USB/Solar/Wind up Radio

[River Song]

I bought two of the DEGEN's as recommended by LS a couple of years ago.
IMHO rubbish. Couldnt get anything of any interest on the SW bands. It may well be that I have to tune my ears better

[NorthernRaider]

I don't think I have ever heard ANYTHING useful on SW ????

[Lightspeed]

RS

The Degen radios do work on SW. To get best results a length of wire attached to the telescopic antenna is needed.

PVC covered loudspeaker cable is good for this. You'll need some for the antenna on the Pixie transceiver you have ordered anyway. You'll be able to use the same antenna for both the Pixie and for the SW on your Degen

This is the sort of material you need ( and a 20m length is perfect for the pixie)


NR

I am honestly surprised that you have never heard anything useful on SW. EVERY nation in the world has international broadcasting stations on SW. Generally in English but not always. Its interesting to hear the spin put on the same news article from different national broadcasters.... for example BBC, Voice of America, France, Netherlands, Russia, China and Iran.

SW is second only to the internet as a live news gathering source.

[NorthernRaider]

LS I have heard stuff on SW just nowt interesting, most of the foreign stations of interest I picked up were on AM stations ( unless AM and SW are the same thing? )

[Lightspeed]

Hi NR

The MW stations you have listened to are very similar but with a lot more commercial music stations thrown in.

There are thousands of broadcast stations operating 24/7/365 on shortwave, and a large proportion of them are news stations.

With a long wire antenna clipped to your radio's telescopic antenna, you'll start hearing them better (the antenna wire needs to be 3m to 20m long and strung up high off the ground, preferably outdoors.)

[NorthernRaider]

Talking about antenna there were some radio using chaps on the hill top the other day with an antenna attached to a balloon about 100 ft up ??

[Lightspeed]

baloon hoisted antennas can work very well.

Unfortunately they also draw a lot of attention.

Last testing I did using a helium filled weather balloon came to an abrupt halt when one of the local kids decided to slot the balloon with his air rifle.