On 11 Jun 2004 22:44:54 GMT, (Diverd4777) wrote:

Was in the Netherland antilles a while back ;

Radio Netherlands has a HUGE antenna farm, on Bonaire,

beaming Shortwave down to South America
- where electricity is spotty, telephones not a sure bet
computers a Luxury
and the internet used mostly in large cities..

Once you leave the "Strip Mall Zone" in the civilized world, shortwave takes
over..

Dan

Does a country like Finland want to spend a million bucks a year
to get its message to "Boondock South America" ??
again;
They can power up a PC,
Write their message in multiple languages.

advantage;
Besides being cheaper for the "broadcaster"
It actually reaches the PC literate in a country,
and chances are they're the people you want to reach.

Back to SWLing;
Perhaps my view is colored by SWLing in the US,
where it's probably the hobby of a few,
rather than the communication media for the many.

I guess there are countrys where folks rely on SW
for their news/info/entertainment......
But then, wouldn't they listen to their own country feeds ??


rj