{"id":64257,"date":"2025-10-13T09:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=64257"},"modified":"2025-10-13T09:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:20:11","slug":"some-really-inexpensive-ways-to-perhaps-improve-your-shortwave-listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/some-really-inexpensive-ways-to-perhaps-improve-your-shortwave-listening\/","title":{"rendered":"Some really inexpensive ways to perhaps improve your shortwave listening"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just yesterday morning, I was reminded that sometimes really small things can make a significant difference SWLing. So here are some things that I found can make an improvement, particularly if you are using one of the modern shortwave portables with its whip antenna.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Turn off as many electronics as possible in the room where you are listening.<\/strong> Computers, scanners, LED lights and all sorts of other electronics can introduce digital \u201chash\u201d into the airwave near your radio. Turning them off may reduce the noise floor. Remember, we are all about improving signal-to-noise: we want more signal, less noise. Yesterday, I was trying to chase some English language broadcasts and found that turning off a nearby police scanner made a significant difference. If weather permits, moving outside can make a huge difference.<\/li>\n
  2. Feel free to move the whip antenna of your radio to different orientations<\/strong> such as horizontal and various points of the compass. Again, yesterday I was unable to hear one particular station with the whip antenna vertical, but when I lowered it to nearly horizontal and pointed toward the south, the station was audible.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    1. If you are just getting started, try using the search\/scan\/seek function <\/strong>of your radio to see what broadcasts it detects. Remember, though, that the seek function will reveal only what it can detect, so you might also try it with your antenna in different orientations. (See number 2 above.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      1. Try using a bigger antenna.<\/strong> If you radio came with an auxiliary roll-up antenna, try deploying it. One of my auxiliary antennas is designed so that the far end can be clipped to a curtain. Try different configurations and see which works best. If you radio didn\u2019t come with one, it is easy to improvise: get yourself 20 feet of insulated wire and an alligator clip. Attach the clip to the wire, then clamp the jaws of the alligator clip to the whip antenna on your radio. Try different configurations. The only hard and fast rule is: never, EVER, deploy an antenna where it can fall on a power line or a power line can fall on it. And, if you deploy your antenna outside be sure to haul it in when lightning threatens. Don\u2019t go nuts with the length of the wire . . . 20 feet will do. Carlos Latuff, whose radiofax and weatherfax interceptions often grace this blog, often uses a wire antenna that is just 3 meters long!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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          \n
        1. It is very useful to have a list of target frequencies<\/strong>, particularly since so many modern portables have a keypad that makes punching in a frequency as easy as using a calculator. I can highly recommend the charts produced by Harold Sellers of the Ontario DX Association. These include the World English Survey (a listing of English language broadcasts by time and frequency), Target Listening by Country, and Target Listening by Time. Just because a station is listed at a particular time on a particular frequency doesn\u2019t mean that you will be able to hear it, but I find it fun to punch in the numbers and discover what I can<\/em> You can be notified when each month\u2019s charts can be downloaded. They are posted to the ODXA Facebook Group files section and also on three IO Group files section: ODXA, World of Radio and CIDX.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          I hope these small suggestions will be of some help in making your listening better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Just yesterday morning, I was reminded that sometimes really small things can make a significant difference SWLing. So here are some things that I found can make an improvement, particularly if you are using one of the modern shortwave portables with its whip antenna. Turn off as many electronics as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,43],"tags":[10329,9323,4082],"class_list":["post-64257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-c-crane-cc-skywave-2","tag-jock-elliott-kb2gom","tag-shortwave-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-gIp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55033,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/checking-out-the-xiegu-gnr1-digital-audio-noise-filter\/","url_meta":{"origin":64257,"position":0},"title":"Checking out the Xiegu GNR1 Digital Audio Noise Filter","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"December 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Call me a retro-crank, an old-schooler, but part of the joy of listening to shortwave is that the signals sound like they have come from far away. There is nothing like hearing the music, the news, the commentary \u201cfiltered through the shortwaves\u201d . . . as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Accessories"","block_context":{"text":"Accessories","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/accessories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Xiegu-dsp-back-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Xiegu-dsp-back-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Xiegu-dsp-back-001.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Xiegu-dsp-back-001.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54404,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/sometimes-the-right-tools-lead-to-agreeable-results\/","url_meta":{"origin":64257,"position":1},"title":"Sometimes the right tools lead to agreeable results","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"October 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Listening to the HF ham bands can be a lot of fun. All you need is a shortwave receiver capable of receiving single sideband (SSB) transmissions and a chart of the amateur bands. You can find downloadable PDF charts of the United States Amateur Radio Band\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/bhi-shortwave-001-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/bhi-shortwave-001-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/bhi-shortwave-001-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64272,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/a-huge-difference\/","url_meta":{"origin":64257,"position":2},"title":"A HUGE difference . . .","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"October 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM It was a remark from Sebastian Schl\u00fcter in response to this post \u2013 https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/some-really-inexpensive-ways-to-perhaps-improve-your-shortwave-listening -- that sparked today\u2019s post. He said: If your RFI is really high, your best weapon is a magnetic loop antenna aka small receive loop. At home, my RFI is so high\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Loop-antenna-002-001-1024x669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Loop-antenna-002-001-1024x669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Loop-antenna-002-001-1024x669.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53468,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/07\/what-is-it-about-swling-that-keeps-you-coming-back-a-reader-participation-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":64257,"position":3},"title":"What is it about SWLing that keeps you coming back? 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First, I think Treasure Island ruined me as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Listener Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Listener Posts","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/listener-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MFJ-1045C-003-002-1024x627.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MFJ-1045C-003-002-1024x627.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MFJ-1045C-003-002-1024x627.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50891,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/jock-explores-the-essential-listening-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":64257,"position":4},"title":"Jock explores “The Essential Listening Post”","author":"Thomas","date":"November 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor,\u00a0Jock Elliott, who shares the following guest post: The Essential Listening Post By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Listening to shortwave radio (or any radio, for that matter) is just plain fun. So what do you need to get in on the fun? A radio. With today\u2019s crop of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Accessories"","block_context":{"text":"Accessories","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/accessories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/G12-SWLing-accessories-001-002.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/G12-SWLing-accessories-001-002.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/G12-SWLing-accessories-001-002.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/G12-SWLing-accessories-001-002.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/G12-SWLing-accessories-001-002.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58319,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/checking-out-some-headphones-for-dxing\/","url_meta":{"origin":64257,"position":5},"title":"Checking out BHI’s HP-1 and NCH headphones for DXing","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"December 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM As an oldster with a bit of hearing deficit, I am a big fan of anything that helps me to hear better when I am trying to tease out hard-to-hear signals, whether medium wave broadcast, shortwave broadcast, or single-sideband signals on the HF ham bands. 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