New Sony 7600GR, but can't receive anything!

[davepl]

Hi folks! I purchased a Sony ICF-SW7600GR because I was interested in getting started with shortwave, but so far after much playing around with it the best I can do is receive my local AM and FM stations.

I've gone though the frequency vs time listings that came with it (for North American region), and then I directly enter that frequency, but to no avail. Just static, no matter what I try.

I've tried indoors, indoors at the window + the wire antenna extension, and outdoors, but no luck.

I'm in the Seattle area, and I'm wondering if there's a reasonably reliable, consistent, and powerful frequency which I can try starting with. CBC Radio Canada? Voice of America? I'll get esoteric later, but would be happy to hear anything at this point!

For those with the radio, here's what I'm doing. Maybe you can spot a problem:

- I check my time (GMT-8), look at what my UTC time is.
- In a station list for what's available in North America, I look for who's broadcasting right now, like from a list such as this: http://home.centurytel.net/danielsampson/america.txt
- I see that now, at 4:51 UTC, I should be able to get WYFR on 5950 and 6915
- I set my radio to AM, hit "Direct" to enter a station, key in 5950
- Radio goes to 5950, but just static

Seems to make no difference if I set the side select to "NORM" or "SSB", just a different type of static.

Any tips on where I'm going wrong would be greatly appreciated!

[ka3jjz]

Dave, you have to understand that most broadcasts from overseas to North America are actually beamed to the East Coast, not the West. In addition to the time differences, you must also concentrate on what frequencies will propagate at the time you are listening. HF is a totally different animal from scanning - this is one of the differences. Listen below 9 mhz at night, above it during the day. Propagation has been abysmal due to the lack of sunspots; this is also a factor. However you should be getting stuff on 49 meters during the evening hours.

While the PTSW listings are OK, it looks like it hasn't been updated in about 2 months. There have been several changes since then. Your best bet would be to hook up with some folks also on the West Coast. In this case, go join up with the American SWL Club (ASWLC) Yahoo group (links are in blue). Although they are based in California, as far as HF is concerned, that's close enough. It's free- and if Stew MacKenzie is still around, tell him Mike Agner says hi.

73 Mike