In article .com,
Ross Archer wrote:

On Oct 15, 12:38 pm, Joe Analssandrini
wrote:
On Oct 14, 6:07 pm, Bill wrote:



Look I don't want to start a trolling or a flame war but in my early
days of SWL with my Star Roamer that I built from the kit, I found it
really exciting to listen. The ship-to-shore on 3 or 4 MHz (mcs back
then) was the NY Marine Operator and there were phone conversations to
listen in on, then there was the international BC with radio Moscow
giving their take on world news and of course hams all over the place.

Well now some 30 years later, I'm bored with the whole thing....yeah I
try to catch a slight Gander Radio every now and then or still the
international stuff that might be in English. But for the most part,
the thrill is gone; unfortunately.

I hate to say it but I'll probably get rid of the Eton E5, Panasonic
RF-2200 and the R-390, having lost interest in this one-time exciting
hobby. (well, maybe not the R-390...)

I don't ask for comments or critiques...just wonder if there's others
that share my disappointment. And certainly most everything that can be
listened to can be found on the Internet (with somebody else's Internet
controlled SW receiver).

Thanks...!

--Bill
(in northern NJ)

Dear Bill,

The situation your are experiencing happens every eleven years, on
average. It is caused by the "bottom" of the sunspot cycle in which we
find ourselves just now. There is still quite a bit to hear but the
best and most exotic signals are heard more in the early morning and
daytime rather than the evening or nighttime, at least currently at my
location. (This, of course, is not conducive to listening if one works
for a living!)

Do not get discouraged. You own some good radios. I suggest that, if
your boredom continues, you might pack the radios away for a year or
two. If you unpack them and try them again in, say 2009 or 2010, I
believe you will be amazed and pleased at what you will hear.

The bottom end of the sunspot cycle always separated the men from the
boys. Hang in there.

Best,

Joe


Let's hope the sun gets off it's lazy ball of plasma and makes some
spots

Just installed a mobile SW setup; enjoying Radio Australia, Radio New
Zealand Int'l, Radio Moscow, and Radio Netherlands while driving to
and from work late/early.

Both Australia and RNZ have been pretty good on 16 meters lately.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

On Oct 19, 12:54 am, Ross Archer wrote:
On Oct 16, 6:21 pm, wrote:

On Oct 15, 11:34 pm, Ross Archer wrote:

Just installed a mobile SW setup; enjoying Radio Australia, Radio New
Zealand Int'l, Radio Moscow, and Radio Netherlands while driving to
and from work late/early.

Could you give details of your mobile setup? That would be a nice
thing to have as I spend a lot of time in my car.

It needs some work, especially the antenna system. But here's what
I've got so far:

* Yaesu FT-857D mobile HF transceiver (with full general-coverage).
It runs off 12 volts and is connected via a cigarette lighter plug.http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd...odCatID=102&en...

* Yaesu ATAS-120 antennahttp://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamantm/4547.html

Car is 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT.

The transceiver is genuinely awesome IMHO.

The antenna system, on the other hand, is a giant disappointment. I
wish I had gone with an automatic antenna tuner and a whip, or a
manually-controlled screwdriver antenna instead.

Ignition noise is a problem at higher engine RPMs. It limits the
usefulness of hamming but doesn't affect SWL as much due to the
generally stronger signals.

If you're all interested, I'll keep you informed as I work out the
bugs. In the meantime, anyone want to buy a garbage expensive
automatic screwdriver antenna?

--- ross

Yes, please keep us informed. I was wondering what you did for an
antenna. Good thinking about that tranceiver, didn't know it even
existed.

I've actually gotten back into wefax and ute decoding after being out
of it for 15 years. Most of my faves are gone, but there's still some
good listens out there. I'm actually thinking about getting my ticket
now that I've got a little time.

Sangean AT-803 with 50ft dipole, 40N, 105W


On Oct 15, 3:56 am, Bill wrote:
Well thanks to everybody that responded. I guess I'll have to get more
into the utility station monitoring...I used to listen to them but the
Eton just doesn't cut it. I'll need to fire up the R-390 again and get
a good utility station guide and start playing once more! Now that you
mention it, I used to tune into the weather fax stations and decode them
with the simple DOS program WEFAX...now that was exciting stuff...!