On Sun, 4 Jul 2004 13:30:26 -0700, Steve Silverwood
wrote:

In article ,
says...
Hello. I'm new to SW and just bough an inexpensive handheld receiver. What
are some good freqencies I can try for jazz in the Northwest USA? I'm trying
to receive cuba, since I understand they have a good jazz program, but can't
seem to locate them. What are you favorite frequencies for music?

First, welcome to the world of shortwave! I've enjoyed it greatly over
the years. You're in for a lot of fun!

There are three tools you will want to obtain to assist you in your
listening hobby:

1) A copy of the book, "Passport to World Band Radio." It has a wealth
of information for the beginner and seasoned veteran alike, including
reviews of various receivers, broadcast schedules, and contact
information for when you want to send in a reception report or look up
the latest schedule of times and frequencies. The "Blue Pages" are
especially handy if you're just tuning around the bands and hear
something, and want to find out who it is that's transmitting. Details
at www.passband.com or you can order it through Universal Radio, Ham
Radio Outlet, Amazon.com or just about anywhere.

2) A subscription to Monitoring Times magazine. Each month MT provides
an hour-by-hour breakdown of what service is broadcasting and on what
frequencies. It's the shortwave listener's equivalent to TV Guide. You
can get it in print form delivered to your mailbox, "MT Express" (the
whole magazine in Acrobat format, which you download from their servers
and view with Acrobat Reader), or both. I prefer the MT Express
version, since I can read the articles on the PC and just print out the
broadcast schedules to keep with my radio when I am away from the
computer.

3) A copy of the "World Radio and Television Handbook" or WRTH. This
has much more detailed information about the broadcasters than you will
find in the Passport book, plus it covers other than shortwave
broadcasting as well. It's also widely available through radio stores
and booksellers.

If you have to prioritize your purchases due to budget, I recommend
purchasing them in the order listed above.

--

-- //Steve//

Steve Silverwood, KB6OJS
Fountain Valley, CA
Email:

Please visit the following sites:

American Shortwave Listening Club (ASWLC)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aswlc

Southern California Area DXers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scads

Steve provided tons of great information. Northwestradio.com also has
a Pacific Northwest shortwave message board, check it out. Good luck.

-Marcus