| General > General Technical Chat |
| Any Shortwave Radio Tips for a Noob Considering the Hobby? |
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| bd139:
Air traffic is fun to listen to. I live under Heathrow approach. Also at air shows. Please listen to China Radio International dramas though. I am in tears of laughter at how bad they are :) |
| Sal Ammoniac:
--- Quote from: bd139 on December 17, 2019, 10:52:17 pm ---Air traffic is fun to listen to. I live under Heathrow approach. Also at air shows. --- End quote --- You're probably listening to air traffic on the VHF bands, which is quite different from the air traffic on the HF bands. HF air traffic happens when aircraft are outside the line-of-sight range of VHF comms (like over the middle of the Atlantic or Pacific oceans) and consist mostly of position and altitude reports at infrequent intervals. |
| edy:
--- Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on December 17, 2019, 09:49:25 pm ---I hate to say this, but you're getting into SWL in its twilight years. Things today are a mere shadow of what they used to be several decades ago. Most of the big powerhouses are gone and what's left is mainly religious crap and second-rate propaganda. It's still fun, though. --- End quote --- Yes, it's unfortunate that there isn't more stuff out there. This is my first SW-capable radio and it was relatively inexpensive so it was a light-weight method to join the hobby without breaking the bank. The wire antennas cost me nothing, and if I can build a magnetic loop antenna for $20-30 in parts from the local hardware store that would still be well under $100 for the entire setup that I hope I'll be able to play around with for years, maybe pick up a few more sources. Not a bad investment. I am still fascinated that I was indeed able to pick up Cuba, Spain and even Korea (mp3 file I uploaded earlier)... although I have my doubts still that I could get a signal from Korea. Cuba I believe, maybe Spain, but Korea? Also I figure during different times of the year (summer/winter) and solar cycles may prove to be interesting differences as well in reception. I did not want to pay too much and therefore decided not to get something with SSB, but in the future that may provide me with more listening options. Ultimately if I decide to continue venturing on the path to amateur radio licensing, I would eventually equip myself with better gear that would allow many more decoding options. There is also the cheap RTL-SDR dongle to experiment with over the next few years and I can use that with software that will do morse decoding from CW signal, SSB, and more, plug an upconverter like Spyverter or Ham-It-Up that will let me do lower than 24 Mhz frequencies (the limit of the RTL-SDR). That will hopefully also keep me occupied for some time. The Tecsun SW radio is ultra-portable and fun to take anywhere, so it serves a niche. But if I want to get a little crazier I can start ordering RTL-SDR stuff with the laptop. I trust that would keep me challenged to learn and interested enough that it would overcome the lack of SW sources out there. Now when it comes to LW, I have had *no luck* finding anything from about 153 – 513 kHz which is the LW range the Tecsun scans through. I don't know why, but there is nothing on LW in my area!!! Why? Same goes with aircraft and boating signals... the radio tops out in the FM frequency range (108 Mhz) and doesn't give me options for anything above that (Google says aircraft start at 118 and higher). Unless there is a "down-converter" of some type, I don't believe I can tune in to any aircraft with this Tecsun radio. I think I'd better pick up the RTL-SDR dongle if I want to pick up any of the other bands, the Tecsun isn't going to do it. |
| fourfathom:
Cuba? Sure, it all depends on the propagation. Here is a good website for propagation analysis and prediction: https://www.voacap.com/hf/ |
| bob91343:
You won't hear much but you can find a lot of signals by using a spectrum analyzer. They are very sensitive and cover a wide frequency range. Of course you will just see a display of signals but still it's fun to look around and see what's out there. A small antenna and I can see the entire AM and FM broadcast bands, for instance. The WWV signals and the weather channels around 162 MHz are visible. Repeaters on 2 meters, too. I can analyze the broadcast signals and see the subcarriers, pilot tones, and other interesting stuff. And there is no place on earth where a signal couldn't originate and propagate, so Korea isn't a big deal. With my ham radio, I think the farthest I have contacted is Portugal, long path, perhaps 20,000 miles. |
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