DXing with radio/recorder combos

[dxer720]

Has anybody found a good portable digital radio/recorder combo?

I have several models, but none are very good. The Grundig G2 is the best I've found, but I'm thinking I could do better.

Any thoughts?

 

[fybush]

The C. Crane Witness is not a DX machine by any stretch of the imagination.

If I'm doing anything more than airchecking a local station, I'm using a real DX radio and a patch cord to feed a separate digital recorder.

 

[radiorob2.0]

An issue I have had is processor noise from the recorder. There is a dx video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W_RgQogINQ that utilizes an isolation.

 

[crainbebo]

I was thinking about recording my E-skip openings. Would pointing a small digital recorder at the speaker work? Or what should I do? My G8 has no line-out but the Grundig G5 does.

-crainbebo

 

[cd637299]

I was thinking about recording my E-skip openings. Would pointing a small digital recorder at the speaker work? Or what should I do? My G8 has no line-out but the Grundig G5 does.

-crainbebo

I still use cassette (yes, I am the one)....however I do use Total Recorder ( www.totalrecorder.com ) and run a cable from the audio of my stereo system to the PC. E-skip, like meteor scatter, will show like an "EKG", so you can see the audio spikes. Once you feel the audio (in the spike/s) is worthy to save, you drag the mouse across the audio you wish to keep, and you can make a file of it.

In the case of the G8, you can point a mic to it, I suppose.

cd

 

[gar hi]

Most digital cameras have a video function too and that's what I've been using for most of my DXing videos until I got my Flip video camera for my California vacation last year.

I will use that for my E Skip catches now because not only is it in stereo but the video length potential is so long too.

My digital camera video only had a length of one minute.

 

[pianoplayer88key]

I thought the G8 had a headphone out, so you could connect to the recorder with that?

 

[crainbebo]

I could, but I don't want to mess up the radio. Best thing I could do is buy a $30 voice recorder, and point it at the G8 speaker. Maybe you guys will see links to my DX online this summer!

-crainbebo

 

[cyberdad]

I had a small Panasonic portable back in the '80s. Multiple functions....none of which performed very well. Lousy for DX and a lousy cassette recorder. Probably the most useless radio I ever owned....despite otherwise having had pretty good luck with the Panasonic brand.

 

[fybush]

I could, but I don't want to mess up the radio. Best thing I could do is buy a $30 voice recorder, and point it at the G8 speaker. Maybe you guys will see links to my DX online this summer!

You're not going to "mess up" anything by plugging your recorder into the G8's headphone output. The worst-case scenario is an impedance or level mismatch. I feed my recorders (a Zoom H2 and a Marantz PMD620) from headphone outputs all the time. It results in much, much cleaner audio than you're going to get by pointing your voice recorder's mic at the speaker.

 

[ddsparxx]

I once had a Panasonic radio/tape recorder with a decent FM but a horribly insensitive AM and the unit had a tiny ferrite AM antenna on the circuit board.

 

[spunker88]

I've been using a voice recorder to record all of my DX in the past year or so, its a Sony ICD-PX820. There are other models out there now, but the reason I chose this one was because it has a miniUSB connection so I can transfer recorded MP3s to my computer. It has a stereo 3.5mm microphone input and headphone output. All I had to do was change the setting from high to low sensitivity to make the mic input behave more like line level input, at high sensitivity it was distorting the recorded audio in the MP3. I have Y splitters on my XDR-F1HD so it can feed my stereo receiver and the Sony recorder at the same time. I don't really notice any interference issues coming back through the line, even AM still does great.

On other units with only headphone output like my portable Tecsun PL-390, I can set the volume low which will be close enough to imitating line level. The worse you can do is distort your recordings, it won't harm any hardware. To listen I can plug the headphones into the recorder itself which contains its own audio amplifier with independent volume control.

This recorder runs from 2AA batteries so its portable, but also can be powered with 5v via its miniUSB jack which is great for doing unattended recordings.

 

[KE4KLS_Radio]

Have a Radio Shack DX-392 with built in cassette that works well. Not the best radio in my collection but does a decent job...

 

[Darth_vader]

"I feed my recorders (a Zoom H2 and a Marantz PMD620) from headphone outputs all the time. It results in much, much cleaner audio than you're going to get by pointing your voice recorder's mic at the speaker."

Pretty much the only way I do it, too, unless the receiver has a line-out jack. Biggest problem I've had is getting the volume control on the radio set at the proper level to feed the Minidisc recorder with, but not high enough to push the radio itself into clipping (VERY easy to do with my police scanner and the Yacht Boy!) Thankfully the Minidisc machine has a record-input volume control, which I can set at a relatively high level to compensate for the shortcomings of the radio equipment.

The best current practise for me involves feeding the Minidisc box off the line-out of an F1HD. Still need to figure out how to convert the F1HD to run directly off a battery, though.....

 

[phil]

Years ago, I discovered a suction cup type telephone pickup could be placed over a speaker, lined up on the center line of the speaker, then plugged into the mike input of a recorder. This resulted in a good recording, minus any room noises or nearby conversations. Of course, it worked best with the radio on its back, and the speaker pointing straight up. Much better than using a microphone. Of course, you had to be careful on the speaker volume to eliminate distortion.

 

[cd637299]

"I feed my recorders (a Zoom H2 and a Marantz PMD620) from headphone outputs all the time. It results in much, much cleaner audio than you're going to get by pointing your voice recorder's mic at the speaker."

Pretty much the only way I do it, too, unless the receiver has a line-out jack. Biggest problem I've had is getting the volume control on the radio set at the proper level to feed the Minidisc recorder with, but not high enough to push the radio itself into clipping (VERY easy to do with my police scanner and the Yacht Boy!) Thankfully the Minidisc machine has a record-input volume control, which I can set at a relatively high level to compensate for the shortcomings of the radio equipment.

The best current practise for me involves feeding the Minidisc box off the line-out of an F1HD. Still need to figure out how to convert the F1HD to run directly off a battery, though.....

If I could pull off a way to run the F1HD off a battery (outside of a power inverter), by all means, let me know. Also I need to find a way to listen in stereo AND record in stereo off of it----would a Y-cable do the trick?

cd

 

[TheRob]

Diverting the conversation a little... has anyone used a TV/FM USB tuner for their computer? It would be nice to have one for road trips. Few USB tuners exist, and come with schizophrenic reviews: either five stars/best thing ever, or one star/worst thing ever.