DX-375 (200-0212) Listening Hints Faxback Doc. # 3577 Listening to shortwave radio can be very exciting. Newscasts from a country where important events are taking place give you a sense of immediacy that local newscasts seldom deliver. Although shortwave listening requires no special knowledge, you might enjoy it more if you read some of the numerous books available on this subject. There are also several periodicals that give listening hints and seasonal program schedules. INTERNATIONAL RADIO FREQUENCIES International commercial broadcasts are found in the following bands. Programming (often in English) usually contains news, commentaries, music, and special features reflecting the culture of the broadcasting country. You might find it easiest to hear these broadcasts between 6:00 PM and midnight (your time). NOTE: European stations often list a frequency by giving its wavelength. For example, the 19-meter band refers to the range of frequencies whose waves are about 19 meters long. ┌───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┐ │ BAND │ FREQUENCY RANGE │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 120 meter * │ 2300 - 2495 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 90 meter * │ 3200 - 3400 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 75 meter * │ 3900 - 4000 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 60 meter * │ 4750 - 5060 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 49 meter │ 5950 - 6200 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 41 meter ** │ 7100 - 7300 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 31 meter │ 9500 - 9900 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 25 meter │ 11650 - 12050 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 21 meter │ 13600 - 13800 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 19 meter │ 15100 - 15600 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 16 meter │ 17550 - 17900 kHz │ ├───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 13 meter │ 21450 - 21850 kHz │ └───────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘ * These bands are reserved for stations in tropical areas. ** The 41 meter band is shared by ham operators in the United States and international stations. Interference is heavy in this band. FREQUENCY CONVERSION The tuning location of a station can be expressed in frequency (kHz or MHz) or in wavelength (meters). The following information can help you make the necessary conversions. To convert from kHz to MHz, divide by 1,000. For example: 15500 kHz ────────── = 15.5 MHz 1000 To convert from MHz to meters, divide 300 by the same number of MHz. For example: 300 ───────── = 25 meters 12 MHz TIME STANDARD FREQUENCIES The following frequencies announce the exact time of day at specified intervals. These signals have many uses in science and technology such as giving the accurate time, verifying frequency calibration, and gaining information on radio propagation conditions. ┌───────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────┐ │ Station │ Country │ Frequency │ ├───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │ WWV │ Fort Collins, Colorado │ 2,500 kHz │ │ -and- │ -and- │ 5,000 kHz │ │ WWVH │ Kauai, Hawaii │ 10,000 kHz │ │ │ │ 15,000 kHz │ │ │ │ 20,000 kHz │ ├───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │ CHU │ Ontario, Canada │ 3,330 kHz │ │ │ │ 7,335 kHz │ │ │ │ 14,670 kHz │ ├───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │ VNG │ Sydney, Australia │ 5,000 kHz │ │ │ │ 10,000 kHz │ │ │ │ 15,000 kHz │ ├───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │ JJY │ Tokyo, Japan │ 2,500 kHz │ │ │ │ 5,000 kHz │ │ │ │ 8,000 kHz │ │ │ │ 10,000 kHz │ │ │ │ 15,000 kHz │ └───────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────┘ NOTE: Other countries also have time signal stations transmitting over the same frequencies as WWV or WWVH. (ALL-12/12/94)