I have seen mentions of three models of the Baygen. One in AM/FM only. The other two w/SW. One model has a range of 3-12 MHz while the other has a range of 8-18 MHz. Which would be best for N America?

TIA

gh - One if by land, two if by White House

-- Gary Hale (garyhale@hotmail.com), September 18, 1998

Answers

That's almost a toss-up. Most SW stations change frequencies depending on the time of day - lower at night, higher daytime. Some even change depending on the season. If I had to choose I'd take 3-12 MHz. You will get regular international broadcasts at night, when the listening is better. The lower frequencies are also used for local broadcasts in the tropics, where the standard AM band often has too much static due to lightning.

You might want to consider a battery-operated SW radio with a better range of frequencies. (Unless you think batteries will be unavailable.) I don't know how good the Baygen is, but all radios are not created equal, even in the same price range. The built-in generator is a great feature, but if the SW section is poor, it might not be worth the extra $$$ for that band. If anyone has seen any reviews of the reception quality of these things, I'd like to hear from you.

One other thing - There are many domestic broadcasts on SW, especially Christian programs. I think it's a relatively inexpensive way to reach a wide area, especially since several stations will share transmitters and broadcast at different times.

-- Mike (gartner@execpc.com), September 18, 1998.

Why limit yourself to the BayGen? Most quality shortwave receivers can run on D cell batteries. Just get a solar panel to recharge the batteries (NiCad of course) and a spare battery set. The Japanese have brought out several nice models of shortwave receiver, most of which cover the entire band from .535 to 30 mhz for less than $200.00. Check out the local Radio Shack. Bet the whole cost, panels and all can be brought in for less than $300, maybe $200 or so. Just be careful buying solar panels. You can buy blemished seconds from several sources (or could a few years ago, I haven't done this for a while) much cheaper than retail. And you don't need enough of them to run the radio (a common mistake). If the set takes 8 batteries (pretty common), and will run for 12 hours on a fully charged set, then if your charger takes two batteries and will fully charge them in 8 hours on a sunny day, then you can run the set for 2 to 3 hours each day, assuming average sunshine/clouds ratio.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), September 19, 1998.