The Internet went down in my area for a few hours last week. Given the bizarre nature of current events my inner prepper used that as justification to buy a high end shortwave radio. The receive sensitivity really isn't any better than 200.00 radios but it should have better overall sound, plus it looks cool.
Here is a link where you can stream some shortwave stations if you are interested
Propagation is starting to improve after one of the worst solar cycles in recent memory. A search on "shortwave listing" will bring up a ton of information about the hobby. You might want to hurry with that search before Google decides shortwave radio is spreading "misinformation" though.
I'm a HAM operator - this is my Radio (or one of them)
James Pepper: There's no law west of Dodge and no God west of the Pecos. Right, Mr. Chisum? John Chisum: Wrong, Mr. Pepper. Because no matter where people go, sooner or later there's the law. And sooner or later they find God's already been there.
That's the first time I ever heard the terms "sounds amazing and shortwave radio" in the same sentence. 😄.
It looks like a good model. Did you get one,, or thinking about it? Never mind, I just reread the title. Lol
. I should get mine out to have handy. It's been a long time since I've used the grundigs or the other smaller models. I have a table top model that is pretty nice and major quality speakers with heavy magnets, mid and base. My buddy contacted me the other day to pass along the alert if major solar flares and storm waves to hit earth. I unplugged some appliances but didn't get any static on the AM band. Normally low end AM is nothing but static when that happens. Did you hear of anything yesterday or before?
It looks like you got a model that will last. First thing I'd do is get a spool of solid copper wire and attach gator clips yo both ends. You have probably had smaller models and know what I'm talking about. Saves your antenna base connection that goes first. Captures the longer waves and direction adjustment.
Cool. That's the emergency model with the flash light and a couple other features. I used to have a yellow one. Do you listen to any particular stations?
I'm a HAM operator - this is my Radio (or one of them)
Marantz or Pioneer?
ICOM Baby
James Pepper: There's no law west of Dodge and no God west of the Pecos. Right, Mr. Chisum? John Chisum: Wrong, Mr. Pepper. Because no matter where people go, sooner or later there's the law. And sooner or later they find God's already been there.
Cool. That's the emergency model with the flash light and a couple other features. I used to have a yellow one. Do you listen to any particular stations?
I've been listening to Shortwave on my base transceiver over the past week. It's a Flex 6500 with a digital display that shows signals. I don't have to tune around I just "see" the activity and click on it. I wanted a battery operated portable that runs on 18650 batteries because I have a ton of them for flashlights.
If the Internet and the grid go down I'll still be able to find reports on World news and events to complain about for years to come.
Here is an overview on understanding radio propagation.
Here is a look at a Flex Radio display.... it really is kind of cheating....
Is it a Ham thing to run around in a Toyota tercel with a santa claus beard, casey jones shoulder britches and 3 medium sized Heinz57 dogs in the front seat?
Big antenna with tennis balls, Skywarn stickers on back glass
I’ve got a Tecsun with the ETM (Easy Tune Mode). It’s great as it scans and locks all stations with a decent signal into the memory. You don’t want to use that mode to look for super weak stations but it saves a ton of time scrolling. It also works on fm, but regular am (mw) it isn’t so hot.
Slumlord, If you can find stations from Eastern Europe; Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia.. they have a less "woke" take on things...They still remember what Communism does to a Country and they are against it.
Is it a Ham thing to run around in a Toyota tercel with a santa claus beard, casey jones shoulder britches and 3 medium sized Heinz57 dogs in the front seat?
Big antenna with tennis balls, Skywarn stickers on back glass
Cool. That's the emergency model with the flash light and a couple other features. I used to have a yellow one. Do you listen to any particular stations?
No flashlight on this one
I dont have any stations im dedicated too.
The crank is handy with rechargeables. It'll get you through about any emergency. Those shortwaves were the only source of true independent media and conservative news before the net got popular.
It was fun setting the clocks so they were in sink with the standard time of the atomic clock.
Be careful what you say....didn't the Leftist tyrants in DC instruct the FBI or some group to monitor Ham radio right after the "2020 Selection"? I think they even put out a warning. I guess it might be harder to control radio and they're scared folks might share the truth without their knowledge.
At the rate current events are going I don't think it's a totally paranoid idea that the Internet could go "poof". We have plenty of rice beans and a wide assortment of hot sauces along with springs on the property and a woodstove to "survive". I'd go through serious withdrawal if I didn't have some source of "news" to try and read between the lines of....
I tend to tune past religious broadcast stations faster than I scroll past the Campfire troll posts... Lots of Hell fire and brimstone screaming "preachers"... I just found a sermon "Living by Faith during apostate times" on 11.680.000 that's pretty good, if you are into that sort of thing.
Just found this.... looks like you can log on and control several short wave receivers around the World for free. No license required since you are not transmitting. 179 servers currently running.
I'm a HAM, and have all the toys, but when the internet goes down, I think it's easier to figure out why, and fix it.... plus my employer pays me to fix the internet, so that's good.
Intellectual honesty is the most important character trait in human beings.
LoadClear, I've managed to set up QSOs with a few Campfire Hams drop me a PM if you'd like to try that. Finding a time and frequency is challenging though.
Are you familiar with Echolink? I haven't used it much but the last contact I made was with a woman driving truck up in the Yukon. I think there is a way to set up a chat room rather than using a specific repeater. Yeah I know not "real radio" since it uses the Internet, but it's free and a Technician operator doesn't have any restrictions....
Oh and if the Internet is down because the dark overlords don't want us talking bad about them they might call in a drone strike if you go out to pull their monkey wrench out. So, that would be bad
Personally, I’m literally moving tomorrow, and all my gear is packed up… I’m usually active only on our local 2m/70cm net…. To talk to all you folks down there I’d need something like echolink which doesn’t interest me much (sorry). I’ve played around in the 80m band a bit, but I’m a Luddite when it comes to SW. I have the legal and physical ability to talk on 80 meters and above, but it’s not really my bag.
Last edited by LoadClear; 10/12/21.
Intellectual honesty is the most important character trait in human beings.
At the rate current events are going I don't think it's a totally paranoid idea that the Internet could go "poof". We have plenty of rice beans and a wide assortment of hot sauces along with springs on the property and a woodstove to "survive". I'd go through serious withdrawal if I didn't have some source of "news" to try and read between the lines of....
Checked my bean stash a few nights ago.
Got frass and drillings inside the bags. I’m thinking weevils
All getting trashed and buying new.
Wtf, Ric Bin spell checker doesn’t know what “frass” is? Run into that often with scientific terms. Spell checker stops at 8th grade instagram level.
Cuba lost more than $13 million after officials tried to silence the country’s protesters. Cuba is listed ninth on a list of 18 countries that lost money because they decided to shut down their internet in 2021. Myanmar lost about $2.4 billion in its 4,894 hours of internet shutdown, which affected 22 million people.
Receive only.... That's what you meant right? I tell my wife all the time, "Listen to what I mean not what I say"
I've got my main bean stash in Tupperware totes. Guess I need to check it... Been thinking about moving dry goods into spare aquariums stacked up... the would stop a mouse not sure about Frass (A new vocabulary word for me BTW).
I've just been tuning around in the AM broadcast section... At night long distance skip will occur. I'd guess there are 100 stations coming in. Fox radio out of Atlanta is on 0.750.000 Candace Owens was just on doing an especially good job of shredding well lots of people and organizations.
Somewhere I came across Coast to Coast... I'll have to look again to find it. I have not payed attention to that in a very long time.
A recording I made back in 2019 of Cuba's HM01 numbers station.
"A numbers station is a shortwave radio station characterized by broadcasts of formatted numbers, which are believed to be addressed to intelligence officers operating in foreign countries. Most identified stations use speech synthesis to vocalize numbers, although digital modes such as phase-shift keying and frequency-shift keying, as well as Morse code transmissions, are not uncommon. Most stations have set time schedules, or schedule patterns; however, other stations appear to have no discernible pattern and broadcast at random times. Stations may or may not have set frequencies in the high frequency band." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station
15m & 18m have been open for me in AZ. Spoke to South Africa and the Cook Islands this week on 15m. Also QRP on 40m to Japan.
James Pepper: There's no law west of Dodge and no God west of the Pecos. Right, Mr. Chisum? John Chisum: Wrong, Mr. Pepper. Because no matter where people go, sooner or later there's the law. And sooner or later they find God's already been there.
Bob F, Thanks for the links!. Old time radio shows are a nice alternative to current Hollywood "entertainment" . Apparently Superman was not bi-sexual then. Red Skelton was a comic genius.
Patrick I didn't try to operate on the Ham bands yesterday. I did find lots of shortwave transmit and AM broadcast stations yesterday.... I stayed up till 3:00 AM.
I have seen propagation just seem to turn itself off in the past though. 3 or 4 years ago there were a few days when I thought my coax must have gotten cut. We have a gentleman in our local club that has been licensed for 60 years now. He has kept a schedule contact with a friend most of those years. Charles said that the bottom of cycle 24 was the worst he had ever seen.
I'm really glad cycle 25 is showing more promise. I know some people have a Zen like understanding of propagation conditions. I hope Denton will join in here. I just got a PM from him saying that he is getting his antenna problems sorted out.
My favorite Ham radio activity is round tables where a group of people find a frequency that works for all the stations and then have an informal conversation. IIRC Denton is in Utah. You and I should be able to work him daytime on 20 Meters pretty easy.
Just found this.... looks like you can log on and control several short wave receivers around the World for free. No license required since you are not transmitting. 179 servers currently running.
I'm going to be listening to a lot of old time radio shows.
Yeah, it sucks. The world has gone mad but I think most folks here already realize that.
Anyway, here's some OTR (Old Time Radio) online streaming sites that I thought you might enjoy. Yeah, it's not over-the-air radio but at least it's old time radio shows.
Conyers Old Time Radio Streaming the Widest Variety of Programs from the 1930s, 40s and 50s! Conyers, Georgia https://www.conyersradio.net/
Thank you Bob! I walked around doing chores today streaming http://wtww.us/ old time radio with my phone. I might start saving some money buying less Audible content.
Radio360.eu offers you Podcasts with content by radio-stations from around the globe. You can access these programs by using your favourite "pod-catching"-software, your default web-browser or listen to the programs by using the player directly on our site. English language podcasts: http://www.radio360.eu/index.php/english-podcasts
English language news podcasts for October 13, 2021 from the following sources:
Taiwan – Radio Taiwan International RTI is the public external broadcaster from Taiwan (Republic of Taiwan). It is broadcasting in various languages, including English, Chinese, French, German and Spanish. Radio Taiwan International can be heard with its one-hour programs online and on shortwave-frequencies with cultural reports, daily news, commentaries and music-shows. http://www.radio360.eu/podcasts/en/tw/rti/20211013_0600.mp3
Mongolia – Voice of Mongolia The Voice of Mongolia is the country's offical state broadcasting service in foreign languages. It broadcasts in English, Mongolian, Russian, Japanese and Chinese via shortwave transmitters and the internet for eight hours per day. The very first broadcast of "Radio Ulaanbaatar" was transmitted in 1964, the English service was launched one year after that. In 1997 the station was renamed "Voice of Mongolia". http://www.radio360.eu/podcasts/en/mn/vom/20211013_1930.mp3
Cuba – Radio Habana Cuba Radio Habana Cuba is the official foreign-language broadcasting station of Cuba's state broadcaster. It is broadcasting daily in English using online-streaming, local FM transmitters in Cuba and shortwave frequencies for an international audience. http://www.radio360.eu/podcasts/en/cu/rhc/20211013_2100.mp3
Slovakia – Radio Slovakia International RSI is part of Slovakia's public broadcasting station. It is broadcasting in various languages from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. RSI can be heard in Bratislava on DAB+ and FM and in other regions on DTT (DVB-T) as well as online and in the US and Europe on shortwave-frequencies. http://www.radio700.info/podcasts/en/sk/rsi/20211013_1830.mp3
Romania – Radio Romania International Radio Romania International (RRI) is the external service of Romania's public broadcaster. It is broadcasting online, via satellite radio as well as via digital and analogue shortwave-frequencies and broadcasts news and cultural reports as well as sports and music programmes to an international audience. Furthermore, RRI also broadcasts in other languages like German, French, Spanish and Russian. http://radio360.eu/podcasts/en/ro/rri/20211013_1900.mp3
Poland – Polish Radio External Service The external service of the public service-broadcaster of Poland is broadcasting in English language seven days per week. It is available via satellite, live-streaming and locally on DAB+ in Poland. It brings its listeners news, reports and cultural programs from Warsaw. http://www.radio360.eu/podcasts/en/pl/pr/20211013_1400.mp3
Czech Republic – Radio Prague Radio Prague is part of the Czech Republic's public broadcasting station CRo. It broadcasts news, reports and cultural programmes from Prague and is available online, to the US on shortwave-frequencies from a transmitter in Miami and locally on FM in Prague. http://www.radio360.eu/podcasts/en/cz/prague/20211013_1500.mp3
Albania – Radio Tirana Radio Tirana is part of Albania's public broadcaster RTSH and broadcasts in English six times per week. Radio Tirana brings its listeners news, reports and music from Albania. The station is available also through online live-streaming. http://www.radio700.info/podcasts/en/al/tirana/20211013_1800.mp3
Cheers! Bob F.
"Whose bright idea was it to put every idiot in the world in touch with every other idiot? It's working!" -- P. J. O'Rourke
Thank you Bob! I walked around doing chores today streaming http://wtww.us/ old time radio with my phone. I might start saving some money buying less Audible content.
Good deal! I really enjoy WTWW.
"Whose bright idea was it to put every idiot in the world in touch with every other idiot? It's working!" -- P. J. O'Rourke
I’ve got a solo hunting trip upcoming in the Adirondacks. Regular radio reception is very thin and forget about streaming anything on the cell phone. I think a shortwave radio may be just the ticket. The nights are long when it’s dark by 5 pm. Anyone got recommendations for under $100?
Is it a Ham thing to run around in a Toyota tercel with a santa claus beard, casey jones shoulder britches and 3 medium sized Heinz57 dogs in the front seat?
Big antenna with tennis balls, Skywarn stickers on back glass
Can you listen to numbers stations on a shortwave set?
Yes, but the only one I've ever received in about 4 years of listening is Cuba's HM01 station. I'm in Houston and, of course, Cuba isn't that far away (for shortwave radio). But, I must add that I don't really actively search for them with my radios.
I’ve got a solo hunting trip upcoming in the Adirondacks. Regular radio reception is very thin and forget about streaming anything on the cell phone. I think a shortwave radio may be just the ticket. The nights are long when it’s dark by 5 pm. Anyone got recommendations for under $100?
This isn't an exhaustive list, but it'll get you pointed in the right direction.
Was there a solar flare that knocked out HF propagation yesterday? The bans were all but completely shut down yesterday.
Space Weather News 10.11.2021 "A lot of exciting things are happening this week. We have a solar storm on its way to Earth now! It should hit later today and bring with it a good chance for aurora at mid-latitudes. It all started with region 2882 firing an M1.6-flare back on October 9, during which it launched a gorgeous full-halo eruption. This solar storm has been driving a shockwave and a weak solar radiation storm that may impact amateur radio propagation and GPS reception over the next few days." posted to YouTube on Oct 11, 2021 YouTube channel: TamithaSkov (link)
Read the comments section, looks like there were some firm ware glitches last year but radios shipping now are fixed. so do research before you buy. Looks like about 80.00.
I just received the Tecsun H501 today. This is their flagship model but I have to say when hooked up to may base station antennas the receive is good enough I could keep myself up all night playing with this thing. I've been reading reviews for a few weeks now and they all said there are lower priced Tecsun models that had receive just as good as the fancy 501 x.
You will need an external antenna to get any kind of performance though. You can buy handy roll up models for < 15.00. or put an alligator clip on a longer piece of wire connected to the whip antenna.
Here is a midrange that's about 170.00. Several reviewer said it's receive was just as good as the H501 X I just got. I don't know if the 80.00 radio is as sensitive or not?
Wow, I'm almost sure I just heard a religious broadcaster say "Bull [bleep]!" when talking about Biden's vaccination mandates.... 5950. This guy is on a roll.
Yep it's official, he is using the long play version of BS (now he is talking about Bill Gates... and iPhones which apparently are the gateway to Hell) .
Bill in South Africa ZS6CCY is on 7.153 (set your radio to lower side band setting to hear him). I've spoken with Bill many times. He has a massive antenna farm and sounds like he is parked out in my driveway pretty often.
He retired from a broadcast career and bought a large game farm.... tons of pictures up at the above link.
All his pictures are not loading for me tonight. He had a close up picture of a cape buffalo just outside his truck. I asked if he and his truck were not in some danger from the beast. He said, "No not really, I've reached an understanding with this one..".
Bill in South Africa ZS6CCY is on 7.153 (set your radio to lower side band setting to hear him). I've spoken with Bill many times. He has a massive antenna farm and sounds like he is parked out in my driveway pretty often.
He retired from a broadcast career and bought a large game farm.... tons of pictures up at the above link.
All his pictures are not loading for me tonight. He had a close up picture of a cape buffalo just outside his truck. I asked if he and his truck were not in some danger from the beast. He said, "No not really, I've reached an understanding with this one..".
Cool! I'll have to try to receive that one. However, I'm just a shortwave listener (SWLer) and I have very basic equipment. I primarily use my Tecsun PL-880 with a simple 30 ft (physical length) wire antenna. About half of that length is outdoors running along my townhouse patio and the rest of the wire runs inside the house to my radio. FAR from ideal and very, very basic but I enjoy fooling around with it.
It's surprising what even a simple rig like mine can receive on occasion. I've received the BBC broadcasting from Talata, Madagascar on 9915 kHz several times over the past few years. That station is located about 10,000 miles from my house here in Houston. Of course, it is a 250,000 watt station!
As I'm in Houston, I can usually receive Radio Havana Cuba most evenings. Those transmitters (at a few, various locations) are only about 900 miles from my house. I'm listening to the English language broadcast of Radio Havana Cuba on 6165 kHz as I type this post. Their "take" on the news is certainly "interesting." Amazingly, they do have a weekly segment (in English) about shortwave radio called DXers Unlimited that's hosted by Arnie Coro.
Wow, I'm almost sure I just heard a religious broadcaster say "Bull [bleep]!" when talking about Biden's vaccination mandates.... 5950. This guy is on a roll.
Yep it's official, he is using the long play version of BS (now he is talking about Bill Gates... and iPhones which apparently are the gateway to Hell) .
Yeah, 5950 is primarily WRMI (Radio Miami International) located in Okeechobee, Florida. Lots of religious programming. https://www.wrmi.net/
I'm not going to stay up all night playing with my new radio..... I just turned it off so I need to fall asleep fast now before I change my mind
I found 2 stations with Coast To Coast tonight. One program was kind of a step by step instruction on how to contact ghosts the second was about big foot sightings. Both guests did a great job of sounding very sincere...
This review was just posted. I thought it did a great job of comparing low medium and higher priced SWL radios.
I could have saved a fair amount of money ordering my radio on ebay vs Amazon but given the uncertain nature of shipping at the moment I just hit the buy it now button with Amazon. The ebay seller does not accept returns but they do have 100% positive reviews.
Wow, I'm almost sure I just heard a religious broadcaster say "Bull [bleep]!" when talking about Biden's vaccination mandates.... 5950. This guy is on a roll.
Yep it's official, he is using the long play version of BS (now he is talking about Bill Gates... and iPhones which apparently are the gateway to Hell) .
Yeah, 5950 is primarily WRMI (Radio Miami International) located in Okeechobee, Florida. Lots of religious programming. https://www.wrmi.net/
Solar cycle 25 really is looking promising . A few years ago a friend that I had been speaking with on 40 Meters told me he had made some contacts on 10 Meters. I had just about stopped looking at 10 Meters just wasn't finding anything due to poor band conditions. I accused him of tying to send me on a snipe hunt but he swore it was true so I looked
He wasn't lying the openings were sporadic but there. These improving conditions are going to make shortwave listening a lot more fun. More bands open for longer periods of time.
I'd guess that a lot of us are old enough to remember long range skip AM broadcasting stations that would come in late night from thousands of miles away. The shortwave radio I picked up last week has very sensitive receive on the AM broadcast band. I'm using an outside dipole antenna that is set up for HF 160 Meters that is way up in the air.
I was working on scanning different bands into memories (which the instructions are not especially clear about) and noticed that after about 9:30 PM the AM band went from maybe a dozen stations to over 75. The propagation just turned on like a switch was thrown.
It's worth checking out. A car or truck radio would likely be more sensitive that a cheap hand held transistor radio. Driving up to some elevation is likely to help reception as well.
The programing is not as impressive as it was "back in the day" but it's kind of nice to know you can still pick up long range AM stations incase something disrupts more local sources.
For any fans of The Twilight Zone type of programing, Coast to Coast is still going strong. Vampires, ghosts big foot.... They sound so sincere when discussing topics along those lines.
The programing is not as impressive as it was "back in the day" but it's kind of nice to know you can still pick up long range AM stations incase something disrupts more local sources.
Yeah, I occasionally play around with AM (medium wave) reception. I'm not sure of your location but see if you can pick up Radio Rebelde in Havana, Cuba on 670 AM. The station is only about 900 miles from my location and I can occasionally receive it at night.
I'm on a ridgetop at about 2900 feet in the NC Blueridge Mountains.... I almost don't even have to turn a radio on to hear Cuba For such a poor Country they put a lot of power into English broadcast.
They put out a lot of jamming signals on portions of the 40 Meter band during the recent political unrest. It seems there were Cuban Americans transmitting "outside World" information back to family and friends who have been depending on inexpensive shortwave receivers to get non Government approved info for years.
I guess I understand why the Biden administration went to such extreme lengths to say no Cuban refugees would be allowed into the USA while leaving the boarder wild open from elsewhere.
A larger portion of Cubans have a basic education. They also have first hand knowledge of what a totalitarian regime will do to it's people in order to hold onto power.. The Biden regime can't have that kind of "misinformation" spreading just before the 2020 elections....
Given current events over the past 10 Months or so here I would argue that in addition to rice beans water purifier and toilet paper, an inexpensive shortwave receiver might make the must have list. There is a learning curve for sure. What time of day or night to listen on which frequencies. Experimenting with antennas. The hardest part for me has been learning to program the memories so I can find stations likely to be available at the time I'm listening.
I did briefly listen to a Cuban station last night Bob, I think it was the 670 AM frequency too. I also just watch a radio review yesterday that said the signal was so strong from Cuba it might have been able to damage the radio if attenuation was not set high enough.
If you never plan to get your ham license but want a state of the art wide band receiver.... maybe to take down in your bunker while you and yours are waiting out "the big one" this would be one to think about. Best to keep it stored in a faraday cage with antenna disconnected so an EMP doesn't fry it.
Looks like they sell for about 2300.00 if you just really want to step up your day to day SWL Bob
This guy makes his 8600 sing. It will be interesting to see if more shortwave broadcasters start getting back on the air as worries about Internet increase. There is a digital mode of shortwave broadcast now that equals FM fidelity. It never really took off because the market dropped off.
You are not wrong. It's about the antenna and how much electric noise your location has ... the most sensitive radio in the World can't compete with a 100.00 radio in a rural location that does not have a noisy powerline near buy. When my wife and I first joined a Ham club the best advice we got was "For every dollar you spend on your station put 0.75 toward the antenna system. "
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I really enjoy WTWW.
