Shortwave radio
Does anyone travel and use a shortwave radio while out of range?
Forum Discussion
It will depend partly on what frequencies you want to listen to. Unless you have a long antenna oriented in the right direction and well above the ground, you may not be able to get much. I have two 40' towers at home with a long horizontal wire over 100' long. Not practical in a CG! Not saying it won't work at all - you'll get some signals but I think you will be disappointed. It has less to do with how good the receiver is and more to do with the antenna. You would want the antenna at least above the height of other RVs. If you have a receiver at home, can't hurt to try it at a CG but I wouldn't go spend a lot of money on one just for CG use. The higher the frequencies, the shorter the length of the antenna has to be but more of the fun is at lower frequencies. If you want to tune in stations that are far away, you need to have a really good antenna. I can get stations in Australia and Europe but it also depends on atmospheric conditions and time of day.
You could see if there is a local HAM radio club and see if someone can give you advice. I've always thought it would be fun to have a police, fire and emergency medical band scanner but at the high frequencies they operate at you won't get signals very far away.
When I was a kid back in the olden days, I had a basic Heathkit tube SW receiver and used to listen to stations all over the place. When I could positively identify a station, I would mail them a request for a QSL card which is a confirmation that you were able to receive their signal. I had some from pretty far away. I now have a vintage 70s transistorized Yaesu receiver.
Lots of SW radio broadcasts are available over the internet. Takes the fun of it away though....
You could see if there is a local HAM radio club and see if someone can give you advice. I've always thought it would be fun to have a police, fire and emergency medical band scanner but at the high frequencies they operate at you won't get signals very far away.
When I was a kid back in the olden days, I had a basic Heathkit tube SW receiver and used to listen to stations all over the place. When I could positively identify a station, I would mail them a request for a QSL card which is a confirmation that you were able to receive their signal. I had some from pretty far away. I now have a vintage 70s transistorized Yaesu receiver.
Lots of SW radio broadcasts are available over the internet. Takes the fun of it away though....
