Was in the Netherland antilles a while back ;

Radio Netherlands has a HUGE antenna farm, on Bonaire,

beaming Shortwave down to South America
- where electricity is spotty, telephones not a sure bet
computers a Luxury
and the internet used mostly in large cities..

Once you leave the "Strip Mall Zone" in the civilized world, shortwave takes
over..

Dan


In article , "Richard"
writes:

Subject: SW has a future!
From: "Richard"
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 00:16:58 +0200


Ah!, But you are presuming all have access to the Internet, and many
staions - like VOA, BBC, etc are aimed at second and third world internet
access is poor at best.

This will be the great break on the Internet replacing short wave

"RJ" wrote in message
.. .

The INTERNET is the future of communication.

There are more internet users than there are SWL's

No static, no reception probs, no antennas.

Log on.... and connect !
AND
( an internet bonus ) You can respond with eMail.

Do you think that this hobby news-group would be possible with SW ?

All the broadcaster needs is an editor/writer,
a computer, and a phone line.
And no more multi-kilowatt electric bill.


Face the reality folks




On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 12:29:18 +0200, "Richard"
wrote:

That was an interesting post - it kind of leads me to think "what is the
future of shortwaving as a hobby?" A topic I am sure has been moved on
this
group before

Richard, Warsaw

"Mike Terry" wrote in message
...
Radio Finland, the external service of the Finnish Broadcasting Company
(YLE), may close down its service on the shortwave and mediumwave
bands.
This would leave external service programming available only via
satellite
and on the Internet. The aim would be to cut expenses. Currently
distribution costs for Radio Finland total 3.4 million euros annually.
YLE
Administrative Council is expected to decide the fate of shortwave
later
this year. In 2002 (see DXing.info news in June and September 2002 as
well
as a history of the cuts in the DXing.info Community) Radio Finland
closed
down its services in English, German and French, while Finnish, Swedish
and
Russian programming continued on shortwave as well as for Northern
Europe
also on the mediumwave band. A source at YLE tells DXing.info that
possible
lobbying from the part of DXers would only reduce the chances of
remaining
on the air, because the only justification for shortwave is to serve
expatriate Finns, who number about 250.000. A decision to cut shortwave
would become easier if the station is viewed as serving primarily a
fringe
audience of radio hobbyists.

(DXing.info, June 9, 2004)

http://www.dxing.info/news/index.dx#finland




rj

On 11 Jun 2004 22:44:54 GMT, (Diverd4777) wrote:

Was in the Netherland antilles a while back ;

Radio Netherlands has a HUGE antenna farm, on Bonaire,

beaming Shortwave down to South America
- where electricity is spotty, telephones not a sure bet
computers a Luxury
and the internet used mostly in large cities..

Once you leave the "Strip Mall Zone" in the civilized world, shortwave takes
over..

Dan

Does a country like Finland want to spend a million bucks a year
to get its message to "Boondock South America" ??
again;
They can power up a PC,
Write their message in multiple languages.

advantage;
Besides being cheaper for the "broadcaster"
It actually reaches the PC literate in a country,
and chances are they're the people you want to reach.

Back to SWLing;
Perhaps my view is colored by SWLing in the US,
where it's probably the hobby of a few,
rather than the communication media for the many.

I guess there are countrys where folks rely on SW
for their news/info/entertainment......
But then, wouldn't they listen to their own country feeds ??


rj

"RJ" wrote in message
...
On 11 Jun 2004 22:44:54 GMT, (Diverd4777) wrote:

Was in the Netherland antilles a while back ;

Radio Netherlands has a HUGE antenna farm, on Bonaire,

beaming Shortwave down to South America
- where electricity is spotty, telephones not a sure bet
computers a Luxury
and the internet used mostly in large cities..

Once you leave the "Strip Mall Zone" in the civilized world, shortwave
takes
over..

Dan

Does a country like Finland want to spend a million bucks a year
to get its message to "Boondock South America" ??
again;
They can power up a PC,
Write their message in multiple languages.

advantage;
Besides being cheaper for the "broadcaster"
It actually reaches the PC literate in a country,
and chances are they're the people you want to reach.

Back to SWLing;
Perhaps my view is colored by SWLing in the US,
where it's probably the hobby of a few,
rather than the communication media for the many.

I guess there are countrys where folks rely on SW
for their news/info/entertainment......
But then, wouldn't they listen to their own country feeds ??

Short answer: Usually not. Most of the countries that count on SW for their
news and such are also countries where the government (and therefor
government owned radio) is much more likely than not to lie to them, and
they want to hear from other sources. This is why SW broadcasting began in
the first place. In most of those smaller countries, SW cannot serve the
country itself, because of the skip zone.

RJ wrote:

On 11 Jun 2004 22:44:54 GMT, (Diverd4777) wrote:


Was in the Netherland antilles a while back ;

Radio Netherlands has a HUGE antenna farm, on Bonaire,

beaming Shortwave down to South America
- where electricity is spotty, telephones not a sure bet
computers a Luxury
and the internet used mostly in large cities..

Once you leave the "Strip Mall Zone" in the civilized world, shortwave takes
over..

Dan


Does a country like Finland want to spend a million bucks a year
to get its message to "Boondock South America" ??
again;


I think the reality of this particular situation is that the religious
funded Trans World Radio folks are the owners of this installation
(built 40 years ago, btw) and I'd bet Radio Netherlands gets their air
time gratis in exchange as part of the deal.

-BM

"RJ" wrote in message
...


Does a country like Finland want to spend a million bucks a year
to get its message to "Boondock South America" ??
again;
They can power up a PC,
Write their message in multiple languages.

advantage;
Besides being cheaper for the "broadcaster"
It actually reaches the PC literate in a country,
and chances are they're the people you want to reach.


That depends. There might be a number of Finns in a given country which has
poor internet access. Broadcasting to expatriots is still a perfectly good
use of SW broadcasting.

SW broadcasting started with the colonial powers such as Great Britian and
The Netherlands broadcasting programming from home to their people abroad.
Using radio for propaganda and public diplomacy started during WW2 and
continued through the Cold War.



Back to SWLing;
Perhaps my view is colored by SWLing in the US,
where it's probably the hobby of a few,
rather than the communication media for the many.

I guess there are countrys where folks rely on SW
for their news/info/entertainment......
But then, wouldn't they listen to their own country feeds ??


rj

Many, or most, of the tropical band stations have disappeared. They've been
replaced by FM stations and FM repeaters.

Frank Dresser