Radio Shack DX-398 Owner's Manual

34LISTENING HINTSShortwave listening is a hobby withthousands of participants worldwide. Itrequires no special knowledge orskills, but your enjoyment increases asyou gain experience and develop spe-cial listening techniques.The information in this section can helpyou make the most of your DX-398.REFERENCE SOURCESMany books and magazines aboutshortwave listening are availablethrough your local library or news-stand. Consult sources such as theWorld Radio Handbook,Radio Ama-teur’s Handbook,Passport to WorldBand Radio,Monitoring Times, andPopular Communications. These pub-lications can help you learn about theconditions that make long-distance re-ception possible and provide up-to-date listings for shortwave broadcastsin English and in other languages.FREQUENCYCONVERSIONA band is a group of frequencies.Sometimes, bands are grouped ac-cording to their wavelengths, inmeters. The tuning location of a stationcan be expressed as a frequency (kHzor MHz) or a wavelength (meters).Amateur radio operators generally re-fer to the frequencies they operate onusing the frequency’s wavelength. Forexample, the 19-meter band refers tothe range of frequencies with wavesabout 19 meters long.Use the following equations to convertkHz, MHz, and meters.To convert MHz to kHz, multiply by1,000. For example:9.62 MHz × 1000 = 9,620 kHzTo convert kHz to MHz, divide by1,000. For example:2780 kHz ÷ 1000 = 2.780 MHzTo convert MHz to meters, divide 300by the number of MHz. For example:300 ÷ 7.1 MHz = 42.25 metersTo convert meters to MHz, divide 300by the number of meters. For exam-ple:300 ÷ 42.25 meters = 7.1 MHzBAND ALLOCATIONCertain bands are set aside for specificpurposes.Amateur Radio FrequenciesTuning to the amateur radio frequen-cies can be interesting and helpful, be-cause amateur radio operators oftenbroadcast emergency informationwhen other means of communicationbreak down.