05 What kind of receiver should I get? (Shortwave radio)
Description
This article is from the Shortwave radio FAQ, by Ralph Brandi rbrandi@lucent.com with numerous contributions by others.
05 What kind of receiver should I get? (Shortwave radio)
That depends largely on what kind of listening you expect to do. There are
two or three basic kinds of radios. The first is the travel portable. These
usually cost between US$30 and US$250. Their main characteristic is their
extremely small size, making them most suitable for the person who spends a
lot of time on airplanes. They do an adequate job of receiving the major
broadcasters, such as the BBC, the Voice of America, Radio Netherlands, etc.
They are generally not capable of receiving hams, or utility transmissions,
and they do not do a good job on weak stations. They may, therefore, not be
the best choice for expatriates wishing to listen to their home stations, for
instance, especially the less expensive radios. Many of them also lack
frequency coverage beyond the major international broadcasting bands. As
such, they cannot receive the channels outside the defined bands that often
provide clearer reception (due to lessened interference) of such stations as
the BBC, Kol Israel, and the Voice of Iran.
There are a number of very low cost (under US$50) SW receivers that are the
subject of frequent inquiries in rec.radio.shortwave. In general, radios in
this price range can be expected to perform poorly, but may provide an
inexpensive introduction to the world of shortwave and acceptable reception
of the strongest international stations. The radios offered in this price
range tend to appear and disappear quickly and to be offered at different
outlets under different names. The radios are pretty much interchangeable,
and you probably shouldn't expend a lot of effort trying to distinguish
between them.
The second category of radios overlaps with the first, and consists of
slightly larger portables. Common among this category are radios like the
Sangean ATS-803A, (also sold around the world as the Emerson 803A, Siemens RK
651, and many other names), a fine starter radio with many capabilities for
the inexpensive price of US$200, or the Sangean ATS-818. These radios often
have digital readout, making it easier to know which frequency you are tuned
to, and such features as dual conversion (which decreases the possibility of
your radio receiving spurious signals from other frequencies), audio filters
(which allow you to decrease interference from stations on adjacent
frequencies) and beat frequency oscillators (which allow you to decode morse
code and single sideband (SSB) transmissions on the ham and utility bands).
Current inexpensive favorites in this range include the Grundig YachtBoy 400
and the Sony ICF-7600G, both of which provide outstanding value for the money
(each about US$200 in the United States). The top range of this kind of radio
includes technically sophisticated radios like the Sony ICF-2010, Sony
ICF-SW77, and Grundig Satellit 700, which contain innovative circuitry to
lock on to a given signal and allow you to choose the portion of the signal
you want to listen to, depending on which part gets the least interference.
If you follow the newsgroup for any amount of time, you're bound to notice
some discussion of the relative merit of these features versus their cost
(about double that of the Sangean radios.) The Sony ICF-7600G provides
access to this feature at a previously unheard of price (make sure you get
the radio with the "G" on it; Sony has made several radios with the "7600"
designation, only one of which contains this feature). Many of these radios
can be and have been used to receive distant and weak stations from a number
of countries, and can provide a cost-effective way for expatriates to receive
programs from their native countries; they're also suitable for listening to
programs from the major broadcasters. Most people should never need to buy a
more capable receiver than those in this category.
The third category of receivers is the tabletop receiver. These receivers
cost from US$600 upward, with a concentration of radios around US$1000.
These radios naturally contain many more features than the portables, and are
used by serious hobbyists who specialize in rare and weak stations. Current
radios in this group include the ICOM R-71A, the Kenwood R-5000, the Japan
Radio Corporation NRD-535 and NRD-535D, the Lowe HF-150 and HF-225, and the
Drake R8A and SW8. These radios can be very complex to operate, and are
generally not recommended for the beginner. Radios from the first two
categories can give a beginner a very good idea of what's on the air and where
their interests lie, at which point one of these radios may be an appropriate
acquisition. Strangely enough, not all of these radios contain the kind of
innovative circuitry that are part of less expensive portables like the Sony
2010 mentioned above. Newer radios, such as the NRD-535D, the Lowe radios,
and the R8A are starting to include such capabilities.
It must be mentioned that none of these radios, particularly the expensive
ones, are "magic boxes" that will allow you to receive any station you wish.
Many people find that the jump in performance between a high-end portable
radio and a tabletop is more than offset by the increase in price. You should
also understand that buying a tabletop radio will not likely allow you to hear
many more stations than a high-end portable. The main difference between
high-end portables and tabletop radios are in reduced susceptibility to
internally-generated signals, the ability to modify the audio through the use
of filters to reduce interference, the ability to tune more finely (for
example, 10 Hz increments rather than 100 Hz or 1000 Hz increments), and the
stability of the radio, or its tendency to drift from the desired frequency.
People have often purchased an expensive communications receiver only to
realize that a simpler-to-operate portable was better suited to their
interests and style of listening.
There are many sources for detailed information on specific radios, most of it
provided by two groups. Larry Magne, who publishes the Passport to World Band
Radio, includes a review of virtually all shortwave radios currently available
in that publication. For more extensive reviews of selected receivers, he
offers detailed "white papers", which run between ten and twenty pages or so.
Magne also contributes a monthly review column to Monitoring Times.
The other main source for equipment reviews is a group centered around Radio
Netherlands and the WRTH in Holland. The WRTH, as mentioned above, has a
review section covering mainly new receivers, but also contains a table with
ratings of most currently available radios. Radio Netherlands also offers an
excellent free booklet with receiver reviews, as well as occasional
single-receiver review sheets. The WRTH has also released *The WRTH
Equipment Buyers Guide*. The second edition of this book will be published
someday. The book contains extended versions of the reports available
in the previous five years of the WRTH, as well as new and updated reports.
It also contains information on accessories and antennas, as well as a fairly
technical tutorial on receivers.
There are also two books published by Gilfer Shortwave in New Jersey that
cover the subject of receivers, called *Radio Receivers, Chance or Choice*,
and *More Radio Receivers, Chance or Choice*. These books are fairly out of
date now.
The Sony ICF-2010, Drake R8, Lowe HF-150, and older, "hollow state" radios
(those using tubes rather than transistors) have Internet mailing lists
devoted to discussions of their features among users. Joining these mailing
lists can be a good way to keep up on modifications or workarounds for your
radio. They tend to be quiet most of the time, with occasional bursts of
activity. You can join the mailing lists with requests to the following
addresses:
Sony ICF-2010: icf-2010-request@cup.hp.com
Drake R8: DrakeR8-request@hpsesuka.pwd.hp.com
Lowe HF-150 (or other Lowe radios): hf150-request@batcomfs.Eng.Sun.Com
Tube Radios: boatanchors-request@gnu.ai.mit.edu
There is also a compliation of radio reviews from the net maintained by
John Lloyd, posted every month to the newsgroup and available from the
standard ftp sites or through the World Wide Web at
http://vectorbd.vivanet.com/sw_review.html .
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