Is there anyone addicted to such an anachronism as shortwave radio listening still? I mean radio services from faraway places.

Well I know there’s some other ways of getting information these days. Yes I do know. But anyway... ;) It's a fantastic way of spending time.

I used to do this in my younger days but it is about 25 years since I have really indulged in it. I no longer have a decent receiver. I still occasionally tune through the short wave bands on my Russian built transister radio (the only one I have now with short wave on it).

Thank you Incomer,
this sounds very interesting.
But what can be heard out there in the UK? Mostly European stations or something else? Pirates maybe or any DX?
Russian receiver really? Fantastic! Does it still work?
How did you manage to get it? Life's such a mistery I must admit.

Shortwave radio isn't that much of an anachronism - it's used across the world where they don't have the Internet.

I'm a licensed amateur so I occasionally transmit as well as listen (I'm a G0) and apart form worldwide DX from broadcast stations there are other amateurs, airband, trawlers and such (though not so many today), clandestines, pirates and all sorts.

Although I have a couple of commercial short wave sets, the most fun I've had with SWL comes from using homemade sets - you can pick up stations from all over the world on a set that can be built for about 20 squids or even less.

73s,

Joe

The short-wave receiver I currently have is a Russian-made Selena Vega 215 with 5 SW bands which I have had for 20 years. There was a time (during the 1970's and early 80's I think) when imported Russian electronic and optical equipment offered a high-quality, reliable and reasonably-priced alternative to other stuff available in the UK, although perhaps it was rather lacking in innovation. These products became quite popular. This export trade seemed to stop due to the later political upheavals in Russia, and I am not aware of any Russian-made products currently on sale in the UK. Old Russian-made cameras are now becoming quite collectable (e.g. Zorki, Fed, Kiev) although not yet worth very much.

I do so little short-wave listening now that I no longer have any information on transmission schedules or wavelengths. Its a matter of pot luck what english-speaking stations I come across. Most are European, but Asian and far-eastern stations are possible even on the equipment I have.

I agree totally with Joe on the importance of building your own kit. All my earlier SWL was done on home-built communications receivers, and I have also built several amplifiers, a record player, a television, and lots of test equipment (none of these still exist - some even date from the valve era). I suspect that building your own kit is a less clear path today. When I did it (in the 1960s and early 1970s) commercial equipment was very expensive and large savings were possible if you had the ability to build things yourself. Today I suspect in some cases it would cost more to build things yourself than buy the commercial product. In the 1960s there were shops selling electronic components in virtually every shopping centre and there were many mail-order companies, while today all these have gone and only one company remains (Maplins).

A lot of the music I listen to people laugh at and call shortwave radio static...

I remember receiving some really interesting stuff on a Russian Vega Selena in the 70s. Great fun. And the set was a doddle to fix if it went wrong!

You should be able to get a book called the World Radio and TV Handbook, which is a list of the radio and TV stations on MF, SW, VHF, etc. throughout teh world, listed by country and frequency. It costs about #25.00. It comes out on ayearly basis - I have the 2003 edition and it's still perfectly OK.

Cheers

Joe

Thanks for the information Joe. I used to get that book about 30 years ago and it never occurred to me that it might still be published.

Yes, WRTH is a very good book. I own a very old one myself, even older than yours, but consider it helpful anyway. At least there are adresses and stuff as well. Curious pastime when comparing the total quantity of radiosets to population in some particular country -- shows how radio is popular in different places (well this depends on economical situation as well).

Also i'd like to mention good European Medium Wave Stations Guide called EMWG (http://www.emwg.info/). Enjoy! Hope you'll find it useful. eventhough the winter, which is good for that kind of stations propagation has gone.

Did anyone happen to get any QSLs? The best in my collection (I guess) come from New Zealand and small local station in Ireland, county Mayo. They had an occasional shortwave broadcast in 1996. Very good time was it.

Speaking of radio, in general, I have always considering it brilliant -- it's a substitute for travelling around the world when you have no chances going that far. Or very little ones for being a student as i was.

Cheers.

Internet Radio is the way of the future though, eventually I think standard Radio stations which broadcast over the airwaves will become old fashioned and out of date.

One problem with internet radio though is that from a listener's point of view it's no good if you only have a 56k or other narrowband connection as it just doesn't have the bandwidth for a smooth lag free connection to the radio servers, only when BT et al get their bottoms in gear and get Broadband available to the masses that this form of multimedia entertainment will really take off.

Originally posted by Rich
Internet Radio is the way of the future though, eventually I think standard Radio stations which broadcast over the airwaves will become old fashioned and out of date.

Yeah... and with the advent of wireless networks we'll be able to listen without having to be physically connected.

Errrrr....... :rolleyes:

Nomme

Originally posted by Rich
Internet Radio is the way of the future though, eventually I think standard Radio stations which broadcast over the airwaves will become old fashioned and out of date.


Oh Rich, this could be seen from the rather lucky and succesful, living in a prosperous society person' point of view. From a 7 or 10 or so percent of those who constitute the mankind, while many people in other regions of the Earth could not afford a simple telephone line, or washing machine, or even some decent food.

I hope this would be the way of the future indeed, meaning the internet.

But at the same time I hope shortwave listening would be preserved as some nostalgic and pleasant pastime, like writing snail mail letters or fishing.

Plus I have to tell there's growing amount of digital test radio programmes starting elswhere in the world now, including Europe. They sent digital signals via shortwaves, that could be received using special sets produced by major companies. So who knows...

Originally posted by Rich
Internet Radio is the way of the future though, eventually I think standard Radio stations which broadcast over the airwaves will become old fashioned and out of date.

One problem with internet radio though is that from a listener's point of view it's no good if you only have a 56k or other narrowband connection as it just doesn't have the bandwidth for a smooth lag free connection to the radio servers, only when BT et al get their bottoms in gear and get Broadband available to the masses that this form of multimedia entertainment will really take off.
nah internat radio is narrowcasting to fixed bunch of listeners who require expensive hardware and a high speed (>28800 baud) connection to the internet.

radio broadcasting means anyone can pick it up with the most rudimentary of equipment and receive the signal for nothing using nothing more than a piece of clockwork and a simple array of cheap components.

Also - for hi fidelity, the bbc still recommends the UHF signal, as obviously the internet version is heavily downgraded, but surprisingly DAB is also of a lower quality too.

So looks like FM is with us to stay for a while at least, and then, if they ever switch off the analog radio xmitters it will all be DAB.

I love the HF bands (SHORTWAVE)

Unfortunetly they are being endangered by BPL (Broadband over powerlines) here in the states.....

This assinine idea hasnt gone thru YET due to so much resistance (THANKFULLY),but if it does,THERE WILL BE ALOT OF ANGRY HAM OPERATORS,ETC.........

HEAR BPL INTERFERENCE: http://www.rarchams.org/bpl.htm

I used to try to get the shortwave bands on a couple of cheap multi-band radio to come up with something interesting but mainly just got strange noises. Some of the strange noises were fascinating I have to say.

I am a big fan of vintage radio though, old programmes from the 30s, 40s, 50s etc which you can get on MP3 or there are some vintage internet stations too.

I love the HF bands (SHORTWAVE)

Unfortunetly they are being endangered by BPL (Broadband over powerlines) here in the states.....

This assinine idea hasnt gone thru YET due to so much resistance (THANKFULLY),but if it does,THERE WILL BE ALOT OF ANGRY HAM OPERATORS,ETC.........

HEAR BPL INTERFERENCE: http://www.rarchams.org/bpl.htm

It's still a concern here - the RSGB EMC people are on the case, but I hope that increased use of WiFi and better rollout of broadband to exchanges will remove the need.

Having said that, I do get some wideband low level interference from my router when it's passing traffic, so perhaps that's soemthing new to look forward to. :)

One thing that MIGHT save us if the worst happens is the use of plug in DSP filters on the audio; the way they clear up signals is amazing. They'd certainly reduce locally generated noise but I guess the stuff generated by direct radiation form the overhead lines would still be a nightmare.

I used to try to get the shortwave bands on a couple of cheap multi-band radio to come up with something interesting but mainly just got strange noises. Some of the strange noises were fascinating I have to say.

I am a big fan of vintage radio though, old programmes from the 30s, 40s, 50s etc which you can get on MP3 or there are some vintage internet stations too.

Problem with the cheap multiband sets is that you have the telescopic aerial.

If you want to try soemthing out, get some INSULATED wire and wrap a foot or so around the partially extended (6" or so) aerial - no direct electrical connection between the telescopic aerial and the metal part of the wire.

Now attach the bare end of the wire to the bare end of a piece of wire slung out of the window, preferrably with the far end attached to a tree or something via a piece of string.

The wire wrapped around the telescopic aerial acts as a capacitor to reduce the level of the signal getting in to the set from your 'long wire' aerial - this stops the set overloading, as the small sets are often very sensitive.

If you get a lot of weird noise, it may be worth reducing the number of turns of insulated wire around the aerial - this will reduce the level of teh signal getting in to the set which will reduce the overloading that MAY BE causing the noises. Alternatively, you might just have a bloody noisy environment. :)

The short-wave receiver I currently have is a Russian-made Selena Vega 215 with 5 SW bands which I have had for 20 years. There was a time (during the 1970's and early 80's I think) when imported Russian electronic and optical equipment offered a high-quality, reliable and reasonably-priced alternative to other stuff available in the UK, although perhaps it was rather lacking in innovation. These products became quite popular. This export trade seemed to stop due to the later political upheavals in Russia, and I am not aware of any Russian-made products currently on sale in the UK. Old Russian-made cameras are now becoming quite collectable (e.g. Zorki, Fed, Kiev) although not yet worth very much.

Cor! A Vega Selena 215! I had one of those in my teens, and it was damn reliable, even if the sound wasn't the greatest quality. It might sound daft, but I liked it's chunkiness. The tuning control was a little stiff though.

The only SW set I have now is a GF-4500 Sharp, which has better sound, but reception is, er, temperamental. I rarely listen now, but I used to love it.

I remember you always got about 4000 stickers when you got the QSL card from "Radio Polonia". Ah, the memories .........

Joe, I'm surprised you gave your Amateur Radio call sign on here? :)

I would never do that, being a paranoiac!!!

My call sign is G4.....blah...blah....blah.

Pah! You're just a kid!!!! :hihi:

It's still a concern here - the RSGB EMC people are on the case, but I hope that increased use of WiFi and better rollout of broadband to exchanges will remove the need.Yes anything to try and stop this is good!

Joe, I'm surprised you gave your Amateur Radio call sign on here? :)

I would never do that, being a paranoiac!!!

My call sign is G4.....blah...blah....blah.

Pah! You're just a kid!!!! :hihi:

Ahhhh...that was posted in April 2004, long before I had to put up with the mentally challenged on here. :)

Good reminder, though!

For those who remember the old interval signals this link (http://www.intervalsignals.net/) has a load, and something I like about it, they're not dressed up. They're direct copies as you would have heard on SW.

I wonder if the fact I'm so much of a leftie is because of the amount of Radio Moscow International I heard in the small hours ........

Very interesting site there mate,thank you!

No worries mate!

What's the best value SW receiver for these parts, do we think, or even the best band to listen to? As I recall everything for Europe was the 49-31 metre bands, but I used to pore over the tropical bands in the night, hoping to hear something exotic.

Any ideas, now the weather has changed in the last 20 years or so?

Shortwave radio isn't that much of an anachronism - it's used across the world where they don't have the Internet.


I can't get home internet out here and have to wander a couple of towns away to get on line so I use short wave to listen to the BBC world service.
Rich got it right to say that the internet is the future but many places have a long way to go before the net is available to the masses so short wave has a long life yet.

No worries mate!

What's the best value SW receiver for these parts, do we think, or even the best band to listen to? As I recall everything for Europe was the 49-31 metre bands, but I used to pore over the tropical bands in the night, hoping to hear something exotic.

Any ideas, now the weather has changed in the last 20 years or so?

Last year I read an article in RadCom about a little Chinese set that Superdrug were flogging for a fiver. I bought one for fun, and it's a nice little set for sticking in the bag when I'm on my travels.

In the shack I have an FRG7700 (antiques roadshow here!!) as well as soem homebrew gear.

The bands are stlll reasonably active - rather than the weather I'd say the biggest change in the last 20 years has been the increase in radio noise in the home environment. :(

I've always liked the 25 metre band, and 19 metres in the daytime.

Last year I read an article in RadCom about a little Chinese set that Superdrug were flogging for a fiver. I bought one for fun, and it's a nice little set for sticking in the bag when I'm on my travels.

In the shack I have an FRG7700 (antiques roadshow here!!) as well as soem homebrew gear.

The bands are stlll reasonably active - rather than the weather I'd say the biggest change in the last 20 years has been the increase in radio noise in the home environment. :(

I've always liked the 25 metre band, and 19 metres in the daytime.

I used to have one of those little wallet sized things about 15 years ago.

It's also quite odd that I read your reply about half an hour after siphoning five gallons of home made wine out ..........