Antenna is the MOST IMPORTANT for the radios listeners

 You can buy a 3000 US dollars radio receiver but if you dont have a good antenna you will not listen to many radio stations or DXCC entities on HAM radio.

You can buy antenna but you can build your antenna. Some are easy to build and some are only for people who have experience with electronics and ironing.

I have written many articles and given a lot of links on my 3 blogs.

I listen radio stations via a web sdr with a very small active antenne mini whip antenna.

https://www.pa3fwm.nl/projects/miniwhip/

You can build it or buy it. Cheap price or expensive

To listen HAM bands also an active antenna but more sophisticated

I am not far from having listened to 250 DXCC entities in 2 years with this wonderful antenna.

https://websdr-maasbree.jouwweb.nl/technical-information-hf-bands/antenna

Now I give you some links to make or buy medium-wave and shortwave antennas.

https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/07/how-to-make-very-serious-antenna-for.html

https://www.accessengineeringlibrary.com/binary/mheaeworks/ad760d7455353e65/ad96470fe47a093fdae9b226500b1afbacc9b7d6a94d890a167fb246d31660fe/book-summary.pdf

https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/05/free-in-pdf-ham-radio-handbook-by-w6pnf.html

https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/08/all-popular-communications-and.html

https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/06/antennas-for-listening-to-medium-wave.html

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2023/06/loop-shortwave-antennas-for-swl-not-to.html

https://webkiwisdrswl.blogspot.com/2023/06/make-simple-dx-antenna-for-your-chinese.html

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2023/05/a-super-cheap-super-easy-very-effective.html

https://on8alt.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/easy-antennas-for-the-swl.pdf

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2023/11/loop-antenna-for-mw-and-sw-listeners.html

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2024/03/is-loop-antenna-for-swl-best-solution.html

https://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antennas/

https://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/search.cgi?query=swl+antenna

Shop to buy MW and SW antennas.

Anon-CO TECSUN https://www.anon-co.com/category/tecsun-radio-antennas

WIMO  https://www.wimo.com/en/antennas/receive-antennas

They are a lot of shops and factory in the world. 

For SW, it's not hard and expensive to have an dipole inverted V if you have a garden (you can make it); a vertical half-wave antenna will be good to listen to 10 to 20 meter bands ( size 5.50 meters ) for the MW a cheap loop is good or an active antenna MLA+5 its a good way because building an MW antenna is hard. 

https://www.amazon.fr/SPORTARC-Antenne-r%C3%A9ception-active-MLA-30/dp/B0B5GGQLZ3

Good DX and 73

Aslo on UHF and VHF antennas are very important

MW Free Radio: Dutch MW pirates: a history and how to hear them

MW Free Radio: Dutch MW pirates: a history and how to hear them: The Dutch MW pirates are a well-known phenomenon. However, knowledge of these stations has traditionally been almost non-existent among most...

I listened to this MW station every weekend in the 90s in my place in Paris (500 kilometers) from the Netherlands. He sas SIO 555 

SSB contests 7 February and 8 February 2026

 10-10 Int. Winter Contest, SSB: 0001Z, Feb 7 to 2359Z, Feb 8 on 10 meter band.

https://www.ten-ten.org/qso-party-rules/

European Union DX Contest: 1200Z, Feb 7 to 1200Z, Feb 8

https://www.eudx-contest.com/rules/

FYBO Winter QRP Sprint: 1400Z-2400Z, Feb 7

https://azscqrpions.org/

British Columbia QSO Party: 1600Z, Feb 7 to 0359Z, Feb 8 and 1600Z-2359Z, Feb 8

https://www.orcadxcc.org/bcqp_rules.html

Minnesota QSO Party: 1400Z-2400Z, Feb 7

https://www.w0aa.org/wp-content/docs/mnqp/MNQP_Contest_Rules%20rev%2031.pdf

How to know the propagation on SW in ONE MINUTE

Choose your continent and the band

So i am in Europe and i want to see the propagation now at 13:30 UTC

RED color is the best, BLUE = no propagation

Can can search for example propagation on 20 meter band at 16 UTC

I try 10 meter at 13:55 and I listen t5/9 A71AT from QATAR

I spot him, he was in QSO with NK2R so also good propagation for north america in Europe

Propagation was good at 13h UTC

Grey line

Propagation from Europe to A71AT Mohamed in Doha Qatar

If you use WEB CLUSTER DX SUMMIT

Click on the call of the DX

After click on VOACAP Predictions

On QRZ.COM

https://www.qrz.com/db/A71AT

For SWL

https://medxr.blogspot.com/2025/11/new-voacap-online-tools-for-shortwave.html

https://www.voacap.com/swl/

Move the BLUE on your QTH and the RED on DX

https://www.voacap.com/2023/documents/VOACAP_Manual.pdf

Good DX and 73 de frank FØDUW / SWL F14368 since 1980

Ham Radio nets for operators seeking DX contacts or SWL

 

What's a Net?

A net is a gathering of Amateur Radio operators on a specific frequency at a specific time and day, usually on a recurring basis. Nets are an opportunity for Hams to get together, chat, and test equipment on the air. A lot of hams and SWLs try to get new DXCC entities with nets. DX nets are organized to help amateur radio operators make contact with stations in distant locations or regions where amateur radio operators are scarce. By checking into a DX net, a ham could have a chance to contact another station he or she might otherwise not be likely to hear by randomly tuning across the amateur bands

Links

https://netfinder.radio/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_net

https://anzadx.net/

https://hamnetlist.blogspot.com/2021/08/hf-net-around-world-dx-nets-by-time.html

An AM net video 

THE BEST SHOP IN EUROPE FOR SWL AND HAM OPERATORS

 

Wimo is located in Germany and can speak 5 European languages. I order a few times there, and there is a French man who helps me when I have some questions.

It's the best place for amateur radio equipment, and they also have some things for SWL.

CB radio operators can find transceivers and antennas.

For pirates they can "open" the TX 

Example

https://www.wimo.com/en/icom-ic-718-hf-transceiver

Only  918 Euros 

Icom IC-718 HF Transceiver

€918.00
You need 2000 watts ?https://www.wimo.com/en/fr-pgxl

A very good antenna at €12,963.00

https://www.wimo.com/en/mosley-pro-96s-7-band-beam-11-el

So if you are not rich, look on the website; they also have low prices !

FOR SWL

€2,885.00

https://www.wimo.com/en/fdm-duo-r

https://www.wimo.com/en/swl-amateur-radio

You can trust this shop. A few years ago I ordered a nice ICOM TX and antenna for UHF VHF, etc., and all was perfect !

My ICOM 7300 but antenna problems i sale it.

The UHF VHF was for the ICOM 706MK2G but this TX have a big heat problem.

 "The Icom 706 Mk II and the G models run warm due to a compact design, which offers limited space for heat dissipation, and their significant power draw even on receive. It's normal." So i sell it !!!

Nice radio and some people know to do something to stop the heating problems.

Nice UHF VHF antenna 

https://www.wimo.com/fr/diamond-x300-omni-directional-vhf-uhf-antenna

The Best because no QRM with the MICROSET power supply, i buy one for the ICOM 7300 because it was only to be a SWL and 7 amperes was OK. They have also 20 amperes. 

https://www.wimo.com/fr/accessoires/accessoires-radios/alimentations?wm_filter=act&at_brand=Microset

If you are in EUROPE this shop is the best, for SWL they dont have cheap radios receivers but maybe you can find somethings there.

GOOG DX and 73 de frank SWL FØDUW / FØDUW

QSL card for HamSphere 4.0 in SSB or CW

Do you know FRANCE have 23 DXCC entities all over the world ???

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2024/11/do-you-know-all-23-dxcc-of-france.html

Why is France the world's second-largest maritime power?

Since the 2016 reform, France has 11 million km² of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This is the largest in the world after that of the United States. This territory ensures France's presence on all oceans. It contributes to the country's economic dynamism and guarantees it a leading diplomatic role. March 16, 2024

Look some QSL cards from 23 DXCC entities

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2024/11/do-you-know-all-23-dxcc-of-france.html

We must wait five months to work the SWL CONTEST 2026

 https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2026/01/swl-contest-2026-rules-am-radio.html

Falling in Love Again ( i ask this young guitarist to play this song and he do it !!! )

I play this song on my electric guitar, but the kid plays better than me !

WEBSDRSWL: Pirate radios stations frequencies

WEBSDRSWL: Pirate radios stations frequencies:   RADIOS PIRATES : The most active frequency bands in North America by far are the 43-meter (6800-7000 kHz), 46-meter (6200-64 The most acti...

On hamSphere 4.0

“THE NEW DXER’S HANDBOOK” © by K7UA FREE book in PDF !!!

 1 Listening – The key to successful DXing Chapter – 

2 DX Cluster Basics Chapter – 

3 The Pinnacle of DXing-The DX Century Club Chapter – 

4 The DXer’s Toolkit – Now includes FT8. Chapter – 

5 Split Operation & How to Be Heard in a Pileup Chapter – 

6 DX Propagation Basics Chapter – 

7 Phonetics Chapter – 

8 The Art of QSLing Chapter – 

9 DX Intelligence Chapter – 

10 Odds and ends about the author

https://www.k7ua.com/uploads/4/9/9/0/4990079/the_new_dxers_handbook_third_edition_2021.pdf

A nice FREE book in PDF for amateur radio operators

For the SWL, I wrote an article to help beginners to start to listen HAM bands

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2025/04/how-to-easily-listen-to-radio-amateurs.html