So you\u2019re stuck at home. You don\u2019t want to get COVID-19, nor do you want to be a carrier and give it to grandpa. But the weather is so darn nice \u2026 what to do, what to do? \u2026<\/p>\n
How about trying to DX radio stations?<\/p>\n
DX? Distance. The idea is to see how far away you can pick up a radio stations, and the perfect weather we have right now happens to be the perfect weather for DXing both AM and FM stations.\u00a0 <\/span>You don\u2019r need a special radio to do this, but there are various models that work better than others.<\/p>\n For AM radio, signals travel quite far at night. Without getting too technical, the signal bounces off the atmosphere at night, travels back to earth, bounces up again, and so forth until it lands in your radio. This doesn\u2019t happen during the day because the energy of the sun tends to absorb the signals (program note: technical people – correct me if I\u2019m wrong), so night time is the best time for AM DXing.<\/p>\n An interesting aspect of this is what is called \u201ccritical time,\u201d a time in which the sun has gone down but it is still light enough that a station has not had to switch to it\u2019s night-time power; often stations need to power down somewhat \u2014 or a lot, depending on the situation \u2014 to avoid interfering with other stations. During this critical period, you can often hear station from quite far away because they are still at full power.<\/p>\n As I said, any radio can work. For AM you need to get it away from things that might interfere with the signal: dimmers, some LED lights, computers, cable boxes, cheap \u201cwall wart\u201d power supplies. If it runs on batteries, try taking it outside. Turn the radio different directions and tune up and down the dial.\u00a0 <\/span>Most of the better AM radios have large ferrite antennas \u2014 something that looks like a long bar with wires wrapped around it, \u2014 something that is often lacking in modern radios. Sometimes they are inside the case as they are in the old GE SuperRadio line.<\/p>\n