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?

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/

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

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

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.

In article , dave says...

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.

I actually have the '03 edition of Passport. I was wondering if anyone had any
suggestions from personal experience.

elfa

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?

http://www.eibispace.de/dx/bc-a09.txt

And this: http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/time.txt

Though the latter appears to have a bit of a problem at the moment, which will
probably get sorted out soon.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

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

In article ,
Art Harris says...

elfa wrote:


The same question from me. =A0I live in San Francisco bay area. =A0I have=
a Sony
2010. =A0My antenna is a wire connected to my metal gutter. =A0Stopped li=
stening
when the BBC stopped broadcasting to US.

I'm looking for a reason to listen to SW again but need some help with ti=
me/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 still pick up Dr Gene Scott (and you don't need a 2010 for that!) and he's
been dead for years. I guess Widow Melissa still needs him to bring in the
donations.

elfa


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

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. That seems
nutty to me, given the distance. But maybe the terrible sun cycles
make that reasonable... What's your experience?

(Others in the NY area who have fished for BCQ are also invited to
reply)

--
Col. I. P. Yurin
Commissariat of Internal Security

Stakhanovite
Order of Lenin (1937)
Hero of Socialist Labor (1939)