Radio receiver on board for listening to UK radio abroad

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BelleSerene

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I’ll be sailing abroad for a few weeks, out of UK VHF range, and the AM quality of the onboard radio and antenna will I’m sure be lousy. I’ll have countless hours of solo passage time. I have long wondered about getting a SW radio on board.

What should I get? Grundig Eton Satellit sort of thing? When I was a young man in Africa I had a Sony 7600 which I used to listen to the World Service.

Frankly it’s just for listening to. I could pay extra for an SSB radio which I could contrive to link to an iPad to receive Navtex synoptic charts, but honestly, the sea’s not that wide and the internet works on both sides.

Grateful for experiences and perspectives.
 
I had a Sony ICF 7600 DS back in the day. I just bought one of Ebay for 30 pound.
I did not manage to get WWV on it, in the UK. It did get the BBC though.
I also have a small Chinese one which I have on the boat.
 
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Got a new Tecsun PL-365 DSP (that's the SSB version) and a used Grundig/Eton G3 Globe Traveller. The Tecsun is quite okay and very compact, but the Grundig is better in every way, except the tuning knob keeps falling off (I just stick it back on).
 
BelleSerene said:
I’ll be sailing abroad for a few weeks, out of UK VHF range, and the AM quality of the onboard radio and antenna will I’m sure be lousy. I’ll have countless hours of solo passage time. I have long wondered about getting a SW radio on board.
[ .... ]
Grateful for experiences and perspectives.
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If you are hoping to listen to the BBC World Service you may be disappointed. The service on short wave radio was once received all over the world in many languages on multiple band frequencies and while cruising I would regularly listen, especially to the news and current affairs items, wherever I was, even in the most remote anchorages. For that I have a number of SW radios on board, including an excellent Lowe HF-150 that is still used regularly to keep abreast of current affairs when cruising. Unfortunately, no longer from the BBC but from other, less impartial, sources around the world.

That is because the BBC World Service transmissions on short wave were slowly reduced culminating in April 2008 when the transmitters used for European coverage were shut down, following many other world areas, including the entire North American continent in 2001. In the Mediterranean early morning reception can still be obtained from services beamed to the African continent - with programming of predominately African themes - when ionosphere conditions allow it - but at 08:00 GMT the power is reduced on those transmitters too and reception usually becomes suddenly, at exactly that time, drowned out in static.

The grounds given by the BBC for cessation of the European coverage was that alternative reception possibilities, such as the Internet, make short wave transmission unnecessary. However, clearly cost-saving is the primary motive, especially since the system of funding (directly from the Foreign Office by the grant-in-aid principle) was discontinued in 2014 and the service now has to be supported by the licence fee, a small government grant and the sale of content feed services to world-wide cable companies.

What is interesting is the way other countries are filling the gap left by the BBC (particularly with English-language content), knowing very well how programming on short wave radio can reach a large international audience, especially in isolated communities in undeveloped lands, to project not only their county's culture but also their government's policies and points of view. The noticeable player here is that emerging super power, China, whose China Radio International (CRI) can be received everywhere, on multiple frequencies and in many languages. Clearly an indicator of the shifting nuances of global power and influence.

.
 
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I spend a lot of time on the boat and in the car not being able to listen to Radio 4 so I have hundreds of Radio 4 programmes downloaded from the BBC website on a memory stick which I can play anywhere.

I currently have every episode of:

The Infinite Monkey Cage
Rutherford and Fry
Soul Music
Radio 4 on Music
Mastertapes

That lot alone probably adds up to 1000 hours of listening and it's all crystal-clear quality. :encouragement:

Richard
 
RichardS said:
I spend a lot of time on the boat and in the car not being able to listen to Radio 4 so I have hundreds of Radio 4 programmes downloaded from the BBC website on a memory stick which I can play anywhere.

I currently have every episode of:

The Infinite Monkey Cage
Rutherford and Fry
Soul Music
Radio 4 on Music
Mastertapes

That lot alone probably adds up to 1000 hours of listening and it's all crystal-clear quality. :encouragement:

Richard
Click to expand...

My strategy also, plus a month's worth of R4 and 4Extra downloaded on BBC iplayer radio.
 
Fully agree with Barnac1e. I used to listen to BBC on short wave in Greece but this became impossible a few years ago. Satellite radio hung on for a while but that has now gone. Cannot listen to any worthwhile sport on internet - 'not available in your area'. Don't know if there is an answer.
 
Barnac1e said:
If you are hoping to listen to the BBC World Service you may be disappointed. The service on short wave radio was once received all over the world in many languages on multiple band frequencies and while cruising I would regularly listen, especially to the news and current affairs items, wherever I was, even in the most remote anchorages. For that I have a number of SW radios on board, including an excellent Lowe HF-150 that is still used regularly to keep abreast of current affairs when cruising. Unfortunately, no longer from the BBC but from other, less impartial, sources around the world.

That is because the BBC World Service transmissions on short wave were slowly reduced culminating in April 2008 when the transmitters used for European coverage were shut down, following many other world areas, including the entire North American continent in 2001. In the Mediterranean early morning reception can still be obtained from services beamed to the African continent - with programming of predominately African themes - when ionosphere conditions allow it - but at 08:00 GMT the power is reduced on those transmitters too and reception usually becomes suddenly, at exactly that time, drowned out in static.

The grounds given by the BBC for cessation of the European coverage was that alternative reception possibilities, such as the Internet, make short wave transmission unnecessary. However, clearly cost-saving is the primary motive, especially since the system of funding (directly from the Foreign Office by the grant-in-aid principle) was discontinued in 2014 and the service now has to be supported by the licence fee, a small government grant and the sale of content feed services to world-wide cable companies.

What is interesting is the way other countries are filling the gap left by the BBC (particularly with English-language content), knowing very well how programming on short wave radio can reach a large international audience, especially in isolated communities in undeveloped lands, to project not only their county's culture but also their government's policies and points of view. The noticeable player here is that emerging super power, China, whose China Radio International (CRI) can be received everywhere, on multiple frequencies and in many languages. Clearly an indicator of the shifting nuances of global power and influence.

.
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I'm not sure cost saving is the sole reason (well, it probably is most of the reason) - there has been an ongoing problem of finding the valves needed for AM & SW transmission. Stocks are running low, and no-one is committed to getting any more made, especially as we now have DAB which is amazing. Well, it's carp where I live in the middle of a city, but the guy that sold me the set assured me DAB is amazing, and if it isn't, it will be.

I have a little Roberts radio that receives SW, MW and VHF. The batteries appear to last for ever.
 
I use a small Degen wind up radio:
- short wave + FM & AM
- doubles up as a torch and USB charger

It's not as good as the Sony Pro-80 that I used to have, and doesn't have SSB,
 
vyv_cox said:
.. Cannot listen to any worthwhile sport on internet - 'not available in your area'. Don't know if there is an answer.
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Use Firefox or Chrome and install a VPN proxy add-on - it makes your computer appear to be located elsewhere .. so UK for BT Sport and iPlayer
(and because you're piping all your traffic through someone else's connection, it makes sense to disable it when doing sensitive stuff like online banking).
 
I am currently in S. Brittany listening to R4 weather forecast on a cigarette sized Robert portable that I have had for about 30 years.

(Now "Home Front".....)
 
vyv_cox said:
Fully agree with Barnac1e. I used to listen to BBC on short wave in Greece but this became impossible a few years ago. Satellite radio hung on for a while but that has now gone. Cannot listen to any worthwhile sport on internet - 'not available in your area'. Don't know if there is an answer.
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If you've got access to the internet over 3G/mobile broadband then you presumably have access to all the UK radio and TV stations but I thought this thread was more about what to do when you are out of sight of land and can't pick up a mobile signal.

Richard
 
RichardS said:
If you've got access to the internet over 3G/mobile broadband then you presumably have access to all the UK radio and TV stations but I thought this thread was more about what to do when you are out of sight of land and can't pick up a mobile signal.

Richard
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My experience in Greece and Spain is that we are hardly ever out of range of a mobile signal. Cosmote in particular are almost always able to provide one. But as usual the scope of the thread has widened from the OP's original post so I see no problem with my response (and I have learned something!)

But as I said, what you suggest is not true. Neither F1 nor World Cup were available via 5 live in Greece on internet, and neither are many news videos on BBC.
 
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vyv_cox said:
My experience in Greece and Spain is that we are hardly ever out of range of a mobile signal. Cosmote in particular are almost always able to provide one. But as usual the scope of the thread has widened from the OP's original post so I see no problem with my response (and I have learned something!)
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Absolutely no problem with your response, Vyv. Apologies if my wording suggested there was. :)

Richard
 
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