What gear do I need for a good quality shortwave radio?

Question

Here is what I'm up against.

I'm working on setting up a church in the Philippines with my mentor. We want to have access to the BBC and other world news on the island which we will be living called Bohol. We are looking to set up a very good quality shortwave radio. What we need to know is what do we need? I know we need a antenna and receiver, do we need an amplifier or any other gear? we need to be able to reach pretty far to get good reception of the nearest BBC broadcast center which I think is in Australia.

Also Does anyone know some good brands in this area as well as any good books or websites that can help us learn about this stuff?

Thanks allot

God Bless

Answer 1

a good receiver and a long wire antenna will do you just fine.

I prefer Icom, others Yaesu. The Icom IC R75 would be my choice.

The antenna can be a simple long wire antenna to a yagi mounted on a tower and a rotator to change directions.

The first thing I would do is to request a catalog from a supplier. www.aesham.com is Amateur Electronic Supply and there are others

Answer 2

Forget amps. They are more trouble than benifit and most modern shortwave receivers and transceivers have more than enough sensitivity in any event. The best amp is usually the longest, highest amount of wire that you can install. If you are looking at reception from a specific direction, very generally, the wire needs to be broadside to the geographical location of the transmitter. Wire is a low cost route and efficient but you do need a fair amount of real estate to install it as horizontally as possible; but wire antennas  are also tolerant of bending etc. into different configurations which will suffice for almost any property.

There is an exhaustive (exhausting?) wealth of information on the internet dealing with shortwave reception and antennas; any good radio amateur site will  more than educate you.

If your focus is on the receipt of broadcast stations, then your options are plentiful. The major broadcast stations have relays  that allow them to put a signal almost anywhere they choose. I doubt you will have trouble receiving the BBC.

For your application, look for a base station HF communications receiver. If you are looking at buying used, you might want to look at the following dealers: Associated Radio, The Ham Station, R&L Electronics or Universal Radio.

You may also want to take a serious look at the brand 'Icom'- new, or used. The R70 or any of it variants in sound electrical/electronic order should satisfy most listeners.

'The shortwave listening guidebook' by Harry L. Helms is difficult to beat if you are looking for a good book on the activity.

Look up 'radiointel.com' on the internet.

This is an enjoyable site.

Hope this helps a little.

Good luck,

God Bless!