Advice on buying shortwave radios....

LeoZ 2004-10-06 20:52:17 ET Don't. Don't buy a shortwave radio. Digital tuning is better on a shortwave radio than analog tuning due to the need of precision. But the problem with all of the shortwave radios that I've seen is modulation. It is a common misconception that all shortwave radio station operate on AM (Amplitude Modulation.) They do not. In fact a suprising number of SW stations operate on other Modulations such as FM (Frequency Modulation), WFM (Wide Frequency Modulation), and even USB (Upper Side Band) and LSB (Lower Side Band). Most, if not all, of the SW radio recievers that I've seen only capture the AM stations. Thus it is a much better deal if you get a radio scanner and use that to listen to shortwave. A good scanner will beat any shortwave radio reciever out of the water with a bamboo stick.

The Statutory Ape 2004-10-06 20:54:19 ET Interesting... Spamming the front page? ;-p

LeoZ 2004-10-06 20:56:55 ET No, just bored.

antony green 2004-10-06 20:59:58 ET hell man, what the feckle are you talking about? in any condition, people only listen to the radio when they have no choice of music or want to listen to news. I dont' even know who'd put money on FM radio, because they'd put money on good CDs and a good boombox instead. You should go to bed.

The Statutory Ape 2004-10-06 21:01:50 ET LOL!!

LeoZ 2004-10-06 21:08:43 ET FM is a way of modulation audio. The only reason why that part of your radio dial lists those frequencies as being "FM" is because those frequencies are reserved for FM radio modulation only. Same thing goes with the AM frequencies on your radio dial. But nothing is preventing somebody with an FM transmitter from broadcasting an FM signal on the traditional AM frequencies. And nothing is stopping a person from sending out an AM signal on the traditional FM frequencies. Well, nothing other than the FCC. But all that FM and AM is/are is basically a way of modulation a audio onto electromagnetic waves.

The Statutory Ape 2004-10-06 21:13:16 ET I thought about doing ham radio once. At the time I was too lazy to do all the studying neccisary in order to get a liscence. I also thought that it was pretty stupid to need a liscence to just do hobby radio.

antony green 2004-10-06 21:13:59 ET you know the DOLLAR SHOP sells FM radios.

LeoZ 2004-10-06 21:18:05 ET You only need a ham radio license to transmit. To recieve you don't need a license. Just a scanner. Yes. The dollar shop sells fm radios which only capture the 88 - 108 mhz band. I'm talking about the .001 - 999+ mhz band

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