Expert: George Derringer - 9/13/2009

Question
Dear George

I would like to listen to overseas radio stations (shor-wave radio stns) in my car (!). I read a great deal about SONY 7600GR.

I would like to know if this radio would work in my car ? Will the short wave recepion possible in a moving car? I am wondering why car manufacturers never install a shortwave radio in the car? Do you think that the SW radio will not work in a moving car?

(Do I need a special antenna to make it work?)

Thanks for your eplies

Jack

Answer
You have chosen a fine radio -- but shortwave doesn't work well in moving cars. The metal of the  car shields the signals, which are generally much weaker than AM signals and therefore more subject to ignition noise. There have been shortwave converters and I used one regularly in the 1980s and there are indeed shortwave radios for automobiles that work reasonably well but they're expensive.

Here's a converter for sale:

http://www.angelfire.com/ia/lfb/

And here are references to a couple of other models, which might still be available if you type their models numbers into Google:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=68076