exploring PLL tuned radio and shortwave

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Received Sony 7600GR today. Bought it from 20north. Price @ 8k(Gift Item). This time 20north was fast. Ordered on 2nd oct, received on 12th oct. It comes with AN-71 compact antenna. Yet to set it. looks gr8. Made in Japan.:yahoo:
 
sandip_d said:
Received Sony 7600GR today. Bought it from 20north. Price @ 8k(Gift Item). This time 20north was fast. Ordered on 2nd oct, received on 12th oct. It comes with AN-71 compact antenna. Yet to set it. looks gr8. Made in Japan.:yahoo:
Click to expand...

pics and review?
 
Hi AKS, my friend at bangalore purchased JRC 535 long time back and it is connected to a dipole antenna to receive dx stations. He had two sets and sold one in the recent past. I am trying to procure one.

Hi kaushik, I had sent you a pm with regard to visit to his place to listen to the rig.

regards
 
sandip_d said:
Received Sony 7600GR today. Bought it from 20north. Price @ 8k(Gift Item). This time 20north was fast. Ordered on 2nd oct, received on 12th oct. It comes with AN-71 compact antenna. Yet to set it. looks gr8. Made in Japan.:yahoo:
Click to expand...
Congratulations!

If you are about to re-discover SW with a digital tuner then it is worthwhile to google up SW resources and get a refreshed grip on the frequency bandplans. The AN71 antenna (essentially a longwire) is a quite handy. I have trapped far off stations using just that.

Also try to eavesdrop on the ham bands. The 40M band is quite active between 7AM to 9AM when most of the Southern India amateurs are ragchewing. To catch them manually enter 7000khz and tune at a step of 1khz till 7090. Between 7050 and 7080 you can find many of them. Use the SSB mode. You will hear voices like Donald Duck. At this stage gently adjust the BFO (marked SSB FINE TUNE on the right side) for best reception e.i the voices should sound like human. In the night the 80 Meter ham band (3500 to 4000 kHz) is very interesting too. You can catch amateur stations from Africa and West Asia. You may need a better antenna though for 80M.
 
buswal said:
Hi AKS, my friend at bangalore purchased JRC 535 long time back and it is connected to a dipole antenna to receive dx stations. He had two sets and sold one in the recent past. I am trying to procure one.

Hi kaushik, I had sent you a pm with regard to visit to his place to listen to the rig.

regards
Click to expand...

He had two JRC 535's ?? Must be a really committed guy.
Are these available cheaply in BLR? The new ones probably cost about US$1800 or so.

If possible try to organise a permit and visit the Super power transmitter of AIR at Doddaballapur near Bangalore. They have 6 TX of 500KW each made by Brown Bovary. These monster TX are fed to more than 35 curtain aerial. They cover all of India and signals are received even in USA as a regular feed skipping over the North Pole. Truly an engineering marvel and you Bangalore guys are lucky to be near it ;)
 
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Hi AKS07, Thanks for the dope about the AIR TX station at dodabalapur. If I get an opportunity I will go and see their set-up.

Ya, he is a SWL buff. He sold one jrc 535 for 30K, if am I right?

regds
 
this thread reminds me my DXing times. I had only a pocket radio, and a National (Japanese) stereo tape recorder. I used to listen with a dipole around 5 metrs self made.
Still keeping some of the QSL cards I have from Radio nederland, Radio china, Radio singapore, RAdio france, Deutchewelle, VOA, Radio moscow, ..korea...et..
It was a nice hobby. Then I was dreaming of buying a very good receiver. But later on the interest gone, and many nations are giving least importance to the SW radio broadcast as it is expensive to maintain also.

I thing the Internet literally made sure the beginnig of DXIng end.

Is there many DXers still active in India?

And our great national laws prevent its citizen to get good receiver in cheaper rate. Even getting HAM license is himalayan task. this is the fate of a nation with stupids rulers and nonsense law makers...
 
pics and review?
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Pics will be there shortly. Review- I dont think I can do justice to Sony 7600GR. May be more knowledgeble and experienced user can speak better about it.

You can catch amateur stations from Africa and West Asia. You may need a better antenna though for 80M.
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Can you suggest any one. I am yet to explore the Tuner completely. May be this weekend.
 
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sandip_d said:
Can you suggest any one.
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20 years ago I would have used an outdoors long wire antenna for SW. I still have a nultiband Dipole (actually two oriented in NW>SE and NE>SW directions) and cut to 3 Bands and its multiples.

But putting up a full-fledged wire antenna is a pain nowadays. The general ambient RFI has increased manifold in the recent years due to mass scale presentation of electronic gizmos. Besides you need a couple of sturdy helpers and plenty of real estate for a meaningful wire antenna.

For past couple of years I am experimenting with active antennas. One is a active tuned loop for HF that I use with my table top receiver. The other is an active monopole that I use with the SONY portable. After much R&D I have decide that I am going to live with these two antennas unless I move to the country side where a long wire antenna will be much better. A loop is inherently suited to reject noise. It also attenuates the signal but you have a preamplifier to regain that. The short vertical monopole too has a preamp and it gets the power from the EXT ANT socket of the SONY. Both the antenna (and there preamps) are mounted on the roof thus somewhat away from indoor RFI.

If you can PM your email ID I can send you schematic and construction plans for both the antenna. These based in popular designs as found on the internet and tweaked to my unique requirement and capability. The only issue I see is finding the right ferrite transformers.

An outdoor wire arial is still the best provided you live in a remote farm and have ample space of about 160ft for a dipole cut for 80M. But situation dictates that we look at more practical approaches.

However, I would encourage that you explore your radio fully before embarking on antenna plans. The built in whip and the supplied AN-31 are good enough for 80% of situations. Once you get the hang on PLL band tuning, timings and mysteries of propagation, deciding on a antenna is an easier task.
 
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However, I would encourage that you explore your radio fully before embarking on antenna plans. The built in whip and the supplied AN-31 are good enough for 80% of situations. Once you get the hang on PLL band tuning, timings and mysteries of propagation, deciding on a antenna is an easier task.
I stay in an apartment on top floor with a balcony and access to terrace. So I can put antenna anywhere. Exploration of SW will be a long journey as I rarely find time on weekdays and Saturday. Will sure follow your advice.
I have sent you PM regarding my email id.
Regards
 
Very interesting posts here. Is it true that a PLL based radio will have a digital display tuner only? Is there one with a knob and a needle sliding over a frequency chart backplate like the old radios (maybe with the lcd digital readout on the side) ? Something that mimics the vintage radios?

I have a Hitachi KH-WS1 lying around unused since 5 to 6 years because I the digital readout and button interface turned me off strongly in a short time. In fact I hardly used it for 10 to 20 hours. It has PLL too, but if I find a vintage style radio with PLL I will be glad to dispose this and get a new one.

Regards
 
Thanks for your PM. I have sent you an email with attachment.

For a simple aerial, string about 20~30ft of insulated wire on non-conductive support about 15ft high on your terrace. Bring the lead inside your room throu a hole in wall or window and attach it to the SONY built in whip using a crocodile clip. Don't make the wire much longer as it will overload a portable receiver like SONY. This is as simple as it goes and you will see a dramatic gain over the built-in whip. As an improvement on this simple scheme, you can use Coax shielded cable for the lead in with the outer shield grounded to reduce local RFI.
 
connecting the long wire antenna through a crocodile clip to the whip antenna is not advisable, since it may over load and may blow the frontend. It can be connected through the antenna jack in provision and set the dx switch to local mode.

aks, correct me if I am wrong.

regads
 
You are right. But in this case the length is moderate and should not overload and damage. In fact the supplied SONY AN-71 spool is about 25ft long. Obviously, 25ft of outdoor wire and its lead-in is more than the AN-71 but I have found that not to be an issue.

The SONT Sony 7600GR doesnt have a DX/local switch. Also, the external antenna socket is powered and provides DC sensing current for the Active Sony Antenna. When I plug in multiband dipole to this jack, I use a DC blocking capacitor.

I have clipped in 150ft length of wire for daytime listening and it has not damaged the front end. The FETs used in the preamp seem quite sturdy. However, at night such a long length overloads the receiver severally. And its always advisable to static discharge the long wire before connecting it to the whip.

The bigger worry is impendence mismatch, but for the length I am suggesting it is not so critical.

The best bet for Sony 7600GR considering todays environment is an Active Loop Antenna.
 
For those who are interested the big day (or night) of SWL has arrived. In India tune your radio from 1.30am (later tonight) onwards. While India beam is good enouh, try also the time when the beam is aimed at Japan. During all past St Helena Days, best reception in India has been achieved on the Japanese beam. Best of luck! ;)



Radio St. Helena Day 2009 will be on Saturday, 14. November 2009.

The "Party On-The-Air" will have the following schedule.

Time in UT Target Area(s)
20002100 India / Southeast Asia
21002200 Japan / Asia
22002330 Europe
23300100 North America / Central America / Caribbean

The transmission will be on 11092.5 kHz in Upper Side Band, as usual.
 
hi

I had an opportunity to listen to marconi marine apollo receiver of 1960- 1970 make weight approximate 70 kgs in a friend's place, which was used in ships' for communication. I was surprised that they are still working, i was able to receive bbc 15310 comfortably with a piece of 1 feet wire antenna. even the ssb vfo is in working condition. it is a collector's item. If i buy that i will be kicked out from my house. any how i am contemplating to buy it shortly.

regards
 
Thanks for your PM. I have sent you an email with attachment.

For a simple aerial, string about 20~30ft of insulated wire on non-conductive support about 15ft high on your terrace. Bring the lead inside your room throu a hole in wall or window and attach it to the SONY built in whip using a crocodile clip. Don't make the wire much longer as it will overload a portable receiver like SONY. This is as simple as it goes and you will see a dramatic gain over the built-in whip. As an improvement on this simple scheme, you can use Coax shielded cable for the lead in with the outer shield grounded to reduce local RFI.
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Thanks a lot aks07 for it. However I hardly find time to explore it on weekdays. On weekend I normally travel to Pune. Let me see how can I can make full use of the details you provided and Receiver also.
Regards.
 
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