Posted: 11/11/2004 3:55:24 PM EDT
| Anybody listen to shortwave radio these days? I love my Grundig YB400PE.There is a wide variety of American programming. I wish more people would join in.Some of the patriot shows are great. |
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I have a little Sony I take camping. You oughta see the looks you get when people realize the football scores you are listening to are on Radio Australia. Things aren't quite as interesting as they were at the height of the Cold War, then you could really get some diverging viewpoints. Although some things don't change, I remember in Gulf War 1 listening to Radio Moscow and hearing them complain about terrorist bandits in Ossetia. Ossetia is where the Chechen blew up the school. |
| When I was in the service I carried a little sony shortwave everytime I went to the field or deployed. OF course that was before the day of tactical internet access or even Email for the troops (I was in Signal Bns so our 1SGT and CMDR had email, and maybe the Orderly Room NCO, but that was it). Many times it was the only source of news for my site. |
| I think I got mine at the PX for about a hundred bucks, but that was years ago, they are probably a little cheaper now. When I was a teenager living in Germany I had a very old Hamlin shortwave transciever (I didn't have a mic so I couldn't broadcast if I had wanted to), that I used a lot to, I got it for next to nothing at a little junk shop. |
I just looked at one that cost's about fifteen hundred.  www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/0082.html |
| There are some weird things to listen to, on shortwave, such as transmitters where a woman reads numbers in apparently random order at the top of the hour...."5" "3" "9" "6". Triangulation has located some of these transmitters to be in the DC area, just off of George Washington Parkway, north of Arlington .... |
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I've got an old tube type RCA "potable"... about the sixe of a sewing machine, and it takes a ton of juice (or it can run on something like 12 D batts), but it's got a great sound to it. I first heard the intro to Radio Australia ... "Waltzing Matilda" @ o-dark-early one summer. I'll always remember that. |
Okay, now you;ve got me curious. frequency / schedule ? +1 on the Grundig Yachtboy 400. Have one, love it. Also it has amazing music sound quality on FM & broadcast AM for a mono speaker in such a small plastic box. Ebay can be a great source for the radio with a kit which includes pouch, AC adapter, and a self coiling long wire external antenna in a small black winder. That antenna lets me pick up amazing signals. |
General page about "numbers" broadcasts www.dxing.com/numbers.htm Other good pages www.simonmason.karoo.net/page32.html www.elfis.net/elfol0/mkconsp/shrtwv123.txt www.hackcanada.com/blackcrawl/consprcy/secretfr.txt www.simonmason.karoo.net/page30.html |
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Grundig G-2000A for me. My second Grundig. My first was a Traveller II, which I now keep on my desk at work. I also have a Truetone DC 3050 (c. 1950) that I inherited from my grandfather. It proudly proclaims "8 Transistors" on the front! It lacks the fancy electronics of the Grundigs, but it actually pulls in the stations better. Shortwave is a trip. Sadly, these radios will be useless in a few years when digital shortwave takes over. |
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i am looking at shortwave radios right now. i just found this at radio shack and think im gonna pick it up for my hiking gear. someone posted a review for this model on the survial forums a week or so ago. www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F008%5F009%5F011%5F000&product%5Fid=12%2D830 |
It has an analog tuner. Digital is MUCH better, when dealing with Shortwave. |
That's a good price. One thing to keep in mind is that digital tuning makes it easier to tune into specific target frequencies. You'll get a great price on that one but no digital tuning like the one described above. |
Radio Shack used to sell one for 60 dollars that meets those specifications; I bought one. Whether they do now, I don't know. |
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I just looked at one that cost's about fifteen hundred. www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/0082.html That is something a serious SWL (shortwave listner) would use. RL Drake has a reputation for making excellent radios. When I was a kid, I had a vacuum tube Drake 2A reciever. It was one awesome radio. In general, the more expensive radios have more filitering capabilities that are useful for listening to transmission modes other than AM, such as Single Side Band (SSB, a very popular voice mode for amature radio operators), CW (Morse Code), RTTY (Radio Teletype which can be decoded and encoded with a computer sound card and a shareware program), PSK, etc. Lower cost radios are typically good for listening to high powered international AM short wave broad casting stations. If this is the only type of listening you intend to do, a lower cost radio should suit you just fine. These days, I would go with an Icom or a Yaesu general coverage reciever. Both of these manufacturers make excllent radios, and have a strong following in the amature radio circle. |