that's a dismal but unfortunately probably realistic portrayal.

On Dec 30, 9:38 am, "ve3..." wrote:
Mike wrote:
"dxAce" wrote in message
...
Yes, and once again, it's not shortwave.

It's entirely possible that the OP didn't realize he could listen to BBC on
the net. Shortwave is no longer the only (or best) way to get it.

Sheesh!

Back atcha.

Mike'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''*'''''''''''''''''''' '''''''''
The problem with shortwave listening is that there is not much left to
listen to. Most of the big international broadcasters have shut down
their tranmitters and moved program delivery to the internet or
satellite. Radio Finland is this week's loss. There are a few still on
the air, like Radio Canada International, producing good programs, but
they are on tight budgets and restricted schedules.
There are over a thousand people registered to this website, and
many of them are new and want to actually listen to something on their
new portable sw radios. They want to hear different points of view from
foreign locales but all they get on their radios are preachers asking
for support (money). By the time they can spell Walterboro, they are
discouraged at their inability to hear on shortwave the programs that
have moved to the internet.
One type of shortwave hobbyist is not paticularly interested in
programs but specializes in ferreting out weak and distant stations.
The weak broadcast from Ulan Bator or the 50-watt rebel transmitter in
deepest Africa are his targets. This specialty requires excellent
receivers and big antennas. The fact that the programs are not in
English is irrelevant, since the competition of the country count is
the thing.
Unfortunately, we are at the bottom of the sunspot 11-year cycle so
short-wave reception is at its worst and it will be a few years before
conditions improve. By then, at the current rate of loss of stations on
shortwave, there will be nothing left except preachers and weak
remotes that will need top-end equipment that most people will not want
to buy.
I think we are in a transitional phase. The rapid growth of
internet-based radio plus the advances in cell technology will produce
a portable cell phone radio that will combine many functions including
streamed programs from foreign countries. In fact, you can do this now
if you have a newer cell phone and are near a cell. You can listen to
the bbc right now as if you had a portable radio...actually you do.
When this happy day arrives, rec.radio.shortwave will revert to dx
chasing only and the 10 denizens will no longer be bothered by people
who want to listen to programs.