# really good short wave/world band radios

Category: Broadcaster's Lounge

## Post 1 by V.I. p (Zone BBS Addict) on Monday, 05-Nov-2007 21:09:18

As the title of this topic suggests, I'd like to know which seem to be the best short wave radios out there. Any reviews to how the particular radio that you are suggesting works and how accessible it is would be helpful. Thanks.

## Post 2 by ka3m (Account disabled) on Tuesday, 01-Jan-2008 1:28:51

Even though I don't use it as much anymore, the realistic dx 398 still sits next to my other radios in my bedroom. I don't think this radio is made anymore. It's very user friendly. It has a simple keypad for direct entry frequencies. The reception on it even with no antenna is phenomenon. However I attached my long wire to it and I get extremely astounding results. The draw back however is it does pull in a level of man made noise around the bands. I find that this rig has very bad cross channel Racal. The receive is so sensitive that it's a bit more of a problem to zero in on a weak signal. Nowadays I prefer to use my icom 735 hf transceiver to monitor the hf bands simply because of the notch filter which comes handy for filtering out the big broadcast stations in the way on 40 meters. It's my understanding that the broadcasters using 40 meters will have to vacate and move up the band a bit in 2009. This will give ham ops who use 40 meters a bit of a break and less headaches. Incidentally the dx 398 has sideband capabilities. I think one who's dedicated to shortwave listening should secure a rig with sideband in order to take advantage of everything that's there. Most hand held units only have am capabilities. That's good enough for hearing most of the broadcast stations but you'll still miss out. Some stations broadcast both modes simultaneously like Wbcq 7415, but that's an acception. There are some small outfits that use sideband because it's truly a better mode. Not for music however, but for voice it's more than sufficient. Sideband operates on a suppressed carrier which the signal will travel a lot better. On am and fm most of the energy is used on the full carrier output. Any shortwave rig you choose, will not receive sufficiently with out a good antenna. Of course hite is mite. So not only should you be equip with a good outside antenna for the job, but if you can get it up at least 36 feet, a recommended wave length, you are pretty much there. According to the mathematics with antenna theory, 250 feet is the best hite and apparently any higher than that is a waste. That doesn't mean anything as far as practice goes. Because we all know that the C.N. tower in Toronto stands at about 1500 feet in to the sky and any antenna put on it works tremendously. As well as airplane mobiles as well. I've often wanted to put up an antenna at least 15 to 16 wave lengths from the ground. As I don't live in a high rise, I can't see that happening. Maybe a tower on top of a high rise would be nice. I have a little rinky dinky TV tower that I use for my antennas and it's good enough for my qth. It's a simple five section tower with a couple of masses to bring that up another quarter of a wave length but that's as far as I've got it as we speak. I've got the long wire mounted on top of it and strung around my back yard and fed in to my bed room. Then the 2 verticals on top of the tower as well work real good for my fm and for the higher hf bands, and yes, c.b. included. If you're travelling and want to go portable there's a few things I used to do. Just on those crappy hand held's you can buy anywhere, I cut up about 25 feet or so of speaker wire and strung that up easily anywhere I went. Anytime an antenna is placed on the inside, you're compromising. If I went anywhere where I couldn't put up any wire, I'd clip on a shorter piece of speaker wire to the receiver. That will work at least better than no antenna. Radio shack cells these corny yo yo antennas which is a thing of long wire that you can set up in a small room and have the lead from your window sill to your rig. I would still try to put that outside however. This random wire they sell cost only 10 bucks. You can certainly make your own. The only other thing I didn't like about portable shortwave receivers besides output performance was the limited band capability. When you work with radios that cover the entire hf bands, having limited bands is a bit of a hindrance. Most portables' will give you a portion of 40 meters, 49 meters, 60 meters, and of course the medium wave band and fm. Also with out sideband, you loose a big portion of 40 meters right there. Most of the tube receivers are obsolete now and that's sad since tube gear was second to none. To go from tube operating electronics to this solid state crap is like going from heroin to weed. You could really tweak and peek and do so much more with the old fashion build your own radio heath kit sets. I know some of you remember those days.

## Post 3 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 01-Jan-2008 17:11:40

I was actually discussing shortwave radio with my boyfriend a few days ago. He's looking for something that will enable him to listen to radio stations in Greece. He's never used or heard of a shortwave (though maybe he just doesn't know what it's called in English), but he's an electronics engineer and used to both digital and analogue equipment (repairs keyboards, synthesizers, amplifiers and mixers). Anyway, he's totally sighted. Any suggestions for him? I'm actually interested in the same thingas him but am totally blind and no nothing of electronics other than I turn them on and they work. I'm looking, on my end, for something that's very simple to use. Now as far as accessibility, what is the difference between a digital and an analogue machine and which would you recommend? Mine doesn't have to be portable and don't worry if it's an old model. I can find it on ebay or something.

## Post 4 by ka3m (Account disabled) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2008 0:58:19

Well if you go on e bay or something then try and look for the radio I previously described called the dx 398 made by realistic. It used to be a bit pricey but as it's no longer made I think the price has to of depreciated. Since it's also a radio from the ninety's. Anything like that would be very easy for you to use because of the keypad function on it. I would imagine the older rigs that had the manual tuner instead would have been less excepted by the blind community because you would need to see the dial position to put in your favourite frequencies. Either that or just turn blindly threw the bands like I would sometimes, I would tune about with out caring where it was going, just so long as it finds something that my short attention span can get with. So check that out as well and for simplicity, there's always portable units which are straight forward to use but again, you probably have to see to know where you're tuning it. If you don't care about that, then you're ready to go. Good luck and I hear lots of foren programming and can not identify where they are. Perhaps Greece is one of many things I'm not understanding.

## Post 5 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2008 7:27:05

So if I were to use one of the radios with dials, would it be like using a regular radio? I'm used to that. It's the kind that came to mind when I thought of shortwave. I thought that, as with most things, the digital ones would be too visual for me.

## Post 6 by ka3m (Account disabled) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2008 20:06:24

well as long as you're used to an old fashion roder dial then I suppose you can find any of those old shortwave transceivers and be happy with it. I personally prefer the direct entry frequency capability because it's fast and efficient. However way before these new ones came out people used the old ones forever so good luck with that. Incidentally the new digital displays you're referring to should still be accessible for you. As long as you know how to use the keypad on the radio itself, you should be able to program it to go where you want it to.

## Post 7 by V.I. p (Zone BBS Addict) on Wednesday, 09-Jan-2008 19:01:37

Any ideas about the radios from Grundig. Mainly the Grundig s350?

## Post 8 by MDN1988 (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Saturday, 02-Aug-2008 3:26:28

hi I am also interested in trying to find a short wave radio. I heard that getting one is expensive, but I have wanted one for years. Maybe I will check out the DX 398, because it sounds like a good choice.
Misty
htpp://www.workathomeunited.com/mistybradley