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| Any Shortwave Radio Tips for a Noob Considering the Hobby? |
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| German_EE:
Joining a local club is probably a good idea as EVERYONE had to start at the bottom including me, and I've been an active radio ham for over forty years. Some clubs will be more technically minded with lectures and lots of test gear, others will be into contests and portable operation. Be careful of the clubs that tend to specialize in emergency work though as you might end up in a bright yellow jacket doing lots of weekend volunteer work. Get in touch with the RAC to find your local club(s) https://www.rac.ca/ You might hear the term 'elmer' once in a while, don't worry about it. Back in the old days an elmer was the old guy who was always willing to help the new guys out. Now I'm one of the old guys and I find that I'm passing my knowledge on so it looks like the tradition is continuing. |
| edy:
Thanks again for the suggestions. I've contacted a few clubs and people to see what they suggest. I think I figured out what I'm trying to do and got down the terminology... it's called "Ultralight DXing". Other than seeing if any club members have older equipment they want to get off their hands, I am not sure I want to go full membership at this point. I have too many things on my plate as it is. Perhaps the easiest thing to do at this point is pick up a SW radio or one of those USB dongles which should keep me busy for a while, just logging what I find out there and seeing if it is something I would want to get deeper into. I'd be invested in minimally and if I have to put away the hobby for some time because I get too busy, I wouldn't have sunk much in financially. |
| eti:
I'll give you a guess which rock-solid, simple communication system based on physics and not on endless chains of servers and switches, I'd pick to save the life of my family, come a nuclear war? It's pretty simple, and here's a hint; it AIN'T the internet. We think we're SO SO "clever" and we are, but then radio preceded the "ever so pleased with itself" internet by MANY, MANY decades, and they don't use Skype or FaceTime to pilot submarines, so there's a clue as to which is better, merely by virtue of its' simplicity. |
| fourfathom:
--- Quote from: edy on December 06, 2019, 03:53:53 pm ---Thanks, I found this page and apparently there are some options available for Linux: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/big-list-rtl-sdr-supported-software/ And I found a bunch of listing on eBay for $10-20. Not sure which one is reliable and which to buy or is compatible with any of the software. That may be an easy cheap way to start, a lot less than $45-60 for a digital Tecsun. Any suggestions? --- End quote --- Be careful with the cheap SDRs. Most of these are designed for VHF, not HF (shortwave), and you will need something like the "ham it up" converter if you want to use these SDRs on the shortwave bands. The "RTL-SDR V3" unit from https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/ can be used at these lower frequencies, but still needs quite a bit of work (including external RF filters) to turn it into a halfway decent SWL receiver. If you want to go the SDR route, I would recommend the "SDR-Play RSP1A" (https://www.sdrplay.com/rsp1a/) or perhaps the "funcube dongle pro +". These cost a bit over $100, but are technically far superior to the $10-$20 units. |
| bd139:
--- Quote from: eti on December 08, 2019, 04:27:53 am ---I'll give you a guess which rock-solid, simple communication system based on physics and not on endless chains of servers and switches, I'd pick to save the life of my family, come a nuclear war? It's pretty simple, and here's a hint; it AIN'T the internet. We think we're SO SO "clever" and we are, but then radio preceded the "ever so pleased with itself" internet by MANY, MANY decades, and they don't use Skype or FaceTime to pilot submarines, so there's a clue as to which is better, merely by virtue of its' simplicity. --- End quote --- My family’s lives are at the mercy of the food supply chain and healthcare which is all built on top of the internet these days as a communication tool. Thus I’d rather concentrate on attempting to keep political matters on the straight and narrow. Because it’s not much point having an off grid HF set up or VHF HT’s if you’re rat food after starving to death. Also like hell amateur radio is reliable. That’s part of the fun. For the military it solves only logistical communications problems. And they have protocols for when it doesn’t because it’s not reliable. Go figure. Also I notice you’re in the U.K. 2m traffic here is whining, brexit, tomato growing advice and complaining about baofeng users. Oh and ironically tech support for people’s printer problems which quickly turns into “send me a text message” |
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