I'm just getting interested in Shortwave radio for the first time. Is it still a viable hobby in this age?

Question

I'm just getting interested in Shortwave radio for the first time. Is it still a viable hobby in this age?

Answer 1

There aren't as many stations as there used to be. The rise of the Internet and the world recession shut a lot of them down. In the US you can still hear broadcasts from Europe, Africa, South America, the Middle East, the Orient, Australia, and even Antarctica on a good day.



Try attaching a wire antenna to your radio. Any long piece of wire will do, and just wrapping it around the radio's telescoping antenna often works. Get the wire outside the house if you can. Maybe drape it over a tree branch and tie the other end of it to some kind of weight. Just take it down when you're not using it and if there's a thunderstorm coming towards you. An external antenna like that helps your reception, and many of the radio stations are very faint.



Then find some frequency lists online. They will help you figure out what stations you've found, and when a station you found interesting will be on again. A station might be on the air, on a particular frequency, for 30 minutes to several hours. The lists help you know when and where to tune in order to hear the station on another day. The broadcasters tend to change their schedules a lot, so download a new frequency list every week or so. The people who compile the lists update them frequently.



You can also try the program Shortwavelog. It can import a bunch of different frequency lists you find online, and then it sorts through the list to show just what's on the air now, just what's in English, et cetera. It's a buggy program, but useful when it works.



There are also a lot of data modes broadcast on shortwave, things like faxes of weather maps and satellite images, position reports from airplanes and ships, text from amateur radio broadcasters (Hams,) and encrypted military transmissions. Quite a lot of stuff once you get into the hobby.



If you decide to try some fancier radio than the one you have now, the consumer reviews at eHam give you a good feel for what radios are worry free, which are problematic, and which are complete junk.

Answer 2

I've been a steady listener to English language quick wave radio because 1949. Throughout that complete time I've been an aural witness to the predominant parties of historical past. My number of QSL playing cards from one of a kind station responding to my reception stories is not very giant. But, my correspondence dossier with letters from side to side with the ones stations is rather giant. Although I are living in what might be viewed the fourth or 5th excellent reception factor in inland North America (Southern Nevada), the declares out of the Falklands do not are available too evidently. But, I do pay attention to plenty of the Pacific and Asian-founded stations. Unfortunately, shortwave is being supplanted by means of web streaming declares from the ones very retailers. The BBC World Service not beams its sign to the U.S. Deutsche Welle, Radio Norway International, Radio Portugal, Radio Denmark, Radio Switzerland and Radio Finland (YLE Radio) not broadcast in English at the shortwave bands. Still and all, I do pay attention on a daily basis to approximately six or seven countries. Just a fragment of the time while the whole used to be just about thirty an afternoon. But, it nonetheless surpasses the pap and superstar worship that passes for information on U.S. information retailers. The supply underneath is a hyperlink to quite a lot of countries who nonetheless have shortwave broadcast retailers. You can examine occasions and frequency schedules by way of the internet website of that detailed country's internet website.

Answer 3

It's still around though most who do it are older. Not all of them though, as shown by these links re shortwave radio and "teens":

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/25/local/me-teen-radio25

http://www.google.com/search?q=shortwave+radio+teens

Answer 4

there is still some activity out there hobby wise but for the most part its just news and music beamed to the third world. very little programing directed at USA anymore.