Red Wave Radio

by Bo » Sat, 09 Mar 2002 12:28:49

I see the new crank radio in the current Radio Shack (Canada) flyer
and I wonder if anyone has tried one. It has two short wave bands, the
upper covering 9MHz to 22 MHz all in what appears to be about 3 inches
of bandspace.
Yikes! Visions of my childhood come flooding through mental ether
as I looked at the photo on the Universal site. It has a crank op.
generator that puts a charge into 3 AA nicad in case you run out of
batteries during one of Art Bells predicted disasters. What?? No
solar panel?? But it does have a flashlight for reading comic
books in the tent. Compass and whistle? No sorry.
Anyway I am a sucker for these kind of things and my local Shack
wont have them in till next week. Any comments (besides Grow UP!)?
.......... Bob

by **Mark Witze** » Sat, 09 Mar 2002 12:52:48

Hi Bob,

I went and bought one the other day... it is FANTASTIC! My first shortwave
radio!!! And I love it! The Radio Shack guy said they have this avid
shortwave radio guy that comes into the store, and he bought one, and said
it works better than his digital ones. I don't know if he was pulling my
leg, but I certainly am having fun. I just need to get some good info on
all this stuff... I don't know what I am listening to. Do you have any good
websites that lists channels and programs?

I love how you can crank it, and the cranking is really easy, and you get
power! I cranked it like 60-70times, and had power for a long time! Well
over an hour for sure!

Can't wait to use it at the cottage :-)

Cheers,
Mark
Ottawa, Ontario

Quote:> I see the new crank radio in the current Radio Shack (Canada) flyer
> and I wonder if anyone has tried one. It has two short wave bands, the
> upper covering 9MHz to 22 MHz all in what appears to be about 3 inches
> of bandspace.
> Yikes! Visions of my childhood come flooding through mental ether
> as I looked at the photo on the Universal site. It has a crank op.
> generator that puts a charge into 3 AA nicad in case you run out of
> batteries during one of Art Bells predicted disasters. What?? No
> solar panel?? But it does have a flashlight for reading comic
> books in the tent. Compass and whistle? No sorry.
> Anyway I am a sucker for these kind of things and my local Shack
> wont have them in till next week. Any comments (besides Grow UP!)?
> .......... Bob

by Bo » Sat, 09 Mar 2002 15:29:59

> Hi Bob,

> I went and bought one the other day... it is FANTASTIC! My first shortwave
> radio!!! And I love it! The Radio Shack guy said they have this avid
> shortwave radio guy that comes into the store, and he bought one, and said
> it works better than his digital ones. I don't know if he was pulling my
> leg, but I certainly am having fun. I just need to get some good info on
> all this stuff... I don't know what I am listening to. Do you have any good
> websites that lists channels and programs?

> I love how you can crank it, and the cranking is really easy, and you get
> power! I cranked it like 60-70times, and had power for a long time! Well
> over an hour for sure!

> Can't wait to use it at the cottage :-)

Hi Mark: I think having an analogue SW radio is a good way to
start. They are easy to sift through the frequencies looking to see
where the action is. While digital has the very great advantage of
being able to tune directly to a known frequency I think the analogues
help a newbie to understand the general layout of the SW bands.
You will discover each day on SW is different. Different times of
day and different seasons bring changes. It's not like FM where you
know what you will find before you turn the radio on.
Search out Prime Time Shortwave on your search engine. It has a
listing of English language programs incl time of day and frequency.
For magazines see if you can pick up a copy of ODXA's monthly
magazine( Ontario DX Assoc.) at a newstand or Monitoring Times if the
is a SW radio store in Ottawa.
Thanks for your comments on this new radio. I am looking forward
to next week when it arrives in my small town on Vancouver Island. . .
...... Bob

by **Jim Mac Donal** » Sat, 09 Mar 2002 20:36:10

Try this web site <http://www.grove-ent.com> Monitoring Times is published
by them another great source is <http://www.crbbooks.com> A lot of the SW
broadcasters have a web site where they post the schedule of programming
or try writing to them, if they offer a
printed schedule or station pamphlet. With overseas mails this could take
months in turn
around time.
Have fun
Jim

> I see the new crank radio in the current Radio Shack (Canada) flyer
> and I wonder if anyone has tried one. It has two short wave bands, the
> upper covering 9MHz to 22 MHz all in what appears to be about 3 inches
> of bandspace.
> Yikes! Visions of my childhood come flooding through mental ether
> as I looked at the photo on the Universal site. It has a crank op.
> generator that puts a charge into 3 AA nicad in case you run out of
> batteries during one of Art Bells predicted disasters. What?? No
> solar panel?? But it does have a flashlight for reading comic
> books in the tent. Compass and whistle? No sorry.
> Anyway I am a sucker for these kind of things and my local Shack
> wont have them in till next week. Any comments (besides Grow UP!)?
> .......... Bob

by **Neutrody** » Sun, 10 Mar 2002 05:18:07

>Subject: Re: Grundig FR 200- new wind up radio... anyone tried one?

>Date: 3/7/2002 9:52 PM Central Standard Time

>Hi Bob,

>I went and bought one the other day... it is FANTASTIC! My first shortwave
>radio!!! And I love it! The Radio Shack guy said they have this avid
>shortwave radio guy that comes into the store, and he bought one, and said
>it works better than his digital ones. I don't know if he was pulling my
>leg, but I certainly am having fun. I just need to get some good info on
>all this stuff... I don't know what I am listening to. Do you have any good
>websites that lists channels and programs?

>I love how you can crank it, and the cranking is really easy, and you get
>power! I cranked it like 60-70times, and had power for a long time! Well
>over an hour for sure!

>Can't wait to use it at the cottage :-)

>Cheers,
>Mark
>Ottawa, Ontario

It's hard to go wrong with a first radio. I just picked up a 1940's
Detrola with just one short wave band from 9.4 to 10 Mhz (it gets WWV right on
the high end stop!). It needs a rebuild, but with a 7 foot wire stretched
across the floor I got over 20 english speaking stations in about 20 minutes of
tuning around on it, including China. Not bad for a 60 year old radio.
If you become a rabid hobbyist, then a more elaborate radio will be in
your future, but a fairly simple analog set is a great way to start & learn.
Neutrodyne

"My opinion is not relevant." - "Dr." Laura Schlessinger, February 20, 2002