In-car radios
 

I plan to travel around Africa, India, Central Asia, China and Mongolia and want to get a car radio for a Landcruiser to pick up local stations and if possible BBC world service and other international English broadcasters.

Is it best to get a seperate short wave radio that can be used whilst on the move. Does short wave work when inside a travelling vehicle?

Is Long Wave available and worth getting?

Do local music stations broadcast on AM or FM or MW?

Any advise apreciated.

Cheers Tony (Radio Virgin)

i've never heard of an in car SW radio, although they /may/ be available.

out of interest, if you contact the BBC they'll send you a nice little leaflet with all the frequencies for the world service, for the whole world, free! i've got one, just need a SW radio now!!

BBC world service website

You could once get a German car radio that received short waves (and the usual MW/FM etc) (Becker) - don't know if they are still available. If you use short wave you'll also appreciate the much better reception using an aerial that is designed for short wave frequencies rather than Mw/fm. (Bosch used to make them)

My experience of mobile short wave reception is that it is painful - the continually varying signal strength and phase distortion (unless you use a modern independent side band receiver that avoids this problem) make for difficult listening.

A better system is to get a Worldspace set up (do a Google search for Worldspace). This is a direct satellite broadcast system that works all over Africa, Europe and beyond. You can receive the BBC world service and many other regional and local broadcasters. There may not yet be a car radio version available - it certainly was on the cards. There are also portable radios available for Worldspace now that you can use with an external magnetic sat antenna and feed the output through your usual car radio tape/cd input. You can usually receive LW/MW/FM on Worldspace radios.

In some parts of the world distances are too big to use FM, so regional stations may be relegated to wavebands like 120 or 90 or 60 metre bands (short wave). I don't know if Worldspace radios would receive these bands - I very much doubt it.

Probably your best choice is

Buy something like a Sony 7600 (as it once was) which receives everything except Worldspace) but the latest version with independent side band for MUCH better short wave reception (usable-ish in car)

AND/OR

If you are fussy about perfect reception go for Worldspace but accept a fewer number of broadcasters and possibly no short wave but perfectt reception.

For information on frequencies/countries you need a copy of the World radio and tv handbook - order one from your local bookshop.This will put you on the correct frequency for any country on the planet.

If you want any more info please email me.

Andrew

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Andrew.

[This message has been edited by Andrew Baker (edited 12 September 2004).]

[This message has been edited by Andrew Baker (edited 12 September 2004).]

[This message has been edited by Andrew Baker (edited 12 September 2004).]

Thank you very much indeed.

I will do a search, as suggested, on Worldspace and find out what side band is and report back.

Check out website for landyman. he travelled for around eighteen months in a landrover 101 (guess he likes the pain!) and used a worldspace radio. he gives some useful info on it on his site.

Hi Moggy
Thank you for the lead.
Landyman's site is full of detail. Using an FM modulator to route the headset output of an SW radio and a world radio through the aerial of the hi fi sounds interesting. He does not say which SW or world radio he is using. There are only a few world radios made and, in UK, some are discontiued. I am still looking for advise on brands and models.
Tony

Try

www.amisb.com (Korea)

www.radio-hundred.com (Thailand)

They both have dedicated mobile worldspace units with all the bits for modest money and can ship worldwide.

Andrew.

Andrew

The Korea link does not seem to work.

Do you have any experience of getting electronic stuff from Thailand? I presume there is some sort of import duty.

I would not feel relaxed about sending my credit card details to order things from Thailand.

Thanks anyway. Tony.

The link works here - if it asks you about Korean characters hit cancel and the page will appear.


I have never bought from Thailand, I think it's a secure site but haven't checked. I'm waiting to hear back from AMI so I can buy a receiver kit.

If there is any duty, it will be minimal.

Andrew.

I have now bought an Hitachi KH-WS1 WorldSpace Digital Receiver on ebay. Atleast, I have, if it arrives. I have been in contact with the seller and am pretty sure it will.

This radio has SW MW FM and Worldspace, but I believe the SW reception is only so so. This model is no longer made but they do come up on ebay.

Now I am looking for a SW radio receiver with independent side band. I have no idea which do and which don't have side band.

So, if anybody can recommend a good SW radio with indepedent side band I would be grateful, particularlly if it is the sort of thing I could get on ebay.

Sony ICF-SW7600GR is the current incarnation of the radio I mentioned earlier. Has ISB - it's the best.

Andrew.

eham.net [ http://www.eham.net/ ] has a great reviews section.

I bought a Sony ICF-SW07 a few years back, and I really like it. Overview here: http://tinyurl.com/4sekg (Sony UK), and an eham review here: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1985

Battery life is great, so is reception, the only problem with it is that it has 3 main components; the radio, the SW antenna, and the antenna cable. The SW antenna opens out to a quite large disc. That said, even with 3 components, it packs small.

Rgds,
Nick.

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Nick Taylor
www.exerro.com
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1996 BMW F650
1996 300 TDi 90
1997 NAS D90 ST #685
1998 Camel Trophy 110 CT47

Hello guys,

I've had very good results with SONY ICF-SW55 ( http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3408 ). It's small, robust and easy to operate and maintain. It has a built-in telescopic antenna and a conection for a wire antenna. I bought it the other day on ebay and never regretted paying half the sticker price :-)

BTW, does any one know a website with a good guide to English language broadcast frequencies (not only BBCW but also local stations) in Africa?

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Roman (UK)
www.overlandcruiser.info

[This message has been edited by Roman (edited 20 October 2004).]

[This message has been edited by Roman (edited 20 October 2004).]

Thanks for recommendations. I will be searching ebay.

The worldspace radio works well in Bristol UK. It locks on to stations in seconds with no wandering or interference. The range of free to air stations is limited, but includes BBC West Africa schedule and CNN. I particularlly like a station that plays the Quran non stop.