Make Shortwave Radio

make shortwave radio

Nothing on shortwave radio…help?

I just received a Sony ICF-SW7600GR. I am new to shortwave listening and this is the first shortwave radio I have seen in person.
I understand the radio wave concept, but just no experience with it. Much instructions came with the radio, but I figured I would see what I could hear by scanning through first. Well, I haven’t heard anything yet. A couple of times I thought I heard talking, but I couldn’t make out what it was. I couldn’t even tell if it was human. I read a little and right now I have the radio in my apartment with an external antenna hanging outside on the porch. Could my problem simply be a bad area for reception? Shouldn’t I at least pick up something? I read that other electronics could be disruptive, so I turned of computer and television. Any help would be appreciated. I was anxious to get the radio, but now I am getting frustrated and a little discouraged.

I assume you are trying to use the radio to receive short wave broadcasts. Make sure to select the SW band and use AM mode. AM, amplitude modulation, is the mode commonly used in the short wave bands. The radio has a ATT (attenuation) switch, which probably should be switched off. The manual also shows a little AM MODE switch with 3 positions, try setting it to normal. You should at least hear some static hissing noises. If you hear raspy buzzing noises everywhere you tune, you may have a local source of interference, it could even be your neighbors. You could try taking the radio to someone else house and try it there to eliminate that possibility. ALSO, shortwave broadcasts are very sensitive to the time of day, some frequencies work good at night 5.8 to 6.2 Mhz (same as 5800 Khz to 6200Khz) for example.
Some are better in day, say 15 Mhz ( 15000Khz). Some days it may not work as well as others. I have better luck at night. Good frequencies to look for are WWV time signals on 2.5 5 10 and 15 Mhz
(2500 5000 10000 and 15000 Khz ) It sounds like a ticking clock with anouncements on the minute. If you bump into any SSB signals (single sideband) they will sound garbled. That may be the non-human sounds that you heard.
Good luck, hope this helps.