From: Eirikur Hallgrimsson (eh@mad.scientist.com)
Date: Sun May 28 2000 - 06:32:40 PDT
Carey, chances are that those are one-time pads, but shortwave is a
delicious feast for the ears if you've not been there. My music
generally includes generous helpings of natural and man-made
shortwave noise, reshaped into pads and pitches.
In terms of things that you can afford even if you are not a major
government agency, the brands are basically Sangean (Korea) or
Grundig (Now merged with Drake). If you are actually one of those
agencies, you might strike out in a new direction with this new item:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/0340.html Perfect
for the spy on a budget, and no zoning variance is required.
I recommend the Sangean ATS-909, which was also sold
"everywhere" by Radio Shack as their DX-398...I think, it's
disappeared from their site. You want the one that does RDS on the
FM band, that's unique to that Sangean in that price class. Be
careful with other Radio Shack brand shortwave sets. Many are made
by generic asian firms and are just not sensitive enough to get weak
signals. The Sangean and Grundig portables have really superior
sounding FM stereo, which is a great benny meaning that you only
pack or lug one radio. The Grundig to get if you see it is the
YB-400. The recent "Sharper Image" Grundigs by Porsche Design are
less radio for more money.
Cheap because of being discontinued because of the Drake/Grundig
shennanigans are the SW1 and SW2, which are real radios for the
afficianado, but at Radio Shack prices right now:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/1100.html
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/2222.html
Used: find an ATS-803A (Radio Shack DX-440). This is my workhorse
portable, and it is very good at pulling in difficult stations.
On any shortwave, a MAJOR factor is the length of the antenna you can
hook up. Running a long wire up high is the best, but I know people
who travel with a Slinky and a string to hang it from and a clip lead
to attach it to the whip on their radio.
I really did mean to drop all this analogy technology back in the
'70s. I did.
Eirikur
His radios: classic Phillps D-2999 "music listening" shortwave in
kitchen, Grundig Satellit 700 portable, Sangean ATS-803A with the sexy
tuning modifications, Old Heathkit Mohican (with motorcycle battery)
for antique cuteness value, my heirloom Lafayette tube receiver, and
the Grundig styling excess that I love and everyone else hates: the
YB-500. YB-500 is not useful for foreign SW listening from the US
due to internal CPU noise. I use it for FM.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun May 28 2000 - 07:29:10 PDT