DX-440 AM/FM Direct Entry Communications Receiver (200-0221) Operation - Part 2 Faxback Doc. # 17503 THE SHORTWAVE HOBBY Shortwave listening is a hobby with thousands of participants worldwide. While no special knowledge is required for SWL, you will find your enjoyment increases with experience and special techniques for listening. Random tuning on your DX-440 is a good idea if you've never owned a Communications Receiver before. In this way you can get acquainted with the various bands and the stations that can be heard. But after you've been listening for a while you'll discover that you can get more enjoyment by organizing your listening efforts. Doing a little of library research can increase your skill as a SWL. Read up on radio propagation and theory; try to understand the conditions which make long distant reception possible. In your local library you can find such valuable references as the WORLD TELEVISION HANDBOOK. Current information can be found by consulting periodicals dealing with communications and electronics. Keep up to date on news events around the world. There's much interesting listening just tuning to the international service of a nation where an important event is taking place. Ham radio operators can be found in all bands listed in our Band Allocation section. You'll find that hams mainly use Morse code (or CW, as they refer to it) and SSB. The ham bands are divided up into CW and SSB sections in the following manner: 3,500 - 3,800 kHz: CW 3,800 - 4,000 kHz: SSB 7,000 - 7,150 kHz: CW 7,150 - 7,300 kHz: SSB 14,000 - 14,200 kHz: CW 14,200 - 14,350 kHz: SSB 21,000 - 21,250 kHz: CW 21,250 - 21,450 kHz: SSB 28,000 - 28,500 khZ: CW 28,500 - 29,700 kHz: SSB These boundries are not precisely observed everywhere in the world, so don't be too surprised to find an SSB signal in the CW portion of a band and visa-versa. Some of the ranges where aircraft may be flying international routes use shortwave for their communications. Most transmissions are SSB, although some AM is still heard. Some of the ranges where aircraft can be heard include: 4,650 - 4,750 kHz 6,545 - 6,765 kHz 8,815 - 9,040 kHz 10,000 - 10,100 kHz 11,175 - 11,400 kHz 13,200 - 13,360 kHz 15,010 - 15,100 kHz 17,900 - 18,030 kHz Ships and costal stations can also be heard on shortwave. Most communications are in SSB and CW. One interesting range is 2,000 - 2,300 kHz, where the Coast Guard and many small boats can be heard. One frequency to watch is 2,182 kHz, which is an emergency channel. Other bands in which to tune for ships are: 4,063 - 4,139 kHz 4,361 - 4,438 kHz 8,195 - 8,181 kHz 12,330 - 12,420 kHz 13,107 - 13,200 kHz 16,460 - 16,565 kHs LISTENING NOTES If you have never tuned a shortwave receiver before, you may be a bit confused by the variety of signals that can be heard. To help you find your way around the bands, here is a summery of what to expect. The 150 -540 kHz range is known as long wave band. You'll find reception here best at night in your location. The majority of the stations use Morse code, although you will hear AM for weather broadcast. The largest number of stations in this range are beacons for aircraft and marine navigation. Beacons transmit their call letters continuously at a slow speed. A manual on air or marine navigation, available from your public library or marine supply store, will contain a list of these beacons and their locations. Weather broadcast on AM often identify themselves by their location instead of by call letters(such as "New Orleans Radio"). Many ship stations also use this range, with 500 kHz set aside by international agreement for distress and emergency. International broadcast stations can be found in the bands indicated in our section on Band Allocations. Many such stations operate in English, and often can be heard during the evening hours (between 6:00 PM and Midnight, your local time). Programming usually consists of news, commentaries, local music, and features on life in their respective countries. Among the stations that are listener favorites worldwide are Radio Japan, the British Broadcasting Company, Israel Radio, Radio Nederland, in Holland and Radio Australia, . You'll soon discover which stations will be your personal favorites. In tropical areas of the world, static makes reception on the standard AM broadcasting band very difficult. This has the resulted in special Tropical Bands set aside for nations located in tropics. Programming here is intended for local audiences and much of what can be heard is a treat - exotic languages, beautiful and unusual music, ect. Some English can be heard, however, from stations in Africa or the Pacific. You'll find time standard stations quite useful. These stations give out the exact time of day at specified intervals. The National Bureau of Standards operates station WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado on 2,500 5,000, 10,000, 15,000,and 20,000 kHz. A man's voice gives the time each minute along with periodic reports on shortwave reception conditions. The National Bureau of Standards also operates, WWVH, on the same frequencies as WWV, in Hawaii. WWVH uses a woman's voice to give the time. Sometimes you can hear these two stations simultaneously. Other time standards stations are Canada's CHU on 3,330, 7,335, and 14,670 kHz and VGN in Australia on 4,500 and 12,000 kHz. Several other nations have simular stations. FREQUENCY CONVERSION Your communications receiver is calibrated in Megahertz (MHz) and Kilohertz (kHz) - as most communication - type receivers are. You should be familiar with these terms: Megahertz: Millions-of-hertz (or cycles-per-second). A Megahertz is 1,000,000 cycles-per-second. Mega means million. Kilohertz: Thousands-of-hertz . A kilohertz is 1,000 hertz. We use the abbreviation kHz. Kilo means thousand. Meter: The term meter, as applied to shortwave listening, refers to the wavelength of a radio frequency. In many parts of the world, frequencies are listed in meters, for example, international shortwave stations in the 19 Meter band. European radio equipment and stations often refer to the wavelength of a station or band (in MHz or kHz). The relationship of these three terms is: 1MHz (million) = !,000 kHz (thousand). To change 9.62 MHz to kHz we multiply by 1000. 9.62 X 1000 = 9620 kHz To go the other way, from kHz to MHz, divide by 1000, a station at 3780 kHz is, 3780/1000 = 3.780 MHz To convert MHz to meters, use this formula: Meters = 300/MHz Example:What is the wavelenght of 7.1 MHz? 300/7.1 MHz= 42.25 meters COUNTRY LOG The following listing contains some of the more frequently heard stations on shortwave. The stations listed can be heard throughout the North American Continent. All stations operate in English unless otherwise specified. Most of the stations do not broadcast continuously. Obviously, reception will vary on the different frequencies according to the time of day and season of the year. Remember that reception from the different parts of the world varies with the time of day and their frequency to which the your DX-440 is tuned. Consult the section on Changes in Reception for more detailed explanation of these variations. Remember also that the 7,000 - 7,300 kHz range is shared by hams and international broadcast; consequently, interference is severe in that range. While every effort has been made to ensure that the accuracy of this list, stations can and do change frequency. Check periodicals on communications and electronics for more current information on station frequencies and schedules. This list only contains broadcasting stations which operate on fixed frequencies with regular schedules. These listing can change any time and are here for your reference only. kHz STATION LOCATION REMARKS 3,223 Radio SR Swaziland 3,265 Radio Mozambique Maputo, Mozambique Programs in Portuguese 3,300 Radio Cultural Guatemala City, Religious Programs Guatemala 3,380 Radio Iris Esmeraldas, Ecuador Programs in Spanish 3,385 FR3 Cayenne, French Guiana Programs in French 3,396 Radio Kaduna Kaduna, Nigeria 4,750 Radio Bertoua Bertoua, Cameroon 4,755 Imo Regional Radio Imo, Nigeria 4,777 Radio-TV Gabon Libreville, Gabon Programs in French 4,795 Radio Nueva America La Paz, Bolivia Programs in Spanish 4,820 Radio Paz y Bien Ambala. Equador Programs in Spanish 4,832 Radio Reloj San Jose, Costa Rica Programs in Spanish 4,855 Radio Clube do Para Belem, Brazil Programs in Portuguese 4,890 National Broadcasting Port Moresby, Commission Papua New Guinea 4,915 Voice Kenya Nairobi, Kenya 4,920 Australian Broadcasting Brisbane, Australia Commision 4,945 Radio Colosal Neiva, Colombia Programs in Spanish 4,965 Radio Santa Fe Bogota, Colombia Programs in Spanish 4,980 Ecos del Torbes San Cristobal, Programs in Spanish Venezuela 4,990 Radio Barquismeto Barquisimeto, Programs in Spainsh Venezuela 5.020 Solomon Islands Solomon, Islands Broadcasting Service 5,057 Radio Gjirokaster Gjirokaster, Albania Programs in Albanian 5,950 Guyana Broadcasting Georgetown, Guyana Service 5,954 Radio Casino Puerto Limon. Costa Rica 5,960 Radio Canada Montreal, Canada International 5,980 Radio RSA Johannesburg, South Africa 6,005 CFCX Montreal, Canada 6,025 Radio Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Programs in Chinese 6,045 Radio Australia Lyndhurst, Australia 6,055 Nihon Shortwave Tokyo, Japan Programs in Japanese Broadcasting Company 6,060 Radio Nacionai Buenos Aires, Argentina Programs in Spanish 6,075 Radio Sutatenza Bogota, Columbia Programs in Spanish 6,090 Radio Luxemburg Ville Louvigny, Luxemburg 6,095 Polskie Radio Warsaw, Poland 6,105 Radio New Zealand Wellington,New Zealand 7,140 Trans World Radio Monte Carlo, Monaco 7,170 Radio Noumea Noumea, New Caledonia Programs in French 7,300 Radio Tirana Tirava, Albania 9,475 Radio Cairo Cario, Egypt 9,515 Voice of Greece Athans, Greece 9,525 Radio Korea Soeul, Korea 9,530 Spanish Foreign Radio Madrid, Spain 9,535 Swis Radio international Bern, Switzerland 9,540 Radio Prague Prague, Czechoslovakia 9,570 Radio Bucharest Bucherest, Rumania 9,575 Italian Radio and Rome, Italy Television Service 9,610 Radio-TV Algeria Algiers, Algeria Programs in Arabic 9,620 Radio Berlin Berlin, East Germany International 9,645 Radio Norway Oslo, Norway 9,720 Radio Iran Tehran, Iran Programs in Farsi 9,745 HCJB Quito, Equador 9,770 Austrian Radio Vienna, Austria 9,800 Radio Kiev Kiev, USSR 9,835 Radio Budapest Budapest, Hungry 10,040 Voice of Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam 11,655 Israel Radio Jerusalem, Israel 11,690 Radio Kuwait Kuwait, Kuwait 11,705 Radio Sweden Stockholm, Sweden 11,720 Radio Moscow Moscow, USSR 11,735 Radio Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria 11,745 Voice of Free China Taipei, China 11,815 Radio Japan Tokyo, Japan 11,825 Radio Tatiti Papeete, Tahiti Programs in Tihitian 11,835 4HEV Cap Haitiaen, Haiti 11,845 Radio Canada Montreal, Canada International 11,850 Deutsche Welle Cologne, West Germany 11,890 Voice of Chile Santiago, Chile 11,900 Radio RSA Johannesburg, South Africa 11,910 BBC London. England 11,930 Radio Havana Cuba Havana, Cuba 11,935 Radio Portugal Lisbon, Portugal 11,945 Radio Peking Peking, China 11,995 Voice of Turkey Ankara, Turkey 11,980 Radio Moscow Moscow, USSR 15,038 Saudi Arabian Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Programs in Arabic Broadcasting Service 15,084 Voice of Iran Tehran, Iran Programs in Farsi 15,135 Radio Moscow Moscow,USSR 15,165 HCJB Qito, Ecuador 15,190 ORU Brussels, Belgium 15,205 All India Radio New Delhi, India 15,260 BBC London, England 15,265 Finnish Radio Helsinki, Finland 15,275 Radio Sweden Stockholm, Sweden 15,305 Swiss Radio Bern, Switzerland International 15,310 Radio Japan Toyko, Japan 15,320 Radio Australia Melborn, Australia 15,400 BBC London, England 15,430 Radio Mexico Mexico City, Mexico Programs in Spanish 15,465 Radio Pakistan Islamad, Pakistan Programs in Urdu 17,720 Radio France Paris, France International 17,825 Vatican Radio Vatican City 17,860 Austrian Radio Veinna, Austria 21,495 Israel Radio Jerusalem, Israel 21,525 Radio Australia Melborne, Australia 21,625 Israel Radio Jerusalem, Israel 21,645 Radio France Paris, France International 21,735 Radio-TV Morocco Rabat, Morocco Programs in Arabic 25,650 Radio RSA Johannesburg, South Africa (/all-11/28/95)