Advice or thoughts for beginner on interesting things to do

[afustikatra]

Hello,

I recently got the Degen DE1103, a large reason being I am very interested in listening to numbers stations or any other interesting stations etc. But I live in south africa. I tried months ago to hear numbers stations but I never heard anything. The furthest away I could hear was bbc stations in central africa or possibly sierra leone. Do you have any advice? It seems most numbers stations are in europe so I am out of luck. The radio comes with a long floppy wire antenna and I tried different configurations and trying to get it as high as possible but that didn't help. Getting a better antenna or radio isn't an option right now with my budget. I was hoping I could maybe hear some public European or Russians stations but I haven't been able to hear one station outside of the continent. Any thoughts?  

I cant remember the exact name but I did use that free software which shows what stations are currently active on a map of the world.

[BoomboxDX]

Short-wave.info is a good website for seeing what's on at a given time, and includes a map of the world, showing the areas of light & darkness, as well as where the station transmitters are located.

Others will have to help with the European stations. Not many of them left anymore.

In my area of the U.S. it's wall-to-wall China, Cuba, Brazil, and a few other stations thrown into the mix. Very little from Europe aside from Greece, sometimes Spain, and now and then the Vatican.

[Fansome]

www.spynumbers.coms

Check out the database; it can help you to narrow down the times and frequencies for listening for numbers stations.

[afustikatra]

Thank you BoomboxDX, yes that is the one site I used when I was trying to find different stations, thats how I found the BBC stations. Ok, yeah unfortunately I haven't managed to hear anything from Europe.

Fansome, thanks I have looked at that site previously yeah, I thought Israel would be the best chance I have at hearing anything but I could never pick anything up.

I appreciate the help!
 

[glimmer twin]

For current & updated schedules I highly recommend using either Aoki or EiBi

Aoki:  http://www1.s2.starcat.ne.jp/ndxc/

EiBi:   http://www.eibispace.de/

or better yet join the SWSKED yahoo group & get Dan Fergusons impressive daily updated spreadsheet of both those schedules & others as a handy download. I never start "playing radio" without it.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/swskeds/



Also, have you tried putting the wire antenna outside? I don't have a DE1103 but all I have read about it tells me you have a pretty good little portable radio there & you should be able to get some good dx catches with it. I sometimes use a nearly comparable portable when I walk my dog & I catch South Africa, Romania Turkey, Rwanda, Iran & others,all in English & using only the built in whip antenna as I am walking. As for number stations I can't imagine anywhere in North America where you can't hear HM01. Their schedule is on page 99 of the latest enigma newsletter.

http://www.brogers.dsl.pipex.com/enigma2000/newsletters/CEN.pdf

[afustikatra]

Thank you very much for all the info glimmer twin! Will check it out.

I have tried putting the wire outside and as high as possible but at the time when I was experimenting months back I couldn't tell if there was much of a difference and eventually gave up.

I know its weird, all I read made me think I should be hearing more. If you can hear so far away with the whip antenna from north america than I really should be able to too, so far I havent heard anything outside of Africa. Where I live there are a few highish mountains, I'm not sure if that could make such a big difference. :/ ?

On this post this person who also has the degen 1103 says that " positioned in central Europe in a block of flats, I have managed to catch Cuba, Libya, Vietnam or even Bangkok with this setup, besides other stations. "
http://boginjr.com/electronics/rad/pipe-ant/

And ok, I havent done that modification, just showing it for interest.

[Pigmeat]

I heard Radio Havana announce a few nights back they will be using 11880 khz. for their African service. It's generally propaganda, but the music is good.

Look for the US Armed Forces Radio/Television network. The Diego Garcia based broadcasts shouldn't be too hard for you to hear. They're in broadcast in sideband, but your Kaito is equipped to handle that. Not as much propaganda as RH and good music.

Radio Australia is still alive and kicking. 3000 miles with nothing but the Indian Ocean in the way between you and them. Check their schedules.

All India Radio is on a bunch of frequencies. Again nothing but salt water between you and the subcontinent. (Salt water makes for good propagation.) Check their English schedules. With the size of the Indian population in SA, my guess is they're beaming something towards you.

Radio Guyana in South America could be an option for you. They broadcast to the south and they run a lot of BBC World Service news and programming. The problem is they only run about 500 watts.

There are a literal ton of small stations in Indonesia and New Guinea. You could spend years picking through them.

With the presence China is establishing in Africa, they've got to be transmitting your way.

That's all I've got off the top of my head. Good luck.

[CoolAM Radio]

Maybe this is also of interest for you?

  The Beginners Handbook of Amateur Radio  ( PDF file  529 pages!!! )

http://www.mediafire.com/view/rnf1ne6dfjx77gy/The%20Beginners%20Handbook%20of%20Amateur%20Radio%20(4th%20edition-C.Laster%20(McGraw-Hill%2C%202001).pdf

André
CoolAM Radio

[glimmer twin]

Didn't realize you were in Africa. You could maybe get E25 number station. Thought to be from Egypt & are on 6140   9400   &  9450 Khz at 8:30 or 9:45...I can never remember... the exact times are in the enigma newsletter I referred to earlier.

[afustikatra]

Pigmeat,  thanks I tried some of those and could hear Radio havana (well they kept talking about cuba so it must be) though it was verging on being too noisy and rough to hear what they were saying a lot of the time.

HOT-RADIO, I downloaded it, looks quite technical but it could be helpful in future thanks. I am interested in keeping everything portable so I will probably never get to that stage where I want or need the big equipment, though ideally I'd be able to pick up European stations its probably never going to happen with what I have right now.

glimmer twin thanks I will try to catch it!

[Pigmeat]

Type "broomstick antenna" into your search engine. I've used these in windows when I've lived in places where outdoor antennas weren't an option.

I find they perform about as well as 10-12 meter long outdoor antenna, which should let you catch some of those stations you barely hear now. They're very easy to make and use.

I heard the BBC African and World services on 6195 last night, around 3:30 utc. Nice signal and I'm on the backside of where they have their antennas pointed.

Happy hunting!

[afustikatra]

Great thanks

[fpeconsultant]

hello
i would think you would be able to copy hm01 (a pretty accurate schedule is here):
http://www.numbersoddities.nl/HM01-M08a-schedules.pdf
good luck to you

[afustikatra]

Thanks thats great I appreciate it 

[CoolAM Radio]

Ok Afustikatra!

Here some European Pirate Frequencies!
Almost OnAir every day!

MediumWave :  from  1615  - 1670 khz
ShortWave   :   from  3900 - 3940  &  5800 - 5830  &  6200 - 6400  &  6720 - 6800

Enjoy! Good RX!
Greetz from

CoolAM/HOT Radio - ShortWave  6735
http://www.coolam.nl
the Netherlands