shortwave antennas
|
|
Vintage Metal Hallicrafters Model S-40 all Tube Shortwave Ham Radio $60.00 |
|
|
Sony ICF-6800W Shortwave Radio Receiver FM/AM MULTI-BAND RECEIVER W/MANUAL $217.50 |
|
|
Heathkit – DX-60B Shortwave Radio Transmitter $36.00 |
|
|
Radio Shack DX-392 Digital Tuning International Shortwave Radio/Recorder $49.99 |
|
|
Radio Shack (Cat No. 278-758) Long-Wire Shortwave Radio Antenna Kit $9.99 |
|
|
2012 Pirate Radio Annual, Shortwave, Andrew Yoder $16.00 |
|
|
SHORTWAVE HAM RADIO DRAKE HALLICRAFTERS PARTS REPAIR $19.95 |
|
|
Clegg 22′er manual Ham Radio DX Shortwave $12.50 |
|
|
SONY CRF-330K 33 BAND SHORTWAVE RADIO RECEIVER NICE $455.00 |
|
|
Grundig Yacht Boy 235 World Shortwave Receiver – GO RADIO! $39.95 |
|
|
Grundig Traveller II FM/MW/SW 7-band Travel Shortwave Radio, VINTAGE, Nice ! $9.99 |
|
|
RADIO SHACK DX-394 B AM MW SW SHORTWAVE RADIO USB/LSB + DOCUMENTATION PACKAGE $199.95 |
|
|
Grundig Short Wave Radio Portable Transistor 3005 Solid State ShortWave Marine $25.00 |
|
|
MG-6 Marker Generator crystal calibrator 1MHz 100 kHz shortwave radio #2 $12.95 |
|
|
MG-6 Marker Generator crystal calibrator 1MHz 100 kHz shortwave radio #5 $12.95 |
|
|
24″ Radio Shack longwire portable Reel antenna for shortwave and FM radio $0.99 |
|
|
SW-1 30 Meter Transistor QRP Crystal RF Transmitter Shortwave Amateur Ham Radio $25.00 |
|
|
Shortwave Radio Sony ICF-SW1 $62.00 |
|
|
Shortwave, AM, FM, RADIO… $29.00 |
|
|
REALISTIC DX-200 SHORTWAVE RADIO NICE NO RESERVE!! $66.00 |
|
|
Radio Shack Realistic DX-160 Shortwave Receiver + SP-150 Speaker Good Condition $75.00 |
|
|
ORIGINAL FRONT FACEPLATE for DRAKE SW2 SHORTWAVE RADIO – MINT CONDITION $39.95 |
|
|
VERY NICE HALLICRAFTERS S-38E SHORTWAVE/HAM RADIO RECEIVER, PLAYS GREAT $49.99 |
|
|
HALLICRAFTERS S-120 SHORTWAVE/HAM RADIO RECEIVER, PLAYS GREAT $19.99 |
|
|
Lafayette 99-2532 Speaker for Shortwave Radio $9.99 |
|
|
VERY RARE SONY XR-CA640X IN-DASH SHORT WAVE, MW(AM), FM CAR RADIO – NIB $19.00 |
|
|
RDA 127 10 Band Shortwave Radio W/ CB WB Police AIR TV AM FM $59.95 |
|
|
Radio Shack Realistic DX-160 Shortwave SWL Receiver SP-150 &Digital Freq Display $79.00 |
|
|
MFJ 1024 REMOTE ACTIVE ANTENNA FOR HAM SHORTWAVE RADIO RECEIVER sw hf cw cb ssb $13.00 |
|
|
12 Vintage 1964 QST Amateur Radio Magazine Issue Ham Tube Shortwave Electronics $10.00 |
|
|
Vtg Air Radio meter powers on amateur short wave radio $4.99 |
|
|
VINTAGE LOT POWER SUPPLY FOR CAR CELL PHONE i THINK CB RADIO Shortwave Ham $12.90 |
|
|
VINTAGE I’M A CB’ER CB RADIO TRUCKER BELT BUCKLE Ham & Shortwave $19.90 |
|
|
MAGNAVOX 15 BAND PORTABLE SHORTWAVE RADIO AM FM 2.3 MHZ-26MHZ MAGNAVOX SHORTWAVE $24.75 |
|
|
Short Wave Radio Station Guide & Log 1927 $6.50 |
|
|
Grundig Satellit 800 Shortwave AM FM Radio Receiver $250.00 |
|
|
Johnson Fleetwood 528 Shortwave, Two-Way, Ham Radio $0.99 |
|
|
GRUNDIG YACHT BOY 400 SHORTWAVE AM/FM RADIO & SSB PORTABLE WITH EXTRAS NR!!!!!!! $49.99 |
|
|
40 METER DIPOLE OR INVERTED V ANTENNA FOR HAM RADIO, DOOMSDAY PREPPER, SHORTWAVE $39.95 |
|
|
Nice Working Hallicrafters S-38E Ham & Shortwave Radio Receiver $59.99 |
|
|
Drake SPR-4 Hf Ham Shortwave Amateur Radio Vintage Radio Receiver $224.00 |
|
|
VINTAGE ANTIQUE HOWARD 436 SHORTWAVE BROADCAST TUBE RADIO RECEIVER TUNER HAM NR $49.99 |
|
|
REALISTIC DX-150B GENERAL COVERAGE HAM RADIO SHORTWAVE COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER $19.99 |
|
|
HEATHKIT GR-64 SHORTWAVE RECEIVER GENERAL COVERAGE TUNER HAM RADIO UFIX NR PARTS $19.99 |
|
|
HEATHKIT MOHICAN GC-1A Portable Shortwave Transistor Radio with Manual & Tool $16.50 |
|
|
YAESU FR-101S AM/SSB/CW HF SHORTWAVE HAM RADIO RECEIVER MATCHES FT-101 & FL-101 $160.00 |
|
|
29′ Random longwire portable clip antenna for shortwave and FM radio $7.00 |
|
|
Antique Short Wave Radio for Parts or Repair Free Shipping $39.95 |
|
|
Vintage Metal Hallicrafters Model S-41W Tube Shortwave Ham Radio $29.99 |
|
|
Realistic Patrolman AM FM VHF UHF Model SW 60 Shortwave Radio 6 bands $7.99 |
|
|
Grundig Eton AN-200 Shortwave Radio Antenna Loop in box $4.99 |
|
|
USED Antique Motorola TEK7A DC/RF Alignment Meter for HAM or Shortwave Radios $25.00 |
|
|
Electro Brand Shortwave Radio VINTAGE Multi-Band receiver 2971 cassette NOAA EQ $40.00 |
|
|
ICOM COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER 1C-R71A SHORTWAVE/HAM RADIO NICE L@@K $205.00 |
|
|
RADIO SHACK LBS-USB-AM-CW SHORT WAVE SHORTWAVE RADIO RECEIVER MODEL DX-394 $9.00 |
|
|
Eton E1XM Shortwave AM FM Radio BRAND NEW Serial # 6280 $599.00 |
|
|
Drake MS-7 Speaker 4 TR-7 TR-7A R-7 R-&A R7A TR7A TR7 R7 Ham Shortwave Radio $99.00 |
|
|
Shortwave Radio Wall Clock $11.95 |
|
|
Used Kaiwa PLL FM Short Wave Small Portable Radio Receiver Ham Aircraft Airplane $14.99 |
|
|
VTG Drake SPR-4 Ham Amateur Shortwave Radio Communications Receiver Very Nice $59.99 |
|
|
VTG Drake TRC4 Ham Amateur Shortwave Radio Transceiver Very Nice $59.99 |
|
|
15 METER DIPOLE OR INVERTED V ANTENNA FOR HAM RADIO, DOOMSDAY PREPPER, SHORTWAVE $34.95 |
|
|
1993 Edition WORLD RADIO TV Handbook Long Short Wave Broadcasters WRTH $3.99 |
|
|
1991 Edition WORLD RADIO TV Handbook Long Short Wave Broadcasters WRTH $3.99 |
|
|
Radio Antenna Kaito KA33 AM Shortwave Antenna Active Loop Antenna $39.87 |
|
|
KAITO KA1102 AM FM SW SHORTWAVE RADIO SSB – NEW IN BOX $64.95 |
|
|
NEW KAITO KA35 SW SHORTWAVE + MW MEDIUM WAVE AM RADIO AMPLIFIED ACTIVE ANTENNA $69.95 |
|
|
KAITO KA1103 AM FM LW SW SHORTWAVE RADIO SSB – BRAND NEW IN BOX – USA SHIPPING $74.95 |
|
|
5 x SHORTWAVE ANTENNNA ADAPTERS – 1/8″ JACK to RADIO’S TELESCOPIC ANTENNA $4.95 |
|
|
OLD COLLECTIBLE,INDIANA STATE C.B. RADIO,SHORTWAVE,ANTENA,COLLECTORS PATCH,RARE $8.00 |
|
|
1934 official short wave radio manual set building & service guide new reprint-C $29.99 |
|
|
G5RV Jr. Antenna For Ham Radio or Short Wave $46.99 |
|
|
Hallicrafter’s SX-42 Tube Radio Communications Receiver Shortwave $374.99 |
|
|
Portable 9 Band Shortwave FM/TV AM MW SW Radio Receiver High Sensitivity $9.57 |
|
|
VINTAGE COBRA 19XS CB RADIO MICROPHONE Ham & Shortwave Electronics $29.90 |
The Wonderful World Of Shortwave Radio
Welcome to the wonderful world of shortwave listening (SWL). Test your aural comprehension of foreign languages; listen in on news from abroad or on the variety of opinions and interests of ordinary people around the world; test your political IQ by evaluating your country through outsiders’ eyes, to cast a more discriminating eye on domestic and geopolitical situations. It’s always interesting to hear professional reportage about your country from abroad. Listen in on historical and cultural events as they occur in distant places twenty four hours a day without leaving the comfort of your bedside, in English and in foreign languages too.
There is nothing expensive about shortwave radios. In autumn of 2009, I bought a Coby paperback-novel-sized AM/FM/SW radio for only $16. Several years ago in the heart of downtown I was buying them at $8 and $10. Then, there are always the elegant and immortal Grundig world band radios, available in so many styles, sizes, functions, and price ranges, some costing not much more than $16. Grundig represents excellence of product and customer service. Their radios are the choice for travel, office, living room or bedroom. Coby products give a surprisingly fine performance at extremely low prices. I prefer to carry a miniature Coby AM/FM in my briefcase when I’m on the go and under pressure. I don’t mind damaging or losing one since they cost so little to replace.
Listen to direct broadcasts from Cuba, Germany, Canada, Japan, Spain. Hear a German orchestra in Vienna play Mozart or Beethoven live!
There is much excitement in scanning the airwaves to catch the diversity of ideas, subjects and interests presented in broadcasts. Be patient in finding a listenable broadcast under any atmospheric conditions. When reception is good even the least expensive model can bring in broadcast signals from remote places (this pursuit as a pastime is called “DXing”).
Reception is generally best at night, when the thought of broadcast waves travelling through night skies over mountain and sea adds an element of drama to SWL and the comfort of radio community. In SWL at night, I love the mysterious hollow echo in many transmissions, which sound as though they are coming to you through a tunnel. Perhaps this effect comes about because in their long and rugged journey through by no means empty space, wave packets that were transmitted in phase arrive at your receiver slightly out of phase, which means that you hear one sound coming from two different locations at once, hence the echo effect.
Radio Shack or any good electronics store will sell you a shortwave radio antenna, a six to ten foot long few strands of copper wire covered in sleeving, like common headphone conductor wire, but wound on a small flat spool. Hang the spool near or atop your window, attach the free end of the wire (expose the copper strands) to your radio’s telescopic antenna, and tune in to a broadcast. For only a few dollars the SWR antenna noticeably improves reception. The difference it makes is amazing. You can make your own simple “wire antenna” with a scrap wire from discarded headphones. Just hang one end on a tack over your window, expose about one inch of the copper strands at the other, and wrap those around the tip of your radio’s telescopic antenna. A butterfly clip or piece of tape can secure it if necessary. Realize, though, that whilst FM reception can depend on the telescopic antenna, it is radio placement that determines AM reception; extending the radio’s telescopic antenna if it has one won’t effect SWL. Sometimes I wrap a few thick rubber bands around my portable radios, too, to help insulate them against shock or breakage should they fall.
Listen to the effects on reception of the ionosphere, the vast layer of earth’s atmosphere that reaches from about 50 km (30 miles) from earth’s surface to about 500-800 km (400-600 miles). It’s on the nearby sub-layers that shortwave propagation depends.
Ponder the fact that radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation like light, and therefore travel at three hundred million meters per second (186,000 miles per second). Sound waves travel at different speeds through different materials: air, water, wood, steel. Broadly speaking, the denser the material, the faster they move through it. Ponder the fact that a radio wave is not a sound wave.
Create an oversimplified but very useful image by picturing short waves as sinusoidal (S-shaped) waves of energy undulating through space, possessing wavelengths from about 10 meters (10 yards or 30 feet) to 100 meters (100 yards or 300 feet). That’s quite long, actually. To be of use in radio, transmitted waves must have a comparatively high energy meaning a high frequency; frequency and wavelength are inversely proportionate to each other. Communication waves of very low frequencies like what are used for maritime or navigational purposes have astonishing wavelengths crest to crest, in the range of 1000 meters (1 km or three-fifths of a mile) to 10,000 meters (10 km or about 5 miles).
I really hope you enjoy this essay, reader, and the calming, reasonable pastime of shortwave listening. That would encourage me to compose a future one on the topic, like the physical characteristics of radio waves (their length, energy and frequency); or the simple architecture of the atmosphere and how it propagates SWR waves; the two problems it presents to SWL: fading and interference; or the uses of shortwave radio for such as military communications, 2-way communications by voice or by Morse code for a hobby and for use in emergencies, clandestine broadcasting; what radio waves are (they include visible light, TV and microwaves too) and why we use that part of the electromagnetic spectrum. These are the five or so basic subjects related to SWL.
It’s a very simple study, really, a repetition of a few facts over and over again. DXing.com (http://www.dxing.com) is an established and regularly updated website by Mr. H. Helms that includes everything and more about SWL. So don’t go out and spend a lot of money on books. Use your free library card, or type “shortwave listening” into your search engine to find the learning tool that suits you.
About the Author
Christine Despardes is a freelance small business strategy consultant and junior business analyst working out of New York City. Email: tek1int@yahoo.com.
Do “Slinky” shortwave radio antennas work well?
If so, are there any special tricks to placement?
Yes, they do. If placed in a “Y” formation, they work pretty good with 20 meter or 40 meter. Sometimes, they work okay with 10 meter. Even if placed vertically or completely horizontal, the 10 meter doesn’t work too well all the time.
My Shortwave Antennas
