I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

I am in Kansas, does this mean I will need super high
quailty/expensive equipment if I want to listen to SW?

I just ordered the jWIN - JX-M14 el-cheapo $12 radio to try and get an
idea of what I can hear...

I guess I thought SW was available everywhere, even to me out in the
boonies of Kansas..

Thanks!!

You can have very decent luck listening indeed as long as conditions are
right - and that holds for any part of the earth. The West coast of the USA
has a different "menu" of listening than the east coast, simply because of
the physical location of the coast and the way the signals bounce. On the
west coast, we tend to get a lot of asian stations, but are not limited to
that by any means. Having a decent antenna and receiver is essential. but
the most expensive set around will be useless if conditions are improper.
In order for signals to be received at a location thousands of miles away
from a transmitter, the upper atmosphere must be electrically charged in a
quiet uniform manner at the correct altitude so that shortwave frequency
signals are reflected back to earth. If the atmosphere is not properly
charged, or the layer is too high or too low, the signals will either be
absorbed or go off into space. If you are in the wrong spot, a perfectly
good signal will be hundreds of miles overhead, on its way back to earth to
be reflected toward the upper atmosphere. People on either side of you will
hear it, but you will not. Much about the consistency of the reflecting
layer of the upper atmospshere is affected by the earth's own magnetic field
and the intensity of disturbances coming from the sun, which can disrupt the
earth's magnetic field or the particles of air that become charged when
solar radiation impacts them. A certain amount of radiation is good, but too
intense a bombardment with radiation simply disrupts the reflecting layer of
charged particles altogether. If the earth's magnetic field is not still,
but fluctuating wildly in response to a sever ebombardment from the sun, the
reflecting layer will not be uniform but moving rapidly. It is like shining
a light on a body of water. If the water is still, the image of the light
source returns to you by reflection very nearly unaltered. If the water is
rippled by the wind, the image becomes distorted by the motion of the water.
If the wind is blowing strong enough, the image returning will not be
recognisable. It is the same with the upper atmosphere. The sun has a
strong magnetic field as well, which extends far out into space past the
orbits of the planets. So everything in the immediate space around the sun
is affected in some way by that field. Sometimes the superheated gas that is
the sun becomes trapped in a loop of strong magnetic fields. When the loop
snaps, huge amounts of energy and gas are throw into space at high speed.
Sometimes the gas which includes highly charged particles and xrays will hit
the earth directly or give us a glancing blow, or miss us altogether. When
we get a direct hit, the reflective layers of the upper atmosphere are
severely disrupted. We may see auroras, but we will likely have miserable
reception if any at all. Sometimes there are "holes" in the envelope around
the sun and we receive massive "winds" from it if the hole is facing us.
That also ruins reception. If disruptions are
severe enough, power grids get an anormous surge which can leave entire
countries without electricity; satellites are saturated or the electronics
in it are fried. Fortuantely that does not happen very often.

"Strength and Honor"

"Fred" wrote in message
om...
I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

I am in Kansas, does this mean I will need super high
quailty/expensive equipment if I want to listen to SW?

I just ordered the jWIN - JX-M14 el-cheapo $12 radio to try and get an
idea of what I can hear...

I guess I thought SW was available everywhere, even to me out in the
boonies of Kansas..

Thanks!!

I am a little bit south in TX and finally listen to alot of stuff. What
helps alot a a good antenna. I also have the jWin radio and use it at work.
I have yet to hook it up to the antenna at home. I suspect you can and will
hear lots of stuff try listening in the early evening and early morning.
Good luck and have fun!

"Fred" wrote in message
om...
I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

I am in Kansas, does this mean I will need super high
quailty/expensive equipment if I want to listen to SW?

I just ordered the jWIN - JX-M14 el-cheapo $12 radio to try and get an
idea of what I can hear...

I guess I thought SW was available everywhere, even to me out in the
boonies of Kansas..

Thanks!!

with the right antenna setup you can pick up shortwave anywhere. Actually in
Kansas you probably will get a better signals. Who told you this?
"Fred" wrote in message
om...
I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

I am in Kansas, does this mean I will need super high
quailty/expensive equipment if I want to listen to SW?

I just ordered the jWIN - JX-M14 el-cheapo $12 radio to try and get an
idea of what I can hear...

I guess I thought SW was available everywhere, even to me out in the
boonies of Kansas..

Thanks!!

"Fred" wrote in message
om...
I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

Not correct. Those are the places where you can get SW with a cheap radio.
You'll be able to get plenty in Kansas, but not with a $12 radio. If you
decide to get serious, spend a couple of hundred dollars on a decent
portable. Your location is good for getting stuff from your south, for
example (Central and South America and the Caribbean), and you should be
able to get a decent number of stations from Europe as well.



Craig, WPE1HNS
Meredith, NH USA

Drake R8B/Alpha Delta DX Sloper
Sony SW-77
Sony ICF-2010
2 x Phillips/Magnavox D2935
Uniden CR-2021
Knight Kit Star Roamer (permanently tuned to Turkey on 9460)
GE Superadio II/Select-A-Tenna
Delphi Ski-Fi XM/3" Antennae

Tuning since 1963

King Pineapple wrote:

"Fred" wrote in message
om...
I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

Not correct. Those are the places where you can get SW with a cheap radio.
You'll be able to get plenty in Kansas, but not with a $12 radio. If you
decide to get serious, spend a couple of hundred dollars on a decent
portable. Your location is good for getting stuff from your south, for
example (Central and South America and the Caribbean), and you should be
able to get a decent number of stations from Europe as well.

Craig, WPE1HNS



I basically agree. I get excellent results in Michigan, and in the
world of SW, there is precious little difference between Michigan USA
and Kansas, USA.
But Craig makes a good point. You won't hear much on a $12 radio, and
even a great antenna setup wouldn't help it much - just overload it with
the strongest signals. With careful shopping, for about $125 you can get
a good portable and a 25 - 50' length of wire hooked to it might amaze
you with what you can get (as opposed to the jWin). But I'd stay in
that price range unless and until you are sure you want to continue with
the hobby.

Tony


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Among other places.. I read on the Passport to world band radio site:
http://www.passband.com/

"Location. Signals tend to be strongest in and around Europe, next-strongest
in eastern North America. Elsewhere in the Americas, or in Hawaii or
Australasia, you'll need a receiver that's unusually sensitive to weak
signals.."

The key phrase that jumps out to me is " unusually sensitive to weak
signals" which would seem to me that I am in a bad area for SW and that I
will need a high end "Unusual radio" to actually get anything...


"James Bernhardt" wrote in message
...
with the right antenna setup you can pick up shortwave anywhere. Actually
in
Kansas you probably will get a better signals. Who told you this?
"Fred" wrote in message
om...
I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

I am in Kansas, does this mean I will need super high
quailty/expensive equipment if I want to listen to SW?

I just ordered the jWIN - JX-M14 el-cheapo $12 radio to try and get an
idea of what I can hear...

I guess I thought SW was available everywhere, even to me out in the
boonies of Kansas..

Thanks!!

Tony Meloche wrote:



King Pineapple wrote:

"Fred" wrote in message
om...
I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

Not correct. Those are the places where you can get SW with a cheap radio.
You'll be able to get plenty in Kansas, but not with a $12 radio. If you
decide to get serious, spend a couple of hundred dollars on a decent
portable. Your location is good for getting stuff from your south, for
example (Central and South America and the Caribbean), and you should be
able to get a decent number of stations from Europe as well.

Craig, WPE1HNS



I basically agree. I get excellent results in Michigan, and in the
world of SW, there is precious little difference between Michigan USA
and Kansas, USA.
But Craig makes a good point. You won't hear much on a $12 radio, and
even a great antenna setup wouldn't help it much - just overload it with
the strongest signals. With careful shopping, for about $125 you can get
a good portable and a 25 - 50' length of wire hooked to it might amaze
you with what you can get (as opposed to the jWin). But I'd stay in
that price range unless and until you are sure you want to continue with
the hobby.

Tony

Others in the NG have raved about the Degen 1102. Ordered over ebay
direct from the factory in Shanghai, it's $75 or so, which includes
shipping costs as well as a transformer to use the 220v AC adaptor on US
120v current. I've ordered mine, which will replace my Radio Shack DX396
as my chief portable, used for listening to the biggest stations. If you
just want to hear major stations, the Degen will work. If you discover
that you like hunting for weak stations not beamed to your area (called
DXing) you should buy a tabletop-a sued one is much cheaper and just as
good as a new one.



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Fred wrote:

Among other places.. I read on the Passport to world band radio site:
http://www.passband.com/

"Location. Signals tend to be strongest in and around Europe, next-strongest
in eastern North America. Elsewhere in the Americas, or in Hawaii or
Australasia, you'll need a receiver that's unusually sensitive to weak
signals.."

The key phrase that jumps out to me is " unusually sensitive to weak
signals" which would seem to me that I am in a bad area for SW and that I
will need a high end "Unusual radio" to actually get anything...


Well, for starters, Passport is talking in rather general terms
there.
It could be read or interpreted to mean: "To hear anything in Kansas,
you'll need a Drake R8b and a 200' antenna". Believe me, it doesn't
mean that, at least that literally. Yes, it is easy to make an argument
that Virginia Beach, VA is a better location for listening than where
you are - basically true, most of the time.
Yes, a better receiver and antenna improves your odds *no matter where
you are*.
But I did some quick math. For purposes of the example, I assumed you
to be smack-dab in the middle of Kansas (the Great Bend/Ellington
area). As the crow
flies, you are 685 miles SW of me. Shortwaves signals travel around the
world easily (12,500 miles, in this example) and beyond that, even. A
third of the loggings I have made, based on the transmitting stations
antenna directionality, were signals I received from the other side of
the world over the North Pole.
Using a vector that travels due west of me, the North/South difference
between us drops to 325 miles with a polar route signal. If such a
signal is readable where I am, odds are *excellent* it's readable where
you are. And then you add "skip" and "prop" which are impossible to
calculate, but really make the hobby interesting! Some nights, a signal
from, say, the Dominican Republic will reach me quite readably, where it
cannot be heard in Georgia (much closer to the D.R.) because of "skip".
There are many other variables, too.

Passports article would also lead one to believe that California is
not a good place for SW DX. *Several* posters to this group get
excellent results in California. Admittedly, these people are using
good receiver and antenna setups,
but with the $125 investment I spoke of earlier, you can still fill a
small book with basic loggings.

You have one other advantage: You are CLOSER (overall, "better") to
the Central and South American stations, some of my favorite DX!

Hope this was some (encouraging) help to you.

Tony


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Fred wrote:
I have read that SW is really only good in the North East of the USA
and in Europe.

I am in Kansas, does this mean I will need super high
quailty/expensive equipment if I want to listen to SW?

I just ordered the jWIN - JX-M14 el-cheapo $12 radio to try and get an
idea of what I can hear...

I guess I thought SW was available everywhere, even to me out in the
boonies of Kansas..

Thanks!!


Alot depends on your antenna.

Bill, N5NOB