[mylife]

I heard about this article on the shortwave.

[mylife]

Ping

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I inherited my Dad’s SW. Don’t know what to do with it. I assume that I would have to erect some sort of external antenna to make it useful......

[aMorePerfectUnion]

listener ping

[Army Air Corps]

When I was a kid, one of the teachers at school (a retired Navy Korean War vet) was a shortwave enthusiast. He lived down the road from me, so I would visit him and his wife. She made cookies while he explained how signals reflected off the ionosphere and told me about all the people he had met all over the world via shortwave radio. It was a blast to hear him chat with friends in Europe or South America or Asia.

A few years ago, I bought a little Grundig portable multi-band receiver and I enjoy listening to music, news, and general chatter from around the world.

[Evil Slayer]

Shortwave, the only method of communication when all others fail during the ultimate meltdown of this country.

[engrpat]

My wife got me a SW radio for Christmas 2 years ago and I took it on our last Caribbean cruise. It was neat setting balcony and listening to radio from all over the world. A real hoot.

[M Kehoe]

Methinks, in about two years, all of us will need short wave radio...I hope I'm wrong.

5.56mm

[EyeGuy]

“Shortwave radio enthusiasts acknowledge the thrill...of going out at night and snaring news, music....religious zealots....”

####

Yeah those ignorant, superstitious religious zealots sure can be entertaining.

Any chance of snaring some secular zealots expounding on their religion of say environmentalism, diversity or socialism?

Oh wait, they can get that in a more conventional manner, through a mainstream propaganda organ like.....Reuters.

[seatrout]

I loved listening to shortwave during the 1970s-80s. Those were Cold War years, and the bands were full of strong broadcasts from all sides. Radio Moscow’s signal would “break your windows” as the CBers would say, the BBC and Deutsche Welle were at their best, and even stations like Radio Nederlands and Radio RSA (the Voice of South Africa) were fun to listen too. I could list plenty of others too; even poor Eastern Bloc nations were in on it.
VOA was strutting its stuff, too, in about 100 languages.
Now, the bands seem empty, even at night; much of the programming, at least in English, is of the evangelical Christian persuasion, and the signals are weak. Internet radio may be the next best thing; it’s big in Europe, and the reception is always great, so long as your WiFi is good.

[snarkpup]

About 20 years ago, I was temporarily interested in shortwave listening. The problem I ran into was that there were no international rules governing frequency allocation. There were about half-a-dozen powerhouses that included Voice of America, Radio Moscow, Radio Havana, the BBC, and an evangelist whose call letters (as I recall) began with a "W". These guys would simulcast on zillions of different frequencies at astronomical power levels. Every station I tried to tune into (Radio Greece, etc.) was being blown off the air by one of these half-dozen.

After ten days of this the receiver failed; and after three futile attempts by the factory to fix it, I returned it for a refund and sold my antenna to a friend who was still into this stuff.

Does anyone know if the situation has improved?

[xcamel]

Wait till the sunspots come back...

[xcamel]

FYI
Universial Radio (the best)
http://www.rffun.com

[Database]

Thanks for posting and keeping the magic of radio alive.

dit - dit

[dfwgator]

73s and good DX.

[dfwgator]

If you were a DXer back in the day, this site will bring back some memories:

Interval Signals Online

[dfwgator]

My best shortwave memory was hearing live the famous Radio Beijing announcement on June 4, 1989 when the crackdown began and the announcer bravely was reporting on what was happening, by the next hour, Radio Beijing was back to reporting the party line. Wished I had my tape recorder to record it.

I also remember how weird Radio Moscow got right after the Soviet Union collapsed, they were so desperate for money they were broadcasting a program from Aum Shinrikyo, the ones who subsequently attacked the Tokyo subway in the ricin attack.

My favorite SW stations were: Radio Australia, Radio Nederland (they even read one of my letters on air), AFRTS, BBC World Service and Radio Canada International.

But I would also listen to the commie stations, like Moscow and Tirana for a good laugh. Even got a QSL card from Radio Havana (I’m sure the CIA has me in their files).

[printhead]

I bought a Radio Shack (from when they were really a radio shack) model on ebay some years ago. All totally analog. All the knobs serve a function. It even is capable of 12 volts dc for power. I get the feeling that that may prove valuable in the not-so-distant future.

[steveo]

thanks and sorry for any dupes

[dfwgator]

Wow, that article mentioned Ian McFarland from Radio Canada International, now there’s a name I remember from the past.

[Professional Engineer]

Heh heh heh