Krypsis wrote:
Steve R. wrote:
"Bill Baka" wrote in message
...
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out
as a fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a
boom box thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find
myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in
theory) take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a
disposable weight and toss it as far as possible into some high
trees. Once it is stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole
spool is used up and connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Way back, my old Jaguar Mk 10 had a radio made by PYE that had
standard broadcast and short-wave. Or was that the Mk II?????
Short-wave reception was spotty, and I never did try a long wire
antenna on it.


Steve R.

I seem to remember an old valve car radio that had some shortwave
indicators on the dial. It was one of those common brands (AWA,
Kreisler, Pye) but exactly which one escapes me now. It was a long time
ago. Not my car, a friends, and we used to go on trips in it. Slow to
warm up and heavy on the battery if you used it too long without the
engine running. Caught us out once or twice but a roll start got us
under way again.

Sounds like my younger days, dead battery just means push with friends
and jump in to pop the clutch and get going. I miss sticks.

I seem to recall that car radio sensitivity on MW broadcast bands was a
lot better in the fifties and sixties than it is on modern car radios.

Me too. In the sixties I used to drive out to the middle of nowhere and
park and listen. I could DX AM better that way than at home.

During the evenings, I used to be able to pick up stations 1 or 2
thousand kilometres away with ease. Nowadays, I only need to be a couple
of hundred kilometres way from my home city and I lose the signal. Maybe
the transmission power has been reduced? I know there was a time when
the MW spectrum became a bit crowded So that might have been why the
front end sensitivity of car radios was decreased. Well, the MW spectrum
is getting less crowded now.

Krypsis





Thankfully. I want to start DX'ing for QSL cards again if they still
give them out.
Cheers,
Bill Baka