Short wave radios - please help and recommend

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raildogg

Lifer
Aug 24, 2004
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321
126
Someone has asked me to find him a short wave radio that picks up BBC news from England. He wants to pick up other stations as well. So he has asked me for a short wave radio.

Anyone have any comments on this? Also, any recommendations about finding one?

Thank you very much.
 
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raildogg

Lifer
Aug 24, 2004
12,254
321
126
Yes, I was just searching online myself and saw this as I typed BBC into the search engine as well. That is too bad. I guess I'll explain to him, but where is a good place to buy one?

Thanks.
 
mrSHEiK124

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
My dad's got a real old (but good) one. He picks up Arabic stations with it, not sure if they broadcast from the Middle East or not...
 
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nsafreak

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2001
7,093
3
81
I don't have any specific models but it seems that Grundig makes some of the best shortwave radios around.
 
cardiac

cardiac

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,088
10
81
You can find everything you need here: Universal Radio. They carry most brands of shortwave radios and also quite a bit of amateur radio (Ham) gear.....
 
Analog

Analog

Lifer
Jan 7, 2002
12,755
1
0
Doesn't the BBC have live feed on the internet? I have an old Realistic Radio Shack shortwave radio that works pretty good. Way back in the late 70s, I had an external antenna feed on it, and I put out a custom antenna for the wavelength I wanted to maximize gain on. These tricks can be played for weaker stations.
 
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ScottMac

Moderator<br>Networking<br>Elite member
Mar 19, 2001
5,471
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Most of the Eton radios are pretty good.

A lot will depend on how much money he has to spend.

Probably the best investment would be to get a current copy of "Passport to Worldband Radio" which has articles and features about Worldband stations, as well as a programming guide (what's on and when, from where) and a buyer's guide that compares all the radios (ALL of them) by type (portable, tabletop, mini ...) and price.

Good Luck
Scott
 
AMCRambler

AMCRambler

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2001
7,671
13
81
Yeah, I was going to say I'm not sure how many stations still broadcast short wave. I had a little radio shack kit short wave radio where you put all the part of it together on kind of a bread board with a legend on it telling you where each piece went. It was pretty cool and as a little kid you felt all proud that you built something like that yourself. It used to pick up all sorts of stuff. French stations, hispanic, maybe BBC I'm not sure. I never listened to it that much. I just enjoyed putting it together.

Edit: Here's a pic of it
 
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ScottMac

Moderator<br>Networking<br>Elite member
Mar 19, 2001
5,471
2
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There's more than the BBC ... they were kinda going off the Left deep-end anyway.

Radio China is very good, there are some interesting things on Radio Havana/Habana ... the Passport to Worldband book is a Very Good Thing and I'd (once again) strongly recommend it.

If the radio also covers Single Sideband, you can also frequently pick up air and maritime traffic, weather faxes (need a decoder, not too expensive), Coast Guard, amateur radio 160m-10m bands,

It's interesting ... scan the dial and see what's going on ... get some alternative viewpoints.

Good Luck

Scott

There are also some good magazines (Communication Times) with SW features.
 
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raildogg

Lifer
Aug 24, 2004
12,254
321
126
Thanks for the help guys. I should clarify that he also wants to pick up Indian language stations along with BBC. So any Indian news or any other type would be good.
 
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ScottMac

Moderator<br>Networking<br>Elite member
Mar 19, 2001
5,471
2
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Fryes had the Eton E10 on sale for ~US$50.00 or so a couple weeks ago.
 
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imported_wonderwrench

Member
Jan 12, 2008
137
0
0
Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Originally posted by: wonderwrench
Loosing the BBC sucks. I got one of these for my father and it works great.
http://www.ccrane.com/radios/s...radios/ccradio-sw.aspx
Click to expand...
I was going to post that, very nice radio.
Click to expand...
Yes it is. My father has been a DX'er for over 60 years and has several tube type Philco's, 1) 630, 2) 37-116's, 1) 37-690 also an old tube type communications receiver. The CCRadio-SW works nearly as well and is portable. In his own words " Its the best performing consumer transistor radio I ever seen". The only down side is the method used to program functions is not very intuitive and the channel memories are not direct access. I'm sure if you spend enough money you can buy a better radio but nothing in its price range performs as good to the best of my knowledge.

I'm not big into DX'ing my self but have been looking for a Philco 630 tombstone as I do listen to a few AM talk radio stations from time to time. Most if not all late model AM\SW radio's are just crap. They sound bad, have no sensitivity or selectivity.
 
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ShotgunSteven

Lifer
May 31, 2001
15,326
1
0
Originally posted by: wonderwrench
Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Originally posted by: wonderwrench
Loosing the BBC sucks. I got one of these for my father and it works great.
http://www.ccrane.com/radios/s...radios/ccradio-sw.aspx
Click to expand...
I was going to post that, very nice radio.
Click to expand...
Yes it is. My father has been a DX'er for over 60 years and has several tube type Philco's, 1) 630, 2) 37-116's, 1) 37-690 also an old tube type communications receiver. The CCRadio-SW works nearly as well and is portable. In his own words " Its the best performing consumer transistor radio I ever seen". The only down side is the method used to program functions is not very intuitive and the channel memories are not direct access. I'm sure if you spend enough money you can buy a better radio but nothing in its price range performs as good to the best of my knowledge.

I'm not big into DX'ing my self but have been looking for a Philco 630 tombstone as I do listen to a few AM talk radio stations from time to time. Most if not all late model AM\SW radio's are just crap. They sound bad, have no sensitivity or selectivity.
Click to expand...
I may wait a while before buying one, based on what you said. I know the CCRadio has gone through a couple of iterations, such as the CCRadio Plus, then the SW. If I wait a year or two, they may come out with a revision that improves on the problems you mentioned. Apparently they are having trouble keeping them in stock as it is right now, though.
 
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imported_wonderwrench

Member
Jan 12, 2008
137
0
0
Originally posted by: ScottMac
Fryes had the Eton E10 on sale for ~US$50.00 or so a couple weeks ago.
Click to expand...
I had a look and they are gone. Frys has some good deals as long as you can settle for discontinued products. IMO not a problem when buying a portable radio.
ETON S350DLS $51.15
http://shop2.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
ETON S350SLB $99.99
http://shop2.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
I have know idea how well they perform but the prices are nice.
Also unsure what is different between the 2 other than color and model number.
The size and spec's look the same to me.

 
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