I'm new to radios. Just bought the mini Eton which has FM/AM/SW and while FM & AM work I have never received a single station on SW1 (5.9 - 10 MHz) or SW2 (11.65 - 18 MHz). Is that normal? Will shortwave only work in Europe? I'm in Canada now. If it makes any difference I live walking distance to an airport. Does that cause any interference?


Get out of town

It could very well possible that your radio is picking up interference from all kinds of sources around you.

If you can get to a remote spot, at least a couple of miles away from any town/plant/power-line you might receive a lot more.

Once you do, you can build a list of stations/frequencies you can receive, then get back into town, and see if you can receive them there.

At that point you can start experimenting with extending your whip with a long wire, as suggested in other answer and comments, to improve your reception.

and... welcome to the hobby! Shortwave listening is a great way to start your radio hobby !!

  • $\begingroup$ Does it make a difrerence that in my skyscraper place I have very poor/almost none cellphone reception? Even the data part of my phone doesn't work in my condo. $\endgroup$ – verve Aug 6 '16 at 19:21
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @verve Cell phones use very different frequency ranges and are much more dependent on infrastructure than shortwave radio, so it doesn't have to be related at all. Not saying it can't be related, but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that it is. $\endgroup$ – a CVn Aug 6 '16 at 21:02

Shortwave broadcasting isn't as popular as it used to be, thanks to the internet; the BBC World Service stopped broadcasting to North America in 2001. But there are still many shortwave stations broadcasting to North America. Here's a list of stations and times in UTC. During Daylight Saving Time the Eastern time zone is four hours behind UTC and the Pacific time zone is seven hours behind.

I would suggest to try a bigger external antenna, but the manual for your Eton Mini suggests that there is no external antenna jack. You could always try stretching a long wire out a window to a tree, and attaching the other end to the whip antenna with an alligator clip.

Your nearby airport is unlikely to have anything to do with your reception.

  • $\begingroup$ You might also try an table top tuned loop antenna in proximity of the receiver if it uses an internal ferrite antenna. $\endgroup$ – JSH Aug 5 '16 at 18:41
  • $\begingroup$ So the radio is not broken? 😊 $\endgroup$ – verve Aug 5 '16 at 21:27
  • $\begingroup$ @verve, it probably works! Try tuning into stations on that list. $\endgroup$ – rclocher3 Aug 5 '16 at 21:43
  • $\begingroup$ So you mean don't use the auto scan button? $\endgroup$ – verve Aug 5 '16 at 22:02
  • $\begingroup$ I suppose it can't hurt... $\endgroup$ – rclocher3 Aug 5 '16 at 22:15

Some general advices to listen to SW inside a city:

  • Fully extend the antenna. AM doesn't need to extend the antenna (it uses an internal ferrite core) and FM usually is so strong in cities that the non-extended antenna works fine. SW however requires an fully extended antenna, and orientation may also play a role, so try to move it around.
  • Get close to the window/balcony. SW reception is worse inside the house. You can also try in a park or something like that in the city.
  • Try to identify any interferences and try to avoid them by moving to another window or moving the antenna around. Electrical interferences are caused by electronic devices (computers, TV...) and motors (A/C units, elevators...). They may sound like a strong buzzing sound that is always present in the whole band or that appears periodically in the band.
  • Try different bands at different times. Lot of transmissions are half an hour or one hour long, so you should sweep the whole band every half an hour to catch everything. Also day/night cycle is very important, so try at different times of the day. In particular, lower bands (SW1 in your radio) should be more active at night while higher bands (SW2) usually are more active at day. But there can be stations at any frequency at any time. Lower band travels longer distances at night and you may receive stations not intended for your region.

In my personal experience, the problem in cities or buildings is not usually that the station is weak, but that the interferences are strong and will mask the weak stations. That is why moving to a window may reduce the interferences while improving the signal. Going to a park should give you an idea of what can be heard in a quieter place.

I hope you are lucky with your reception and please share with us your findings.


Your Answer

