Shortwave Radio

[artringwald]

Weird reading this thread today after watching a NCIS rerun last night. The victim was a ham radio geek. Turns out McGee was too, which helped him solve the case.

 

[slip]

I forgot to get a picture of my antenna last night so just grabbed one now. This is the antenna I got off Ebay. This can easily be made but I didn't have the basic items I had when we owned a home so it was easier to just purchase it and it only cost $23.00. This is also much easier to handle than a long wire.

I put a hook in the middle of our lanai ceiling at the railing. Now when it gets dark, I just go out and hang it from the hook. I picked up a lot yesterday, Taiwan, multiple places in China and one of my new favorites for programs, New Zealand.

 

[slip]

This one is the Voice of Korea broadcasting in Chinese from Kujang.

 

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This is Radio China International broadcasting in Khmer from Kunming-Anning.

 

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Universal Time from Hawaii.

 

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Voice of Korea in Japanese from Kujang

 

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I received my first EQSL today from World's Last Chance radio.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Universal Time from Hawaii.

View attachment 96450

WWV is broadcast from Fort Collins, Co., and there is a WWVH from Hawaii. Great way to get information of the exact time. Sometimes I hear both on the same frequency. It is broadcast on a bunch of frequencies like 5, 10, 15, and 20 mHz and maybe some others.

 

[slip]

WWV is broadcast from Fort Collins, Co., and there is a WWVH from Hawaii. Great way to get information of the exact time. Sometimes I hear both on the same frequency. It is broadcast on a bunch of frequencies like 5, 10, 15, and 20 mHz and maybe some others.

Yes, I can barely pick it up on 15 mHz and haven't heard anything on 20mHz.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Yes, I can barely pick it up on 15 mHz and haven't heard anything on 20mHz.

It's not surprising that you can't hear WWVH on 20 MHz because they are not broadcasting at that frequency. If you heard it, it would be from Colorado. The rest of WWVH are from Kauai. They also might be broadcasting on 2.5 mHz.

I think that my longest ham radio conversation was probably from Djiubati. That is 10 time zones away. I've also talked to people in Japan, the Philippine islands, Pitcairn Islands, etc. But, we are downsizing and preparing for a move, and I've sold my antennas, towers, and HF transcievers. C'est dommage.

 

[slip]

It's not surprising that you can't hear WWVH on 20 MHz because they are not broadcasting at that frequency. If you heard it, it would be from Colorado. The rest of WWVH are from Kauai. They also might be broadcasting on 2.5 mHz.

I think that my longest ham radio conversation was probably from Djiubati. That is 10 time zones away. I've also talked to people in Japan, the Philippine islands, Pitcairn Islands, etc. But, we are downsizing and preparing for a move, and I've sold my antennas, towers, and HF transcievers. C'est dommage.

Yes, I have picked it up at 2.5 mHz before also.

Good luck with your move. I know all about downsizing.

 

[slip]

I have been listening to Radio New Zealand International pretty regularly. They have some interesting broadcasting including world and local news, music and general topics.

I ended up finding an old Radio Shack DX-394 that I keep on my nightstand now. I will be trying a couple different antennas. I am really close to picking up a few China Radio International broadcasts in English. I am getting some fading and it may come in better in the winter but a better antenna may help also.

Here's a clip from Radio New Zealand International.

 

[slip]

Here's another clip. This one is from FEBC Radio liangyou in Tibetan from Iba Philippines. FEBC is Far East Broadcasting Company. It comes in pretty good for only a 100 watt transmission some of the others are 250 watt and 500 watt.

 

[MULTIZ321]

How ham radio endures and remains a disaster lifeline in the iPhone era

Ham radio is still a disaster lifeline, even in the iPhone era - here's why

Sometimes disaster strikes and conventional communication systems fail. Here's how amateur ham radio operators provide a crucial link between those in affected areas and the outside world.

www.zdnet.com

Richard

 

[Brett]

How ham radio endures and remains a disaster lifeline in the iPhone era

Ham radio is still a disaster lifeline, even in the iPhone era - here's why

Sometimes disaster strikes and conventional communication systems fail. Here's how amateur ham radio operators provide a crucial link between those in affected areas and the outside world.

www.zdnet.com

Richard

There are still people that know morse code and Ham radios ?

 

[BJRSanDiego]

There are still people that know morse code and Ham radios ?

Morse code is no longer a requirement to get a ham license. Some hams still use it as Morse code can "get through" under severe weak signal or noisy signal conditions when voice may not be able to do so. Some hams still use it just because they enjoy doing so. So hams use Morse code, single-side-band (SSB) and a number of more modern digital forms of communication.

People still use Ham or Amateur radio. It isn't as popular as it was in the past but there are still a lot of hams. About 700,000 in the US and 3 million world wide. In emergencies when cell towers are down and phone lines down and no electricity, there will be some hams jumping in to assist in providing communications. Once a year there is an emergency practice session, called "Field Day" covering two days for a maximum of 24 hours if they begin setting up before the contest starts, or 27 hours if they start setting up at the contest start time.

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

I forgot to get a picture of my antenna last night so just grabbed one now. This is the antenna I got off Ebay. This can easily be made but I didn't have the basic items I had when we owned a home so it was easier to just purchase it and it only cost $23.00. This is also much easier to handle than a long wire.

I put a hook in the middle of our lanai ceiling at the railing. Now when it gets dark, I just go out and hang it from the hook. I picked up a lot yesterday, Taiwan, multiple places in China and one of my new favorites for programs, New Zealand.

View attachment 96086\

You might try just before sunrise for North America/South America stations.

 

[slip]

You might try just before sunrise for North America/South America stations.

Yes, early in the morning is the best time. In this one, I got Monticello Maine really clear. It was about 2am.

I did switcht to a MLA-30+ Antenna and I get better reception with much less noise. Here's Voice of Korea in Japanese from North Korea.