Frank Dresser wrote:


wrote in message
...
Im thinking of dumping my cable TV. That will leave me with only two
local TV stations to get via an antenna.

Im considering buying a shortwave receiver that I can listen to while
doing things around the house.


Shortwave demands more listener involvement than standard AM and FM
broadcasting. The transmission schedules are shorter and the reception
isn't as depandable. Listeners have to retune their radios more
frequently.

I know that I have to sit in front of my reciever to hear the news
clearly, and I've got a Yaesu. I especially have trouble with the
foreign accented English used by many SW stations. For example, Spain
has got a newsreader named Luis De Beneto (sp?) who talks with a Spanish
accent that's so thick it's hard to make out even when the signal is
good. I have to really concentrate on what he's saying for it to make
sense-he uses Spanish intonation on English words which creates a
mouth-full-of-mashed-potatoes effect.

Broadcast AM and FM and recorded music are more reliable sources for
entertainment.

I mainly use SW to get news and to "DX" (hear faraway stations not
beamed to my area, for newbies who don't know what that means). Also,
fans of unusual/rare music (Argentinian tangoes, Cuban jazz, Eastern
European folk music) like SW because it has all this and more. But if
you're looking for country or rap, you'll have better luck with FM.


Is there interesting programming available via shortwave?


Depends what's meant by interesting. There aren't any sitcoms like TV.
There's not much music like broadcast radio. International broadcast
stations oftentimes discuss world news and events and what wonderful
tourist attractions are to be found in their countries.

News is the most common format on SW, that and "features" that are
occasionally interresting.


Most domestic US shortwave stations are dominated by low cost brokered
programming. Conspiracy theorists, evangalists, sellers of vital
doomsday supplies such as gold, water filters, and nostrums.

If you enjoyed the X-Files, you may enjoy domestic shortwave radio.

I doubt it, having seen the X Files in its heyday. SW isn't Mulder and
Scully confronting aliens, it's middle aged white guys with Southern
accents ranting for hours. A couple are mildly interesting, such as Alex
Jones, but even Jones is no match to Art Bell. After a while you notice
that the preaching and conspiracy theorizing found on domestic SW has a
monotonal quality to it, like an interminable session with the worst
professor you had in college.