Any recommendations on a Shortwave radio?

[radiorob]

C Crane for sure.

I have several of their radios and have nothing but praise.
Look at their "orphan" list for some great deals.

I second c crane for sure. I had an eton that worked fine. I have a tecsun that does SSB but it turned out to be just expensive garbage. I'm a ham guy too and have a nice modern HF transceiver but I get a great deal of enjoyment out of my CCrane Pocket radio. It's not a shortwave radio just AM FM and WthBand but I can pull in stations from San Antone, St Louis, Chicago, Nashville and Denver from my bed using only the ferrite bar antenna included in the radio.
To listen to hams you'll need one that does SSB, but regular AM travles a long way at night.

 

[BillM]

Two parts to a shortwave. The radio and the antenna. You have to have a good antenna.

A "good antenna" can be make from a piece of wire of nearly any length. If there is a particular band or frequency you want to listen in on, you can cut the wire to a fraction or multiple of the wavelength to get better reception. Find a copy of the ARRL Handbook, or the ARRL Antenna book. ARRL | Ham Radio Publications, Books, Equipment, Gear or Amazon.com

You can also get fancier and much more expensive (and better) antennae or build them yourself. The ARRL is for radio amateurs, or Hams. But the math works for any frequency in general, and where it doesn't work specifically, like extremely long or short wave radio, the ARRL books tell you, and how to deal. Some folks make their own microwave waveguides. Ham licenses are much easier to get now, since the basic license no longer requires Morse Code, but for the more specialized equipment you need a higher level license, and ability to read code. And the ARRL is the source for much of the info on all that, too!

Bill <----- tone deaf and with no sense of timing or rhythm, so was unable to learn enough code to get a license back in the day, but my dad was a Ham, so was around it until I left home. And the last dozen years of my USAF career I was a SATCOM tech & operator, and worked with wideband and HF radio troops, too. If you really get into it, it can be a fun, but potentially expensive hobby, and I have quite enough of those already!

 

[BillM]

Where’s the best place to start finding resources for the licensing? I searched and there seems to be many sites about the licensing.

http://www.arrl.org/

 

[BillM]

I'm planning on going the license route, took a couple Technician practice tests without going over any study guides and came close to passing if an actual test. Do the guides and getting licensed actually teach you how to use the radios? You mention the FAA channel, can you just listen (no broadcasting) without getting a visit from the FEDS?

You can legally listen to anything that's broadcast in clear. If you're cracking somebody's encryption, that's maybe another story!

Bill

 

[FRISKY]

I'm also looking into this HAM stuff.
I have a neighbor that has been into amateur radio for a long time. He agreed with the others that said the radio in your link wouldn't be a good radio to start with, but it was a very well built, 10-watt radio.
He actually has a couple of the HD1 radios like in your link and said you can get a much better deal from here; HD1GPS+IP67 Speaker Mic+Programming Cable+Long Antenna+Battery .
He also said there is a local club called SCARS that just started a new study class for an amateur radio license.
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Welcome to SCARS - W5NOR - SCARS
He advised the test was free thru SCARS, but next month the government was going to start charging a $35 fee.

 

[Jason Freeland]

Are there any amatuer radio clubs in the OKC area? I'd ask my father who is an extra, but I'm trying to surprise him with getting my license. I'd like to share that with him while I still can.

 

[GeneW]

I agree with this being a good idea, but when did he make this recommendation? I can’t find anything about it.

Actually it's FEMA that has been recommending this for many many years now. You can go to FEMA website (government) and learn a lot. I recommend it.

 

[GeneW]

Are there any amatuer radio clubs in the OKC area? I'd ask my father who is an extra, but I'm trying to surprise him with getting my license. I'd like to share that with him while I still can.

Yes. OCAPA, W5PAA, Mid-Del, EARS K5EOK (the Edmond bunch), and more. Here is a good source too LINK Central Oklahoma Radio Amateurs

The OCAPA bunch has been around forever, in fact they helped me get my 1st ham radio license back in 1990, I took their class and tested there. They have a really good website, lots of info, I'll recommend you go to LINK TO OCAPA website and look around, lots of good stuff there.

I don't know who is currently offering a class to get your license right now, I'll ask around tomorrow.

 

[GeneW]

There is something that you may, or may not, know.

What the Average Joe knows about Short Wave Radio has changed. I've got a 30 year old Short Wave Radio receiver, when I got it I wanted to listen to and monitor short wave radio broadcasts. At the time, the short wave frequencies were busy with a LOT of traffic.

You have VOA, the British BBC, pretty much every country had some sort of broadcasting going on, and it was good. There wsa plenty, and it was informative.

Things have changed.

Pretty much all of the traditional short wave radio broadcasts are now gone. Budget contraints, etc, and technology have changed.

The Internet has caused the demise of the great great majority of this. There are still some around, but most are gone, or broadcast so infequently it's basically dead. Many of the broadcasts stations have been physically torn down, no longer exist, etc.

So, before you spend some money on a short wave radio receiver, do some research on who still broadcasts. Check on YouTube too, there are guys who talk about short wave all the time.

Who knows? IF and when the SHTF what's left may dust off their systems and get back on the air.

I think it's still worthwhile, absolutely it is, to own a short wave radio.

 

[SoonerP226]

You can get a baofeng, just have to take the ham radio operator course to legally use it.

You have to get the license to transmit, but anyone can turn it on and listen.