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Blastrid
e l e m e n t al i t y


Registered: 01/14/02
Posts: 3,323
Loc: The Desert
Last seen: 16 years, 17 days
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Shortwave radio enthusiasts?
#5438340 - 03/24/06 01:21 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I'm becoming more and more fascinated with the radio spectrum. I've been fooling with online receivers (albeit very limitedly), and static is my friend.... 
anyone own shortwave radio receivers, and partake in that hobby? I'd LOVE to get a PC-controlled receiver, but they're just so damn expensive.
why do I like it? well, there's just so much out there. I want to find that unique sound, coming through that distorted, sweet sweet static-y soundband...
Any recommendations to further pursue this hobby, I'm all ears. any radio ideas? Ideally I'd spend $150 or so.
-------------------- Blas'?trid (bl?s tr?d) n. 3rd generation derivitave of a combination of 'bastard' and 'blasted'. Used as both an insult or an expletive. ex. Blastrid! Stereopattern <--My music.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero


Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: Shortwave radio enthusiasts? [Re: Blastrid]
#5438572 - 03/24/06 02:29 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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... Diploid, where ya at?
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Anonymous
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Re: Shortwave radio enthusiasts? [Re: Blastrid]
#5443366 - 03/26/06 06:40 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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When I was about 10, I put together the radio shack ScienceFair crystal radio kit. It was a ferride bar wrapped in wire ( ''antenna coil''), a variable capacitor, a diode, and a piezo style crystal earpiece, all togther in a circuit.. I could pick up local AM stations, which mostly meant country music, and weird talkshows.
I bent a coat hanger into a ring, then wrapped wire around it, then climbed a tree and tied the hanger up as high as I could climb. (pretty small tree, it was probably 10-15 feet) I could then pick up to foreign programs, especially well on sundays for some reason. I remember hearing a broadcast from ireland, a few that were french, and lots of spanish programs.
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Diploid
Cuban


Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Shortwave radio enthusiasts? [Re: Blastrid]
#5448300 - 03/27/06 05:03 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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anyone own shortwave radio receivers, and partake in that hobby?
Sure. I was big into radio years ago and have recently become interested again. Check out this thread.
I'd LOVE to get a PC-controlled receiver, but they're just so damn expensive.
I'd suggest you stay away from those. Any PC-based receiver is an array of design contradictions and compromises.
For one thing, you'll get a lot more out of fiddling with real, touchable, infinite granularity controls than you will messing with their finite-quantized counterpart represented on the screen.
Also, PC power supplies are all of a variety that use high frequency (read: radio frequency) switching to regulate the voltage. This makes them very radio-noisy; it's called RF Hash from the hash sound nearby receivers pick up no matter how selective.
Besides all this, a PC-based receiver won't be very portable. You won't be able to go chill at a park or go on a trip somewhere and listen to the world if your receiver is in your PC.
Any recommendations to further pursue this hobby, I'm all ears. any radio ideas? Ideally I'd spend $150 or so.
You don't have to spend a lot of money for a nice receiver. This one, made by Sony is exceptional and it fits your budget.
While you're at it, buy a copy of this book. It contains all kinds of yummy information on radio, including station information, schedules and frequencies, programming content, explanations of some of the weird chirps, moans, and other sounds you'll hear as you tune across the bands, descriptions of the nature of ionospheric propagation of radio waves and how sunspots and other conditions affect it, and lots more.
And a final suggestion: put up an external antenna with a good ground. This will make all the difference. Your radio will pick up only the strongest signals indoors with its puny telescoping antenna and it's usually the weaker signals that are the most interesting.
A top-notch antenna won't cost you much. It's composed of a long random wire (any kind will do) going from your radio out of the building and hanging in any convenient tree, and a second wire going from your radio to a coper ground rod driven into the ground. You can get a ground rod here.
Hope this helps.
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
Edited by Diploid (03/27/06 05:18 PM)
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ivi


Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 9,089
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Re: Shortwave radio enthusiasts? [Re: Blastrid]
#5451379 - 03/28/06 01:45 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I wouldn't call myself a radio amateur, but I've been interested in the hobby for quite some time now. For shortwave listening I use a Sony ICF-SW7600GR. Nothing fancy but it is portable and it does perform good on SSB.

I'm not broadcasting, but maybe I'll get to it one day  Regards, ivi
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Edited by ivi (05/08/06 02:20 PM)
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ivi


Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 9,089
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Re: Shortwave radio enthusiasts? [Re: Blastrid]
#5598068 - 05/06/06 03:58 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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Here's an interesting read.
Talking about radios, Degen DE1103 seems to be a really good deal (only about half the price of Sony ICF-SW7600GR, and the internet is raving with positive feedback about it's technical capabilities), plus it has a tuning knob 

Check it out: http://www.radiointel.com/review-degende1103.htm http://www.radioscanner.ru/receivers/review/degen1103_eng.html http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4288
I think I should get one while they're still around
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Edited by ivi (05/07/06 12:20 AM)
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vermonster
Lost Sailor

Registered: 10/17/03
Posts: 207
Loc: Shangri La
Last seen: 10 years, 3 months
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Re: Shortwave radio enthusiasts? [Re: ivi]
#5598550 - 05/06/06 06:47 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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