HOW-TO: Hear CW and SSB on a simple receiver

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More good news for owners of simple Shortwave receivers.

The lowest cost shortwave receivers rarely equipped to receive SSB or Morse code transmissions. They are generally AM ( Amplitude Modulation) receivers. Thats fine for International broadcast stations which are also AM, but for long range, low powered Amateur and possibly survivor coms best they will do is let you hear Strange snippets of voice on SSB transmissions and Morse code transmissions will appear as pulses of silence in the background hiss..... kind of the reverse of the dah dah dit dit dit type sound that is typical of that mode

If in good prepper style we purchase two identical receivers while they were going cheap (yes I know there's "cheep" pun in there!!!),
by running both at the same time, SSB and morse signals can be decoded if a simple process is carefully followed. Other than picking up an amazing second hand bargain, or building specialised circuits to add to your radio, this has got to be the lowest cost way to receive these modes.

Here's how to do it:

Put the two radios very close together. They must stay in close proximity throughout this process.

First radio:

Set up with a long wire antenna and coil tuner. Tune to the frequency of interest and adjust coil for maximum urge.

Tune radio to morse pulses or strange broken snippets of voice ( thats what SSB sounds like on AM)

Second radio:

Set volume to zero (Important you only want to listen to first radio)

Turn on and select the same frequency as first radio.

Slowly tune upward or downward, a varying tone whistle will be heard over on the First radio.

Adjust frequency of Second radio until the whistle is fairly constant, and then offset tune it very carefully to make the Morse or SSB signals readable.

This is a very delicate process, and requires both practice and a steady hand. BUT, as a low cost or emergency solution it is entirely viable.