What is really above 800 Mhz?

[safetyobc]

Anyone offer some suggestions of hh receivers that can be "fine tuned" with 100 Hz, or in multiples of 10 Hz?

I am looking hard at the Yaesu VR-500, Icom R10, and Alinco DJ-X10. Any of those "fine tune?"

 

[SCPD]

One other thing I thought of once I walked away from the computer, why do you want one receiver to do it all? The world of HF is very different than VHF and UHF, due to the very long wavelengths and use of sideband. If you get one radio that does it all, it probably won't do any one thing very well. It is similar to an SUV which is supposed to do it all, both highway and off-highway driving. Trouble is it doesn't do either of them very well. You need a highway car for the highway and a real 4WD for off-highway driving.

I've always approached radio the same way. I have my Yaesu FRG-7700 for HF and scanners for VHF/UHF. I've owned the FRG-7700 since about 1980 and although it was expensive at the time it is a radio that someone will inherit and use for decades themselves. The cost per year of this good HF receiver is extemely low compared to other receivers so I could afford to wait long enough to come up with the money to buy it. Used HF gear of fairly good quality is available on the Internet and the scanner you have seems to work for you. If I were to give you any advice it would be to keep the scanner and pick up an HF receiver when you can afford it.

Another alternative is to pick up a fairly cheap HF receiver, hook up a long wire to it, and listen to HF and see if you like it. You will only pick up fairly strong signals which limits you to shortwave broadcast, but keep in mind that finding utility stations and aircraft is a fairly intensive activity requiring tuning around the bands constantly. You can also use frequency logs and news published in places like the "Monitoring Times" to narrow your searach, but listening to HF is not like scanning where you can pickup a copy of Police Call (not anymore) or get on a website and listen to a certain agency for years to come, until they change or replace their system.

 

[SCPD]

I should also add that base station HF's are my recommendation or at the very least one of those "portable" or desk top battery capable models. The advantages of a handheld with a short antenna and taking them along inside buildings and cars are liabilities for HF. In my opinion at least.

 

[freqhopping]

I have an Icom R10. It is by no means a great HF receiver. For the price I got what I needed, something that would allow me to listen to the full spectrum, but not quite as well as some designed specifically for a band. It's HF capability was good enough for me to listen to radio stations such as Voice of America and the BBC while I was in Iraq, Kuwait and Oman. I just connected a long piece of speaker wire to the tip of the rubber duckie and that was good enough. I've never tried a real HF antenna on it. Right now my "good" antenna is a length of speaker wire run out my window and tossed up on the roof. The indoors end of that is wrapped around a RadioShack magmount which connects to a scanner.

The R10's smallest tuning increment is .10kHz. And don't expect to scan for active HF frequencies. You really need to know what you're going to listen to. If I want to search for activity I spin the knob myself.

 

[kb2vxa]

Hi all,

"Hams generally agree 50% is a good figure for your antenna's contribution to your station."
Actually the figure is much closer to 90%, the best rig in the world can't hear or be heard out of it's own back yard without the proper antenna(s). That's just the base rule of thumb, the subject of antennas fills volumes, literally.

OK, here goes my Amateur Radio promo again. Those REALLY interested in radio aren't satisfied with just listening to others, they want to TALK to them. Hams span the spectrum from DC to light and beyond, I remember an experiment using gamma rays. (I experimented with laser, talk about secure communications!) We use all modes with few exceptions, I use many of them myself. When it comes to listening in on the bands, there's more out there than you can imagine, you never know what's in the water until you dive below the surface.

Good equipment for any purpose costs a buck or two, one must be patient and build up a station a little at a time learning and advancing as he goes along. There's much too much detail to go into but here's my basic equipment just to give you an idea of how a simple, basic station and monitoring post is put together. Look up the specs yourself, they're omitted for brevity.

Uniden BC796D with ARC250 CAT software
Alinco DR235 222Hz FM
Azden PCS700H 2M packet
IC-706Mk2G HF, 6M, 2M, 70cM all modes with CI-V Commander CAT software
Azden AZ21A 2M HT

The Icom makes a great SWL and general monitoring receiver which tunes DC to light and various software bits using the sound card interface give it SSTV and digital capabilities. I can say I'm about as satisfied as one can get with this stuff, but radio is an addiction so like money I just can't get enough. (;->) Then to twist a popular '60s saying, money will get you through times of no radio better than radio will get you through times of no money.

"I hope this sheds some light on the subject of HF for you."
No light is bright enough to be seen at the distance radio covers if you know what I mean.

 

[safetyobc]

I appreciate all of your input. I am just a youngster in the scanning / recieving world. Only been scanning for a couple years and I like my BC246T and BCD396T for the public safety stuff. I realize to get all the "good stuff" I'll need to drop some serious $$ but at this point, I just want to dab my toes in the water of HF and other things. Not interested in HAM.....yet But this stuff is contagous. I will likely sell my BC246T to fund a receiver of some sort. I have the 396 to "scan" with so scanning speed isn't my main concern. Just a good all around receiver. I am leaning towards the Yaesu VR-500. It isn't packed with features but seems to be a good all band receiver from what I have read. I am still reasearching and listening to all of you guys. I like the VR500, Alinco DJ-X10 and the Icom R10. I really like the R20 but that is just way out of my price range at this point.

I am a little worried I'll be disappointed in what ever I end up with because I am used to "scanners" I have or have had a BC80XLT, BC250D, BC246T, BCD396T, and a Pro-25xtal. So I am used to scanners and not recievers.

On the subject of a desktop type model reasonably priced ($100 to $250) what would be your recommendations or suggestions for such a receiver?

I really appreciate all of you guys responses. Thank you.

 

[SCPD]

It's HF capability was good enough for me to listen to radio stations such as Voice of America and the BBC while I was in Iraq, Kuwait and Oman.

Do remember that the Voice of America and the BBC have transmitting stations all over the world. VOA has something in the neighborhood of 40-50 transmitters, so being able to receive them is not especially a testament to the sensitivity of the radio.

On the subject of a desktop type model reasonably priced ($100 to $250) what would be your recommendations or suggestions for such a receiver?

It just so happens I've been looking at replacing my desktop sized emergency radio. I would like an AM/FM/HF receiver that can work AC or DC, plus can be powered by a hand crank. None of these radios have what I want as far as its HF features. These features include: a digital tuning display, continuous coverage from 540 kHz to 30 MHz with FM (88-108), fine tuning, SSB capability, external antenna jack, and a S meter. The model with most of these features at a fairly good price is the Sangean PT-80 Pro Traveler which at about $130-$150 seems like a good deal to me. It lacks an S meter and the SSB adjustment does not distinquish USB and LSB so I guess you have to fine tune it until the signal sounds right, but everything else is there and it has a direct keypad entry as well as a dial. The radio specs claim fine tuning in steps of 1 kHz and that is good. It also comes with a wind up long wire antenna, which could be handy when travelling with this radio. I would recommend you do a Google search on wire antennas or purchase a book on the subject, as building a good dipole will open up a whole new world (pun unintended) not available with the whip or wind up wire antenna.

Just do a Google search using the words Shortwave receivers and you will find information about a full range of products. I would recommend staying away from radios under $100 when purchasing an HF receiver as their sensitivity is poor, they don't have external antenna jacks, don't have SSB capability, and only have coverage for the international shortwave broadcasting stations, leaving out ham and utility type frequencies, some with very large gaps in frequency coverage.

 

[jay427]

I would also look at a Transciver, there are many used models to look at here, just find a newer one with general coverage.

I use my Yaesu FT-920 all the time for SWL, does not see a lot of time in the transmit mode.

Jay, n0mdf

 

[dkostrey]

A decent AM/FM (stereo w/headphones) / HF portable to look at is the Grundig YachtBoy 400 or its Sangean equivalent. Runs about $150 or so new and performs pretty good.

 

[RobnzBoy]

If I might interject, I have many radios. Some cover the whole spectrum (100 KHz to 1.6 MHz), and some just cover parts of it. The reason I have so many is that each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. It's really gives me a sense of power when I take one of my wide coverage handheld radios out for a walk, knowing that I have my choice of AM broadcast, FM, TV, CB, NOAA weather, international shortwave, hams, commercial air, military air, police, fire, baby monitors, cordless phones, cellphones, and so on. And while I love those type of radios, I also know that when I'm serious about listening to hams using sideband, I have a radio that does a much better job on those frequencies (DE1103 for less than $65). My recommendation is that you'll do better if you don't put all of your money in a single radio. I've had radios that cost well over $1,000 and some that were less than a dollar. Trust me. The $60 DE1103 can pick up 98 to 99% of everything that a $10,000 radio can. I'd much rather have 20 radios that all have some cool feature than one that supposedly has it all.

 

[jlh]

Had an R10 and loved it, but you would not want it dedicated to a lot of HF listening.

If you're looking for wide-coverage, don't forget to check out the Yupi's ( Yupiteru ).

Something fun above 800 mhz - Inmarsat

 

[SCPD]

If I might interject, I have many radios. Some cover the whole spectrum (100 KHz to 1.6 MHz), and some just cover parts of it.

Just for clarification, did you mean 1.6 GHz ?? I'm assuming so since 1.6 MHz doesn't even get you above the AM broadcast band.

 

[safetyobc]

Yep, 1.6 Ghz.

But I am really interested in the HF band now. I was thinking that I could hear coast guard, FEMA, and other military up above 1.6 GHz. I was confused I guess. My main focus is HF. I guess I will end up getting a small HF rig from ebay or something that covers the bands I am looking for.

One more thing. Just because a receiver says SW doesn't exactly mean it will recieve SSB right? And some older rigs say SW1 and SW2 etc. what does that mean?

 

[SCPD]

I have a radio that does a much better job on those frequencies (DE1103 for less than $65)

Since I'm looking to buy one also I looked up this radio and the Yacht Boy 400 on eHam and a couple of other places. For sensitivity the consensus seems to be that the Sangean I mentioned and the DE1103 are much better than the Yacht Boy.

There seems to be a lot of people who dislike the dual tuning/volume control dial on the DE1103. Seems you have to punch a button to change the volume and you only get a fixed amount of time before the dial default function of tuning returns. I know that when I have a radio with a VFO (tuning dial) I have one hand on the volume and one hand on the VFO simultaneously for more than 50% of the time I"m working the radio. One reviewer on a shorthwave listeners website said he would get rid of the DE1103 if he didn't use earphones most of the time which are equipped with their own volume control. Some other reviewers mentioned that they did not like the arbitrary dividing up of the spectrum into 1 MHz bands, requiring a couple of buttons to be pushed in order to continue tuning above and below the present band. They also didn't like the bands having arbitrary labels such as "41 meters" which don't correspond to how shortwave broadcasters label the bands.

RobnzBoy, since you have the DE1103 and it costs less than half the price of the Segean and Yacht Boy radios, I would like to hear from someone who has actual experience with the DE1103. I'm somewhat of the same place safetyobc is in, but with a lot more experience with the HF bands and with 25 years of owning an FRG-7700 under my belt. I'm looking for a decent HF receiver that is portable for emergencies and can't find a decent portable with a hand crank generator. I've decided I can live without the hand crank as I am very unimpressed with the receivers that come with radios equipped with one.

 

[hiegtx]

One more thing. Just because a receiver says SW doesn't exactly mean it will recieve SSB right? And some older rigs say SW1 and SW2 etc. what does that mean?

Your correct about SW. Make sure the specs say that it receives in SSB mode (or specifies it as USB and LSB, which are the two types of SSB).

As for SW1 & SW2, that's probably just hype, in how they split up the coverage. Say SW1 is 100khz to 10Mhz, SW2 is from 10Mhz to say 25Mhz.

Years ago, a store that I'll leave nameless advertized a "three-band radio" at a 'low price'.
The radio? A cheap am-fm transistor portable. They divided the am into "news and sports", counted that as two bands, then counted fm as the other. Pure hype.

 

[safetyobc]

What if it says ,"SW, LW, MW " Is that SSB too?

 

[hiegtx]

What if it says ,"SW, LW, MW " Is that SSB too?

Not necessarily. LW (Long wave) and MW (medium wave) are sometimes used as decriptions of parts of the radio spectrum that we tend to lump into a pile. Medium wave is pretty much what we consider the AM broadcast band here. Long wave is lower in frequency. Shortwave is just above it. Here's what I pulled off coverage spec's of a Sangean radio (happened to be the first one I hit; others might divide it slightly differently).
LW : 150-519 kHz
MW : 520-1710 kHz
SW 1.711-29.999 MHz

SSB, single side band, is a mode of transmission and reception, not a band. Make sure the receiver you are looking at specifically lists it.
Here's how an Icom, from Grove's site, lists receive modes:

• Modes: AM, S-AM, FM, USB, LSB, CW, RTTY

Some of them may say "SSB" only, rather than saying both 'USB' and 'LSB'. I haven't seen every radio ever made, but I've not seen one that only receiced one sideband and not the other, so barring a disclaimer in the specs, I'd presume SSB to mean either/or.

 

[safetyobc]

I appreciate all of you guys help. I'll do some research and will likely make my decsion once I have researched all the radios in my price range. I have leaned away from the hh models like the Icom R10, Alinco DJ-X10, and VR-500. I will likely look into getting a more desktop/portable type radio. Similar to those made by Segean, Sony, Grundig, or Degen).

Thanks again for all the help. I would have definately made a HUGE mistake if not for you guys! I would have ended up with some unit without SSB and been sorely disappointed. Thanks!

 

[RobnzBoy]

Nearly everyone would agree that the DE1103 is the best portable radio under $100. But whether it would be "better" than the YB400 or ICF-SW7600GR or ATS909, that would strictly up to you. I've owned two or more of each of these four radios. I can say without a doubt that the DE1103 is far more sensitive than any of the other three. Why did I keep the DE1103 and get rid of the other three? YB400 had no tuning knob and it was a battery hog (it uses 6 at a time). ICF-7600GR had no tuning knob and its sound was weak and tinny. ATS909 went through batteries even worse, plus it was the least sensitive of any these radios.

Each one of these radios have a huge fan base. The YB400 has good sound to most (muffled to me), the ICF-SW7600GR has synchronous detection (didn't impress me after using it in a better radio), and the ATS909 has a whole roomful of features, and its low sensitivity is perfectly matched with an external antenna (I don't like wires sticking out of my radio).

The DE1103 isn't perfect. I really don't like being limited to 1 Khz tuning on AM. I wish there was a way to set it to 1, 5, 9, and 10. I also don't like the number buttons being lined up on the bottom of the radio. But the thing I truly hate about it is its lack of a volume control. To set the volume, you have to push the vol button and then turn the tuning knob, or you can punch in a number and then push the vol button. And I hate both ways. When I'm listening to the radio, I use the volume knob nearly as much as the tuning knob. Taking that away from me takes away much of my fun of listening. So I kept the DE1103, but I don't enjoy using it.

My two favorite radios are the DE1107 (best sound of ALL portable radios smaller than the GE Superradio, plus it has analog tuning, plus it has a normal volume knob) and the Tecsun PL-350 (digital radio with 550 memories, and it has a tuning knob, volume knob, and excellent sensitivity for a small radio).

But I've also got my eye on two upcoming models: Eton E5 (originally planned as the DE1106, supposedly with the sensitivity of DE1103, sound of DE1107, and features of PL-350), and DE1108 (this one should be China's answer to the Holy Grail of portable radios, but it might end up being too expensive for my tastes).

Do some research. Check out all these radios at http://www.radiointel.com/index.htm, plus there are excellent Yahoo groups on all of these radios. Then order a radio and have fun!

 

[safetyobc]

This isn't a DE1103 but is it the same thing and would it be a good radio. Nicely priced I think:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kaito-1103-SSB-...ryZ15051QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

of course universal radio has them for a little less http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/0028.html