The unit I really wanted was their model 1253 9-Band SW Receiver kit, priced at $99 USD. I was skeptical of building another one at first, but a demonstration on you-tube of the Model 1253 convinced me to give Ten-Tec a try.
While that worked, it was very unstable and it was quite prone to "hand capacitance" effects. I built one from a Radio Shack kit when I was in grade school. This design, when carefully engineered and constructed, offer reasonable performance for a cheap price, and were often used years ago.
Both the Model 1054 and the 1253 are a Regenerative type receiver. They make a 9-Band short wave radio, the Model 1253, as well as a less expensive Model 1054 which covers 4 bands. Their products are built in the USA, and they have a number of relatively inexpensive kits for both short wave receivers and amateur radio gear. And so I looked into kits.Īfter much searching on the net, I found Ten Tec. I could build one "from scratch", as I did the converter, but I don't have the time to invest in designing, testing, troubleshooting, re-work. As a 'starving' grad student, I need something that works but doesn't cost $1000+. The few cheap radios with analog tuning are likewise so bad as to not be worth having, in my opinion. Most of my listening does NOT involve typing in a known, published frequency on a keypad it involves tuning around, looking for an unpublished station. That is practically worthless when you are tuning around looking for a particular station, as one generally does when listening to short wave. Nearly all have digital tuning that mutes the audio while you are tuning. The problem is that unlike 20+ years ago, decent short wave radios aren't available to the average American consumer for an affordable price. This converter still works, but I wanted more bands and the capability to receive CW (morse code) and SSB transmissions from amateur radio operators. Years ago, I built a converter that allowed me to receive the 9.5-10 MHz and 11.5-12 MHz bands through a car AM radio. This, and the recent events in Japan, impelled me to obtain a general coverage shortwave receiver. One only has to look to the recent events in Egypt to understand the need for other means of staying informed on breaking news.
Short wave and Amateur (ham) radio are good for keeping in contact with the outside world during emergencies, and as an alternative source of news and information.
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