What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

I have found, having started 2 days ago, that there are three ways to
search for SW broadcasts:

1. Hunting, one station at a time, on each meter band.

2. Scanning quickly through each meter band.

3. Looking at a list of broadcast times and stations for your area that
someone has put together and directly putting these frequencies in.

How do you do it?

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

dead of night wrote:
I have found, having started 2 days ago, that there are three ways to
search for SW broadcasts:

1. Hunting, one station at a time, on each meter band.

2. Scanning quickly through each meter band.

3. Looking at a list of broadcast times and stations for your area that
someone has put together and directly putting these frequencies in.

How do you do it?


Since your new to the hobby. I recomend that you buy a current copy of
the book Passport to World Band Radio at your local book store to get
you started.

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

dead of night wrote:
I have found, having started 2 days ago, that there are three ways to
search for SW broadcasts:

1. Hunting, one station at a time, on each meter band.

2. Scanning quickly through each meter band.

3. Looking at a list of broadcast times and stations for your area that
someone has put together and directly putting these frequencies in.

How do you do it?

I mostly use #3. That is, I take a list of stations at a given time,
and directly input the frequency of interest. As was recommended,
Passport to World Band Radio is a good place to start. It also has
lots of other info. There are also some good sources on the web. My
favourite is http://www.primetimeshortwave.com, but there are others.

However, #1 and #2 on your list can also be fun. Here again, Passport
can be of help. It has "Blue Pages" at the back that help you identify
a station you find this way (or just keep listening until they ID
themselves.)

These suggestions apply to listening to "world band" broadcasts.
Others can give you advice on listening to ham operators, utilities,
and other things I don't have much experience with. All depends on
your interest.

Have fun,

DWP

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

In article . com,
"dead of night" wrote:

I have found, having started 2 days ago, that there are three ways to
search for SW broadcasts:

1. Hunting, one station at a time, on each meter band.

2. Scanning quickly through each meter band.

3. Looking at a list of broadcast times and stations for your area that
someone has put together and directly putting these frequencies in.

How do you do it?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by #1 but I mostly do #3 since I'm a
broadcast listener for the most part. I also like to do #2 but slowly as
stations fade in and out so you have to go slow when listening for the
weak stations.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

The best way I've found to find the various active SW stations (ham or
broadcast) is to use one of the SDR-Radios like the Winradio G303/G313
or the Flex-radio SDR-1000. They offer a broad band spectrum analyzer
window which will show peaks where stations are operating. You can
then click of the peaks and the radio will set it's frequency to the
peak.

There are also the AOR (and other) Spectrum Display Units which offer
similar functionality but I haven't tried these. I find that the
Winradio G303 and G313 offer the bast bang for the buck.

Rob


lsmyer wrote:
I have about 50 stations programmed into each of my portables. Of the 50
stations, 12 are AM, 13 are FM, and 25 are SW. Of these 50, I can
usually find something interesting to listen to during the course of an
evening. Since I only listen at night, I don't waste memories on
daytime-only stations on AM or SW. The way I found the 50 was partly by
pre-entering frequencies I discovered on the internet (this newsgroup
plus other sites such as http://tinyurl.com/y4q3u4 ), but mostly just
good old fashioned scanning up and down the dial until I find something
interesting.

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

dead of night wrote:
I have found, having started 2 days ago, that there are three ways to
search for SW broadcasts:

1. Hunting, one station at a time, on each meter band.

2. Scanning quickly through each meter band.

3. Looking at a list of broadcast times and stations for your area that
someone has put together and directly putting these frequencies in.

How do you do it?


dn:

If you know the name of the broadcaster you want, just look up their
webpage. Take China Radio International (CRI) for example, just google
with some search terms like: china, radio, international, shortwave,
english. I did this for you and got this webpage:

http://pw2.netcom.com/~jleq/cri1.htm

then by following the link on the page for english schedules, I got to
the page:

http://pw2.netcom.com/~jleq/cri1_skedfreq.htm

which gives time in UTC and frequencies.

I find this works the best for me. All I need is a list of shortwave
broadcasters (yes, you can even google for that!) and you are off with
many, many broadcasts to keep you busy indefinently!

Warmest regards,
JS

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

John Smith wrote:
dead of night wrote:
I have found, having started 2 days ago, that there are three ways to
search for SW broadcasts:

1. Hunting, one station at a time, on each meter band.

2. Scanning quickly through each meter band.

3. Looking at a list of broadcast times and stations for your area that
someone has put together and directly putting these frequencies in.

How do you do it?


dn:

If you know the name of the broadcaster you want, just look up their
webpage. Take China Radio International (CRI) for example, just google
with some search terms like: china, radio, international, shortwave,
english. I did this for you and got this webpage:

http://pw2.netcom.com/~jleq/cri1.htm

then by following the link on the page for english schedules, I got to
the page:

http://pw2.netcom.com/~jleq/cri1_skedfreq.htm

which gives time in UTC and frequencies.

I find this works the best for me. All I need is a list of shortwave
broadcasters (yes, you can even google for that!) and you are off with
many, many broadcasts to keep you busy indefinently!

Warmest regards,
JS

Thanks for all the help and info, everyone. It is nice to have your
support along with my new, 7600 GR.

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

"dead of night" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have found, having started 2 days ago, that there are three ways to
search for SW broadcasts:

1. Hunting, one station at a time, on each meter band.

2. Scanning quickly through each meter band.

3. Looking at a list of broadcast times and stations for your area that
someone has put together and directly putting these frequencies in.

How do you do it?


You have the basics of it down pat. In the old books about SW Listening,
they used to say there are 2 ways of listening, "Targeting" certain
stations, and just slowly tuning up and down the SW Broadcast bands
"exploring" for new stations and broadcasts.

I use digital receivers for targeting stations at cerain times and
frequencies, but for exploring up and down the bands, I still prefer analog
receivers.

There's always been such a varity of signals on High Frequency Radio, USB &
LSB, that it has held my interest for close to fifty years now. I have
scanners for UHF, VHF, etc, but HF is still my favorite listening.

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

i just tune up and down the bands until i find something interesting.
when i loose interest then off i go slowly tuning up and down.

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

Doing a blind search on the freq is too speculative and rather time
consuming due to the sheer number of stations you'll hear.

What I'll do is to go to http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/ to download
the latest freq and station details for English broadcast. For
non-English broadcast, I'll go to the station's website for the details.

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?
 

I use them all.

dead of night wrote:
I have found, having started 2 days ago, that there are three ways to
search for SW broadcasts:

1. Hunting, one station at a time, on each meter band.

I do that when I know the station, usually a favorite like Radio
Australia in the morning.


2. Scanning quickly through each meter band.

Yup, I do that too. In fact that reminds me of my first exciting
"catch" as a new owner of a Sony 2010 20 years ago. I was tuning
through the 6mhz band not really knowing what to listen for and came
across what seemed like an exotic and fascinating catch. Radio South
Africa was broadcasting a program for shortwave listenters. I later
found out it was no big deal, but I still remember the excitement.


3. Looking at a list of broadcast times and stations for your area that
someone has put together and directly putting these frequencies in.

By far the best resource for frequencies is the monthly Monitoring
Times http://www.monitoringtimes.com/ They feature a TV Guide-like
listing of shortwave broadcasters by time and frequency as well as
several well written articles. I've enjoyed that magazine for almost
as long as I've been in the hobby.



How do you do it?

Welcome to the hobby and enjoy that radio.

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?- Good stations for beginners?
 

ngu wrote:
Doing a blind search on the freq is too speculative and rather time
consuming due to the sheer number of stations you'll hear.

What I'll do is to go to http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/ to download
the latest freq and station details for English broadcast. For
non-English broadcast, I'll go to the station's website for the details.


I'm a novice also (although I did scan SW bands with a Zenith tube
AM/SW radio and also a Hallicrafter S-38 years ago). I have a related
question. - Is there a website or book that lists the "major"
international stations, or those normally easy to find and listen to
(from Texas, in evening or night hours). In other words, there seem to
be lots of sources listing lots of international stations. But for a
novice, it would be much easier if I could start with the more powerful
ones (broadcasting in English, French, or Spanish). I'll also look
forward to searching for weaker, lesser-known stations, but I would like
to begin with some of those transmitting strong signals to the US,
midwest regions. Also the more powerful, better known stations.

I have the book "Passport to World Band Radio", 2007 edition, and I'm
familiar with websites such as primetimeshortwave.com, but these sources
seem to list around a thousand stations with no suggestion as to how to
sort out those that would be relatively easy for a novice listener to
pick up. (The "blue pages" of the "Passport..." book list broadcast
station power in watts, which may be a clue.)

Does anyone know of a SHORT list of foreign stations that can usually be
received fairly easy in the evening or night here in the midwest (e.g.,
the "top 30" or the "top "50")? Or, if that's asking too much, are there
long lists that suggest which stations are more powerful, and relatively
easy to pick up by a beginning DXer with relatively modest equipment,
with a decent antenna?

Thanks,
Jim Cate

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?-...
 

I own a Hallicrafters S-38EB radio.It is in great physical and cosmetic
condition,and it still works too.I bought it at a Goodwill store for
$4.00 a bunch of years ago.I also own many,many other radios.
cuhulin,the radio nut

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?-...
 

email www.ccrane.com Tell them to snail mail you one of those
papers that has the most popular shortwave stations listed on it.They
send them free if you buy a shortwave radio from them.Tell them all you
want is that paper.(for free)
cuhulin

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts? - Good stations for beginners?
 

The World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) sets out not only the freq., station
names, target broadcast area but also the transmitters location and
strength in kW. You can then decide which stations stand the best
chance of being picked up in your region.

What is the most effective method for finding SW broadcasts?- Good stations for beginners?
 

wrote:

The World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) sets out not only the freq., station
names, target broadcast area but also the transmitters location and
strength in kW. You can then decide which stations stand the best
chance of being picked up in your region.


Thanks. I ordered the 2007 edition from Amazon.

Jim