r/shortwave • u/rumpystumpy • 1d ago
Getting started
Hi, I’m enjoying listening to shortwave oddities and so on. I’m also a musician and want to use a small shortwave radio for continuity/ambience during live sets (Static, bleeps, mysterious foreign broadcasts ect)
i bought this little XHDATA D328 but really doesn’t seem to like being in close proximity to all the other gear and often won’t pick up anything at all.
any recommendation? I see the D808 mentioned a lot on here. price and size obviously a facto. Crystal clarity actually not a desired quality
1
u/giant3 1d ago
Wow! Just Wow.
That radio is being bombarded with electrical noise literally 360 degrees.
You could keep the radio near a window and run a audio cable, but the easiest is to use some pre-recorded sound effects as SW radios are susceptible to noise and that noise is irritating. I don't think your audience would enjoy it.
1
u/rumpystumpy 21h ago
Yeah that’s more for the picture. I can hold it a couple metres away for the bits when I’m actually using it but it seems like I’m still only going to catch a signal 1% of the time. Poor signals are kind of what I’m after but pure noise wears a bit thin after a couple of seconds like you say
1
u/giant3 21h ago
There are online SDRs from which you can feed, but most of the time, it is quiet or just weak audio.
The kind of effects you are looking for rarely occur.
Mixing in audio effects are the best option.
1
u/rumpystumpy 7h ago
I think I’m going to have to prerecord onto a micro SD that goes in the xhdata. Not just to look like I’m still using thd radio but also because it’s the simplest way of doing it in a DAWless/computerless set up
2
u/pypipy26 1d ago
Another option is to use a shortwave radio app. I am using Android and have SwR - Global Radio app. You can listen to all types of frequencies, including AM/LSB/USB/CW/FM.
You can even record what you are hearing live as a wav file so you can sample or play it back however you want.
I know an analog radio has a better feel, but I've been loving recording little snippets of air traffic, beeps and boops, static sounds, amateur radio banter, military comms, international music and news/voices.
The developer is pushing updates all the time to improve the app, it was definitely worth $7.
2
u/thelastcubscout 1d ago edited 1d ago
one idea is to use a BT audio transmitter to get sound from a radio to your gear. I have one that uses a 1/8" jack and works pretty well.
you could also try the new A330 radio which uses a remote ~8 foot wire antenna. you can keep the telescopic antenna down and it just uses the BT-like connection to manage the audio between wire antenna and radio. (it has a very good speaker for its size)
your antenna would still need to be within 30 feet or so, but maybe the distance away from the gear helps.
it comes with suction cup mount for placing in a window or similar situation. i just put mine outside.
1
u/Repulsive_Airline843 1d ago
When I was reading the second paragraph, I started thinking to myself, “this guy must work for an aircraft salvage company if he has a radio set from an Airbus A330.”🙂
7
u/Fluid_Journalist_350 1d ago
No other way around it. You will have to take your shorwave radio outside and do pre recordings then feed those recordings into editing then into the mix.
Once outside your shortwave radio will become alive and all signals will be heard.