Newbie Questions

[index]

Hello out there, I hope I'm posting this in the appropriate part of the forum. I'm pretty brand new to this radio business, and I was hoping someone could field some questions I had.

I just bought a Tecsun PL-880, and I've not been having much luck in tuning in to any stations over the weekend so far (I'm in Southern California). I hit someone around 6950 kHz, but then they switched frequencies and didn't quite catch where to. I am still getting used to this piece of equipment, and some of its functions are quite mysterious to me, and I haven't been able to Google a good answer. Shortwave listening seems to be divided into three modes: default, USB, and LSB. What do these things mean? I see a lot of transmissions are done through USB, but I haven't had much luck with it personally. In the HFU wiki, a search for USB forwards me to SSB. Are these things equivalent?

I've been kindly pointed to the direction of GlobalTuners.com by atrainradio. This has introduced me to a whole new category of buttons to press, such as WFM, NFM, and CW. I'm currently listening to a very clear sounding station in Australia. The station is displayed in mHz, while there are several options to the right in kHz: 3,6,15,50, and 230. It is currently on 230, and if switched to any different mode the transmission suddenly becomes unlistenable. What do these numbers mean exactly?

Sorry if these things are clearly answered in a different part of the site!

[BoomboxDX]

I think (but I'm not sure) that "Default" is just your radio's way of saying "AM".

On Shortwave, you have regular broadcast stations that broadcast in Amplitude Modulation ("AM" -- just like the AM band on an AM-FM radio) and then you have hams, ships, aircraft, military, spies, etc that use USB or LSB (or morse code -- "CW" -- which you can use either USB or LSB to pick up).

USB and LSB are both SSB. Single Sideband. USB is Upper sideband. LSB is Lower sideband. It would take too long to try to explain it here but they use the upper side or lower side of a channel, and remove the carrier signal so all you have is the modulation going out over the airwaves. The LSB or USB circuits in your radio re-supply the missing carrier signal so that you can hear what is being said.

If you tune into a ham radio station talking in USB or LSB and you have your radio set to 'default' (or AM) it will sound like Donald Duck.

I don't know much about Tecsuns, and I don't know how your Tecsun works.

But Mhz and Khz are two ways of saying the same thing -- it's more or less a matter of whether the radio's display uses Mhz or Khz -- if it's displaying Mhz it will have a number and a decimal point, if it is displaying Khz it won't (Sort of like the difference between using meters and millimeters -- two ways of describing the same thing).

An example:

WWV, the American time-standard station (that sounds like a clock) is on 10,000 khz.

That's also 10.000 Mhz. Or 10.0 Mhz. Some radios will put a decimal point in their display, and use Mhz, and WWV will show up "10.0" or "10.000". Other radios leave out the decimal and use Khz and it will show up on the LCD display as "10000".

Another example:

Radio Australia comes in during early mornings here in the NW US on 9580 khz. That is also 9.58 Mhz. Some radios will show "9580" in the LCD display, others may show "9.58" or "9.580" in the display.

I know it can be confusing but I hope this helps. I'm sure others will be able to explain it better.

[JCMaxwell]

Index, check out:

http://swling.com/blog/2013/12/a-review-of-the-tecsun-pl-880-portable-shortwave-radio

and

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Tecsun_PL-880/info

I own an PL-880, great portable.  If I can help, email me at the address in my signature line.

Another good link : http://radiojayallen.com/tecsun-pl-880-amfmswssb-portable-radio

[ff]

Hi Index and welcome to the community!  Although a decent tabletop receiver and outdoor antenna will leave any portable in the dust, the 880 is a wonderful radio for the price.  It will probably take you a couple hours of playing, but you WILL get the hang of it.  Boombox gave you a good basic expy of operational modes and JC gave you a good link for study.  All I can add is that the 880 has several filter widths that you will want to use to null out adjacent stations and interference.  All three buttons (AM, LSB, USB) will toggle the different filter widths available for the mode in use.  What this does is widen or narrow the frequency "window" or width that is being passed through.  I own both an 880 and a 660 and both are great little receivers.  You will certainly have fun with yours over the next few years...

[index]

Hey, ff! Expecting a crystal oscillator any day now, thanks again.
Yes, I do feel like an investment in a tabletop is in my future...

Spkeaing of thanks, appreicate it JC! And that helps a lot Boombox, I think I'm starting to put it all together.