Shortwave radio question?

Question

Hi. I am a fairly new radio enthusiast and I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind answering them. I bought a fairly cheap radio on holiday with 21 bands, most of which are SW bands ranging from 2.60 to 26.

1) My FM band starts from 68 instead of 87.5. What can I expect to find on those frequencies?. It's listed as the "TV band" on my radio. I had a few listens today and it seems I get radio 2 and other stations on these frequencies for some odd reason.

2) When I use the SW bands I hear one of two MW local radio stations in the background. This seems to happen on most of the SW bands. Can you think of any reason for this?.

3) What is the best SW band?

Answer 1

It depends a lot on where you live which you unfortuneately didn't provide.



So please let me answer the best way I can step by step:



1- It starts at 68 MHZ as it's still in use in some countries notably Russia.. Only 5 countries do not use the 88-108 MHz for FM broadcasting and the radio apparently was set up for those other regions as well as where you bought it (some cheaper radios actually extend the FM band like that so the radio can be sold worldwide)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_broadcast_band



Depending upon where you live in the world, and the quality of the radio, sometimes you will get ghost signals of a more powerful station on those lover frequencies sometimes.. in others it will retreive the TV band in North America.



2. Probably the radio is cheap and is picking up the signal and mixing it in the radio and outputting it on another frequency..more common on cheaply built radios..... This is the Ghosts I talked about before.



3. Probably 60m,49m and 31m at night, 19 meters during the day IMO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortwave_bands



http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/dx/dx_e.html has frequency lists for free of what to possibly hear and when



and a website to help with some of your questions:

http://dxradio.50webs.com/

Answer 2

Hiya ., the previous answer was pretty well on the money.:-) , but I will add a few extra comments.



If you are hearing local AM bands stations in the background when you are tuning across the SW bands then its usually from signal overload.

That mean that you live in a area that those particular local stations have a very high signal strength.

In fact it is so high that the poor little radio cannot cope with it , and reject it , so it passes those signals though , albeit at lower volumes.

Better quality radios can reject this sort of interference better than cheaper units.



During the day time the higher short wave frequencies are used and at night time the lower frequencies are used .(generally)



In this low sunspot period we are experiencing now , (and we will continue to do so for a few more years yet) , the normal maximum frequencies used would be between 17.5-17-9Mhz , and then work their way down to 5.8-6.3 at night.



You may find activity above and below these areas but its not stable , and prone to fading.



Just work out what is the right frequency band to be listening to for the right time of YOUR day.



http://www.swdxer.co.nr/

Answer 3

I hear a lot of shortwave stations between 6 and 10 MHZ.

The listing "TV band" applies to the US, but some other countries use them as well as you found out.

If you're hearing MW stations on SW bands I'd try shielding the radio or disconnecting the built in AM antenna if any...the strong AM signals are overloading the receiver's front-end.

Answer 4

"Shortwave" radio is commercial radio on the "shortwave" bands (outside regular commercial bands). You need a commercial license to run a shortwave station, just like any other commercial station. Amateur Radio (Ham radio) is a non-commercial hobby which allows you to own and operate your own equipment and communicate with other "Hams".