"ken" wrote in message
m...
"Honus" wrote in message
. ..
I posted this message over in rec.radio.amateur.dx, but no one seems to
have
any answers for me. It's perhaps a little off-topic, but since most of
the
posts in these parts are, it'll fit right in. And at least here I'll get
some sort of response.

Even if it's political.

I'm just going to cut and paste:



I'm new to the hobby, so please bear with me.

I picked up a Gene Scott broadcast last night on MW at 1615 KHz. Here's
the

Anguilla, British West Indies
24 hours a day - 7 days a week

690 KHz AM

1610 KHz
........snip...................................... ........................

The DX 350 is a sensitive receiver but it doesn't work too well
with a long antenna. The circuits overload and you find images of
stations in all sorts of places where they shouldn't be. The first
thing to do is to disconnect the long wire antenna and see what kind
of reception you get off the whip. Probably the "ghosts" will
disappear. Another thing you can do is to find the switch on the right
hand side of the radio marked ""SW LPF" and switch it on. This will
help remove some of the mysterious signals. If the problem persists
disconnect the ground and see if that helps. You may find that you can
receive most of the stations you want right off the whip. Also, the
"RF Gain" contol should be turned counter-clockwise to the point where
the stations just start to drop off.
If you wnt to get some of the weaker stations, you will have to
experiment and see how much antenna you can use before the
overloading starts. You can wind a few turns around the whip or use
the antenna input at the back. I think 10 or 20 feet of wire would be
plenty. When matched to the right length of antenna, the DX 350
should be fine for your purpose. If you get a bit frustrated at having
to fiddle with the antenna, ride the RF gain, and switch the LPF on
and off, remember that communications receivers that handle a wide
range of signal strengths cost upwards of $1,000.......good
listening.....ken....

Thanks for the tips, Ken. I'm going to give them all a try ASAP.

"Dan" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 22:50:48 GMT, "Honus"
wrote:


I just told someone over in rec.radio.amateur.dx that I'm
ready to mail my Grundig back to China with a letter enclosed telling
them
where they can send it from there. This whole shortwave/AM DX
experience
has been extremely frustrating.

All I want to do is turn on my radio, spin the dial until I find
something
interesting, look it up in my "Passport" book and have that be the end of
it. sigh Oh well. I might as well start wishing for world peace.

The Grundig S350/Tecsun 2000 is definitely *not* the radio for this!
However, it is nice to use/listen to when you know where you are
tuning, or what you are looking for.

Depending on how much you want to spend, you should look for a used
Radio Shack DX-440/Sangean 803A - same radio. These can be had for
under $100 and have much better performance than the S350. Next step
up would be a used Grundig Satellit 700, or perhaps a used Sony 2010,
for around $250 - $300.

A great bandscanning radio is the Grundig Satellit 800, available new
for around $400, or used for $250 and up. It's easy to use, with a
better than average tuning knob, good filters, good sound and a great
sync mode.

Yep...that's probably were I'll head when it's time to upgrade.

All of these radios have actual tuning knobs. There are loads of
inexpensive Chinese radios that have good performance, but most lack a
tuning knob, instead using just buttons for up/down and direct
frequency entry. Most also have scanning functions, however, and can
be almost as useful as manual tuning, but nothing really beats a real
tuning knob, IMO!

Ha! Those tuning knobs are one of the things that drew me to the S350 in the
first place.

Thanks for the tips!

"mike0219116" wrote in message
news:z3xUc.7289$ni.5199@okepread01...
I have a S350 and it's my "sitting on the back porch with a beer on a nice
night radio", but it's no DX machine. The S350 is a single conversion
radio
and it suffers badly from images as a result.


Just to pick nits, there were many single conversion radios which had decent
image rejection due to additional stages of RF amplification and tuned
circuits. The dual conversion approach became cheaper way to a high
performance radio sometime around 1950. However, multiconversion radios
will have an extra image for each conversion, not to mention conversion
oscillator fundamental and harmonic and IF harmonic birdies. These should
be well supressed, but it's entirely possible some schlockmeister will come
up with a really cheap multiconversion radio that's a total nightmare.

Frank Dresser

"Honus" wrote in message
...

[snip]


The first part of that went clean over my head. Thanks for trying, though!
g


Not a problem. You don't need to run the numbers on a superhet, anymore
than any driver needs to know how an automatic transmission shifts gears.

But, if you get an anomolous signal on your S-350, just figure it's your
radio hearing a signal that's really somewhere else.

I don't know the S-350, but I'll assume it's a decent radio for program
listening. You won't be happy with it if you expect it to have all it's
images and spurious responses silenced. That costs more money.



No, I wasn't that lucky. It's good to have something to look forward to,
though.




If Dr. Scott is boring, feel free to tune out. His boring shows rarely get
better. Dr. Scott can be very good, but he ain't no Brother Stair.

Frank Dresser

"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...

"Honus" wrote in message
...

[snip]


The first part of that went clean over my head. Thanks for trying,
though!
g


Not a problem. You don't need to run the numbers on a superhet, anymore
than any driver needs to know how an automatic transmission shifts gears.

But, if you get an anomolous signal on your S-350, just figure it's your
radio hearing a signal that's really somewhere else.

I don't know the S-350, but I'll assume it's a decent radio for program
listening. You won't be happy with it if you expect it to have all it's
images and spurious responses silenced. That costs more money.

Now you tell me. gbg I just wish that when I'd done all of my research
before I bought it, that someone in those many reviews had mentioned
spurious signals, etc. I wouldn't have known what they meant, but I'd have
investigated it...and probably gone with a different unit.

No, I wasn't that lucky. It's good to have something to look forward to,
though.


If Dr. Scott is boring, feel free to tune out. His boring shows rarely
get
better. Dr. Scott can be very good, but he ain't no Brother Stair.

He went off the air before I could hear any ID, or any real ranting or
tirading. I figured out who he was by other means, i.e. the guy speaking
said it was his 75th brthday, etc. I read up on Scott a little, and I really
am looking forward to hearing some of the outrageous stuff that comes from
him. But I'm not going to listen to a boring sermon to get to it! I just
wanted to log that weird 1615 signal. Oh well. Thanks again.

----- Original Message -----
From: "m II"
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 7:16 PM
Subject: Gene Scott, satellites and MW


Honus wrote:

I'm going to enjoy this damned hobby if it kills me.

Hear, Hear!

There should be a Latin translation of that somewhere...

And here it is, courtesy of the boys over at alt.language.latin:

"I'm going to enjoy this hobby if it kills me."

Hoc studio fructurus sum etsi eo interfiam.

Or

Mihi stat etiam ad mortem hoc studium persequi.

Literally; "I am determined to pursue this hobby even unto death."



I was hoping to end up with a new sig file, but they don't have quite the
ring that I was looking for.

You're right. I guess when ever I get images on my S350 I just
automatically blame it on its single-conversion design mostly because I have
a cheap Tecsun that's double-conversion and much better at fighting off
images. Perhaps some of the image problems on the S350 can also be blamed
on its filters. They are extra-crappy.

"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...

"mike0219116" wrote in message
news:z3xUc.7289$ni.5199@okepread01...
I have a S350 and it's my "sitting on the back porch with a beer on a
nice
night radio", but it's no DX machine. The S350 is a single conversion
radio
and it suffers badly from images as a result.


Just to pick nits, there were many single conversion radios which had
decent
image rejection due to additional stages of RF amplification and tuned
circuits. The dual conversion approach became cheaper way to a high
performance radio sometime around 1950. However, multiconversion radios
will have an extra image for each conversion, not to mention conversion
oscillator fundamental and harmonic and IF harmonic birdies. These should
be well supressed, but it's entirely possible some schlockmeister will
come
up with a really cheap multiconversion radio that's a total nightmare.

Frank Dresser

Honus wrote:
I was hoping to end up with a new sig file, but they don't have quite the
ring that I was looking for.

There's always "semper ubi sub ubi".

--
It's unfair to characterize Kerry as a flip-flopper. He's consistently in
favor of marrying a rich widow and buying your way into the White House.
-- Rex Tincher

"clifto" wrote in message
...
Honus wrote:
I was hoping to end up with a new sig file, but they don't have quite
the
ring that I was looking for.

There's always "semper ubi sub ubi".

I don't always, but when I do I make sure they're clean.

"Leonard Martin" wrote in message
...


Occasionally I've tuned him in by mistake. Two out of those maybe ten
times he was talking about reproaching his employees for something or
other. When I'm feeling depressed about my job I just spend some time
trying to imagine what it must be like to work in THOSE cubicles!

Leonard


And when Dr. Scott's cubicle minions get down, they can cheer themselves up
by saying "Working for Dr. Scott sure beats working on Brother Stair's
farm!!"

Frank Dresser