How Do You Find What's Out There To Listen To?

[Kev70]

How do most of you find what is out in the Shortwave bands?

Do you...

1. Hunt or "scan" randomly until you find something?
2. Have a program or web site you go to?
3. Do you just know the bands well enough to know where to look from experience working the bands?

Do you have any tips that would give a more "systematic" approach that you use that gives you a better chance to hone in on some interesting stations, broadcast or transmissions?

Thanks!!!

 

[majoco]

Here's a couple of little charts which I keep handy for reference when I'm browsing...

 

[zl2taw]

I just randomly tune the bands, knowing what band will be open at a certain time

 

[ka3jjz]

Martin's answer is only partially correct. Knowing what the bands are is one thing, but there's another very important factor to consider - the time of day, and whether a particular area is in daylight or darkness.

You see, on HF, propagation largely depends on this. In general, freqs below 9 Mhz or so (a little higher than this during local summer) need darkness to propagate from one point to another - above 9 Mhz, daylight is needed. The reason has to do with the ionosphere, and how it bends a signal.

This topic can get very complex in a hurry, but like I said in another thread, you don't need a degree in geophysics to begin to understand this topic. This website is a good place to start...

Propagation Primer - Flash Movie by AE4RV

Whether a particular area of the world is propagating well (beyond the daylight or darkness factor) is a matter of spending time on the bands and recognizing what signals seem to be louder or perhaps finding a signal that wasn't there the day before. This is found by becoming familiar with the bands and how they propagate during a given time of the day/night. That takes time. There are schedules for the larger broadcasters, but the smaller ones may not have such a set schedule. That's where belonging to a club (and/or subscribing to various email lists like the famous DXLD run by Glenn Hauser) can be invaluable.

Mike

 

[Boombox]

I mostly listen to the Shortwave Broadcast bands.

Basically, I switch on my radio, go to a Shortwave Broadcast band, and tune up or down the band and log down what's there. Over time you get a feel for what stations are expected (i.e., the three Radio Havana English transmissions on 49 meters every night), and which ones are more unusual. I treat the SW bands no differently than I treat the AM broadcast band.

Because most of my SW listening time is night or early morning, it's 25-31-41-49 meters for me (and lately I've discovered the 21 meter band has a lot of interesting listening, and it seems to propagate fairly well at night). I already know the frequency limits of the bands I just mentioned, from memory. But if you're starting out, a chart like Majoco's can be very helpful.

For IDing stations I'm not sure about, I use the EiBi Shortwave schedule found online at www.eibispace.de, and I also use www.Short-wave.info -- it's an easy to use, excellent site.

Daytime I never hear too much on the SWBC bands. 15 and 16 meters do not propagate that well here -- sometimes I'll hear Spain, sometimes a station from the Middle East, sometimes the Philippines. But usually it's mostly dead, so above the 21 meter band the only listening I do is to ham bands (mostly 20 m and 17m).

Unlike a lot of SWLs and SW DXers, I don't do much 'targetted' listening. I don't look at the SW station schedules and then try to hear a certain station, although that method works well for a lot of people. I just tune and log. If an uncommonly heard station is there, I'll probably hear it anyway.

My suggestion -- if you're starting out -- is to find out which bands work the best for the time of day you want to DX. If it's night time, it'll probably be the bands I mentioned. Pick a band or two and tune through them every night, writing down all you hear. Even if you don't know the station, writing down the language, type of programming, signal strengths, etc. will help you ID it later (something like "6035 khz, UNID -- African language, 0508 UTC, SIO 222, sounds like news.").

Once you do this a few times you'll get a 'feel' for what to expect on that band -- which stations are pretty reliable -- and the odd stations that appear when propagation is really good will stick out even more.

 

[KD5SPJ]

Personally I scan and check for new stuff on short-wave.info for what on now. After a little learning of what band is on (listenable) when, you get a good grasp on what to search for on that great database and live interaction site, Short-Wave Frequency Schedule for BBC in ENGLISH at 21:08GMT since you can go there and enter a specific frequency and see where it is coming from that you happen to pick up whilst scanning, or you can see "whats on now" and scan for those frequencies. It's all fun to me especially when I luck out and catch a numbers station whilst scanning. I am starting to get it even after only having been into SW listening for about a month. Watch out though! It gets addicting! I find myself stealing away to the back porch with my new Grundig G3 portable to "see what I can pick up!" The goats and sheep look at me funny....

 

[ka3jjz]

Resist the temptation to look at a list and say 'OK I'm hearing this so it must be that'. Remember schedules can and do change. That's why the hobby is called Short Wave Listening. There's more satisfaction, I find, in hearing the ID than 'list logging' - more accurate too

Mike

 

[KD5SPJ]

Resist the temptation to look at a list and say 'OK I'm hearing this so it must be that'. Remember schedules can and do change. That's why the hobby is called Short Wave Listening. There's more satisfaction, I find, in hearing the ID than 'list logging' - more accurate too

Mike

I concur.

 

[Token]

Resist the temptation to look at a list and say 'OK I'm hearing this so it must be that'. Remember schedules can and do change. That's why the hobby is called Short Wave Listening. There's more satisfaction, I find, in hearing the ID than 'list logging' - more accurate too

Mike

Unless I hear the ID myself I list a reception only as "probable" in my logs, assuming time, freq, language, and format all agree.

T!

 

[ridgescan]

A couple more useful links
Prime Time Shortwave - Your guide for English shortwave broadcasts

http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/time.txt

I personally like to hunt. Don't know where you're located but in my region here on the west coast, it shakes out as follows:

AM SW broadcasts-
morning active bands 'till about 1600utc:
3000-5300kHz, 5700-6250kHz, 7200-7600kHz, 9200-10000kHz, 11500kHz-12160kHz, 13500kHz-14000kHz, 15000kHz-15825kHz

daytime active bands till about 0000utc:
9265-10kHz, 15000-15800kHz, 17500kHz-18000kHz, 21500-22000kHz

evening active bands till about 0600utc:
3000-3400kHz, 4840-5100kHz, 5700-6200kHz, 7200-7850kHz, 9300-10000kHz, 11500-12100kHz, 15720kHz, 17795kHz and some Asians in there on the higher ones too.

Far as utilities, generally in my evening time when I can get some distant stuff, I hunt between:
4000-5000kHz, 5200-5700kHz, 6250-7000kHz, 7700-9200kHz, 10051-11500kHz, 12300-13500kHz

I hope this steers you into some good listening!

 

[SCPD]

Having asked myself the same question many years ago, I started (before I even had a decent SW radio) by reading PopComm and MT magazines.

When I saw these strange "utility" logs is when the real fascination took hold. Back then however, there was quite a bit of "in the clear" military communication -- so that made it even more tempting.

To be honest, if I was starting today, I may not have had quite the same motivation as I did back then.

Searching for frequencies on HF is much easier thanks to SDRs. You can literally "see" a portion of the HF spectrum and thus learn very quickly where to find signals.

Just a quick point about Ridge's frequency ranges... I had roughly the same list a couple of years ago, but since moving to a SDR, there can be utility signals *hidden* near AM BCB stations. The more intelligent pirates know the schedules of BCB stations and know where to transmit illegally at a given time frame.

 

[ka3jjz]

The problem with using rags like MT is that their logs lag by 60-90 days depending on their publishing schedules. That's not real useful now, since schedules can change so frequently.

Here's another resource that is an Excel spreadsheet that uses some of the resources already mentioned, plus many others. You need to supply your email and real location to access it, but that's trivial

S H O R T W A V E S T U F F

The NASWA master list is maintained by one individual, and he does a terrific job of it

Mike

 

[majoco]

What Mike said +1. More information than you really need and updated almost daily.

 

[ridgescan]

The problem with using rags like MT is that their logs lag by 60-90 days depending on their publishing schedules. That's not real useful now, since schedules can change so frequently.

Here's another resource that is an Excel spreadsheet that uses some of the resources already mentioned, plus many others. You need to supply your email and real location to access it, but that's trivial

S H O R T W A V E S T U F F

The NASWA master list is maintained by one individual, and he does a terrific job of it

Mike

still cannot see an access to this thing:/
does anyone here have a direct link to it-if so, can you please share?

 

[ka3jjz]

What's the problem, Ridge? You're not telling us very much. That's the link you use to send the email and location - is it after this point? You'll have to do better than that...

If you can't see the website my first suspicion would be a firewall issue, but that's just a WAG

Mike

 

[ridgescan]

PMing to keep this thread on topic.

 

[majoco]

"hfskeds" has gone to a yahoo site because of 'intruders' I believe. It's moderated now.

 

[ka3jjz]

And (in the off case we have some NASWA members who are here) the full spreadsheet is available to NASWA members on their Yahoo group as well...Mike

 

[Smaug]

A couple more useful links
Prime Time Shortwave - Your guide for English shortwave broadcasts

http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/time.txt

I personally like to hunt. Don't know where you're located but in my region here on the west coast, it shakes out as follows:

AM SW broadcasts-
morning active bands 'till about 1600utc:
3000-5300kHz, 5700-6250kHz, 7200-7600kHz, 9200-10000kHz, 11500kHz-12160kHz, 13500kHz-14000kHz, 15000kHz-15825kHz

daytime active bands till about 0000utc:
9265-10kHz, 15000-15800kHz, 17500kHz-18000kHz, 21500-22000kHz

evening active bands till about 0600utc:
3000-3400kHz, 4840-5100kHz, 5700-6200kHz, 7200-7850kHz, 9300-10000kHz, 11500-12100kHz, 15720kHz, 17795kHz and some Asians in there on the higher ones too.

Far as utilities, generally in my evening time when I can get some distant stuff, I hunt between:
4000-5000kHz, 5200-5700kHz, 6250-7000kHz, 7700-9200kHz, 10051-11500kHz, 12300-13500kHz

I hope this steers you into some good listening!

GREAT post, Ridgescan. I tried those links instead of hunting last night, and went directly to a station from China. From a whip antenna on my humble Sangean ATS-505! From inside my 1st floor apartment, no less! Imagine what will happen when I get a PROPER antenna!?

 

[ridgescan]

GREAT post, Ridgescan. I tried those links instead of hunting last night, and went directly to a station from China. From a whip antenna on my humble Sangean ATS-505! From inside my 1st floor apartment, no less! Imagine what will happen when I get a PROPER antenna!?

Happy to help! That site will tell you the transmitter locations too. You may have gotten CRI from a transmitter in Havana which could explain the signal
Depending upon where you are, it could've been an actual transmitter in China though-like if you're on the west coast like me and it was in your morning. If you recall when (UTC hour) you'll see where.