Shortwave

Post Reply New Topic

Does anyone here like shortwave radios? I own one and I think it'll be fun to share experiences

I'm a licensed amateur radio operator with privileges on the shortwave bands.

What do you need to know?

Picking up the numbers stations is fun.

I had an interest when I was younger, but could never get past the code requirement. Later, after the code requirement was dropped on most licenses, I'd permanently lost interest. I still am a SWL from time to time.

Our government and others, years ago, would regularly monitor the shortwave bands for "subversive" information (I used to secretly wish for one of their professional receivers). Have you heard if they (NSA?) are backing off due to the use of the internet?

I was never serious into it, but I was somehow surprised that my cheap pocket radio could pick up SW radio stations, although tuning up is not really intuitive (it has no numeric keypad, only a digital knob).

Both the FCC and the NSA still monitor ham radio. We're not allowed to send encrypted transmissions, and even our spread-spectrum technology is limited to any one of three legally-defined pseudo-prime number sequences.

CW, FM, RTTY, SS, SSB, and other modes may be incomprehensible to anyone who has only an AM receiver, and most people wouldn't be able to distinguish SSB from audio inversion technology - much less know how to turn them into ordinary audio.

CB, on the other hand, is mostly incomprehensible, especially on the single-digit channels.

I've had an interest in SW and own a very cheap Coby SW receiver which I will listen to once in a blue moon. A couple months ago I purchased a Baofeng UV-5r handheld transceiver and technically it's a ham radio but I utilize it for monitoring the local police, fire and EMS frequencies as it has enough memory to store 128 different channels and can scan (slowly) through the channels. It was $30 brand new and well worth the money paid for it. I believe it goes from 136-174 MHz and also has the UHF band with a range in the 400s. Also included is the FM music band (88-108) and a single bright LED to be used as a flashlight

Maybe someday I'll sit down and study to get a ham technician license.

On interesting thing out there is pirate radio, where amateurs regularly flaunt the FCC to put their own radio shows on the air. Some of these are amazingly creative blends of songs with hidden themes, or extensive radio drama. Some are just drunk people having fun.

This regularly shows up at 6925 or thereabouts. You can chase traffic at HF Underground:
http://www.hfunderground.com/board/inde ... d,3.0.html

And they also have a IRC channel on which you can find activity realtime, and sometimes chat with the DJ as they play. It's a regular thing, several nights a week. The sound quality is not awesome but the spirit is amazing. For many of them you need a sideband-capable radio. A small station can cover the USA easily.

I have heard number stations, but they are quite rare now. You can also track them on HF Underground. Basically anything that is off the beaten path on Shortwave will show up there. I don't get a lot of excitement from listening to Radio Cuba or Bulgaria, but will listen to a scratchy pirate over higher-quality music.