ciprianocarrasco
Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2014
- Messages
- 7
Hey guys,
I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what the deal is, but I seem to be lost in the whole "shortwave thing"
A friend of mine bought a radio a few months ago, a Grundig Satellit 750 and told me he was disappointed with the short wave hobby and gave it to me. So, I get this radio a few months ago and start playing with it, I thought it was really cool at first. I start playing with it and come across stations from other countries in different languages, so I thought that was neat. After a couple of weeks I notice two things:
1.- It's always the same station, nothing new
2.- like 4 out of 5 stations are religious. My room mate said he didn't know shortwave radio was a religious thing (LOL)
So, I start digging up and decide to build a few different types of antenna, with various success. I find that I start getting more stations, which was neat, even heard Australia. Then again, the same repetitive stuff over and over again, plus even more religious stuff. At that point I decide to experiment, and start digging up some frequencies and listening to obscure stuff, this is what I find:
- Hams repeating "whiskey papa kilo charley tango" over and over
- Hams having personal conversations
- airplanes communicating
- Military messages (more whiskey papa kilo charley tango)
So, I decide to get the shovel out and dig some more, seeing what the deal with shortwave is.
- I find that hunting for pirate stations, which wasn't my original intent, was actually kinda cool. Few come on and they are so weak you can't just turn the radio on and "enjoy," you have to screw around with knobs the whole time
- DRM radio: looks exciting, doesn't seem to be going anywhere. There are no receiver except for SDR radios and, if I have to hook up the radio to a computer then I might as well listen over the internet.
Then to top it all off, seems like a lot of shortwave stations are dropping off (except the religious ones)
I'm starting to see why my friend just gave me the radio, but I can't help feel there has to be something I'm missing. I go online and I see that there are Antennas being sold for like 400 bucks and radios at even higher prices.
Can somebody tell me what the deal with Shortwave is? What kind of enjoyment is there for the lay person who doesn't really understand "whiskey papa kilo charley" stuff?
I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what the deal is, but I seem to be lost in the whole "shortwave thing"
A friend of mine bought a radio a few months ago, a Grundig Satellit 750 and told me he was disappointed with the short wave hobby and gave it to me. So, I get this radio a few months ago and start playing with it, I thought it was really cool at first. I start playing with it and come across stations from other countries in different languages, so I thought that was neat. After a couple of weeks I notice two things:
1.- It's always the same station, nothing new
2.- like 4 out of 5 stations are religious. My room mate said he didn't know shortwave radio was a religious thing (LOL)
So, I start digging up and decide to build a few different types of antenna, with various success. I find that I start getting more stations, which was neat, even heard Australia. Then again, the same repetitive stuff over and over again, plus even more religious stuff. At that point I decide to experiment, and start digging up some frequencies and listening to obscure stuff, this is what I find:
- Hams repeating "whiskey papa kilo charley tango" over and over
- Hams having personal conversations
- airplanes communicating
- Military messages (more whiskey papa kilo charley tango)
So, I decide to get the shovel out and dig some more, seeing what the deal with shortwave is.
- I find that hunting for pirate stations, which wasn't my original intent, was actually kinda cool. Few come on and they are so weak you can't just turn the radio on and "enjoy," you have to screw around with knobs the whole time
- DRM radio: looks exciting, doesn't seem to be going anywhere. There are no receiver except for SDR radios and, if I have to hook up the radio to a computer then I might as well listen over the internet.
Then to top it all off, seems like a lot of shortwave stations are dropping off (except the religious ones)
I'm starting to see why my friend just gave me the radio, but I can't help feel there has to be something I'm missing. I go online and I see that there are Antennas being sold for like 400 bucks and radios at even higher prices.
Can somebody tell me what the deal with Shortwave is? What kind of enjoyment is there for the lay person who doesn't really understand "whiskey papa kilo charley" stuff?