HI,
Any good receivers on the market for the car during commutes?
Thank you,
Mike

"mikem" wrote in message
oups.com...
HI,
Any good receivers on the market for the car during commutes?
Thank you,
Mike


http://www.shortwavestore.com/sws/pr...&cat=42&page=1

I'm sure that there are more available, but I am not inclined to search
further at the moment. Google is your friend.

-Brian

mikem wrote:
HI,
Any good receivers on the market for the car during commutes?
Thank you,
Mike
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Unless you have a very quite car, dont bother!

The high energy ignition systems, engine control computer, ABS computer
and other nice elctronincs are very noisy. I borrowed a nice grey
market Sony
from a friend and tried it for 4 months in my 1985 Celica. When parked,
well
away from power lnes and other noise sources it worked great. Inspite
of my
various attmepts to reduce the noise in my Celica I was unable to do
more
then listen to power houses international outlets like the BBC.

Even my efforts at RFI reduction were somewhat wasted because if there
was
any traffic I could hear their engines over even the stronger SW
stations.

Go for a SW converter from MFJ first to see how it will work. Much
cheaper
and easier to install, the Sony was deeper then the stock radio and I
had to
improvise.

Terry

Hi Mike,

Some years back, I had picked up one of those Sony car stereos w/sw
tuner. Decent all-around product. The model I had purchased was #
XR-4950X. Got it from that jackys.com in Dubai. I'm sure the tuner is
the same as is to be found in the XRF5100 that Brian provided the link
for. At the time that I had purchased, Sony had a number of these
models out there, and basically, the tuner internals were the same,
according to what info I was able to gather. Frequency coverage for
the model I had used was the same as this XRF5100. The gaps were kind
of annoying, but not horrendously bad: SW1 : 2940 - 7735 kHzSW2 : 9500
to 10140 kHz plus 11575 to 18135 kHz. Tunes only in 5 kHz increments.
Selectivity adequate for listening to major broadcasters. At the time
that I installed the unit, I had also installed a power line filter and
antenna line filter purchased from Crutchfield. Given that I put these
in at the same time that I installed the Sony, I can't say one way or
another if either of the line noise filter REALLY helped any. But, in
any case, reception was pretty decent for the time that I was using it.
Driving at night in the U.S. southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, there
was generally plenty to pick up: V. of Russia, China R. Int'l., V. of
Vietnam, R. Canada Int'l, R. Prague, Radio Bulgaria, R. Australia, R.
Austria, R. Taiwan Int'l, R. Havana, KBS, R. Vilnius, R. Netherlands,
R. NZ, V. of Turkey, BBC, R. Japan... Mornings could yield some
interesting stuff, too: I used to listen to R. Australia, BBC's
Caribbean service, KBS on the way to work. Also, if interested,
domestic U.S. sw broadcasters were easy to pick up.
At that time, I also had one of those C. Crane car antennas hooked up
to the car's antenna jack.

Anyway, it provided respectable performance overall, both on the
interstate and in city traffic. The car was an old one, so I guess I
didn't have to worry about computer generated noises and that sort of
thing.

MW reception was decent on the Sony, with one exception: it was
impossible to scan in any useful way (it would stop on EVERY frequency,
regardless of whether there was anything to be heard or not...perhaps
the C. Crane antenna was doing too good a job). The FM reception was
pretty decent, too; so switching over to hear Death Cab for Cutie or
the like was always an option.

Junius

"junius" wrote in message
ups.com...
The FM reception was
pretty decent, too; so switching over to hear Death Cab for Cutie or
the like was always an option.

Wow, someone here listens to Death Cab, that is quite a surprise, I was just
listening to them. Saw them a couple of times when I lived in Raleigh; I
miss the music scene there.

-Brian

Wow, someone here listens to Death Cab, that is quite a surprise, I was just
listening to them. Saw them a couple of times when I lived in Raleigh; I
miss the music scene there.

-Brian

Yep, good stuff, that Death Cab. Their newly released Plans is
something else, although I guess the concensus is that Transatlanticism
remains their most mindblowing album to date.

junius

"mikem" wrote in message
oups.com...
HI,
Any good receivers on the market for the car during commutes?
Thank you,
Mike


Phillips DC777 (better - as would any radio be - in a diesel-engined car).

They show up on ebay from time to time.

Not cheap, though; last one I noticed went for over $500, I think.

jtaylor wrote:
Phillips DC777

Many of these radios have developed the "bad LCD" problem due to bad
solder joints. If you are comfortable with soldering ICs, you should
be able to fix it easily.

I found that a good ground at the antenna end of the coax was essential
to keep the ignition noise down.

Not cheap, though; last one I noticed went for over $500, I think.

dang...kinda steep...I'd rather use what I use, which probably could
also be found for about that price if used..
http://www.icomamerica.com/products/amateur/706mkIIg/
Of course, it's a tranceiver, but for SWL in the car, it's quite good.
Covers VHF/UHF also. It's a 900-1000$ radio new, but I see them used
fairly reasonable. One advantage, is they are designed as a mobile
radio. So the antenna connections, etc, are straight forward, and if
you use a good antenna, with a good body ground, noise is not
too much of an issue. I'd rather use a 12v radio designed to use
coax, etc, than try to rig a portable up in the car. Maybe the DC777
is a car radio, not sure...
And most of the actual "car" SW radios seem to be kinda lame
to my tastes..Or at least after you use a ham rig for a while... :/
It doesn't have the fancy AM toys like ECSS, etc, but I don't need that
in a car. When that radio is not in the truck, I use it in the house.

I found that a good ground at the antenna end of the coax was essential
to keep the ignition noise down.

*very important*. I use a 80-10 m ham antenna, so I'm covered in
that dept...Also have a 1/4 wave VHF whip on the cab.
MK