Any SWLs here on The Island?

[N2NH]

While I did start as a CB'er when I was 12, the thing that really got me interested in Amateur Radio was Shorwave Listening. Trying to pull out the BBC or Radio Australia from the noise, I noticed some beeps coming from the speaker. My father told me it was ham radio operators sending morse code. I did some reading on it and eventually (like, 22 years later) passed my Novice exam.

But it all started with a Realtone 4 band portable, trying to pull out shortwave stations on 41/40 Meters and fighting dial backlash to fine tune the signal on the slide rule dial.

Eventually I got a Hallicrafters which had a few ham bands, then a SONY ICF-2001 (the one with the bad buttons) and a Drake SSR-1.

My favorite station was also the hardest to pull in. Radio Luxembourg and their weekly Rock countdown. When the BBC refused to play Rock-n-Roll, Radio Luxie played it. Three years before disco music was big here, they were already playing it there. The others I pulled out were some low powered stations in East Timor, Radio New Zealand Int'l and Vatican Radio. I used to be able to catch local Australian stations (ABC from Perth and Sydney) and once caught long path from Radio Australia's pacific service.

When Nasser was assasinated, I knew about it hours before it broke here on the Networks. I caught a funeral dirge being played on Egyptian Radio and verified it with The Voice of Israel.

While you can now catch stations from many countries on the web, to me nothing beats listening to a shortwave station on the radio. Even now.

So, has anyone else here listened to shortwave? Did it make you the Ham you are today?

[N8YX]

Yep. If they're still on the site, Charles, myself and at least one other person started SWL threads in the Ham Radio Chit-Chat area.

There are 7 general coverage receivers and 4 wideband scanners next to where I'm typing this, along with a number of RTTY/TOR decoders (including a Universal M-7000). That ought to give you an inkling. ;)

[PA5COR]

It started out my ham radio career...
Born in 1952, tthe music I wanted to listen to was never played on the national radio, so radio Luxembourgh was the altenative, the pirate radio stations at sea here like Radio Veronica, Norderney radio, Caroline, Mi Amigo and a few more, were the choice of us kids on AM.

They didn't boast very powerfull stations, so we had to start finding out how to improve reception, i was already in electronicst building tube amps for the school band.
Buying a better reciever, an beat up multiband radio, i discovered peeps talking on other bands, fishermen but also in AM hams.

That set me off building transmitters, was a pirate FM station for some time, the first here to introduce stereo transmisions here, and that was in the early 1970's.
I became a Customs officer, met in that function PA0GE, he was a captain for KLM on the first 747's we had, and after some talks off to the exams i was, in 1977 i was licensed.

Still listen outside the ham bands to exotic stations, blood creeps where it can't go...
My alternate recieve antenna is a homebrew loop amplified, working from 10 KHz to 30 MHz developped for recieve antenna for 160 to battle noise, but also for just dicking around the bands just listening.

[W4GPL]

It's my primary interest. Screw all these ham radio geeks. ;) Scanners, SWL, utility stations.. that's my thing.

[n6hcm]

i haven't spent time listening lately. i still get monitoring times (electronic edition ... they deliver a pdf ... yay!). sometime soon ...

[W4GPL]

I still get my Monitoring Times PDF too.. It's required reading whenever I'm flying; which seems like all the time.

I don't have much gear anymore though. :( I have a pretty modern Uniden scanner and the FT-897D in the car.. but city life doesn't permit a very good antenna situation. And unfortunately, so much of the 'public safety' stuff is encrypted.

I ended up sending my Dad my older scanner, because his sheriff's office was still on the analog stuff... unencrypted. He was really enjoying it and a few months later they switched. He went out and bought a digital scanner, but.. it's all encrypted. It's just not right when an old retired man can't listen to the police scanner... :lol: Seems like a right of passage, no? :)

[NQ6U]

Been an SWL for years, although there was a hiatus for a while through the Nineties and early 2000s after my last SW receiver broke. Buying a used Icom IC-75 for SWLing was what finally gave me the kick in the ass I needed to get my ham ticket, BTW, after I stumbled onto the 40m band while looking for The Beeb World Service one night. Now that station irritates me by using up valuable space on "our" band.

[X-Rated]

...
When Nasser was assasinated, I knew about it hours before it broke here on the Networks. ...

Going to college with a bunch of Middle Easterners, I knew years before the news broke out on the Networks.

[KG4CGC]

Yeah, I was a mere 3 years old when I cut my teeth on a Zenith TO, mid 50s style, in Buffalo NY. I eventually learned about the ionosphere at age 8 and actually BECAME the Ionosphere!

[W2NAP]

i loved SWL id scan around just to see what I could find.

dont have anything HF anymore so cant do it anymore

[KK4AMI]

Back in the late 60s to early seventies, I bought a Radio Shack DX-150 with external speaker and headphones. My Dad and I strung up a wire antenna and my SWL career started. I listened to all the Communist Stations including Radio Hanoi. I used to take their casualty reports add them to ours and divide by two to get what I thought was an accurate count. I would listen to the English speaking broadcasts from as many countries as I could. It was kinda like having your own CNN. At night I would wear the headphones to keep from waking the parents. I used to wake up strangling with the cord around my neck. AM Broadcast wasn't bad either for Pirate Games and Mystery Theater.

In the late 80s I picked up the ICOM R-71A. Foreign broadcast stations were disappearing. I switched to overseas aircraft and marine traffic. There was a new phase by the 90s. All the old VOA stations were sold off and picked up by religious and right wing anti-government guys. Sometimes they were a kick to listen to.

I still use the ICOM R-71A to monitor the Short Wave bands, but now its Ham bands and what little communications I can find. Can't have it by my bed though, wife hates the noise. AM broadcast is still fun to listen to. I guess I've become more of a BCB listener.

[KG4NEL]

Still listen to utility/SWL stuff, but my primary listening interest outside of the ham bands are pirates.

Arrrrrrrrggggggghhh.

[K7SGJ]

I have always loved to SWL. The best part is, no contests. :twisted:

[NY4Q]

Yep. I love to scan around at night and see what's on. Pastor Dr. euGene Scott, Brother Stair, Alex Jones... Good stuff! :)

[N8YX]

My bailiwicks are 3.1-4.5, 6.5-7.0 and 24.0-30MHz. Interesting stuff can be heard therein.

[KG4CGC]

My bailiwicks are 3.1-4.5, 6.5-7.0 and 24.0-30MHz. Interesting stuff can be heard therein.

Bailiwicks. A good name for an Irish drink?

[N2NH]

I actually found out about a local repeater club giving Novice classes. My big sticking point from 1968 to 1989 was learning the code. The High School club I went to really didn't teach it well. When I heard about it on a 10 meter net, I fired up the scanner and found out from the repeater what the whole story was. I became KB2JHR in January of 1990. Great club, had lots of friends and a lot of them went to the WTC to volunteer the first month. They still do the NY marathon.

Interesting stories, all of them. BTW Cor, I tried like heck to get Radio Caroline (the only one that got press here) but never got them. Seemed that the few times I got close there was interference. Did catch Radio Atlanta and Radio 270 though and in the 80s I caught a controversial US pirate on AM BCB off of Gravesend Brooklyn. They claim they were far enough out to sea to be outside the limits, but the FCC, FBI and NYPD went out in launches at night after a couple of days and closed them down.

Oddly enough, I had turned down an offer to work for them but someone (FCC) found my name there anyway. I wouldn't jeopardize my FCC 1st Radiotelephone License by doing that. For a few years I was notorious as one of the guys that got away, but I was home at the time listening. Even had a QSL from them.

Used to read Popular Communications which was started by a friend Tom Kneitel K2AES (SK) (Tomcat) (http://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/Tom_Kneitel#External_links). Met him at a CB coffee break. Nice guy too bad he passed away awhile ago.

http://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/Tom_Kneitel#External_links

[n2ize]

Once Christmans when i was about 12 or 13 my Dad and Mom got me a multiband portable (forget which brand). I started tuning around the HF bands and started hearing stations from all over the place. I also noticed that at certain times of day/night stations came in strong and other times very weak or not at all. I also decided I wanted improved reception and I eventually learned how to set up a wire antenna between my window and a tree. Actually I liked the idea of stringing a wire. Eventually that radio died and I built up a 3 band 3 tube regenerative receiver. Band switching was done by changing plug in coils. That got me down into 75/80 meters and that is how I discovered ham radio. One night (around 1973 or 74), quite by accident I tuned into the New England Hi Fi AM sound... I heard Steve WA1QIX, Tim WA1HLR, Pete/WA1SOV. Also heard some og the stations to my south, i.,e. Ed/WA3PUN, etc. I decided that this is something I wanted to do. Took me about 16 years to finally do it but I did it. Started with CW and a bit of SSB and as soon as I upgraded to general I was on AM.

[n2ize]

I actually found out about a local repeater club giving Novice classes. My big sticking point from 1968 to 1989 was learning the code. The High School club I went to really didn't teach it well.
The code was a sticking point for me too. Not that I couldn't learn it. Actually I was proficient at sending code when I was 16 long before I got on the air. My trouble was finding the time and committing myself to learn to receive the code. Code tapes and W1AW bored me. Around 1985/86 I had an Atari computer and since I like to program I started writing a program to send code. You could set the speed WPM, dot/dash length, timing, pitch, etc. You could have it send random charachters, random word strings, text that was typed in. It could also open a text file, read it and output the context in code. Once I got the program working learning the code was a piece of cake. Got my speed way up, did some on air practice listening on the radio and then went in and passed both tests, 5wpm and 13 wpm.

[N2NH]

The code was a sticking point for me too. Not that I couldn't learn it. Actually I was proficient at sending code when I was 16 long before I got on the air. My trouble was finding the time and committing myself to learn to receive the code. Code tapes and W1AW bored me. Around 1985/86 I had an Atari computer and since I like to program I started writing a program to send code. You could set the speed WPM, dot/dash length, timing, pitch, etc. You could have it send random charachters, random word strings, text that was typed in. It could also open a text file, read it and output the context in code. Once I got the program working learning the code was a piece of cake. Got my speed way up, did some on air practice listening on the radio and then went in and passed both tests, 5wpm and 13 wpm.

Yep, with a good learning system, I got to 13 wpm by the time I took the Novice and was aiming for 20 for the Extra but ran out of time. They got rid of the requirement before I could take the exam. I liked the code so much that I got the MFJ code practice computer and got to 35 wpm. Couldn't get past the plateau there, but, in my mind, that wasn't half bad for a guy who couldn't learn it for 2 decades.

I sure do miss my equipment, but eventually I'll get another HF rig.

[HUGH]

Couldn't resist making receivers starting with Dad's purloined junk from WW2. He had a triode requiring 2V filament, 150V HT and I made a regenerative TRF that worked very well. I found that running the filament off 4V made it even better......sadly only for a while.

The last set was a 7 valve/tube superhet (with "miniature" B7G bases) plus rectifier. One set of fantastic off-the-shelf components were miniature variable dust-core inductors for all bands and more. The same company made IFts as well and, with a small modification to an IFt, I fitted half-lattice crystal filters for AM and CW. Very satisfying, very sensitive but a little drift from the local oscillator. (Ever heard of DENCO coils, they fetch a fortune on Ebay?)