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If you want to get your foot in the door, an analog receiver for a couple dollars is adequate. 25 feet of wire is more than enough even for deaf tube receivers. After you get your feet wet you may want to upgrade to more expensive rig. I notice every time most of the people miss the facts:
1. Just started
2. Don't know anything
3. No money
Get your hands on what you can for as little as possible.
I strongly agree with the above. I started with an analog desktop radio (DX-160). Actually I had an analog portable (gasp!) for a month before that. I agree that if you're just starting in the hobby, you probably can't (or shouldn't) spend a lot of money before you decide if you want to continue in the habby.
IMHO, however, I think that a given amount of money can be better spent on say a used communications (desktop) receiver over a new portable radio. Even an analog communications receiver (if it has good and accurate tuning) might be "better".
I'll point one one thing that costs very little, and is far more important that what kind of receiver you have - what kind of *antenna* do you have? We all know that the best receiver in the world is terrible with a lousy antenna. For just a few dollars (barring any restrictions on outside antennas) you can toss up a 100ft longwire, which will generally blow away reception using a whip antenna. Which brings on one beef I have with portables - most of them overload when you connect an external antenna up to them.
I'm assuming that folks on this list don't want to listen to the BBC, they want to hear numbers stations. And if you're here in the USA, then besides V2 and a few of the E10 skeds, and maybe E3, you are going to need a fairly decent receiver and antenna to pick much up. Can you pick up other numbers stations with a portable? Sure, you probably can. when conditions are just right. But it is going to be a much more difficult talk.
While I am not trying to encourage the newcomer to spend $1k on a radio, I also don't want him to have false expectations of what stations he is going to pick up with a portable radio and whip antenna.
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--- Chris Smolinski Black Cat Systems http://www.blackcatsystems.com ______________________________________________________________ Spooks mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/spooks Help: http://mailman.qth.net/faq.htm Post: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - Visit http://www.spynumbers.com/ for complete information about Spy Numbers Stations
