In: , Al Patrick wrote:
wrote:

Hi Newsgroup,

How many folks listen to shortwave radio in the US? I have to wonder where
shortwave is going, whats the appeal of SW station when there are millions
of radio streams available?

More than some like to admit. As bad as reception is sometimes it just
may be more dependable than broadband streaming when the net goes down.

It is more "fun". Seems like streaming audio is just too easy. :-)

There is something fascinating about shortwave, but the lack of commercial stations
(6070 out of Canada is the only one I can think of) tells me that there just
aren't that many shortwave listeners. Government and religion seem to be about
the only thing on the dial. (or at least as far as I can get)

I have multiple radios. One is right by my computer and yes, I do have
to shut the computer down to get certain frequencies. 3210 was really
bad to get when the monitor/computer was on.

Do you have a shielded cable leading to an antenna? I can't get ANYTHING
(including MW) when the computer(s) are running. My computer(s) are old, I've
got wireless, hubs and several other "doo-dads" plugged in.

I'm hopeful that somehow, an outdoor antenna would solve this problem.

I've got my eyes on some table top models, something I can hook up to a
computer and/or the stereo, but I don't want to spend the $$, especially if it
suffers the same problems as my DX-392. Computer noise, station fading in and
out, (Gets LOUD then quiet and LOUD)

Station sync would help a little but not completely solve the problem.
Some days reception is bad all across the band. I'm in NC perhaps 500
miles from WWCR. When 9985 first comes on in the morning I can
generally get Australia, Canada and China better, but this is because of
the "skip zone" around the station.

Station sync? What is that?

Also, are these shortwaves with remote controls really worth it? Since
a station goes off air, often need to adjust 1Khz and a lot of other fiddling,
seems like a good remote control would be nice. (obviously, something that
handles the wavy lOuD-qUiEt problem as well as compensating for frequency
shift automatically would be nicer)

I don't use a remote with any of mine. It depends on where and when you
use your radios as to the type to get. If you spend a lot of time in
the car you may want to look at a SW radio for the vehicle instead of
getting a table top.

I was thinking of getting a dual 12v/120v unit, or, find some way of getting
the 6v required to power my portable. (If I ever wanted to use it in the car)

Can't quite see how one would mount it though. (Especially the antenna)

Isn't it rather awkward to operate all those dials while driving? That's the main
reason I figure SWL in a car is a bad idea for me.

Jamie
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