Shortwave question
 

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Thanks

First things first:
How much will the wife/budget allow you to spend?

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Around 500.00


"Tian Li" wrote in message
...
First things first:
How much will the wife/budget allow you to spend?

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Brent wrote:

Around 500.00

You've got lots of options then, from new to used.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Brent schrieb:

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

At first: ANY (used) tabletop of the 500U$ price range (and up to open
end) runs circles around every portable receiver.
Be sure you can get an antenna outside the building. A asymmetric dipole
(FD-antenna) or a active (magnetic)loop should do a fine job.

Volker Tonn wrote:

Brent schrieb:

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

At first: ANY (used) tabletop of the 500U$ price range (and up to open
end) runs circles around every portable receiver.
Be sure you can get an antenna outside the building. A asymmetric dipole
(FD-antenna) or a active (magnetic)loop should do a fine job.

That type of antenna (dipole) might be fine if you are listening to one
particular band or using an antenna tuner with it.

Let's not complicate things for the guy. His best bet at first, if he is new to
the hobby would be a simple wire antenna.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

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

Portable or desk top ??

- Check out this link below . . .

http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/rx_current.html


In article , "Brent"
writes:

Subject: Shortwave question
From: "Brent"
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 19:31:36 -0400

Around 500.00


"Tian Li" wrote in message
...
First things first:
How much will the wife/budget allow you to spend?

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

If you'r retired you may want to consider a transceiver and the possibility of
getting your amateur radio license..It's now easier than ever..

You can pick up a good used transceiver, or even some new transceivers for
right around $500. Most of the transceivers made in the last 10 years have a
general coverage receiver.

You can buy wire fairly cheap at Lowe's or D.I.Y. and put a respectable antenna
up fairly easily and cheaply..

I'm sure there are people in this group that would be glad to help you design
an antenna that would work great for you..

Anyway, good luck and I think you'll enjoy shortwave whichever route you decide
to go.

Steve
knwd ts4fity
full wave 80 meter loop



I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Second question:
What are you expecting to listen to on shortwave?
Will your listening be done mainly in a single location at home?

Around 500.00

First things first:
How much will the wife/budget allow you to spend?

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I
need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

"Brent" wrote in message
...
I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Thanks


The best radio you can get for $500 or less is the Kenwood R-5000, NRD 525,
Drake R8, Lowe 150. There is nothing better than these four in a top end
table top in this price range for DX work. Some people will suggest a few
potables but these are the real contenders. I've owned all these radios and
they are all worth there merit DX wise. I' m sure there"s other but these
set the standard.
--
73 and good DXing.
Brian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lot of radios and 100' of rusty wire!
Zumbrota, Southern MN
Brian's Radio Universe
http://webpages.charter.net/brianhill/

I have a Police scanner and I am using the Diamond Discone antenna with it.
How would that work with a shortwave radio?


"dxAce" wrote in message
...


Volker Tonn wrote:

Brent schrieb:

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I
need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

At first: ANY (used) tabletop of the 500U$ price range (and up to open
end) runs circles around every portable receiver.
Be sure you can get an antenna outside the building. A asymmetric dipole
(FD-antenna) or a active (magnetic)loop should do a fine job.

That type of antenna (dipole) might be fine if you are listening to one
particular band or using an antenna tuner with it.

Let's not complicate things for the guy. His best bet at first, if he is
new to
the hobby would be a simple wire antenna.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

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

Yes it will

"Tian Li" wrote in message
...
Second question:
What are you expecting to listen to on shortwave?
Will your listening be done mainly in a single location at home?

Around 500.00

First things first:
How much will the wife/budget allow you to spend?

I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I
need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Brent schrieb:

I have a Police scanner and I am using the Diamond Discone antenna with it.
How would that work with a shortwave radio?


bad, Bad, BAD :-(
Every simple peace of wire length of 10ft and up will work better.
An array of spread wires (feeding the same point/ inner braid of a coax
cable) of different lengths coming close to the quarter wavelengths of
prefered frequncies will work very fine. This is about 30ft for the
40mtr-band or 60ft for the 80mtr-band for example. Connecting the
shielding of the coax cable to an electrical grounding (rod) will
improve your results remarkabley.
Be aware that very most of portable receivers are not designed to handle
strong signals and will overload on wires of more than 20ft or so.

"Brent" wrote in message ...
I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Thanks


Another good base receiver is the TenTec 320D DSP radio commonly
referred to as a PC Radio. A PC Radio because it needs to be connected
to the computer to work. It's a radio, but uses DSP (Digital Signal
Processing) and your computer as an interface. It's around 330 dollars
and receives like a 1000 dollar receiver -- as long as you have a good
outdoor antenna connected to it. (But if you're looking at base
receivers in the 500 dollar range, you'll need an outdoor antenna with
them anyways, in order for them to reach their full potential). It
comes with basic software to get you started, but you can also
download various other softwares for this radio that are either
commercial or free. One popular control software is simply called
Clifton's software, for the gentleman who designed/programmed it, and
was still free the last time I checked. Anyway, give it a look-see.
You can see a lot of these radios mentioned here at
www.universal-radio.com, a generally accepted reliable mail order
house for radios and such. And by the way, the "D" at the end of
320D....means it is digital ready when the new digital shortwave
transmissions are in full swing. For 500 dollars you have lots of good
choices. Check 'em all out. Have fun!!

OK Brent, very good.
Advice: If you don't need/want a hand held portable shortwave receiver then
don't buy one.

Now what do you wish to "hear" on shortwave?
Or, what made you think about getting a shortwave radio?


Yes it will

Will your listening be done mainly in a single location at home?

Brent wrote:
I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Thanks


Lots of knobs, dials and a long pointy thing....

SYSYPHUS' SISTER

SYSYPHUS' SISTER wrote:

Brent wrote:
I have retired and am interested in buying a good shortwave radio, I need
some suggestion or what I should look for in a radio.

Thanks


Lots of knobs, dials and a long pointy thing....

Long pointy thing? Well, it's indeed nice to have, but to be honest it never
helped me to receive shortwave.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

dxAce wrote:

Long pointy thing? Well, it's indeed nice to have, but to be honest it never
helped me to receive shortwave.

dxAce
Michigan
USA


...but it certainly helps to keep your hat on when it's windy. At least
**ONE** of your physical defects is proving quite useful...




mike

m II wrote:

dxAce wrote:

Long pointy thing? Well, it's indeed nice to have, but to be honest it never
helped me to receive shortwave.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

..but it certainly helps to keep your hat on when it's windy. At least
**ONE** of your physical defects is proving quite useful...

Is that where you wear your hat, 'tard boy?

That must look pretty funny.

Do many Canadians wear their hat there?

Or do you just hold it there to hide the fact that you're 'smooth' down there?

LMAO at the Canadian 'tard.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

dxAce wrote:

m II wrote:


dxAce wrote:


Long pointy thing? Well, it's indeed nice to have, but to be honest it never
helped me to receive shortwave.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

..but it certainly helps to keep your hat on when it's windy. At least
**ONE** of your physical defects is proving quite useful...


Is that where you wear your hat, 'tard boy?

That must look pretty funny.

Do many Canadians wear their hat there?

Or do you just hold it there to hide the fact that you're 'smooth' down there?

LMAO at the Canadian 'tard.

dxAce
Michigan
USA




I'm amazed you've made it this far in life with such a limited
vocabulary. They obviously didn't have very good teachers at the School
for the Hard of Thinking.


mike

It wouldn't

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 23:49:26 -0400, "Brent"
wrote:

I have a Police scanner and I am using the Diamond Discone antenna with it.
How would that work with a shortwave radio?