Shortwave

It's unfortunate that one of the few pieces of work / innovation that I've done that is not actually archived on the internet (at least so far as I can tell) is my description of how to modify the Sangean 803a (and presumably it works for clones like the Realistic DX-440) shortwave radio so that it can get an increased range of frequencies.

The Sangean 803a was my first digital shortwave radio. It served me well when I bought it in 1989 or 1990 until the time that it broke. To this day, the radio's keypad and usability surpassed that of all the other radios I've owned.

I recently got back into shortwave radio after staying away due to the horrible urban RFI situation. I previously used a Drake R8 original. That was a great radio, but having a software defined radio is a vastly different experience.

I recently purchased a Wellbrook 1530+ loop antenna to receive shortwave and mediumwave (aka AM) radio stations.

The information about this amazing antenna is scattered all over the internet - so I'm compiling a list of resources for people considering buying it.

There are two companies that produce small (one meter diameter) loop antennas that do a great job of rejecting locally produced electronic noise while still receiving desired radio signals.

You can download a Software Defined Radio (SDR) tuner software from Sdr-Radio.com (I got the beta release 1.1) then go to their list of online tuners and tune a powerful radio for free!

If your browser tells you that you are doing something risky, ignore the warning (if you want this to work).

You can see a waterfall/spectrum view of the radio dial, tune it around, and listen to stations!

I've recently been reading about software defined radio and am very tempted to buy either the Pegasus or Q1SR.

Here are some musings. Note: I'm not an electronics expert!

Crystal radio
The first generation of radio. You needed a crystal (or diode). Lacked any amplification and thus you needed a good antenna. Had terrible selectivity (rejection of adjacent stations).

Tubes

An open source radio project to create a software defined radio. Both the hardware (electrical design) and software are open source, and they have a community of people developing it:
http://www.philcovington.com/QuickSilver/

Software defined radios are amazing. You can record spectrum and do more. I'm wondering if I should buy one, or hold out as they keep getting better.