Any of you ever listen to short wave? I have been thinking about getting a handheld transceiver that is capable of receiving SW. I am sure I would need to replace the rubber ducky with an antenna more suited for SW. Do you have any suggestions?
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Short Wave Listening
- Thread starter Leveraction44
- Start date
Is there any SW channel that is worth listening to? Does the BBC still transmit on SW?
Years ago before the internet. I was stationed at an air force base and thought the same thing I bought a nice multi-band radio that could receive all kinds of sh*t.
After hours and hours of listening and working my way through band after band. Came to the conclusion that its all hype and there isn't anything worth listening to on those frequencies.
Your iphone and access to the internet will put more podcasts, and live streaming than you will ever get over the air.
Your transceiver will however allow you to communicate with other users. However unlike places like this where you get to read what posts they wrote. If they are not actively 'live and on the air' they are just not there.
I guess it depends on if your brain is geared toward audio or visually based stimuli.
After hours and hours of listening and working my way through band after band. Came to the conclusion that its all hype and there isn't anything worth listening to on those frequencies.
Your iphone and access to the internet will put more podcasts, and live streaming than you will ever get over the air.
Your transceiver will however allow you to communicate with other users. However unlike places like this where you get to read what posts they wrote. If they are not actively 'live and on the air' they are just not there.
I guess it depends on if your brain is geared toward audio or visually based stimuli.
Pretty much every country does. We have VOA- Voice of America.
During the Cold War, the news stations could get spicy. During the Invasion of Grenada, Radio Moscow was railing against the US calling our guys, "Mercenary Thugs".
I enjoy listening when I have spare time. Sometimes there's some interesting stuff, sometimes it's meh.
It's fun when you find a numbers station. They can be a little creepy.
I first heard the "Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy" on BBC World Service.
Do some searching and see what frequencies the radio you're looking at will receive. Not all SW receivers are equal.
I was a ditty bopper in the Air Force from 1970 - 1992 and my job was to copy Morse code from specific targets in the HF bands. Of course we had some huge antennas and antenna fields and I could switch antennas with the touch of a button. We had multiple log periodics and several AN-FLR-9 antennas around the world (google it for a picture). I heard a ton of interesting broadcast stations (usually on top of the target I was copying). Not so much HF stuff going on these days. Most of the military HF stuff went to satellite and unless you have a huge dish and the equipment to receive signals that have a bigger bandwidth than the entire HF/VHF radio sprectum, you will be out of luck there. It's all about timing and the size of your antenna. I have several HF receivers and transceivers (I'm a Ham, N5GWU with a General Class license since 1982) but I spend very little time on the radio any more (going pretty much Deaf will put a damper on listening to much of anything).
Good luck with what ever you do.
73
Good luck with what ever you do.
73
Years ago
Still have an old Drake receiver
Still have an old Drake receiver
I occasionally spin the dial outside of the ham bands to have a listen. Randomly hitting a numbers station one day was my greatest achievement of this practice.
I remember hearing the "Russian Woodpecker" every now and then fapping it's way around the world.
I learned of "The Beacon of Hate" this morning. You'll need to know Morse Code to enjoy it.
I learned of "The Beacon of Hate" this morning. You'll need to know Morse Code to enjoy it.
