Shortwave Radios   

a simple buyers guide.

for your  first shortwave receiver, you probably don't need much,
and probably don't want to spend a fortune , say less than $50..

Ebay has hundreds of shortwave radios listed,  READ the description, does it work ??, look at the sellers feedback,
is he trustworthy ? Be careful what you buy when you can't look and play with it. and don't forget the shipping,
some of these old tube radios weigh a ton. Try to find something with a BFO control, then  you can  hear CW,
SSB and RTTY type transmissions.

try to find one that is GENERAL COVERAGE,  not just the SW Broadcast segments or ham bands, look for 2 to 30 mHz

try to find one that's ANALOG , not digital. The digital ones make it hard to " just tune around on" and find new things.  

older general coverage radios from Hallicrafters, National, Hammarlund, Collins, range from cheap to expensive, most
are heavy to ship..  but these are great TUBE radios  when you can sweep up and down a band in a few turns of a knob.
which makes it easy to find things,   make sure there is a BFO on the radio  so you can hear CW and ssb signals

here are some pictures of  some old and some newer analog radios -- got questions,  call an Elmer, see PARC membership roster button.
 

these three Zenith's are nice radios BUT  I don't think they have a BFO for SSB .
This giant Hallifcrafters is a great radio, big and heavy, but a beauty. these old boat anchors were built like a tank and work good .	Lots of hallicrafters like these are great general coverage set
My uncle had one of these,,  they are deluxe !!!
Here's two heathkits that would fill the bill.
this Knight Kit is basic, but should fill the bill,               Images are the biggest problem in Pocatello,  lots of high power FM stations within just a few miles reek havoc  on  smaller cheaper radios.	this Yaesu is a good one .   Maybe toooo much bandspread, making for a lot of knob twisting to tune up and down the spectrum, nice radio .

avoid these digital radios, good radios , but hard to just tune around. Note the lack of KNOBS , this type of Shortwave set
is almost useless except for Shortwave broadcast listening ..  Avoid this type of set  !