I have an old Japanese shortwave radio out in the garage that I inherited. Haven't even plugged it in. Does anyone still listen to shortwave radio?

I like to tune in to the COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME beacon to set my watch.

I used to listen to WWV in Ft. Collins, Colorado for the atomic time clock. But my cellphone has now taken over timekeeping duties.

This GE portable World Monitor has seen its better days since I bought it in '66. But it had been around the world in my Navy days, having actually taken a brief dip in the Atlantic.

I guess I'm not all that worried about the correct time, but I'll have to get this thing up and running for the fun of it.
The radio is a Yaesu Musen FRG-7, which was pretty well thought of 30 years ago, I hear.

A Frog-7! As you mention, those were one of the top radios back in the 70's. Early ones didn't have a fine tune adjustment. Anyway, I hope it still works for you as they are a nice radio. If you are listening to it just remember to turn it on and let it warm up for about 30 minutes first so the tuning doesn't wander on you that much as it comes up to temp.

Provided there has been no physical abuse or moisture damage, the main thing to go wrong is the capacitors can go bad due to age but they are easy to replace or pay someone else to replace.

Funny you should post this this, my 10 YO son brought up SW listening on his own last friday so we're putting up an antenna to his room next week when I have some free time. I don't allow him to have internet in his room but somehow I don't mind him staying up in the wee hours listening to some scratchy station on the other side of the planet. (I think since it worked for me when I was 10 it'll work for him too!)

Short wave has changed as there are fewer stations for broadcasters like the BBC, as more people in the world get there news from the internet. It used to be fun listening to Radio Moscow .They had so many stations you could always find good signals.I would listen to a news item from radio Moscow then listen to the same item from some other source .Sometimes it was difficult to recognize they were the same items !
I rarely listen any more since I've become a HAM and can talk to the world ! AC2RC

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:
I used to listen to WWV in Ft. Collins, Colorado for the atomic time clock.

thats the one! you dont happen to remember the frequency,do you?

http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/

That gives the whole story !

quote:

Originally posted by jb:

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:
I used to listen to WWV in Ft. Collins, Colorado for the atomic time clock.

thats the one! you dont happen to remember the frequency,do you?

I used to listen to WWV because it was the best way I had to calibrate my receivers! Anyway, if I remember correctly it was "...Broadcasting on 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 megahertz......"
Beeeeeeep, dah, dah, dah,dah.......