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#41
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New User - New Receiver - Reception Questions
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#42
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New User - New Receiver - Reception Questions
You can hear keyboard clicks too with a radio if the radio volume is
turned up enough and if the radio is near your keyboard. cuhulin |
#43
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New User - New Receiver - Reception Questions
In article .com,
wrote: Progress! Thanks go to Telamon for posting a timely message. I grabbed my radio and went out into the park. Not hard to do, as I live essentially in one. I walked between 50 and 100 yards into the middle of the park, sat down on a bench and fired up the radio. I tooled around the 49m band as Telamon suggested and I'm pleased to report that the results were extremely encouraging. Not sure why I wasn't having better results the other night when I was miles away from nowhere... It's called "space weather". It's been pretty dreadful for the last week or so and is now much better. For a rather cryptic introduction listen to WWV at 18 minutes past the hour (45 past for WWVH in Hawaii). Mark Zenier Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com) |
#44
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Quote:
Regarding the E1, I would recommend paying careful attention to the portability aspect. For me, price was the main consideration when buying my first receiver (Kaito 1102) but the portability turned out to be a great advantage. Have you listened to the radio in the AM and FM bands? How does it sound there? How does it compare to other AM / FM radios? I'm asking to help determine if the noise reception is specific to shortwave or if it affects the radio as a whole. If you tune the radio to a weak/noisy shortwave broadcast, are there reception differences when you're holding onto the radio compared to when you're not touching it? My hunch is that upgrading to a more powerful radio would not provide dramatically clearer reception. If you're just trying to improve shortwave reception, that's probably not a wise investment. The best indicator would be if you could get your hands on a radio known to receive strong broadcasts in your area and do a side-by-side test. Failing that, if you can make a risk-free exchange with Universal Radio, try a different radio. The Kaito 1103 gets excellent reviews (see radiointel.com for a review and a mention in Phil's Portable Radio Guide 2005). A radio like that should give you clear reception once you have minimized interference sources.
__________________
weatherall :: http://cobaltpet.blogspot.com/ |
#45
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Quote:
__________________
weatherall :: http://cobaltpet.blogspot.com/ |
#46
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New User - New Receiver - Reception Questions
weatherall wrote:
Have you listened to the radio in the AM and FM bands? How does it sound there? How does it compare to other AM / FM radios? I'm asking to help determine if the noise reception is specific to shortwave or if it affects the radio as a whole. It definately seems as if the problem is isolated to the shortwave bands, as both the AM and FM come in loud and clear, and I daresay even affords better reception than the other AM/FM radios in my house. If you tune the radio to a weak/noisy shortwave broadcast, are there reception differences when you're holding onto the radio compared to when you're not touching it? Only insofar as the quality of static changes. ;-) The best indicator would be if you could get your hands on a radio known to receive strong broadcasts in your area and do a side-by-side test. Unfortunately not a possibility. I also loved the recommendation of buying another YB 400PE and putting them side-by-side, but unfortunately I don't have any local retailers. Seems that all the standard electronics chains stop just short of the YB 400. Failing that, if you can make a risk-free exchange with Universal Radio, try a different radio. I'm going to have them bench test the current radio. Hopefully they'll turn up a problem with it, for if they don't god only knows what the issue is. Last night I tried 20+ feet of long wire antenna out the window on all of the time signals frequencies. Not a single one came in, save the weak one from Canada on 3330. Most importantly, there was no change in reception whatsoever between using the long wire and not. That is, in my opinion, indicative of something, as most people seem to agree that 20+ feet should create a decided change in reception. Moreover, most everyone seems to agree that the US time broadcasts - from Colorado with significant power - should be received without issue. I don't get them at all. Not even a hint of a weak reception. Just static. On another note... What I'm about to say shouldn't impact the previous discussions about reception and my radio, as I've tried numerous tests in remote locations as well, but I do have a question about the possibility of my building itself being used as an antenna. I live in a rather curious building - an old converted railroad warehouse. To the best of my knowledge, and given the creaks in the floor ;-), most of the internal construction is wood - big exposed beams and all. The outside, however, looks like a massive (quite unattractive actually, but I like to say "eclectic") tin can. It is sided all around, from top to bottom (three floors), but aluminum-looking siding, raw color and all. I saw mention in another thread of someone attaching a long wire antenna to a rain gutter. I wonder, would attaching a long wire to my siding render the entire building into an antenna? I know nothing about the propagation of waves over differing materials, so I'm uncertain as to whether or not this would be effective, or perhaps even have a negative impact. -P |
#47
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New User - New Receiver - Reception Questions
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#48
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New User - New Receiver - Reception Questions
Pete:
If the entire building exterior is coated with aluminum this could explain the reception problem but you said you have taken the radio outside and also strung up a 20 foot antenna outside with little or no positive results. In my opinion the radio is defective. Contact Universal ASAP. Have you thought about the Sony 7600 instead? It is rated somewhat better than the Yacht Boy 400 and can't be more than $20-$30 more. I would pay that much more just for the sync detector the Sony has. One other thing to keep in mind, you have about $130 in the YB 400 already. That's a good step forward toward getting a radio in the $500 range if you think you are going to get into this pretty seriously. If nothing else I would consider getting the Sony 7600 for just a little bit more money. I hope this helps. |
#49
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New User - New Receiver - Reception Questions
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#50
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New User - New Receiver - Reception Questions
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