FRANKS SHORT WAVE & HF PAGES.
My Guestbook
QTH INDIANA, USA.
For many years i have been interested in short wave radio and the amateur bands. These pages are a snapshot of my daily listenings and notes on how the bands are running. Nothing very scientific as i tend to adopt the philosophy of "if it works ...then ok, if not ... try another frequency." Anyway here goes. First i better tell you about my radio, a Sony ICF 7600 Pll, FM stereo, Long / Medium and Short wave radio with AM & SSB. In effect i have continuous coverage up to 30 Mhz. My Antenna is a loosely coupled long wire (centre fed) and the QTH is the town of Coatesville, indiana, usa. By the way, don't be afraid to experiment, its part of the fun of things. If you come up with an idea for a antenna then try it out, it is extremely unlikely you'll damage anything more than your fingernails in trying it out. Any notes on stations you have picked up or links or anything to do with short wave "wireless" would be welcome.
Why not sign our guestbook, all comments are welcome.
HELP NEEDED.....
I RECENTLY ACQUIRED A ZENITH ROYAL 3000 MULTIBAND PORTABLE CIRCA 1960'S. I AM MISSING A TRANSISTOR, UNFORTUNATELY THESE ARE THE OLD STYLE PNP TYPES AND I NEED A OSCILLATOR TRANSISTOR FOR THE AM SECTION. THE ONLY DETAILS I HAVE IS PART 121- 350. ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR REPLACEMENT WOULD BE WELCOME.
FACT....
RADIO WAVES TRAVEL AT 186,000 MILES PER HOUR OR 300,000000 METRES PER SECOND.
GO BUY THE BOOK, I CAN WELL RECOMMEND THE "WORLD RADIO & TV HANDBOOK". (WRTH). This first class book lists the worlds radio and tv stations with additional info on short wave listening & antennas, maps and radio reviews. copies can be obtained on the internet try ebay.CO.UK or AMAZON It is not a cheap book, prices seem around the £15 ($30) mark for the latest edition. It is so good, even a 2nd hand copy will be found very useful to the short wave listener.
BAND CONDITIONS and SKIP
The thing about SW transmissions is their "variedness". One moment you can be listening to "WORLD HARVEST RADIO", from the USA at an ear splitting 5+9 (see Signal reports), the next minute nothing. Almost as if they had vanished off the face of the earth. At the same time signals from China and the far east may start to boom through. Much of this is due to a condition known as "Skip". Radio signals tend to travel outwards in a straight line from the transmitter. This means that they run off the curvature of the earth. It is at this point that the earths atmosphere plays its part. At certain times of the day or night changes take place in the atmosphere that make it behave like a mirror to radio waves with the result that the radio waves are bounced back towards the earth several thousand miles from their point of origin. According to conditions the wave may bounce off the earth and back to the atmosphere and then again bounce back to earth several times resulting in world wide signals been heard. This bouncing is known as skip. Want to know more? then click on here to go to G4NSJ's homepages for a fuller and slightly more technical description.
FACT....
MOST COUNTRIES HAVE AN "OVERSEAS SERVICE" IN ENGLISH.
WHY NOT LEARN MORSE CODE? MANY HAM RADIO CLUBS AND EVENING CLASSES CAN HELP YOU. SHOULD YOU WISH TO JOIN THE RANKS OF THE AMATEUR, YOU WILL NEED MORSE CODE TO OBTAIN YOUR FULL LICENCE.
FACT ....
SHORT WAVE RADIO IS ADDICTIVE, ENTER AT YOUR PERIL. YOU WILL SOON WANT TO BE AWAKE AT SOME GOD FORSAKEN HOUR TO LISTEN TO AUSTRALIA OR TIMBUKTOO.
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