"I. P. Yurin" wrote:

On Thu, 4 Jun 2009 12:59:32 -0700 (PDT), Art Harris
wrote:
elfa wrote:


The same question from me. I live in San Francisco bay area. I have a Sony
2010. My antenna is a wire connected to my metal gutter. Stopped listening
when the BBC stopped broadcasting to US.

I'm looking for a reason to listen to SW again but need some help with time/freq
of English speaking stations.


Yes, it's not as much fun as it used to be, especially with the poor
propagation, many long-time SW broadcasters calling it quits, and all
the paid religious broadcasts all over the spectrum.

I'm on Long Island, so I can't give specific advice as to what's
hearable in SF. There are websites that list current english language
shortwave broadcasts.

http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/

You can still hear BBC, it just takes a little more work. Also Radio
Canada, Deutsche Welle, France, Romania, etc. And the ubiquitous China
Radio.

Art Harris

Art,

One of the original questions in the thread was WBCQ (although I
think he was using an old freq).

You're on LI; I'm in NYC. What's your reception like on WBCQ (7415)? I
can get them so-so, as an average, in late afternoon and very early
evening. But come sundown, they might as well be TXing from the moon.
The dark side. It's all I can do to make out the Last Day Prophet's
harangue.

I've been given arguments that the skip zone is in effect.

Yes, that would explain it... the band goes 'long'.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

On Jun 4, 2:50*pm, dave wrote:
elfa wrote:
In article ,
Art Harris says...
Someone wrote:
I just got my first shortwave radio, a PL-600. I can only pickup about 5
shortwave stations, 2 of which are somewhat clear. I have nothing but
static on WBCQ 9330khz, i should get this for sure right? I live close
to NYC.

Well, conditions are pretty poor due to low sunspot activity. Best bet
is to tune 5.8 to 6.2 MHz and 7.2 to 7.5 MHz in the evenings, 15.0 to
15.5 MHz and 11.5 to 12.1 MHz during daylight hours. And 9.3 to 10.0
MHz most anytime.

You should be able to hear Radio Australia very well in english on
9.58 MHz around 7:00 a.m. ET.

If my radio defective or do i need a bigger antenna?

What is your antenna?

Also, radio reception is all about signal to noise ratio. If you have
a lot of locally generated noise, it's gonna be tough to hear
anything.

Art Harris

Art...

The same question from me. *I live in San Francisco bay area. *I have a Sony
2010. *My antenna is a wire connected to my metal gutter. *Stopped listening
when the BBC stopped broadcasting to US.

I'm looking for a reason to listen to SW again but need some help with time/freq
of English speaking stations.

Any recommendations?

thanks

elfa

Monitoring Times magazine has an English broadcasts section t6hat is
quite in-depth. *Passport to World Band Radio also has listings by
time-of-day.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Unfortunately, that is about the only thing MT is good for anymore
IMO.

In article 4ab23b9e-b506-4539-aada-
, says...
On Jun 4, 2:50*pm, dave wrote:
elfa wrote:
In article ,
Art Harris says...
Someone wrote:
I just got my first shortwave radio, a PL-600. I can only pickup about 5
shortwave stations, 2 of which are somewhat clear. I have nothing but
static on WBCQ 9330khz, i should get this for sure right? I live close
to NYC.

Well, conditions are pretty poor due to low sunspot activity. Best bet
is to tune 5.8 to 6.2 MHz and 7.2 to 7.5 MHz in the evenings, 15.0 to
15.5 MHz and 11.5 to 12.1 MHz during daylight hours. And 9.3 to 10.0
MHz most anytime.

You should be able to hear Radio Australia very well in english on
9.58 MHz around 7:00 a.m. ET.

If my radio defective or do i need a bigger antenna?

What is your antenna?

Also, radio reception is all about signal to noise ratio. If you have
a lot of locally generated noise, it's gonna be tough to hear
anything.

Art Harris

Art...

The same question from me. *I live in San Francisco bay area. *I have a Sony
2010. *My antenna is a wire connected to my metal gutter. *Stopped listening
when the BBC stopped broadcasting to US.

I'm looking for a reason to listen to SW again but need some help with time/freq
of English speaking stations.

Any recommendations?

thanks

elfa

Monitoring Times magazine has an English broadcasts section t6hat is
quite in-depth. *Passport to World Band Radio also has listings by
time-of-day.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Unfortunately, that is about the only thing MT is good for anymore
IMO.



Well, even if true, that still makes it worth a hell of a lot more than
PopComm.
--

BDK..
Leader of the nonexistent paid shills.
Non Jew Jew Club founding member.
Former number one Kook Magnet, passed to Iarnrod.

Check the International Time Standard frequencies, such as 5.0, 7.335, 10.0, or other beacon type transmissions to determine if your radio is functioning. Compare realtime notes with a friend having like hobby interest. You may simply have an issue which is known as 'Operator Error'.

There are a multitude of issues which may contributing to your lack of reception at any given moment. All are subject to change. Local time of day/night, season/current weather, frequency of operation, type of antenna relative to a given portion of the radio spectrum, antenna orientation, antenna gain, receiver sensitivity, selectivity, ionospheric conditions, sunspot activity, conditions at remote locations, are just a few issues that come to mind. I suggest you obtain a copy of an ARRL Antenna Handbook. Learn the basic principles, and then experiment with antenna construction. One of the best general purpose omni-directional antennas, to start with, IMHO, is a Discone Antenna. Once you listen, you can ascertain where a station is located, flip your Antenna Selector Switch from the Discone, over to a Beam Antenna, such as a Log-Periodic. I've even used a very large TV VHF/UHF antenna/booster with a medium antenna rotator somewhat effectively. Remember, there are second and third harmonics. But simply connecting to a set of bedsprings can serve the purpose. Longwire antennas are suitable, up to a point, but damn inconvenient, when it come to trying to change the orientation. !!! Be sure you rule out 'operator error'. Shortwave listening can be enjoyable, but very challenging; especially if you forget to connect the radio to the antenna.
Since antenna theory and construction rarely, if ever, changes, you don't need the latest handbook edition. About all that changes, is that someone may develop a different type of antenna, or improve upon an existing version.
I'd suggest you obtain a quality commercial shortwave receiver, and a good antenna tuner, to match the receivers' impedance to that of the antenna. Antennas are only efficient with-in a certain portion of the radio spectrum, and the tuner helps maintain that efficiency. Tune for maximum signal, even if initially it's only background noise, as you tune across the dial. There are several good reference books relative to frequency spectrum content, World Radio TV, Pirate Radio Stations, etc.. The internet has a wealth of information available. You never know what you may hear. How about being the first to hear 'Sputnik', or ground-air 'SkyKing Do Not Answer' transmissions to flying USAF command post aircraft, or International Space Station communications. If you're 'up to the challenge', you can become an Amateur Radio Operator, and convert from shortwave listening, to actually operating 'On The Air'; within authorized privileges.

328X1 wrote:

Check the International Time Standard frequencies, such as 5.0, 7.335,
10.0, or other beacon type transmissions


Just a "heads up" that CHU is no longer on 7,335. I think they're on
7,850 now.

Art Harris

Someone wrote:


One of the original questions in the thread was WBCQ (although I
think he was using an old freq).

You're on LI; I'm in NYC. What's your reception like on WBCQ (7415)? I
can get them so-so, as an average, in late afternoon and very early
evening. But come sundown, they might as well be TXing from the moon.

I've been given arguments that the skip zone is in effect. That seems
nutty to me, given the distance.

I haven't listened to WBCQ in a while. But as for propagation, ground
wave at 7 MHz is limited to about 30 miles or so. Anything beyond that
is skywave. Lately skip distances have been long on 7 MHz, so that
would account for you not hearing WBCQ over a Maine to NYC path. I've
noticed the same thing on the 40 meter ham band. Signals are weak, and
the skip is long, even at mid-day.

Art N2AH

Art Harris wrote:
elfa wrote:

The same question from me. I live in San Francisco bay area. I have a Sony
2010. My antenna is a wire connected to my metal gutter. Stopped listening
when the BBC stopped broadcasting to US.

I'm looking for a reason to listen to SW again but need some help with time/freq
of English speaking stations.


Yes, it's not as much fun as it used to be, especially with the poor
propagation, many long-time SW broadcasters calling it quits, and all
the paid religious broadcasts all over the spectrum.

I'm on Long Island, so I can't give specific advice as to what's
hearable in SF. There are websites that list current english language
shortwave broadcasts.

http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/

You can still hear BBC, it just takes a little more work. Also Radio
Canada, Deutsche Welle, France, Romania, etc. And the ubiquitous China
Radio.

Art Harris

You'll generally get Asia way better than Europe. 9.5 MHz band
overnights and in the morning, 17 MHZ early evening is good for New
Zealand and Russia. I'd try everywhere during the grey line time.

Telamon wrote:
In article ,
dxAce wrote:

"I. P. Yurin" wrote:

On Thu, 4 Jun 2009 12:59:32 -0700 (PDT), Art Harris
wrote:
elfa wrote:

The same question from me. I live in San Francisco bay area. I have a
Sony
2010. My antenna is a wire connected to my metal gutter. Stopped
listening
when the BBC stopped broadcasting to US.

I'm looking for a reason to listen to SW again but need some help with
time/freq
of English speaking stations.

Yes, it's not as much fun as it used to be, especially with the poor
propagation, many long-time SW broadcasters calling it quits, and all
the paid religious broadcasts all over the spectrum.

I'm on Long Island, so I can't give specific advice as to what's
hearable in SF. There are websites that list current english language
shortwave broadcasts.

http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/

You can still hear BBC, it just takes a little more work. Also Radio
Canada, Deutsche Welle, France, Romania, etc. And the ubiquitous China
Radio.

Art Harris
Art,

One of the original questions in the thread was WBCQ (although I
think he was using an old freq).

You're on LI; I'm in NYC. What's your reception like on WBCQ (7415)? I
can get them so-so, as an average, in late afternoon and very early
evening. But come sundown, they might as well be TXing from the moon.
The dark side. It's all I can do to make out the Last Day Prophet's
harangue.

I've been given arguments that the skip zone is in effect.
Yes, that would explain it... the band goes 'long'.

When it comes to WBCQ the band might be going long but it stops short of
southern California.


You can DX it, but it's not really listenable.

In article , dave says...

Telamon wrote:
In article ,
dxAce wrote:

"I. P. Yurin" wrote:

On Thu, 4 Jun 2009 12:59:32 -0700 (PDT), Art Harris
wrote:
elfa wrote:

The same question from me. I live in San Francisco bay area. I have a
Sony
2010. My antenna is a wire connected to my metal gutter. Stopped
listening
when the BBC stopped broadcasting to US.

I'm looking for a reason to listen to SW again but need some help with
time/freq
of English speaking stations.

Yes, it's not as much fun as it used to be, especially with the poor
propagation, many long-time SW broadcasters calling it quits, and all
the paid religious broadcasts all over the spectrum.

I'm on Long Island, so I can't give specific advice as to what's
hearable in SF. There are websites that list current english language
shortwave broadcasts.

http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/

You can still hear BBC, it just takes a little more work. Also Radio
Canada, Deutsche Welle, France, Romania, etc. And the ubiquitous China
Radio.

Art Harris
Art,

One of the original questions in the thread was WBCQ (although I
think he was using an old freq).

You're on LI; I'm in NYC. What's your reception like on WBCQ (7415)? I
can get them so-so, as an average, in late afternoon and very early
evening. But come sundown, they might as well be TXing from the moon.
The dark side. It's all I can do to make out the Last Day Prophet's
harangue.

I've been given arguments that the skip zone is in effect.
Yes, that would explain it... the band goes 'long'.

When it comes to WBCQ the band might be going long but it stops short of
southern California.


You can DX it, but it's not really listenable.

I gave it a try last night and at 7.415 I got SSB signal but it was too ragged
to make out a call sign. USB, it sounded like a religious station.

elfa

On Jun 5, 4:35*am, Art Harris wrote:
328X1 *wrote:

Check the International Time Standard frequencies, such as 5.0, 7.335,
10.0, or other beacon type transmissions

- Just a "heads up" that CHU is no longer
- on 7,335. I think they're on 7,850 now.
-
- Art Harris

Yes CHU is now on 7,850 kHz ~ RHF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHU_(radio_station)
3,330 kHz, 7,850 kHz and 14,670 kHz