Mobile SWL receiver? (Not transceiver)

[barefootdipole]

not suggesting this as a modern day alternative, but i still have my BECKER MODEL #10 REIMS SHORTWAVE ADAPTER in service since the 1970's....made as an accessory RX adapter for the Mercedes Benz car radios....10 bands....90m/75m/60m/49m/41m/31m/25m/19m/16m/13m....really nice sensitivity....low profile...back in 1975 it cost $61 shipped....classic....for just SWBC easy listening it works great thru the car stereo.....but like ALL mobile installations it depends entirely on your vehicle ignition noise.....that australian model car stereo sounds intriguing for the low cost...always thought about getting the sony model thru the middle east outlets back in the day too.....hummmmmmmm.... good luck !

 

[4nradio]

I used the Philips DC-777 AM/FM/Cass./Shortwave car radio for a few years in the 1990s. It took a long, ugly whip antenna with a loading coil, mounted on the rear bumper, to get decent reception and avoid RFI. Once I had all the issues ironed out though, it was a hoot to listen to tropical band stations like RRI Ujung Pandang (Indonesia) and Radio East New Britain (PNG) during my early morning commutes.

The DC-777 has a fold-out, amber backlit keypad that's rather neat. I always enjoyed pressing the open button and seeing the glowing pad slowly rotate forward. I heard that the flexible ribbon cable inside was prone to failure, although I never had any trouble with my unit.

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/DC777k.jpg

Someone has been trying for quite a while to sell a new-in-the-box DC-777 on Ebay for $599, without any takers. Looks like they recently took down the auction.

 

[ridgescan]

I just saw this in Eham
MFJ Enterprises Inc.

 

[barefootdipole]

I just saw this in Eham
MFJ Enterprises Inc.

the MFJ SW adapter was a cheap attempt at a high price to poorly imitate the Becker adapter...only FOUR bands on the MFJ...10 bands on the Becker Reims Model 10...MFJ had really poor operation....only improvement is a "clarifier" knob, really is a RIT, to tune in off freq stations on the current digital am car radios....the original SW adapters that came out were made for old analog dial AM radios with real tuning knobs, so no clarifier was needed

a poor attempt to take a shot at making a SW adapter...better than nothing i guess, but not much, at the MFJ price...

 

[jackj]

I had a SW converter as a boy, I don't remember it working in a car though. As I remember, it used an MW radio as an IF. You tuned the MW radio to somewhere around 1600 KC (that would be KHz today) and the main tuning was the knob on the converter. Seems like it worked pretty well if the MW radio was a quality set. Only received AM signals but back in those days there was a lot of AM on SW.