In these times when one can listen to local African radio in full stereo through their phones, it's hard to remember what a thrill it was for a kid from New York to pull in signals from halfway around the world on shortwave. When I was about 10 (in 1972), my folks bought me a Caprice multiband radio like this: For the next 3 or 4 years, I spent most of my free time scanning for interesting stuff: weird spy stations (memorialized by Wilco in Yankee Girl Foxtrot), Russian propaganda, rock music on the BBC, folk music from Bulgaria. It was fun and unpredictable, and the feeling of listening to something from distant places was thrilling. Anyone else have similar experiences?
Yes! The memories of building the Greymark shortwave radio in my 1969 high school electronics class are very dear to me. All the students worked on it for about two months only during the one hour class. It was tube driven with point to point wiring. After our instructor approved it we were allowed to take it home and I strung up an antenna in the attic and it worked great! I spent many hours listening to countries around the world. England broadcasts were my favorite because I was always trying to pick up a Beatle's song thinking how special it would be hearing The Beatles from England. (See, I've already steered this fine thread to The Beatles ). I found some images on line of the same radio:
Many many years ago I was an avid SW listener. We're talking 45 plus years ago was the main time I was listening. At that time I had a Hammarlund HQ-180, a Realistic DX-160 and other assorted receivers that I don't remember. I was into getting the QSL cards from around the world as well. I also dabbled a little during the 80's with a couple of more modern radios like the Kenwood 600 and 1000.
Oh yeah, QSL cards. I'm pretty sure I have a file somewhere in the FBI because I was getting mail from Vietnam, China and the Soviet Union! And saving up to buy one of those DX 160s was a big moment for me. That was an impressive bit of gear for a 13 year old.
I still have an old Grundig Yachtboy 400. Bought it, I think in the early 90's. Used to listen to shortwave but the internet changed that. Today, it's used as an AM radio in a bedroom. Dirty volume pot that needs to be cleaned. Yacht-Boy 400 1994 Radio Grundig Radio-Vertrieb, RVF, Radiow
Had a friend and his dad had a Hallicrafter. Love to go over and listen. It wasn't too long after that I got my ham radio licence (1970). Still like to listen and talk world wide.
Of course I had one, how else could I listen at night to Voice of America in USSR, where I heard real rock music for a first time (I still remember it was Trampled Under Foot). And here was a really crappy radio I had, but somehow it worked...
My dad listened often, could pull in Europe and Latin America and so on, using a 1961/62ish Philips radio, the first transistor radio produced in his native Colombia. Dad is gone this past Christmas Eve (RIP and love ya dad) but the radio is STILL WORKING. I seriously want to send it to Philips to put in a museum but COVID has interefered with that plan as the radio is outside Chicago right now.
When I was working a graveyard shift at a gas station while I was in college in the mid 90s, there was a group of people that used to gather together in a nearby parking lot that called themselves the “CB crew”. I thought that it was remarkably quaint at the time and was surprised that people still used them. Nice folks.
I bought a used Hallicrafters WR-600 in October 1972, just as I was starting college. I tried tuning into those little white dots on the faceplate where London and Peking were supposed to be, but I heard mostly noise. I eventually learned my way around where the broadcast bands were, with a few longwire antennas and a switching system, I was hearing stations from all over the world, soon getting QSL cards and all kinds of goodies from the stations. In 1976 I bought a Radio Shack DX-160 brand-new, making bandspread graphs so I could accurately tune in, I didn't have truly uncomplicated accurate tuning until 1980, when I bought a Yaesu FRG-7. That started wearing out in the early 1990s, but I had accumulated a few radios by then, including Zenith Transoceanics and a Hammarlund HQ-180, but getting a Kenwood R-1000 was the best replacement. I got a Kenwood R-5000 a few years later. There are a few more radios, but nothing worth listening to, except the occasional appearance of Radio Zanzibar.
My dad used to love listening to his DX-166 that he had in the basement which was hooked to long-wire antenna. I actually have one in my garage that is in really good shape but I haven't turned it on in years. In fact I don't think I have ever powered it up. I also found a Grundig Satelit 700 at Savers about 7 years ago. Those tend to sell for several hundred dollars used for some reason. I used to like to listen to the BBC World Service but since budget cuts made the UK stop broadcasting the BBC to English speaking nations about 10 years ago there seems nothing really worth listening too here in the US.
Oh yeah, the long wire antenna. My parents were totally cool with running an ugly wire from my room to a tree in the front yard. I'm sure they hated looking at it, but they supported my interest. Learned some good lessons from that when it was my time to be a parent.
I used to send away for the World Radio and TV Handbook, which listed the stations, their frequencies and program schedules. It was a big day for nerdy young me when that book arrived in the mail.
I inherited my Dad’s (RIP , lost him at end of March loved Dad so much he is why I am into SH and audio etc ). old shortwave German Normende Globetraveler all intact. My Dad said it just needed to be fixed to get it to work well again. I think I am going to get it fixed and would love to use it. I believe these were excellent pieces for their time. I think he got it in the 1960’s while he was just about to get ready to leave the Air Force (1965 I think). Are there still stations out there I can get? Besides BBC (which I assume is still going ). ?
BBC is not beaming to North and South America via shortwave; they concentrate on Africa and other parts of the world. It is still alive on satellite radio and public broadcasting stations across the USA.
I used to have an old mono tube Zenith shortwave radio that my Dad pulled out of a console probably 70+ years ago. I remember connecting a long wire to its antenna connector, and being able to receive stations from around the globe. That was pretty exciting stuff when I was a kid. I've occasionally considered getting into Ham radio, but I've already got too many expensive hobbies. Plus with the internet, communicating around the globe is no longer the novelty experience that it once was.
I learned about the WRTH at least a year after I began SW listening, courtesy of Radio Sweden's program "Sweden Calling DXers", which also published a newsletter of tune-in tips for new and obscure stations. I lived 100 miles from Portland at the time, but came into town about every two months for shopping purposes, finding Portland Radio Supply (a ham radio store) was quite a day, picked up my first WRTH.
A lot of stations had their own versions, Radio Nederlands had "DX Jukebox", which wasn't much of a DX show, interspersed with records, HCJB had their own DX club, instead of records there was a "message of salvation", BBC World Service had its Worldwide Radio Club, Radio Canada International had the RCI SW Club, there was also Radio Budapest SWC, Radio (east) Berlin International, Radio Australia, Radio Japan, Radio Moscow, I know there were others, almost all had little or no info for radio hobbyists, but a few gifts if you sent in reports or participated in contests. Poland offered all-expense paid trips to Warsaw, I know someone who won. In addition to Sweden, Canada and Hungary published DX bulletins that were out of date by the time they arrived by surface mail, but they offered ways around the "Iron Curtain" with pen-pal sections, a great way to exchange stamps or records from the hard-to-penetrate Communist countries, but we had to refrain from things of a political nature from whichever "side" we were on.
I was a subscriber to a DX newsletter from California, and I remember reading a few others. It was a great, mind expanding hobby for a teenager. I probably learned more about the world from that listening than I did in school.
My dad had a portable six-band shortwave radio (Zenith, I think) that also had AM/FM. When we lived overseas, he/we used to listen to all kinds of stuff. BBC World Service was probably the biggie, along with various oddball stuff I've forgotten. One was a channel (BBC, I'm assuming) with just the time, recited every few seconds. Dad was fastidious about keeping his watch and our clocks bang-on. I'd also listen to incomprehensible English-language sports match coverage on All-India Radio, that I eventually worked out was cricket!
We had a shortwave radio back in the 70s. It was fun listening to stuff from all over the world. Later, we all got police scanners because I have a nosy family! But, my older sister stopped listening to it when she heard her own son getting arrested one day.
