[Scan-DC] new Shortwave Receiver

[Mike Agner]

As this is a scanner list, I'll keep the comments brief. There are many 
better places for discussing this, including the HF forums at RadioReference

Most portables won't hear a lot on just a whip. It's notably inefficient 
on freqs below 30 Mhz. 10-20 foot of wire will perk things up just fine. 
And I would strongly recommend a simple project to stop static discharge 
from getting into the radio and ruining your investment. We have details 
on this on the RR forum. Just another thought - NEVER connect the 
antenna directly to the whip. One static zap and there goes your investment.

HF listening is not dead, contrary to what you might be told. On the 
broadcast side, while the big boys seem to be fading out, that leaves
room for the not-so-big boys, and if you're into African or Latin 
American stuff, that can be found without much trouble. Utilities are 
all over the place - from the HF-GCS system, aero, ect. You name it, 
there's probably something for it. Portables do limit you, though, in 
terms of selectivity, fine tuning (important for digital decoding) and 
resistance from overloading. And as noted, hams always have something to 
say, no matter how weird it sometimes is...and never forget the pirates!

HF listening is not like scanning - it's heavily dependent on 
daylight/darkness, as well as whatever old Sol sends our way. We have a 
few websites that can teach you about this in the RR Wiki

Sadly the days of desktop radios are fading fast. Apart from the ham 
transceivers, (many of which have general coverage rxs built in), and 
the offerings from Alinco and Icom, they're pretty scarce unless you 
troll the used markets (and you know something about what to buy and 
avoid -we've got several links in the RR Wiki for reviews). The HUGE 
push these days are Software Defined Radios (SDRs) like the Perseus 
(there are many that are MUCH cheaper that cover HF). We have a separate 
forum (and wiki) at RR for this topic as well

Mike


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