Short wave radio question

[davemchine]

I have a Kaito KA900 shortwave radio that I am trying to use. I scanned all of the frequencies that can receive and did not find a single station. After a little googling I grabbed some speaker wire and ran out 67 feet of it suspended among trees and connected to the telescoping antenna. Still nothing! Suggestions?

[S. Pupp]

Was it working before?

[RAMd®d]

Any shortwave radio should have an input for an external antenna.

Look for port or jack that might be an electrical connector.

Another method of 'connecting' a long wire antenna sometimes works:

Take a length of your antenna wire and wrap a half-dozen coils around the radio, top to bottom, not side to side.

Then connect the end to a good ground, something like a faucet or the screw of an electrical outlet.

If your ambitious, you could connect it to the green ground wire in a light switch box, as some outlet boxes are plastic and not grounded.

[freeradical]

Do not connect your long wire (half wave dipole) antenna to your telescoping antenna.

There should be a place on the back of the receiver to hook up an external antenna. You might have either what looks like a coaxial input, or a couple of screws.

Here are some ideas on how to build an antenna. The antennas that have multiple wires are designed to word with a broader range of frequencies.

Make sure you pay attention to the ground connections. They are important for both safety and performance.

http://www.hamuniverse.com/shortwaveantenna.html

[TheTominator]

Perhaps you can get some ideas from the first episode of season 3 of Stranger Things. One of the characters builds a ham radio antenna.

[RAMd®d]

Is it working on other bands?

Besides AM/FM does it do weather?

Try 162.55MHz for weather.

You should be able to get that with the telescoping antenna.

Attaching your long wire should improve the situation.

You might verify that it does. If so, try:

For best reception, a long wire should be as high as possible and attached to non-metal objects at either end. Tap into the closest end and drop the lead down to your radio.

Pro Tip: trees reduce signal strength. Unless your radio has a sensitive tuner, you need all the signal strength you can get.

Different bands need a different length of horizontal run for optimal reception. But you're not there yet.

Do you have a connector for an external antenna?

If not, then connecting to your telescoping antenna is your best option. Wrap a few turns of wire around the antenna, then connect the bare wire to the antenna. Any kind of clip will do.

Now try scanning you SW band(s).

You might look for a guide to shortwave stations broadcasting within the freqs of your radio.

And reception should be better at night, so you can try again later in the evening.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

If your radio did not come with the T1 external antenna for SW use, Page 30 of the User Guide seems to imply the user should attach a single conductor wire (up to 23 ft) to the end of the extendable antenna.

Running the antenna wire outside of the house might attract lightning, so be very careful.

Found a tutorial that showed possible SW station frequencies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsRG9OAs7UY

[davemchine]

The Kaito does not have a jack for external antenna so I do have to connect to the telescoping antenna.
AM/FM/Weather all works just fine.
As the afternoon has progressed, more and more channels are showing up so time of day must make a huge difference.
I dragged my Graetz tube radio from the 50's outside and it picks up WAY more stations than the Kaito so I'm gonna say the Kaito is not a great SW radio.

Super interesting tidbit. I placed the Kaito on top of the Graetz and as I tuned the tube radio the Kaito would find a station and then lose it. Consistently. Bizarre.

It took awhile to figure out how to read the dial on the Graetz but once I accomplished that I was able to tune both radio's to the same station's fairly easily and the Graetz definitely outperformed the Kaito. Since the Kaito is intended for use during a power outage (battery, solar, crank) I think I need to consider replacing it. I know the Zenith D7000 is a much coveted radio but it was last produced in 1982 which makes me worry how long it would last. Hmmm.

[GGD]

davemchine wrote:
I dragged my Graetz tube radio from the 50's outside

davemchine wrote: I know the Zenith D7000 is a much coveted radio but it was last produced in 1982 which makes me worry how long it would last.

Well the radio from the 1950's sure lasted a long time. You seem to have good luck with radio longevity.

[space-time]

Since the Kaito is intended for use during a power outage (battery, solar, crank) I think I need to consider replacing it.

do you need Short Wave during a power outage? Isn't AM/Fm/Weather good enough during those times?