I've been contemplating a shortwave receiver purchase. I had an ICOM
IC-718 that probably would have done very well. Alas, I sold it on Ebay.
I didn't realize it's value as a SW receiver.

At any rate, I understand the Sony ICF 7600 is a pretty good choice.
Unfortunately, they seem to be hard to find. Perhaps they're being
discontinued? The local HRO here has had them on order for about 6
months with no shipment in sight.

So I got to thinking. I have a Yaesu VX-5 handheld. This radio has
pretty wide receive capability. My thoughts were along the lines of
getting a Sony AN-LP1 antenna and hooking it onto the end of the stock
rubber duck.

Yaesu actually recommends hooking a wire onto the duck for shortwave
listening. It has a screw off end that can easily accomdate a round
eyelet connector.

Any thoughts as to how the VX-5 might perform as compared to the Sony
radio?

Thanks in advance.

--
-=Elden=-
http://www.moondog.org

In article ,
Elden Fenison wrote:

I've been contemplating a shortwave receiver purchase. I had an ICOM
IC-718 that probably would have done very well. Alas, I sold it on Ebay.
I didn't realize it's value as a SW receiver.

At any rate, I understand the Sony ICF 7600 is a pretty good choice.
Unfortunately, they seem to be hard to find. Perhaps they're being
discontinued? The local HRO here has had them on order for about 6
months with no shipment in sight.

So I got to thinking. I have a Yaesu VX-5 handheld. This radio has
pretty wide receive capability. My thoughts were along the lines of
getting a Sony AN-LP1 antenna and hooking it onto the end of the stock
rubber duck.

Yaesu actually recommends hooking a wire onto the duck for shortwave
listening. It has a screw off end that can easily accomdate a round
eyelet connector.

Any thoughts as to how the VX-5 might perform as compared to the Sony
radio?

Thanks in advance.

Try a SW radio distributor such as Universal
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/0360.html
I'm pretty sure they have them in stock.

A small hand held wide band radio does not sound like a good bet.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

* Telamon [06/24/2005 06:00 UTC]:
Try a SW radio distributor such as Universal
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/0360.html I'm pretty
sure they have them in stock.

A small hand held wide band radio does not sound like a good bet.

Thanks for the reply Telamon. I just visited the local HRO today and by
golly they got some of the Sony ICF 7600s in. So I've purchased one of
those and an AN-LP1 antenna.

I was almost leaning to a Yaesu FT-857D... all-band, all-mode ham
transceiver with an ATAS-120 self-tuning screwdriver antenna. But that's
about $1000 total and being in an apartment, I don't think I'd really be
able to get out well enough with an indoor antenna to justify spending
that much extra for transmit capability.

--
-=Elden=-
http://www.moondog.org

In article ,
Elden Fenison wrote:

* Telamon [06/24/2005 06:00 UTC]:
Try a SW radio distributor such as Universal
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/0360.html I'm pretty
sure they have them in stock.

A small hand held wide band radio does not sound like a good bet.

Thanks for the reply Telamon. I just visited the local HRO today and by
golly they got some of the Sony ICF 7600s in. So I've purchased one of
those and an AN-LP1 antenna.

I was almost leaning to a Yaesu FT-857D... all-band, all-mode ham
transceiver with an ATAS-120 self-tuning screwdriver antenna. But that's
about $1000 total and being in an apartment, I don't think I'd really be
able to get out well enough with an indoor antenna to justify spending
that much extra for transmit capability.

Let us know how you make out with the ICF-7600 using the loop antenna.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

* Telamon [06/25/2005 03:05 UTC]:
Let us know how you make out with the ICF-7600 using the loop antenna.

So far it's not pretty. I've spent hours just trying to find a station I
can copy. I am in Oregon. I know that fewer broadcasts target this area,
but I did expect it to be better than this. I do think I caught some of
"Radio Netherlands" last night. That was kinda neat.

My first experiment was at nighttime. Today, during the daytime, there
is virtually nothing at all out there that I can copy.

One thing I wanted to do, was copy activity on the ham bands. Today
being field day, you'd think there'd be a lot to listen to. But I'm
afraid I'm not having much luck. Color me dissappointed.

--
-=Elden=-
http://www.moondog.org

In article ,
Elden Fenison wrote:

* Telamon [06/25/2005 03:05 UTC]:
Let us know how you make out with the ICF-7600 using the loop antenna.

So far it's not pretty. I've spent hours just trying to find a station I
can copy. I am in Oregon. I know that fewer broadcasts target this area,
but I did expect it to be better than this. I do think I caught some of
"Radio Netherlands" last night. That was kinda neat.

My first experiment was at nighttime. Today, during the daytime, there
is virtually nothing at all out there that I can copy.

One thing I wanted to do, was copy activity on the ham bands. Today
being field day, you'd think there'd be a lot to listen to. But I'm
afraid I'm not having much luck. Color me dissappointed.

The west coast has weaker signals then the rest of the country but there
are some that should come in better for us west coast people. New
Zealand is good on 15,720 late afternoon until 8:00 PM in the evening
then they start getting weaker until they switch over to 11,820 around
10:00 PM. 11,820 is almost always good as is 9,885 that they switch to
around midnight.

Australia is another good catch, I'm listening to them right now on
21,740. At 00:00 UTC they will go to 17,715 and 17,795. These should
work well for you. Then they will switch to 15,515 at I think 02:00UTC.

You should get the BBC really well on 5,975 evenings and radio
Netherlands broadcasts should come in well. Daytime 19:00 to 20:00 UTC
try 17,660 and 17,735 and 15,315.

Evenings radio Netherlands is on for one hour at 04:00 UTC on 6,165 and
9,590. Both of these should be strong signal for you.

Maybe you are in a bad spot in your apartment. Try the loop antenna near
a window. It is directional on the lower bands so rotate it to find a
null on the signal and then turn it 90 degrees from that.

RHC Cuba is another big signal on many frequencies and so is RCI radio
Canada international. Another is China.

All these stations have web sites with their schedules. Go check them
out. You might want to try the radio in the park to see if you do better.

Late afternoon until near sunrise you should get a ton of strong signals
on the 6 and 9 MHz bands.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California