New to hobby and have some AM DX questions

I just started this hobby as I can't sleep much at night. As a DAV, I quit the meds and looked for something productive to do when I couldn't sleep.

They need to prescribe this! LOL puts you right out after a few hours of intense listening.

I live near Madison WI.

Anyway, I purchased a Radio shack AM/FM/SW travel radio model 200-0658 for $39.99. The store was out of a clearance radio I believe to be a Sanjean for $24.99 but they are shipping one to the store for me. (If you live near Appleton WI, they have a few models left)

I have been reading here for awhile and decided to make a few easy and cheap mods.

1) changed the antenna to 28" from 20"
2) did the indoor antenna using speaker wire (39') on the room ceiling using a gator clip

Now here comes the questions.

Shortwave

1) I experienced much talk over on frequencies
2) how do you get call signs if you don't understand the language?

Ex, I got 11.78 MHz at 0300 gmt and thought it was Russian, but looking it up online, it seems to be Radio nacional de Amazonia

I have been the Global Frequency Database, but, it seems very outdated and missing info. Unless my info is not considered relevant. Seems to have a lot of secure data attached to each freq.

So, while DXing last night at 0500 Gmt I was able to reach a station at every step of the dial. Some I couldn't identify but could hear.

While reading other DX posts, I could not mark the significance due to no reference point from where the LP was. Here are the results of last night.

700-WLW Cincy
860- Toronto
900-CHML Hamilton Ontario
950-WWJ Detroit
1010-cFRB Toronto
1030-WBZ Boston
1060- KYW Philly
1140-WRVA Richmond VA

I skipped a bunch because they all were the same distance as the others. I stopped there because I actually fell out at that point! Woke up after some REM sleep with my headphones still on listening to WRVA.

So my indoor has the N and E orientation. How can I reach the other directions? I assume the west is more difficult due to the mountains

Sorry for the long first post. I was happy with the radio the RS owner said was junk!

For Shortwave broadcast info, the best site out there is probably Short-wave.info.

The guy who runs that site compiles the info off AOKI and EiBi, which are lists you can find online that are also pretty accurate.

RE: how to identify: you have to learn to ID the language, and listen for key words. BBC broadcasts in other languages will often have an announcer saying "BBC" in English, often in passing. Some others, you just have to make an educated guess.

IDing languages is not difficult once you get to know the sounds. Chinese sounds different from Japanese... Hindi and Urdu sound different from Arabic (the word "hai" is used a lot in Hindi and Urdu; the prefix "wa-" is used a lot in Arabic, etc.) -- listen for the sounds, and you'll soon be able to ID the language, or at least the language group (i.e. African languages usually sound different from the Asian ones).

If you at least can get the language IDed, you're at least halfway there to IDing the station.

Also, many foreign language stations do have some sort of ID at the top of the hour -- and although it may be in the foreign language, resources like the World Radio TV Handbook have the foreign language ID's listed in the sections covering each SW broadcast station. So WRTH can be a help in that regard. There may be some online resources that have these foreign ID's spelled out also but I don't know of any personally.

Your radio probably only uses the internal loopstick antenna for the AM band. Your external wire probably only helps on Shortwave. For AM reception, just turn the radio to get different stations. AM loopstick antennas are directional. If you have your radio's front and back facing North and South, you'll probably receive different stations than when you have the radio's front and back facing East and West.

I've read good and poor reviews of the radio you have. It seems you have a good one. If you want to get better reception on the AM band with it, try an external, tunable loop like the Terk or the Eton (or Kaito) AN-100. You set it next to the radio and peak the signal with the control on the external antenna.

The Sangean you mentioned may be the 200-0629 (Sangean ATS-505 / Radio Shack PLL World Receiver), which is a very good radio for SW broadcast listening and also useful for AM and FM DXing. There are a couple user reviews (including my own) about that radio on another thread on this forum.

RE: "talk over": I don't know what you really mean by this, but it's possible your 39 foot wire is overloading the RF circuits in the radio, and strong AM stations or strong SW stations are appearing in places where they really shouldn't be. If this is the case, try using a shorter wire (15-20 ft. or so) and see if that improves it.

A lot of the digital portable SW radios are designed to work just with the whip antenna. Adding a lot of wire to it can give the front end of the radio more signal than it is really designed to handle. The result is often that you will hear WWV around 9 Mhz, AM stations in odd places on the SW dial, etc. I have a radio that sometimes does this. I just shorten the antenna and the problem goes away.

Hope some of this helps.

Chris

Thank you for the reply. I definitely know Arabic when I hear it, LOL.

I will try the wire shortening as what you described sounds like the problem. I will also try a loop antenna like you have.

The RS Sangean comes in on Friday. My radio that I have now is the black one, not the older silver one.

On a side note, I got San Antonio last night clearly on AM

Good morning Walter and Happy Holidays to you and yours -

Your Radio Nacional on 11.78 is a Brazilian, and their language is Portuguese, although it's somewhat different from the Portuguese you would hear from Portugal and the Azores, for example. There are 4 or 5 Brazilians in that band, and they are a good gateway into the world of Latin American DXing.

As was previously noted, it takes time to be able to identify languages correctly. Most of us are not linguists by any means (although some ability with foreign languages is a definite asset), so we listen for the IDs at the top of the hour (from the larger broadcasters). However Latins are different - while the larger National stations will ID at the top of the hour, they will also sometimes ID on the quarter hour - or they will give a network ID, rather than the station ID. It makes for a bit of a challenge when you try to identify who you are really listening to.

Your issue does indeed sound like overloading - which is a common issue with portables. If you have any facility for soldering and working with small power tools, this project is highly recommended. It's a great way to add a little protection from static zaps (which will render the radio pretty much deaf) and adds the ability to control the amount of signal coming from the antenna into the radio (by the way, by convention, in both our wiki and here, anything that's blue is a link) since most portables don't have a RF gain control.

http://forums.radioreference.com/receive-antennas-below-30mhz/295299-great-first-timer-project.html

Another thing to keep in mind is that it's not a real good idea to clip the wire antenna to the whip - one static electricity zap and you're done (this will usually fry an amplifier found near to the base of the whip). Try to use the plug instead - or better still, the project above into an antenna jack. It's easy to fix the above if it takes a zap - not quite so easy if the radio takes it.

Feel free to ask as many questions as needed. Note that we have a number of forums for different topics. Enjoy yourself and have a happy...Mike

wisconsinwalter said:

Now here comes the questions.

Shortwave

1) I experienced much talk over on frequencies
2) how do you get call signs if you don't understand the language?

Click to expand...

#2 -- As Mike said, listen at the top of the hour and/or when the station first comes on air. Usually they'll broadcast their ID in their primary language on first sign-on -- then they may switch to other languages. There are several online sources of shortwave schedules. These are almost mandatory nowadays since the schedules change quarterly.

#1 -- What the O/P is referring to is not overloading but just the fact that if you hear multiple stations on the same frequency or nearby stations then you get the bleed-over effect.

There's nothing you can really do about this except limiting your antenna. SW portables have a very limited bandwidth. Only more expensive receivers can allow you to adjust your actual receive bandwidth. e.g. If you're listening to a station on 6000khz the receiver can "hear" between 5987-6003 (i.e. a 6khz bandwidth filter) Newer receivers allow you to adjust this... some use analog circuits so they have fixed values -- 9khz, 6khz, 3khz, etc. Digital circuitry allows the user to set just about any size they want. Your R/S portable is probably set around 9khz -- which is way too wide for most shortwave activities.

PS. Your R/S guy was not accurate in saying that the radio you bought is "junk" but what he should have said is that it's limited. Shortwave receivers that cost more have more features that come in handy to eliminate the issues you described. Since RFI or man-made-noise is a concern these days, the receivers also have features to help reduce the noise whenever possible. They also allow for just about any antenna that you can dream up.

Here's a picture of a high-end (now discontinued) receiver. The Drake R8 series made perfect bed-side companions in the mid-1990s. I know because I owned one. They are beautifully designed, elegant and very simple to operate. (You can see in the upper right corner the "bandwidth" selector.)

The audio output was also a major reason why Drake sold a lot of units. Unlike the 'tinny' speakers you get now the Drake had a beautiful sound.

It would easily help your sleeping problems...

Thanks Nick! Sweet unit! I am intrigued by all this. I will just go slow and learn on the lower end stuff instead of buy the top end and not know how to use it and get frustrated.

I sure hope the model I am getting for $25 is the Sangean 505. That would be a good value for me on a little better radio. The RS person was actually the owner and seemed miffed I asked for the SW. LOL

I have looked at craigslist to see what's out there locally for a unit that that Drake, but there are a bunch of sell me your SW radio ads out there so not much has appeared.

Ka3jjz. Thanks for the detailed post and welcome!

Don't fall into the trap of thinking 'OK the list says that it's station x, thats what this must be'. It's not at all uncommon for a station to make mid-season changes - yes, it can be more than one - and it's always more than a challenge to keep up with the changes. This hobby is called Short Wave LIstening, so listen.

There is a Yahoo group that carries a spreadsheet that summarizes numerous sites' worth of data. I don't have that off the top of my head - someone can jump in here and supply it. Another excellent source is the DXLD Yahoo group. This is the DX Listening Digest run by well known author Glenn Hauser. He often has the changes and puts them on the group, along with numerous DX related tips.

Don't ignore Yahoo groups and chat rooms for up to date information. Magazines like Spectrum Monitor or Popular Communications have a minimum 30-60 day lag between when the tips are actually received and when they become printed. Frankly magazines like this are not all that useful for up to date information. There are too many changes in that period.

Mike

Another Radio You Might Want To Look At

While like my R8 I also have several of these, 1 in the `master bedroom 1 in my son's bedroom 1 in my daughter's bedroom and 1 in our livingroom, around the house. (I purchased them whenever I managed to `get a tad bit of a `surplus' & originally to keep everyone elses hands off of my R8. {VB Grin!})

http://www.rffun.com/catalog/commrxvr/0175lrg.jpg

Great reception and great easy to listen to for long periods of time sound. And... fairly decently priced compared to what even used R8s can co$t.

On the AM BCB, use that built in loop antenna to your advantage (don't connect an external wire), that loop IS directional in that it has very narrow nulls off the ends of it. Slowly turn the radio physically and you'll be able to find that you can null out many stations and perhaps hear others under them. For example, tune into WSM Nashville on 650, turn your radio around to null them down as best you can, and maybe you'll hear WNMT Nashwauk, MN, or if you're REALLY lucky, KENI Anchorage, AK (don't hold your breath for that, but you never know!) The closer the station is to you that you want to null, the more you may have to raise one end of the radio up, sometimes as much as 45 degrees from horizontal, but it often works with local stations too. Try it! =:^]

Thanks, I just picked that sangean 505 that RS put out. Still getting used to it.

I might get a used Grundig 750 I saw on Craigslist as this seems like a hobby I will stick with

The ATS 505 you have will handle more signals than the other Radio Shack digital radio you have, but you still may encounter several 'images' with it, depending on signal strengths in your area. If that's the case, just shorten the wire antenna a bit. I sometimes get RTTY images on mine from a local maritime station if I use my external indoor wire, but nothing debilitating.

Mine gets a lot of SW stations just off the whip. The sound is great through headphones, and the batteries will last longer that way also.

The ATS505 also has diode protection on the external antenna circuit (not on the whip antenna though), so as long as you stick to an indoor antenna your chances of zapping the front end of the radio are limited. If you plan to use an outdoor antenna, the project mentioned earlier in this thread would be an excellent idea, especially if the air gets dry in winter, or you encounter local T-storm activity -- both of which can zap radios.

The selectivity on the 505 radio is excellent for a portable for AM band DXing, although to get the most from it on the AM band you still may want to get an external loop to set next to the radio.

On SW the selectivity is adequate for broadcast listening. If you have adjacent channel interference just push in on the tuning button and tune 1 or 2 khz to the right or left -- it will reduce a lot of the interference.

It does use batteries somewhat quickly compared to some other radios. A set of AA's in mine last maybe a week, and I use headphones. I made a D-Cell battery pack for mine.

Hope you get enjoyment from it... I have one and it is a good radio for SW listening.

I have found the SW and SSB to be limited so far. I will continue to learn it.

How did you mod the D batteries? Is there a post somewhere?

Welcome to the hobby Walter. I'd suggest looking at swing.com and their reviews and considering a trial issue or subscription to The Spectrum Monitor as its a solid publication with strong roots in monitoring. Prior to Dec 2013 most of the writers of Spectrum were writers for Monitoring Times which was the go to for radio hobbiests for many years.

For articles and other information - yeah sure, Spectrum Monitor and PopComm are two places to go.

However for up to date tips, station news, etc. - not so much. Mags like these often have 30-60 day lag times between when a tip is submitted, and when it prints.

Much better are clubs that have chat rooms and/or Yahoo groups where tips can come much faster. If we're sticking to AM BCB news, then there are 2 clubs I highly recommend - the International Radio Club of America (IRCA) and the National Radio Club (NRC). They've both been around a long time, and I'm sure they have either where more up to date news can be had.

The links for those, along with a lot more, can be found in the wiki article below (links are always blue)

MW DXing and Broadcasting - The RadioReference Wiki

Mike

wisconsinwalter said:

I have found the SW and SSB to be limited so far. I will continue to learn it.

How did you mod the D batteries? Is there a post somewhere?

Click to expand...

It may seem limited because SW conditions have been off and on lately.

Trust me, the radio can pull in signals.

RE: the D cells: I got a plastic D cell holder at a local electronics outlet (Frys -- Radio Shack might have them also). I wired some speaker cable to the D Cell holder, observing the polarity. Then I wired the other end of the speaker cable (making sure I got the polarity right) to a battery plug which I got at Radio Shack -- and because the ATS505 is an older design Sangean model, the center tip is *negative* (on their newest radios like the PR-D5 they seem to have switched polarity on their DC jacks and plugs).

You could use a wall wart with the radio, you'd just have to make sure the plug that goes into the radio's DC input jack is center negative (negative tip). You also would want to make sure it's a wall wart with a transformer, not a switching power supply. I'm not sure if RS has them or not. Sometimes thrift stores have wall warts in a bin.

Any wall wart made for an older Sangean 6 volt radio (ATS818, ATS909, ATS800a, etc.) will work with it.