Wide band or SW

[Sportster77]

I am thinking about adding another radio and am wondering which would be a better way to go for listening enjoyment? Thinking of something like a Icom R7 or a Grundig or CC Crane SW .

Currently have and use : Uniden BC235XT
R.S. Pro 2040
R.S. Pro 2096
GRE PSR 800
So I have the Amatuer, Air and Public Service bands pretty well covered,.

 

[ka3jjz]

Be a bit more specific about 'listening enjoyment'. What do you want to hear?

Read this article from our wiki - it will get you started thinking about the pros/cons of various types of HF receivers

Your First HF Receiver - the RR Wiki

HTH...Mike

 

[Sportster77]

I'm not sure what all is out there to listen to , hence the question. Most of the local Ham stuff I heard has been pretty boring, so I am kind of looking to see what ,if anything, is entertaining on the SW stations or if there is another area of the spectrum that would fill the evening instead of watching TV.

 

[SCPD]

Sportster77, you could pick up a portable shortwave that would have multiple bands. I have a grundig 750 that does Lw- Am-Fm-Sw- Air, there are less exspensive models also, then start playing around with it and see. I had some fun with it, Am Dxing at nite is interesting, some good talk radio out there. Some day would like to upgrade to a nice desk top shortwave, can be entertaining as well as informative.

 

[AC2OY]

I'm confused if you scan or listen to all those bands what else is there to listen to short of buying a all mode transceiver and slapping a antenna farm up on your roof? If you put up a bigger external antenna, that will increase your range a lot!! Do any of those scanners scan below 25.000mHz? If not then you need a amateur radio to listen to HF.

 

[Sportster77]

I have a grundig 750

I am looking at either the G2 or the 450.

Do any of those scanners scan below 25.000mHz?

No that is why I am looking at a wide band or SW.

I'm confused if you scan or listen to all those bands

The 2 PRO radios are mounted in my work truck and my personal truck. The handhelds go where ever I feel like taking them. The new radio would probaly sit at my desk running while I'm on the computer at night.

 

[ka3jjz]

<snip> Do any of those scanners scan below 25.000mHz? If not then you need a amateur radio to listen to HF.

That is simply untrue. There are still a couple of manufacturers of HF receivers - namely Palstar, Icom and Alinco - that are making desktops (boy is that way down from years past) that can easily listen to hams. And contrary to what many think, you need no license to listen - just to transmit.

In addition to the newer models, there are many older models from manufacturers like Drake, JRC, Sony, Panasonic and Kenwood that can be had with a bit of knowledge and research. That's what the Receiver Reviews category in our wiki is all about - research.

Now what is there to hear on HF is such a wide ranging answer that whole articles - and some books - have been written on the subject. If we ignore hams for a moment (we only occupy a small percentage of the HF spectrum). You have everything from high power broadcasters (who are, sadly, slowly dying off due to the perceived popularity of the Internet), lower power (regional) broadcasters (where you will often get a more accurate representation of that area's broadcasting, not the re-worked versions that many of the higher power stations will do), military (no, never the secret stuff - still there is much you can learn), aircraft, ships...the list is difficult to define, really.

You really don't need some sort of antenna farm (although you will certainly have more tools at your disposal if you do). Many of the world's top DXers use 1 or 2 antennas - sometimes they will have 2 different types to try to work with different kinds of propagation characteristics. Let's face it, not everyone has the space to put lots of antennas.

What I have done here is to paint with extremely broad strokes - there's a heckuva lot more to this than the surface view I've presented here.

The key to being successful at listening on HF is 2 words, both related and relatively speaking, inexpensive to get - knowledge and research. That's the best way to bust some of the myths you hear about...Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

I should add that there are some hi-end portables (like the now-discontinued Eton E1) that are also quite capable of hearing hams, among many other things.

Mike

 

[benbenrf]

I am thinking about adding another radio and am wondering which would be a better way to go for listening enjoyment? Thinking of something like a Icom R7 or a Grundig or CC Crane SW .

Currently have and use : Uniden BC235XT
R.S. Pro 2040
R.S. Pro 2096
GRE PSR 800
So I have the Amatuer, Air and Public Service bands pretty well covered,.

None of the above - if your budget can stretch to an Icom R7, go find yourself something like a 2nd hand Watkins Johnson 8617B (1) (there's one going on eBay in the UK - I have nothing to do with the sale and i do not know the seller). There is a dedicated HF/VLF version that goes down to the Khz range of freqs and runs great off a long wire antenna or something like a Wellbrook magnetic loop in the attic.

These receivers can be configured by way of changing their internal cards (easy to find on eBay) to cover any freq from HF 2Mhz (and even lower) right up to UHF around 1200Mhz - and its performance will completly knock the socks off anything you have named, in fact any consumer receiver this side of $10K.

These machines came off the production line in the late 1980's and early 1990's costing anywhere from $25K - $100K.

On the one hand is their performance (they are designed for scanning and searching) and on the other hand is the range of output options on the rear panel - they can be configured for just about any type of analogue or digital signal. I have a whole bunch of different WJ receivers, which I use as rf front-ends for frequency and bandwidth setting, then use one or other of the rear panel outputs to feed a PCIe slot on a computer for digitizing, or for digital demodulation (eg P25/Tetra), or for digital video demodulation, or Sat reception ... and a whole bunch of other radio reception tasks. You can double and even triple demodulate with them.

One problem with nearly all WJ receivers: they are not very portable, they weigh a ton but that's about it, in terms of performance there is nothing on the consumer market that comes close to offering what the old WJ's offer in terms of performance as well as functionality - quite why folk spend $600 - $1000 dollars for a mid-range Icom like an 8500 or similar I have never got my head around when you can pick up WJ receivers for similar and less. Half the fun I have found over the years is getting to grips with the user and service manuals, and collecting all the different parts required to expand and optimize their capability.

 

[Sportster77]

Bought a Grundig G3 today, it was on closeout sale @ a RS near where I was working this morning for $90.

 

[SCPD]

Sportster 77 good deal, have had some good entertainment with my portable and hope you do as well.