Introduction

The above table highlights some of the major differences between shortwave broadcasters (using AM) and most amateur radio shortwave stations, which use single-sideband, morse code, or digital modes like radioteletype (RTTY). Only a handful of amateur radio nostalgia fans use AM on amateur radio bands today. As a result, amateur radio receivers are likely to be optimized for stable SSB/CW reception, with AM reception as an after-thought. In fact, many amateur radio receivers receive AM by treating it like single-sideband, precisely tuning in the AM signal and listening to one of the AM sidebands. Conversely, many shortwave listener's receivers may have NO provision for receiving single-sideband, RTTY and digital modes, or morse code (cw).

So if you intend to listen to more than just the major AM shortwave broadcasters (e.g., BBC), you need to look for a receiver which can receive SSB/CW. Narrower filters for SSB/CW reception are also useful, though there are some external audio filters which can provide narrower response. The optimal place for a narrow bandwidth filter is inside the radio (e.g., in the IF section). You currently have to buy high end shortwave receivers to get both optimal wide bandwidths for shortwave AM broadcast reception and narrower bandwidths for SSB/CW reception.

Best Buys in Dual Use Shortwave Radios

The main reason for writing this page is to share the good news about a series of very low cost shortwave+ radio receivers coming out of China. These SWL receivers are made by Degen, but often marketed under other names, particularly Kaito, in the USA and overseas markets. What makes them exceptional is the high performance at a low price (under $50 US$), which includes SSB/CW reception capabilities! Many experienced shortwave listeners rate the performance of these under $50 radios rather well against models from Sony and others costing five or more times as much (i.e., $250-300+)!

The USA version of the Degen DE-1102 (Kaito KA-1102) has a battery recharger that is compatible with our 110 Volt A/C lines and U.S. power sockets. The FM stereo and AM band segments are also setup to match the U.S. frequency allocations (versus Europe or China). You can also select from either the silver or black finish models at the same price on Ebay. The European/Asian version will have the wrong (220 volt) power adapter and different startup band configurations. You can buy a power adapter, but the extra cost ($15+ S/H) is easily avoided by buying the USA version on Ebay.

Why is the Kaito model nearly double the price of the same model on Ebay? You are paying for a U.S. based importer to import and support (i.e., advertise) these radios in the USA market. With a Kaito model, you are sure to get the USA power adapter (110 volt model) and USA AM/FM band startup settings. If you have a problem, you are sending the radio back to the USA importer's address, not the Ebay seller (in China). That extra convenience may be worth doubling the cost to many buyers, but most students will likely opt for the cheaper direct import via EBAY option.

Benefits of DE-1103 over DE-1102:
• DE-1103 covers 0.1-30 Mhz versus DE-1102's .522-1.710 Mhz AM band, 3-30 Mhz
• DE-1103 covers the Low Frequency Bands, .1 to .5 Mhz - beacons, thunderstorm "growlers" etc.
• both models cover up through the full 10 meter amateur radio band (29.7 Mhz), unlike many shortwave receivers
• DE-1103 covers the 160 meter medium-wave amateur radio band (1.8 Mhz), while DE-1102 doesn't (w/o keyboard tricks)

The down side of the Degen DE-1103 is the user interface is a bit clunky, per many user reports. The biggest sin is the lack of a direct volume control. Volume is set digitally, either by putting in a code from 0 to 63, or by some keystrokes and turning the analog dial knob to pick a desired volume level. The simplest solution to this is to use a volume control headphone, as I usually do for night listening anyway. These headphones have a slider switch which can reduce the volume to a comfortable level without having to pick up the radio at all.

Another major glitch is the large LCD interface doesn't display some of the extended frequency ranges of the Degen DE-1103. You can listen in to those frequencies, but the LCD won't display them in its analog dial format. The frequency step size is 1 khz, without the option of a faster 5 khz step size as on the earlier DE-1102 model. The final glitch is the large LCD doesn't leave room for a big set of keys or a keypad. Instead, the keys are rather small, under the big LCD screen, and not ergonomically as well setup as the Degen DE-1102.

Don't expect to see a Degen DE-1104. Why not? My Chinese friends tell me the number 4 is very unlucky in China, so such model numbers are often skipped. However, there is already a new Degen DE-1105 model being tested in China. But the Degen DE-1105 is not due in the USA market until October 2004. If you can wait those four months out, you might get an even better shortwave receiver in the new Degen DE-1105, probably at a modestly higher price than the current Degen DE-1103. By then, of course, we will be hearing about the Degen DE-1106 ;-)

We should also note that Degen is very aggressive in their marketing and price cutting. The relatively new (in July 2004) Degen DE-1103 USA export version has already dropped 25% in its Ebay pricing, and is within $10 or so of the cost of the earlier Degen DE-1102. This approach is very different from the Japanese (e.g., Sony) and European vendors (e.g., Grundig), who often charge rather more for newer models with even modestly better features than their older offerings.

My expectation is that Degen will continue to refine their shortwave receiver line, adding features like extended coverage, more bandwidth filtering options, and a better user interface over the next year or so. One side effect is that prices for used shortwave receivers seem to be dropping on EBAY lately too. So even if you don't opt to buy one of these Degen made shortwave receivers, you may benefit from its impact on the price of other used shortwave receivers.

The good news is that you can now buy a digital "dial" or frequency counter for circa $40 which has preset offsets to match various receivers, including my Drake R4-B and various Collins receivers. On many of these higher end radio receivers, the existing analog dials are already able to readout to the nearest kilohertz quite easily. You may need to calibrate the dial at the start of your listening session, but it just takes a few seconds to do so. But if you really want a digital dial, or actually need one (as on an older tube based Hallicrafter model), the cost of going digital is relatively modest.

The reason the earlier R4B receiver is considered "better" than the later and more sensitive R4C model for shortwave use is simple too. The R4B has passband tuning that works with both SSB/CW and AM reception modes. The later R4C passband tuning only works with SSB/CW modes, unless you have certain modifications made (see online radio modification libraries for details). You can also replace the tube audio output and make other tweaks which will improve the already very good performance of this classic radio too. Since you can find Drake R4 series receivers in working condition for $100-150+, they may well be the best potential shortwave receiver you can buy. A recent article in QST (May or June 2004 IIRC) describes building a digital synthesizer to replace the costly crystal pack used to vary the frequency ranges of the Drake R4 series receivers on the shortwave bands. Finally, with a Drake T4X series transmitter and speaker/power supply, you can have a matching transmitter that also transceives or works split frequencies with the Drake R4 series receivers. Now you will understand why some of us are laying in a supply of tubes to keep these older radios running!

The bad news is that such digital dials and frequency counters put out a lot of radio noise from their operation. I was surprised to learn that my original Panasonic RF-2200 shortwave receiver is regarded as a better receiver than the later Panasonic RF models (RF-2900..). In large part, this is due to the analog operation producing less digital "noise" than the digital dial equipped later models! So if you think digital dials and later models are always better, you may be missing out on some better performing radio receivers too.

Negative Surprises from Pocket Super-Receivers

Sorry, but these radios are reported to work really, really badly on shortwave reception. They are basically wide ranging VHF/UHF scanners which can be coaxed to receive frequencies below 30 Mhz too. The sensitivity is often so poor that you can barely receive any shortwave broadcasters, even the most powerful. Forget about weaker stations and amateur radio uses. Just look at that tiny flexible rubber antenna to understand what frequencies they are really intended to be used upon.

Negative Surprises about Direct Conversion and AM Receiver Kits

Still, many of us would prefer to get a radio receiver with fewer image and better overload performance. Usually this means the better portable QRP receivers are superhets, just like the main station receivers, just smaller. The costs of a single band QRP transceiver using a superhet may be very close to the cost of a main station receiver with similar performance.

Conversely, you can build an AM shortwave radio kit (like my Ramsey Electronics SR-1). Here the cost for a limited one band kit radio is about the same as the cost of a digitally synthesized all-band shortwave receiver like the Degen DE-1102 (i.e., $40+). Yikes! A better all-band shortwave receiver kit from various kit sources often start around $100, and that is an analog dial model. In other words, the low cost Degen and similar shortwave radio receivers offer a lot more performance at a lot lower cost than even build-it-yourself kit projects.

I am not saying that building your own shortwave radio receiver is not worth doing - just that you won't save money doing so. My first electronics project was a three tube superhetrodyne, super-regenerative shortwave receiver using plug-in coils. The circuit came from my Boy Scout merit badge for electronics. As recommended, I used an old aluminum baking pan as the base or chassis of my radio receiver. I am still amazed today that it worked at all, let alone as well as it did! The super-regenerative design meant that the receiver was very sensitive, and able to pull out signals that would be much weaker on other radios. Unfortunately, today's radio bands are much more crowded than in the past, so such a simple radio would be a poor performer under current conditions. But checking EBAY, you will see that unassembled kits (e.g., Heathkits) often bring more money than fully assembled, tested, and working kit models. Building your own radio receiver can be a lot of fun, and very educational too.

Negative Surprises in Amateur Radio Transceivers with General Coverage Shortwave Features

Shortwave receivers from the 1950s and 1960s were generally tube based general coverage receivers which could be used on the amateur radio bands. Many amateur radio users used crystal controlled transmitters, with more variable frequency oscillator equipped stations as time went on. Some amateur band only tube receivers began to supplant the larger general coverage models (e.g., my Mosley CM-1 smaller 8-tube receiver, which used the same tube throughout). In the late 1960s and 1970s, increasing use of transistors made compact amateur band only receivers and transceivers very popular (e.g., Heathkit SB301, Yaesu FT101b). Amateurs usually had to buy a separate shortwave receiver (such as my Panasonic RF2200) to acquire general coverage shortwave capabilities for their station. A few amateur band receivers and transceivers could be used, with expensive crystal packages and switching, on a number of shortwave bands too (e.g., Drake R4B, Collins KWM-2a). Finally, amateur radio transceivers with digital dials and direct digital synthesizers again made it easy and low cost to provide general coverage shortwave receiving features as a low cost feature for modern digital amateur radio transceivers.

Unfortunately, the general coverage features were often rather less performance than you might have expected. One reason was the phase noise from the digital frequency synthesizer and phase lock loop used in these radios. The digital chips also generated a lot of noise too. Check out the ARRL Equipment Buyer's Guide from 1991 for specifications of many of the transceivers featuring a general coverage option from this period. You can see that some of these models generated so much phase shift and digital noise that they performed worse than earlier models.

The result was a predictably poor performance of these radio transceivers when used as a general coverage shortwave receiver. Again, the reviews in QST and reprinted in the ARRL Equipment Buyer's Guide (1991) show how poorly these radios often worked when tested for QST reviews. Not until several development cycles and models later did these digital phase and noise sources get fully mastered and controlled.

You can't win! If you try to buy a mid-price used amateur radio transceiver with general coverage features, you get a decent transceiver but a marginal performing shortwave receiver. If you buy a high end and more modern radio transceiver, you get better performance, but at a price that is more than a good transceiver plus great shortwave receiver combined. So this is a case where two radios are cheaper than one, especially if one of them is a modest cost shortwave receiver that also can do some amateur radio SSB/CW monitoring (e.g., $50-ish DE-1103).

I am not saying that there aren't any amateur radio transceivers which are serious contenders for top shortwave reception honors. For example, our SMU amateur radio club's ICOM-781 features a general coverage receiver running from 0.1 to 30 Mhz. But you would expect pretty decent performance on all modes in a $6,000 radio (1988 dollars too, more like $10,000 today!). In the case of our ICOM-781, the radio receiver has wide band AM filters, plus a narrow band AM filter option, plus a variety of multi-IF passband controls, notch filters, attenuators, and related receiver features. The ICOM-781 even has its own spectrum analyzer display screen! But such a super-radio is serious overkill for casual shortwave listening. I also have to wonder how many power-up cycles we have left, and given the cost and difficulty of repairs, whether it is worthwhile to use them for listening to Radio Netherlands? For this reason, I am recommending that we consider getting a nice used portable shortwave receiver - one we can also use when promoting shortwave listening as an entry point to amateur radio too!

Conclusions and Recommendations

My own plans have also changed during the course of this research. I had originally planned to recycle my Panasonic RF-2200 due to a blown speaker (which costs $75+ for replacement parts, more than the radio is worth?). Now I will do some limited repairs and keep it. I picked up a variac and some test gear to refurbish my long stored Drake "twins", an R4B receiver and T4XB transmitter, speaker, and power supply. I may build the crystal pack replacement digital synthesizer in the recent (May or June 2004?) QST article. The result will be a "competition" grade shortwave receiver that also works great on all the current amateur radio bands (including WARC). But I still need, and can justify buying at $50, a portable shortwave receiver that can also monitor the amateur radio shortwave bands, including receiving SSB and CW nets in an emergency.

So what will be your excuse? ;-) Will it be the need to listen in to overseas developments and news? Will you use your portable shortwave receiver to learn morse code, or monitor emergency nets when away from home? Do you need to work on your foreign language skills, or learn more about another culture for school? Maybe you just are bored with local news, and want the odd bit of foreign news and opposing views available on shortwave bands? Whatever reason you choose, I hope you have some ideas and options on where to go to realize those needs and goals. Good Luck!