DX-392 PLL All-Band Portable Receiver with Cassette Recorder
(200-0219A/B) Hints, Tips & Frequencies Faxback Doc. # 39691
Listening Hints
Short-wave listening is a hobby with thousands of participants worldwide.
It requires no special knowledge or skills, but your enjoyment increases as
you gain experience and develop special listening techniques.
Reference Sources
Many books and magazines about short-wave listening are available through
your local library or news stand. Consult sources such as the World Radio
Handbook, Radio Amateur's Handbook, Passport to World Band Radio, Monitoring
Times and Popular Communications. These publications can help you learn
about the conditions that make long distance reception possible and provide
up-to-date listings for short-wave broadcasts in English and in other
languages.
Tape Tips and Techniques
The following suggestions will help you get the best performance from your
cassettes and cassette deck.
Storing Your Cassettes
Keep them away from excessive dust and dirt.
Do not expose them to moisture or high humidity.
Keep them away from strong magnetic fields that can be generated by other
electronic devices (transformers, motors and so on).
Store them in protective plastic containers. Your local Radio Shack store
offers a complete selection of tape storage containers.
Erasing Tapes
Each time you record on a cassette tape, the previous recording is auto-
matically erased.
If you want to erase a tape without making a new recording, load the tape
into the cassette compartment and press REC. The deck erases the tape as
the tape passes the record head. If you want to quickly erase a tape, you
might prefer to use a bulk tape eraser, available at your local Radio Shack
store. It erases both sides of an entire tape in a few seconds.
Accidental Erasure Prevention
All cassettes have erase-protection tabs. When in place, these tabs let you
record on the tape. Once you remove these tabs, you cannot press REC. To
avoid erasing or recording over Side A (or 1), break off the Side A (or 1)
tab with a screwdriver. If you wish to protect Side B (or 2), remove the
Side B (or 2) tab.
To record on the tape again, place a piece of strong plastic tape over the
erase-protection tab holes.
NOTE: Removal of the erase-protection tab does not prevent a bulk eraser
from erasing the tape.
CAUTION: When using a cassette that has had the erase-protection tabs brok-
en off, do not try to force down REC. Doing so might damage the
recording mechanism.
Tape Tension
Before loading a cassette, take up any slack in the tape by turning the tape
hub with a six-sided pencil. (Avoid touching the tape)
CAUTION: If you do not remove excess slack, the tape might become tangled
in the record/playback mechanism. If you play one particular
cassette several times, the tape can become tightly wound on
either hub. Before playing the tape again, fast-forward the en-
tire tape and then completely rewind it.
Cleaning The Tape Mechanism
After repeated use, dust, lint and tape oxides accumulate on the tape-hand-
ling mechanisms. For best performance and sound quality, clean all the tape-
handling mechanisms after approximately every 20 hours of use. You can use
recorded cleaner and cleaning swabs or a convenient head-cleaner cassette.
All these cleaning products are available at your local Radio Shack store.
Demagnetizing The Tape Head
To prevent unwanted noise, use a tape demagnetizer to remove residual mag-
netism. Tape head demagnetizes are available at your local Radio Shack
store.
CAUTION: Never touch the record head with any kind of metal object. This
could magnetize or damage the record head.
Frequency Conversion
A band is a group of frequencies. Sometimes, bands are grouped according to
their wavelengths, in meters. The tuning location of a station can be
expressed as a frequency (kHz or MHz) or a wavelength (meters).
Amateur radio operators generally refer to the frequencies they operate on
using the frequency's wavelength. For example, the 19-meter band refers to
the range of frequencies with waves about 19 meters long.
Use the following equations to convert kHz, MHz and meters.
To convert MHz to kHz, multiply by 1,000. For example:
9.62 MHz x 1000 = 9,620 kHz
To convert kHz to MHz, divide by 1,000. For example:
2780 kHz / 1000 = 2.780 MHz
To convert MHz to meters, divide 300 by the number of MHz. For example:
300 / 7.1 MHz = 42.25 meters
To convert meters to MHz, divide 300 by the number of meters. For example:
300 / 42.25 meters = 7.1 MHz
Band Allocations
Certain bands are set aside for specific purposes.
Amateur Radio Frequencies
Tuning to the amateur radio frequencies can be interesting and helpful, be-
cause amateur radio operators often broadcast emergency information when
other means of communication break down.
Amateur radio operators use the following bands. Portions of these bands
are set aside for continuous wave (CW) Morse code communication or for
single side-band (SSB) voice communication, as shown below.
160 meters: ........... 1,800 - 2,000 kHz: SSB
80 meters: ............ 3,500 - 3,800 kHz: CW
3,800 - 4,000 kHz: SSB
40 meters: ............ 7,000 - 7,150 kHz: CW
7,150 - 7,300 kHz: SSB
20 meters: ........... 14,000 - 14,200 kHz: CW
14,200 - 14,350 kHz: SSB
15 meters: ........... 21,000 - 21,250 kHz: CW
21,250 - 21,450 kHz: SSB
10 meters: ........... 28,000 - 28,500 kHz: CW
28,500 - 29,700 kHz: SSB
NOTE: These ranges are not precisely observed everywhere in the world.
International Frequencies
International commercial broadcasts are found in the following short-wave
bands. Programs (often in English) usually contain news, commentaries,
music and special features reflecting the culture of the broadcasting
country. Reception for this range is best between 6:00 PM and midnight
(your time).
BAND (in meters) FREQUENCY RANGE (in MHz)
120 * .................. 2.300 - 2.495
90 * ................... 3.200 - 3.400
75 * ................... 3.900 - 4.000
60 * ................... 4.750 - 5.060
49 ..................... 5.950 - 6.200
41 ** .................. 7.100 - 7.300
31 ..................... 9.500 - 9.900
25 .................... 11.650 - 12.050
21 .................... 13.600 - 13.800
19 .................... 15.100 - 15.600
16 .................... 17.550 - 17.900
13 .................... 21.450 - 21.850
11 .................... 25.670 - 26.100
* These bands are reserved for stations in tropical areas.
** Interference is heavy in the 41m band (7.100 -7.300 MHz) because amateur
radio operators and international stations share this range.
Aircraft Frequencies
Aircraft on international routes sometimes use SW. Most transmissions are
in SSB, although you can still hear some AM transmissions. Here are some
bands where you might hear aircraft communications.
4,650 - 4,750 kHz
6,545 - 6,765 kHz
8,815 - 9,040 kHz
11,175 - 11,400 kHz
13,200 - 13,360 kHz
15,010 - 15,100 kHz
17,900 - 18,030 kHz
Ships and Coastal Station Frequencies
Most transmissions from ships and coastal stations are in SSB and CW. You
can hear these transmissions in the following bands.
2,000 - 2,300 kHz *
4,063 - 4,139 kHz
4,361 - 4,438 kHz
8,195 - 8,181 kHz
12,330 - 12,420 kHz
13,107 - 13,200 kHz
16,460 - 16,565 kHz
* The Coast Guard and small boats use this band, with 2,182 kHz set aside
as the international distress and emergency channel.
Time Standard Frequencies
The following frequencies announce the exact time of day at specified intervals.
WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado:
2,500 kHz
5,000 kHz
10,000 kHz
15,000 kHz
20,000 kHz
CHU in Canada: 7,335 kHz
VNG in Australia: 4,500 and 12,000 kHz
Longwave Band
The 150 - 540 kHz range is known as the longwave band. Most stations in
this range serve as beacons for aircraft and marine navigation by contin-
uously transmitting their call letters. Reception for this range is best
between 6:00 PM and midnight (your time).
Some ships also use this range, with 500 kHz set aside as an international
distress and emergency station.
Most stations in this range use CW (Morse code), although some use AM voice
transmission for weather broadcasts.
(EB 5/22/97)
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