I can't quite say I'm a newbie, as I haven't actaully purchased the
radio yet. After much research, the general consensus seems to be the
Sony 7600g if I can find one (versus the GR, which has an annoying
mute). I'm still looking for the best price, so I haven't ordered
just yet (sites with good deals are welcome).

I have a few questions which I couldn't readily locate (or can't
determine the best search terms) on Deja/Google:

* I live in rual central Utah and will soon be moving to *very* rural
southwest Utah. Any hints or tips for SWLing/DXing in Utah or the
mountain west?

* Can SW radios be used to pick up atmospheric "noise" (the whistles,
pops, & clicks I've read about during auroras, magnetic storms and
such)?

* I once read on slashdot.org an article (can't find it now) about
broadcasts that just pop up in a location and broadcast strange random
(or encrypted?) patterns for a while, then just vanish. I forget what
they're called, but remember that it was implied that they were
transmitted by the government for unknown purposes. I think the
context may have been about the HAM culture, but I'm not sure. Can I
pick up those?

* If I enjoy this enough, I'd like to get a car unit. I was going to
replace my car's factory '93 tape deck with an in-dash CD/MP3 player.
Any SW car models that can do CDs and MP3, too?

Thanks for any and all help.