Jim wrote:
Wouldn't that provide a better coverage with less fading compared to
traditional approach? Or is it that shortwave needs ionosphere to
work at all? Thanks.

When you transmit a shortwave signal from an earth-bound transmitter, it
gets "bounced" off the ionosphere to come back down to the listener a
few thousand miles away.

If you were to transmit such a signal from space, it would bounce in
pretty much the same way -- except that instead of bouncing down to a
listener on Earth, it would bounce back out into space. Not
particularly useful.

--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com