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Table 1: Shortwave Broadcast Bands
TenTec RX-340 HF DSP Receiver is the top of the line for SWLers with unlimited budgets. Here’s
a surprise, it’s made in the U.S.A.! (Courtesy: Ten-Tec)
web site e-ham.net. Specific reviews from
individuals are found at http://www.eham.
net/reviews/products/8. Keep in mind that
these are personal opinions from individuals
which may not represent general opinion.
Still, they may be worth reading.
One thing you’ll notice is that the
cheapest radios have old-fashioned analog
tuning. This keeps down production costs
but gives these radios a number of drawbacks.
It’s hard to tell exactly where you
are on the bands with this type tuner, the
numbers are often hard to read without a
magnifying glass, and there’s no way to
have pre-set memory banks for instant access
tuning. The price of a SW radio goes up
as options are added. Here are some “must
haves” that you should look for in a serious
shortwave radio:
• External antenna connection. Allows
attachment of an external antenna or
other accessory such as a pre-selector
or antenna tuner.
• Digital frequency readout with keypad
entry and a reasonable amount of
memory pre-sets. This display should
also include some type of signal strength
meter.
• Sideband reception capability. Allows
tuning amateur radio transmissions
in upper or lower sideband as well as
digital modes which also use sideband
transmissions.
• Wide/Narrow switch provides better
audio for international broadcasters
and helps sideband transmission sound
better.
• Built-in 24 hour clock. Can be set to
UTC so you’ll know when to tune into
programs you see in the guide.
• External speaker connection allows use
of an external speaker to improve audio
quality or to be used with an external
tape recorder.
Shopping for a Radio
Once you’ve narrowed the field of
receivers you’d like to buy and have read
the reviews, it’s time to do a little shopping.
Radio Shack used to be a good place to
check out shortwave radios. They carried
a wide range of models and had stores in
nearly every town. Now, they are reduced
to offering only three shortwave products,
all made by Grundig and ranging from the
M100 for $30 to the Digital Compact for
$80. That leaves the mail order houses as
your best bet for price comparisons. Here’s
a round-up of these vendors, the brands
they carry and other shortwave accessories
of note. They are arranged in alphabetical
order:
Amateur Electronic Supply: 800-558-0411
http://www.aesham.com offers AOR,
Drake, Sangean, Sony, & Yaesu brands.
Has accessories and cable.
C. Crane Co.: 800-522-8863 http://www.
ccrane.com Offers CCRadio Plus, Icom
and Sangean brands. Has portable antenna
& longplay recorders.
Grove Enterprises: 800-438-8155 http://
grove-ent.com Offers AOR, Drake,
Grundig, Icom, JRC (Japan Radio Corp.),
Sangean, Yaesu and WiNRADiO. Sells
outdoor and indoor antennas, cables
and preselectors, books, and Monitoring
Times subscriptions.
Universal Radio 800-431-3939 http://
www.universal-radio.com Offers
Drake, Grundig, Icom, JRC, Sangean,
and Ten-Tec brands. Also sells many
SWL accessories including antennas,
preselectors and books.
The Computer-hosted
Receiver
There’s another type of SW receiver
on the market, a “virtual” receiver which
uses your computer to display a radio control
panel that you would tune as any other
receiver. The audio comes through your
computer as well. The receiver is a box or a
circuit board which interfaces between your
antenna and your computer. Advantages of
this type of receiver is that it has the features
of radios many times the price. The
disadvantage, of course, is that it depends
on your computer for its existence. If your
computer goes down, your radio goes with
it. One such computer-based receiver is the
Ten-Tec RX-320D which is widely available
and sells for $328.95.
Another such receiver is the WinRA-
DiO 1500 series, available through the
Grove catalog, which offers a wide tuning
range (150 kHz to 1.5 GHz with cell phone
frequencies blocked) and also features
performance and extras you’d expect from
a more expensive “real” radio. Or, the new
Courtesy Monitoring Times
Freq kHz Meter Band
2300-2495 120 meters (Note 1)
3200-3400 90 meters (Note 1)
3900-3950 75 meters (Regional band,
used for broadcasting in
Asia only)
3950-4000 75 meters (Regional band,
used for broadcasting in
Asia and Europe)
4750-4995 60 meters (Note 1)
5005-5060 60 meters (Note 1)
5730-5900 49 meter NIB (Note 2)
5900-5950 49 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
5950-6200 49 meters
6200-6295 49 meter NIB (Note 2)
6890-6990 41 meter NIB (Note 2)
7100-7300 41 meters (Regional band,
not allocated for broadcasting
in the western
hemisphere)(Note 4)
7300-7350 41 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
7350-7600 41 meter NIB (Note 2)
9250-9400 31 meter NIB (Note 2)
9400-9500 31 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
9500-9900 31 meters
11500-11600 25 meter NIB (Note 2)
11600-11650 25 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
11650-12050 25 meters
12050-12100 25 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
12100-12600 25 meter NIB (Note 2)
13570-13600 22 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
13600-13800 22 meters
13800-13870 22 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
15030-15100 19 meter NIB (Note 2)
15100-15600 19 meters
15600-15800 19 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
17480-17550 17 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
17550-17900 17 meters
18900-19020 15 meter WARC-92 band
(Note 3)
21450-21850 13 meters
25670-26100 11 meters
Notes
Note 1 Tropical bands, 120/90/60 meters
are for broadcast use only in designated
tropical areas of the world.
Note 2 Broadcasters can use this frequency
range on a (NIB) non-interference basis
only.
Note 3 WARC-92 bands are allocated officially
for use by HF broadcasting stations
in 2007. They are only authorized on a
non-interference basis until that date.
Note 4 WRC-03 update. After March 29, 2009,
the spectrum from 7100-7200 kHz will no
longer be available for broadcast purposes
and will be turned over to amateur radio
operations worldwide