I only have a portable shortwave radio (Grundig Yacht Boy 400) that I have
had for about 15 years. (It replaced a Grundig 2000 which was a real nice
radio in its day.) When I first got it there was stuff on there not only in
the bands but in between. There were about 10 places to hear the BBC and
VOA. Now I can tune the radio all night and maybe pick up a few Christian
broadcasts and one or two Spanish stations. I usually just end up listening
to the AM and FM stations. Even Hams are sort of rare. If this keeps up,
in a year or two there won't be anything on SW. Or is there something wrong
with my radio? Ric in Wisconsin.

Ric Trexell wrote:
I only have a portable shortwave radio (Grundig Yacht Boy 400) that I have
had for about 15 years. (It replaced a Grundig 2000 which was a real nice
radio in its day.) When I first got it there was stuff on there not only in
the bands but in between. There were about 10 places to hear the BBC and
VOA. Now I can tune the radio all night and maybe pick up a few Christian
broadcasts and one or two Spanish stations. I usually just end up listening
to the AM and FM stations. Even Hams are sort of rare. If this keeps up,
in a year or two there won't be anything on SW. Or is there something wrong
with my radio? Ric in Wisconsin.

No, there are several things that have happened. One is that shortwave radio
signals bounce off the top of the athmosphere (the ionosphere). That's why you
can hear them being too far away for ground wave signals (the ones that travel
along the surface of the earth).

The number one thing that controls the ionosphere is the sun. When there is
sunlight, the ionosphere bounces higher frequency radio signals, which is
why some bands work better during the day and others at night.

The second thing is the number of sunspots. The more sunspots the more the
ionosphere is "charged". Sunspots follow an eleven year cycle, 15 years ago
we were just ending a peak. Now we are at the bottom of a cycle. This bottom
is rare, there have been so many months with no sunspots and so little recovery
that it may be the worst cycle since people have been keeping track (1700's).

Things are so bad that many people are predicting another "little ice age"
(look it up).

So radio propigation (the spreading of signals) is much less than it was
15 years ago, and the frequencies that spread are much lower.

The next problem is noise. I live in a medium sized city (Jerusalem). All around
me are computers, wireless networks, telephones, etc. This puts me in a cloud
of electrical noise that covers over radio signals. 4 mHz and below is unusable
to me.

That's how I tell if an (infrequent) power outage is just my building, or
the entire neighborhood. If I can receive the BBC on 1323kHz (AM broadcast
band) from Cyprus with a portable radio, the outage is more than just right
around me. If you have a radio tuned to it an on when the power is restored,
you can hear the devices all starting up.

Things have also changed with shortwave broadcasting. Between the internet,
satellite delivery of broadcast material, and paid subscriptions (NPR pays
the BBC to give you BBC news) stations are abandoning North America.

Signals are still out there, but in a lot of cases you are not getting
them beamed to you directly, you are hearing a signal aimed at someone else.
These signals are much weaker and you may need a better radio, a better
antenna or more patience to receive them.

Since the end of the cold war, political broadcasting almost stopped. Radio
Moscow, Radio Habana (Cuba), and the soviet satellites dropped or reduced
their programing. The US policial stations (VOA, Radio Marti, Radio Liberty,
etc) scaled back their programming or left the air entirely.

In that area things are changing. China (the PRC), Russia (now a rising world
power trying to fill the vacuum), and so on are hitting the shortwaves big.
However they are not going after you, although programs aimed at the
developed countries are broadcast, but they deliver over the internet too.

The reality of the situation is that no matter how what people can use to
get their information, nothing is as hard to stop, or as cheap to receive
with no infrastructure than shortwave boradcasting.

I'll bet as I write this, (Dec 29, 2009) there are a lot of people in Iran
who wished they had shortwave radios.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation.
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

Things have also changed with shortwave broadcasting. Between the internet,
satellite delivery of broadcast material, and paid subscriptions (NPR pays
the BBC to give you BBC news) stations are abandoning North America.


Actually, Bill and Melinda Gates; and Medtronic; pay PRI to distribute
the BBC World Service in N. Am.

I listen at vpr.org

Much nicer than all that swishy shortwave.

A lot of amateurs don't own a microphone, and use digital modes to talk
around the world on less power than a TV set. You'll need something
more stable than a Yacht Boy to decode that.

"dave" wrote in message
...
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

Things have also changed with shortwave broadcasting. Between the
internet,
satellite delivery of broadcast material, and paid subscriptions (NPR
pays
the BBC to give you BBC news) stations are abandoning North America.


Actually, Bill and Melinda Gates; and Medtronic; pay PRI to distribute the
BBC World Service in N. Am.

I listen at vpr.org

Much nicer than all that swishy shortwave.

A lot of amateurs don't own a microphone, and use digital modes to talk
around the world on less power than a TV set. You'll need something more
stable than a Yacht Boy to decode that.

You're completely wrong. The amount of people using QRP and CW
is nowhere near those using SSB. No one uses AM apart from on 160m,
the rest is SSB. You can use programs with a PC soundcard to decode
data modes - even CW which isn't used much now. The requirement to
get a full Class A licence in the UK and other countries does away with
the need to do a morse test. Shame it wasn't sooner as I had to learn it.
There is also DRM about on SW.

IanT wrote:
wrote in message
...
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

Things have also changed with shortwave broadcasting. Between the
internet,
satellite delivery of broadcast material, and paid subscriptions (NPR
pays
the BBC to give you BBC news) stations are abandoning North America.


Actually, Bill and Melinda Gates; and Medtronic; pay PRI to distribute the
BBC World Service in N. Am.

I listen at vpr.org

Much nicer than all that swishy shortwave.

A lot of amateurs don't own a microphone, and use digital modes to talk
around the world on less power than a TV set. You'll need something more
stable than a Yacht Boy to decode that.

You're completely wrong. The amount of people using QRP and CW
is nowhere near those using SSB. No one uses AM apart from on 160m,
the rest is SSB. You can use programs with a PC soundcard to decode
data modes - even CW which isn't used much now. The requirement to
get a full Class A licence in the UK and other countries does away with
the need to do a morse test. Shame it wasn't sooner as I had to learn it.
There is also DRM about on SW.


Completely wrong? Really?

QRP is 5 Watts. A typical TV uses at least 40 Watts. Which is what I
use to work the world with QPSK31.

There are radios that live entirely inside a PC, except for the front
end/PA box, and they are among the best in the world.

On Dec 29, 10:09*am, "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
wrote:
Ric Trexell wrote:
I only have a portable shortwave radio (Grundig Yacht Boy 400) that I have
had for about 15 years. (It replaced a Grundig 2000 which was a real nice
radio in its day.) *When I first got it there was stuff on there not only in
the bands but in between. *There were about 10 places to hear the BBC and
VOA. *Now I can tune the radio all night and maybe pick up a few Christian
broadcasts and one or two Spanish stations. *I usually just end up listening
to the AM and FM stations. *Even Hams are sort of rare. *If this keeps up,
in a year or two there won't be anything on SW. *Or is there something wrong
with my radio? *Ric in Wisconsin.

No, there are several things that have happened. One is that shortwave radio
signals bounce off the top of the athmosphere (the ionosphere). That's why you
can hear them being too far away for ground wave signals (the ones that travel
along the surface of the earth).

The number one thing that controls the ionosphere is the sun. When there is
sunlight, the ionosphere bounces higher frequency radio signals, which is
why some bands work better during the day and others at night.

The second thing is the number of sunspots. The more sunspots the more the
ionosphere is "charged". Sunspots follow an eleven year cycle, 15 years ago
we were just ending a peak. Now we are at the bottom of a cycle. This bottom
is rare, there have been so many months with no sunspots and so little recovery
that it may be the worst cycle since people have been keeping track (1700's).

Things are so bad that many people are predicting another "little ice age"
(look it up).

So radio propigation (the spreading of signals) is much less than it was
15 years ago, and the frequencies that spread are much lower.

The next problem is noise. I live in a medium sized city (Jerusalem). All around
me are computers, wireless networks, telephones, etc. This puts me in a cloud
of electrical noise that covers over radio signals. 4 mHz and below is unusable
to me.

That's how I tell if an (infrequent) power outage is just my building, or
the entire neighborhood. If I can receive the BBC on 1323kHz (AM broadcast
band) from Cyprus with a portable radio, the outage is more than just right
around me. If you have a radio tuned to it an on when the power is restored,
you can hear the devices all starting up.

Things have also changed with shortwave broadcasting. Between the internet,
satellite delivery of broadcast material, and paid subscriptions (NPR pays
the BBC to give you BBC news) stations are abandoning North America.

Signals are still out there, but in a lot of cases you are not getting
them beamed to you directly, you are hearing a signal aimed at someone else.
These signals are much weaker and you may need a better radio, a better
antenna or more patience to receive them.

Since the end of the cold war, political broadcasting almost stopped. Radio
Moscow, Radio Habana (Cuba), and the soviet satellites dropped or reduced
their programing. The US policial stations (VOA, Radio Marti, Radio Liberty,
etc) scaled back their programming or left the air entirely.

In that area things are changing. China (the PRC), Russia (now a rising world
power trying to fill the vacuum), and so on are hitting the shortwaves big.
However they are not going after you, although programs aimed at the
developed countries are broadcast, but they deliver over the internet too..

The reality of the situation is that no matter how what people can use to
get their information, nothing is as hard to stop, or as cheap to receive
with no infrastructure than shortwave boradcasting.

I'll bet as I write this, (Dec 29, 2009) there are a lot of people in Iran
who wished they had shortwave radios.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel *N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation.

Yup Ric, it really has declined. Even the mighty "Radio Moscow world
service" that was on 20 different freqs 24 hours a day 20 years ago is
now down to a few hours a day with one hour of original programming
via the Voice of Russia. The BBC no longer targets North America. VOA
has never targeted North America by law but they have also cut back
and have turned to more local broadcasting for their information in
foreign countries.

You can still get the BBC or VOA, especially in the afternoon on
shortwave, but it's questionable quality at best, and almost anyone
who really wants to listen to those will just listen on their
computer.

The Chinese are probably the only ones who even attempt to target
North America most of the day and night in English via relay in
Sackville in Canada. Radio Havana out of Cuba you can catch from
around 8pm local until 2am local.

Now with that being said, there still is some good ones out there but
not on 24 hours a day. I enjoy Radio Romania the best myself and they
come in several times a night in 30 minute segments.

The Hams are less but still there, especially on 3700-4000mhz and
7000-7250mhz, usually in lower sideband.

The lack of sunspots makes daytime listening almost a waste now.

But yea, the Harold Camping's, Brother Stair's, Melissa Scott, and
countless other non-traditional preachers dominate the airwaves.

But the golden days of shortwave are long gone....

On Dec 29, 4:17*pm, SC Dxing wrote:
Yup Ric, it really has declined. Even the mighty "Radio Moscow world
service" that was on 20 different freqs 24 hours a day 20 years ago is
now down to a few hours a day with one hour of original programming
via the Voice of Russia. The BBC no longer targets North America. VOA
has never targeted North America by law but they have also cut back
and have turned to more local broadcasting for their information in
foreign countries.

You can still get the BBC or VOA, especially in the afternoon on
shortwave, but it's questionable quality at best, and almost anyone
who really wants to listen to those will just listen on their
computer.

The Chinese are probably the only ones who even attempt to target
North America most of the day and night in English via relay in
Sackville in Canada. Radio Havana out of Cuba you can catch from
around 8pm local until 2am local.

Now with that being said, there still is some good ones out there but
not on 24 hours a day. I enjoy Radio Romania the best myself and they
come in several times a night in 30 minute segments.

The Hams are less but still there, especially on 3700-4000mhz and
7000-7250mhz, usually in lower sideband.

The lack of sunspots makes daytime listening almost a waste now.

But yea, the Harold Camping's, Brother Stair's, Melissa Scott, and
countless other non-traditional preachers dominate the airwaves.

But the golden days of shortwave are long gone....

What's funny is, in the 1970s people would talk about how the golden
age of shortwave was over precisely BECAUSE the bands were so crowded
with weird, cold war political broadcasts and cultural programming. My
guess is that shortwave will be lingering on its deathbed long after
your grandchildren (if you have any) have left this world, though the
diagnosis will probably change three or four more times in the
interim.

Most of the best SW listening nowadays isn't in the form of broadcasts
but rather the many "utilities" you hear on SSB. That's where I'd be
looking now if hamming weren't taking up all my time.

Ever consider getting your ham license and learning CW? CW is really
where the fun is!

Steve wrote:
On Dec 29, 4:17 pm, SC wrote:
Yup Ric, it really has declined. Even the mighty "Radio Moscow world
service" that was on 20 different freqs 24 hours a day 20 years ago is
now down to a few hours a day with one hour of original programming
via the Voice of Russia. The BBC no longer targets North America. VOA
has never targeted North America by law but they have also cut back
and have turned to more local broadcasting for their information in
foreign countries.

You can still get the BBC or VOA, especially in the afternoon on
shortwave, but it's questionable quality at best, and almost anyone
who really wants to listen to those will just listen on their
computer.

The Chinese are probably the only ones who even attempt to target
North America most of the day and night in English via relay in
Sackville in Canada. Radio Havana out of Cuba you can catch from
around 8pm local until 2am local.

Now with that being said, there still is some good ones out there but
not on 24 hours a day. I enjoy Radio Romania the best myself and they
come in several times a night in 30 minute segments.

The Hams are less but still there, especially on 3700-4000mhz and
7000-7250mhz, usually in lower sideband.

The lack of sunspots makes daytime listening almost a waste now.

But yea, the Harold Camping's, Brother Stair's, Melissa Scott, and
countless other non-traditional preachers dominate the airwaves.

But the golden days of shortwave are long gone....

What's funny is, in the 1970s people would talk about how the golden
age of shortwave was over precisely BECAUSE the bands were so crowded
with weird, cold war political broadcasts and cultural programming. My
guess is that shortwave will be lingering on its deathbed long after
your grandchildren (if you have any) have left this world, though the
diagnosis will probably change three or four more times in the
interim.

Most of the best SW listening nowadays isn't in the form of broadcasts
but rather the many "utilities" you hear on SSB. That's where I'd be
looking now if hamming weren't taking up all my time.

Ever consider getting your ham license and learning CW? CW is really
where the fun is!

You don't need to actually "learn" CW to monitor it. There are several
FREE programs which decode via your computer sound card.

All amateurs are listed in various databases, complete with mailing
address. You're way more likely to get a QSL card from a Ham than you
are from a commercial station these days, as most broadcasters don't
even have an engineering department any more.

www.pskreporter.info

Hils wrote:
dave wrote:
Ever consider getting your ham license and learning CW? CW is really
where the fun is!

You don't need to actually "learn" CW to monitor it. There are several
FREE programs which decode via your computer sound card.

Are you thinking of any programs in particular? I've tried a number of
free software decoders (and a KAM+) and none of them are anywhere near
as good as my ears and brain.

I use fldigi. Not frequently for CW. It's kind of fun to watch W1AW
code practice. Maybe if I stare long enough I'll be facile in code
(probably not...)