[Elecraft] K3 for SWL?

[GRANT YOUNGMAN]

> 
> Just getting back on to the ham bands, and not having SWL'd for many years,
> what stations are still broadcasting?
> 
> I noticed Monitoring Times no longer publishes, and I think I recall
> hearing the BBC no longer broadcasts on the SW bands?
> 



Not much, unless your thing is the hell fire and damnation variety of religious broadcasting, whack job conspiracy theorists, or folks pitching gold, apocalypse survival kits, and colloidal silver.  Cuba, China, and sometimes Australia are around and the most prevalent.  VOA still broadcasts, but not to the US (currently) and much of it is not in English.

One of the best resources is http://www.short-wave.info <http://www.short-wave.info/>, which gives live schedules and language information.  Unpublished numbers stations and other interesting stuff can be found if you poke around enough.  The dwindling propagation conditions are not helping.

I use both of my E’craft radios from time to time for SWLing, They work fine.  The sync detector in the K3(s) is excellent.  Usually, though, it’s a GPR-90/GSB-1, Hammarlund PRO-310, or 51J-4 with Lankford’s SSB mods and a Sherwood sync detector for AM.

Grant NQ5T
K3 #2091, KX3 #8342