On Dec 25, 1:29*pm, PJ wrote:
Folks,

This is the OP speaking. Thanks for all the various tips and tricks! I
don't care much for the unpleasant tone between some posters in the
rec.radio.shortwave group, but there are still a few glimpses of good
information that I can use.

I was a very keen DX:er in the seventies, and I used a Swedish vacuum
tube radio from 1952, named Nornan LV 1220, with a continous SW band
from 15 meters to 120 meters. I still have it, and it still works, but
I thought that I'd go a little more modern with the ATS-909... :-)
Although I think that the LV 1220 is just as good when it comes to SW
reception.

I remember that my dream, in the seventies, was to hear the AFAN
(American Forces Antarctic Network) SW transmissions here in Sweden.
They then used a 1 kW transmitter, and I had heard that someone in the
south of Sweden had been able to hear them at some point. Alas, I
never did. I am pretty sure that I picked up the carrier wave, but I
couldn't hear anything... Bummer... In the 2009 WRTH the AFAN are only
listed as an FM station, so I guess that those days are over...

PJ

PJ you can't get Antartica anymore as Ace says, but there are lots
more challenging AFN stations to seek out and have fun with. Sadly the
WRTH does not list them conveniently but you can see the full
shortwave spread at:
http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/ShortWave.aspx

You have had lots of blah blah on antenna's, but for your 909 I
wouldn't use anything other than the ANT-60 you have, otherwise you
will overload it and possibly blow the front end.

If you like AM BCB MW DX you might find one of the cheap tuneable
loops provided by the big dealers such as Martin Lynch or Universal of
some help.

Have fun and good listening

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-7700, Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
ERGO software
Drake SW8. Sangean 803A
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop.
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx