A dream no more.../First SW Pickups

[NALTOHQ]

Hello,

My name is Nick, and for a pretty long time, the world of shortwave radio enamored me. I've wanted to go out with a radio in hand, seeking out new signals all over the world for a while, and videos on YouTube spurred my interest further. It was a hobby I could actually consider a worthwhile hobby, not a passive interest or activity, like video games.

The problem? Money.

I have been flat broke for what feels like eons, and only recently have I been able to make any semblance of cash.
Radios were too expensive, and I felt like it was time to call it quits. I'd never be able to get in...

That all changed yesterday, with a trip to a place I know all too well, my local Salvation Army.

With no toys, DVDs, or videogames of interest, I took one last look at the Electronics aisle, expecting nothing...

A Kirby Avenir shampoo set here, an electric typewriter there.... and then I saw it... a radio.

Namely, a Grundig Yacht Boy 400 YB-400PE (Professional Edition), with a $5.99 price tag.

I thought "that looks cool", but the moment I read "LW/MW/SW/FM STEREO", I let out an audible shriek of delight.
I found a shortwave radio.

I RAN to the counter, ate some food at the nearby Burger King, and bolted home to see if it worked.
Six AA batteries later, I had my answer... it did.

Within a couple hours, I found my first Shortwave signal.
I made it, and now, I join WorldwideDX, seeking people with similar interest in this field.
I hope this is more than just a passing glance, and that I may actually make progress, friends, and even find my place here, and in my own life.


With all this said, here's my first pickups.

-11860kHz - Radio Marti
-6000kHz - Possibly Radio Habana Cuba
-7490kHz - Probably WWCR Nashville
and most of all...
-10000kHz - WWV
(I jumped for joy when I heard those ticks and that announcer)

And that concluded my first day of being a true Shortwave Listener.

When I find new stations, I plan to upload audio to my YouTube channel, and, if I am given a warm welcome here, may post my findings here as well.

But I've said enough. Whether or not I'm welcome here, that's for all of you to decide.

-Nick Tobolski (NALTO)

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Welcome!

 

[Eldorado828]

Welcome to the club and look forward to seeing or reading more of your shortwave adventures.

BTW, what part of the world are you located?

 

[G-Golly Wally]

Welcome!

 

[midnight special]

welcome,,, the wwv signal if ya listen and propagation is right you will hear a lady with time then a gentleman the man is in colorado and the lady is hawaii

 

[Cookie55]

Welcome to the radio hobby, that's how it starts listening. With me it was clear channel AM stations back when AM was still king and FM hadn't even become a thing for broadcasting.

 

[AudioShockwav]

Enjoy the forum, I think you will find its a good group of members here.

73
Jeff

 

[AmericanEagle575]

Welcome to the Forum, great bunch of Gentlemen here with tons of knowledge,all you have to is ask!!! Enjoy your Shortwave radio and the hobby of Radio!!!

 

[brandon7861]

There are also the time stations in Canada. 3.33MHz, 7.85MHz and 14.67MHz. I am picking up the 3.33 and 7.85 signals here in Minnesota right now.

And WTWW (5.085 or 9.940) will take requests online and are usually quick to get to your request. Most of the time it is scripture/religious, but they do have some good music times. I have made a couple requests when they were playing 80's rock.

 

[NALTOHQ]

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for the kind words! I LOVE this hobby and its people and will continue to post my findings.

In addition to picking up TWO new signals yesterday, CHU 3330 kHz, and a station on 5950 kHz, I've been posting to my own YouTube channel, which I'll link below...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNHmhgpHBi0hNSSI3iYB0wQ

Now, about all your wonderful messages...

Welcome!

Thank you! Psyched to be here!

Welcome to the club and look forward to seeing or reading more of your shortwave adventures.

BTW, what part of the world are you located?

Thanks, and don't worry, be it here, or in a bespoke thread, I'll be sure to jot down any stations, and programming, I pick up daily.

As to your other question, I'm from Webster, Massachusetts. Living in an apartment, reception isn't as great as it could be, but I'm still getting lucky.

Welcome!

Thank you, and love the name, by the way!

welcome,,, the wwv signal if ya listen and propagation is right you will hear a lady with time then a gentleman the man is in colorado and the lady is hawaii

I'm well aware. WWV is one of my favorites. The male voice is on WWV, which is in Colorado, and the female voice is on WWVH, located in Hawaii. I almost always leave my Grundig tuned to WWV before powering off.

Welcome to the radio hobby, that's how it starts listening. With me it was clear channel AM stations back when AM was still king and FM hadn't even become a thing for broadcasting.

Wow! It's so nice to meet someone from the time before FM. Thanks so much for the kind words.

Enjoy the forum, I think you will find its a good group of members here.

73
Jeff

Thank you Jeff, I'm sure I will!

Welcome to the Forum, great bunch of Gentlemen here with tons of knowledge,all you have to is ask!!! Enjoy your Shortwave radio and the hobby of Radio!!!

Thank you! I will no doubt have many questions, but I'm sure when they arise, there will be good folks here to answer them. I love my Grundig Yacht Boy, and will continue to enjoy this wonderful hobby.

There are also the time stations in Canada. 3.33MHz, 7.85MHz and 14.67MHz. I am picking up the 3.33 and 7.85 signals here in Minnesota right now.

And WTWW (5.085 or 9.940) will take requests online and are usually quick to get to your request. Most of the time it is scripture/religious, but they do have some good music times. I have made a couple requests when they were playing 80's rock.

Thank you very much. I have been able to pick up CHU's 3.33 MHz signal so far. None of the others just yet. As for WTWW, I'll be going out tomorrow, so I'll keep my radio on me and try to tune in.

And I think that's everything.

Thanks again for such a warm welcome. I plan to head out tomorrow for can duties and will be taking my radio with me to see what I can pick up while out in the town. I leave for now with a question: Should I make a separate thread to document any findings I make (kind of like a journal) or just stay in my neck of the woods in this one thread? I look forward to your responses, and any future ones here.

I'm here to stay.

NALTO / Nick

 

[loosecannon]

Welcome to the forum Nick!

Ive got some good news for you, but you might kick yourself for not checking this out sooner LOL.

http://kiwisdr.com/public/

this is what's known as software defined radio.
basically a bunch of people all over the world have connected their receivers to their computers so you can listen from pretty much any place in the world.

the best part of this is that you can hear shortwave stations that you would NEVER hear in the USA.

click on the link, then click on the blue icon that says "KiwiSDR Map".

this will open up a world map with little icons all over it.
you can hover your mouse over an icon and it will tell you some info about it like what kind of antenna they are using, and how many users are currently using that particular radio.

when you click on the icon it will open up a window with a waterfall display of the full HF band. (0-30mhz).
once you click the play button, you can click on the display where you see a signal and listen to that signal.
you will notice that the stronger signals are larger on the display, and once you get used to it you can kind of tell which stations are voices and which ones are just digital noise.

enjoy!
LC

 

[NALTOHQ]

Welcome to the forum Nick!

Ive got some good news for you, but you might kick yourself for not checking this out sooner LOL.

http://kiwisdr.com/public/

this is what's known as software defined radio.
basically a bunch of people all over the world have connected their receivers to their computers so you can listen from pretty much any place in the world.

the best part of this is that you can hear shortwave stations that you would NEVER hear in the USA.

click on the link, then click on the blue icon that says "KiwiSDR Map".

this will open up a world map with little icons all over it.
you can hover your mouse over an icon and it will tell you some info about it like what kind of antenna they are using, and how many users are currently using that particular radio.

when you click on the icon it will open up a window with a waterfall display of the full HF band. (0-30mhz).
once you click the play button, you can click on the display where you see a signal and listen to that signal.
you will notice that the stronger signals are larger on the display, and once you get used to it you can kind of tell which stations are voices and which ones are just digital noise.

enjoy!
LC

Thanks for the warm welcome! I have heard of WebSDR but not KiwiSDR. I'll definitely give both a look.

-Nick

 

[NALTOHQ]

SMALL UPDATE: My outing yielded no signals, not even ones I already picked up. But, I DID get my hands on a crank-powered NOAA radio, which for my hometown in New England, that's very useful.

 

[Enterprise312ok]

You have come to the right place, am talk radio is what started my obsession at about age 7, I spent many of my childhood days listening to news and politics, and many nights listening to coast to coast am and other programs of the like. In my early teens I started out with a grundig crank up shortwave radio, then saved up my paper route money to buy a grundig porch design am fm shortwave portable. When I was 14 I called in to the local am talk station In green Bay the afternoon show was called The Dan Dighbert show I asked dan If i could come in to the station to see how talk radio was made, I was glad when he said "you can come in tommorow". I got there about an hour before the show while Dan was doing show prep, I also did some prep and compiled a funnyvsegment on stupid criminals. Then life got in the way for about 20 years until the radio bug hit me again watching the trucker protest in canada I thought "I want a cb". Sorry for the rambling post thats just how it goes some times.
Welcome to the hobby and the fourum.

 

[SWLQSL]

Enjoy the forum, I think you will find its a good group of members here.

73
Jeff

Hi guys hope we are allowed to post this we love SWL and meeting people that love radio Just launched our eMag for SWL's http://bit.ly/shortwaveradiotoday
Hope you all like please share thanks we enjoy this group.