Shortwave radio?

Road_Warrior · 08-09-2012, 07:44 PM

Been thinking lately about getting a shortwave radio. Not for any particular reason, just for sh*ts and giggles.

When I was a kid, my old man had an old school National Panasonic transistor radio with a shortwave function on it, and I used to sit outside at night listening with the antenna resting against the Hills hoist, thinking it would boost its range

Anyone got one, if so, any features in particular one should keep in mind when looking at shortwave radios? As an aside, is there any point to them these days in this digital age or do they still have their place in this tech-focused world? I see most of the ones on ebay and for sale online are oddball brands I've nver heard of - seems the mainstream radio and electronics manufacturers abandoned them years ago.

flappist · 08-09-2012, 07:58 PM

You can get one that will run on USB or sit in a PCI bus and give you more features and sensitivity than a $100,000 receiver of 30 years ago.

Google it there are squillions of them.

Road_Warrior · 08-09-2012, 08:04 PM

I was thinking of just a radio-like one that we could take with us on trips.

Barnaby · 08-09-2012, 08:33 PM

What's your budget?

Road_Warrior · 08-09-2012, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barnaby

What's your budget?

Not much. $150 maybe.

Barnaby · 08-09-2012, 10:07 PM

http://www.aurfscan.com.au/forum.php

Go and have a look here and have a look through their short-wave sections. They reckon some of these Chinese units are OK. They are around 100 - 150 bucks, so you should get what your after.

Road_Warrior · 08-09-2012, 10:13 PM

Thanks Barnaby. Lots of info there (and jargon to decipher). If I bought a US-spec one off ebay for example, it would still work in Australia right? I.e. be able to receive and not be "region specific" like some electronics are (X-box, DVD players etc)

xtremerus · 08-09-2012, 11:46 PM

Ahhh. The joy of listening to another ABC station that is a long way-a-way.

Barnaby · 08-09-2012, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Thanks Barnaby. Lots of info there (and jargon to decipher). If I bought a US-spec one off ebay for example, it would still work in Australia right? I.e. be able to receive and not be "region specific" like some electronics are (X-box, DVD players etc)

Yep, Should be OK. Not sure if the channel spacing for our local AM & FM stations would be right...I'm pretty sure their FM stuff is different to ours. If you only want short wave you should be fine. Might want to see if it has a plug-pack with it...it might only be for US 110V mains.

Franco Cozzo · 08-09-2012, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flappist

You can get one that will run on USB or sit in a PCI bus and give you more features and sensitivity than a $100,000 receiver of 30 years ago.

Google it there are squillions of them.

Quite interested in this but the only ones I found with my crappy google-fu skills are these ones:

https://robogroup.com/winradio/cgi-b...vers!Receivers

What is generally broadcasted across short wave radio? As I'm quite interested.

Barnaby · 08-09-2012, 11:59 PM

I just read your original post a bit more carefully and had a think about it a bit more...how old are you? the Short wave bands have changed a lot over the last 10 - 15 years or so...the internet has killed it.

Most of the services have closed...BBC world service is a shadow of its former self, as is the voice of America and all the cold war propaganda stuff. There is a lot of Christian radio stuff that will bore you senseless! Maybe you should have a hunt around the web and see if you can listen to any on-line stuff (people have hooked their receivers up so you can listen over the web). A lot of people follow the military stuff on short wave but even most of that is encrypted so its not much fun.

I would sign up to Aurfscan and ask some questions in there...you might find that what you remember about the field is gone now...

Barnaby · 09-09-2012, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Quite interested in this but the only ones I found with my crappy google-fu skills are these ones:

https://robogroup.com/winradio/cgi-b...vers!Receivers

What is generally broadcasted across short wave radio? As I'm quite interested.

Winradio is good (Aussie company too) but $$$

This might be more what people are thinking of -

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DBM-HF-Co...item27cacf9dbe

And -

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/dvb-t-d...-dab-dab-44326

Software defined radio - SDR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0hEquzLsWU

You need to have a bit of knowledge to have a crack at this stuff though. All the info is out there if you want to have a go and its cheap with amazing capability!

Road_Warrior · 09-09-2012, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barnaby

I just read your original post a bit more carefully and had a think about it a bit more...how old are you? the Short wave bands have changed a lot over the last 10 - 15 years or so...the internet has killed it.

Most of the services have closed...BBC world service is a shadow of its former self, as is the voice of America and all the cold war propaganda stuff. There is a lot of Christian radio stuff that will bore you senseless! Maybe you should have a hunt around the web and see if you can listen to any on-line stuff (people have hooked their receivers up so you can listen over the web). A lot of people follow the military stuff on short wave but even most of that is encrypted so its not much fun.

I would sign up to Aurfscan and ask some questions in there...you might find that what you remember about the field is gone now...

Ah ok I was wondering about that in the back of my mind. I'm a gen X/child of the 1970's and I guess there are certain things I look back on from childhood with fondness but of course the world and technology has passed many things by...

I WAS looking at this one:

But from what you're saying it may not be worth it at all.

Barnaby · 09-09-2012, 10:32 AM

What the hell, give it a crack. You can always ping it on Ebay if it flops for you.

I am of the same generation as you and can tell you right now it aint what it used to be. Don't take my word for it though - look into it a bit more...

**redxm** · 09-09-2012, 07:47 PM

This is (one of ) my Shortwave radio. Also does normal AM

mik · 10-09-2012, 12:26 AM

i do recall having sw on a ghetto blaster type thing years ago, i used to like the bbc.

Keepleft · 10-09-2012, 01:41 AM

Don't forget digital radio (DAB, DAB+, Mondial - Digital via shortwave).

I load a few internet stations and listen to those via LAN.

Road_Warrior · 11-09-2012, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barnaby

What the hell, give it a crack. You can always ping it on Ebay if it flops for you.

I am of the same generation as you and can tell you right now it aint what it used to be. Don't take my word for it though - look into it a bit more...

I've just looked up the specs of that radio - the Sangean ATS-909X. Retails in Australia for $499

but on ebay they are around $230. More than what I wanted to spend, but this one has MW and LW AM radio which means I can tune in to the ABC stations in Albany and Carnarvon. It also has (apparently) an in-built digital signal processor which allows it to receive digital radio?

http://www.sangean.com/products/product_spec.asp?mid=73

Keepleft · 12-09-2012, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

I've just looked up the specs of that radio - the Sangean ATS-909X. Retails in Australia for $499

but on ebay they are around $230. More than what I wanted to spend, but this one has MW and LW AM radio which means I can tune in to the ABC stations in Albany and Carnarvon. It also has (apparently) an in-built digital signal processor which allows it to receive digital radio?

http://www.sangean.com/products/product_spec.asp?mid=73

NO, not DAB+, its a multiband radio with FM band, AM mode, SSB modes for SW.

aussie muscle · 21-09-2012, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flappist

You can get one that will run on USB or sit in a PCI bus and give you more features and sensitivity than a $100,000 receiver of 30 years ago.

if my experience with radio is anything to go by, those would be completely useless unless they've worked out a way to neutralise the interference from the computer itself (which have a notorious amount of RF noise on AM and SW).

it's a dying hobby since it's mostly redundant since you can stream it over the internet.

Road_Warrior · 03-10-2012, 08:44 PM

Well my radio turned up this afternoon, having a play with it at the moment. Very well made bit of gear with a lot of features, still trying to get my head around how the whole MW/SW/everything else works as there are a multitude of buttons. The instruction manual is 10mm thick!

flappist · 03-10-2012, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

if my experience with radio is anything to go by, those would be completely useless unless they've worked out a way to neutralise the interference from the computer itself (which have a notorious amount of RF noise on AM and SW).

it's a dying hobby since it's mostly redundant since you can stream it over the internet.

Yes they have worked out how to solve all the problems.