Anyone listening to SW radio or other bands through their stereo system?

I can't say that I have ever seen or even heard about SW "tuners" in a component format .. does such a thing even exist?

I am familiar with self-contained, table-top or portable radio receivers.... and I know Grundig makes a number of relatively good ones.

I think that I've seen an old Fisher tuner with a SW band. Kind of cool, I think.

I have a YB-400 Grundig AM/FM/SW radio that I have used as a tuner from its stereo headphone jack into my amp. Killer sensitivity, and pretty good sound out of it too. I tried its SW through my system, but the hiss and such came through with way too much fidelity.

BK

German receivers and tuners had SW - the two that I have seen are Telefunken and EMUD which came out of consoles.

I found a Sony tuner at a thrift that had AM/FM/SW. Forget the model numer but is was just a thin black cheap looking thing and the SW was not very good, but it was unusual to see SW band in a Hi-Fi tuner component.

Lefty

I had a Sansui receiver in the 70's that had two bands of SW along with AM and FM. Occasionally you'll find a station that has decent bandwidth. If you are not used to it, it'll some time to get used to the stations fading in and out.

These are somewhat rare in the US but not so in Europe. In the US, the most likely finds will be Telefunken and Grundig tuners plus the occaisional Fisher.

besides the fisher r-200-b you might want to try finding a philips or a pye tuner.both should have some sort of shortwave coverage on them.

Sansui made a nice AM , FM , SW x 4 bands , the model number is 600L and it works very well on all bands . I only have it hooked up to the clothes line but pulls in stations from all over the globe .

Hey guys, I just brought home one of those Fisher R-200-B tuners, along with a really cool h/k tubed tuner, the Rondo, which I haven't found ANY info on yet. I need to clean both good, but they're both in very good condition. The only thing that sucks is, someone etched their ID # into the faceplate of the Fisher. :nono: The Fisher even has the wood-look case, though one back edge is kinda rough. :smoke:

A R 200 B? REALLY? NICE GRAB.!!!!sorry for the caps but im probally just as excited as you.the r200b is a rare tuner and should be a great sounding tuner from what i read.i have one myself but it needs some work unfortunately.it was one of the last tuners to use tubes .it had a nuvistor front end while the rest was s/s.please post some pics when you can.btw heres some info on the rondo
http://www.hifilit.com/hifilit/Harmon-Kardon/bestseat-7.jpg

A suggestion would be to just add a really good SW receiver to your system. Something like a Heathkit Mohican can be found on eBay very reasonable for what they are and will handle just about everything but SSB.

I have thought a couple of times about running a patch cord from my Mohican to my office system. But I never get around to it.

I've seen a couple over the years, but typically they try to cram way too much coverage into a single band, maybe 2, & the stations end up requiring a safecracker's touch to tune in...

Thanx radioactive, that describes the h/k pretty good, but doesn't mention the awesome-looking copper. :thmbsp: You telling me this Fisher has tubes in it? :banana: That's awesome to hear. It clearly says "Transistor" on the front, so I wasn't as excited as I should have been, lol. :D For a grand finale, a guy just delivered a pair of Altec 811-B horns, without drivers, but these ones will get some "special" drivers mounted soon. :smoke: EDIT: BTW, I'm getting pretty motivated to grab a digicam, so I'll get pics up when I can.

Old thread, I know!

Marantz 22xx series had several SW models, including a 2216L, 2220L, 2225L, 2226BL (and possibly a 2238BL): They are not all that uncommon in Europe. As others have pointed, just about any tuner and receiver produced in Europe (Tandberg, B&O, etc.) for the European market before approx. 1970 would have SW, MW, and LW.

Photo of the 2225L attached.

Hey guys, I just brought home one of those Fisher R-200-B tuners, along with a really cool h/k tubed tuner, the Rondo, which I haven't found ANY info on yet. I need to clean both good, but they're both in very good condition. The only thing that sucks is, someone etched their ID # into the faceplate of the Fisher. :nono: The Fisher even has the wood-look case, though one back edge is kinda rough. :smoke:

Hey was that the Rondo on Ebay last week? I've been considering selling mine but it is to cool. I wish my job payed real good and then I could just come home and play with all this stuff I've aquired with the cart before the horse.

The Fisher is one, and there was also a Hallicrafters FM tuner that included some shortwave bands.

Hey was that the Rondo on Ebay last week? I've been considering selling mine but it is to cool. I wish my job payed real good and then I could just come home and play with all this stuff I've aquired with the cart before the horse.

i wouldnt sell the rondo as they are not a hot item and probally dont get much more than $50 tops .enjoy it and just add it to the collection:yes:the fisher on the other hand could get you some good money.:)but i wouldnt sell it either.

I had a Grundig Yachtboy YB-400, but was just not very happy with its performance, and the controls just did not make sense.

I now have a Grundig (same as Eton) S350DL. It has RCA phono jacks. I can also plug in my rooftop FM antenna, using the same F to PAL socket adapter I use for my Onkyo T-4500 tuner.

There are better SW radios, but this one is very easy to use and works reasonably well.

Hey was that the Rondo on Ebay last week? I've been considering selling mine but it is to cool. I wish my job payed real good and then I could just come home and play with all this stuff I've aquired with the cart before the horse.

No sir, picked them up in one of my local places. They get a lot of decent mid-fi stuff, & some goodies once in awhile. Kinda like thrift stores, it's all in the timing. ;) I gotta second radioactive, some things are just too cool to sell. Maybe you can find jobs for the wife & kids (if you're even married, lol). :D

We had a late 1930's Zenith console TV round tube with Gerard turntable and the radio was multiband (AM and short wave), but I don't believe that any of them where FM. On my 1985 Jaguar the factory installed AM, FM, Cassetette radio had a removable face and it could monitor CB channel 9.

Hi,

There was a Philips tuner sold here with AM, FM, Long Wave, and 2 Short Wave bands sold here in the USA as a Norelco. It was made in Holland. Was late 1960's-early 1970's vintage.

I could always connect my Hammarlund SP-600 receiver to my Scott LK-72A amp.

I could always connect my Hammarlund SP-600 receiver to my Scott LK-72A amp.

i havnt gone quite that far but i have hooked up many a boatanchors to a electrovoice aristocrat enclosure with a lt12 wolverine going through various mono tube amps.you really don even need to go this far since your already have a tube receiver with tube output.i'd say get a decent 12' coaxial in a enclosure and go from there.

G'day all, one of my 'World Band' portables, the rather amazing Degen DE-1103 has very nice audio on all bands and even short wave. It even has a 'line level' audio output socket! Regards, catman.

My Globe tubed receiver has SW and works great. It's from around 59 as it's also a simulcast.

I just picked up my 2nd Eton S350DL. For use in the office. These radios are like older cars and each sems to have a bt of a personality. Ole red is staying in the bedroom for some late night sw listening through my Sony STR6120 as well as AM as the Sony lacks the band. The FM tuner on these are decent and have stereo line outputs. Also, analog front ends. I think digital would drive me nuts if there were no tuning knob. These used to be $199 (DL) here and now The Source has them for $65. Looks like the chain is closing them out.

I can't remember the spelling but Decker made a nice 9 band +MW,FM reciver in the early 70's I had one.It had been converted to 110 60hz but was 250 50hz in germany.

I just got one of these... Icom IC-R75.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=100581&stc=1&d=1216785559

It has the factory installed UT-106 Digital Signal Processor and AM Sync.

Though it has a tiny 2" speaker, I'm using an Optimus Pro X55AV plugged into the External Speaker jack on back. There is also a Record jack that can be adapted, via a Y cable, to the stereo system, but I don't see a reason to do that at this time. There are technical reasons why you can't get high fidelity 20-20,000 hz sound from SW. I already have several good FM tuners and receivers.

This SW receiver covers 30 khz (that LOW!) to 60 mhz (just over 6 m band). The same model sold in other countries may have certain bands blanked out, or may only receive up to 30 mhz. That is easily fixed by removing some jumpers on the circuit board, I am told.

Don't say a thing about the clutter on the workbench... I'm moving stuff around to make room for the R75 over on one end. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

With help of the local ham club I rigged up an 80 m dipole, which does well all the way down to 100 khz (just some beacons and telemetry down there). The AM/MW band comes in very well with the 80 m antenna. So far have listened up to the 15 m band. Just had this a few days, and just rigged up the antenna Sunday afternoon (two days ago).

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=100586&stc=1&d=1216786210

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=100587&stc=1&d=1216786210

That's the antenna rigged up behind the workshop. There is also a ground wire that comes out from the shop beside the coax tucked behind the blue corner trim, going down to tie onto the anchor (auger type) screwed into the ground. There are anchors on each corner of the shop.

The ham club gave me the coax I used, RG8, a big box of parts, and made the plexiglass center section of the dipole and plexiglass end insulators on each leg. They said to throw all the leftover stuff back in the box, toss in anything I bought and didn't use, for the next guy. What a great bunch of guys! :yes:

A friend in Wisconsin sent me a little test message on 20 m USB, about 6 pm Sunday afternoon... and I could hear him clearly down here on the Gulf coast.

Cool. I haven't looked lately but I think the sunspot cycle should be creeping back up. I built my house in '86 and had a 10 meter beam on a pipe driven in the ground during construction and worked 100 countries. It's so much fun at it's peak.

We are coming off a sunspot peak which occurred in 2001, the next being in 2012. But there has not been much solar activity with this cycle.

From Science Daily: "The last cycle reached its peak in 2001 and is believed to be just ending now, Longcope said. The next cycle is just beginning and is expected to reach its peak sometime around 2012. Today's sun, however, is as inactive as it was two years ago, and scientists aren't sure why."

Paul,
Great pic of a UFO in your antenna shot, or is it just a dragon fly? For SW I use a Drake R8B, Sony ICF 2010, and the amazing Eton E1. The Eton is essentially a Drake product; the performance is astonishing.

Right the first time... that's a UFO. :yes:

Having fun with this stuff. :D

I've downloaded Ham Radio Deluxe, which comes with Digital Master 780. Have it linked up with the Icom R75. This requires a serial port (RS232) to USB for my laptop, which has no serial port for HRD.

http://www.ham-radio-deluxe.com/

Download the 34 mb "kit" here http://www.ham-radio-deluxe.com/Downloads/tabid/54/Default.aspx

For connection of DM780, I used a 1/8" mono plug to 1/8" mono plug from the Rec (Record) jack on the back of the Icom radio to the Griffin Technology iMic USB adapter. http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

Ham Radio Deluxe and Digital Master 780 will work with many supported radios.

Ham Radio Deluxe screen shot

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=101580&stc=1&d=1217393608

Ham Radio Deluxe is a control program that interfaces with many Shortwave Receivers and Transceivers, and allows control from your computer. You can operate more than one Receiver or transceiver at a time.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=101581&stc=1&d=1217393593

Digital Master 780 allows reception of PSK31 data, those red bands you see, where hams can type back and forth. It also allows you to identify and populate fields on a log.

http://www.ham-radio-deluxe.com/Programs/DigitalMaster780/tabid/89/Default.aspx

DM780 is part of the "kit" that downloads with HRD.

I picked up a Hallicrafters HR500 that is the same as the S120. A4-tuber that was local and cheap and included the good old earphones. As the seller had plugged it in and tried it, too late for a variac. Minimal hum that reduces with time but never quite goes away so I'll run with it to see how far the ps cap reforms. It was in storage for some years and the dial squeaks as it is turned and was hard to move but is now loosening up somewhat. The AM is not much better than a crystal radio good for local stations as was reported in reviews but the SW is better than the reports. I just picked up the 2003 Passport to World Band Radio so I'll try to schedule and id what I'm hearing. It is doing easily as well as my Eton S350DL for Cuba, China and some of the southern US religious stations and picking up some stations the Eton is not, especially in the upper band. The Eton is good for DX'ing Am but I'm thinking of putting together an area for listeing separate form my stereo and my use the Philips for AM and FM.

I'm too lazy to do it, but my Hallicrafters SX-62 ought to sound good routed thru the big Yammy RX-V1. I tried it w/one of the R-390As once, & the results were, erm, less than satisfactory...

I put the Eton through my Sony STR6120 into the Minimus 7s and also through the Koss ESP9s. The result was that the radio has good potential but the listening experience was well less than satisfactory. It is based on youthful memory and expectations. in comparing the Hallicrafters to the Eton has the Hallicrafters winning, it just sounds like I remember as a youngster and think is the "right" sound, or at least what I want. Of cource the Hallicrafters is from that era with tubes, that 4" speaker and those magnetic earphones. I used to hobbiest with the predessor S38C so it seems right. The audio system I had at the time was a 1st gen HT with the tele going through a separate amp into a huge Motorola speaker. It also had am-fm-sw and a changer so it also was an all-in-one. Of course back then we did not call it HT but a console.