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Getting you through the maze - With radio in hand, the newcomer to AM radio listening (apart from listening to your local AM radio station for news, sports and weather...) will feel overwhelmed by the choices. Most people are probably familiar with the jumble of sounds on their AM radio dial - but like sitting in a train station or busy cafeteria, we automatically filter out the racket and concentrate on the conversations closest to us. This is the nature of radio listening for fun and long distance entertainment: the ability to reverse the nature of your brain and go for the static and not the primary programming.

So once you start tuning up the dial in an evenings attempt at capturing something interesting... what do you do with the signals that you find? How do you know where they are coming from?

Good question. Some things to think about:

• Radio stations are required, by law, to identify at regular intervals. Nowadays a station identification could be something arcane like AM-770... hardly useful. We will deal with that.
• Knowing what frequency you are on is critical. Most modern radios have digital readout - but not all do. Knowing that radio stations in North America are separated by 10khz is helpful - and seeing that most evening radio dials have some kind of stations on almost every channel, it is often no more complex that "counting" up from a known local frequency... or counting down.

Thankfully, they are lots of resources available for the radio hobbyist when it comes to identifying what they are hearing. One of them is the National Radio Clubs Radio Log which has been in print for over 30 years and is very accurate. If you are a member of the club (and more info on clubs later) you get a discount. Info on this document is here. Another is the World Radio TV Handbook which is available on line and in most bookstores around North America. Printed annually since the 1920's, it is the de facto radio guide for broadcast listeners. I got my first copy of 1974 and wore it out turning the pages! The World Radio TV Handbook (or WRTH amongst us radio geeks) is the book. Every fan of radio should have a copy.

Photo right: The World Radio TV Handbook is an absolute must-have for any radio enthusiasts library.

Another superb publication is the Passport to World Band Radio, which as of 2009 has ceased to be in production. If you can grab a copy on line or a recent annual issue, you will have in your hand a piece of radio history. It concentrated on the radio hobby from square one (kind of like I am trying to do with this article) and had a wonderful directory of radios (new and not-so-new) as well as a comprehensive and accurate listing of international programming. The Passport, like the WRTH are (and were) a veritable "TV Guide" to international radio.

Like the man says, "You cannot know the game without the program guide..."

Additionally, there are numerous radio clubs in North America (and internationally) that have printed bulletins as well as subscription (or free) on line services. This is kind of one of those "step at a time" things. I do not suggest getting involved in any radio clubs until you familiarize yourself with some of the facets of the hobby - not meaning to save you from any kind of embarrassment or anything... Just saying. In the eighties (kind of a heyday of international broadcasting and radio listening) I was a member of SPEEDX and the IRCA. Only the IRCA remains and it too I believe is flirting with on line only editions of its monthly and semi-monthly bulletins. I welcome corrections to this statement if I am wrong.

One of the greatest things about club membership for a hobby like radio is it confirms the fact that you are not alone and nor should you be considered a social outcast. Rule: Remind significant others and family members of this fact.

The Internet itself continues to be a marvelous source for "all things radio" - but like anything else it takes a bit of hunting and pecking to find the right pieces of information. Further on in this series of articles I will provide a series of links and profiles on what I consider bookmark worthy sites for reliable content.

In summary, there are a wide variety of ways to identify what you are hearing - that is, after all, the goal of the long distance radio hobbyist. Here are some of the most common.

• A copy of the World Radio TV Handbook or the National Radio Club
• A membership in a radio club like the IRCA (International Radio Club of America)
• Subscribing to an on line e-mail list dedicated to radio "dxing" - like the IRCA list or getting in on one of the countless YAHOO groups.
• Active listening of on air content for weather reports, news, color and sports... and hey, actual station identifications like "This is KFI 640, Los Angeles..." Yea, that always works.
• Brush up on your French and Spanish because there is more of it on the AM dial than there used to be. S'il vous plaît.

In the next chapter, I am going to do a quick radio review from the perspective of the new user (and kill two birds with one stone). We will look at the Grundig G3 Traveler World band radio - as it turns out, a state of the art package that is within reach of most budgets.

Head back to Chapter One - Head back to Chapter Two - Head to Chapter Four