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mainetrunk

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Hi all, just got a Radio Shack world reciever. Haven't heard squat yet, when do the airwaves open, and close? I'm new at receiving, just a scanner freak. Thx. P.S, anyone got anything good to say about it? Honesty is --appreciated--.
 

jfhtm350

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Never heard of a RS world reciever. If it came with preloaded frequencies, then they are probably outdated. My pro-106 came with preloaded frequencies and I dont think I could use ANY of them. Law, Fire, EMS airwaves never close. You should hear something from one of them in an hours time at least, unless it is extremely slow.
 

jfhtm350

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I looked up what your talking about and it looks like a grundig reciever my dad has. He only used it once and decided to turn his scanner on and leave that alone. I fooled with it a little bit and decided I didnt want to fool with it either. I would rather scan. I dont know if that helped you any at least I know what a RS world reciever is now.
 

mainetrunk

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Actually, they said Grundig makes the R.S receiver, but it did not do squat. There was a Grundig there-s450dlx. $20.00 more than the R-S model. Well, I went back yesterday and got the Grundig, with plan. $120.00.. Plus-the R-S does NOT come with power supply, $21.00 more. So right THIS moment I got it hooked up to my ferret ( shared with a bct15x ) local mode. DX after 2 pm.. Now I gotta learn how to store freqs, as well as hear something other than foriegn music and a preist serman. ( forgive me lord ) It's gonna be a long night. Thx all!
 

Boombox

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Hi all, just got a Radio Shack world reciever. Haven't heard squat yet, when do the airwaves open, and close? I'm new at receiving, just a scanner freak. Thx. P.S, anyone got anything good to say about it? Honesty is --appreciated--.

It's the Radio Shack 20-629, and it's made by Sangean, not Grundig. It's Radio Shack's new version of the Sangean ATS-505.

And it's a good SW digital portable radio. I have one, and it works well. I use a 30 ft indoor antenna and hear all kinds of SW broadcast and Ham stations with it. I don't know what may have been wrong with yours. Maybe you weren't using a good antenna for SW.

There is a thread on the radio here that has further info and reviews of the Radio Shack receiver:
http://forums.radioreference.com/hf...shack-synthesized-world-receiver-reviews.html

Good luck with your Grundig.

PS -- foreign language broadcasts, and English speaking preachers is the majority of programming you will hear on the SW broadcast bands. There is English speaking programming out there (BBC to Africa and Asia; Radio Romania; Radio Australia; Radio New Zealand; China Radio International are the ones I hear the most) -- but most of what I hear on the SW bands is in Chinese, Spanish, or Portuguese, along with various Asian and African languages.
 

mainetrunk

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Thanks, I just got back from Portsmouths N.H. I went to the coast to do a sweep from 520 khz -- 29999. I forgot to bring a pen to make notes. All I can say is there was alot of activity on the 28 khz band. Now, to get a killer antenna. Thx again!
 

jfhtm350

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Well I decided to get the Grundig and play with it. I see what you mean about preachers and foreign languages. I found the Mancow show on 11250khz. Its on right now. See if you can get it. Im using the stock extendable antenna set at full length (36").
 

jfhtm350

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Seems Mancow is also on 12160khz. Why are there shadows of the broadcast? I noticed that with a preacher on another band.
 

mainetrunk

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12:58 pm, no signal on 11250, I dont doubt you, I am in a bad spot obviously. When I set it next to the computer monitor, I get an *** load of static. Gotta find IT'S prefferred scan area. I'm in deep on this 1, I thought scanners and lmr cables were fun, now this.. Oh boy. Hope it's worth it. Thx
 

jfhtm350

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See if you can pick up a frequency and let me know the freq and Ill see if I can get it here. Preferably English spreaking.

Also with my router plugged in I get loads of static through my scanner. Some with the computer on but not like the router does. Lots of static too if I hook up my scanner to the computer with the usb cable. Try that if you have a router and can unplug it.
 
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mainetrunk

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Oh wow, now it is throwing my R-S pro 84 a carrier wave. Getting static on static. Had to go to LOCAL mode til I figure something out. I thought having my cell phone next to my pro 94 was bad, get that signal in the scanner that you are about to receive either call or text, get those bursts of 3, annoying.
 

mainetrunk

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I just spent over 2 hours tuning EVERY freq from 520--30000 khz, wow! That was fun, 2 hours 1 run through. I got over 70 entities , from 520 to 15320. Rather than fill up space, anyone want a copy of what I caught in York county Maine, 144 fweet above sea level, PM me.. Cant wait to scan LOWER than 520 khz, and above 1300mhz
 

mainetrunk

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I noticed the Grundig S450DLX has GAPS in its scanning/search mode.. The Tech support guy said it is because there is no traffic there. 1 of the gaps I am refferring to is 26100 khz --30000 khz, and yet I found this guide. Shortwave Frequency List and SWL Links Any truth to this page? Do I have to tune these bands by hand? Wow, wheres the scan button? Hahaha
 

ka3jjz

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Well, I wouldn't take that tech's word as on target. That web page looks like it's at least partially based off of a FCC listing, but it's reasonably accurate.

A couple of comments here - you won't hear very much in the broadcast 11 meter band right now. Most broadcasters aren't using it, even though at times propagation might support it. The problem is that due to the erratic solar cycle, sometimes it would work as a long distance to other countries, others not.

There are portions of the CB band (channels 16, and in some areas 36-40) as well as the amateur 10 meter band, where a mode called SSB (or single side band) is used, and I don't believe the Grundig is set up to handle that. It will sound like a distorted Donald Duck. There are also numerous digital modes and even FM (29.60 and 29.62- 29.68) that the Grundig also cannot handle. There are a few hams doing AM in that band, and when propagation is good enough, no doubt with a good enough antenna, you might hear them if they're on.

The problem with hearing traffic above, say 21 Mhz or so on a regular basis has to do with propagation. Quite apart from the solar cycle, there's another factor involved. We're slowly but surely heading into winter, when higher frequencies don't propagate quite as well. If you reviewed that AE4RV website I gave in another message you understand why - at this season, we're tilted slightly away from the sun, so we don't quite get the same amount of radiation as we do during the summer, when we're tilted slightly towards it. That's not to say that it doesn't work - 15 meter hams wouldn't be able to work DX during the winter - they do, but it's not quite as regular nor as easy.

A good regular indicator of possible higher propagation would be the 17 Mhz broadcast area - if you start hearing a lot of stations here, time to move up the bands a bit. If not, drop back to 15 Mhz (19 Meters). Learn the bands well, and in time you will be able to spot openings when they occur. But it takes time and patience

Mike
 

mainetrunk

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Now --this-- is getting to be a real time killing hobby. I dont mind, just sooooo many freq's and signals. I got the tune search down. So glad theres none of that other noise that you would pick up with an analog scanner in p25 country. It reminds me when I was 12, my uncle had a cb. All those noises in that 40 channel radio. Although, these past 2 days, the name Ohbama has jumped out at me over 100 times, literally. Well, any hot ham bands, pm me. I been through all 4 settings, 520--3000, theres a huge gap between 21 and 26, guess I will have to turn by hand, left-right---tweek... This is more fun than a barrell full of reeces peanutbutter cups, hahahah..
 

Token

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I noticed the Grundig S450DLX has GAPS in its scanning/search mode.. The Tech support guy said it is because there is no traffic there. 1 of the gaps I am refferring to is 26100 khz --30000 khz, and yet I found this guide. Shortwave Frequency List and SWL Links Any truth to this page? Do I have to tune these bands by hand? Wow, wheres the scan button? Hahaha

The tech support guy is incorrect, whether it is ignorance or malicious intent would be up to you to decide. In that section of the HF spectrum there are no broadcast bands, but that does not mean there is no traffic there.

This shot is the 26 to 30 MHz spectrum right now as it is being received at my location. Every one of the bright spots is a transmission in the frequency range your tech guy said has “no traffic”. If it is not very dark blue or black then a transmission occurred. This is a 15 minute history of that range of frequencies. Frequency is across the bottom, time is on the right side.

large.jpg


If you want to look at that spectrum in more detail a larger version of the above image can be found here (large image): http://www.pbase.com/token/image/153398228/original.jpg

With regards to “scanning”. In the HF region most people do not use, as a primary means of tuning, a “scan” function. HF signals tend to fluctuate a lot more than signals on say a scanner. This is caused by not only atmospherics but also by the transmission modes used. This means that except for high powered broadcast stations using automated scanning results in more missed signals than in found signals. The norm on HF is to scan by hand, or in the case of using an SDR (as the images above) scanning by eye. On the waterfall of an SDR when you see a signal you click that signal with the mouse and tune to it.

Your 26715 kHz reception is an example of “outbanders”, or “freebanders”. The area above and below the “legal” 40 US CB channels (26965 to 27405 kHz) has been used by illegal operators, with modified CB gear or export radios, for many years. In some countries this is not even illegal, but in most it is. Some countries also have different frequencies for their “CB” channels, but in general the US allocation is the starting point for CB and outband activities.

T!
 

mainetrunk

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Wow, well the good news is, I found what I was looking for in bands. Finally! I may have to turn the knob til something better comes along, but it's ok.. Took me about 13 hours to get to know this Grundig, and all freq locations, ham, cb, gov,,,,,. Fine, now to listen, instead of search. Thanks again all. Fyi, this place completed my search-- Frequenzen AND MF & HF Channel Information
 
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