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LISTENING NOTES
FREQUENCY CONVERSION
Kilohertz:
Thousands-of-hertz·A kilohertz
is 1,000 hertz.
We
use
the abbreviation
kHz. Kilo means thousand.
Megahertz: Millions-of-hertz (or cycles-
per-second). A Megahertz is 1,000,000
hertz
(Hz
for short) or 1,000,000 cycles-
per-second. Mega means million.
Your communications receiver is
calibrated
in
Megahertz (MHz) and
Kilohertz (kHz) . as most communi-
cations-type receivers are. You should
be familiar with these terms:
Meter: The term meter,
as
applied to
shortwave listening, refers to the
wavelength of a radio frequency.
In
many parts
fo
the world, frequencies
are listed
in
meters, for example, inter-
national shortwave stations
in
the
19
Meter band. European radio equipment
and stations often refer to the wave-
length of a station or band (in meters),
rather than frequency (in MHz or kHz).
-:::-,....30,....0"..,..._
= 42.25 meters
7.1
MHz
Example: What is the wavelength of
7.1
MHz?
300
=--
MHz
Meters
The relationship of these three terms
is:
1 MHz (million) = 1,000kHz (thousand)
To
change 9.62
MHz
to
kHz.
we
multiply
by 1000.
9.62
x 1000 = 9620 kHz
To
go the other way, from kHz to MHz,
divide
by
1000, A station at 3780 kHz is
3780
= 3.780 MHz
1000
To convert MHz to meters, use this
formula:
respective countries.
Among
the
stations
that
are
listener favorites worldwide are
Radio Japan, the British Broadcasting
Company, Israel Radio, Radio Neder-
land
in
Holland and Radio Australia.
You'll soon discover which stations will
be
your personal favorites.
In
tropical areas of the world, static
makes reception
on
the standard
AM
broadcasting band very difficult. This
has resulted
in
special Tropical Bands
set aside for nations located
in
tropics.
Programming here
is
intended for local
audiences and much of what
can
be
heard is a treat - exotic languages,
beautiful and unusual music, etc. Some
English can
be
heard, however, from
stations
in
Africa or the Pacific.
You'll find time standard stations quite
useful. These stations give out the ex-
act time of day
at
specified intervals.
The National Bureau of Standards
operates station WWV
in
Fort Collins,
Colorado
on
2,500, 5,000, 10,000,
15,000,
and
20,000
kHz.
A man's voice
gives the time each minute along with
periodic reports
on
shortwave reception
conditions. The National Bureau of
Standards also operates another sta-
tion, WWVH,
on
the same frequencies
as
WWV,
in
Hawaii. WWVH uses a
woman's voice to give the time. Some-
times you can hear these two stations
simultaneously. Other time standard
stations are Canada's CHU
on
3,330,
7,335 and 14,670 kHz and
VNG
in
Australia
on
4,500 and 12,000kHz.
Several other nations have similar
stations.
The 150 - 540 kHz range
is
known
as
the long wave band. You'll find recep-
tion here best
at
night
in
your location.
The majority of stations use Morse
code, although you will hear
AM
used
for weather broadcasts. The largest
number of stations
in
this range are
beacons for aircraft and marine naviga-
tion. Beacons transmit their call letters
continuously
in
Morse code
at
a slow
speed.
If
you
have never tuned a shortwave
receiver before, you may be a bit con-
fused
by
the wide variety of signals that
can be heard. To help
you
find your
way around the bands, here is a sum-
mary of what to expect.
A manual
on
air or marine navigation,
available from your public library or a
marine supply store, will contain lists of
these beacons and their locations.
Weather broadcasts
on
AM
often iden-
tify themselves by their location instead
of by call letters (such
as
"New Orleans
Radio"). Many ship stations also use
this range, with 500 kHz set aside
by
international agreement for distress
and emergency calls.
International broadcast stations
can
be
found
in
the bands indicated
in
our sec-
tion
on
Band Allocations. Many such
stations operate
in
English, and often
can be heard during the evening hours
(between 6:00PM and Midnight, your
local time). Programming usually con-
sists of news, commentaries, local
music, and features
on
life
in
their
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