Any MW (AM Band) Receiver Recommendations ?

[edmscan]

I have always been interested in MW (AM band 580 -1600 khz) listening. Particularly DX listening at night. I was wondering if anyone has any receiver recommendations ?

I have an Kenwood HF rig (TS-140S), yes I know it is old, and am wondering if this would be good for this type of listening.

Any help would be appreciated.

[lbpd719]

I love the performance of my ICF-2010 for straight AM but as always - your mileage may vary..

[elk2370bruce]

You can have the best receiver that you can afford but spend more time designing and erecting a good outside antenna. The best ears you can get up in the air, the more you'll hear. A crummy antenna will make even the best receiver a disappointment.I've been using a big loop with success for years. Others have had good luck with a long end-fed wire. Up as high and as long as your property will permit.

[N_Jay]

It has been years since I played with AM DX, but I recall that a good quality AM car radio (late 60's early '70's vintage, pre-digital) would usually put a SW or ham receiver to shame.

That said, your antenna (and the coupling of the antenna to the radio) is as or more important than the radio itself. (for those of us who started by wrapping wire around our 7 transistor pocket radios to hook up an external antenna).

[edmscan]

Thanks guys .. i will see what I can find.

[ka3jjz]

Kevin, AM DXing is what the International Radio Club of America and National Radio club are all about. If you want to find reviews and technical information, these are the 2 places to get it.

They're both linked from this article...

SWL Broadcast - The RadioReference Wiki

Those 2 organizations are highly respected and known worldwide. You will not go wrong with either of them 73 Mike

[eorange]

I have a Sony 7600GR that I use for ham and utility SSB listening. I've never been into AM DXing (more into ham DXing with my ham rigs), but I tried it a few times at night on AM and it works "not bad", and this was with no external antenna. It does have the sync lock feature that prevents drift.

It's an inexpensive portable.

[kb2vxa]

Whatever works for you, there are many receivers that fill the bill. If it has sensitivity to pull out the weak ones and selectivity to separate the strong ones that's all that matters. The old ham "boat anchors" and the high end ham and SWL receivers have several filters to enhance difficult reception but because it looks like you haven't gotten your feet wet you'd be better off not diving into the deep end quite yet. Right now the really important bit is the antenna, a 100' long wire will do you justice. You'll never get it "high enough" so don't worry about it, just keep it as far from the power lines as possible and at right angles to them to minimize noise pickup.

One final note, unless you have the worst receiver in the world it will not drift. That "sync lock" is a synchronous AM detector that replaces the missing carrier (much like an SSB product detector) to minimize effects of selective fading. It sure works wonders, with it off a station in deep fade sounds garbled, with it on it's clear as the proverbial bell. Receiving in SSB mode and zero beating (tuning the beat tone to zero) accomplishes the same thing, the poor man's synchronous detector.

[FrankJ]

I've been MW DX'ing with a GE Superadio II for years. The Superadio series is known for it's long internal ferrite antenna (longer than most AM radios).

From my location in NE Ohio, I regularly pull in XEWA on 540 Khz from Monterrey, Mexico in the late evenings. I hear quite a bit of Spanish speaking stations as well.

They are pretty inexpensive. You can probably find one for around $50 to $75.....


Frank

[lanbergld]

If you just want long range MW broadcasts then you'll be very pleased with the Sangean PR-D5. By far it's the most powerful AM radio I've ever seen. It came out only a few years back; you can buy it brand new for like $80-$90. Universal Radio sells it also, for a starting place. But you can find it just about anywhere.

The PR-D5 doesn't do shortwave though. And it doesn't have any external antenna connections. Its just AM/FM. But man it can outdo any desktop receiver or super portable out there, on MW. No contest.

Larry Lanberg
Richmond VA

[k9rzz]

Originally Posted by edmscan

I have always been interested in MW (AM band 580 -1600 khz) listening. Particularly DX listening at night. I was wondering if anyone has any receiver recommendations ?

I have an Kenwood HF rig (TS-140S), yes I know it is old, and am wondering if this would be good for this type of listening.

Any help would be appreciated.

Have you tried it? I really can't imagine you'd find anything much better. It has plenty of sensitivity (BC sigs are plenty loud), you have SSB capability so you can (if you wish) to listen in SSB, either USB or LSB which ever gives you the least interference, it has IF shift which helps reduce interference even more, and you can use any external antenna that you wish (wires, loops, beverages).

Sounds to me like you're set ... go get 'em!

[MFD4305]

Leave it to a Beer City Guy to be thinking about "beverages"!!

[edmscan]

I have connected up the TS140 so now all i need is an antenna .... which i should do in the next little bit. Hope to get some good stations. Thanks to all for all your advise.

[ka3jjz]

Kevin, by far the most popular antennas for MW is a loop or a plain random wire. Loops have several advantages over a wire; those that can be tilted or turned can be use to reject - or enhance - one station from another, as well as being able to reject certain kinds of noise (dependent on the local environment, of course). Our Loops wiki article has lots of notes on commercial ones, as well as some on how to build your own.

73 Mike

[Patch42]

The current craze among MW devotees is ultralight (shirtpocket) radios. There are select models available that provide amazing performance considering the size and price. The Sony SRF-59 is readily available at many K-Marts and from SonyStyle online for $15. It has some quirks, but the reception on one that's properly aligned is truly amazing. I'm talking trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific reception.

Eton used to produce the E100. Earlier, single conversion models of this radio are highly prized for being excellent MW receivers and for being easily modified with a better filter and external antenna jack. These pop up on ebay.

I just purchased a Tecsun R911 on ebay for under $15 delivered from Hong Kong. The actual sale price of the radio was less than US$4. The rest was shipping. This radio is said to be even better than the SRF-59 and is also easier to tune.

These tiny radios have the advantage of being very easily transported (got a spare pocket?) to spots well away from the QRM many of us have to deal with at home.

As to the original question, your Kenwood rig should do fine to get you started unless it has some kind of block on MW. This is not out of the ordinary in rigs designed primarily for operation in the HF range. Certainly the best advice is to try what you have before spending money on something new.

[k9rzz]

Originally Posted by Patch42

... It has some quirks, but the reception on one that's properly aligned is truly amazing. I'm talking trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific reception.

...

If you live on either coast where those signals can be very loud.

[ka3jjz]

Not a 'block' per se, but rather some desktop rxs (and I think some ham transmitters too) insert some attenuation into the MW coverage - sometimes starting around 1000khz or so. My old R7A had it, and I know the R75 has a very small (3db) pad in that area as well. It depends on how difficult it is to actually get to it, and how much the attenuation is costing you, as to whether it's worth removing it. 73 Mike