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I finally got a shortwave radio

gar hi

gar hi

Well, I finally decided to expand my horizons and get into shortwave DXing. I got a Grundig G8 Traveler II. It's small but I love it.

I didn't want to spend too much so that was perfect. My brother has the Grundig G3.

What made me get so enthusiastic about getting a SW radio was talking to my older brother in Hawaii yesterday and he said he just got got one. He was the one who introduced me to DXing on the AM band when I was kid and I remember even before that how he was always listening to his shortwave radio in his room.
It was one of those old fashioned table top ones with the different sub bands lined up horizontally on top of each other and it also had the AM band. There was an S meter attached and a wire ran from the radio up on the roof.

We were talking about the old days and the different stations he got and it got me motivated to get a little SW radio. One of the stations I always remember hearing him listen to is WWV and I remember once hearing the one from Hawaii with the woman's voice behind the one in Colorado. Those were the days.

So I've been experimenting with my new radio and could already hear some foreign stations coming in loud in the middle of the day. I couldn't identify the language.

Now that it's getting dark, the lower part of the SW band is getting active. The AM reception is real good too considering the size of the radio. I called a technician at the 800 number for some questions and he said the internal ferrite antenna for AM is the length of the radio minus a 1/2 inch, so that's roughly 5 1/2 inches long. The radio has longwave too and the FM sounds great. It's stereo with the headphones.

Here's a picture I took holding the radio to get the perspective of how compact it is.

http://i51.tinypic.com/sw7qmv.jpg

If anyone knows any good frequencies to listen for, I'd appreciate it.

I'm really excited.
 
Grundig G8 is one of the best, cheapest FM performers out there. You could probably get out 100+ mi on FM in some areas. Try to see if Cuba can be nulled out on 660 or 770, and try for KTNN or KKOB!

-crainbebo
 
Just remember to touch a doorknob before operating the G8, especially if you have been walking on carpet! ;o)
 
At your location you might find some interesting stuff on the tropical band....or just outside of it. See what you can find on 4700-5000 on winter nights. If you go just above, you should find R. Rebelde blasting in on 5025 24/7 (It puts a great signal into Pensacola). Try the upper bands in the daytime.....25,19, 16 meters (& 13 meters in summer). If you're looking for some really long distance reception, Australia and New Zealand used to be pretty easy right around/just after sunrise on 31 meters.
 
I used to DX a lot on shortwave BP a kid but more and more the strong signals in the US are all religous in nature which doesn't interest me. I still catch RCI from Canada from time to time but I can't say what freqs to try cuz I'm not on a computer...
 
gar fla said:
Well, I finally decided to expand my horizons and get into shortwave DXing. I got a Grundig G8 Traveler II. It's small but I love it.

We were talking about the old days and the different stations he got and it got me motivated to get a little SW radio. One of the stations I always remember hearing him listen to is WWV and I remember once hearing the one from Hawaii with the woman's voice behind the one in Colorado. Those were the days.
Click to expand...

The G8 is a great pick - excellent value for the money! Undoubtedly, its strongest suit is FM - where it's combination of sensitivity and selectivity is outstanding. On SW, it's okay for basic dial scanning and though it's not the best SW performer on the market, again it's unbeatable at its price point.

With regard to WWV (from Ft. Collins, CO) and WWVH (Hawaii), under the right conditions you'll still hear the female voice from WWVH behind the male voice of WWV (or vice versa the farther west you are). That's fairly common in the western and central US and is even possible on the East Coast. Give it a try, I'd bet that you'll pull them both in simultaneously on one of their main frequencies (5000, 10000, or 15000 kHz).
 
Thanks for the tip. I didn't know they were on more than one frequency.

I got the one on 15000 during the day yesterday from Ft. Collins but noticed how I couldn't get it at night.

The time I heard the Hawaiian one behind the one from Colorado was in the mid 70s when my brother was listening to it on his receiver at Penn State. I remember how excited he was.
 
gar fla said:
Thanks for the tip. I didn't know they were on more than one frequency.

I got the one on 15000 during the day yesterday from Ft. Collins but noticed how I couldn't get it at night.

The time I heard the Hawaiian one behind the one from Colorado was in the mid 70s when my brother was listening to it on his receiver at Penn State. I remember how excited he was.
Click to expand...

The rule of thumb is this: at night time the lower frequencies are better; during the daytime the higher frequencies are the ones with the best propagation. So, 5000 kHz is better at night and 15000 is generally better during the day. The broadcast at 10000 kHz is an 'in-between' frequency that seems to do okay most of the time. But it varies. Yes, I have received 15000 at night - but during the summer months. During the winter, the lower frequencies do better overall. But, try them all because atmospheric propagation changes from day to day and you never know what you'll get!

By the way, in addition to 5000, 10000, and 15000, WWV and WWVH also broadcast at 2500 kHz. I didn't list that one because WWV is challenging enough to get at 2500 and I've only heard a whisper of WWVH on that frequency when I was staying right by the ocean near San Diego. Never inland. WWV is on 20000 as well, but no WWVH on that one. The voices were changed at some point during the 90s; I liked the old male voice better, the female one from Hawaii still sounds great though.

The Canadian time station, CHU, is on 3330, 7850 and 14670 kHz - that one also gets out quite well....in this case from near Ottawa. The English male voice sounds pretty much like the one you heard on WWV back in the 70s.

And that's my bit of trivia on the time stations...... ;)
 
Even the little manual that came with the radio mentions how the upper part of the SW band is good for daytime listening and the lower part at night.

Why is that? I would have assumed the skip is always better at night but I've already seen first hand how the upper part of the band is not good at night while the lower end was lit up with many stations.

BTW, do you think that station in the sample video was from The Voice of Greece?
 
gar fla said:
Why is that? I would have assumed the skip is always better at night but I've already seen first hand how the upper part of the band is not good at night while the lower end was lit up with many stations.

BTW, do you think that station in the sample video was from The Voice of Greece?
Click to expand...

Gar, here's a fairly simple explanation that does a better job of discussing propagation than I could do. Just remember that propagation on shortwave is a little less predictable than it is on something like MW - so it doesn't hurt to check all SW bands when you're dxing.

Where I am, I'm not able to run a sound file so I'll have to sample it another time.
 
BRNout said:
The Canadian time station, CHU, is on 3330, 7850 and 14670 kHz - that one also gets out quite well....in this case from near Ottawa. The English male voice sounds pretty much like the one you heard on WWV back in the 70s.
Click to expand...

I think it's the exact same dude who was the English voice of CHU in the 60s! And I mean going back to the early '60s!
 
cyberdad said:
BRNout said:
The Canadian time station, CHU, is on 3330, 7850 and 14670 kHz - that one also gets out quite well....in this case from near Ottawa. The English male voice sounds pretty much like the one you heard on WWV back in the 70s.
Click to expand...

I think it's the exact same dude who was the English voice of CHU in the 60s! And I mean going back to the early '60s!
Click to expand...

Yes, somewhere in my archives I have a tape that I recorded in 1961-62 of the guy on CHU..."CHU Dominion observatory Canada, eastern standard time is"
 
gar fla said:
I found a strong station that wasn't on that SW station list for some reason.

It's from Spain. Radio Exterior De España.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGyS76n3RRo
Click to expand...

You'll get a lot of that, especially with time change overs about to take place.

SW used to be a busier place than it currently is. However, there is certainly some interesting stuff out there. Stations from the Middle East, Greece, Brasil, India, etc, (still) broadcast domestic services, which I find the most enjoyable types to catch.

Also, air traffic control (ATC) centres can be heard on SW, along with the aircraft talking with them. If you have sideband, you can pull in the Volmet stations, along with military traffic.

Here's a list for you (updated last in 2006, but still very usable) ~> http://www.hamuniverse.com/aerofreq.html

Cheers!

~BG
 
China Radio International is on a blitz to get on both shortwave and commercial AM/FM outlets throughout North America. You'll hear their English broadcasts on many bands.

Radio Sweden is shutting down on both shortwave and MW this week. So, look for them before Sunday, or never again.

The World Radio-TV Handbook is still the definitive source for broadcast channels. The new one comes out in January, so you might be able to get Borders' or one of those other big box stores to sell you the 2010 issue at cost.
 
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