Shortwave expectations

[ditto1958]

I suggest you go to "eibispace.de" and download the frequency version. You'll see that it starts from the very lowest frequencies and goes right up to over 28MHz. You'll note that many stations seem to be on the same frequency and they are but not at the same time or the same target area. The transmitter owners aren't in the business of squirting out their signal in a random fashion and hope that it gets to their target audience - they've done a lot of homework forecasting the best frequencies at a particular time of day at the particular target area. Here's my chart showing the broadcast bands - incidentally, your local time has more influence on propagation than UTC. Do a bit of research into "the grey line".

Thank you! Very useful chart.

 

[ditto1958]

I’ve had my portable SW radio for a month now, and have used it every day. I have to say that my experience so far has easily exceeded my expectations. Tonight in just a few minutes I got strong clear signals from Spain, Turkey and Brazil, along with all the usual boomers from here in the US- WRMI, Radio Marti, etc. I am pretty impressed.

So, naturally I have also decided I “need” more than one radio. I’m really happy with my first SW radio, an XHData D-109WB. But you know how it is… I decided I really enjoy DXing on shortwave, and after watching and reading a lot of reviews I decided on a Qodosen DX-286. Should be here tomorrow, and I’m excited to see how it performs.

 

[spongella]

SW listening gets better as the season gets colder. Here on the NE coast winter and shorter daylight days bring in a lot more SW and utility stations. As per a previous commenter, early morns and nights are generally better. Knowing when stations are broadcasting helps too so try the short-wave.info site. Have fun listening.

 

[ditto1958]

Thank you, I’ve been learning a lot as I go. And yes, the short-wave.info site is very useful.