Depending on what you want (permanent recording? self-starting?)

Viking Systems 10-hr recorder (uses 120 casette tape) records 5 hours
before you have to turn it over for the other 5 hours. Get the VOX
and MON options, about $200. It has some flutter problems if the
internal rubber-band belt starts oscillating on some fraction of
the units. Fussing with it fixes it. Not very high tech but more
reliable than an IC recorder and has cheap removable and permanent
medium. I have about 5 years of Imus on these things. One recorder
does not track precisely what another unit records (the heads must
differ in their placement) but it's fine playing back its own stuff.
With the VOX option, it starts when the radio starts. With the MON
option, you can tell it's not distorting. There's an automatic level
control but it does have limits.

http://www.vikingint.com/frequent.htm

Pogo RipFlash, load it with 2 NiHM AAA's and it records a full 128mb
at 64kbs in 4hours 38 minutes and then shuts off. It's temperamental
if not handled carefully, but gives a very high quality recording
on internal media. You have to be there to start it.

It will record 19h at 16kbs which would be fine for shortwave, but
the batteries won't go that long. If the batteries die, nothing at
all is saved and future recordings won't work either because some
memory pointer is hosed. (It can be fixed by clearing memory and
then recording a throw-away full memory at 192kbs (1.5 hr), and then
deleting that.) These are great if you just want to save what you're
listening to in case you want to replay it again right away.

It can up and download mp3's but I haven't used it with a computer.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...l/-/B000066HOH
is the model I have. They have other newer models, but I don't know
if they work without a computer to support them or not.

The jacks are flakey on some units. Fast forwarding through 4 hours
can take quite a while, but then it does with tape too.
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.