On Dec 29, 5:36*pm, "SX-25" wrote:
Ric...

I'm in Wisconsin too (near the U.P.) and having a ball with shortwave. Don't
listen to the baloney that the "golden days of shortwave are gone." Several
shortwave stations have went on the air this past year and numerous are
expanding their coverage.

Disagree in the polite way. Who went ON the air in 2009? Who expanded
their coverage to North America in 2009? Poland, France, Germany,
Canada, Netherlands, Prague, Mighty KBC radio, Radio Japan, and many
others cut back broadcasting in 2009 in English. Even the Cubans cut
back in 2009 giving up parts of 6000khz at night. Come on man.....

The golden days are long gone my friend. Sorry. There is always going
to be types who say it isn't dying, or the types who will claim
shortwave radios of the 70s were the best and everything made today is
junk. Hams of course will say it is a growing hobby but it's not.

Try buying a shortwave radio at Walmart, Kmart, sears etc... They
don't stock them. It's because the market isn't there anymore. Not
even Best Buy stocks them in their stores. Circuit City when they were
around last year no longer stocked them. Radio Shack still has them
but no high end models and only portables.

Also most shortwave owners are Dxer's.... which is not what
broadcasters want.. Broadcasters want people to tune in and listen,
not just say "I heard Radio Prague" and then tune right off to dx the
next station.

Still plenty out there but BBC and many others didn't cut back because
they hate shortwave. They cut back because it simply wasn't
economically viable to keep targeting North America on shortwave with
no one listening.