"JimC" wrote in message
. net...


I recently bought a Realistic DX-160 on Ebay, hooked up about 100 feet of
outside antenna and an indoor ground, and find that it picks up all sorts
of signals. (Although I understand that, as an older, single conversion
circuit, it's not the greatest, I do have a more modern, dual conversion
set (RS DX-398, similar to the Sangean ATS-909), with digital entry and
memory.) So far, I enjoy using the DX-160, with analog tuning, more than
the digital set. I have several novice-level questions.-

First, I can pick up lots of stations on the 40-50 meter bands, and, in
the daytime, a few on the 15 - 20 meter bands. I'm not getting many HAM or
code signals or marine broadcasts. In addition to these stations,

Apparently you are not so novice that you don't think you
don't know or can't recognize ham vs marine broadcasts.

there seem to be lots of other transmissions that can be heard and that
cause the S-meter to jump over, but which aren't speech or code. - Some of
them sound like a rushing noise, and others are like a whine produced by
an electric motor or other machine.

There are OFDM and QPSK signals on HF that may sound
like that.... or it may be motor noise.

Some are just a noticeably silent station, with no voice or message. - Can
anyone suggest what these "broadcasts" are?

Some stations are so distant and weak that all you
get is the carrier... but then there are local RFI sources.
One way to tell the difference between a real signal and
local RFI is QSB. A real signal will typically fade. Local RFI is
typically steady.

Is there any way to filter them out? - Since there are so many of them,
would this suggest that I have an antenna that is too long?

I don't think so. I suspect your "indoor ground" is picking
up local crud.


The DX-160 has bandspread tuning in addition to the main tuning, seen on a
large main tuning dial, and I'm using the bandspread tuning to go back to
a station that couldn't be tuned easily with the main dial. - I'm
wondering how most operators use the bandspread.

The last bandspread tuning receiver I had was an NC-125.
Boy, I wish I had never sold it.

- Do you actually "zero" it and then scan (to the left in my case) by a
given number of KH/MH, or do you just go back and forth near the station
of interest?

Both ways. When just "prospecting" I wouldn't worry about
calibration. When I was "serious" I would calibrate.

My current main receiver is xtal accurate to about 10 Hz.
It's nice to know the frequency to that accuracy without effort.


I'm somewhat disappointed in what's available in English (or French)

C'est la vie.
HF is a low fidelity, noisy, but interestingly exotic medium. If you
simply want to exercise your French there are probably better resources
elsewhere. (But if you can understand a French broadcast with
heavy QRM, QRN, and QSB then you know your French is good.)

most of the time. I had hoped to pick up stations from Europe and England,
but there don't seem to be a lot of them. - I can sometimes pick up BBC
stations that I think are in England but haven't noticed much of anything
from France. Is this typical of what others are receiving? (I'm in Texas,
so probably am not in the best US location except for Cuban and Mexican
stations and US religious broadcasts.) On the other hand, there seem to be
lots of oriental language broadcasts. - I haven't figured out what
countries most are from, but the dial on my RS DX-398 indicates some are
from Japan. -

Last, I understand that sunspot activity isn't good at this time. - When
will it improve?

I don't know.


Thanks for any suggestions.

Jim Cate

--
rb