On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 13:27:56 GMT, "LewBob"
wrote:

Our local Cable and PBS each carry BBC
and Deutsche Welle every evening. (digital cable
service carries BBCWorld 24/7) Shortwave is obsolete.
Unfortunatly.

Not entirely obsolete. Having recently visited Cuba (legally as a working
journalist), I listen to Radio Havana almost every night. Got a chance to
meet three of the folks working there during my stay in Havana. Fascinating
country. Wonderful people. All they need is a little freedom and
opportunity.



Oh is that all. Just a "little freedom and opportunity".

Frank Dresser wrote:

It's not just the changes in the media (transmitters, satellites, the
internet), there's also less message (programs cut, languages dropped).
There's less news/propaganda money as money gets tighter.

But there's good news. There's less interference, and US domestic SW is
dominated by entertaining -- um -- characters. Not only do these characters
want to be on SW, but they're willing to pay for it with their own money.

As I see it, SW radio has never been better.

Frank Dresser

I find it hard to see Bro. Stair and his contemporaries as good news.


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Dan wrote:

In article hW4cc.75611$w54.433850@attbi_s01,
"Brian Denley" wrote:

Frank Dresser wrote:

But there's good news. There's less interference, and US domestic SW
is dominated by entertaining -- um -- characters. Not only do these
characters want to be on SW, but they're willing to pay for it with
their own money.

As I see it, SW radio has never been better.

Frank Dresser

Except that the US domestic stations are almost all religious
fundamentalists. About as interesting as static. I long for the days of
the big guns of the cold war: Radio Moscow, BBC, Radio Sofia, etc.

Yeah. Radio Moscow on the old Cuba relay on 11840 calling us "running
dog capitalists" was fun. Now VOR has commercials!

Dan

Joe Adamov was singing a different tune in those days.


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The BBC is available on both XM and Sirius. Sirius also carries the
World Radio Network.

Operating a 250 kW transmitter for the benefit of a few thousand
hobbyists makes no economic sense.

On Sun, 04 Apr 2004 18:38:10 -0700, tommyknocker
wrote:

I was just thinking about this today. Has anybody noticed that shortwave
radio has really declined over the past five years or so? We've lost BBC
and Deutsche Welle transmissions to North America, we've lost several
smaller European broadcasters entirely, other stations have drastically
cut back. Are transmitting facilities really going on the blink so soon
after the end of the cold war? Or has everybody jumped on the BBC's
bandwagon and concluded that satellite and internet broadcasting has
replaced shortwave? Any thoughts?

More like ''now''.

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 08:39:52 -0400, Dan wrote:

In article ,
(Diverd4777) wrote:

In article , Dan
writes:

But yes, satellite and internet are going to replace shortwave. It's
inevitable.

- Possibly in 50 - 100 years..

No, more like 10 - 15 years.

Dan

Drake R8, Radio Shack DX-440,
Grundig Satellit 650, Satellit 700, YB400
Tecsun PL-230 (YB550PE), Kaito KA1102
Hallicraters S-120 (1962)
Zenith black dial 5 tube Tombstone (1937)
E. H. Scott 23 tube Imperial Allwave in Tasman cabinet (1936)

grenner wrote:

I have finally pretty much given up the hobby after being at it since the
Sixties. I still have a portable hanging around.
I use XM at home and in my car now for great mostly uninterrupted music and
the news programming is pretty good too.
I used to love to tropical band DX but those are mostly gone now or at least
nothing much new is showing up. I have many fond memories of DXpeditions
and all the new catches I got.

If you like a vast wasteland of idiots then American shortwave is still
running large but I was never much of a program person.

It's sad, I really loved the hobby.

Greg

Giving up on shortwave now seems rather premature to me. There is still
plenty to hear. Maybe you were never a real program listener though.


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Somewhat the same situation is going on now in photography, with the growing
popularity of digital. However, I think the same arguments against can be
made as with shortwave. If it's digital, it's somewhat exclusive to those
who can pay, and it requires a fairly steep investment in equipment that is
rapidly superceded. It might be better in performance, but to keep up with
it, the user pretty much becomes a slave to the technology. Shortwave, on
the other hand, just needs a cheap receiver, and it's free for the taking.
Just like an expensive digital camera gives you the picture but takes all
the fun out of actually taking it, satellite radio is good, and just a
button press away, but is there any fun in it? Where's the fun in listening
to "radio" on the internet?

Hopefully, radio will not become like TV, where the good programming is only
available to those who can and are willing to pay for satellite or digital
cable services.

Personally, I find this trend profoundly disturbing... entertainment for the
affluent.

By the way, as has already happened twice to me in the five years, when the
power goes out, so does all that digital junk. But radio still works as long
as you have batteries on hand. Broadcast radio got me through 7 days of no
electricity. There was no TV, no cells phones, no internet. It seems to me
that if shortwave and ordinary broadcast radio did not exist at this time,
we would have to invent it, because you can't rely on anything digital being
there when you need it. During the power failure in the east last summer, I
was on my way somewhere in the car. I couldn't make it because, with no
traffic lights, it was gridlock everywhere. Cellphones were out too. But AM
radio was on, and within less than half an hour, anyone with an AM radio
could know what was going on. Was it a big terrorist attack? No, just a
power failure. But I knew that because as I was sitting in the gridlock, the
radio in my car worked fine. I never thought about it much before the two
big power failures that affected me directly, but I like broadcast AM and
shortwave just as it is.

I want to wrap this up by saying that, in terms of things that you can
actually listen to, I find shortwave is better now than it has ever been. I
don't see a decline at all. If anything, it's the opposite.



"tommyknocker" wrote in message
...
I was just thinking about this today. Has anybody noticed that shortwave
radio has really declined over the past five years or so? We've lost BBC
and Deutsche Welle transmissions to North America, we've lost several
smaller European broadcasters entirely, other stations have drastically
cut back. Are transmitting facilities really going on the blink so soon
after the end of the cold war? Or has everybody jumped on the BBC's
bandwagon and concluded that satellite and internet broadcasting has
replaced shortwave? Any thoughts?

"Mark S. Holden" wrote in message
...


I'm not happy when I hear another major broadcaster is going to cut back
or stop broadcasting to the USA, but I think shortwave will be around
for a very long time.

In certain parts of the world, internet connections are scarce. Some
parts of the USA don't have affordable access to high speed connections.


The internet isn't much of a factor in the third world, but there's been a
large number of FM transmitters installed in the third world, and the
propaganda broadcasters such as the VOA are buying time on them.

Right now, I'm sure local FM is the most prominent substitute for SW.

Frank Dresser

"starman" wrote in message
...


I find it hard to see Bro. Stair and his contemporaries as good news.


I'm sure Brother Stair and his ilk are responsible for whatever new interest
shortwave radio has developed in the last few years.

Beyond that, the Prophet is always wrong, and the news doesn't get any
better than that!!

Frank Dresser

All this hang wringing, sky is falling, end of the world view of
Shortwave Radio is hard to believe. There is more to listen to on
Shortwave Radio today, than at any other time in current history. No
I don't listen to the BBC's or CBC's or other propaganda tools for big
governments. I listen to Pirate Broadcasters, who give pure,
unedited, opinions and views, you won't find on the mega-watt
mouthpieces. The best production, the best variety, the best programs
that you will hear on Shortwave, are on the pirate bands.

Yes, you will have to put some effort into hearing the Pirates, but
the payoff is far superior to anything the government mouthpieces have
to offer. Europe has dozens of Pirates in the 6200-6300khz range.
Please you Euro-pirates, post some freqs here. Here's a chance to
grab some listeners who hadn't thought of Pirates over BBC. US
Pirates are found on 6925-6950-6955-6975khz on weeknights and
weekends.

So stop your bellyaching about the loss of mega-watt government
propaganda mouthpieces and start listening to some honest, unedited,
radio, that out shines the commercials boys by a mile.

THERE IS PLENTY TO LISTEN TO ON SHORTWAVE! The pirates in North
America and Europe do a far better job of entertaining than all the
big government approved crap that pollutes the airwaves. You can find
current logs on Pirate catches at: www.frn.net/vines/ Go to the
"LOGS" section.