I am going on a cruise next month. I need a radio to keep up with the
news/football. My question is - do I need to get a shortwave receiver
or could I get good enough reception on medium wave? We are going from
UK across the North Sea, up along the Norway coast as far as North
Cape and then across to Spitsbergen.

If, as I suspect, I'm going to need a portable shortwave set what
would you recommend? I've looked at many and they vary considerably
pricewise. Would something less than £50 be just a waste of money?
Otherwise, if medium wave would be ok - any suggestions?

Many thanks

On Jun 5, 8:23*am, Pete L wrote:
I am going on a cruise next month. I need a radio to keep up with the
news/football. My question is - do I need to get a shortwave receiver
or could I get good enough reception on medium wave? We are going from
UK across the North Sea, up along the Norway coast as far as North
Cape and then across to Spitsbergen.

If, as I suspect, I'm going to need a portable shortwave set what
would you recommend? I've looked at many and they vary considerably
pricewise. Would something less than £50 be just a waste of money?
Otherwise, if medium wave would be ok - any suggestions?

Many thanks

Pete, the BBC web indicates no SW or MW service to Norway, but as an
old DXer I would think at night you should get MW and SW from BBC
beamed to other areas.
Their main service to Norway/N. Sea is satellite - go to BBC's website
for more detail.

A reasonablt portable in your price range is the
Eton/Grundig G8 Traveller II. See
http://www.hamradio.co.uk/acatalog/Recvs_Eton.html
Martin Lynch in the UK stock them, as do others
I have one and it is reasonable for it's price on MW and SW.

Have a good trip

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-7600, Perseus SDR
ERGO software
Drake SW8. Sangean 803A, Redsun RP2100
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Grundig G8, Eton E100
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop.
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

On Jun 5, 1:23*am, Pete L wrote:
I am going on a cruise next month. I need a radio to keep up with the
news/football. My question is - do I need to get a shortwave receiver
or could I get good enough reception on medium wave? We are going from
UK across the North Sea, up along the Norway coast as far as North
Cape and then across to Spitsbergen.

If, as I suspect, I'm going to need a portable shortwave set what
would you recommend? I've looked at many and they vary considerably
pricewise. Would something less than £50 be just a waste of money?
Otherwise, if medium wave would be ok - any suggestions?

Many thanks

Pete L,

Why not use a PC and WiFi on the Ship
EBU Public Broadcasters delivering the
2010 FIFA World Cup Online
http://www.ebu.ch/en/union/news/2009/tcm_6-68022.php

What TV Channels are Showing the World Cup?
(Worldwide)
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cu...worldwide.html

-or- Simply call the Ship/Cruise Line and ask them
what sort of on-board 2010 FIFA World Cup coverage
they will be having via TV, Radio and WiFi/Internet.

hth ~ RHF

On Jun 5, 4:23*am, Pete L wrote:
I am going on a cruise next month. I need a radio to keep up with the
news/football. My question is - do I need to get a shortwave receiver
or could I get good enough reception on medium wave? We are going from
UK across the North Sea, up along the Norway coast as far as North
Cape and then across to Spitsbergen.

If, as I suspect, I'm going to need a portable shortwave set what
would you recommend? I've looked at many and they vary considerably
pricewise. Would something less than £50 be just a waste of money?
Otherwise, if medium wave would be ok - any suggestions?

Many thanks

Number one. I envy you.:-) Myself, having never went on a cruise and
definitely never in the area you speak of, I am not familiar number
one with your "football" which I take you mean soccer/rugby in your
neck of the woods?

Which stations/freqs are they usually on? My guess is that you'll be
able to pu any type of news just on the BCB (medium wave.) Regardless,
just about any portable (SW), especially with you being on the water
will suffice. Clip on 10 ft. of wire and you'll be good to go. There
are many in this group outside of the US or maybe in the actual areas
you speak of that can help you better.

But heck, go and pick you up a SW receiver. You don't have to drop a
whole lot of money and see what you think, worse case scenario you
could always (more than likely depending) sell it here or over in rec
radio swap. Let us know what you decided on.

On Jun 5, 1:23*am, Pete L wrote:
I am going on a cruise next month. I need a radio to keep up with the
news/football. My question is - do I need to get a shortwave receiver
or could I get good enough reception on medium wave? We are going from
UK across the North Sea, up along the Norway coast as far as North
Cape and then across to Spitsbergen.

If, as I suspect, I'm going to need a portable shortwave set what
would you recommend? I've looked at many and they vary considerably
pricewise. Would something less than £50 be just a waste of money?
Otherwise, if medium wave would be ok - any suggestions?

Many thanks
Don't limit your thinking to SW and MW. I found that I could get
pretty reliable night time reception of BBC on 198kHz in Paris and the
south of France on my Sony 7600D. I would expect even better
propagation across salt water (with my old Realistic TRF-10, I was
able to get daylight BCB reception over more than 400 miles of the
Mediterranean). I like the Sony digital shortwave radios (2010/2001D
and 7600 series), and I have been positively impressed by the Grudig
G5.

On Jun 5, 10:23*am, Pete L wrote:
I am going on a cruise next month. I need a radio to keep up with the
news/football. My question is - do I need to get a shortwave receiver
or could I get good enough reception on medium wave? We are going from
UK across the North Sea, up along the Norway coast as far as North
Cape and then across to Spitsbergen.

If, as I suspect, I'm going to need a portable shortwave set what
would you recommend? I've looked at many and they vary considerably
pricewise. Would something less than £50 be just a waste of money?
Otherwise, if medium wave would be ok - any suggestions?

Many thanks

You could expect to hear BBC on MW in the North Sea, and 810 Scotland
quite far north, but nighttime propagation is difficult in these areas
as the nights are very short (and light...). When you reach Northern
Norway don't expect to hear anything on MW. I live just SE of North
Cape myself, and we've had 24h daylight since mid-May. You could
expect to hear SW with reasonable signals from 9 pm to 3 am on the 49
and 41 m bands with a decent portable (others here might want to
define "decent" to you as I don't know). Signal levels are generally
very weak here compared to continental EU or UK.

Bjarne

On 6 June, 07:58, bm wrote:
On Jun 5, 10:23*am, Pete L wrote:

I am going on a cruise next month. I need a radio to keep up with the
news/football. My question is - do I need to get a shortwave receiver
or could I get good enough reception on medium wave? We are going from
UK across the North Sea, up along the Norway coast as far as North
Cape and then across to Spitsbergen.

If, as I suspect, I'm going to need a portable shortwave set what
would you recommend? I've looked at many and they vary considerably
pricewise. Would something less than £50 be just a waste of money?
Otherwise, if medium wave would be ok - any suggestions?

Many thanks

You could expect to hear BBC on MW in the North Sea, and 810 Scotland
quite far north, but nighttime propagation is difficult in these areas
as the nights are very short (and light...). When you reach Northern
Norway don't expect to hear anything on MW. I live just SE of North
Cape myself, and we've had 24h daylight since mid-May. You could
expect to hear SW with reasonable signals from 9 pm to 3 am on the 49
and 41 m bands with a decent portable (others here might want to
define "decent" to you as I don't know). Signal levels are generally
very weak here compared to continental EU or UK.

Bjarne

Thanks everybody for your advice. I have just come home with a Eton G8
Traveller radio. Only just started playing with it but it seems
excellent and exactly what I need on this trip. What I didn't mention
on my initial post is that, hopefully, over the next few years my wife
and I will be doing perhaps three cruises a year. I've been taken on
as a cruise lecturer. The deal is no pay but free trips for us and
half price drinks! It's a tough and dirty job but somebody has to do
it!