Hello,

When I was in my youth in the 1960s, I listened to shortwave and found
it interesting. I moved on to other things in life and in the 1990s, it
seemed like the internet became the better way to communicate about the
world. But it seems that in the past 5 or 6 years, the internet has
become stagnant and "social media" is not the rage, and in all honesty,
I find it to be little more than rubbish.

Combine that with the flood of advertising, malware, and even worse the
onset of highly complex websites that dont work properly, and often
create chaos on my compter due to excessive use of scripts and other
unnecessary garbage, and I am no longer finding the internet useful. The
old newsgroups (like this one) are quickly dying, and/or are flooded by
trolls and people posting politics on any and all newsgroups, only to
cause hate and discontent.

It's almost like we now have LESS contact with the real happenings in
the world, than we did before the internet began.

Suddenly, I have an urge to go back to shortwave listening. I still have
my Hallicrafters S-41G receiver from when I was in my teens, but it's
been on storage for 40 years or more. I've been wanting to get it, but
know it's going to need capacitors, but that's ok. Back in my youth I
loved to work on old tube radios and it was my hobby. When things went
to semiconductors, I lost interest in working on that stuff, because it
became too hard to fix and harder to get parts. But I really feel like
working on some old tube stuff again, just for the heck of it.

I also see some of the old tube shortwave sets being sold on ebay for
little money compared to what they sold for in the 60s. I see some of
the top of the line sets (from that era), and those are some radios I
really wanted in my youth, but could not afford. Now, I'm retired and I
have the time to putter with radios, and am sure I could buy one of
those old radios at a low price and get them working.

But I am hesitant to do any of this, for the reason being that it seems
like shortwave radio is also dying, if not nearly dead. But that is
based on my experience around 2012, when I was staying at a home which I
was helping clear out, and there was a small portable AM-FM-SW radio.
After getting bored with the FM stations, I switched to SW and there
seemed to be little on it, compared to what I once heard in the 60s and
70s. Most of what I heard was religious programs, which is fine for some
people, but not what I wanted to hear. But I should note that this radio
only had a "rabbit ear" antenna, and was a small cheapie transistorized
thing. (Something I'd consider to be a toy), even though it did have a
digital display.

Then again, to me, a REAL Shortwave radio weighs at least 25lbs, has
tubes, and connects to a long wire antenna. (yea, call me old
fashioned).

Anyhow, before I really get into all of this, I have to ask, is there
anything worth listening to on the SW bands anymore. I dont want to
invest time and money into something that has little to offer. If it's
just religious stuff and some morse code, I'm not going to get any use
out of it.

Thanks for all feedback....

Outside of radio preachers, there's not nearly as much interesting as
thier used to be. Radio Australia just quit SW broadcasting. Most of
the k00k broadcasters have died or gone to the internet. Alex Jones and
Rick Wiles are still holding the fort.

There's still some International broadcasting to the third world, such
as the VOA and the BBC and it can usually can be heard in the US.

China is easily heard now in the US, they are buying time on Harold
Camping's old SW farm in Florida. No more "Yankee Imperialist Hegomony"
from Peking, but still more interesting the Harold Camping Drone.

Long distance AM listening can still be fun, as long as your location
isn't plagued with electrical noise. Loop antennas help.

There's probably more pirate activity than ever, but it still isn't
alot. Check out just below the 40 meter ham band. Weekends and
holidays are best.

I still really like working on the radios. Usually. Currently I have a
Hallicrafters SX-62 on the table. It was poorly stored and I'll
probably end up rewinding 4 or 5 SW coils. Sheesh. Listened to an AM
station which plays 60s insturmental oldies on Sunday morning. Tuned
the dial to 1240 before it warmed up and it was spot on. Sounded great
on AM wideband. I like that!

As an occasional hobby I will build a radio. The fun is trying out different circuit ideas. The actual content is usually quite depressing stories or megaphone diplomacy, where states talk/vent to each other through the air waves. In other words the content is not really intended for an ordinary listener.

On Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 5:32:29 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Hello,

When I was in my youth in the 1960s, I listened to shortwave and found
it interesting. I moved on to other things in life and in the 1990s, it
seemed like the internet became the better way to communicate about the
world. But it seems that in the past 5 or 6 years, the internet has
become stagnant and "social media" is not the rage, and in all honesty,
I find it to be little more than rubbish.

Combine that with the flood of advertising, malware, and even worse the
onset of highly complex websites that dont work properly, and often
create chaos on my compter due to excessive use of scripts and other
unnecessary garbage, and I am no longer finding the internet useful. The
old newsgroups (like this one) are quickly dying, and/or are flooded by
trolls and people posting politics on any and all newsgroups, only to
cause hate and discontent.

It's almost like we now have LESS contact with the real happenings in
the world, than we did before the internet began.

Suddenly, I have an urge to go back to shortwave listening. I still have
my Hallicrafters S-41G receiver from when I was in my teens, but it's
been on storage for 40 years or more. I've been wanting to get it, but
know it's going to need capacitors, but that's ok. Back in my youth I
loved to work on old tube radios and it was my hobby. When things went
to semiconductors, I lost interest in working on that stuff, because it
became too hard to fix and harder to get parts. But I really feel like
working on some old tube stuff again, just for the heck of it.

I also see some of the old tube shortwave sets being sold on ebay for
little money compared to what they sold for in the 60s. I see some of
the top of the line sets (from that era), and those are some radios I
really wanted in my youth, but could not afford. Now, I'm retired and I
have the time to putter with radios, and am sure I could buy one of
those old radios at a low price and get them working.

But I am hesitant to do any of this, for the reason being that it seems
like shortwave radio is also dying, if not nearly dead. But that is
based on my experience around 2012, when I was staying at a home which I
was helping clear out, and there was a small portable AM-FM-SW radio.
After getting bored with the FM stations, I switched to SW and there
seemed to be little on it, compared to what I once heard in the 60s and
70s. Most of what I heard was religious programs, which is fine for some
people, but not what I wanted to hear. But I should note that this radio
only had a "rabbit ear" antenna, and was a small cheapie transistorized
thing. (Something I'd consider to be a toy), even though it did have a
digital display.

Then again, to me, a REAL Shortwave radio weighs at least 25lbs, has
tubes, and connects to a long wire antenna. (yea, call me old
fashioned).

Anyhow, before I really get into all of this, I have to ask, is there
anything worth listening to on the SW bands anymore. I dont want to
invest time and money into something that has little to offer. If it's
just religious stuff and some morse code, I'm not going to get any use
out of it.

Thanks for all feedback....

I can't get much, hardly anything, anymore since I moved to another city, and am in a bad reception zone. Too much Cuba, blocks out a lot. Did get an Asian station last week, probably China, could have been Japan. Since the fall of the Soviet bloc, can't get Prague, Moscow, or Kiev. Many stations went to tv and streaming on the web.
In my former resident -high floor apartment building with a clear south view, I used to enjoy Turkey did get Greece, and other European stations.
In this bad reception location, I bought a new 'field radio'. but does not do much more than the small one. Even AM stations are bad here. A roof antenna is not feasible. Bought some sort of cheap antenna but it does not work, or I don't know how to use it. I'm out of ideas. At least BBC, DW, and France are on cable TV, and I can go to the streaming sites on internet, but even those have shut down. I used to get Athens a lot on streaming internet, and hear a great deal of local music.
You can try the Wirth catalog for what is being broadcast and their locations. That does not mean you will hear any.
Please let me know if you have any ideas for me to get stations in a bad location on East Coast, so disappointed here.
Thank you.

On 1/29/2017 5:30 AM, wrote:

Anyhow, before I really get into all of this, I have to ask, is there
anything worth listening to on the SW bands anymore. I dont want to
invest time and money into something that has little to offer. If it's
just religious stuff and some morse code, I'm not going to get any use
out of it.

Sadly, you've pretty much answered your own question as to if there is
anything worth listening to. On the other hand, you already own your
Hallicrafters S-41. You could fire that up again and for less than five
bucks, just check/replace if necessary the coupling and bypass
capacitors. Then tune around the bands, see if you hear anything you
like and THEN invest in a better/newer radio.

P.S.

Don't forget the isolation transformer on the S-41.

On Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 3:22:43 PM UTC-5, Joe from Kokomo wrote:
On 1/29/2017 5:30 AM, wrote:

Anyhow, before I really get into all of this, I have to ask, is there
anything worth listening to on the SW bands anymore. I dont want to
invest time and money into something that has little to offer. If it's
just religious stuff and some morse code, I'm not going to get any use
out of it.

Sadly, you've pretty much answered your own question as to if there is
anything worth listening to. On the other hand, you already own your
Hallicrafters S-41. You could fire that up again and for less than five
bucks, just check/replace if necessary the coupling and bypass
capacitors. Then tune around the bands, see if you hear anything you
like and THEN invest in a better/newer radio.

P.S.

Don't forget the isolation transformer on the S-41.

A radio which has not been plugged in for that many years may/must require more than just a few capacitors. It is 70 years young.

wrote:



A radio which has not been plugged in for that many years may/must require more than just a few capacitors. It is 70 years young.

Probably a new power cord and likely new dial cords. Contact
cleaner for the switches and a light film of grease for some of the
moving parts. Still easy and cheap.

If it's been stored in a reasonably dry location, it's not likely that
humidity has damaged the RF coils. There's no transfomer to damage on
this radio, either.

Carbon composition resistors sometimes drift up with age. Replacements
are cheap and more stable than the originals. Drifted up resistors can
usually be safely ignored, too. In most circuits, high resistance won't
cause any damage, it will just kill some gain. I replace the drifted
resistors, anyway. Some people are fussy about keeping things as
original as possible.

One nice thing about the pre 1950 (approx) radios is they don't use
those crummy single wafer silver mica capacitors at the base of the IF
can. I believe the S41G uses compression mica caps in the IF cans.

Havana might be interesting at times, with all the changes bubbling up
in Cuba. I remember how uncensored Radio Moscow and, even more so,
Radio Vilinus became as the Soviet grip was loosening.

A couple of months ago, I heard a RHC music program which featured alot
of Gil Scott Heron, such as "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and
such. In my imagination, at least, it sounded as if the show was
intended to reflect something inside Cuba rather than to encourage any
Che Guevara's still out there.

Or maybe, Cuba will drop SW just as things get really interesting, like
South Africa did.

On Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 3:22:43 PM UTC-5, Joe from Kokomo wrote:
On 1/29/2017 5:30 AM, wrote:

Anyhow, before I really get into all of this, I have to ask, is there
anything worth listening to on the SW bands anymore. I dont want to
invest time and money into something that has little to offer. If it's
just religious stuff and some morse code, I'm not going to get any use
out of it.

Sadly, you've pretty much answered your own question as to if there is
anything worth listening to. On the other hand, you already own your
Hallicrafters S-41. You could fire that up again and for less than five
bucks, just check/replace if necessary the coupling and bypass
capacitors. Then tune around the bands, see if you hear anything you
like and THEN invest in a better/newer radio.

P.S.

Don't forget the isolation transformer on the S-41.

On 1/30/2017 3:32 AM, wrote:

A radio which has not been plugged in for that many years may/must require more than just a few capacitors. It is 70 years young.

Well, you are partially right -- if you consider the context.

If you want to do a full-bore, complete restoration, what you say is true.

On the other hand, the OP just wanted to see if short wave was worth
listening to and then buying a better/newer radio.

In that case, what I said was true, just change a few capacitors if
needed so you are not putting B+ on the grids of the next stages or
shorting out the B+ with defective bypass capacitors.

On Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 2:32:29 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Hello,

When I was in my youth in the 1960s, I listened to shortwave and found
it interesting. I moved on to other things in life and in the 1990s, it
seemed like the internet became the better way to communicate about the
world. But it seems that in the past 5 or 6 years, the internet has
become stagnant and "social media" is not the rage, and in all honesty,
I find it to be little more than rubbish.
......

Thanks for all feedback....

Not all SW is in English, (even from English countries).
You can get 'back-signals' from BBC's Ascension Island (look it up)
transmitter which can be intersting.
Try the ADDX list of languages available.
http://addx.de/Hfpdat/plaene.php

See news now at
http://www.shortwaveschedule.com/index.php?now=true
or
http://www.short-wave.info/

See the selection of remote receivers at
http://www.websdr.org/

Learn another language too.