Shortwave radio is (almost) dead, long live Internet radio (vanity)

Dec. 30, 2013 | steelhead_trout

[roamer_1]

I've been reading that there's been a resurgence in Amateur Radio

I came close back in the day... Had a Midland sideband CB tied to a Siltronix Model 90 VFO, with a couple co-phased amps and a Moonraker 4... Man, I loved skip! Went about as far as I could in CB (last step would have been a Yaesu 101EE) and had every intention of moving into HAM proper, but life got in the way... Now, with things so close to SHTF, I am looking at it again. I will be going there very soon.

[dfwgator]

Also anxiously awaiting the next “Popular Electronics” with the updated Shortwave Time/Frequency Schedules.

[usconservative]

I do mostly phone/ssb, have been dabbling in the digital modes the last 6 months. It’d be very cool to setup a sked to work digitally sometime....

[dfwgator]

I’ve had a DX-440 for about 25 years now, still works like a charm. Although I don’t use it much these days.

[dfwgator]

I listened a lot to AFRTS, because you could get games that you couldn’t hear anywhere else.

[usconservative]

Here's some eye candy for you:

This one's on the "boat anchor" side of the shack. Finished restoring it about 6 months ago, she sounds beautiful on the air. I also have the matching amplifier, external VFO, 2 meter and 6 meter transverters for it.

The entire thing works as it did new out of the factory. Had it on air a few weeks ago on what's called "The Boatanchor Net" and received a ton of compliments on it's AM audio.

C'mon! Get in the hobby! Pick up a copy of the ARRL's "Technician Q&A" book off of Amazon, spend a few hours studying and go take your test!

[x]

It's not really the same, is it?

You don't have the experience of tuning the dial a little, hearing something completely different, and wondering what it is.

Rather, you get the address, go there, and pretty much know what you're going to get. No surprises -- or not as many.

I guess it's just as well that I never moved up to the more expensive receiver. What's going to happen to all that bandwidth, though?

[Bobalu]

I was interested in seeing what could be whipped up quickly under conditions where you can’t buy commercial gear any more.

Lots of possibilities of using HF for data handling, old cell phones re purposed to create local networks, wifi routers to create a local data network..etc

Plus, the cheap little boards I made can be used to control equipment located remotely by just adding a bit of code.

It’s a hobby that might come in handy some day.

[dfwgator]

To me DX’ing was like fishing. Nothing like getting that rare catch when atmospheric conditions were just right.

[Azeem]

Thanks for the advice. I’ve only had it a year and I haven’t taken the exam (yet). I’ve studied all fall for it and plan to take it first chance next year. I’ve just been listening, especially when we had the tornado come within a few miles last month.

I was a cryptolinguist in the Air Force so I’ve worked on a lot of radios and listened to more (Russian radios suck).

[mojo114]

Just received a satellite radio and was wondering how I find channels of particular interest. For example, emergency (local, regional, state) or other genre such as survival networks or cooking or gardening, etc
Had a scanner and could buy a book that listed scanner frequencies by location.
Just don’t know how to locate information so I can add channels I don’t know about.

[AlexW]

I have not been active since I left the USSA. My passion was chasing DX. Before I quit, I made it to the DXCC “top of the honor roll”. There were no countries left to work. de W4EX.

[usconservative]

I envy you ... skills such as yours (being able to build from scratch, program, etc..) are rapidly becoming a lost art in the amateur radio community.

I can do basic restores of older tube equipment but this newer stuff, forget it. Specially the surface mount stuff. Probably just as well, the arthritis in my hands is getting bad enough that I struggle to solder on a PL-259 half the time.

[Skooz]

I used to love my shortwave radio.

My favorite was listening to Radio Pyongyang’s English broadcast at 6:00 AM local time. It was like a parody.

[Bobalu]

Anyone can learn to handle sm in a few days. It’s nice to have a good hot air rework station if you do a lot of it though, and a little refrigerator to store your solder paste in.

Handling BGA (ball grid array) ICs is a pain... takes a special workstation with a microscope to do it well.

I have always hated soldering PL-259 connectors to coax.

[ConradofMontferrat]

Have that Yaesu 101. One of the best receivers in the world. Japanese knew their stuff.

An eleven meter “dipole” long line antenna could bring in signals from all over the world.

Long live DX.

Daahh dit, dit,\ daahh, dit, dit, daahh.

DX, DX.

Sometimes the old is new again. Got up to 7 letters per. Think that was enough to qualify for “technical.”

[usconservative]

There's a ham radio guy on You Tube named Dave Tadlock who creates these wonderful video's of how to build basic antenna's out of almost nothing.

He has two video's demonstrating how to build basic 2 Meter antenna's using coat hangers, some 1x2" firring strips and some coax to build a 2 meter directional Yagi, and another building a 2 Meter omni directional using a coat hanger, SO-239 connector, a coffee can and some wire.

I built the 2 meter omni using a coathanger, wire, coffee can and some coax and put that up in my attic so I can be on 2M when a severe storm rolls through and I have to unplug the outdoor antenna's. That 2M "coffee can" works well enough I can hit repeaters within 20 miles of my house with no more than 5-10 watts.

Give the above site a try. Hopefully that gives you some ideas as to what's possible.

[steelhead_trout]

To me, this was the "bible" back in the day, not only for shortwave, but AM FM and even TV, all freqencies, all over the world.

[dfwgator]

Listening to Radio Moscow’s Propaganda was worth it to hear “Moscow Nights”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT0aeNLHB54

[steelhead_trout]

“I used to love my shortwave radio.

My favorite was listening to Radio Pyongyang’s English broadcast at 6:00 AM local time. It was like a parody.”

---

Radio Tirana, the voice of Albania, was like that too.