Thanks for responses.

Re antenna: Ideally, I'd install an amplified antenna at the rear of the
vehicle--as far from ignition noise as possible.

It's striking that SW is not made available to the US market. Makes one wonder a
bit...

James Boyk


**
James Boyk wrote:

Sorry to ask what must be a perennial question, but is a car radio now
available for US market which will get me here on the west coast the big
international stations (Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Japan,
BBC)? Along with FM and 10k-spaced AM? And preferably with selectable
sideband and synchronous detection, like on my Sony 2010 at home?
(Having lived with these features, I don't see why anyone would make a
receiver without them.) And, ideally, with CD player also?

But I'd take just the SW part of all this, if it could be wired into the
car system. ('94 Mercury Villager)

Thanks,

Jim Boyk
http://www.performancerecordings.com

After doing a little more research i have found that the new becker radios
only include the 49 meter band.

sony has several units available in asia (not sure about what freqencies
they include)
they are
xr-ca440x
xr-ca640x
xr-ca660x
xr-ca800
which are cassette based and one unit with cd,
the cdx-m8800

check them out here
http://www.sonyindia.co.in/static/CarAudio.htm

paul

"Paul Bauer" wrote in message
newsgroups.com...
beckers us site has discontinued sw radios.
the german site has them and also can be found on the net by searching for
model numbers.

paul


"James Boyk" wrote in message
...
Thanks; but Becker's web site doesn't show any unit w/ SW---or did I
miss
it? -jb


Arthur Pozner wrote:

Becker receivers have been standard radios installed in Mercedes Benz
over the years. Becker was selling them lately for around $500. Very
high grade of a car radio.

James,

Becker produced a SW auto radio but I believe that they have discontinued
it. Regardless you may be able to find a used one - there was one on ebay
not to long ago. The model is the Mexico 2340. I have one, I use the stock
car aerial and I'm very happy with it. Its easy to operate, has ten SW
presets, very good audio, good scan function and even has reasonable
sensitivity on Longwave ! It has no sideband capability though.
An amateur transceiver is also a good way to go however be aware that the
audio on these rigs is often underpowered and restricted. I have an Icom
706 MKIIG which of course covers all of the SW spectrum with sideband and
then some but the audio on this model is "constipated"- there is a
noticeable rolloff of the low and high ends of the audio spectrum.

Good Luck with your search and let us know what you buy and how you like it.

(I've included the 2340 specs here. Shortwave coverage is divided up into
bands for the scan function but the radio actually has continuous coverage
from 5900 to 15700 khz)

John

================================================== =========
Mexico 2340

a.. Tuner: AM, FM, LW, SW (6 Band), 70 station presets (30x FM, 10x FM
Autostore, 10x AM, 10x LW, 10x SW).
b.. Tuning bands:
a.. AM: 531 kHz - 1602 kHz
b.. FM: 87.5 MHz - 108.0 MHz
c.. LW: 153 kHz - 282 kHz
d.. SW:
a.. 49m band 5900 kHz - 6250 kHz
b.. 41m band 7100 kHz - 7550 kHz
c.. 31m band 9300 kHz - 10000 kHz
d.. 25m band 11500 kHz - 12100 kHz
e.. 22m band 13600 kHz - 13800 kHz
f.. 19m band 15000 kHz - 15700 kHz
c.. Cassette: Full-logic drive, programme / scan search, autoreverse,
Dolby® B + C.
d.. Audio: 4 x 20W maximum output, 4 x 15 W RMS (4 Ohms), separate treble
/ bass and fader control, dual pre-outputs (750 mV @ 22 kOhms) for
amplifier, user specific programming option.
e.. Other: ETC Easy to Control softkey menu operation, LCD multicolour
display (fadeable red to orange to green), removable fascia display panel
with case, security code, DIN-ISO connection (supplied with loom), remote
control.
f.. ================================================== ==============


"James Boyk" wrote in message
...
Sorry to ask what must be a perennial question, but is a car radio now
available
for US market

James Boyk wrote:

Thanks for responses.

Re antenna: Ideally, I'd install an amplified antenna at the rear of the
vehicle--as far from ignition noise as possible.

It's striking that SW is not made available to the US market. Makes one wonder a
bit...

I have a feeling that it did not really take off here is because the US broadcasters
really can't target listeners here in the USA, so there isn't/wasn't any commercial
interest in the medium.

That may be it, it may not.

Steve
Holland, MI
Drake R7, R8 and R8B

http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm

Thanks. I'll look for one of these.

I don't "get" another poster's comment about SW not taking off in the USA.
There's a huge potential market of SWL's here; why shouldn't makers of SW radios
try to sell them? They do so for 'stationary' radios; why not for cars? The
remark that US broadcasters "can't target" listeners here is unintelligible to
me, as many of them do target listeners here as well as abroad. But even if
there were no US broadcasters, there are tons overseas aiming interesting
programs here!

James Boyk

"James Boyk" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I'll look for one of these.

I don't "get" another poster's comment about SW not taking off in the USA.
There's a huge potential market of SWL's here; why shouldn't makers of SW
radios
try to sell them?


There really aren't that many SWLs in the US.


They do so for 'stationary' radios; why not for cars?

I've read magazine articles about cars with the SW car radio General Motors
offered before WW2. It's an extremely rare option. Extremely rare because
only a few people wanted to buy it. I'm not aware of any OEM SW car radios
after the war.

There are a few radios intended for Europe or Asia, but these areas have SW
broadcasts intended for a local audience.

I think car SW radios can still be bought from off shore vendors such as
Jacky's. If there were much of a market here, I'm sure it would have gotten
the attention of Sony or Becker. Not to mention Delco and Motorola.

There were some commerically made amateur radio converters for car radios
made in the fifties and sixties. It would have been easy enough for a
company in that business to have made a SW broadcast band converter back
then. If they did make any, they weren't big sellers.


The
remark that US broadcasters "can't target" listeners here is
unintelligible to
me, as many of them do target listeners here as well as abroad. But even
if
there were no US broadcasters, there are tons overseas aiming interesting
programs here!

James Boyk



Yeah, but there's more people interested in buying multiple cup holders and
under car neon lights than there are people who want to buy car SW radios.

Frank Dresser

"John" wrote in message
An amateur transceiver is also a good way to go however be aware that the
audio on these rigs is often underpowered and restricted. I have an Icom
706 MKIIG which of course covers all of the SW spectrum with sideband and
then some but the audio on this model is "constipated"- there is a
noticeable rolloff of the low and high ends of the audio spectrum.

Have you tried an external speaker? Can make a huge difference in
audio on those radios. Also, an external audio amp helps even more.
The audio from the icom itself should be pretty good. I know mine is.
Here in the house, I run mine through the sound card, and then to a
kenwood audio amp and speakers. Sounds real good. It's my best radio
for listening to the "rack" crowd, running the high end audio gear.
I've got spectrum analyser software I use, and the audio is quite flat
across the passband. I gets lots of bass, and pretty good highs
considering the filter width. BTW, make sure the "FIL" is off , if you
are listening to AM. That setting is very tight, and the audio will be
very pinchy. But it is good for ID'ing weak stations buried in
sideband crud...In the car, I just use external speakers. I have one
in the dash, where the factory radio speaker goes, and also use a
drake speaker sitting on the floor, if I want some more lows.
Eventually, I plan to pick up a small stereo EQ/AMP, "maybe 40w or
so??" and use that as an audio amp for the car. Being a ham, naturally
ham rigs are all I use in the car, and in the house for the most part.
The 706mk2g is better for AM than many ham rigs, as the stock
bandwidth on AM is wider, than many, and sounds better. Many ham rigs
use the same 2.4+2.4 kc SSB filtering as the AM filter. "4.8kc total"
That is kinda pinchy sounding after a while. The 706 is a good bit
wider than that on AM, unless the "FIL" is on, or you have a custom
filter.But for SSB is still the usual rated 2.4 kc...In real life on
the analyser, the bandwidth is quite usable out to about 2.7 kc, and
it drops off pretty fast. Almost the same as my TS-830.. As far as
antenna, I use my all band ham mobile antenna, and tune for the
nearest band closest to what I'm listening to. IE: if I were to
listen to 31m, I can tune my antenna to 30m ham band, and have very
good performance. But even tuned for 40 or 20 will work fine. The s/n
ratio is the same, the signal level would just be down some...My ant
tunes 80,40,30,20,17,15,12,10 meter bands...I do have to get out to
switch bands, but it doesn't take very long. But like I say, for SWL,
it's not critical at all...Performance SWL'ing mobile? Nearly as good
as at the house...I have good transmit performance too on the ham
bands...BTW, compared to some portables, or car radios, the 706g still
may seem a bit tight...But thats cuz the portables, and car radios are
usually as broad as a barn door in comparison...:/ Naturally, they may
sound a little brighter with music playing. But I'd still usually
prefer the 706g in the car...Much more useful overall, being it also
covers VHF/UHF, etc...The 706g is my radio of choice here, when I
listen to AM-BC. To me, the width is just about like I like it. Not
too narrow, but not too wide either...That dinky 3-4 inch speaker in
the top is the weak link...:( MK

Hi. Yes I have tried external speakers and running the audio from the ACC
socket into an amp. Helps very little. Please checkout the ic-706 yahoo
group. Other users have noted the same problem and provided spectral
analysis of the audio. While the 706MKIIG IF is pretty wide , Icom changed
the audio for the worse between the 706 and the 706MKIIG.
The Becker Mexico AM audio is much better than a 706MKIIG.


"Mark Keith" wrote in message
om...
"John" wrote in message

Have you tried an external speaker? Can make a huge difference in
audio on those radios. Also, an external audio amp helps even more.
The audio from the icom itself should be pretty good.

James Boyk wrote:

Thanks. I'll look for one of these.

I don't "get" another poster's comment about SW not taking off in the USA.
There's a huge potential market of SWL's here; why shouldn't makers of SW radios
try to sell them?

If there were a market, the manufacturers would have tapped it.

If you think there is a market why don't you draw up a business plan, borrow some
money, and have the car radios manufactured?

They do so for 'stationary' radios; why not for cars? The
remark that US broadcasters "can't target" listeners here is unintelligible to
me, as many of them do target listeners here as well as abroad.

Listeners here are targeted in a certain sense, however, the Smith-Mundt Act
prohibits it, as I recall.

The bottom line is though that SW has never really 'taken off' in the USA, other
than for radio hobbyists, and casual listeners.

Steve
Holland, MI
Drake R7, R8 and R8B

http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm

Frank Dresser wrote: There really aren't that many SWLs in the US.

How can there be a market for portables & tabletops by Drake, Grundig, Sangean,
et al.---enough of a market for mass-marketer Radio Shack to sell such
products--yet no market for SW car radios? This makes no sense.

As for the idea that the market *must* not exist because manufacturers would
have tapped it if it did, this shows an attitude toward manufactuers'
intelligence and the efficiency of the marketplace which amounts to "all's for
the best in this best of all possible [commercial] worlds," which I cannot share.

As for the idea, "if you think there's a market, why don't you derail your life
to exploit it?" I'm afraid I do have one or two other things to do that are more
important to me. I see a dozen untapped commercial opportunities each month;
it's not my business to pursue them, but to do my own work.

Thanks for the suggestions and ideas.

James Boyk