Cheapest weather information for out of vhf range?

[northoceanbeach]

This is a lot more complicated than I thought.

Ok, I read through the threads in post 13 and watched the video.

So here's what I understand. Depending on time of day different bands are better than others. Higher frequencies are better at night.

I need to download cocoamodem for my MacBook which is a free program. I don't have to hook up the radio to the MacBook, the program will use the mic built into the computer to hear the beeps being transmitted at certain times and frequencies and use them to print out a weather map?

I can also listen to robot voice weather transmissions. By visiting the noaa page it says that at all time of day from pt. Reyes California on frequency 8682 I can hear the weather. So if I go home and tune into 8682 I should get a recording like on a vhf that loops the weather?

If 8682 doesn't work in. My location I can use one of the other frequencies listed and one should work?

If I don't go to the listed stations, I can scroll through the numbers and if I think I'm picking up a signal try to tune my radio to pick it up and listen in?

Why the emphasis on learning to tune into am stations? I have been listening to am radio for years. Any car radio. From the last 40 years can easily get am frequencies. So why would me listening to am on my shortwave radio help me learn? I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm really just not sure what that accomplishes.

I swear, anything at has to do with sailboats is impossible and I'm terrible at it. Except the sailing part. That I'm actually halfway decent at.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

Why the emphasis on learning to tune into am stations?

It's not as hard as it might seem at first. Once you get it working it will be very simple.

The reason to check if you can hear WWV for example is to make sure your antenna and radio is actually working on the shortwave bands. For regular AM radio a different internal antenna may be used so that isn't a good test.

[El Pinguino]

OK....ignore the medium wave am station bit..... that was as much to ensure the radio was working as anything... I take it that it is second hand?

Essentially just try and get a feel for the radio....

[northoceanbeach]

No, it's new.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

Higher frequencies are better at night.

Actually, no. The frequency range from about 5 to 15 MHz is generally better at night. Above 15 MHz is usually better in the daytime, but this all depends on ionospheric conditions, which vary hourly, seasonly, and with the 11-year sunspot cycle. Below 5MHz the propagation is usually better in daylight as well. Look up MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency).

There are some pretty good propagation prediction tools on the web, and I thing some of these have been mentioned here. Play with them. Also, there is good info on all this from the Ham Radio community. Look at the ARRL website for tutorials on this. Here's one: https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Tech...df/8312011.pdf

[northoceanbeach]

None of the stations from Pt. Reyes or Kodiak AK are anything but fuzz! This makes no sense, that stations are supposed to broadcast around the world and I can't get anything.

Can someone please tell me some numbers to put in here and get something to happen.

I'm just dissapointed, I've wanted one of these for years, long before I ever had a boat. One of my favorite parts of any movie, the character was stuck out at sea and he had one of these radios and he got the come go with me song to play on it and it sounded like it was coming from so far away.

I guess I just thought I would get all these exotic stations, but there isn't anything there.

I don't understand why I can't find a number to put in and something happens.

[northoceanbeach]

how I pictured it to work

▶ 3:55

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIDW_642YIQ

[northoceanbeach]

I'm doing sometching wrong. There is a button, or switch and when I find out what it is I'm going to be just like "duh". I know it's the smallest thing I'm not doing right. I just switched through every single station between 7100 and 7500. And it was either fuzz or squealing.

Something isn't set right.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

None of the stations from Pt. Reyes or Kodiak AK are anything but fuzz! This makes no sense, that stations are supposed to broadcast around the world and I can't get anything.

Can someone please tell me some numbers to put in here and get something to happen.

I'm just dissapointed, I've wanted one of these for years, long before I ever had a boat. One of my favorite parts of any movie, the character was stuck out at sea and he had one of these radios and he got the come go with me song to play on it and it sounded like it was coming from so far away.

I guess I just thought I would get all these exotic stations, but there isn't anything there.

I don't understand why I can't find a number to put in and something happens.

Fwiw, I share your frustration & disappointment, and I have an expensive, supposedly state-of-the-art Icom M-802, i.e. the same SSB featured in Capt. John's videos. In fairness, however, it takes some operator time & effort and I don't feel like I've exhausted that variable as of yet. The time I have put into it has also mostly been at busy marinas, so interference is another variable I have yet to completely rule out. I only mention this to urge you not to give up so fast. As others have said, you need to first somehow confirm that your receiver is working properly. Guys like Ping, Transmitterdam, John & others on CF are very experienced and most generous with their time. Unlike your VHF or other comms. devices you may be used to, HF radio takes a bit of time, experience & intuition before you can get the hang of it, and it rarely seems like you can just tune it to a specific frequency and get your intended station.

[Jim Cate]

NOB, here's something else to try:

Even though the house that you are in is situated in what should be a quiet area vis a vis radio noise, there are many things in modern households that emit RFI. Since your little radio can be battery powered, try taking it away from the house to a place where there are no electrical appliances, motors, fluorescent lights or any other potential noise emitters. Then try tuning through the bands again and see if your "fuzz and squeals" disappear and the elusive station signals start coming through.

good luck,

Jim

[northoceanbeach]

Ok, I'll try. I've totally decided something isn't right. Maybe if they said the am can use a different antenna then the shortwave is broken, although it is new and I did get one station last night, so the odds of that are very low.m I'm voting either location or I am not pushing a button that needs pushing.

It is totally driving me crazy though. It's 1:30 in the morning and I'm still trying to read articles on the web to get it working.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

Ok, I'll try. I've totally decided something isn't right. Maybe if they said the am can use a different antenna then the shortwave is broken, although it is new and I did get one station last night, so the odds of that are very low.m I'm voting either location or I am not pushing a button that needs pushing.

It is totally driving me crazy though. It's 1:30 in the morning and I'm still trying to read articles on the web to get it working.

Inside the radio there is a ferrite bar... ie a steel stick thingo.... with windings around it.... that is the AM Medium Wave antenna... its a bit directional and if, as suggested before, you start poking around on medium wave and get a station you will find that the signal strength will vary as you rotate the radio.... but that is by the by.

That is totally independent of the AM shortwave side of the business that, like the SSB shortwave side , relies on either the whip or the wire antenna that you have plugged in.

I would suggest running on the internal batteries... not the wall charger..they can be noisy... and see if that helps...

[El Pinguino]

I've just been looking at the manual...again... not too many buttons to mess up.... to hear people talking .... BBC, RCI, ordinary radio stations on short wave ....the only things you have to make sure off are that on one end 'DX' is selected and on the other end "SSB" is switched off.

Worry about SSB once you have managed to get some broadcast stations ..

[transmitterdan]

There is no one single broadcast that can be heard all over the world any time of day or night. But generally you should be able to hear WWV on 5000, 10000 or 15000 kHz in AM mode most of the time. If you can't ever get at least one of these after trying for a couple of days then something may be wrong. It's probably not a button. More likely it is the antenna or where the antenna is located. For a quick test take the radio outside away from power lines. Use the extendable antenna and not the 23 foot wire. Try to get WWV on 10000kHz and if you don't hear a funny clock ticking sound with a voice every minute try 15000 and 5000 kHz. If that doesn't work tell us and we will help figure out what is wrong.

[Snore]

Learning a lurking.

Question from the peanut gallery. If I have a Vesper AIS/VHF/FM splitter cN that be wired to external antenna port? Seems an antenna 55' above the water would be a good thing.

Thanks


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