 6.35 to 7.05), cause it's kinda dissappointing not being able to hear stuff you know is there.

(Oh god why do I know this?) Inside the battery compartment there is a little switch. It sounds like yours is set to only scan the so-called 'meter bands'. Flip that switch and that'll unlock you.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 01:15

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

hudibrastic posted:

2. Check out streaming audio of world band broadcasts.

That's cheating! :argh:

Edit:

quote:

It might be cheating, but sometimes it's your only option.

I was just kidding

Halah fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Jun 25, 2007

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 05:45

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

PancakeMan posted:

You sir, are my hero. Any Idea what purpose those little switches serve anyway? There's one to switch my AM from 10000 to 9000 and the above mentioned, I am baffled by their purpose.

In Europe (actually I think the rest of the world outside the Americas), AM stations go in increments of 9 khz (702, 711, 720) as opposed to 10 in the US (700, 710, 720.) As for the one you used, my guess is that some people just buy receivers to listen to the common bands as that's where the commercial broadcasts take place.

(Edit for clarity)

Halah fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Jun 25, 2007

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 06:52

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

I can barely hear that, but there is some smooth Cuban jazz/lounge stuff on 6060 right now.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 07:20

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

potato of destiny posted:

I wish there was some way to do that on my YB-400... I can still listen to AM by directly entering the frequency, but it's a bit annoying to only be able to tune in 1 or 9 khz increments.

(Oh god why do I know this Part II) Turn the radio off and press the AM button, then press the Step button. It should say 10khz. You're all set!

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 07:33

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

The ground should be as close as possible to the side of your house/radio. I don't trust plumbing to do the work. If I'm reading your question correctly, no it doesn't go from the end of your wire back into the ground. It should split off as soon as it leaves your house. A copper rod driven into the ground (ideally 8 feet) is best in my opinion.

Edit: Atencion lady is on 5883 right now

Halah fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Jun 25, 2007

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 08:00

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

meatpotato posted:

Getting some spanish numbers on 5900 right now (0925 UTC) on west coast of California.

Much clearer (to me) on 5898, but I've been listening to her as well.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2007 09:35

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

PancakeMan posted:

Score dudes, alien conspiracy theorist on 7315, even managed to get his website:

https://www.soldoutwarning.com

Hahaha yup, that's American SW in a nutshell right there.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2007 05:13

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

hudibrastic posted:

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.

That's really cool of you.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2007 06:02

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

AstroZamboni posted:

Yeah, I just HAD to get into SW during a solar minimum. Yawn.

Seeing how the sun is a major impact on signal strength, this combines my hobby (radio) with my profession-in-training (Astronomy).

Oh, you should see it when things really fire up. I distinctly recall hearing WWVH in the daytime once.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2007 23:42

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

I don't know if I'm just too far away for that or what, but I can't usually hear it

# ¿ Jun 28, 2007 00:14

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

nmfree posted:

In the mid 90s it wasn't too unusual to hear simulcasts on at least 3 of their channels... all day and well into the night. When solar activity is super high, the MUF at night can stay up around 14 or 15 mHz, which is, frankly, nuts.

As an aid to those new to the hobby, I will attempt to define "MUF". Feel free to add to this, because I suck at describing things sometimes.

"MUF" means "Maximum usable frequency." In layman's terms, imagine a European station is beaming its signal toward North America on 12000. If the MUF is 10000, you probably won't hear it. If the MUF is 14000, it will probably come in clear as day. Personally, I have experienced MUF into the 30's, which is awesome.

You can see a real time MUF map right here.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2007 02:49

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Pixelboy posted:

There was a '10' right over Vancouver.
Tonight, I didn't hear much (anything?) above 10000khz..

So, this means that the evil shortwave faeries decided I couldn't listen above that frequency tonight?

Yessir, you are correct.

Edit:

Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:

I really can't get my head around reading that map.

Edit: And just as I post that it makes total sense. Still hard to read though.

I really wish it were larger, myself.

Also, note that the highest MUF's are in areas of daylight, especially centered around the equator. These are the areas with the strongest solar influence.

Halah fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Jun 29, 2007

# ¿ Jun 29, 2007 00:31

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

I had big time problems, a victim of summer storms in the South. They were all over last night.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2007 01:31

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Insert the obligatory "but it's a dry heat" comment here

It was something like 94 here today, but dammit, hot is hot.

Reception is kinda spotty tonight as well. Some bands are coming in well, some suck. Overall, it's crap. I'm just picking up the usual suspects. Anyone having better luck?

# ¿ Jun 30, 2007 07:24

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Welp, been out of the loop for a good week now because I went and got married. Sad to hear things are dry at best. And I've never had any luck hearing the buzzer for some reason. Funny that should come up because I tried to catch that a couple weeks ago.

But now I'm back and listening!

# ¿ Jul 9, 2007 09:05

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Elijah posted:

Woah, no poo poo.

20 meters is an amateur band, right?

Correct. The 20 meter band for US amateurs runs from 14000 to 14350.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2007 04:40

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Shastao posted:

WWCR (World Wide Christian Radio) sometimes airs conspiracy type stuff, they're one of the strongest stations I can get where I am.

WWCR transmitter schedule

Yeah, they're probably one of the best. I found one a couple weeks ago but I'll be damned if I can remember the name.

Side note: Got a QSL from Radio Sweden today!

# ¿ Jul 18, 2007 23:51

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Stuntman Mike posted:

Edit: I've got a question, just out of curiosity: What's above the 30Mhz mark for shortwave. All the radios I've seen go from receive from about AM108 to 30000khz. What's above that? Anything?

The space from 30 to roughly 300 mhz is known as VHF (Very high frequency) and is beyond what is known as "shortwave". Among other uses, 88-108 is the commercial FM band. If you're in the US and have a local station using channel 6, you can usually hear the audio around 87.5 or 87.7 FM. You can hear really old-school cordless phones and baby monitors around 45-50 mhz. Most scanners start their coverage at 30 mhz.

Edit: Wiki does a good job breaking down the VHF spectrum.

Halah fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Jul 19, 2007

# ¿ Jul 19, 2007 00:31

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Stuntman Mike posted:

VVVVV 2.4 Ghz? Christ, that's the frequency of my cordless phone. Niiice.

My ham license allows me to transmit well into the Ghz range. The FCC, in its tests asks questions about pointing antennas at people because, well, the #Ghz range is about where the average microwave oven cooks food. :v:

# ¿ Jul 19, 2007 06:26

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Danton posted:

My windows have bars over them, would that interfere with the wire antenna?
Can I use the grate over my window to increase the signal, maybe by putting together a new wire and just attaching it to the grate?

That's the first thing that popped in my head.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2007 21:03

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

I can answer scanner questions as well. They are actually easier to use vs. shortwave.

nmfree posted:

First, despite what anyone else might tell you, you don't need a trunking scanner to listen to a trunked system. The only way that you wouldn't be able to listen to a trunked system is if they use one of the digital voice modes/ digital encryption. The only thing that will be different is that you'll have to lock out the data control frequency (daily, if it rotates) and it's a little more difficult to follow individual conversations.

This is true, but the channels rotate somewhat randomly when the mike is un-keyed so it is possible to hear the beginning of a conversation, but miss the end. Edit: My scanner isn't able to do trunked systems, I have to rely on a fast scan. Newer ones don't have my problem.

quote:

Other than that, there isn't much that a scanner won't be able to do. Any new radio you buy today will be set up for NFM at 12.5 kHz spacing on VHF (as opposed to the old 25 kHz channels).

In addition, most newer radios have the ability to change between 5/12.5/25 khz, should you wish to do so.

quote:

As many as you want to pay for, basically. The traditional Bearcat/Radio Shack scanner will cover 30-54, 138-170, 400-512, and 800-950 MHz (roughly), but there are also wideband radios that will cover a much greater swath of spectrum.

As an example, mine covers 25-520 mhz and 760-1300 mhz (the missing part is US government frequencies.)

quote:

Police, firefighters, ambulances, street sweepers, utility companies, hams, studio link feeds for commercial broadcasters, cordless phones, paging services, marine radios, NOAA weather radio, etc.

Fast food drive throughs, mall security, NASCAR cars (hey, I'm in the south), CB radios, aircraft/airports, family radio services...

quote:

Here are the things I'd look for, from most important to least:

Sensitivity
Intermod rejection
Frequency coverage
Trunking coverage
# of Memories

As with shortwave, anything other than the stock antenna is better. One thing you want to keep in mind, though. As the frequency increases, the length of antenna needed decreases. This is why truckers run huge antennas (27 mhz is the CB band) while cell/cordless phones have tiny antennas (800-2000 mhz.)

This eliminates the need for huge, slinky inducing, window-wrapping setups. It does however, introduce the "line of sight" problem (for a different reason, just work with me here). "Line of sight" is exactly as simple as it sounds. Given a clear day, with no obstructions, could you see the tower? If yes, you can get the signal. If no, probably not. This explains the 50 bazillion cell phone towers out there.

Higher frequencies (I'm talking about roughly 800 mhz and higher here) are adversely affected by metal. The signals literally bounce off the metal. Ever have trouble getting cell phone signals in a mall? There you go.

Along the lines of antennas/scanners/police, you can hazard a guess as to where your local authorities are transmitting by looking at the antennas on their cars. Do they have a huge, 10 foot monster? They're monitoring CB or the 40-50 mhz area. Do their antennas look like a toothpick? Check the 800 mhz area. Something the length of an average car radio antenna? Look in the 150's.

http://www.cityfreq.com/ has annoying ads, but some good scanner info as far as frequencies. Here's my county as an example;

code:

Anderson, south carolina Scanner Frequencies

35.9000 	  	HUGHES WELL DRILLING CO INC
45.6400 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC.
47.6800 	  	WHAM BROS CONSTRUCTION CO INC; WHAM BROS CONST CO INC
72.3400 	  	Primex Wireless, Inc
150.8150 	  	HUITT, SHIRLEY
151.0550 	  	ANDERSON, COUNTY OF
151.6250 	  	new SPRING COMMUNITY CHURCH
151.6550 	  	PHILLIPS, LEON H
151.7150 	  	ANDERSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER; AnMed Health
151.8650 	  	FEDERAL LICENSING INC
152.0075 	  	AnMed Health
152.9000 	  	CHAMBLEE, L C
153.1850 	  	MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS INC.
153.9500 	  	ANDERSON, COUNTY OF; Anderson County Fire Department; PYRAMID COMMUNICATIONS
154.0850 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
154.1000 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
154.1600 	  	ANDERSON, city OF
154.2950 	  	PYRAMID COMMUNICATIONS
154.4150 	  	Anderson County
154.5150 	  	AnMed Health; H M ELECTRONICS INC
154.5400 	  	wood INC; T REE MCCOY & SONS; PEARSON CONSTRUCTION & REALTY CO INC
154.6000 	  	BUD TABOR ENTERPRISES; PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC.
154.8150 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
154.8900 	  	APCO LICENSING
155.0850 	  	ANDERSON, COUNTY OF
155.2200 	  	Anderson County; MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS INC; PERFORMANCE COMM.LLC
155.3100 	  	ANDERSON COUNTY
155.3400 	  	AnMed Health
155.3850 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
155.8800 	  	ANDERSON, COUNTY OF; Anderson County Sheriff's Office
156.0000 	  	ANDERSON, COUNTY OF
156.0750 	  	Anderson County; ANDERSON, COUNTY OF
157.5300 	  	Diversified Electronics Inc
157.6800 	  	AnMed Health
157.6950 	  	AnMed Health
157.7100 	  	AnMed Health; PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
158.2950 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
158.3100 	  	MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS INC; business RADIO LICENSING
158.3400 	  	AnMed Health
158.3550 	  	MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS INC; BUSINESS RADIO LICENSING
158.4150 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
159.0300 	  	Anderson County
159.4950 	  	AnMed Health
159.7800 	  	LAO 20705408
160.1700 	  	Broadway Technologies LLC
171.1050 	  	CHARLES I TABOR ENTERPRISE; BUD TABOR ENTERPRISES
451.9500 	  	Pickens Construction, Inc.
452.8250 	  	Broadway Technologies LLC
453.9750 	  	Anderson County
456.3500 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
456.4750 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
457.4000 	  	Performance Communications LLC.
458.2250 	  	ANDERSON SPORTS & entertainment CENTER
458.5500 	  	ANDERSON COUNTY 911
458.9750 	  	ANDERSON, COUNTY OF
460.7375 	  	ANDERSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER
461.0625 	  	CARA Enterprises Inc
461.2500 	  	FEDERAL LICENSING, INC.
461.2750 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
461.6250 	  	HEATING & COOLING SERVICES INC
462.4500 	  	ROBERT BOSCH CORPORATION
462.5000 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
463.7000 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
464.1875 	  	ERC PARTS, INC.
464.3750 	  	BASF CORPORATION
464.5500 	  	RENOIRE, ELAINE
464.7750 	  	Broadway Technologies LLC
465.9375 	  	blue Ridge Security Systems, Inc.
466.6250 	  	GLEN RAVEN MILLS INC
466.7375 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
467.2750 	  	Morris Wireless
467.3250 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
467.4500 	  	FRIGIDAIRE HOME PRODUCTS
467.8250 	  	ANDERSON SPORTS & RECREATION COMPLEX
467.8875 	  	FRIGIDAIRE HOME PRODUCTS
468.3625 	  	AnMed Health
468.5250 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
468.6500 	  	CLARK-SCHWEBEL FIBERGLASS
469.2250 	  	MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS INC
469.5250 	  	PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC.
469.5500 	  	ISOM, WILLIAM E
469.8750 	  	ANDERSON COLLEGE INC
469.9625 	  	AnMed Health
854.7375 	  	ANDERSON, CITY OF
866.2125 	  	Anderson County
2462.0000 	  	ANDERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY

http://www.radioreference.com/ is a bit more comprehensive as far as general info and frequencies are concerned. This is their database for my county.
Click here for some streaming police scanning!

As always, I'm watching this thread to answer any more questions. If I (or anyone else) missed a topic, ask away!

Halah fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Jul 28, 2007

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 06:49

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Nostratic posted:

Oh God, it sounds like a congregation of young, brainwashed girls saying the Rosary, over and over, FOR 20 MINUTES STRAIGHT so far.

I'm deeply disturbed, and yet I can't... change... the frequency...

Welcome to the brotherhood

Reference this exact thought whenever some calls you a radio nerd.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 06:53

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Shastao posted:

What would be the "Eton E5" of scanners, in terms of capability for affordability?

I will not replace my PRO-2006 even if it can't do trunked channels. :c00lbert:

But I'm old school like that.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 07:18

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

blugu64 posted:

Not at all, just wait for late Saturday night and listen to the police channels. Depending on your city it can get pretty interesting. (reference my earlier post on the first 2-3 pages about 'superman' running around an apartment complex)

EDIT:

That's not old school, that's just hot.

EDIT2:
Holy crap that covers AMPS cell towers and cordless phones doesn't it? Man that's awesome! My father used to have a scanner that covered those freq's too!

(call me paranoid but that is also the main reason I used a landline to talk to girls when I was in high school)

It took a little surgical prowess to unlock the cell frequencies, but one snip and the deed was done. There are some crazy-assed mods that can be done with this thing. Like 6,400 memory channels. I haven't done that one yet, but this thing is sick in what you can do to it.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 07:42

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Sennheiser posted:

For example:
851.93750 806.93750 WPFY221 RM Emergency Communications Office FM

The frequency being the first number, will my scanner be able to pick that up well? Or will it not come through/be scratchy?

Drop that last zero. I don't know where it will be needed. 851.9375 or 806.9375 are more like what's used. I don't know if your scanner can pick them up - you might try 851.937/8 or 806.937/8 and see if you can hear it. Things get really sensitive in that high of a frequency range, though.

Edit: Yeah, blugu beat me by nearly an hour.

Halah fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Jul 27, 2007

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 09:09

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Sennheiser posted:

Why don't drive-thrus use FRS communications, is this frequency band just more secure or something?

FRS is for non-commercial use only. There is also GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) but the 'mobile' part is the deal breaker.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2007 02:38

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Sennheiser posted:

Any tips on antenna/unit placing?

The higher the better. Also, if you have a telescoping antenna, see if collapsing it halfway helps any. In the 460 range you don't need the full length. If you are in a building with a metal frame, that can hamper performance.

It could just be you're too far from the transmitter, though.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2007 02:41

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Sennheiser posted:

If I tape a piece of speaker wire to the antenna and run that wire outside through a window and just let it drop down a wall, will it improve reception or just be useless?

Seriously, longer isn't necessarily better at the really high frequencies. You can always give it a shot, though.

This is in no way directed at you personally, but I think the recent scanner discussion has been clouded by 18 pages of big-assed, outdoor, toss some wire over a fence shortwave antennas, so I want to throw this out there.

The reason long antennas work for shortwave is indicated in the names of the bands. 15 meters, for example. That is roughly the length of one wave (hertz/cycle.) Antennas work best when optimized for the frequency they are receiving. 1/4 wave or 1/2 wave, or even 5/8 wave, for example. A 1/2 wave antenna on 15 meters would be 7.5 meters long. At 460 mhz, for a 1/4 wave antenna, we're talking about 6.5 inches. A full wave antenna at 460 mhz is roughly 26 inches. For future reference, to find the 1/4 wave length, 2992/(freq. in mhz) is a rough approximation. One can do the math from there to find other combinations.

Think about it like this - a 1/4 wave antenna at 94 mhz (about the middle of the FM dial) is about 32 inches. Now go measure the antenna on your car. I'm not going down three flights of stairs to measure mine, but I bet it's a 1/4 wave.

None of this means you need a new antenna every time you switch bands, but I just want everyone to understand that when it comes to UHF, throwing copper around doesn't guarantee success. Sometimes smaller is really better.

Another confusion I can potentially see between the shortwave vs. scanner folks is the numbers we're using. You heard a numbers station on 6833? That's 6833 khz. You heard police activity on 460.0125? That's 460.0125 mhz.

6833 khz = 6.833 mhz
460.0125 mhz = 460012.5 khz

For reference;
FM radio (US) is 88-108 mhz
AM radio (US) is 550-1710 khz

"Why type all that, Halah?" I've been saying that higher frequencies need smaller antennas. I want to note that hearing crazy number stations on 6833 is on a lower frequency than hearing police activity on 460.0125 even though the numbers might indicate otherwise. Kilohertz and megahertz operate via the metric scale. I fear that distinction may be getting lost now that scanners are being discussed, and I want to make sure that folks in the US know that.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2007 07:00

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Sennheiser posted:

So you don't have a traditional metal antenna at all, just a pile of speaker wire?

Another problem is that the antenna is not seated firmly, why doesn't the antenna port have threads for screwing it in? That's quite confusing.

I'm beginning to see the issue here. Nostratic's using a shortwave radio, you're using a scanner. Check my above post for more detail, but you guys are basically trying to communicate in two different languages.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2007 07:05

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Halah posted:

"The bouncy ball theory."

To try and explain why shortwave goes worldwide and UHF doesn't, I present the following;

Take a basketball onto a court. Now take the ball and throw it down as if you were spiking a football. It's going to bounce a good distance across the court, right? Big ball, covers large distances between hops. That's shortwave.

Now do the same with a bouncy ball. It's going to go straight back up into the air and bounce like crazy, but not go far (we're counting bounces here, not rolls.) That's scanner territory.

If you're out of the line of sight from a UHF transmitter, you won't hear it no matter what antenna you have. Especially when you get into the police frequencies.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2007 07:25

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

AstroZamboni posted:

Mind if I add this to the OP?

Not at all, feel free!

E:

Elijah posted:

Uh, can we put the scanner stuff in a different thread? I think a lot of us would prefer to stick to shortwave here.

I know Astro Zamboni had hinted about making it a general listening thread, but I'm down with whatever the consensus ends up being.

Halah fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Jul 29, 2007

# ¿ Jul 29, 2007 05:54

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Stuntman Mike posted:

So I found this playing on 5741 at about 1:15 UTC.
[/b] And then it just gets better and better.

Hahahaha holy poo poo that's awesome. I have to get me one of those cables.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2007 04:13

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

I heart bacon posted:

Good idea. Here it is:

If it helps, I live in a town of about 1500 people.

That looks like a couple of standard multipurpose antennas. The big things that look like drums are microwave antennas, the rest are probably municipal (police/fire) or business (tow trucks, etc.) None of that should affect shortwave reception in any huge way; everything on that tower is broadcasting way above the frequencies used for shortwave.

You may have some luck finding out some info about the tower here.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2008 07:17

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 11:31

Halah: Sep 1, 2003; Maybe just another light that shines

Dolemite posted:

A few pages back in the thread, I asked about how clouds/weather can affect reception. I have another weather question: can humidity itself affect reception?

I was listening last night when I noticed that I really couldn't pull in much of anything. My first clue that something had to be up was that all my favorite preacher stations weren't coming in nice and clear. Next, I noticed that I had trouble pulling in Radio Habana and Radio Marti (I live in Florida, this shouldn't be the case!).

Finally, I used the spectrum scope tool and noticed that I just wasn't getting any strong signals at all in the shortwave bands.

So, I went and checked the weather forecast. Sure enough, heavy rains were scheduled for Monday night through Wednesday. And on my way to class, I got soaked in that predicted rain ( ). I should mention the reason for my question was that even though it was hot and humid, there wasn't a cloud in the sky last night. So the clouds weren't there to affect reception, just lots of humidity.

Here's the strange bit. Humidity, especially with warmer weather, can actually increase your chances of pulling in more distant stations, through a phenomenon called tropospheric ducting. However this tends to come at the price of losing more nearby stations. Another factor that may have come into play with your storms would be interference from lightning that could play havoc with your reception.

As for all the hams - welcome to the new kids, and good luck to those who are studying! I was going to head to Charlotte yesterday and take the General test, but my wife had to go to the hospital, so that squashed that plan. Ah well, there are many chances to test, but I only have one wife

# ¿ Mar 10, 2008 03:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Achtung! Its the one and only Shortwave Radio Uberthread!

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