Thread: Dxing next best to Nonreving.

Radio Habana Cuba coming in strong on SHORTWAVE. Also picking up Vatican radio. Haven't tried outside the morning hours yet, but probably gets real good on a clear night. I like this little rig. Very compact, heavy, still have yet to explore using the SD card slot and USB slot for music. FM and AM sound great! Very neat receiver, would make a nice gift for anyone. I also like the electronic odor it gives out. It feels and smells like Christmas time. Like I said. I'm in it mostly for the Shortwave dxing, but also very cool on the FM to listen to tunes. As compact as it is, it won't JUST be a garage radio, but rather, a very MOBILE radio.

Hello Spongebue and thanks for the interest. I have no stock in these radios so lets get this straight right now, but its a cool little rig and I know it would make a very good present because, nobody thinks of getting one of these. I've always liked good radios with Shortwave capabilities. Going back to 70's. It's bailed me out of alot of boredom and expanded my horizons and interest. Hours and hours of enjoyment, and even years of owning them. My last one lasted over 20 years, through sea salt and movements. I have sent away for QSL postcards in the past, very nice thing to get. This little rig can do it. Again, not the best gadget in the world, and personally, would like a bigger rig but I'm satisfied for now. If I had to mention the CON'S about the radio would be mostly like the band selector you have to concentrate by counting clicks because it doesn't have markings to tell you which band you are on, but its figureable. Another less favorable con about it is the dial for station is right behind the antennae so you have to move the antenna somewhat to move the dial, but this is minoot issue really. I'd say that for the price, its affordable and since its never thought of as a present, it would make a great one. Here is a link on Amazon. I have seen them cheaper in other web sites. Like as low as 16 dollars, but be aware of the shipping charges. I got mine in Amazon for 25 bucks with the shipping included, but I see now they got it for 18.74 with 6.95 shipping. I'm going to post you the amazon link to this now, and I'll show you a cheaper one on another site so stand by. Here is the Amazon link.

Amazon.com: Quantum FX AM FM SW 1-9 World Receiver With USB SD Slot MP3 Player - Quantum FX J114U: Electronics

Here is one that looks cheaper, same product, but don't know if there are any catches. Looks like shipping is supposedly free. If you can get it at the said price, you did better than me.......

Quantum FX J-114U AM/FM/SW1-SW9 Radio USB/SD Player

Definately a cool man cave gadget. I don't know any ladies that listen to shortwave as much. They have short wave radios that are digital but I like the old school dials. Won't have it any other way. I like to tinker for better reception on my own touch. It's not that hard to DX. If you can understand meter bands and UTC hours and Kilohertz and Megahertz, it makes following a short wave broadcasting chart more fun. Or just play with the dial until you find something you like. You want to know UTC hours because that is the hours that a station broadcast. So if they are in London, around 2400 Greenwich time, which is UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) or ZULU military time, all the same, you just calculate to your known UTC time zone. Like East Coast USA is around 0500 UTC time, so if they are broacasting at midnight, you know to check your dial at 5AM and then go to the prescribed meter band and exact kilohertz to listen to BBC for instance. You can pull all the UTC chart conversions online. Maps are a big help. World is divided into 24 time zones. It's not that complicated. I clip some wire leads to a slinky for better reception, and extend it. The better your antenna, the better the strength and the more stations you may pick up. You don't have to go technical here for a little rig like this one. I would figure in Denver up in the mountains, on a clear night, you can pick up alot of stations. Overcast, forget about good reception.

Shortwave is not "Line of sight". The signals skip off the ionosphere and bounce back to earth. Mountains to your left shouldn't affect your signals coming from Asia for instance. That's why you can listen to signals half way around the world.