 Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | Shortwave radio question I've had my radio for at least 7 years now.. however I have a hard time getting any type of signal in a concrete building...
Any tips? My current model has no external antenna jack but the new one (with SSB) has a ext jack. |
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 drjimPremium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Long Beach, CA
kudos:3
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Use a clip lead to add extra wire to the existing whip.
I've also noticed that some portables seem much more sensitive when used with an AC adapter. Might be the extra wire acting as some kind of counterpoise, or coupling into the building wiring.
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | only thing I don't have is a AC power cable for it. |
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 HankIts all relativePremium
join:2002-05-21
Burlington, WV | Try hanging a short piece of insulated wire out of the window, that is if they open. The use a clip lead to connect to the radio's built-in whip. If your radio has a terminal to connect an external antenna to use that instead. |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | how long of a wire? |
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| said by Subaru:how long of a wire?
As long as possible unless you have acres of land (you don't). |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT Reviews:
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| If I'm right I think the wire would have to be hung up? I'm unable to do that I have a spool of about 20 ft of wire.
It's about 11ft from my window to the ground
it's been sooo long I forgot most of what stations are what but my stations are still programmed in but can't hear anything.. And I forget.. I think the higher stations are used at night? Or is it the other way around? |
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| Take a wire and put a weight on the end of it and toss it in the nearest (or furthest) tree and string it back to your window. Use thin wire so the condo nazis don't get wind of your evil plan to listen to cold war numbers stations. |
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| said by fifty nine:Use thin wire so the condo nazis don't get wind of your evil plan to listen to cold war numbers stations.
L O L |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | reply to fifty nine
lol.. well I have nothing to hold it out with.. but 11ft of wire helped out big time. |
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| reply to Subaru
Higher freqs during the daylight hours, lower once the sun goes down. |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | As for time I can't pick up WWH or WWHV I can hear CHU Canada |
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 RoboticsSee You On The Dark SidePremium
join:2003-10-23
Louisa, VA | If you haven't already, string out the wire in a horizontal plane. You should get far better reception that way on HF broadcast |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT Reviews:
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1 edit | reply to Subaru
Oh man I have a stupid question to ask.. I was just listening to VOA on 5960 Khz.. Ok the station signed off..
However did they switch antennas? It went from playing a message like this
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=avdMisavT98
then to a bit of a static sound and now it seems like some Japanese language is being spoken right now I found this neat site but I don't know what it is.
»www.short-wave.info/index.php
Ok I found out it's Radio Japan but that site i guess the flags mean where it's transmitting from or it's primary target?
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It's NOT Ni-kon It's NE-KON!
LG is NOT Lifes Good It's Lucky Goldstar!
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| Some googling showed that NHK also uses that frequency.
I guess anything is possible.
A typical VOA site has a lot of antennas, many of them electrically slewable. They've scaled back a lot of them though and closed down many of them too, especially sites in the US.
Check out this photo album:
»picasaweb.google.com/11805366888···lideShow
Charles Lewis operated as S9SS from Sao Tome and Principe while working for international broadcasting bureau as an engineer for the VOA station there that broadcast to Africa.
It is amazing how big and magnificent these stations are and how they are now being rendered obsolete with the widespread proliferation of the internet. |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT Reviews:
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| Interesting I wonder how the switchover goes.. I know a person on yourtube had a 5 part video of the Greenville site.. The funny is like 7 years ago I remember passing the small highway sign with the area it said something like VOA Greenville.. Shoot I hope it stays. |
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| reply to Subaru
said by Subaru:As for time I can't pick up WWH or WWHV I can hear CHU Canada
WWV and WWVH broadcast on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz. Try any one of those frequencies. I usually get them reliably on 10MHz after dark, even on one of the wire antennas. |
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| reply to Subaru
said by Subaru:Interesting I wonder how the switchover goes.. I know a person on yourtube had a 5 part video of the Greenville site.. The funny is like 7 years ago I remember passing the small highway sign with the area it said something like VOA Greenville.. Shoot I hope it stays.
VOA greenvile is on the target of stuff to be cut. I don't think it has very long left, given the current atmosphere in DC. |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | So what are they going to do shift to the other transmitter sites? How is that less costly? |
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drjimPremium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Long Beach, CA
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| If they "shift" to anything, it'll probably be the Internet.
Sadly, these powerhouse stations are very expensive to run, and will likely be shutdown/mothballed/scrapped.
Looking at the big honkin' water-cooled ceramic power tube brought back a lot of memories!
When I worked in the RF Group at Fermilab, we used Eimac 4CX100000W tubes that were similar. The had 50 dB of power gain....1 Watt in => 100,000 Watts out!
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. |
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