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Does anyone here at the Vintage Asylum listen to Shortwave?

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In the next few days I will be inheriting a Drake R8 B in near mint conditon with the box owners manual,etc! I have heard many good things about this reciever and was wondering if anyone here has ever had the chance to use 1 of these or maybe even owns a Drake R8 B? I have read on the Internet that you can hook up an external speaker to this Reciever and that it is highly recomended that you either hook up an external speaker or use a good set of headphones.I was asuming that maybe I could hook up my vintage Superscope A-235 Amp to improve the overall sound of the Drake.I was going to use my Fisher XP 55 B speakers which sound excellent with that amp.I also thought that maybe I should try it first with the built in speaker and then try it with 1 of my Fisher XP 55 B speakers,etc!Again any thoughts or ideals would be great!As for an antenna I will be just using a peice of wire that I plan to run around the room,as I live in an Apartment building and the Landlord will not allow an outside Antenna!Other suggestions for an indoor antenna would be great as well.Brian

Follow Ups:

RE: Does anyone here at the Vintage Asylum listen to Shortwave? - bassbinotoko 01:23:18 07/05/09 (0)
I've spent some evenings painstakingly tuning the shortwave bands using not very good receivers, and got a few QSL cards. (A perfbox Radio Shack kit with clip-in coils for changing bands, then a 3 band Sony, as in AM and two shortwaves.)

Since then I've acquired a vintage tube Hallicrafters s40 (? maybe S38) semi basket case... no case, no output tube or transformer, so I just used an external audio amp. And a big vintage transistor Sony multiband portable, with squelch, RF gain, and BFO. The Sony just gets used for listening to local FM, and the Hallicrafters has just gathered dust since the last move.

Anyway, for an apartment, I've heard of antennas disguised as flagpoles. Another idea is to attach a fishing line and weight to the end of a Slinky, and lower it off the balcony. Or some fine magnet wire, or maybe electric fence line (rope with wire intertwined) could work.
RE: Does anyone here at the Vintage Asylum listen to Shortwave? - Awe-d-o-file 07:15:20 07/02/09 (2)
All the time! I'm a ham and have house full or radios that tune SW. My wife even allows a Kenwood R-300 in the bedroom! Most of my radios are tube table radios. My hobby is restoring old tube radios. Run that wire near the windows and away from noise offending things like PC's. You'd be surprised how much noise different modern things in your house produce.

ET
Question "Authority", the mainstream media sucks - Go Independent and hold BOTH parties accountable instead of just the other guys!

I need music to help forget the reality of today
- RE: Does anyone here at the Vintage Asylum listen to Shortwave? - Michael Samra 10:11:30 07/02/09 (0)
  My wife even allows a Kenwood R-300 in the bedroom
  
  When she says Honey,keep me warm,you just have to point to kenwood..I love the multi uses our vintage boat anchors have.
  If the power supply waveform isn't pretty,neither is the sound in most cases.
- RE: Does anyone here at the Vintage Asylum listen to Shortwave? - Brian McGowan 07:47:24 07/02/09 (0)
  Thanks for the tips!I plan on putting mine in our bedroom as it has the least amount of noise for dxing on a radio from trying it in the past with other radios and Recievers on the AM as well as shortwave bands!Brian
I used to. - soundnut 04:37:56 07/02/09 (1)
Still have my old Hammarlund HQ-140X, which is a great old receiver, but since I have this tree that's constantly dropping big limbs on my outdoor longwire, I kinda got tired of fixing it constantly & more or less gave up.

Anyway, you got a good one. The Drake R8 was a top-rated receiver & supposedly had great fidelity. If I were going to listen to worldwide SW broadcasts, I'd probably refrain from listening through the stereo, since the stereo system will likely show all the many warts of shortwave reception.

There are some amplified indoor antennas, but I'm not sure how effective they'd be. If I could find a good one, or a really good small whip antenna to mount outside, I'd probably get one myself.

Cheers & have fun,
Bobbo :-)
- RE: I used to. - Brian McGowan 06:49:42 07/02/09 (0)
  Before I got the Internet,I use to listen to the shortwave on a Zenith Transoceaonic from the 70's!but now I can not wait to listen to the Drake
  R8 B!
Yup - danj 00:11:28 07/02/09 (2)
The Grundig gets a good workout most every night during the hot summer months......
- RE: Yup - Brian McGowan 07:02:34 07/02/09 (1)
  Having used a Zenith Transoceaonic for many years,I wanted to up grade at some point to the Grundig Satellite 800,which I guess Drake helped design.
  Well now I'll have up graded to the Drake R8 B.Which Grundig model are you using?
  - MY Grundig (pic) - 4season 19:10:50 07/05/09 (0)
    It was a pretty big job, but I did a full restoration, replacing every paper and electrolytic capacitor, and most of the tubes as well.
RE: Does anyone here at the Vintage Asylum listen to Shortwave? - Neff 19:54:28 07/01/09 (0)
I used to, but not of late.
Another ham here..... - doodlebug 15:32:53 07/01/09 (4)
and I used to listen to SW as a kid in the 60s but there's little out there today, IMHO. Many of the once powerful transmitters are now run by various religious stations carrying out their missions. I'm not saying that's good or bad but isn't my idea of SWLing anymore.

I don't get on as much as a ham as I used to mainly due to the traveling I do these days. I used to have the Heath, Halicrafters and Hammerlund gear back in the day. Today, I have the Yaesu FT-857 transceiver and do like to get on PSK31 when I can.

Brian, I'd suggest you check over at Eham.com as there are quite a few folks who will know much about how to restore that R8.

Cheers de KG6IRW,

David
- RE: Another ham here..... - Brian McGowan 17:33:36 07/01/09 (3)
  It does not need restoring,but thasnks for suggesting I check out Eham.com as will plan on doing just that later!Brian
  - RE: Another ham here..... - Michael Samra 10:23:29 07/02/09 (0)
    It does not need restoring..
    That radio will never need restoring unless you put it underwater..I think David was thinking of the R7 and even tho they are SS,they are pushing 35 yo and will need some attention but.Yours R8 is very solid.
    If the power supply waveform isn't pretty,neither is the sound in most cases.
  - I would re-cap it , and don't forget the alignment.. - AdamC 18:41:10 07/01/09 (1)
    I wouldn't spend too much time & energy on hooking up to the hifi..Shortwave & ham stuff is not very audiophile sounding.
    Look around for a matching Drake speaker..
    If you are in Connecticut, I'd be happy to take a look at it for you...
    .
    The trouble with doing nothing, is that you can't tell when you are finished.
    - RE: I would re-cap it , and don't forget the alignment.. - Brian McGowan 19:12:49 07/01/09 (0)
      It is under 10 years old and worked just fine in a smoke free home before it was put away a year ago in the bedroom closet!At some point I would think of sending it back to Drake for a tune up or at least some other place that was in my home state of Wis.
RE: Does anyone here at the Vintage Asylum listen to Shortwave? - JonM 15:03:38 07/01/09 (1)
The Drake is a nice receiver. I used to be an avid SW listener - as a kid with a homemade Heathkit receiver, I was a member of the Radio Australia Listener's Club, and always enjoyed getting mail from Radio Peking (the bennies from sending in QSL cards :-) As an adult I could afford "better" rigs (Icom, Kenwood, even a JRC), but none was as much fun as that old Heathkit.

I am not sure that connecting your Drake to a hi fi system is a good idea. What I think you'll find is it reproduces all the noise in SW reception, much of which is outside the voice band and only serves to interfere with your listening. What actually may work better is a speaker that is tuned to emphasize the mid frequencies - i.e., voice - or a narrowband filter on the receiver's output to filter out the noise before it gets to your amp. I know JRC used to make such a speaker, and I have to imagine that other ham radio manufacturers do too. You may decide the speaker in the Drake is good enough, which certainly simplifies things :-)

As for an antenna, since you won't be transmitting, you can experiment with almost anything. If your building is steel and concrete, don't expect much from an indoor antenna, but the only way you'll know is to experiment. Try stretching your antenna wire horizontally, perpendicular to the direction the signals will be coming from (typically in the US that means the wire is stretched north-south). Try moving it around and reorienting it - international broadcasters often lease transmitter space geographically near their target audience, so the signal may not actually come from the the direction of the originating country. You can also try mounting it vertically - it may not pick up signals with as much strength, but it may pick them up from more directions.

I wouldn't bother with an antenna amplifier - your Drake is sensitive enough that it'll make the most of what comes out of the antenna, and an amplifier will only serve to increase RF noise and possibly overload your receiver's front end.

I used to really enjoy listening to SW - I've been meaning to take one of my radios out of storage and get back into it, and maybe now I will. I'm a licensed ham, too, but listening comes more naturally to me than talking - it's just my personality - so being an SWL (shortwave listener) has always been fun to me. And who knows - you may get bitten by the bug and decide to go for your ham license. (Since the FCC got rid of the morse code requirement, it's much easier than it used to be to get on the air.)
- RE: Does anyone here at the Vintage Asylum listen to Shortwave? - Brian McGowan 17:41:39 07/01/09 (0)
  It has always been fun for me too listening to Shortwave as well as distant AM stations,but then I got lazy when I found out I could listen to
  the BBC and other world stations on the internet along with many AM stations such as WLW,WCCO,WLS,etc! But now that I'll be getting what I have been told is 1 of the best Multiband Recievers of all time and in near mint condition,I'm starting to get excited again in listening to Shortwave once more the old fashion way!Brian
Not only do I listen to shortwave but I talk on shortwave - Michael Samra 14:24:46 07/01/09 (11)
on 40 meters and 75 meters AM phone..My call is N8TPI and you can hear us in nightly QSOs many times on 3.880 mhz AM and 7.250mhz..I also talk slop bucket ( lower side band) on ocassion when I feel like talking to Idiots but thats usually to piss them off because us AMers are using more band space and they keep whining.
Your R8a is one nice receiver.If you want to sell it,let me know as you have a buyer..I have the drake twins R4b and Tx4b and I have an R4c..I also have a Drake TR3 which is a total POS but it does receive well when the bands are open.
If the power supply waveform isn't pretty,neither is the sound in most cases.

Edits: 07/01/09 07/01/09 07/01/09
- Michael, what are you using on AM? - Neff 19:57:07 07/01/09 (7)
  Johnson 500 or Globe King? Collins R390A or 51J4?
  - RE: Michael, what are you using on AM? - Michael Samra 10:15:52 07/02/09 (6)
    Neff
    You got the 390a right and I am using a Johnson Viking Valliant..I also use a Hallicrafters Ht44 and a Heathkit Apache that I plate modulated.
    I would love a Globe king and I almost had a KW1 collins.
    If the power supply waveform isn't pretty,neither is the sound in most cases.
    - I just like tubes in about everything......... - Neff 11:06:19 07/03/09 (2)
      Johnson Valiant is a bargain. I believe three 6146 modulated by two 6146 or is that 807s? 150 watt plate modulated carrier- sweet.
      
      R390A- simply a serious 'machine' for AM. The R390 with five stages of I.F. using 6BJ6s(no mechanical filters) produces wonderful sounding AM receive. I have built PP 6AK5 amp right in the stock audio module for these Collins- looked factory stock.
      
      Drake R7A is a serious receiver for AM & shortwave listening too. Have a ball..............
      - RE: I just like tubes in about everything......... - Michael Samra 18:16:09 07/05/09 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: I just like tubes in about everything......... posted by Neff on July 03, 2009 at 11:06:19
        
        Neff
        You know your gear.It is the pair of 6146s driving the trice of 6146s..The viking two is the 807s driving a pair of 6146s..I want to crank my viking 2 up..I want to get my bc610d up and running..Its so dam heavy but at least its upstairs in my heated garage.
        If the power supply waveform isn't pretty,neither is the sound in most cases.
        
        If I was an AMer..... - Neff 11:11:42 07/07/09 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: I just like tubes in about everything......... posted by Michael Samra on July 05, 2009 at 18:16:09
        
        I would own a Johnson 500 & Hallicrafters SX 88. I used to listen to the 3898 group years ago on SSB and AMers in the 1960s. I owned a BC-348 at age 11.
    - Another AM'er Here - Rick B 21:58:53 07/02/09 (2)
      Boy, I haven't been on the air with AM in years...not since too very long after Ozona Bob, W5PYT, and Sulphur John passed away...there was a whole bunch of us here in Texas that used to populate 3880...now, all the old timers I knew are all SK's...I wonder whatever happened to Astabula Bill and Boraxo John...and what about Otis...
      Ah well, I still have the Barker and Williamson built 1951 BC-610-I and Collins 32V-2 as transmitters and a rack with a 51S-1, 51J-4, R390/URR, and R390A/URR with Hammarlund SPC-10 sideband slicer, and an HQ-180A sitting just to the side of the rack, all hooked up to a Westinghouse KM-2 antenna mutlicoupler (FILLED with Amperex 6922's!) and a Johnson automatic turnover switch...using either the 610 or the 32V mutes all the receivers, so I can use whatever I want whenever I want...
      The two other facts of Hamming that I really enjoyed were the Molniya orbit satellites AO-10 and AO-13...still have the Yaesu FT-736R and AZ-EL antennas set up for them...too bad they're gone...that and RTTY, ran in the RTTY Roundup a few times just to run it and not really score...used my FT-990 and Alpha 76P...
      But I used to listen to SW a LOT, I even have a Sony SW-77 and ICF-2010 sitting in the bottom dresser drawer in the bedroom...I'm an insomniac and used to listen every night to drift off to sleep...sometimes to my Ham buddies, sometimes to the Beeb...but most of what I used to listen to is no longer there...Radio Tirana...the big Soviet propaganda stations...Swiss Radio international...Deutsch Welle....now I have to listen to them over the Internet if I want to hear them...I guess I started in about 1964 or 65, back when there were really a lot of things on SW to listen to...now, with the costs associated with running megawatts of ERP, most broadcasters have either ceased operation or moved to other venues, like the Internet...
      Oh well...things change....
      And, the Drake R-8A is a great receiver...I have a Universal Radio tweaked R-7A hooked up with a TR-7A, a "C" Line, and a TR-4, more pieces of any brand of radio gear I have excepting Collins...always wanted an R-8, but ended up with an Icom R-71A instead...
      DE KI5SL
      Cold War Radio (Open in New Window)
      Edits: 07/02/09
      - RE: Another AM'er Here - Michael Samra 18:42:25 07/05/09 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: Another AM'er Here posted by Rick B on July 02, 2009 at 21:58:53
        
        Rick
        you have lots of nice vintage AM gear also..I didnt know Barker built BC610s..I thought that contract was to Hallicrafters exclusively..One of my R390a's was built by motorola.I see you have the portable versions of the 390as..I have a BC610 and I have ai all set to go.I cant do 10M on it but I don't care as I find plenty of frequencies to 20mhz that it does do..Anyway in the last sunspot cycle,10m never seemed to open up.
        If you want to dump your 32v-2,let me know.
        If the power supply waveform isn't pretty,neither is the sound in most cases.
        
        RE: Another AM'er Here - Rick B 21:41:34 07/06/09 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: Another AM'er Here posted by Michael Samra on July 05, 2009 at 18:42:25
        
        Hey, Michael,
        
        Now, the R390/URR is just what's on the nomenclature tag, it's the "real deal" Collins built 390 with the LC filters vs. the mechanical filters in my R390A/URR built by EAC...plus, I have another 390 and another 390A out in the garage along with a Hallicrafters R274 and a Collins R388...
        
        That's just the AM specific stuff...SSB includes Omni V; FT-990; two Alphas, one 76P and one 76A; TR-7A/R-7A/RV-7; T-4XC/R-4C; 32-S3/75S-3; KWM-2 w/30L-1 & remote VFO...HF-380...
        
        Plus I have 4 KWM-2A's that need restoration (one is a Rockwell, two are Round Emblem, one Wing Emblem), three 75A-4's, a couple of 75A-3's...HRO-60T, NC-183D...a National RCP...
        
        And yes, Barker and Williamson did build 610's...the big difference is that the paint finish on the B&W is black wrinkle vs. that plain flat black on Hallicrafters built 610's...mine was actually gone over by John Mohn, W5MEU now SK, before I bought it to re-tune the output of the transmitter to 50 Ohms allowing coax to be used with it...and it has never, ever missed a beat, it in as near mint condition as anything nearly 60 years old can be...I have a Hallicrafters HA-10 VFO hooked up to it so that I can tune where I want to be...but, I have never used it on any band by 75...the 32V-2 is much easier to use on the higher bands...and, I don't know if I can find my coil/tuning sets for 20m anyway....been so long...trouble is that the big bottles in that rig, and all the tubes in any of the receivers along with the antenna multicoupler can easily over-ride my home's AC unit on even a moderately warm day (and here in Texas we call that Winter) and I really only feel like firing them up in the dead of winter when it will keep the central heat from having to come on!
        
        I have lusted over the original Hallicrafters HT-4's Art Deco style, but I believe that the G and later versions of the 610 are actually more friendly to maintain due to the more modular nature of their chassis assemblies...which is why John advised me to take the I model and not the E model he also had...
        
        I got the 32V-2 as a replacement for a Heathkit Apache...it is a much better radio than the Heathkit ever thought about being...
        
        I did used to be really active in AM'ing, but it's been over 10 years since I fired the things up and got on with them...and as I said, most of the fellows I used to hang around with are now SK's...and heck, I'm not THAT old, 57, but I sure have lost a lot of buddies along the way...
        
        Man, I gotta get rid of some of these boatanchors!!!
- RE: Not only do I listen to shortwave but I talk on shortwave - Brian McGowan 14:40:34 07/01/09 (2)
  Hi,Michael Samra! I was hoping you would responsed! I remember you saying you are a Ham operator! I have been listening to Shortwave and Ham radio for years on my Zenith Transoceanonic from 1973 and I later bought a
  Radio Shack DX 375 cause the price was right and it had digital tuning.I do not plan to ever sell it but could use some advice on either building or buying an Indoor Antenna for it!Also do you think I'll need to use an external speaker?I have several vintage headphones that I use with my other 2 Shortwave radios and have found out that when listening to faint distant signals nothing beats a good set of headphones!Thanks again for responding so quick!Brian
  - RE: A Pair of Rabbit Ears Should Suffice ... - FRG7SWL 15:42:25 07/01/09 (1)
    ... in snagging any available signals, Brian. Just remember there's a lot of digital rfi nowadaze, which this qth suffers from in over-abundance. You can plug your Drake R8B into your hi-fi rig, & enjoy enticin' fidelity from those stations who still maintain their transmitters. Have done so for three-plus decades(currently utilizing a Carver MXR-130 Receiver, which gets astounding audio from ICOM R-75 & Sony ICF-2010, though both are rumoured to deliver less-than-stellar sonics), & you'll be amazed by how good some of Michael Samra's angel music(as SoCal'r K(W?)6LGL calls amplitude modulation) brethren sound. Some use modded Collins transmitters from back in radio's hey day. Since today's the first Wednesday of the month, if you park on 3.880 Mhz, you should be able to listen to the monthly Collins A.M. Net from coast-to-coast, propogation permitting.
    - Glenn Hauser's World of Radio (Open in New Window)
    - RE: A Pair of Rabbit Ears Should Suffice ... - Brian McGowan 17:27:49 07/01/09 (0)
      Thanks for all the info!I read on the Internet that some people have had good luck using an old 300 ohm FM Dipole antenna like I'm using now on my Fisher for FM for an indoor Shortwave antenna.Also thank you for reminding me about the Rabbit Ears as back in the mid 70's Sony's Color Trintron TV's had an interesting
      set of Rabbit ears that came with them sets.I used a set of those years back on different portable Shortwave radios I had and it worked very well on most shortwave Bands where as other rabbit ears did not do as good!Go figure!I'll have to look in my storage bin to see if I still have them or if I gave them away.
      
      Edits: 07/01/09

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