End of Shortwave?
 

I am a shortwave radio collecter with several nice Transoceanics, no hallicrafters anymore, but a Satellit Grundig and a Heathkit tube. I am wondering when digital will put an end to shortwave propogation? It seems that we would be able to feed all stations into satelitte for download for a subscription world radio service. I personaly welcome this, but wonder what the hell is taking so damn long. Lets get this world radio into all our homes with 100% static free 24 hour digital reception!

lets not :thumbsdn: .part of the fun is in sitting down and trying to tune in the different stations.having it go digital will take all the fun out of it in my opinion.think im going to go try some dxing with my drake r8.

Having that personal system that can reach out is what I loved about it all. Thats why "chatting" online will never give me that feeling I use to get with my own antenna setup and rig. I love to DX.

I agree with keeping radio as it is... although I'm sure it will slowly die out in several years. I don't listen to shortwave very often... just once in a while to play with the dial. I do, however, listen to AM radio quite often at night just to see what I can pull in. Now and then, I find something actually playing tunes.

I think having crystal clear programming at the touch of a button 24/7 is nice, but kinda takes away some of the pleasure. Besides... pay a subscription for radio? Geez... before long, we'll be paying a subscription for everytime we walk out the front door!

I used to be a huge shortwave listener since my childhood, starting with radios my Dad bought, then buying my own Panasonic RF-2200 (still own it) and then a RatShack DX-440. I finally put the 440 away because of two factors: local power line noise made listening near-impossible, 24/7, and the stations I listened to on a regular basis sounded a whole lot better streamed on the internet. I figured the first signs of shortwave dying was when the BBC stopped beaming the World Service to North America.
Tom

Killing shortwave communication would be absolutely ignorant. The equipment is relatively simple to build and operate and just works when frail technological infrastructure hiccups. I'd like to see anyone build a microcontroller and write firmware from scratch and talk around the globe on one watt of power.

I hear ya.
 

Me too. I had a setup where I used to live that let me talk to almost all 50 states and a handful of foreign countries. I brought my equipment with me when I moved, but now, living in a first-floor apartment with no outdoor antennas allowed, my equipment doesn't work half as well. The noise level in the apartment building makes listening to local AM almost impossible, :no: although FM reception here is excellent with indoor antennas. The problem with AM is made ten times worse by the fact that I am in a weak-signal area for Cleveland AM reception. The 50-kW stations come in fairly well most of the time, but Cleveland has a small handful of smaller stations that fade into the noise at night on every radio I own except my Zenith C845. One suburban station runs 0.5kW (500 watts) in daytime, but cuts its power to 0.042kW (42 watts) at night and probably goes sharply directional at that time as well, so I don't hear it after dark either. Just as well, as it is a talk station, and one of the engineers told me (in response to an email I sent the station in reference to their nighttime signal) that their signal is not intended to reach the town where I live anyway.

I won't give up on my amateur radio setup, however. I should be able to get it to work fairly well, even with an indoor antenna. I would rather get that system going than use the chat rooms on the Internet. I like communicating via CW (Morse code) on the ham bands, which is not possible online--yet, anyhow.

BTW: I'm curious. Your post to this thread leads me to believe you are or were an amateur radio operator. What is or was your call sign, and why did you give it up? Ham radio is one of the greatest hobbies on this earth (I've been licensed almost 34 years), which is why I am trying my best to stay active in it (I am a member of a local ham club and use their 2-meter repeater regularly).

I don't think shortwave will disappear even if all commercial broadcasting eventually goes digital, as there will always be ham radio operators. Many hams are using digital modes such as radioteletype (RTTY) and another mode known as PSK31 which is related to packet radio, the latter being a digital mode as well. I had a packet setup at my former residence, using a Commodore 64, an AEA multi-mode interface unit, and an old Zenith TV as a monitor, with my Midland 2-meter FM rig serving to transmit and receive the signals. It worked well for ten years, but when I moved, the space limitations of my small apartment forced me to dispose of all my packet gear except the 2m rig. I hated to do it, but I only have room in this apartment for my Icom IC725 HF (high-frequency, 3-30 MHz) transceiver. The desk I have my equipment on is just large enough for the HF setup as well. :no: When I check in to a local 2-meter roundtable my radio club has each Thursday evening at 7 p.m. EST, I put my handheld on the end table next to my easy chair in the living room and use an MFJ boom-mike headset. Much more comfortable than even the chair in front of my computer.


Good luck, and I do hope you find some way to get back on the air. If you have at least a Technician class license, you can get on 2-meter FM with a small handheld transceiver if you are within range of one or more repeaters. My own Icom IC-T22A 1.5-watt HT lets me talk through a local repeater five miles away just fine. Two meters won't let you work DX unless you do it on simplex [direct] frequencies like .52, .51, et al. and have a very good antenna (in fact, "repeater DXing" is frowned upon by most repeater clubs), but talking to the locals through repeaters is much better than just letting your license sit unused. There is also a way you could use linked repeaters to talk beyond the normal limits of single 2m repeaters (and no objections to repeater DXing), but that's a topic for another thread.

73 (best of regards),

"End of Shortwave? "

Oh great, that's when Sandy will decide to give me one of his R-390s for just the shipping cost :D

Lefty

Another of the many advantages of the R-390 series is that, being all "hollow-state", it would not be subject to EMP damage like all the "rice-box" wonders of today.As long as it wasn't melted by a fireball, or stressed in some other way, an R-390A should continue to function as long as AC power remained available. In my opinion, broadcast-based shortwave will be around for quite awhile, because in most of the rest of the world, there are literally MILLIONS of radios out there that receive it. Some countries use SW as we use AM, especially places where distances are great,& sparsely populated.

Me Too!
 

Since I started playing with port radios I like to DX too! Several of my sets are AM only. Love to see how far away stations are. Loads of fun :music: Eric

I sure as hell would never subscribe to that. I'm considering giving up on TV after the 2009 DTV conversion and only watching VHS and the occational DVD. I;ve already started making random VHS recordings for playback later... One intertesting rumor I've heard about the DTV switch is that possibly we might have to pay like $25/month and subscribe to a service just to watch broadcast TV??

The technology is already here to do a literal pay-per-play system, where a chip in our audio hardware would record the song title/artist, and we would have to pay a royalty just to listen to pre-recorded music! Sadly, I'll bet within 30 years, we'll be paying some trivial amount whenever we listen to ANYthing.

Well I'm in no good mood to start with so screw jerryjg and head up arse insight. When I was worried cause my cat didn't come home he said he'd be happy if it were dead. How's that for humanity, which SW is capable of meshing. I know, little off topic, but I feel better now. I'm glad to see so many people who realize the potential of SW and how little "high tech" it needs to work.

Shortwave introduced me to jazz. I use to listen to Willis Cornover on Voice of America, Where I discovered Dave Bruebeck, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and many more jazz greats. Those were wonderful times for shortwave listening even when the music faded in and out. I will not pay for any radio reception. The times are really changing.

Long live Shortwave and Ham Radio!

I still have my first SWR and I have a nice portable Sony that I carry with me around the world...don't need an internet or computer connection to stay in touch with world news and events. Yeah, having access via newer technologies is nice, but remember in emergencies the first line of worldwide contact is Hammers--take a listen to 3.885 mhz on Saturday mornings at 5 am EDT (or EST)...Old Military Radio Net...like our Vintage Audio...these things are 50 and 60 years old and STILL GOING!

And don't forget Glenn Hauser's World of Radio!--excellent stuff!

http://www.worldofradio.com/

That is exactly why shortwave will remain viable, many countries rely on distant radio stations for news and entertainment. Although ive been a ham for several years, i enjoy shortwave listening and have for over 40 years.The reception of a distant culture is more of a pleasure to me than the reception of signal strengths,antenna types, or contesting for ego gratification. i would not miss cw but i would miss shortwaves cultural programming,news,and the fun of hunting that elusive station swimming in the sea of noise.

Randy KB9KXH