Shortwave for cars?
 

Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

"Bill Baka" wrote in message
...
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few from
across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a fad. I
would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box thing and
be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines for
miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory) take
a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable weight
and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is stuck
firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and connect
the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Sony still makes some really nice AM/FM/SW radios for cars (with the
requisite CD/MP3 player, etc.) that have, although not full coverage, at
least pretty decent coverage.

As for the antenna, car radios are made to impedence match to the relatively
short standard car radio antenna, and usually do not respond too well to
additional antenna length. You CAN, however, place a variable capacitor
between the car antenna and your random longwire, and tune it for best
reception for a given frequency. This would at least give you the advantage
of the extra capture area.

Shortwave for cars?
 

Brenda Ann wrote:
"Bill Baka" wrote in message
...
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few from
across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a fad. I
would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box thing and
be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines for
miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory) take
a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable weight
and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is stuck
firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and connect
the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Sony still makes some really nice AM/FM/SW radios for cars (with the
requisite CD/MP3 player, etc.) that have, although not full coverage, at
least pretty decent coverage.

I will go look. A CD/MP3 player would be wasted on me since I prefer to
listen to the sounds the car and road make while I am driving.
Was going to look. The Sony home page won't work with my version of
Firefox and IE will never be allowed to slime my drive.
Maybe Egghead or Frys or some other large consumer place.

As for the antenna, car radios are made to impedence match to the relatively
short standard car radio antenna, and usually do not respond too well to
additional antenna length. You CAN, however, place a variable capacitor
between the car antenna and your random longwire, and tune it for best
reception for a given frequency. This would at least give you the advantage
of the extra capture area.



As a rule when I buy a car one of the first things I adjust is the
antenna trimmer, which is usually a bit off anyway. Funny how most
people don't even know these things exist. Thinking about it, an MFJ
tuning box sitting under the dash should be a real conversation starter.

Cheers,
Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 21, 4:55*pm, Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

There is always XM radio. BBC world service all the time, and many
other shortwave stations on a rotating basis.

If you are going to do any SWL with a fixed antenna, there is really
no need to mount it in the car. I have a Welbrook ALA100 that I have
used in the field many times with home brew wire loops.

http://www.lazygranch.com/images/radio/loop1.jpg

Shortwave for cars?
 

wrote:
On Nov 21, 4:55 pm, Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

There is always XM radio. BBC world service all the time, and many
other shortwave stations on a rotating basis.

The point was I want to do my own searching and not listen to some lame
satellite station. I will *never* buy a car that requires me to pay a
satellite station $10 every month.

If you are going to do any SWL with a fixed antenna, there is really
no need to mount it in the car. I have a Welbrook ALA100 that I have
used in the field many times with home brew wire loops.

http://www.lazygranch.com/images/radio/loop1.jpg

Interesting looking setup, could be used as a direction finder too.
I have a marine RDF but it uses a pre-mounted loop-stick in the rotating
antenna. Too bad it cuts off at just over the old 2805 frequencies.
Thanks for the picture.

Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

During World War Two era, some people in Switzerland and some other
countries too, they attatched long wire antennas to helium filled
balloons.They used big home made wooden spools (sort of like fishing
reels) to bring down the antennas with the balloons.
cuhulin

Shortwave for cars?
 

Back around 1987 when I was pootin around in N'Awlins (New Orleans), one
of the stores in a shopping mall parking lot area had some car shortwave
radios for sale.
cuhulin

Shortwave for cars?
 

Shortwave for cars?
 

Shortwave for cars?
 

"Bill Baka" wrote in message
...
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few from
across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a fad. I
would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box thing and
be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines for
miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory) take
a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable weight
and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is stuck
firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and connect
the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Way back, my old Jaguar Mk 10 had a radio made by PYE that had standard
broadcast and short-wave. Or was that the Mk II????? Short-wave reception
was spotty, and I never did try a long wire antenna on it.


Steve R.

Shortwave for cars?
 

"Gregg" wrote in message
...
On Nov 21, 7:06 pm, "Brenda Ann"
wrote:

B.A. - you drive around with shortwave in your car?

I did, but we sold the car, and the radio, unfortunately, stayed with it.
Used to be nice to be able to listen to NHK, CRI, Radio OZ, VOA, etc. when
out in the schticks with nothing else to listen to. Our new car, A Ford
Flex, is not conducive to installing an aftermarket radio.. :( It's got a
decent AM/FM with lots of bells and whistles in it, but I can't even change
the station spacing for 9 KHz, which makes it a bit crappy sounding trying
to listen to AFN stations on 1197 and 1512. Not to mention most of the
Korean stations that don't happen to fall on even 10's.

I miss my shortwave.. in the car out on the open road is the only place in
Korea that you have anything like a listenable band.

Shortwave for cars?
 

Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately?

What about one of the small mobile dc to daylight ham rigs? If you are a bit
creative, you can mount the rig in the trunk and stick a small control
panel in the passenger compartment.

http://rffun.com/catalog/hamhf/0703.html
http://rffun.com/catalog/hamhf/1817.html

Plus there were many that are no longer made that would do well, if you
can get them over there, or shipped to you.

Geoff.



--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 21, 6:03*pm, Bill Baka wrote:
Brenda Ann wrote:
"Bill Baka" wrote in message
...
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few from
across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a fad. I
would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box thing and
be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines for
miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory) take
a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable weight
and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is stuck
firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and connect
the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Sony still makes some really nice AM/FM/SW radios for cars (with the
requisite CD/MP3 player, etc.) that have, although not full coverage, at
least pretty decent coverage.

I will go look. A CD/MP3 player would be wasted on me since I prefer to
listen to the sounds the car and road make while I am driving.
Was going to look. The Sony home page won't work with my version of
Firefox and IE will never be allowed to slime my drive.
Maybe Egghead or Frys or some other large consumer place.

As for the antenna, car radios are made to impedence match to the relatively
short standard car radio antenna, and usually do not respond too well to
additional antenna length. You CAN, however, place a variable capacitor
between the car antenna and your random longwire, and tune it for best
reception for a given frequency. This would at least give you the advantage
of the extra capture area.

As a rule when I buy a car one of the first things I adjust is the
antenna trimmer, which is usually a bit off anyway. Funny how most
people don't even know these things exist.

- Thinking about it,
- an MFJ tuning box sitting under the dash
- should be a real conversation starter.
-
- Cheers,
- Bill Baka

They ask "What's THAT For ?"

Your reply "Oh THAT Helps me to Hear . . .
the Aliens Landing at Area 51."
http://www.gamerevolution.com/images...ce/area_51.jpg

Shortwave for cars?
 

Shortwave for cars?
 

Shortwave for cars?
 

dave wrote:

wrote:
Back around 1987 when I was pootin around in N'Awlins (New Orleans), one
of the stores in a shopping mall parking lot area had some car shortwave
radios for sale.
cuhulin


Shortwave listening was very popular then. Now...

Now... we have bitching 'tard boys whose drug use has caused them to lose
their huevos and begin to whine...

Shortwave for cars?
 

During World War Two era, Switzerland was working both sides of the
coin, building and repairing equipment for both the Allies and the Axis
powers.

Helium filled balloons with long wire antennas,,, good for pirate radio
too.

I just now did a www.devilfinder.com for,
Becker Shortwave Radios for cars

www.mbzponton.org/valueadded/other/radios.htm
cuhulin

Shortwave for cars?
 

On 11/21/09 18:55 , Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka



I have a Becker 2340 I used in my 308 for years. That was the
last aftermarket radio I saw with SW. I've heard tell of some
Sony's, but not being interested in anything from Sony, I never
pursued them.

The Becker offered excellent SW performance on the car's antenna.
A little ignition noise in deep fades, but not enough to complain
about. The injectors on 18 wheelers were more of a problem than
ignition noise. It has 40 or so memories. And exceptional audio.

As for driving out into the weeds...we had a member of this
group, living in Colorado, who used to drive out into Wyoming and
about two miles outside of Jackson Hole would hook his SW-2 up to
the guard rail and use that as a makeshift pseudo Beverage.

With dramatic results.

But attaching anything to your car radio antenna will not get you
where you want to go.

A car antenna does not really operate as an antenna. It's too
short for medium wave. It operates more like a capacitive element,
and is trimmed at the input to optimize performance. Attach a wire
to the car antenna, and you'll change it's capacitive value, and
throw your input out of balance. You're also likely to change that
whip into something that behaves more like a real antenna and
seriously overload your front end. On some models this can be
disastrous.

A better option would be to see if you can find an in-dash on the
used market, or take something like an SW-8 with you, mount it
underdash and enjoy it as a real shortwave receiver with a separate
antenna system.

Shortwave for cars?
 

Gregg wrote:
On Nov 21, 7:06 pm, "Brenda Ann"
wrote:
Snippage

B.A. - you drive around with shortwave in your car?

When possible, yes. I used to do a once per week commute to work and
found myself in some really deserted places coming home. No in dash
radio but I did have a marine RDF for AM DX'ing. I still have that radio
and a solar cell that will power it so listening is free. The whole idea
of a shortwave in the car is not to listen while driving but to be able
to drive to a noise free area and listen.
Make sense now?

Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

RHF wrote:
On Nov 21, 6:03 pm, Bill Baka wrote:
As a rule when I buy a car one of the first things I adjust is the
antenna trimmer, which is usually a bit off anyway. Funny how most
people don't even know these things exist.

- Thinking about it,
- an MFJ tuning box sitting under the dash
- should be a real conversation starter.
-
- Cheers,
- Bill Baka

They ask "What's THAT For ?"

Your reply "Oh THAT Helps me to Hear . . .
the Aliens Landing at Area 51."
http://www.gamerevolution.com/images...ce/area_51.jpg
.
Some of the people around here just might believe it.
Did I mention I live in a real hick town even though it is in California?

Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

Krypsis wrote:
Steve R. wrote:
"Bill Baka" wrote in message
...
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out
as a fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a
boom box thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find
myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in
theory) take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a
disposable weight and toss it as far as possible into some high
trees. Once it is stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole
spool is used up and connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Way back, my old Jaguar Mk 10 had a radio made by PYE that had
standard broadcast and short-wave. Or was that the Mk II?????
Short-wave reception was spotty, and I never did try a long wire
antenna on it.


Steve R.

I seem to remember an old valve car radio that had some shortwave
indicators on the dial. It was one of those common brands (AWA,
Kreisler, Pye) but exactly which one escapes me now. It was a long time
ago. Not my car, a friends, and we used to go on trips in it. Slow to
warm up and heavy on the battery if you used it too long without the
engine running. Caught us out once or twice but a roll start got us
under way again.

Sounds like my younger days, dead battery just means push with friends
and jump in to pop the clutch and get going. I miss sticks.

I seem to recall that car radio sensitivity on MW broadcast bands was a
lot better in the fifties and sixties than it is on modern car radios.

Me too. In the sixties I used to drive out to the middle of nowhere and
park and listen. I could DX AM better that way than at home.

During the evenings, I used to be able to pick up stations 1 or 2
thousand kilometres away with ease. Nowadays, I only need to be a couple
of hundred kilometres way from my home city and I lose the signal. Maybe
the transmission power has been reduced? I know there was a time when
the MW spectrum became a bit crowded So that might have been why the
front end sensitivity of car radios was decreased. Well, the MW spectrum
is getting less crowded now.

Krypsis





Thankfully. I want to start DX'ing for QSL cards again if they still
give them out.
Cheers,
Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately?

What about one of the small mobile dc to daylight ham rigs? If you are a bit
creative, you can mount the rig in the trunk and stick a small control
panel in the passenger compartment.

http://rffun.com/catalog/hamhf/0703.html
http://rffun.com/catalog/hamhf/1817.html

Plus there were many that are no longer made that would do well, if you
can get them over there, or shipped to you.

Geoff.



I looked and like the radios but I am only looking for a receiver and
don't want to spend a ton of money. Also, any decent mobile should have
a noise blanker, not just a limiter. I did like the built in antenna
tuner but it seems a transmitter would be needed to optimize things.
Thanks,
Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

D. Peter Maus wrote:
On 11/21/09 18:55 , Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka



I have a Becker 2340 I used in my 308 for years. That was the last
aftermarket radio I saw with SW. I've heard tell of some Sony's, but not
being interested in anything from Sony, I never pursued them.

The Becker offered excellent SW performance on the car's antenna. A
little ignition noise in deep fades, but not enough to complain about.
The injectors on 18 wheelers were more of a problem than ignition noise.
It has 40 or so memories. And exceptional audio.

As for driving out into the weeds...we had a member of this group,
living in Colorado, who used to drive out into Wyoming and about two
miles outside of Jackson Hole would hook his SW-2 up to the guard rail
and use that as a makeshift pseudo Beverage.

With dramatic results.

But attaching anything to your car radio antenna will not get you
where you want to go.

A car antenna does not really operate as an antenna. It's too short
for medium wave. It operates more like a capacitive element, and is
trimmed at the input to optimize performance. Attach a wire to the car
antenna, and you'll change it's capacitive value, and throw your input
out of balance. You're also likely to change that whip into something
that behaves more like a real antenna and seriously overload your front
end. On some models this can be disastrous.

A better option would be to see if you can find an in-dash on the used
market, or take something like an SW-8 with you, mount it underdash and
enjoy it as a real shortwave receiver with a separate antenna system.







That actually makes good sense since I don't want to listen while
driving anyway. The fading would drive me up the wall. I know the deal
on car antenna lengths and the antennas on most cars would probably tune
to 144 MHz or somewhere way up there. Figuring out how to fake a good
earth ground might be a challenge unless the mass of the car would make
it a good ground.
All for now.
Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

Bill Baka wrote:

I looked and like the radios but I am only looking for a receiver and
don't want to spend a ton of money. Also, any decent mobile should have
a noise blanker, not just a limiter. I did like the built in antenna
tuner but it seems a transmitter would be needed to optimize things.
Thanks,

Those were just examples. There are many old rigs, Icom's 706 has gone through
3 or 4 generations, the low power version (703) has gone through 2 or 3,
Alinco and Kenwood have also made similar rigs, Yaseu has made 2 versions of
the 817 and so on.

While the new ones are expensive, some of the older ones may be available
a lot cheaper.

Depending upon which one you get, you can get various filter options or DSP.

For example, there were two Kenwood TS-50s HF rigs which sold on eBay for
less than $500 in the last week. While I am not a fan of eBay, that should
be a good guage of the price.

An original (no DSP) IC-706 sold for around the same price. It adds VHF
coverage and possibly can be used as a scanner. The latest version (mark IIG)
includes VHF and UHF, DSP and receives from .03-199 and 400-470 MHz.

The ICOM and Kenwood are two piece units, the front panel comes off and can
be mounted in the passenger compartment, while the transmitter is mounted
in the trunk. The Yaseu is one single unit.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

Shortwave for cars?
 

Bill Baka wrote:



That actually makes good sense since I don't want to listen while
driving anyway. The fading would drive me up the wall. I know the deal
on car antenna lengths and the antennas on most cars would probably tune
to 144 MHz or somewhere way up there.

I think your passive car whip is quarter wave resonant at 98 MHz (ca. 31
inches).

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 21, 7:32*pm, Bill Baka wrote:
wrote:
On Nov 21, 4:55 pm, Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

There is always XM radio. BBC world service all the time, and many
other shortwave stations on a rotating basis.

The point was I want to do my own searching and not listen to some lame
satellite station. I will *never* buy a car that requires me to pay a
satellite station $10 every month.



If you are going to do any SWL with a fixed antenna, there is really
no need to mount it in the car. I have a Welbrook ALA100 that I have
used in the field many times with home brew wire loops.

http://www.lazygranch.com/images/radio/loop1.jpg

Interesting looking setup, could be used as a direction finder too.
I have a marine RDF but it uses a pre-mounted loop-stick in the rotating
antenna. Too bad it cuts off at just over the old 2805 frequencies.
Thanks for the picture.

Bill Baka

I've done NDB DFing with the loop. It works great for that purpose.
However, it is better to use a smaller loop. I find 2ft on a side
works best for DFing. I have a setup with a holder for a compass. That
loop uses copper pipe.

Regarding shortwave radios in the car, the specs on the Sony are
pretty poor. I'm not sure it was targeted for the US market, where
there is little good shortwave to hear, other than VOA. I've seen
people mount those DC to daylight radios in the car under the dash for
shortwave.

Grounds at a 'Remote' DXing Spot -was- Shortwave for Cars ?
 

RHF wrote:
On Nov 22, 1:02 pm, Bill Baka wrote:
D. Peter Maus wrote:
On 11/21/09 18:55 , Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?
Bill Baka
I have a Becker 2340 I used in my 308 for years. That was the last
aftermarket radio I saw with SW. I've heard tell of some Sony's, but not
being interested in anything from Sony, I never pursued them.
The Becker offered excellent SW performance on the car's antenna. A
little ignition noise in deep fades, but not enough to complain about.
The injectors on 18 wheelers were more of a problem than ignition noise.
It has 40 or so memories. And exceptional audio.
As for driving out into the weeds...we had a member of this group,
living in Colorado, who used to drive out into Wyoming and about two
miles outside of Jackson Hole would hook his SW-2 up to the guard rail
and use that as a makeshift pseudo Beverage.
With dramatic results.
But attaching anything to your car radio antenna will not get you
where you want to go.
A car antenna does not really operate as an antenna. It's too short
for medium wave. It operates more like a capacitive element, and is
trimmed at the input to optimize performance. Attach a wire to the car
antenna, and you'll change it's capacitive value, and throw your input
out of balance. You're also likely to change that whip into something
that behaves more like a real antenna and seriously overload your front
end. On some models this can be disastrous.
A better option would be to see if you can find an in-dash on the used
market, or take something like an SW-8 with you, mount it underdash and
enjoy it as a real shortwave receiver with a separate antenna system.
That actually makes good sense since I don't want to listen while
driving anyway. The fading would drive me up the wall. I know the deal
on car antenna lengths and the antennas on most cars would probably tune
to 144 MHz or somewhere way up there. Figuring out how to fake a good
earth ground might be a challenge unless the mass of the car would make
it a good ground.
All for now.
Bill Baka

"BB",

Grounds at a 'Remote' DXing Spot -wrt-
Making the Ground 'Connection' During
a Mobile DXing Field Trip.

You drive up to a Rest-Stop, Camp Ground
and Attach a Ground Clamp to some piece
of Metal {Pipe} coming out of the Ground.

This is California. A rest stop means ****ing on the side of the road.
Every other state has decent rest stops but this entire state has maybe
a dozen I have found over the years.

-or- Road-Side Marker with Metal Pole and
Cement Footing + Just add {pour} a Gallon
Jug of Water with a Once of Salt in it on the
base and around the earth.

Pedestrian on highway ticket.

Ready Make Mobile "Ground Clamp" : One-Half
[Black] of a Set of 12 VDC Battery 'Jumper Cables'.
-tip- Don't forget it whenb you leave.

Learned that when drive in movies were popular and drove off with a speaker.

An alternative would be to use a 30~45 piece of
Bare-Copper-Wire that you roll-out and lay directly
on the bare earth {ground} as a Counterpoise.

Now you are getting where I want.

Last pick your favorite 'remote' DXing spot and
install a 4 Foot Ground Rod or a buried Bare
Copper Wire Counterpoise for you to use when
you are 'there'.

iane ~ RHF
.

The last I can do since I have a favorite swimming hole that almost
nobody knows about and is at least 5 miles from any kind of power lines
or even people. Static free listening would be a virtual orgasm for me.
Probably everyone else too.

Bill Baka

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 21, 11:14*pm, "Brenda Ann"
wrote:
"Gregg" wrote in message

...
On Nov 21, 7:06 pm, "Brenda Ann"
wrote:

B.A. - you drive around with shortwave in your car?

I did, but we sold the car, and the radio, unfortunately, stayed with it.
Used to be nice to be able to listen to NHK, CRI, Radio OZ, VOA, etc. when
out in the schticks with nothing else to listen to. *Our new car, A Ford
Flex, is not conducive to installing an aftermarket radio.. :( *It's got a
decent AM/FM with lots of bells and whistles in it, but I can't even change
the station spacing for 9 KHz, which makes it a bit crappy sounding trying
to listen to AFN stations on 1197 and 1512. Not to mention most of the
Korean stations that don't happen to fall on even 10's.

I miss my shortwave.. in the car out on the open road is the only place in
Korea that you have anything like a listenable band.

I can imagine, I'm aware of your setup. After reading this thread I
think I may put a receiver back in my car with a 108" ( I think) steel
whip. That is the best antenna for shortwave that I found. I tried
everything under the sun and the steel whip is hands down the best
mobile shortwave antenna you can use, not many people though will
drill a hole through their rear quarter panel - but I have and
will. :-)

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 22, 12:08*am, RHF wrote:
On Nov 21, 6:03*pm, Bill Baka wrote:





Brenda Ann wrote:
"Bill Baka" wrote in message
...
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few from
across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a fad. I
would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box thing and
be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines for
miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory) take
a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable weight
and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is stuck
firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and connect
the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Sony still makes some really nice AM/FM/SW radios for cars (with the
requisite CD/MP3 player, etc.) that have, although not full coverage, at
least pretty decent coverage.

I will go look. A CD/MP3 player would be wasted on me since I prefer to
listen to the sounds the car and road make while I am driving.
Was going to look. The Sony home page won't work with my version of
Firefox and IE will never be allowed to slime my drive.
Maybe Egghead or Frys or some other large consumer place.

As for the antenna, car radios are made to impedence match to the relatively
short standard car radio antenna, and usually do not respond too well to
additional antenna length. You CAN, however, place a variable capacitor
between the car antenna and your random longwire, and tune it for best
reception for a given frequency. This would at least give you the advantage
of the extra capture area.

As a rule when I buy a car one of the first things I adjust is the
antenna trimmer, which is usually a bit off anyway. Funny how most
people don't even know these things exist.

- Thinking about it,
- an MFJ tuning box sitting under the dash
- should be a real conversation starter.
-
- Cheers,
- Bill Baka

They ask "What's THAT For ?"

Your reply "Oh THAT Helps me to Hear . . .
the Aliens Landing at Area 51."http://www.gamerevolution.com/images/violence/area_51.jpg
*.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Ha! Yeah, back when I had my "fun car" with six antennas, I'd always
hear the response from truck drivers. I had my regular car antenna in
the front that I replaced with a larger - more sturdy antenna. I had
three scanner antennas, one antenna each on the far outside corner of
the trunk drilled through the trunk lid and the other antenna was a
glass mount that I put directly in the middle of the rear window. Then
I had a seven and a half foot skipshooter mounted (drilled through)
right in the middle of the trunk and lastly - the 108" steel whip on
the rear quarter panel.

I think I may go more covert this time around, the only problem would
be the shortwave antenna.

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 22, 12:20*am, RHF wrote:
On Nov 21, 4:55*pm, Bill Baka wrote:

Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Tune-A-Stick -and- Portable Wire Antenna (PWA) for Whip
Antenna Couplers to External Shortwave Listener (SWL) Antennashttp://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/29c232b1c5d205eahttp://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/09c73c4c94625fc7

* Portable Wire Antenna "PWA"http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortwave-SWL-Antenna/message/583

* *Three Ways to Use the "Portable Wire Antenna" (PWA)http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortw...na/message/306

* *The "PWA" [Portable Wire Antenna]...
for use with 'portable' AM/FM Shortwave Radioshttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortwave-SWL-Antenna/message/249

Slip the Plastic Tube with the Wire wrapped
around it over your Car's Whip Antenna
=G////////////////////////////////////A=
One Lead 'G' to the Car's Body {Ground}
One Lead 'A' to the External Antenna

iane ~ RHF
*.

Those last three links can't be read unless you sign in to Yahoo? That
about stinks.:-I

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 22, 12:20*am, RHF wrote:
On Nov 21, 4:55*pm, Bill Baka wrote:

Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Tune-A-Stick -and- Portable Wire Antenna (PWA) for Whip
Antenna Couplers to External Shortwave Listener (SWL) Antennashttp://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/29c232b1c5d205eahttp://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/09c73c4c94625fc7

* Portable Wire Antenna "PWA"http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortwave-SWL-Antenna/message/583

* *Three Ways to Use the "Portable Wire Antenna" (PWA)http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortw...na/message/306

* *The "PWA" [Portable Wire Antenna]...
for use with 'portable' AM/FM Shortwave Radioshttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortwave-SWL-Antenna/message/249

Slip the Plastic Tube with the Wire wrapped
around it over your Car's Whip Antenna
=G////////////////////////////////////A=
One Lead 'G' to the Car's Body {Ground}
One Lead 'A' to the External Antenna

iane ~ RHF


Ah, I saw the google link. I tried to Tims and other versions of
coupling, that's why I purchased the longer and tougher radio antenna
to begin with. It definitely is better than any other antenna for
shortwave except for the steel whip. Anyone who has used a steel whip
knows that it has no peers when it comes to shortwave listening in a
vehicle, of course that is just my opinion but if there's better I
want to know.

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 22, 1:24*am, Krypsis wrote:
Steve R. wrote:
"Bill Baka" wrote in message
...
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few from
across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a fad. I
would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box thing and
be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines for
miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory) take
a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable weight
and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is stuck
firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and connect
the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

Way back, my old Jaguar Mk 10 had a radio made by PYE that had standard
broadcast and short-wave. Or was that the Mk II????? Short-wave reception
was spotty, and I never did try a long wire antenna on it.

Steve R.

I seem to remember an old valve car radio that had some shortwave
indicators on the dial. It was one of those common brands (AWA,
Kreisler, Pye) but exactly which one escapes me now. It was a long time
ago. Not my car, a friends, and we used to go on trips in it. Slow to
warm up and heavy on the battery if you used it too long without the
engine running. Caught us out once or twice but a roll start got us
under way again.
I seem to recall that car radio sensitivity on MW broadcast bands was a
lot better in the fifties and sixties than it is on modern car radios.
During the evenings, I used to be able to pick up stations 1 or 2
thousand kilometres away with ease. Nowadays, I only need to be a couple
of hundred kilometres way from my home city and I lose the signal. Maybe
the transmission power has been reduced? I know there was a time when
the MW spectrum became a bit crowded So that might have been why the
front end sensitivity of car radios was decreased. Well, the MW spectrum
is getting less crowded now.

Krypsis- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yeah, I have gone "old school" for fifteen years when it comes to AM
car radio. I don't really listen to music so I make sure to go to the
junk yard and find me an old (just AM) radio that I install myself. I
am presently using an old Delco radio that is "extremely" selective, I
can barely turn the dial without hearing something.

I had all (in my *fun* car) the receivers/scanners and CB mounted to
1/2" steel plates that I welded to the front and rear of the car.
GROUND - GROUND - GROUND - many think it's only important for
transmitting but it's also smart on the receiving end.

Shortwave for cars?
 

I have a bunch of old tube type AM and a few AM/FM car radios.
My dad used to own a blue 1955 Ford Station Wagon car.The AM radio in
that car was very good for AM DXing.
cuhulin

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 22, 8:44*am, "D. Peter Maus"
wrote:
On 11/21/09 18:55 , Bill Baka wrote:

Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

* *I have a Becker 2340 I used in my 308 for years. That was the
last aftermarket radio I saw with SW. I've heard tell of some
Sony's, but not being interested in anything from Sony, I never
pursued them.

* *The Becker offered excellent SW performance on the car's antenna.
A little ignition noise in deep fades, but not enough to complain
about. The injectors on 18 wheelers were more of a problem than
ignition noise. It has 40 or so memories. And exceptional audio.

* *As for driving out into the weeds...we had a member of this
group, living in Colorado, who used to drive out into Wyoming and
about two miles outside of Jackson Hole would hook his SW-2 up to
the guard rail and use that as a makeshift pseudo Beverage.

* *With dramatic results.

* *But attaching anything to your car radio antenna will not get you
where you want to go.

* *A car antenna does not really operate as an antenna. It's too
short for medium wave. It operates more like a capacitive element,
and is trimmed at the input to optimize performance. Attach a wire
to the car antenna, and you'll change it's capacitive value, and
throw your input out of balance. You're also likely to change that
whip into something that behaves more like a real antenna and
seriously overload your front end. On some models this can be
disastrous.

* *A better option would be to see if you can find an in-dash on the
used market, or take something like an SW-8 with you, mount it
underdash and enjoy it as a real shortwave receiver with a separate
antenna system.

That was a great post Peter. I liked the guardrail story.:-)

My friend hooked onto the railroad tracks once before keying up a lot
of wattage on his CB, he used the RR tracks as his ground.shaking my
head

I really never thought about hooking to the RR tracks for a shortwave
antenna, what do you think the results would be?
What type of car were you refering to when you said "308"?? Just
curious.

Shortwave for cars?
 

On Nov 22, 1:02*pm, Bill Baka wrote:
D. Peter Maus wrote:
On 11/21/09 18:55 , Bill Baka wrote:
Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

* I have a Becker 2340 I used in my 308 for years. That was the last
aftermarket radio I saw with SW. I've heard tell of some Sony's, but not
being interested in anything from Sony, I never pursued them.

* The Becker offered excellent SW performance on the car's antenna. A
little ignition noise in deep fades, but not enough to complain about.
The injectors on 18 wheelers were more of a problem than ignition noise..
It has 40 or so memories. And exceptional audio.

* As for driving out into the weeds...we had a member of this group,
living in Colorado, who used to drive out into Wyoming and about two
miles outside of Jackson Hole would hook his SW-2 up to the guard rail
and use that as a makeshift pseudo Beverage.

* With dramatic results.

* But attaching anything to your car radio antenna will not get you
where you want to go.

* A car antenna does not really operate as an antenna. It's too short
for medium wave. It operates more like a capacitive element, and is
trimmed at the input to optimize performance. Attach a wire to the car
antenna, and you'll change it's capacitive value, and throw your input
out of balance. You're also likely to change that whip into something
that behaves more like a real antenna and seriously overload your front
end. On some models this can be disastrous.

* A better option would be to see if you can find an in-dash on the used
market, or take something like an SW-8 with you, mount it underdash and
enjoy it as a real shortwave receiver with a separate antenna system.

That actually makes good sense since I don't want to listen while
driving anyway. The fading would drive me up the wall. I know the deal
on car antenna lengths and the antennas on most cars would probably tune
to 144 MHz or somewhere way up there. Figuring out how to fake a good
earth ground might be a challenge unless the mass of the car would make
it a good ground.
All for now.
Bill Baka- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Just so you know Bill, you *can* listen and drive without fading if
you're listening to a powerhouse. I listened to
China's show from the beginning on my way to Columbus and some hams
for the rest of my hour and twenty minute
drive from Cincinnati.

Like I said earlier, the best way to ground IMO your receiver or
transceiver is too run to the hardware store or your junk box and
pickup a quarter to half inch piece of metal/steel and drill the
appropriate size hole and weld it to the frame of your
car. If you don't know how to weld or don't have a arc welder....go to
any body shop. Either they'll do it for free or throw them a twenty
spot and it's done. Ground - ground and more ground is my motto. Good
luck and let us know what you do.

Shortwave for cars?
 

dave wrote:

Gregg wrote:


Like I said earlier, the best way to ground IMO your receiver or
transceiver is too run to the hardware store or your junk box and
pickup a quarter to half inch piece of metal/steel and drill the
appropriate size hole and weld it to the frame of your
car. If you don't know how to weld or don't have a arc welder....go to
any body shop. Either they'll do it for free or throw them a twenty
spot and it's done. Ground - ground and more ground is my motto. Good
luck and let us know what you do.


What if your car has no frame?

What if your drug addled ass has no direction, boy?

Shortwave for cars?
 

Gregg wrote:


Like I said earlier, the best way to ground IMO your receiver or
transceiver is too run to the hardware store or your junk box and
pickup a quarter to half inch piece of metal/steel and drill the
appropriate size hole and weld it to the frame of your
car. If you don't know how to weld or don't have a arc welder....go to
any body shop. Either they'll do it for free or throw them a twenty
spot and it's done. Ground - ground and more ground is my motto. Good
luck and let us know what you do.


What if your car has no frame?

Shortwave for cars?
 

Bob Dobbs wrote:
Gregg wrote:
GROUND - GROUND - GROUND - many think it's only important for
transmitting but it's also smart on the receiving end.

Might make the receptions a bit quieter from a s/n standpoint.

At best, at HF, a car can only be an asymmetric dipole. No ground.

Shortwave for cars?
 

"D. Peter Maus" wrote:

On 11/23/09 01:19 , Gregg wrote:
On Nov 22, 8:44 am, "D. Peter
wrote:
On 11/21/09 18:55 , Bill Baka wrote:

Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

I have a Becker 2340 I used in my 308 for years. That was the
last aftermarket radio I saw with SW. I've heard tell of some
Sony's, but not being interested in anything from Sony, I never
pursued them.

The Becker offered excellent SW performance on the car's antenna.
A little ignition noise in deep fades, but not enough to complain
about. The injectors on 18 wheelers were more of a problem than
ignition noise. It has 40 or so memories. And exceptional audio.

As for driving out into the weeds...we had a member of this
group, living in Colorado, who used to drive out into Wyoming and
about two miles outside of Jackson Hole would hook his SW-2 up to
the guard rail and use that as a makeshift pseudo Beverage.

With dramatic results.

But attaching anything to your car radio antenna will not get you
where you want to go.

A car antenna does not really operate as an antenna. It's too
short for medium wave. It operates more like a capacitive element,
and is trimmed at the input to optimize performance. Attach a wire
to the car antenna, and you'll change it's capacitive value, and
throw your input out of balance. You're also likely to change that
whip into something that behaves more like a real antenna and
seriously overload your front end. On some models this can be
disastrous.

A better option would be to see if you can find an in-dash on the
used market, or take something like an SW-8 with you, mount it
underdash and enjoy it as a real shortwave receiver with a separate
antenna system.

That was a great post Peter. I liked the guardrail story.:-)

My friend hooked onto the railroad tracks once before keying up a lot
of wattage on his CB, he used the RR tracks as his ground.shaking my
head

I really never thought about hooking to the RR tracks for a shortwave
antenna, what do you think the results would be?

Not sure. That would be the fun of the experiment. It may be
little different than the guard rail. It may be something entirely
different. The results should be unexpected and dramatic.

What type of car were you refering to when you said "308"?? Just
curious.

Think "Magnum PI."

Great car. As I recall it was a 308GTBI, or like that? I went to the factory and
saw them built right along with my once loved FIAT X1/9 !!!

Shortwave for cars?
 

On 11/23/09 01:19 , Gregg wrote:
On Nov 22, 8:44 am, "D. Peter
wrote:
On 11/21/09 18:55 , Bill Baka wrote:

Has anyone seen any shortwave radios in cars lately? I remember a few
from across the pond back in the 60's but it seems to have died out as a
fad. I would like to put one in one of my cars rather than a boom box
thing and be able to tune the world from wherever I find myself.
The other advantage is that I can drive to a spot with no power lines
for miles at night to listen relatively static free. I could (in theory)
take a long wire on a fishing pole (28-32AWG?) and put on a disposable
weight and toss it as far as possible into some high trees. Once it is
stuck firmly just back the car up until the whole spool is used up and
connect the car antenna to it.
Anybody tried it or anything like it?

Bill Baka

I have a Becker 2340 I used in my 308 for years. That was the
last aftermarket radio I saw with SW. I've heard tell of some
Sony's, but not being interested in anything from Sony, I never
pursued them.

The Becker offered excellent SW performance on the car's antenna.
A little ignition noise in deep fades, but not enough to complain
about. The injectors on 18 wheelers were more of a problem than
ignition noise. It has 40 or so memories. And exceptional audio.

As for driving out into the weeds...we had a member of this
group, living in Colorado, who used to drive out into Wyoming and
about two miles outside of Jackson Hole would hook his SW-2 up to
the guard rail and use that as a makeshift pseudo Beverage.

With dramatic results.

But attaching anything to your car radio antenna will not get you
where you want to go.

A car antenna does not really operate as an antenna. It's too
short for medium wave. It operates more like a capacitive element,
and is trimmed at the input to optimize performance. Attach a wire
to the car antenna, and you'll change it's capacitive value, and
throw your input out of balance. You're also likely to change that
whip into something that behaves more like a real antenna and
seriously overload your front end. On some models this can be
disastrous.

A better option would be to see if you can find an in-dash on the
used market, or take something like an SW-8 with you, mount it
underdash and enjoy it as a real shortwave receiver with a separate
antenna system.

That was a great post Peter. I liked the guardrail story.:-)

My friend hooked onto the railroad tracks once before keying up a lot
of wattage on his CB, he used the RR tracks as his ground.shaking my
head

I really never thought about hooking to the RR tracks for a shortwave
antenna, what do you think the results would be?


Not sure. That would be the fun of the experiment. It may be
little different than the guard rail. It may be something entirely
different. The results should be unexpected and dramatic.


What type of car were you refering to when you said "308"?? Just
curious.

Think "Magnum PI."