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Not having much luck listening to SW

K

KD8LWX

Active Member
Aug 17, 2009
162
0
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I have been trying to listen to some SW and I am not having much luck.

Earlier last week while trying to learn my VX-8R I went into the pre-programmed SW band area. I did a quick scan and I had a nice clear signal which I "think" was Cuba. Since then I have been able to pick up anything on the VX-8R. I have been told I need a long antenna. I think that would be correct, but I am surprised that I received such a clear signal before.

I then started playing around with another radio this weekend and I was unable to pick up much in the APT.

I am beginning to think that I may have too much RF interference, concrete & rebar in between me and the signals in the APT.

But before I take my gear on the road for testing, does anyone have a good signal I should tune in, in Washington DC area, in the 7-10pm EST of day. I would like to have a base to judge all other signals by. Or to put it a different way, if you can not tune in F freq. at H hour there is either something wrong with the location or the radio. Please fill in F and H.


Thanks
 

Radio Tech said:
Is this radio 6m/2m/23cm/70cm AM/FM/FMW?
I did not know it was SW.
Click to expand...

The VX-8r appears to be able to receive 6m/2m/23cm/70cm AM/FM & SW.
I have no idea what FMW is.
I have not had any luck receiving CB, but that may be partially my fault as well as the radios. I can tune to it, but I was unable to hear anyone when and where I was trying.



The other radio is a dedicated receiver.
I think the buttons are for AM, FM, LW, SW in that order.
I listened to a little AM and FM before trying to find something in the LW and SW spectrum.
 
Inside a rebar reinforced concrete building on a HT with a little duckie antenna, in a metropolitan area? These are very challenging SWling conditions, ones that I would not even consider...

A long antenna is needed to help that VX-8R pick up anything is the SW bands. (oh, and I mean like a long wire up in the air - trees, etc...)

BTW, the term should be WFM - Wideband FM...
 
Will that radio pick up the FM broadcast band? It's above 6 meters and I think that's about as low in frequency it goes,isn't it? It isn't 'short wave' in the normal sense of the phrase, but I'm not aware of any other broadcast bands above 6 meters.
- 'Doc
 
I have two radios. Both will pickup standard AM and FM inside the APT., most of the time.

The VX-8R is preprogrammed with 89 SW Freqs. Voice of America 6.030 being #1 and Australia being the #89. They are grouped by country not by Freq. Inside the special band.

To be honest, I didn’t expect to get much from the VX-8R, but I am very disappointed in the other radio receiver (Radio Shack DX-398 ) with the long antenna.

I am tempted to tape the long antenna to the window tonight and see if I can get any better reception.
 
Had some luck with the VX-8R on the way out of work and on the way into the APT building. I was just scanning the preprogrammed freqs. The signal wasn't clear, but it was there. I didn't get around to playing with the other radio.

It looks like my issue is the apt.
 
ANTENNA, antenna....
Their is a lot of SW activity out there, after 8 in the evenings it isn't to bad.

Hook the antenna on with a alligator clip on the curtain rod, that will help.
I dont think you will do that much with the vxr radio, it is really programmed and workable on the hambands, the radio shack radio should do good.

Try 6925 or the 6 mhz spectrum it is lively at night.

DOCTOR/795
 

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W5LZ said:
Will that radio pick up the FM broadcast band? It's above 6 meters and I think that's about as low in frequency it goes,isn't it? It isn't 'short wave' in the normal sense of the phrase...
- 'Doc
Click to expand...

Doc, the VX-8R is about 500 kHz to 999,000 kHz continuous...
 
In that case, I would figure it pretty well should cover any of the SW broadcast bands! If it will be capable of the right mode for any particular station, then I'd have to say it ought to do as well as it's 'fed'. Meaning the biggest, baddest antenna you can manage in the circumstances. If that antenna happens to be resonant on the bands of interest, that would be nice too, but not absolutely necessary. One sort of close indication of how long an antenna ought to be is by figuring a quarter of whatever 'meter' band it is, in meters for a vertical, about twice that for a horizontal wire antenna. That's only an approximation and certainly not even close to exact at all. For a receiving only antenna, that seems to work as often as not, and is for an outside antenna. Inside antennas tend to be much harder to manage. There isn't ever enough room, it's always in the way, or they get sort of complicated and expensive. Inside antennas have to deal with noise/interference that's generated inside a building too.
Simplest solution? Throw a @#$ invisible wire over the top of hte building and hope it doesn't foul it's self on something else. Get 'Spiderman' to string it for you?
Lot's of possibilities, you have to decide which is most practical for you. Good luck.
- 'Doc

Don't you just hate answers like that, I do.
 
W5LZ said:
- 'Doc

Don't you just hate answers like that, I do.
Click to expand...


au contraire, Doc. Methinks you love it!



I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
 
I got somewhere in the open.

The VX-8R and the Radio shack, SW worked.

The Radio Shack radio, recieves better, but there is something wrong with the speaker. When I turn up the volume beyond quiet, it sounds out of tune, but with headsets it is clear. I am not sure what is wrong with the speaker or how to fix it.

The VX-8R is interesting. With a wire wrapped around the antenna it picks up several channels, but I can not actively tune it because I am memory band mode.

BTW, there is something wrong with Cuba. They condemn us for capitalism and then offer up Radio Havana in Real Audio.
 

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