• Shortwave

    From Chris Krascek@VERT/RICKSBBS to All on Monday, March 09, 2026 23:06:27
    Hi all,

    Not quite HAM but.. related. Anyone here also do shortwave?
    I'm curious if you had any luck getting any broadcasts. At one point I could get quite a few at night with a couple during the day but now-- nothing at all comes in. Could be general noise from wifi and cell towers that interfere, I'm not sure. Im using a Sony 7600 with a long wire strung (that's new as I never needed anything more than the antenna on board.

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  • From Mortar@VERT/EOTLBBS to Chris Krascek on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 12:07:18
    Re: Shortwave
    By: Chris Krascek to All on Mon Mar 09 2026 23:06:27

    Anyone here also do shortwave?

    Yo!

    I'm curious if you had any luck getting any broadcasts.

    All the time.

    At one point I could get quite a few at night with a couple during the day but now-- nothing at all comes in...Im using a Sony 7600 with a long wire strung (that's new as I never needed anything more than the antenna on board.

    Short answer: Go back to the radio's antennae, but if you want to avoid the hassles of external antennaes and signal propagation, use the various online SDR networks. Whereever you want to listen, there's probably an SDR you can listen in on. AFAIK, none of them have a phone app, so you'll need a real computer.
    Go back to the radio's Go back to the radio's

    ---
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  • From Mortar@VERT/EOTLBBS to Chris Krascek on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 12:13:16
    Re: Shortwave
    By: Chris Krascek to All on Mon Mar 09 2026 23:06:27

    GRRRR...Ignore the last line of my previous post. I really wish we could delete/edit our own msgs. after posting. Why? 'Cuase !@#$ happens. Aaaanyway...

    Here are the links to the SDR networks I use:
    WebSDR.org
    KiwiSDR.com
    UberSDR.org

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  • From fusion@VERT/CFBBS to Mortar on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 16:23:00
    On 10 Mar 2026, Mortar said the following...

    GRRRR...Ignore the last line of my previous post. I really wish we could delete/edit our own msgs. after posting. Why? 'Cuase !@#$ happens. Aaaanyway...

    actually that just made me think.. it would be kind of neat if BBSes had a message stack thing. everything you posted during the call goes on there and then they're posted either when you hang up or at a time you specify

    which in turn could allow you to edit messages in the stack until the point they're sent along

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi
  • From phigan@VERT/TACOPRON to Chris Krascek on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 13:51:29
    Re: Shortwave
    By: Chris Krascek to All on Mon Mar 09 2026 11:06 pm

    Not quite HAM but.. related. Anyone here also do shortwave?
    I'm curious if you had any luck getting any broadcasts. At one point I could

    It probably makes a big difference where you are geographically. I'm in Phoenix, and I have the same luck. Once in a while I can find a broadcast or two at certain times.. Faintly, of course. It's usually religion, but sometimes it's weird foreign music (rarely). And then sometimes, just nothing.
    There are some SW schedules online.. They haven't really helped me much, though. It's probably different on the East coast, or maybe further up North.

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  • From Chris Krascek@VERT/RICKSBBS to Mortar on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 23:02:46
    Re: Shortwave (take 2)
    By: Mortar to Chris Krascek on Tue Mar 10 2026 12:13 pm

    Re: Shortwave
    By: Chris Krascek to All on Mon Mar 09 2026 23:06:27

    GRRRR...Ignore the last line of my previous post. I really wish we could delete/edit our own msgs. after posting. Why? 'Cuase !@#$ happens. Aaaanyway...

    Here are the links to the SDR networks I use:
    WebSDR.org
    KiwiSDR.com
    UberSDR.org

    Thanks for the reply. I'm not keen on my long wire. I'll have to explore your links you provided. I just feel it takes the fun out of tuning and following stations on a radio but... now that the warm weather is around the corner, I will take it outside and hear what I can.

    Cheers,

    ---
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  • From Chris Krascek@VERT/RICKSBBS to phigan on Monday, May 04, 2026 21:56:31
    Re: Shortwave
    By: phigan to Chris Krascek on Tue Mar 10 2026 01:51 pm

    Re: Shortwave
    By: Chris Krascek to All on Mon Mar 09 2026 11:06 pm

    Not quite HAM but.. related. Anyone here also do shortwave?
    I'm curious if you had any luck getting any broadcasts. At one point I co

    It probably makes a big difference where you are geographically. I'm in Phoenix, and I have the same luck. Once in a while I can find a broadcast or two at certain times.. Faintly, of course. It's usually religion, but someti it's weird foreign music (rarely). And then sometimes, just nothing.
    There are some SW schedules online.. They haven't really helped me much, though. It's probably different on the East coast, or maybe further up North

    I'm located SW Ontario Canada. I have tried with just the whip and the longwire.. No go. Just static mainly. Its crazy because I did get all kinds of channels then one day not so much. I used the map, indicates shading of your area and what freq to turn to yet nothing. Ive varied the times and tried during the day. It could just be that not a lot of countries are broadcasting.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Rick's BBS telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23
  • From Mortar@VERT/EOTLBBS to Chris Krascek on Tuesday, May 05, 2026 09:49:17
    Re: Shortwave
    By: Chris Krascek to phigan on Mon May 04 2026 21:56:31

    It could just be that not a lot of countries are broadcasting.

    Oh, they're broadcasting. I listen in via the various SDR networks online. There's always something goin' on.

    Thing about the schedules is they become out of date quite frequently. Stations change time, frequency, shut down; then there's the atmo anomalies, like the CMEs that's been hitting us lately which mess up propagation. Another factor is your antennae/radio, your surroundings, etc etc.

    I get wanting to use a physical setup, but if you're more interested in the actual broadcasts, then use the SDR networks online and go to where the they're broadcasting.

    ---
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to Chris Krascek on Tuesday, May 05, 2026 12:25:05
    Chris Krascek wrote to phigan <=-

    I'm located SW Ontario Canada. I have tried with just the whip and the longwire.. No go. Just static mainly. Its crazy because I did get all kinds of channels then one day not so much. I used the map, indicates shading of your area and what freq to turn to yet nothing. Ive varied
    the times and tried during the day. It could just be that not a lot of countries are broadcasting.

    I wonder how much local interference there is. I used powerline
    ethernet adapters, rumor had it that they caused a lot of interference
    with shortwave - essentially leaking RF through the powerlines, I
    presume.



    ... Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance
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  • From Chris Krascek@VERT/RICKSBBS to Mortar on Tuesday, May 05, 2026 22:41:18
    Re: Shortwave
    By: Mortar to Chris Krascek on Tue May 05 2026 09:49 am

    Re: Shortwave
    By: Chris Krascek to phigan on Mon May 04 2026 21:56:31

    It could just be that not a lot of countries are broadcasting.

    Oh, they're broadcasting. I listen in via the various SDR networks online. There's always something goin' on.

    Thing about the schedules is they become out of date quite frequently. Stations change time, frequency, shut down; then there's the atmo anomalies, like the CMEs that's been hitting us lately which mess up propagation. Anot factor is your antennae/radio, your surroundings, etc etc.

    I get wanting to use a physical setup, but if you're more interested in the actual broadcasts, then use the SDR networks online and go to where the they broadcasting.

    I will have to look into this SDR network then. Something to be said about using just the radio but if it doesn't yield any success then.. options.
    Is there a particular SDR network to go to or recommend?

    ---
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  • From Chris Krascek@VERT/RICKSBBS to poindexter FORTRAN on Tuesday, May 05, 2026 22:43:30
    Re: Re: Shortwave
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Chris Krascek on Tue May 05 2026 12:25 pm

    Chris Krascek wrote to phigan <=-

    I'm located SW Ontario Canada. I have tried with just the whip and the longwire.. No go. Just static mainly. Its crazy because I did get all kinds of channels then one day not so much. I used the map, indicates shading of your area and what freq to turn to yet nothing. Ive varied the times and tried during the day. It could just be that not a lot of countries are broadcasting.

    I wonder how much local interference there is. I used powerline
    ethernet adapters, rumor had it that they caused a lot of interference
    with shortwave - essentially leaking RF through the powerlines, I
    presume.



    ... Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance
    I suspect it is local interference. I mean everyone in the neighborhood has wifi.. then cell ... noise.. I think the true test might be go out in the countryside but.. I won't do that. I'll do a bit more testing locally, maybe the park and see what I can pick up.

    ---
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  • From Mortar@VERT/EOTLBBS to Chris Krascek on Wednesday, May 06, 2026 10:23:17
    Re: Shortwave
    By: Chris Krascek to Mortar on Tue May 05 2026 22:41:18

    Is there a particular SDR network to go to or recommend?

    There are four I know of:
    o WebSDR - websdr.org
    o KiwiSDR - kiwisdr.com/public
    o UberSDR - ubersdr.org
    o OpenSDR - rx-tx.info/map-sdr-points

    They all have access to the same HF spectrum (0-30000 khz) but differ in features, UI and audio quality.

    Right now, my favorite is UberSDR. It's the new kid on the block but the audio quality and wide variety of features keeps me coming back. The downside is it glitches occationally, but I'm sure those will get ironed out as it matures.

    My least fav is OpenSDR. It's basically a clone of KiwiSDR but much smaller. Nothing there to distinguish itself.

    WebSDR and UberSDR have the best audio quality, INO, but KiwiSDR/OpenSDR is perfectly acceptable, they just has a tinnier sound.

    KiwiSDR and UberSDR have the widest feature set with regards to audio tools and receive modes.

    Well, that should be enough to get you started. Any Qs, just ask.

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