What local stations don't come in as good as SW stations, college radio???? I am still not buying it. I've been listening to SW for 30 years (on many different radios) and only the annoying southern religious stations come in as well as local stations. Can you name some of them for me?
I agree that 95% of what's transmitting domestically is some
iteration of "church" 24/7 on 100 different stations. I guess
my point was is sometimes you can hear things like the BBC, or other
foreign stations with a better signal than you can get WRKO,
especially once they switch patterns or go to low power. (You'll
note that around 6-6:30 PM or so, that 'RKO will drop off
precipitously.... I can still pick it up on my wire, but it's far from
easy listening. Course, I live at least an hour away from where their
transmitter probably is.)
I definitely agree with your assertion that there's no reason to
buy a junker. But having a good antenna and a preselector/tuner
is just as important. I tried to set up my Icom R75 with an indoor
antenna on a lark, and I was pissed because it was so terrible.
-Mike