I started out SWLing back in the early 1960’s. My first receiver was an old floor-model furniture radio labeled “Midwest”. It covered AM, FM and three shortwave bands from 3.0 to 28.0 mcs. Never heard anything on FM, but AM and the SW’s worked pretty well. I think I heard just about all of the big SW broadcasters back then, and QSL’ed as many as possible. I actually heard my name announced on Radio Switzerland’s DX mailbag program – way cool! Then I started utility DXing, logging military, coastal, aeronautical, whatever. Other receivers between 1960 and 1974:
Heathkit GR-64 – yes, I built it, and got the local Heathkit store to align it. Worked ok.
Hammarlund HQ-145 – nice!
Hammarlund HQ-180 – owned 3 over time; would just about kill to have one back.
No activity between 1974 and 1979, but got back into the hobby with a Panasonic RF-2900, another one of my favorites. After it died, I picked up a Sangean ATS-803A, which I still use today, mostly listening on 150 – 530 khz for non-directional beacons (NDBs) and experimental 500 khz stations. Not a bad radio. Most of my radio time these days is spent on the ham bands, but one of these days, I’ll hook up a longwire to my FT-817 and see how it receives the longwave frequencies.
73, Mike K3CXG
Dashboard DX Society