--Reception in a hostile environment--
Updated: Jan 14, 2026
I really enjoy listening to radio from all over the world - give me a human-curated indie station over algorithmic playlists any time and every time. Often I stream radio stations via the web (a recent fav is badradio.biz), but I prefer listening on an actual radio in just about every way. So, I've set out to find all of the radio stations I can listen to (and enjoy) on a physical receiver in my house. I'm going to focus on AM and the shortwave to start.
My house hates radio: a baseline
I recently moved into a new house and my workspace is in one of the bedrooms at the back. It has a great long south-facing window out which I can gaze upon the power lines (and transformer!) in the alley 30ft away. Ok, less than ideal. Power infrastructure introduces a ton of noise into radio systems.
To get a feel for the baseline I was dealing with, I hooked up what I currently have on hand for long-distance listening: my V3 RTL-SDR receiver (which is a radio that you plug into your computer) and a stock MLA-30+ loop antenna. Magnetic loops like the MLA are generally good antennas for noisy situations.
The results were so bad. I couldn't even get all of the AM stations in my city clear, let alone anything on the shortwave. This is a recording of the best signal I could find in the SW - on 7435kHz - likely Radio China International, because they broadcast at a massive 500kW that can cut through a lot of interference. Here is a recording of what I heard, but I haven't had time to edit it, so if you're going to listen to it - turn the volume down!!!
Next steps
The first thing I'm going to try is a different receiver. Being tied to my computer is just making a bad problem worse. I just got a super-portable AM/FM/SW receiver to take on road / camping trips. After that, it's all antenna.
Easiest thing to do would be to put the antenna outside and farther away from the power lines, but I'm not ready to come out to my neighbours, so instead I'm going to do some common modifications to the MLA-30+ loop to see if I can increase the shielding and signal - this includes upgrading the coax connections, getting rid of the noisy bias T, and (maybe) upgrading the loop.