Nothing but interference on SW bands

One More Toy

Hi guys

I picked up a second hand Roberts R876 on ebay. Fm and mw bands are all fine, when I'm going through shortwave frequencies I'm getting nothing but interference. Can't even pick up a numbers station. I'm living in Dublin City, I lived in the countryside over a decade ago and could pick up pirates and legals no problem on my analogue Roberts radio. Is it due to WiFi etc in the area?

FishOnABike

more the etc. than the WiFi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058257765/nothing-but-interference-on-sw-bands

Well for starters you need a good outdoor antenna. I use the Bonito MA305, it's outdoors up in a tree but only needs to be around 2 meters off the ground on a pole but the coax needs to be grounded, I use H155 coax with a good ground rod beat into the ground. You can get the optional longer antenna. It's great at pulling in distant stations.

Wifi won't effect any radio as it works well above the shortwave frequencies, what will effect SW reception is if that WiFi router is powered by a bad switch mode power supply, back in the day everything was powered with a transformer, linear power, it was clean, these modern power supplies really are dirt but chosen because they're more efficient and cheap but a lot of them out there don't meet any EU regulations and it's ignored in the E.U as they allow the companies to "test" their own equipment and put a CE mark on their products, the whole thing is a farce like E.U vehicle emissions testing, it's better than it was but still favours the car manufacturers as it has for decades.

Today though pretty much every electronic device has a switch mode power supply that is very cheaply constructed and often missing filters which cause noise to emit back on to the mains wires and can effect several houses away.

One way to find out if noise is coming from your home is to kill the power at the main consumer unit and if the noise goes away you have some detective work to do, use the battery radio and start hunting.

Some devices can completely wipe out the shortwave spectrum such as bad cheap led bulbs especially GU10 downlights, and this can even be from your neighbours or several neighbours as the noise transmits down the mains wires.

Other stuff, bad cheap aftermarket laptop power supplies, phone chargers, buy the original not some cheap crap from Ebay. Some older plasma TVs and older LCD with fluorescent backlights, the inverters that powered the backlights were often junk.

Stay away from cheap no name woodies and Ikea led bulbs, they're shite and most of them are illegally sold because they don't comply with regulations and the radio spectrum is protected by international law. Some of this noise from modern electronic crap can even bring down broadband connections.

With a good external antenna that roberts radio could very well overload with strong signals causing signals to appear on bands they're not transmitting on.

A good radio that handles external antennas well is the Tecsun PL-680, good for shortwave, for MW/LW you'd need the newer Tecsun H501x as it's one of the very rare radios that allows LW/MW to work with external antenna.

There are absolutely tonnes of stations on Shortwave today that you should be able to pick up + amateur radio operators and CB radio.

You'll probably never pick up the stations in a built up area as you could when living in the country. The noise from electronic devices can travel vast distances.

One More Toy

Down the country for the weekend, picking up plenty on 49m. Good to see it still active. Signal's weak but don't have the most advanced set up. Currently listening to a station on 6.070 but can't get an ID

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119499567#Comment_119499567

Here's a great place to find stations and if chasing DX,

https://www.short-wave.info/index.php

sometimes the station will have an internet stream so you can verify whatever station you're listening to as there could be several stations on the same frequency.

If you're up late enough at night from around 11 pm you can sometimes clearly pick up Radio Havana Cuba on 5040 Khz, in the 60m band and in the 49m band on 6000 Khz, 6060 and 6100 and 6165 Khz, their 6000 Khz transmitter is quite strong but sometimes modulation is poor as their transmitters are not in the best condition and are very old. They have an English Language podcast I listen to sometimes just to keep up on what's going on with the station but their podcast is full of poor quality audio which is bizarre considering any mobile phone today can record in much better quality, I just don't understand it.

Some of Radio Havana Cuba's signals can be wiped out over stronger European stations.

It can be fun picking up a station from far away and finding out what it actually is. You can pickup Radio Clube Do Para in Brazil on 4885 Khz sometimes and sometimes it's quite clear for 5 Kw. There are other stations you can pick up at times from South America that are only 1 Kw. But you need a decent antenna and a noise free environment.

Antenna

Try running the radio on batteries rather than AC adaptor (if you are) ?? -- you may have better SW reception with battery power due to interference travelling on mains wiring..

Does a reduction of interference happen in the amateur bands?

If so, it would point to interference from nearby broadband extenders that use the mains wiring - these usually have "notches" on amateur bands

cheese sandwich

I recently bought a Tecsun PL 660 but am struggling to pick up any English language channels other than Radio China International, which is consistently very strong. I’m living in a fairly built up area and have just used the telescopic aerial so far

One More Toy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119570386#Comment_119570386

The Roberts radio I have has an external antenna. Brought it to the countryside and lovely strong stations coming through

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119570386#Comment_119570386

You won't pick up much on the telescopic whip indoors unfortunately especially with the amount of noise emitted from electronic devices today too which is often illegal but not monitored or enforced.

You'd need an antenna mounted out doors, a proper receiving antenna such as the Bonito Ma305FM or the Bonito Megaloop or the more expensive mega dipole but the Ma305 is a tiny whip and it just blows me away each time I use it. I got the optional longer whip, H155 coax and the coax is grounded which is essential. It only needs to be mounted on a pole around 2 meters off the ground.

Wire antennas can pick up a lot of noise but the Signal to noise performance of the Bonitos is exceptional.

Right now I'm picking up Radio Clube Do Para on 4885 Khz from Brazil at S5-9, there are a lot of static crashed due to lightning but the station is only 5 Kw. That's on the Ma305, the older version the "FT" includes an FM trap for those near strong FM transmitters.

Other stations you should be able to pick up are WWCR, WBCQ and Radio Havana Cuba's English Broadcasts and of course radio New Zealand international. + BBC etc.

Check out this link here to find stations.

https://www.short-wave.info/index.php

One More Toy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119572114#Comment_119572114

I got fed up with my original dial tuning Roberts radio's reception when I was a kid. Found 20m of copper wire and tied it around the telescopic antenna. Ran it through the attic, allowed me to pick up more pirates. Good Times :)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119572410#Comment_119572410

Yes, it's amazing how well just 20 feet of wire can improve reception but it can also pick up lots of noise if not connected to a balun of some sort and then coax ran from that and a good ground and connected to a radio via 50 Ohm socket.

A lot of old radios will perform poorly when signals are very strong with a long wire causing signals to appear on frequencies they're not actually transmitting, some radios will sh1t themselves and you'll actually hear nothing.

Wires can be good in areas with very low man made noise, my End Fed Half with 48:1 is a great antenna too and gets me out well when transmitting on the ham bands, it's god good ears, it would want to as it's almost 40 meters long.