Shortwave Radio Help....What should I get and where? Help!!

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Just a quick question to anyone who can help. I plan to purchase a shortwave radio or possibly a scanner this week. Any suggetions as to what make or model is the best or prefered? Any suggestions to where to purchase?

Thanks in advance

-- Familyman (prepare@home.com), December 07, 1999

Answers

I chose the Baygen Radio it needs no power or batteries. Wind up for 60 turns and you get 60 minutes of broadcast. Choice of AM, FM, SW. It works great using it now. It also has a plug for an adapter and it tells you what one to get if you choose to.

Comes with everything 2 antennas one built in and one that is quite tall that telescopes out and up.

cant beat it I paid 69.00 which I thought was reasonable

do a search on the net they are everywhere but hurry now

-- Susan Barrett (sue59@bellsouth.net), December 07, 1999.


a couple good websites for shortwave radios:

http://www.ccrane.com/

and

http://www.grove-ent.com/

I've got a bunch of shortwave radios, including the Baygen, which I love. You don't have to spend a ton of money, though, if you put up a good longwire outside antenna. There's a ton of stuff on the web about making antennas...have fun!

ps - if you can afford it, get a "wide coverage" radio, which not only picks up shortwave but also "scanner" (much higher) frequencies.

-- joe (joe@adeveloper.net), December 07, 1999.


Uuugggghhh...Baygen goooood....batteries baaaaaaaad...

FrankenKook

-- Y2Kook (Y2Kook@usa.net), December 07, 1999.


FrankenKook,

No, remember Beemer (creator of askey (heh, ASCII?-excuse my nontech ignorance)) learned from the kids at comp usa that rechargeable batteries are the only way to go, cause you can just plug them into the wall socket to recharge them after the new year.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 07, 1999.


If you're looking for a really cheap, no batteries solution, a crystal radio may be the way to go. It will pull in all AM signals within a 25 mile radius. It has no moving parts that can break. Of course, if you have money then Baygen is probably the way to go. But if you're poor like me, then a crystal radio is hard to beat.

-- John Ainsworth (ainsje00@wfu.edu), December 07, 1999.


--I have a baygen cranker, and also a real good sangean 818, just received from ccrane company. was about 160 greenspans, gets tons and tons and tons of frequencies. What I would LIKE is the baygen crank power source, run through lithium/ion batts, then running the sangean. Now THAT would be a good radio!

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), December 07, 1999.

SKIP the Grundig Yacht Boy 400!!! I'm tired of exchanging them. I had the first one explode a capacitor, the second lost the entire AM band (just static, but FM received fine), the third one used fresh sets of batteries in a few hours, and the fourth one I have had just broke an antenna mount. It turns out the antenna mount is a cheezy cheap piece of low grade soft plastic!

Grundig says I have to ship it in for repairs which could take a few weeks. That's not Y2K OK! I'm going to have to use the external antenna.

I will never buy another Grundig product and I urge you not to as well.

-- Eric (ericroger@usa.net), December 07, 1999.


C. Crane is an excellent company, very knowledgeable, and stand by their products. I have two Baygens. One stopped working on both hand-crank and solar, I sent it in and they sent me a NEW radio. I have another Baygen with shortwave, and it works great.

Related question: I am getting back into shortwave after a long break from it (just put up a new external antenna). Does anyone have freqs for shortwave radio shows that are talking about Y2K?

-- (cavscout@fix.net), December 07, 1999.


Cav, Try www.wwcr.com That should get you started.

-- Powder (powder@keg.com), December 07, 1999.

Give me a call at 413-229-7789. I have 1 BayGen SW/AM/FM Radio left. You can have it for $89.00 and I will throw in a Portable Shortwave Antenna (value of $19.95) plus $10.00 S&H.

Highland Traders http://www.highlandtraders.com

Diane

-- Diane Milliken (prepare@highlandtraders.com), December 07, 1999.



I've found that lowly Radio Shack shortwave and scanners do the job very well. Throw in some rechargeable batteries, a charger and then go pick-up a solar panel from your local marina to run the charger and you're all set.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), December 07, 1999.


The Baygen AM/FM/SW is a fine radio for knocking around the yard. I really love it.

I would suggest purchasing a SW radio with single-sideband capability in order to be able to listen to HAM broadcasts. The Baygen, & my DX- 380, don't have this feature. :(

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), December 07, 1999.


GN had a long list of SW frequencies on his website today.

-- Jim (x@x.x), December 07, 1999.

Here's a link to the SW frequencies at Gary's that Jim mentioned.

SW frequencies



-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), December 07, 1999.


Hey WW,

Most of those "lowly" Radio Shack shortwave receivers are made by Sangean (for example, the RS 398 is the top end Sangean 909).

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@midiowa.net), December 08, 1999.



Oops, forgot.

Radio Shack also sells the Baygens.

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@midiowa.net), December 08, 1999.


I also have the Baygen radio and was pleasently supprised with it. My y2k friends and I have purchased 2 way radios, they have a 2 mile radius, 14 channels and 30 hrs. We all live in the same area and can use these in place of telephones. Not expensive and they are fun.

-- Mary T. (marytower@webtv.net), December 08, 1999.

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