I like futhead for looking at IG stats and their squad builder . I typically build a team on futhead and then move it to futbin to check the price . When FUTsync was actually functional on futhead last year I never needed futbin but it never worked consistently and now I don ' t even think they are trying to get it back . <| sep |> You scored BIG ! That ' s at least a $ 200 shortwave portable on the used market all day long . Congrats ! That radio should perform excellent on its whip alone . HF propagation has been poor the last few weeks to begin with . Solar activity has been minimal and we ' re entering the low point of the current cycle . so it ' s not going to get much better over the next 23 years . Propagation does improve a bit during the mid winter months . I ' ve noticed a little improvement on shortwave during the last day or two . but overall it ' s pretty dead right now . Try WTWW on 5085 KHz during the evenings . They usually have some sort of interesting ham radio or shortwave roundtable discussion from 0200 to 0330 UTC . then DJ an awesome mix of music the rest of the evening . Probably the best shortwave broadcaster here in the US . Don ' t worry . you did WELL ! It ' s just bad band conditions . That radio will perform AWESOME when the bands are open .