Hello,
It's been a long time since i played around with short wave radio. I have a few questions because i was thinking of getting a new radio to again listen to some SW stations from the North Eastern part of the USA. Im interested in reception only and not transmitting.
I'd appreciate hearing any thoughts, comments, or tips about the topics to follow. I'm hoping to hear from people that have SW radios already and so have experience with them.
Question 1:
I see many makes and models of SW radio on the web. The price ranges from 10 dollars US to several hundred dollars. What can i expect to get at 10 dollars, and what can i expect to get near 100 dollars? Are some radios really so awful you cant get much SW on them? Also, any particular radios or brand names to stay away from?
Question 2:
I understand we need to be able to detect single side band as well as regular AM on the SW bands. How important is this, and do some radios just not have this?
Question 3:
I also see a number of radios with 'bands' described in certain ways that are NOT in meters or even in Hertz, but things like "receives Bands 1 to 9", "receives SW1 and SW2", "World band SW".
I do however once in a while see the actual frequencies listed, like 3 to 20MHz, however sometimes the frequencies listed 'skip' several 'bands' like:
"receives 5 to 6MHz, 7 to 10MHz" where obviously they skipped 6 to 7MHz for some unknown reason.
So the question is, are there any bands that are more important than others, or do you really need to get all of them to have a good experience with this kind of radio reception?
Question 4:
Part of the reason im looking into this is to be able to listen to local channels for emergency broadcasts. Any standard channels for this (like channel 9 is for CB radio)?
I'll probably have more questions later, but that should be good enough to start. Thanks for any ideas or experiences you might want to share on either SW dx'ing or buying SW radios or SSB reception.
It's been a long time since i played around with short wave radio. I have a few questions because i was thinking of getting a new radio to again listen to some SW stations from the North Eastern part of the USA. Im interested in reception only and not transmitting.
I'd appreciate hearing any thoughts, comments, or tips about the topics to follow. I'm hoping to hear from people that have SW radios already and so have experience with them.
Question 1:
I see many makes and models of SW radio on the web. The price ranges from 10 dollars US to several hundred dollars. What can i expect to get at 10 dollars, and what can i expect to get near 100 dollars? Are some radios really so awful you cant get much SW on them? Also, any particular radios or brand names to stay away from?
Question 2:
I understand we need to be able to detect single side band as well as regular AM on the SW bands. How important is this, and do some radios just not have this?
Question 3:
I also see a number of radios with 'bands' described in certain ways that are NOT in meters or even in Hertz, but things like "receives Bands 1 to 9", "receives SW1 and SW2", "World band SW".
I do however once in a while see the actual frequencies listed, like 3 to 20MHz, however sometimes the frequencies listed 'skip' several 'bands' like:
"receives 5 to 6MHz, 7 to 10MHz" where obviously they skipped 6 to 7MHz for some unknown reason.
So the question is, are there any bands that are more important than others, or do you really need to get all of them to have a good experience with this kind of radio reception?
Question 4:
Part of the reason im looking into this is to be able to listen to local channels for emergency broadcasts. Any standard channels for this (like channel 9 is for CB radio)?
I'll probably have more questions later, but that should be good enough to start. Thanks for any ideas or experiences you might want to share on either SW dx'ing or buying SW radios or SSB reception.
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