Need Short Wave Receiver Advice

[Mike Smith]

Hello. I'm something of a novice when it comes to short wave radio. I like to listen to world band news broadcasts but am currently having trouble capturing and keeping the frequencies clear on my Grundig Tavler. I am constantly tuning, and fine tuning to keep a frequency once I've found it, and regularly lose the signal. I also listen to the AM frequencies, and I find that the AM signals wander in the same way. My guess is that this is a result of having such a cheap rig. Would external antennas (both AM and short wave) improve my reception? Should upgrade to a better radio? If so, is there a worthy receiver that can be had in the $200-300 range? Does "digital tuning" hold signals better than manual tuning? Also, is there any problem with buying used equipment?

[NW7US]

Hi, Mike. Welcome to the hobby.

Frequency drift is typical of radio equipment that is poorly designed, or has low-quality or defective components. For instance, old tube-based radios that also lacked advanced anti-drift or frequency stablizing circuits would drift as the radio warmed up. The heat caused changed in the components, resulting in the change of frequency. In transister radio curcuits like in those cheap 'walk around' radios of the 1970's, the small plastic and foil tuning capacitors inside would be prone to frequency drift because the 'Q' of the tuning curcuit was so sensitive. A very tiny bump of the physical 'setting' of the foil 'plates' would cause huge frequency changes. Often, in these low-budget radios, even bringing your hand or body close to the tuning curcuit would result in a shift in frequency. So, temperature, slight movements, stray capacitance: all of these would result in frequency changes.

More expensive radios were designed with higher-quality components, and had cuircuits that kept the temperature at a constant level, shielded the tuning curcuit from stray capacitance, and so on.

Newer digital radios used techniques that avoided these mechanical problems. So, it became possible to create low-cost digitally-tuned radios with a better control over such functions as the tuning of signals.

What does all that mean? There are radios now, within the budget of 200 to 400 that will work rather well for you.

For instance, here is a radio that fits your criteria:

Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave World Band Receiver with Single Side Band Reception

Description:

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR world band receiver radio will keep you connected to FM, AM, shortwave and longwave stations with a PLL digital tuner. With single side band (SSB) reception, the radio will receive morse code, ham radio transmissions, and other types of shortwave radio transmissions that expand your listening experience beyond AM and FM broadcasts. To further enhance listening pleasure, the synchronous detection will reduce fading and regular beats.

It certainly is within your price range of $200 to $300.

There are others like that, but this is a good starting portable radio.

As far as buying used -- well, buyer beware. Like anything else, you must be very careful to know as much as you can about the radio before buying it. What is the ownership history? What condition is it REALLY in? Etc.

Finally: a bigger antenna can sometimes overload low-end radios. This example radio would benefit from a more 'proper' and larger external antenna.

I hope that my answer is helpful.

[DougC263]

Mike, it *sounds* like your Grundig Traveler is an analog-tuner radio. Tuning with these was never precise and often will drift.

You can still buy a new RCA "super radio" for getting good AM reception, but (sadly) nobody really makes a good analog tuner portable radio for shortwave anymore. There are a few analogs still coming from respectable names and the prices mostly aren't out of line, but they all have two big drawbacks: they don't cover the entire spectrum, and none I know of have SSB support.

If you're willing to spend $50-$75, a few of the digital-tuner AM/FM/shortwave radios will stay tuned on exactly where you put them.
In my opinion they are not as much fun for manually-scanning as an analog is, because digital tuners all mute the audio output while they are moving the tuning frequency. I have a digital only (Sony 7600GR, which is very good for a digital) but need to get an analog to spin....

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Antennas do make a big difference, with both AM and SW. A poor radio hooked a great antenna will still work pretty good; a great radio with a poor antenna won't.

Most AM radios have quite poor AM antennas nowadays.
The "ferrite twin-coil antenna" (branded either Sangean or C. Crane) is somewhat pricey but is probably the highest-recommended add-on AM antenna, and it can work with any AM radio--even ones without an external antenna jack.

For SW, the antenna makes an even bigger difference than for AM.
There are the (cheap) wire reels, or the (moderately-priced) active loop antennas.
If you want to play, look up how to make a random-wire antenna, or a tuned-loop SW antenna from a junk AM radio tuner. These don't cost much and can make a HUGE difference in what you pick up.
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