I was surprised to read that the brand of headphones mentioned most
was...Radio Shack (and various incarnations thereof, like Archer and
Optimus). So I went to my local RS and quickly located the mono
headphones. There was no price posted so I had to ask the guy behind the
counter-with tax I paid about $15. He asked if they were for scanner use
and I said yes, not caring to explain what a shortwave radio is to him.
Anyway, the first thing I discovered with the headphones is that I was
overdriving the 8800's small speaker-I had to turn attenuation up and
volume down to get a listenable signal on the headphones. I agree that
headphones make for a much more intelligible signal.