[TriLUG] Digital AM/FM/LW SSB SW Radio

[Steve Litt]

On Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:58:51 -0500, John Riselvato said:
> I remember a while back reading someones post talking about HAM
> radios, which I guess was accepted as a TRILug Discussion. (Its techy
> and... fun == Linux).
> In anycase, while I was studying for my calculus final exam, I some
> how found myself emerged in Shortwave radio reviews on youtube. I
> don't know how I got there, everything seems so fuzzy (poor
> frequencies?). I really enjoyed what I was learning from comparison
> videos on the DEGEN DE1103 and other cheap SWs. I am interested in
> buying a cheap radio for listening to the frequencies around my area.
> Maybe even build my own antenna's that could reach to other parts of
> the world. Does anyone have any experience in this topic? What would
> you suggest for a cheap SW/MW radio?
> Thanks,
> John

Hi John,

This is offtopic, but you might want to borrow someone else's shortwave
before buying one. It's not like the old days of the cold war -- at
least half the receivable stations are fire and brimstone religious
stations. Also, if you live in an urban area, there's so much noise
you'll receive only the strongest stations.

My Grundig has a switching power supply that generates tons of static,
so I'm going to build an oldschool full wave bridge on a transformer,
with huge capacitors and a regulator transistor. I mean honestly, do I
really care whether my radio uses 1/2 watt or 1 watt?

SteveT

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