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Got my Sangean PR-D18 today

Haven't yet been able to do a nighttime band scan yet because it's been raining at night and I can't get outside away from the noise.

So I did a partial daytime band scan around mid morning.

There's still background noise but it's nothing compared to being in the house.

I still don't know why the Hilo AM stations are so weak here on any radio and I'm only 12 miles away.

KPUA 670 comes in fairly well but the ones on 850 and 1060 are weak.

650, 690, 760, and 830 are from Honolulu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_jVN8yM6Ms
 
I watched the vid. That's how my PR-D18 sounds... decent AM sound. A little fuller through the headphones.

Was wondering if you'd had a chance to DX with the radio yet, and have you tried a loop with it? Tip: you have to tune carefully to peak it, and it helps if the radio is a few inches away from the loop when you peak it. I DX with mine and it's a little tricky to use a loop with it until you get used to it.
 
Thanks for asking.

There have been hardly any nights where we don't have passing rain showers, so it's not easy to get away from the house and the background noise sources.

The couple times I have though, the background noise (a constant buzzing sound) is still there on most all frequencies regardless of how far out into the woods I go now.

And it's even worse on my PR-D5 but still strong enough on the PR-D18 to make DXing on the frequencies other than the ones such as with the Honolulu and California nighttime regulars pretty much impossible.

I don't understand why this is because up until a couple years ago, I didn't have to go too far away from the house to escape the background noise completely and this is such a remote area too.

It's a big mystery and it's frustrating.

It's to the point where I just use the Maui SDR anymore for nighttime AM DXing.

As for an external loop, my experience has always been that it does increase and pull in distant stations during the day but makes no difference at night.
 
You'll probably see more of a difference with a loop using the PR-D18. My PR-D5 works better at night with a loop, maybe a decibel or two difference, depending on conditions and channel. But then, I live in a hole surrounded by hills, so my signals levels are lower then most DXers probably. If I drive up the hill, DX blasts in more.

Sorry to hear about your noise levels. Has to be something in your house. I only have a router and a couple relatively noiseless switching power supplies here, so I guess I'm lucky in that respect. I do have one LED light bulb that makes noise below 650-700 Khz or so. It sweeps across that range with noise. I turn it off, it's in a storage room. Others of the same brand are noiseless. You might want to check your LED's and see if any of them are causing the noise.
 
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