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

Dec. 30, 2013 | steelhead_trout

[steelhead_trout]

Anyone who is or was a shortwave listener, like I was, knows there isn't much left on the bands these days. Nothing like the Cold War days of the 70s and 80s when it seemed every nation from the biggest superpowers to the most forlorn Iron Curtain client state, had a booming shortwave network that broadcast in English, among dozens of other languages. The Cold War's end, lack of money, and the Internet did away with all that. But there's still Internet radio, and it can do wonders. There are thousands of stations, foreign and domestic, that broadcast in Engish, and tens of thousands in other languages. And, unlike with shortwave, they all come in crystal clear. All you need is WiFi. I have a great portable Internet radio (a Sangean WFR-28), whose only failing is that it cannot pick up stations which use the iheartradio streaming format (I've heard that Clear Channel does not want its stations picked up overseas). And you can listen to any format you wish. So if you miss the old days of shortwave, this can help.

[hoagy62]

I used to have a Sony digital receiver. I used the 5-foot (really) whip antenna from my ‘63 Chrysler Newport and listened in my car. My best catches were Kol Israel and Radio South Africa from my fave listening spot in Spokane, WA.

[dfwgator]

I remember hearing this actual broadcast from Radio Beijing on my Shortwave live on April 4, 1989.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt2vy_QftKU

By the next hour, these announcers were replaced by others and they were back spouting the party line.

[usconservative]

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

I know you're right! I have that Yaesu, a FT-101ZD, a Kenwood 940SAT, and a Kenwood TS-2000 in my shack.

The TS-2000 has the worst receive of any rig in my shack. The problem with modern rigs is they pack too much into too small of a space. All these electronics in such a small space creates internal "noise" in the receiver.

Now it's a toss-up between my Kenwood 940SAT (my first HF Rig) and the Yaesu FT-101EE as to which has the best receive. I know I can hear stations on both those rigs that I simply cannot hear on my TS-2000.

As for best audio, I get a ton of compliments on my Kenwood 940's audio when I put it on the air on SSB. The Yaesu win's on AM (mostly because the Kenwood isn't an "AM" rig ... its "AM" is really double-sideband.)

[MamaB]

Sorry, but it was one of the last gifts my late husband gave me. I listen to the am/fm stations. It is hard to get shortwave where I am now. Do not understand why since it is only a few miles from where I did live.

[steelhead_trout]

First shortwave radio I ever used. My parents' old Grundig Majestic shortwave unit (this isn't their unit, but it's the same model).

[ConradofMontferrat]

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

I used to sell Japanese "rework" equipment. No "vision" (microscope)

If the board failed, my equipment could "desolder" a BGA, and resolder it on a new board that had a failed BGA. Or whatever.

The equipment was "low tech" and very manual. No "vision." Which drew raised eyebrows!

But it was profoundly accurate.

It could replicate the original heat profile to ensure that the BGA wasn't subjected to heat beyond what it could endure. I sold several of them to Lucinet Tech back in '98. I removed and replaced 3 BGAs on bad boards. When they exrayed the boards, my reworks were 100%.

Lucient in Texas bought 3 units. The nice thing about my rework stations, you could teach ANY high school grad how to use it in about 2 days, and could rely on them to use it correctly!

So, for minimum wage, you could save thousands of dollars in chips.

You guys in the business know what I mean.

[AlexW]

“Radio Tirana, the voice of Albania, was like that too.”
_____________________________________________
Radio Tirana was a hoot. Every sentence had “Marxist Leninist” inserted.

[Bobalu]

Sounds good.

[Mark17]

Yes, HAM radio has been declined in popularity over the past twenty years (partly due to the internet, as with SW) - but has rebounded quite a bit since 2008. The licensing classes are seeing much greater attendance these days.

I have been a licensed HAM since 1978. I have not been active since 1993. With computers and smart phones, I doubt I will ever be active again. I would sit in front of my HF rig day after day, talking to people all over the world, till I figured I wasn't getting anything done, so I put it on the back burner.

[ConradofMontferrat]

Radio Tirana was a hoot.

LOL, a lot of everything was a hoot back then!

OTH, back then, it was deadly serious biz. Radio Tirana included. And all the honey traps they employed.

[tenger]

I lived in Mongolia for two years in the early 90s and got to be on the OTHER side of the pileups...sorting through all the calls. Wow, what an experience. I was fairly new to the hobby then. Went on a few dxpeditions. Nothing like broadcasting once and getting calls from four continents in the same hour. Worked quite a few stateside.

The other ops enjoyed seeing me key at the minimal speeds while they were smoking, drinking, working pileups at 70-80 wpm (or however fast they went) and carrying on their conversations in the room. I stuck to SSB.

I haven't kept up at all unfortunately with the internet and all.

[VeniVidiVici]

I’ll never forget the time I was in Augsburg, Germany and heard a guy on his CB radio driving out of Boston. This was on my FLR-9 antenna back in the early 80s :-)

[elcid1970]

In high school I listened to Radio Havana to practice Spanish which I was taking for the first time. That was in 1965 listening on my Dad’s Trans-Oceanic which I still have. The propaganda was laughable.

Earlier I had listened to Radio Moscow. The announcers’ English was so perfect I assumed they had to be American turncoats.

Now getting back into shortwave listening with a vintage Hammarlund HQ-180. Lots of evangelical stations out there, as well as broadcasts from the Middle East & Iran with some truly poisonous anti-Israel & anti-American vitriol. All in perfect English, of course.

It’s probably good to have something to listen on that doesn’t rely on satellite or the internet.

[stbdside]

I had a Heathkit SW-717 back in the day, worked quite well. Picked up Radio Prague, Radio Budapest, RSA, Radio 4VEH (Cap Haitien, Haiti), etc.

[roamer_1]

This one's on the "boat anchor" side of the shack.

Hmmm. Boat anchor huh? *Sigh*. I have one on the line - It's been gone through and is factory stock - I guess that's a problem a lot of times... Folks been in it with the Golden Screwdriver and messed 'em all up - And it is coming with a 40 chan Cobra Cam SSB (also recently refurbished), and what looks to me like a CLR2 antenna - though he swears it is something newer... The whole thing for 400 bucks. I figured to get the CB up right away (to get my ratchet jaw working again), and get my feet wet in Amateur with the Yaesu... Maybe it is too old eh? I thought I would start with what I know...

[usconservative]

Hmmm. Boat anchor huh? *Sigh*. I have one on the line - It's been gone through and is factory stock - I guess that's a problem a lot of times... Folks been in it with the Golden Screwdriver and messed 'em all up -

They're called boatanchors because they're so heavy (and some say because they have tubes.) It's more a nickname for the older radios than anything else.

The problem I see with most of the older Yaesu's (specifically the 101 series) is that CB'ers got their hands on 'em, put in the AM filters and stuck their golden screwdrivers in to max out the audio. What a stupid thing to do to a great old rig.

Fortunately there's alot of good resources on the net on how to restore the radio properly to its factory condition and "de-tune" what the CB'ers did to them. The old Yaesu FT-101's are great rigs. If you get it running right you'll absolutely love it. (I love mine.)

CLR2 Antenna? Wow, haven't heard anyone in YEARS refer to the baby Super Penetrator as the CLR2. You're old school! :-)

[jaydee770]

I rolled up all my wires and sold my radios awhile back. All I have left is a little Grundig portable that I use to listen to Rush in the workshop.

I wish I had at least kept one of the boat-anchors. You know... I just might go see what the old Halicrafters market looks like on eBay. Having an old tube set on hand might not be a bad idea.

[roamer_1]

CLR2 Antenna? Wow, haven't heard anyone in YEARS refer to the baby Super Penetrator as the CLR2. You're old school! :-)

Tolja... So does the 'Super Penetrator' fix the problem with the loading coil? IIRC the CLR2 couldn't take much more than 150w... The Sigma did better. I had an AS Starduster so no trouble with wattage at all... It ain't a big thing - I am not figuring to run much power... for now :P

I heard that metal omni-directional antennas with ground-plane radials are illegal now... Illegal or grandfathered?

They're called boatanchors because they're so heavy (and some say because they have tubes.) It's more a nickname for the older radios than anything else.

Great. Then that's the way I am going to go. I am partial to the yaesu anyhoo, and I have been out of the loop so long...

[usconservative]

I heard that metal omni-directional antennas with ground-plane radials are illegal now... Illegal or grandfathered?

I'd not heard of them being made illegal. AES Ham sells the original Avanti Super Penetrator in their catalog so I don't believe metal ground plane antenna's are illegal. Avanti (or whoever owns Avanti now) started making them again in the last year. I'm planning on picking one up and modifying it for use on 12/15/17/20 Meters.

I also don't know much about the CLR2 and its power handling capabilities. If it does in fact have a loading coil, the amount of power it can handle will be directly related to the gauge of wire used by the coil.

I have an original Starduster up on the roof which I use for 6/10/12/15 meters. Of course I have a good antenna tuner to tune it for those bands. Works quite well. I don't use 6 meters much so I'm going to replace the Starduster with the Super Penetrator above and modify it.

The advantage of the Super Penetrator over the Starduster is the Penetrator is a real 5/8 wave antenna, whereas the Starduster is a quarter wave over half-wave.

[CodeToad]

Actually Ham radio operators also have EchoLink, the ability to use the Internet to communicate through computers or radio or even repeaters. I can use my computer here with microphone and speakers but reach an EchoLink node in India and have that node broadcast on a radio and reach someone via radio.