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DEL.ICIO.USDon’t drop out, tune in
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Follow today’s tips and you could aggravate your spouse and spend money on out-of-date technology. You might even annoy your neighbors.
Sound good? I thought so.
I’m talking shortwave radio. I’m also talking about becoming a shortwave hobbbyist the old-fashioned way, as opposed to over the Internet. That means buying a shortwave receiver and, in extreme cases, stringing up some wire between trees in your backyard. Just think how that wire in the sky will bother fussy neighbors.
And since these are analog broadcasts as opposed to digital, you and your family will be subjected to squeals, crashes of static and signals that fade in and out. In return, you’ll open a door to tremendous surprises. I can only compare it to fishing: You never know what you’ll catch.
You may happen upon the captain of a transatlantic flight speaking with a controller in New York on a stormy night. You’ll also hear commercial broadcasts from countries whose names you can’t even spell. That’ll let you listen to news in a form that’s not digested into a soundbite.
If you like, you can listen to ham radio operators like me; visiting with each other from across the world as comfortably as if we were on our front porches.
I can’t promise that shortwave listening is for you. I limit myself to writing about this topic to once a year, but each time I hear from people who made the plunge and loved it. Some of them are returning to a childhood interest and others are trying it for the first time. I’m always pleased and a little surprised at the appeal this hobby still holds.
I always start by recommending a book I consider more important than the radio you end up buying. It’s called Passport to World Band Radio. You can read about it and order it here: http://www.passband.com
It’ll go into more detail than I ever could about antennas and shortwave listening. It also includes a schedule of most major shortwave broadcasters including frequency and time.
But, most important, it includes truly fair and impartial reviews of various shortwave receivers. You’d be a little nuts to buy a shortwave receiver without reading this first, as there is a wide range of sets at various prices.
Of course, some will not read the book.So I asked the editor-in-chief of the book, Larry Magne, to offer a few suggestions for radios in the $200 and under category. Here’s a summary of what he said:
“For best overall shortwave listening, along with portability for travel, the $160 Sony ICF-SW7600GR rules the roost.
“Similar, but simpler to operate and with slightly nicer sound, is the $150 Eton E5.
“For modest pricing and pleasant sound, the $100 Kaito KA-2100 gets the Kewpie doll; it is also sold as the CCRadio-SW for $150.
“Money to burn? Try the Eton E1XM at $500. Add $60 worth of options and an XM subscription and you’ll also hear XM satellite broadcasts.”
These radios can be found online by putting the product name in Google. They include a built-in antenna that will let you avoid the problem of getting that wire up in the tree (although you can, if you like, connect an antenna to most of them). So that takes care of the neighbors.
You can even listen with earphones. That may preserve harmony at home.
If you do decide to put up a wire antenna, follow my advice and use a fishing rod to throw a weight over a tree and then pull up a support rope. I’ve had near tragic results trying it with a crossbow.
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By Dick
February 10, 2008 3:53 AM | Link to this
Nice article. There is still enough SW out there to merit listening in. Popular Communication magazine is a good source of current SW broadcasts from all SW stations, public or commercial. For apartment dwellers, the so-called Active Antennas will do in a pinch, though nothing beats an outdoor wire.
By Steve
February 10, 2008 10:07 AM | Link to this
I ordered the book. I recall, from my Navy days, there was a MARS system whereby you could send a telegram from the ship to home or if you were within distance, they could patch a ship to shore phone connection to some HAM operator. (Forgive me if the details are incorrect, it’s been a long time). And from my railroad days, I remember the retired ‘lightning slingers’, telegraph operators who keyed up to 60WPM.
I have an old dipole antenna suspended in the attic. Will that work ? I live intown, so the only other option would be to put back up an antenna on the chimney. Have not even bought the radio yet, but am looking forward to this. Stephen M Nunan
By Bill
February 10, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this
He Steve, your attic antenna will work just fine. One nice thing about a receive only antenna is that - unlike when you plan to use it to transmit - lengths aren’t critical. You’d just want to keep the thing are far away from metallic objects and wiring and possible. If you get excessive static, you can experiment by moving it around. But, compared to the small whip antenna that comes with most portable shortwaves, it’ll work great.
My uncle, now a retired electrical engineer, joined the Air Force right out of high school and was one of those high speed CW operators. As an added benefit the Air Force helped him get his bachelor’s and master’s degree.
The secret to high speed CW seems to be - lord knows I don’t have the secret - to regard Morse Code as a language rather than a series of dots and dashes. In other words, instead of thinking dots and dashes, you listen to the music of CW.
MARS is still around. It doesn’t do as much phone patch work as it once did. But it’s sure important. For instance, during civil emergencies MARS operators can link - by radio - National Guard units with state and federal relief agencies. I’ll paste in a URL about MARS here.
I hope you enjoy shortwave listening. One radio that I didn’t mention in the column that’s worth a look - the Sony 2010. It’s out of production but it’s a terrific portable. You might find a used one on eBay - but you’re doing the right thing checking out the book before you jump.
By Political Foreskin
February 11, 2008 6:25 AM | Link to this
This subject brings up painful memories, technofriend. I was scammed during the dot bomb days by an outfit that sold me shares in a company which tried to sell ham radio equipment to islamic countries…… (sorry)
By GaryM
February 11, 2008 8:48 AM | Link to this
My call sign has been silent since I moved to Atlanta from the West. I do remember fondly the enjoyment I had while active.
By GaryM
February 11, 2008 8:49 AM | Link to this
My call sign has been silent since I moved to Atlanta from the West. I do remember fondly the enjoyment I had while active.
By Bill
February 11, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this
Hey Gary, I don’t get on the air as much as I once did. I do a lot more listening these days than talking.
But, lately the bug has been biting a little and I’m thinking that I’ll be on the air more.
By Steve
February 12, 2008 7:23 PM | Link to this
Bill, was wondering, I am only going to listen, but years ago, thought about a HAM license, and the basic required 5 or 7 WPM in Morse, forget which. They even still have that requirement ? Does anyone use CW anymore ? It was a reliable way of sending comms. The old RR operators would play Chess over the wire, the boards having numbers, and the moves of the chess pieces coded. The fast ones used a ‘bug’ a sideways key and they maintainned you could tell a man by his ‘fist’ on the key. An art that is gone. Steve
By Steve
February 12, 2008 7:23 PM | Link to this
Bill, was wondering, I am only going to listen, but years ago, thought about a HAM license, and the basic required 5 or 7 WPM in Morse, forget which. They even still have that requirement ? Does anyone use CW anymore ? It was a reliable way of sending comms. The old RR operators would play Chess over the wire, the boards having numbers, and the moves of the chess pieces coded. The fast ones used a ‘bug’ a sideways key and they maintainned you could tell a man by his ‘fist’ on the key. An art that is gone. Steve
By Bill
February 12, 2008 10:25 PM | Link to this
Hi, Steve, there’s no longer a requirement - even at the highest level of licensing (extra class) - for code. (Back when I did it there was).
So now, you simply pass a multiple choice test to get the license. There’s sure divided opinion on whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing for the hobby. And, the easing of the requirements hasn’t really made a huge difference in how many of us there are (not many). But the notion was to attract more people - the new generation of folks who grew up with computers and the digital age.
I do still have my bug - the device you mentioned - but I’m not sure that I’d be much good with it these days. I mostly talk when I get on the air.
But - whether the code requirement was a good thing or bad - some of what I do, the listening part (and I listen a lot more than I talk these days) isn’t involved. It’s great fun for me still. And there’s no license required for that.
Bill
By Greg
February 14, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this
The Morse code requirement has been dropped, but there are still tons of hams using it on the air. In fact, my impression is that there are more people using it now that the requirement has been dropped. So if that’s what interests you, there’s still plenty of opportunity to use it.
By Bill
February 14, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
Yeap, Greg - I agree - and a small story about that.
A friend at the newspaper is a den mother for a bunch of Cub Scouts (or she was, this was a few years back). She asked if she could bring the kids over to my house to see how ham radio worked.
So I fired up the station, turned on the big linear amp (capable of making all the squirrels within 2 miles sterile) and talked to a few overseas stations.
The Scouts were mildly interested only. After all, they grew up in a world where folks use the Internet and cellular phones. Talking to someone in Germany wasn’t a big deal to them.
Then I moved to CW. They were fascinated - it was something that they hadn’t seen.
As a side note, kids learn CW faster than adults I think. I took a friend and his child fishing and - on the drive home - the kid asked me to sound out his name in Morse Code. I did. Then as he got more interested we moved to other letters. I swear it’s true, he could read my hummed out Morse Code pretty well by the time the 45 minute drive was over.
By Steve
February 14, 2008 6:09 PM | Link to this
Licensed ham operator 34 years now. I still enjoy tuning the SW bands. My advice, buy a good radio you can afford. The rest is patience and skill. CW is still used today. Altho the old ‘bugs’ aren’t used very much anymore. It is tiring on the wrist, just as the old straight key. Either of those keys, you can detect a certain ’ swing’ on sending. Antennas, I use an indoor folded dipole, and the other is a loop antenna I made from a walker. Home brew tuners, etc. Fun to build, not too technical . Jump in, the water’s fine ! ps: my radios are: YB-400PE and old RS DX100 .