Boy am I feeling old/ the end of short wave broadcasting.
- Thread starter catman
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catman
Addicted Member
G'day all, there seems to be a lot of useful general information on this website: http://www.dxing.com/swllink.htm Regards, Felix (vk4fuq) aka catman.
ng0k
Well-Known Member
analog
Tubes Are Good
Interesting thread, I have a Heathkit GR64 SW radio that I got as a kid, I remember watching my Dad assemble it had a lot of fun wondering the SW bands. I just found it packed away a week or so ago and thought about recapping it and seeing what is out there. After reading all the pages I think I am going to move it to the top of the "to do" list.
danj
modern primitive
I own four short-wave receivers (Grundig, Sangean, Plata, and Realistic) but they haven't seen much usage lately. This thread has encouraged me to get them out of mothballs, install some fresh batteries, and spend my evenings listening to the world.
Long live shortwave radio!
Long live shortwave radio!
JBL GUY
Addicted Member
It is interesting that we are talking about "Short Wave Bands" with actual wavelengths measured in many feet. :yes:
Now the most common radio in use uses wavelengths measured in centimeters. :scratch2:
OK, so what is the most commonly used radio in the United States? Maybe the world?
(That uses actual radio waves)
Now the most common radio in use uses wavelengths measured in centimeters. :scratch2:
OK, so what is the most commonly used radio in the United States? Maybe the world?
(That uses actual radio waves)
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i own a few drakes 2 2b's with the q multiplier, a sw4a,r8(use to own a srp4a but sold it )i also hve a collection of other s.w radios besides the ones i listed also
) and one of them can be seen in my signature.as for only listening to the hambands that's mostly what i listen too also.
i took a break when i got into this hobby called audio for a few year now going on 15 but have started to get back into the s/w listening.
A tad bit of an arcane term, really. Compared to "longwave" (below the AM broadcast band, with wavelengths measured in hundreds or thousands of meters), 49M and the like is fairly short.
-Adam
I recall how cool it was (AND STILL IS) to pick up radio Havana, or Radio Moscow with a small(ish) Sony SW radio...
I listen to the BBC, but via my HD radio..BUT - I enjoy DX'ing with an inexpensive RS AM/FM radio...best yet is Atlanta Georgia (great skip early AM)
What has changed is the way the current generation sees content delivery - all digital..why bother with a SW radio when they can get it delivered digitally and w/o all that interference 'stuff' ..
I am sure that VOA is still a force out there ..
I listen to the BBC, but via my HD radio..BUT - I enjoy DX'ing with an inexpensive RS AM/FM radio...best yet is Atlanta Georgia (great skip early AM)
What has changed is the way the current generation sees content delivery - all digital..why bother with a SW radio when they can get it delivered digitally and w/o all that interference 'stuff' ..
I am sure that VOA is still a force out there ..
catman
Addicted Member
G'day all, I'm not sure if short wave listeners are aware of this news, but it was announced by the program compere of the DX Partyline program on this past weekend that the program will end with its final program on May 29, 2011, marking 50 years of the program and alas that will also be the end of the DXPL.
I was actually personally informed of this decision a couple of days ago, but I was asked to remain silent about it until it was publically announced. Another sad loss to the short wave bands. Regards, Felix (vk4fuq) aka catman.
I was actually personally informed of this decision a couple of days ago, but I was asked to remain silent about it until it was publically announced. Another sad loss to the short wave bands. Regards, Felix (vk4fuq) aka catman.
Just found this thread Felix - the description of your beginnings in the first post sounds like a description of me !
I haven't owned a proper SW receiver for a while now - but the magic of winkling a distant radio amateur or station out of the noise and identifying it is something I'll never forget. For one thing it taught me Geography, something that I doubt 'browsing the Internet' could do for anyone.
:sigh:
I haven't owned a proper SW receiver for a while now - but the magic of winkling a distant radio amateur or station out of the noise and identifying it is something I'll never forget. For one thing it taught me Geography, something that I doubt 'browsing the Internet' could do for anyone.
:sigh:
titanstats
Go Habs Go!
For all the convenience of the modern world/technology, we have lost some of the mystery, the fascination of discovering things from far off lands. I still remember 'discovering' SW broadcasts on my parents' old tube Westinghouse radio. Hearing the strange ticking of WWV and the other time clocks, writing an actual letter away to them, and some time later getting a package in the mail full of things that were strange and mysterious to a ten year old. The same for Radio Netherlands, and the other cool stations that I found -- I would write to them, and they would invariably write back, sending things undeniably foriegn and to me, mysterious.
Though everything under the sun is accessible via the click of a mouse and a few keystrokes, something great has been lost, I think. Mystery, discovery, the excitement of waiting, patience, and the arrival of the unknown -- children these days have little experience with any of that...
Still have the old Westinghouse, doubt that I'll ever part with it.
Though everything under the sun is accessible via the click of a mouse and a few keystrokes, something great has been lost, I think. Mystery, discovery, the excitement of waiting, patience, and the arrival of the unknown -- children these days have little experience with any of that...
Still have the old Westinghouse, doubt that I'll ever part with it.
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cchaven
Active Member
Interesting thread indeed. I've got a few Zenith Transoceanics, a couple of Hallicrafter's tube receivers, but the radio I use when I'm DXing is a Grundig Sattlit 3400 Professional. I've never set up a proper antenna though, so only have used a slinky antenna with any of it..but I still manage to pick up the English broadcasts of Chinese Radio International and Radio Havannah, as well as the occasional broadcast out of Japan and Eastern Europe..as well as the odd time signal. I'm in the eastern US.
dshoaf
That high voltage buzz
Well, I used to listen to DXPL when I was a kid, too, on my Heathkit GR-64 receiver. Built the thing as my first kit - lord, I'm glad I don't have it now as the soldering job would have been embarrassing to look at.
Agreed, the magic of SWL has been lost with the Internet but that's ok, I suppose. We cannot expect our later generations to appreciate the things we had - or didn't have - back then:
- Rotary dial phones with 3-minute long distance charges. I remember my grandfather standing over my grandmother with his watch to make her hang up when talking to her sister.
- Waiting for the bank to open so you could get some cash out of your account for which you needed your passbook so they could write it in for you at the window. Yes, everybody at the bank knew who you were, too.
- The local AM radio station that went off the air at sundown and always played a rousing version of "Dixie" as the final song of each and every day. (Yes, it was in a southern US state)
- Waiting for catalogs from Lafayette, McGee, and Allied to come to the post office box in town.
- Only 3 channels available on the TV - and one of them so far away that there was more snow than moving picture.
- Learning how to reseat the tubes in the TV when the picture lost sync and started rolling.
- The zap of high voltage arcing in the TV set on hot, humid summer nights in the South.
OK, that's enough of that. I'll take my iPhone with me these days!
Cheers,
David
