§ Dr. Artaud § wrote:

running dogg wrote in :

Visit the Yaesu homepage and look at the current offerings. The FRG-100
is no longer listed. I do believe that I have seen articles discussing
the discontinuation of this superb receiver.

Passport says that Yaesu makes a "VR-5000" tabletop, which the review
indicates is far below the classic Frogs.

Can you say Palstar? Hopefully they will continue their fine R30 and Icom
will continue the R-75, but who knows. Too many radios are being
discontinued at nearly the same time.

Icom currently seems to have the most tabletops on the market, if
Passport is any indication.

Fortunately, HAM transceivers allow the same reception capabilities and
offers transmission for those properly licensed. I don't believe that HAM
transceivers are going anywhere soon, so there will be an abundance of
superlative tabletop models for SWLing for years to come at the same
price of Shortwave only tabletops.

I believe that in the US only licensed hams can own transceivers. The
ham community is pretty tight fisted with their existing rigs, many
making you show them your license before they let you buy their rig.
This is apparently done to combat pirates, which the hams view as
threatening their spectrum (although since hobby broadcasting is
illegal, it's hard to see how).

(snip)

""Tag Line Sent In Of The Week, Month, Whatever...
"I am confused. I thought that streaming internet audio and satellite
radio was available everywhere and at anytime. Isn't real radio simply
obsolete....like smoke signals. I am so confused." Singapo 6,000
Radio Sets Collected For Tsunami Victims." "

You know that you've been living in a civilized nation for too long when
you are capable of making an asinine statement as above. Yes Virginia,
not every nitwit in the world is carrying a laptop computer, an IPOD, or
whatever. Sheesh. These people imagine the world's poor people buying
computers, subscribing to satellite services, and maintaining ISP
connections. All the while looking for the bodies of their deceased
relatives and friends. Common folks, there are more than 6,000,000,000
people on this planet, not everyone lives like you. Most live in squalid
conditions, the possession of a radio to hear local and worldly events
and music is probably quite a pleasure.

It also follows that those people can't afford a $1500 radio, but CAN
afford a $50 Degen or Tecsun. Gee, I wonder why tabletops are being
pulled from the market while cheap China made portables are showing
strong sales? I DO wonder what the most common SW radio is in the third
world. I've seen footage of Iraqis listening to old European tube SW
radios. The movie The Killing Fields showed the camp escapees listening
to such a radio. I would figure that probably old Grundigs, Telefunkens
and Phillips's are the most common SW radios, except in the old Soviet
Bloc where the state made radios would be the most common.

And don't believe that the desire to go to the digital modes is for your
pleasure. Think about it, the satellite services will ultimately be
controlled by the Government and, sooner or later, once your hooked, by
the advertisers. Shortwave is a thorn in the side of most Governments,
since other countries, even on a modest budgets, can get the word out.

YOU try explaining this to our resident XM Satellite Radio owning
"leftist". I've tried, but I'd rather beat my head against a brick wall.
He doesn't seem to get that if the BBC ****ed off George W. Bush that it
would disappear from satellite radio.

Satellites have a footprint, you need to be within that footprint to
receive the broadcasts (more or less, I realize that part of the
footprint is the intended reception area, i.e. the supported area)

If a show displeases the government covered by the footprint, and the
government has the authority, they will simply order the show removed
from the satellite. The U.S. has cancelled an Iranian broadcast to
America, labeling it "intellectual terror". Easy enough. You no longer
get to make up your own minds, you listen to what the Government wants
you to hear.

And then the government will force through BPL not to give people better
internet connectivity (it doesn't) but to use as a blanket shortwave
jammer. And also to force the public to buy expen$ive digital TVs and
expen$ive satellite TV subscriptions to go with them. Of course, the
government will get its kickbacks from all this forced purchasing of
$3000 TVs and $600/yr satellite subscriptions. I don't think it's an
accident that the BBC canceled its NAm service around the time that W
cozied up to Tony Blair.

Perhaps more utility listening, more DXing for those elusive signals,
Pirates and Spies may be a way to bide your time while the shortwave
broadcasters come and go (mostly go right now, but who knows in the long
run).

Well, the small European stations are going away, but the big ones (BBC,
RN) mostly aren't. The BBC still broadcasts to Mexico in English,
probably their way of getting around the UK Govt order that they stop
beaming to the US. Only DW has totally canceled all broadcasts to the
Americas.


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