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Nov. 28th, 2019
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Nov. 28th, 2019 11:40 pmSo with Linux back on the laptop, and with it running at full-speed, I still have a problem with having to keep it plugged in because it's not charging the battery (I'm not paying $75 for an AC Adapter that may not work due to Dell's stupid "planned obsolecence").
It's not actually a huge issue - I rarely use the laptop for anything other than the USB Radio (it's been mostly replaced with my Android, honestly). The downside is that with the AC plugged in, it adds so much noise that any shortwave listening is downright painful.
Tonight I took out my old hardware shortwave radio, took it outside, and tuned into all the shortwave stations I could get using it's three foot antenna. I managed weak connections with Colorado, Florida, Cuba and New Zealand. Indoors, I wasn't able to get New Zealand, but got everything else using a 75 foot longwire antenna with a LOT of AC Adapter induced static.
I think what I'm going to do, is keep the USB Radio for everything BUT AM/Shortwave (it picks up everything above 30MHZ just fine and the AC Adapter interference is filtered out).
I'm going to take the 75 foot longwire antenna and remove it from the cieling, and drape it outside when I want to use it, and clip it directly to the antenna on the shortwave radio (Which picks up everything from to 30MHz down to 150kHz).
If I'm able to get more stations with the built in antenna on the shortwave radio than I can on the USB Radio with 75 feet of wire, 75 feet of wire on the shortwave should work a TON better. Especially if I drape the wire outside when I plan to use it.
Hopefully.
I'll miss that waterfall display, though.
It's not actually a huge issue - I rarely use the laptop for anything other than the USB Radio (it's been mostly replaced with my Android, honestly). The downside is that with the AC plugged in, it adds so much noise that any shortwave listening is downright painful.
Tonight I took out my old hardware shortwave radio, took it outside, and tuned into all the shortwave stations I could get using it's three foot antenna. I managed weak connections with Colorado, Florida, Cuba and New Zealand. Indoors, I wasn't able to get New Zealand, but got everything else using a 75 foot longwire antenna with a LOT of AC Adapter induced static.
I think what I'm going to do, is keep the USB Radio for everything BUT AM/Shortwave (it picks up everything above 30MHZ just fine and the AC Adapter interference is filtered out).
I'm going to take the 75 foot longwire antenna and remove it from the cieling, and drape it outside when I want to use it, and clip it directly to the antenna on the shortwave radio (Which picks up everything from to 30MHz down to 150kHz).
If I'm able to get more stations with the built in antenna on the shortwave radio than I can on the USB Radio with 75 feet of wire, 75 feet of wire on the shortwave should work a TON better. Especially if I drape the wire outside when I plan to use it.
Hopefully.
I'll miss that waterfall display, though.