I was fooling with the Grundig tonight in a last ditch effort to hear anyhing, anything at all.
A little background: I live in a box between 3 mountains. I have high-voltage power lines about 1000' away and a set of "regular" power lines going by about 15' outside my bedroom window - right where my entry point is for my antennas.
So when I plugged in my Grundig, laid out 50' of wire, and got lots of static, I assumed it was the power lines or a noisy transformer. I couldn't quite make out any of the beacons; the strongest was just barely intelligible over the static, and I could only hear VERY close or VERY powerful amateur stations. I picked up a guy in Arizona and Utah, both of whom were running 1000+ watts. Another guy came in very clearly, but as it turns out, he's only 20 or so miles away.
So this afternoon, I thought I'd try one more time... I put the radio in my truck, about 60' away from the power lines, and turned it on. I could get 3 of the time beacons (from Colorado.. I'm in San Diego county) with the built-in antenna!
I went back to my room and started laying out an antenna again... STATIC.
Odd.
I moved the radio about 20' away from its resting place, and the static disappeared. Curious, I went back to my desk and turned off the computer, the UPS, and the power strip... the static went away. I finally narrowed it down to a stupid USB HUB of all things!!
So now I can hear all of the time beacons very clearly. Obviously, 15 and , 20 come in better during the day, but I was VERY impressed with 5000.. it sounds clear as a bell. I started listening on 80 meters and 40 meters... WOW! Were befoer I heard maybe 1 QSO, I'm now hearing 3 or 4 overlapping conversations in one place. I caught a guy in Wyoming talking to an Arizonan, and they were both so clear that they could have been in my back yard. I even caught a very readable call from someone on the East coast, telling a friend he was going to bed.
So I have to confess to being very impressed with the Grundig 750 and with the ability to hear HF signals, even in a bad spot. I was very disappointed with the results I was getting over the last week; I was about to give up on HF, but tonight's experience has been totally different. After hearing several very clear conversations, I am once again determined to get my General (and eventually my Extra) class.
A little background: I live in a box between 3 mountains. I have high-voltage power lines about 1000' away and a set of "regular" power lines going by about 15' outside my bedroom window - right where my entry point is for my antennas.
So when I plugged in my Grundig, laid out 50' of wire, and got lots of static, I assumed it was the power lines or a noisy transformer. I couldn't quite make out any of the beacons; the strongest was just barely intelligible over the static, and I could only hear VERY close or VERY powerful amateur stations. I picked up a guy in Arizona and Utah, both of whom were running 1000+ watts. Another guy came in very clearly, but as it turns out, he's only 20 or so miles away.
So this afternoon, I thought I'd try one more time... I put the radio in my truck, about 60' away from the power lines, and turned it on. I could get 3 of the time beacons (from Colorado.. I'm in San Diego county) with the built-in antenna!
I went back to my room and started laying out an antenna again... STATIC.
Odd.
I moved the radio about 20' away from its resting place, and the static disappeared. Curious, I went back to my desk and turned off the computer, the UPS, and the power strip... the static went away. I finally narrowed it down to a stupid USB HUB of all things!!
So now I can hear all of the time beacons very clearly. Obviously, 15 and , 20 come in better during the day, but I was VERY impressed with 5000.. it sounds clear as a bell. I started listening on 80 meters and 40 meters... WOW! Were befoer I heard maybe 1 QSO, I'm now hearing 3 or 4 overlapping conversations in one place. I caught a guy in Wyoming talking to an Arizonan, and they were both so clear that they could have been in my back yard. I even caught a very readable call from someone on the East coast, telling a friend he was going to bed.
So I have to confess to being very impressed with the Grundig 750 and with the ability to hear HF signals, even in a bad spot. I was very disappointed with the results I was getting over the last week; I was about to give up on HF, but tonight's experience has been totally different. After hearing several very clear conversations, I am once again determined to get my General (and eventually my Extra) class.