"Shortwave" receivers

[Bill, KD0HG]

I recently got an email from an old buddy in Wisconsin, he's not a ham but is remodeling his garage and wanted to know where he could find a shortwave receiver.

When we were kids, he had a Hallicrafters S-120 and was fascinated with it.

So, the question is, does anyone manufacture a table top radio with shortwave bands in it any more, or does he have to go with a boatanchor? Is SWBC a dead duck in the 21st Century?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr.html

[WQ9E]

Bill,

The only table top receivers I am aware of now are more expensive and complicated than he is likely to want; especially given the lack of broadcasters now compared to when he listened on the S-120.  There is a much wider choice of portable receivers and the Eton S-350 is an analog type that is user friendly.  See:  http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/0043.html  but I would choose black over red    It is decent on shortwave (far better than the old S-120) and has good sounding audio.   I picked up a couple at a business liquidation and my wife and I both have them at the university for office radios.  It doesn't have a BFO but it sounds very nice on AM and FM and I have listened to the 3885 group on mine during the morning.

It isn't the type of radio most of us would want but it is perfect for the less technical non-amateur type.

[WA1GFZ]

I'm not sure if the new AOR is in production yet but I bet it will blow the doors off most rice boxs.
I saw some impressive numbers in an artical I read. The last AOR was near the top of the Sherwood list

[KM1H]

If he wants a BA Id suggest one of the 51J series and have someone put it in shape for him. Pretty hard to beat and has long term reliability plus not overly expensive. I have a R-388 and 51J4 and they just keep on working.

[Sam KS2AM]

I recently got an email from an old buddy in Wisconsin, he's not a ham but is remodeling his garage and wanted to know where he could find a shortwave receiver.

Not sure I follow the connection with the garage but if he's looking for a radio to use in the garage for casual SWL'ing thats also visually appealing, there are lots of European table-top sets available on ebay.  e.g. Telefunken, Grundig, Philips, Nordmende, etc. They all have similar styling with slightly different features.  I kind of like the one I ran across in this ebay listing.  In addition to the "magic eye" tube and some funky tone controls it also has a rotatable ferrite antenna and shortwave coverage up to to 23 Mc which is not so common in these sets.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Grundig-Majestic-Tube-Radio-3028-works-great-/230534878470?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item35acf31506



Sam / KS2AM

[W1UJR]

How about the good old Zenith Transoceanic?
Looks like an old radio should, and is a very hot receiver.
Compare to the modern plastic radio to the left.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Oceanic

[KM1H]

I was thinking about the TO but that 1L6 is real pricey. The last of the line SS Royal R-7000 is supposed to be one hot radio as is the Halliscratcher.

I have several TO's but prefer the Halli TW-2000.

[WQ9E]

I have a couple of the Zenith 7000 including the last model.  It does work well but they are almost sure to have dirty pots and getting to them is not terribly fun.  The battery life of the Zenith 1000/3000/7000 line is incredibly long.  For coolness, the 1000 and 3000 have the telescopic whip built into the carrying handle.  Audio is good although not up to the standard of the big Grundig Satellit receivers from that era.

[ke7trp]

SX-62 is my favorite for BA gear.

I have the ETON XM-1 SW reciever.  I gave it to my dad one year. He did not use it much.  I got it back a few years later. It is awesome.  Very sensity, Adjustable Bandwidth, SSB, FM, AM, AM with Sync detector and of course Xm satalite radio.

The syn detector is fantastic.  It has has a real VFO and BFO.  Carefull on what models you buy. Alot of the lower line radios have CLICK tuning. Meaning you dont have RX as you turn the dial. It just locks on each KC. This makes chasing DX or tuning weak stations a pain.  The XM1 tunes like any modern ham radio.

I have used it as a station RX before when I had a reciever go down in the middle of a QSO.

C

[KF5FWU]

I bought a Grundig s350DL from radio shack just to listen to when I'm messin around outside. Believe it or not it has a great sound and receives perty good too. It'll run on D batteries or plug it in the wall.