dave wrote:
You're about 20 years too late. Shortwave broadcasting is dead.
Perhaps you'd enjoy utility monitoring; for that you'll need a better
radio.
Maybe because I am on the other side of the world, I would dispute that.
Shortwave broadcasting is alive and well, but it's no longer the prefered
method of reaching distant audiences.
Broadcasters who want to reach a more affluent audience have moved to methods
of transmission which are cheaper to transmit, but more expensive to receive.
For example, Internet "broadcasting", satellite sub carriers, etc. They have
also moved to video broadcasting which can not be done by shortwave.
As Dave said, 20 years ago things were different. A cheap shortwave radio
with a short antenna, such as the built in whip, could receive broadcasts
from around the world, 24/7. Due to propigation, you would have to tune to
various frequencies, even when it was night where you were and daytime at the
source or vice versa.
The "biggies", BBC, VOA, AFRN (US millitary entertainment for distant bases),
Deutcshe Welle (Germany), Radio France International, Radio Moscow,
Radio Habana Cuba, HJCB (The Voice of the Andes) and so on. There was even
at one time a Shortwave broadcaster out of New Orleans, which often just
relayed their FM service.
Now most of them have scaled down, or left shortwave entirely.
For example, the BBC no longer "beams" their signal to North America, but you
can still receive it. Not as easily as before, which means you may need to be
more proactive about choosing when you listen and have a better antenna or
receiver. On the other hand, most of the people reading this will have access
to their streaming audio on the Internet, or via a local cable TV or DBS
service.
Many broadcasters use shortwave radio to reach populations that are too
distant and too poor to have broadband Internet, satellite receivers, etc.
Whether or not you would be able receive them at all, or with a cheap receiver
is questionable.
Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel
N3OWJ/4X1GM