Please consider before ordering: The Original WR-3 is still in production (since September 1991!). I try to turn-around orders as soon as is possible despite some travel and radio expeditions made by Steve McGreevy frequently (but receivers get tested on expeditions, too...). Usually 5-6 weeks (maximum) to build and field-test your WR-3 receiver is the average - sometimes, if we actually get ahead of things, we can send in a couple of weeks (I ask for this lead-time, as I have to juggle WR-3 Receiver manufacturing with my radio-research trips and expeditions, plus field-testing of completed WR-3 Receivers, and sometimes electronic-parts shipments become bogged-down too). All receivers are field-tested - sometimes I bring them along on radio-DX trips and test them in a very-quiet (no powerline noise) location to see how they function, before sending them out--this is the way I can be certain you will receive your WR-3 knowing it has been field-tested to my satisfaction.
Based upon the popularity of the WR-3, we believe just about everyone is happy with theirs. The recordings on these sites attest to the decency of this receiver.
And so, a big *thank you* all for your interest in this pocket-portable VLF receiver. It seems to be a popular hand-held/pocket VLF receiver as of today, quite surprisingly to myself, and I wish to thank all of you whom have already been enjoying the fascinating realm of VLF radio via the WR-3 whistler receiver for these many years since September 1991. I have tried to hold the WR-3 price (as shown further below) down for a while (since 2007), but prices of components and the enclosure keep mounting due to economic-monetary inflation/devaluation. I will keep the WR-3 Receiver and circuit-board-option prices the same throughout 2011.
Each WR-3 Receiver comes with an excellent Smiley-Antenna Inc. "Superstick II" telescoping-whip antenna with BNC-base (10-section, 54-inches/138 cm in length - actually designed for 2-meter ham-band use as a 5/8-wave antenna with small series-loading coil, but it works great with the WR-3), and an alkaline 9v battery that powers the approximately 7 to 10 mA (9v battery power-draw) WR-3 circuit for about 20 hours, and a WR-3 Listening Guide CD with the WR-3 Listening Guide on it.
To learn more about this WR-3 "whistler receiver" please read The WR-3 Listening Guide link right below or click this link. It should answer most questions you may have.
By the way, the frequency-response of the WR-3 is from about 50 Hz to 14 kHz (slight audio-roll-off below 100 Hz and above 8 kHz). It does not cover less-than 50 Hz, i.e. ULF frequencies - it is made strictly for natural-VLF-radio-emissions from lightning storms and the Magnetosphere between 50 Hz to about 14 kHz - you can hear ALPHA-Radionavigation (beeping-sounds) transmissions with it too.
NEW in 2010!: WR-3D circuit-board and potentiometer (only) stuffed with all necessary components and tested on the workbench before shipped. You supply the enclosure, etc. - $59.00 Shipments of just the completed circuit board (inspected and bench-tested thoroughly and carefully) can generally be made faster than fully-constructed and remote-field-tested WR-3s.
Stephen P. McGreevy - 12 March 2011
WR-3 Specifications and info. page 2 of 2
WR-3 Listening Guide - HTML version
About the "Superstick II" Antenna that I supply with each WR-3 Receiver
http://giwiganz.blogspot.com/2010/09/wr-3-receiver-initial-impressions.html
(Click button only once and verify quantity is correct)
Price: WR-3 = US$135.00 plus $15 postage = $150.00 to U.S./ Canadian locations via USPS Priority-Mail/Letter (package) Air Post.
(Click button only once and verify quantity is correct)
Price: WR-3 = $135.00, plus $30.00 postage/SH via USPS Global Priority-Mail or 1st Class Air Mail, where applicable; (=US$165.00).
(Click button only once and verify quantity is correct)
A great 14 September 2010 note from KK5QZ:
Dear Stephen,
I received the WR-3 radio you built for me today and just wanted to share my experience with you. Today I drove out to a place called Little Mountain on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississppi, turned off my car, plugged in some iPhone earbuds and then the WR-3. Initially the earbuds literally buzzed in my hand after I turned on the receiver; I'm glad I did not have them in my ears, but I had read your website and knew to be careful about this.
After adequately grounding the radio (or was it just hand capacitance?) the earbuds stopped buzzing and I carefully put them in my ears. I heard a slight bit of power-line hum and numerous noisy sferic-like chattering, which I attributed to some large machinery a few miles away - I think there's a top coal mine over that way and figured that is what it was.
I moved the radio to the other side of parking lot and things settled down nicely. I then could hear some actual sferics, but they were quite distant I'm sure - the weather in the southeast is now very calm so I figured it was from some thunderstorms in the midwest. I never heard any whistlers or anything quite so dramatic, except for insects flying near the antenna. Later I moved to another location further north on the Trace, and tried again. This time there was quite a bit of powerline hum; I was sitting in my car with the antenna propped on the plastic side-view mirror enclosure and the radio resting on my left bare leg. After I placed my hand on the side of the car outside the hum disappeared entirely. Ahh...properly grounded, I think. Then faintly I hear what sounds like an alarm clock beep beep beeping just above the noise floor. I'm not sure what it was, but I timed and counted and came up with between 220 and 240 beats/beeps per minute. After about 10 minutes it abruptly stopped.
My next venture will be in the backwoods of Georgia later this week. Hopefully I'll be able to get in some early morning listening and maybe catch a dawn chorus. I'm sure all of this is old hat for you, but as you can tell I'm excited by this new radio and proud to have something made by a fellow ham, no less! Excellent job, Stephen - thank you!
= 73
Garen Evans, KK5QZ
I recall hearing my first-whistler(s) in eastern Oregon (the Alvord Desert) in June 1989, and the total thrill of it too! THANKS JOSH! SpM - 19 September 2010.
