TK,

The Decline is 'actually' a "Transfer-of-Services" via new Technologies.
Better more efficent direct distribution at a lower cost via:

* The Internet / WWW - 24/7 Anytime Programming on Demand.
{Multi-Media Platforms to market the message.}

* Direct Satellite Radio and TV Programming
{TV being the preferred Media for Getting the Message Across
in both Live Pictures, Still Images, Actual Sounds and Words.}

* Offering FREE "Program Content" for 'in-country' Distribution
[Re-Broadcasting] on the AM and FM Radio Bands.
(Because most household have a 'standard' AM/FM Radio and
only many be 1-in-5 to 1-in-25 have a Shortwave Radio.
The Audience 'potential' is increased 400% to 2000% using this
method in third world countries with uniformally consistance
reception results (NO SW Signal Fading). Plus the 'demographics'
of this Expanded Audience are "Better Representation" of the
target nations general population as a whole.

TBL: As an Internataional Media (Message Delivery System)
Shortwave Broadcasting is NO Longer the 'biggest band' for the Buck.
[Today there are now 'better' Message Delivery Systems to be used.]


jm2cw ~ RHF
..
..
= = = 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?

..

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.

The 40 years of the Cold War was the time of the greatest number of SW
stations on the air. The propaganda war raged constantly until the
fall of the Iron Curtain.
The war is pretty much over and the need for the propaganda
organs is just not there. Voice of Russia is still on the air with a
(usually) strong signal and is much less strident than the old Radio
Moscow. It is worth a listen for an alternate perspective.
I too, miss the "Golden Days". Gone is the thumping Latin beat
on RRadio RRhumbos, a station that introduced me to S.American music.
Too much has gone , I suspect forever. (Sniff, sniff--tear on cheek.)
Bob

"Bob" wrote in message
om...
The 40 years of the Cold War was the time of the greatest number of SW
stations on the air. The propaganda war raged constantly until the
fall of the Iron Curtain.
The war is pretty much over and the need for the propaganda
organs is just not there. Voice of Russia is still on the air with a
(usually) strong signal and is much less strident than the old Radio
Moscow. It is worth a listen for an alternate perspective.
I too, miss the "Golden Days". Gone is the thumping Latin beat
on RRadio RRhumbos, a station that introduced me to S.American music.
Too much has gone , I suspect forever. (Sniff, sniff--tear on cheek.)
Bob

Well, I don't miss the golden days of stations packed in sholder to sholder,
utility transmitters on SW broadcast bands, high power jammers and the
Soviet woodpecker.

I'll agree about the tropical band stations, though. Most of 'em are gone,
and I did like hearing them.

Frank Dresser

Frank Dresser

Frank....here's a good link on tropical bands past and present.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/chrisbran...bands____part_
one__by_chris

--
Remove NOSPAM to reply
"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...

"Bob" wrote in message
om...
The 40 years of the Cold War was the time of the greatest number of SW
stations on the air. The propaganda war raged constantly until the
fall of the Iron Curtain.
The war is pretty much over and the need for the propaganda
organs is just not there. Voice of Russia is still on the air with a
(usually) strong signal and is much less strident than the old Radio
Moscow. It is worth a listen for an alternate perspective.
I too, miss the "Golden Days". Gone is the thumping Latin beat
on RRadio RRhumbos, a station that introduced me to S.American music.
Too much has gone , I suspect forever. (Sniff, sniff--tear on cheek.)
Bob

Well, I don't miss the golden days of stations packed in sholder to
sholder,
utility transmitters on SW broadcast bands, high power jammers and the
Soviet woodpecker.

I'll agree about the tropical band stations, though. Most of 'em are
gone,
and I did like hearing them.

Frank Dresser

Frank Dresser

Sorry.....Here is the right link.....

members.lycos.co.uk/chrisbrand1977/id24.htm

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Remove NOSPAM to reply
"gil" wrote in message
link.net...
Frank....here's a good link on tropical bands past and present.


http://members.lycos.co.uk/chrisbran...bands____part_
one__by_chris

--
Remove NOSPAM to reply
"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...

"Bob" wrote in message
om...
The 40 years of the Cold War was the time of the greatest number of SW
stations on the air. The propaganda war raged constantly until the
fall of the Iron Curtain.
The war is pretty much over and the need for the propaganda
organs is just not there. Voice of Russia is still on the air with a
(usually) strong signal and is much less strident than the old Radio
Moscow. It is worth a listen for an alternate perspective.
I too, miss the "Golden Days". Gone is the thumping Latin beat
on RRadio RRhumbos, a station that introduced me to S.American music.
Too much has gone , I suspect forever. (Sniff, sniff--tear on cheek.)
Bob

Well, I don't miss the golden days of stations packed in sholder to
sholder,
utility transmitters on SW broadcast bands, high power jammers and the
Soviet woodpecker.

I'll agree about the tropical band stations, though. Most of 'em are
gone,
and I did like hearing them.

Frank Dresser

Frank Dresser

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?

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?

In article
. rogers.com,
"Pierre L" wrote:

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?

How does an expensive digital camera take all the fun out of taking
pictures? You can still fiddle with exposure and focus and f-stops and
all the other things that serious photographers want/need.

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)

Dan wrote:
snip

How does an expensive digital camera take all the fun out of taking
pictures? You can still fiddle with exposure and focus and f-stops and
all the other things that serious photographers want/need.

Dan



Many of the low to mid priced digital cameras are PHD (Push Here Dummy) cameras with little if any manual control options.

Digital SLR's and better compact ones usually seem to include manual over ride options.