Sorry I missed your reply, I was on the road. Yea, it’s fun to play with radio. 

Richard Feynman started his Nobel winning physics career as a kid fixing neighbors’ tube radios in New York City. He was fascinated by the idea of radio signals from all over the world just passing by his head as he walked down the street unaware.  At the end of his life, he tried to get to Tuva (off limits to Americans during the Cold War) to see the famous throat singers he had once heard on shortwave. Never made it, but his daughter did.

http://www.feynman.com/fun/tuva/feynman-visits-tuva/

 Feynman was one of the fathers of atomic energy and the guy who figured out that cold from escaping gasses had shrunk gaskets and doomed the space shuttle Challenger.  He remained a tinkerer all his life, thanks to the curiosity that radio inspired. 

Experiment and try all sorts of things. You likely won’t be the first to do them. Just be safe. Radio can’t hurt you but electricity can, both out of what you call the mains and from on high during storms. So can climbing stupid things to get away from interference or in hopes of a better signal. 

Have a great time with the hobby. Each band has its secrets and attractions. And it’s always changing. 

I got hooked while trying to listen to baseball games well beyond where the signal was intended to travel. My wife bought me a shortwave radio thinking that would help. That Christmas night I turned it on and found HCJB in Quito Ecuador broadcasting a show for DXers. I couldn’t believe I was listening to another continent and people talking about a hobby that was all about such a thing. That was four decades and way too many radios and antenna experiments to count. I hope you have as much fun. 

On Jan 2, 2022, at 4:30 AM, FenDrifter via groups.io <essexmarshman=icloud.com@groups.io> wrote:



Hi again Tony
Once more I’m impressed and grateful for the trouble you’ve gone to in your reply. There’s a lot to digest there, but I think I get the underlying message; experiment! It’s very early days for me but I’m enjoying the occasional surprise as I did about a week back, when I picked up Reach Beyond Australia in the Mati language. To pick up a broadcast from Australia while sitting in my lounge in the UK was pretty impressive I thought. 

Drifter