Ham radio with shortwave receiver.

Hello everyone,

I didn't want to pull the FRS thread off topic too badly.

I was wondering if anyone here knows of a tiny HAM radio that also can receive shortwave (maybe am/fm). I don't have much experience with them.

It seems we have many knowledgeable people here who would be able to recommend a radio (or I hope so anyway


-NIM

I was ready to disparage the idea but it seems that Icom, Yaesu and Kenwood already do it. All make excellent radios.


Use of the transmitter parts of this radio would only require Technician level license.


Here is Universal Radio's listing for the Icom.

http://rffun.com/catalog/ht/0690.html


And Kenwood makes one as well:
http://rffun.com/catalog/ht/0066.html

Yaesu:
http://rffun.com/catalog/ht/0777.html


I have no recent experience with these. Last HT I bought was in about 1994 and that's still an excellent radio.

My Kenwood HT, a TH-F6 can receive AM as well as all of the NOAA weather channels. No short wave capability. It can also receive more bands than it can transmit on, ie, public service frequencies.

John E

Looks like the Yaesu VX-8R will do it. Maybe other Yaesu radios will also.

Almost all amateur HTs can receive "DC to daylight" as they say (with some exaggeration). The issue is size, if you want tiny. My Yaesu VX-7R isn't exactly tiny, but it receives from 0.5MHz to 999MHz, according to the manual. I'm listening to local 810 AM radio on it at the moment, announcing Saxby Chambliss has won. It's been replaced by the VX-8R, which I think is the same size.

If you don't have a ham license yet, you might consider an Icom IC-R5, which lists its receive capability as 0.150-1309.995 MHz. The nice thing about the R5 is that it runs on 2 AAs. The R5 is noticeably smaller than the VX-7R. Because it's aimed at hams, it has CTCSS so you can listen in on repeaters. My R5 is preprogrammed to receive analogue TV stations, showing the channel number. I'll have to hunt down the audio from the digital signals when we switch over and program them into the radio. C'est la vie.

If you want something cheap, County Comm is selling a shortwave receiver for $16 in an unlabelled box:
http://www.countycomm.com/KA202L.htm
or a similar radio in a labelled box for $22 - follow the link to the Embassy radio. I have one of these, and they are cheap. I don't recommend them, but they are cheap.

If you are going to get a HAM radio with wideband receive go ahead and get your technician-class license. It is incredibly easy to get.

Simply by repeatedly practice-testing yourself (for free) from http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl you will quickly gain the knowledge needed for the exam.

If you are willing to spend a little money the ARRL Technician study book http://www.arrl.org is inexpensive, easy to read, and can probably be picked up at your local bookstore.

As for a small handheld HAM rig with shortwave coverage I have a Yaesu VX-3R and like it very much. It is absolutely tiny. It has a pretty capable litium-ion battery and can receive from 500khz to 999mhz (with some gaps) but all the big guys are covered: broadcast AM, broadcast FM, Shortwave, AM Ham bands (no SSB coverage), Aircraft band, Marine bands, and NOAA weather radio (with weather alert) and can transmit 1.5W on the 2 meter HAM band and 1W on the 440 HAM band. (power output is double when attached to external 12V power)

If you aren't planning on transmitting then a dedicated receiver is a better option. The Icom R20, though expensive and slightly large, would be your best bet as it can receive from 150KHZ to 3304MHZ continuously (less analog cellular) in all modes (AM, FM, Wide FM, USB, LSB, and CW. It also has dual VFOs meaning you can essentially monitor two frequencies at the same time. Also it can be computer-controlled.

If you are interested in HAM radio you might be interested in the Yaesu FT-817. This is considered a QRP (low power) rig. It has coverage for broadcast AM, broadcast FM, shortwave, all the HAM HF bands (HF:160M-10M, VHF:6M, 2M UHF:70CM) unfortunately no NOAA coverage. Plusses include very small (though not handheld), battery powered, great receiver Cons include mostly the fact that it's QRP. (5 watts max isn't much power output...I won't bore you with solar cycles and antennas and such)

http://www.universal-radio.com is a terrific place to window shop (and good guys to buy from)