Shortwave? Yes, I do.

December 28, 2007 6:33 PM

So, I got a shortwave radio for Christmas, and I've already picked up a weird signal....

On 400 kHz, every 3 seconds, I hear "R O" being broadcast in morse code. Any idea what this could be? My first thought was that it could be a nautical / airplane buoy of some sort, since I live in ROchester, NY, but I don't know where I could look something like this up.

Also, to threadjack my own thread.... any ideas how I can improve reception across the board of all stations. My radio came with a retractable cord antenna extender thingy, but is there something else I could try?

posted by fvox13 to Science & Nature (7 answers total)

Not sure exactly what that signal is, but as for general reception the Sony 7600 series is generally excellent, so you are in good hands. As for improving reception, I highly recommend Sony's AN-LP1 antenna. Unfortunately, they don't make them anymore, so you'd probably have to find one on eBay. They pop up there fairly regularly and you can usually pick one up from Japan for about $100.
posted by dhammond at 6:47 PM on December 28, 2007

What is sounds like is an NDB, a Non-Directional Beacon for air navigation, and the frequency is correct.

A little research shows that it's a Outer Marker and Compass Locater -- a combined Outer Marker for an ILS approach and low powered NDB, on the ILS approach to Runway 28 at Greater Rochester Airport. In particular:

Outer marker information

Type: OUTER MARKER BEACON & COMPASS LOCATOR
Name: BREIT
Frequency: 400 kHz
Identifier: RO .-. ---
Location: 43-07-35.537N / 077-33-14.155W
4.5 nm (27290 ft.) from the approach end of runway 28
posted by eriko at 7:00 PM on December 28, 2007

Oh, yeah: Linky here!
posted by eriko at 7:01 PM on December 28, 2007

Although Usenet is basically a wasteland of spammers and flamers, there are still a few diamonds in that rough. One such place is rec.radio.shortwave. There are a lot of old-timers in there that will give you a lot of great technical information on DXing. Yeah, Shortwave isn't quite as prevalent as it once was, but it's a great hobby, if you're willing to chase those faint signals. Good luck!
posted by tcv at 8:06 PM on December 28, 2007

And in case you don't know what tcv is talking about ... First, there's Usenet itself, which dates back to the early 80s; it required newsreader client software. In the mid 90s a massive collection of Usenet archives was set up by DejaNews for web browsing. Then in 2001 Google bought DejaNews and renamed it Google Groups. Here's the rec.radio.shortwave newsgroup. I won't go into how to post, that's harder. But you'll probably find your answers (many times over) just by searching. And, as most newsgroup do, they have a FAQ.
posted by intermod at 10:09 PM on December 28, 2007

Also, the guys in the Amateur Radio groups will be more than happy to talk to you about anything radio related, including your antenna. I got my license when I was fifteen after my uncle introduced me to it and it's a dying hobby since the net came about.
posted by cdmwebs at 11:05 PM on December 28, 2007

Thanks everyone!
posted by fvox13 at 12:10 AM on December 29, 2007