On Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:18:16 masteropie may have written:
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.

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

Make sure your wire has "some air". ie, get it out of the confines of
your brick or steal-renforced concrete building. Even just a couple of
metres out a window will make a big difference if that's the cause.

You mau also want to look for local sources of intereference. Walk
around the house with your radio and see what devices make the
static/noice worse when you get close to them. If you're in an apartment
block you obviously can't do anything about your neighbours, which is
why getting the antenna outside is important. You can attach the wire to
a piece of grounded coax to try and avoid in-house interference.

For a good general introduction to listening on Shortwave, get hold of a
copy of Passport to World Band Radio - either buy it or borrow from your
local library.

For a good refernce list of shortwave broadcasts, check out
http://www.eibi.de.vu/. Load up the CSV in Excel (or your spreadsheet
application of choice) and filter on English and your local region and
surrounding regions.

Cheers,
Paul

--
Paul Day
http://www.enigma.id.au/