Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
hoju22
May 3, 2006

Easy. You just don't lead 'em so much.
I bought the el cheapo radioshack handheld and can only pick up a few stations in my apartment. Can I perform any mods to boost my reception on this thing or should I scrap it and pony up some cash for a halfway decent receiver? I'm in the city in a small apartment so I don't have any room to run lengths of wire and realize the being in a city probably doesn't help my situation at all.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

hoju22
May 3, 2006

Easy. You just don't lead 'em so much.
So I got 100 feet of 18 gauge speaker wire since it was only 8 bucks. It sounds like my next step is to run this in loops around one of my window frames? I live on the second floor of 3 story apartment building so running it out a window or anything like that is out of the question. Or would it be better to tun it around the ceiling of a room? Also, I'm assuming stripping a few inches of insulation off the ends of the wire and wrapping it around the basic antenna of the handheld is good a good enough way to connect the longwire?

Sorry for all the questions, I've tried googleing up some stuff and only learned the very basics of longwire antennas. Long and high are good, and stay from metal objects that carry generate RF interference, which is probably impossible in my situation.

hoju22
May 3, 2006

Easy. You just don't lead 'em so much.
My little handset doesn't have any external jacks on it at all, so that's the only method I'm left with sadly. Thanks for the answers.

I have a feeling this new obsession is going to burn a hole through my wallet and leave me with 3 and a half to 4 radios in various states of disrepair.

hoju22
May 3, 2006

Easy. You just don't lead 'em so much.

AstroZamboni posted:

Welcome to the club, my work here is done.

I was hooked when I found myself listening to something in French this morning, while falling asleep and interpreting his speech into god knows what in my dreams. It was like being really stoned.

hoju22
May 3, 2006

Easy. You just don't lead 'em so much.
I've spent 9$ bucks on 100' of 18 gauge speaker, if you want to add that to the op.

hudibrastic posted:

Two options:
1. Pawn your computer and buy a radio.
2. Check out streaming audio of world band broadcasts. Here's a couple to get you started:
BBC World Service
NHK Online

[Note: If you are posting from your school's computer lab, Option 1 will probably not be feasible.]

Also, could we add some online stuff to the op, also?

Some things like http://www.dxworld.com/sw_live.html possibly? I imagine this would help some people get into the wonderful world if they can sample it before dropping 150$ on nice receiver.

It might be cheating, but sometimes it's your only option.

  • Locked thread