The End of an Era

[KI4WCA]

I was looking at universals website tonight.I noticed that table top shortwave receivers are a dying breed.No more Drake of course.But the list of offerings is so small.JRC had one commercial rig, so it looks like they have left the market too.There are more SDR rigs however.I started as an avid listener many years ago.In the boat anchor era.It looks like another paradigm shift is underway! I know that amateur rigs have good to spectacular general receive built in today,however I am saddened by the slow death of this class of rig.
What do you think?
On the upside, today's portables are amazing,but if you want to seriously upgrade, a dearth of choices!And pricey too!

[wb5ydk]

I have so many memories of scanning the shortwave broadcast bands for those strange and exotic countries during my youth.

Now, shortwave broadcasts in general seem to be disappearing. Many of the "Big Guns" have cut back on, or eliminated, their broadcasting schedule. You can still receive many of them over the Internet in crystal clarity, however.

There are still a lot of shortwave broadcast stations to listen to, but it seems there is a higher percentage of religious broadcasters than in the past.

[WW3QB]

SWL'ers were a big source of potential hams. I had one that my uncle gave me and it was not an unusual household item. SW radios were easy to get at most places that sold radios and TV's. Now it is not easy to find SW radios. They are not sold by the big box electronic stores. They are not sold by department stores. They are not sold by science oriented stores. Some Radio Shacks may stock one or two portable models (but not on display). So it is no longer likely that a kid just shopping with is family will find and buy a SW radio on impulse and be exposed to SW.

The second problem is that SW does not have a lot of clear voice communications anymore. There are hams and maritime mobile that still transmit 2-way voice. Most services have moved to VHF, UHF, satellite, and/or digital. SW broadcasts directed at North America are few. The strange exceptions to that are US SW broadcast stations intended for US audiences, and that is not supposed to happen. Some get around the regulations by being located in Florida and directing their signal to western Canada or transmitting in Maine and directing their signal to Mexico (and not being very directional at that). Their subject matter is often controversial.

There are still numbers stations, but aside from their mysterious nature they bored me even when I was eight.

SW is just not the exciting place it once was. In a previous thread on this subject, someone stated that he listened to a foreign Soccer game on SW. But it turned out that even that game was available on a cable channel.

When Sputnik was launched (before my time), there were many in the US that can hear its signal (I think 20 MHz). How many could today?

[VE1IDX]

I too miss the table top SW radios. I started out my radio hobby as an SWL and have fond memories of looking through the magasine articles at all the Drakes,Yeasus, Kenwoods, JRC's etc. Even Radio Shack had a couple decent table top models.The little portable ones today offer great sensitivity but lack the front end overload protection and selectivity that the older bigger radios had. Speaking of great older bigger radios,anyone got a Kenwood R-820 they want to part with? It would go nicely with my TS-820S station. ;)

[wy6k]

Try the SDR-IQ as a reasonably priced replacement for a tabletop SWL receiver. It is a lot of fun for SWLing. It's great to see signals and jump on them. Some of the data modes are very intriguing when you see what they look like. It also goes all the way down to 500 Hz, which can be interesting.

I think you are right about this being the end of an era. Why buy a table top receiver that has a lot of unnecessary circuitry and packaging and controls compared to an SDR?

The SDR-IQ is only about 4" x 4" x 1" and requires no power supply (uses the USB power). Easy to take anywhere there is an antenna and a laptop. It takes a little playing around to get used to and understand all its settings. I find it easy and quick to tune as long as you have a mouse with a wheel. You can use keys too, but I like the mouse wheel.

Sad in a way. But SDRs are interesting too.

[KA3JLW]

I was QRT for about 20 years until 6 months ago - and it was thanks (in part) to one of those $50 Grundig crank SWL radios that I returned to ham radio.

The desktop model as we knew it may have died, but I think it really just changed form. Just like chassis went from wood to metal to plastic...

[kd8hho]

i used to love SWL it just isnt the same anymore.

mabe one day it will make a big return

[wb5ydk]

I have commented on this before, but I like to listen to AM/FM broadcast stations from around the world over the Internet. I usually do this as background noise while I work on other projects.

It's not as intriguing as spinning the dial and discovering mysterious signals, but it does have one advantage over listening to the big international SW stations. With the AM/FM stations you get more local flavor and not the sanitized official government viewpoint. You can listen to music that is currently popular in that country (not 20 - 30 years old). The local news, traffic reports and commercials make you feel like you are right there, half-way around the world. Time to grab a hamburger at Primi Piatti, in Windhoek, Namibia!

[KC6ZLV]

Most shortwave or other international broadcasts were government-owned. About half of them were propaganda. VOA, Radio Moscow, and quite a few others included. People can read the same junk on the internet.

The other half were reasonable, and some were actually good. Canada, Australia, Japan and New Zealand had programming people actually wanted to hear. Unfortunately, budget politics has eliminated a lot of broadcasts.

You could also buy a fair shortwave radio for a reasonable price. Sure, it had images every 455Khz, but it is did have reasonable sensitivity for a portable radio. Now most of the popular shortwave radio manufacturers have outsourced to China, which makes junk shortwave receivers with no sensitivity and selectivity about 30khz wide, and they aren't exactly inexpensive for what they are.

So, today people with shortwave receivers probably hear a lot of random noise from consumer electronics that wipe out the majority of what can be found on HF. The stronger signals are usually Radio Korea or Radio China. Both are propaganda stations that are boring. At least Radio Moscow had some entertainment value that made it worth listening to. The rest is almost exclusively religious broadcasting.

Radio Australia is still there, but they have very few broadcasts directed toward North America or Oceania, which results in weaker signals. ABC in Australia has also shut down many of their domestic shortwave transmitters that used to broadcast their network programming into the remote areas of Australia. They have been replaced with local 5kw FM transmitters in these areas, which provides a clear, clean signal.

And I must stress that it seems like every time I do find something I want to listen, Radio Korea or Radio China fires up somewhere within 5Khz of what I'm listening to every time.

And what is it with religious broadcasting? Really, I don't think anyone outside 4-land cares about Jesus anymore.

[KB1KIX]

SWL is how I got my start a little over 5 years ago - I still listen.

Just today I had my Sangean 505P on my lap, listening to various national broadcasts, enjoying a cigar and a good coffee.

Great summer afternoon!

Too bad many just won't get the pleasantries of such simple things - and I'm only 37 :eek:

I live and work in the IT field, I just don't want to sit in front of my computer to listen to an international broadcast - just not fun!

Jonathan

[N8CPA]

Real radios have knobs! And though it might be nice to be able to look at a live graphic of the signal you're hearing, clicking a mouse to tune it in is not the same experience as turning that knob. It lacks the tactile feedback that the old table top provides.

Maybe I should buy an Icom R-75 before they stop making them.

[wa3vjb]

Robert WW3QB said --

SWL'ers were a big source of potential hams. I had one that my uncle gave me and it was not an unusual household item. SW radios were easy to get at most places that sold radios and TV's. Now it is not easy to find SW radios. They are not sold by the big box electronic stores. They are not sold by department stores. They are not sold by science oriented stores. Some Radio Shacks may stock one or two portable models (but not on display). So it is no longer likely that a kid just shopping with is family will find and buy a SW radio on impulse and be exposed to SW.

Walgreen's has had at least two $15 "world band" radios, blister-packed and hanging on the hooks. They have conventional FM and AM broadcast bands, and also the most popular SW bands. I have one of each, a slide-rule type of continuous tuning, about the size of an iPod, and one with a digital readout, a bit smaller than an iPod.

The problem is visibility. There's not enough story coverage of why people would want to get one of these radios, and I was surprised to see that Walgreen's apparently felt there was enough demand to sustain a place in the store.

Nonetheless, I was glad they had them, and I usually take one out on the boat with a seashell and a hank of wire to toss over the nearest scrub tree at the shoreline wherever we happen to land for the day.

I don't expect these little rigs to have the quality of an R-1000, but with a 9V battery and a ziplock bag, I can toss them in the beach kit and be ready to go.

Another alternative is to go to an antique shoppe or yard sale, and pick up an "old" portable like this Sharp FV-1910. Circa 1968, so it's now a 40 year old radio. Great sounding audio, plenty of audio power, and good sensitivity and ease-of-tuning.

http://www.wa3vjb.com/pics/Sharp.jpg

Sure, you still have to find something interesting to listen to, but hey, I know where to look : )

[KI4NGN]

I began SWL'ing in the 60's with a diode, earphones, variable cap from some junk house radio, and hundreds of different coils of wire wound on anything from thread spools to t-paper tubes. Eventually added a single transistor audio amp to increase ability to hear, all put together on some block of wood with nails for connection points.

Graduated to an inherited Hallicrafter's S-38 and man did I love that! Listened to the world every night and fell in love with RF communications. Went through a CB phase and ended up with my first ham ticket in 68-69.

Life eventually got in the way, ham radio and my ticket disappeared.

Over the years I would once again get into SWL, and receivers owned were a Kenwood R1000 (I think), a Kenwood R2000, then at some point over the years a Kenwood R5000. That last was in the late 80's, and it was still fun.

SWL faded for me again until Sep 2005 when I got the bug again and purchased a new JRC NRD-545. Wonderful receiver, and certainly the best I'd ever owned. Unfortunately, SWL had become quite boring. The only thing I found even remotely interesting was listening to ham QSO's, and by Jan 2006 I once again had my ham ticket.

There are are some things worth listening to with SWL, but it is certainly a past era. I think that hams will eventually be the only operations keeping SW communications alive.

Mike

[AG3Y]

Around a year or so ago, I purchased a Knight-Kit Star Roamer off of E-Bay.

http://www.dxing.com/rx/span.htm

I paid very little for it, and when it arrived, it appeared to be something that someone had used in a chicken coop or other farm building!

Well, dirt can be cleaned off, and after a fresh coat of paint and some judicious cleaning of the dial, knobs, etc. and a going over of the electronics including replacing the power supply caps ( pretty common repair on those old radios ) the thing sounds and looks like new ! In fact, it sounds rather Hi Fi compared to the modern transistorized sets!

There may not be any tabletop SW sets being built today, but you can still find many of these older sets looking for some TLC and a new home ! Use them for AM and don't expect them to work like a kilobuck ham receiver!

73, Jim

[n8yx]

There may not be any tabletop SW sets being built today, but you can still find many of these older sets looking for some TLC and a new home ! Use them for AM and don't expect them to work like a kilobuck ham receiver!

73, Jim

My R7s keep on chunking away...can easily be fixed if anything goes wrong with them...and are still one of the best tropical-band (120-90M) rigs ever produced.

Three of mine were basket cases when they hit my door, and as a result I got $weet deals on them. No FM or memories, but that's where a rack full of R71As/R7000s comes in handy. ;)

[VO1GXG]

i bought a shortwave radio before i was a ham it was great!

What i find is that people my age do not know what shortwave is they just know of " AM and FM radio ". Back in the radio days most radio shad shortwave and broadcast standard. I think the times are changing or have changed and it saddens me i could not be around during radio's popularity in the early and mid 20h century.

[KA4DPO]

I still have my HQ-180A and SX-71 and they are in excellent condition. I had thought about selling them at one time but decided to keep them. The Hammarlund is huge and requires a lot of desk space but works as well as most modern receivers. I'll probably just keep it until parts are no longer available.

[W4HAY]

If you're seriously considering an SW set, a copy of Passport To Worldband Radio (http://www.passband.com/) will set you in the right direction and possibly head off an unwise purchase.

They review everything from the $19.95 "pocket wonder" to the $10k+ "professional" sets.

[n8yx]

If you're seriously considering an SW set, a copy of Passport To Worldband Radio (http://www.passband.com/) will set you in the right direction and possibly head off an unwise purchase.

They review everything from the $19.95 "pocket wonder" to the $10k+ "professional" sets.

The only "professional" sets worth considering these days are the IC9500, AOR Alpha or the TenTec RX340...

[k4kyv]

And what is it with religious broadcasting? Really, I don't think anyone outside 4-land cares about Jesus anymore.

And for those who do, there are plenty of local stations at the low end of the FM band.

There is an effort under way to convert shortwave broadcasting to DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). That's what has polluted the top 10 kHz of 75m during the evening in recent years. I don't seem to hear it as often as before, so I wonder if they have cut back or eliminated those broadcasts?

I rarely listen to my general coverage receivers any more because what's still on the air seems pretty boring.

SWBC is still viable in remote areas of 3rd world countries where populations are too widely scattered for local broadcast coverage, and the people can afford cheap battery operated or wind-up receivers.

Maybe there is eventual hope for 40m and other HF spectrum where SWBC interests are competing with amateur radio.

But I wonder if the world's ham population will make it for that long.

[AG3Y]

"There is an effort under way to convert shortwave broadcasting to DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). That's what has polluted the top 10 kHz of 75m during the evening in recent years. I don't seem to hear it as often as before, so I wonder if they have cut back or eliminated those broadcasts?"

OK, I have heard the DRM broadcasts at the top of 75; Two questions:

1 What kind of bandwidth are we actually talking about here? 10 Khz ? Wider ?

2 Assuming I have a radio that can pick the stuff up ( like the SpaceSpanner I referred to in my earlier post ) is its IF stage wide enough to receive all the sidebands of a DRM broadcast, and if it is, what software do I have to use to decode it? Can I feed the audio into my soundcard ? Or does it require a propriatary hardware device only ?

No, WinDRM and other digital SSTV software will NOT work. It is much too wide a bandwidth for those.


73, Jim

[KI4WCA]

I began SWL'ing in the 60's with a diode, earphones, variable cap from some junk house radio, and hundreds of different coils of wire wound on anything from thread spools to t-paper tubes. Eventually added a single transistor audio amp to increase ability to hear, all put together on some block of wood with nails for connection points.

Graduated to an inherited Hallicrafter's S-38 and man did I love that! Listened to the world every night and fell in love with RF communications. Went through a CB phase and ended up with my first ham ticket in 68-69.

Life eventually got in the way, ham radio and my ticket disappeared.

Over the years I would once again get into SWL, and receivers owned were a Kenwood R1000 (I think), a Kenwood R2000, then at some point over the years a Kenwood R5000. That last was in the late 80's, and it was still fun.

SWL faded for me again until Sep 2005 when I got the bug again and purchased a new JRC NRD-545. Wonderful receiver, and certainly the best I'd ever owned. Unfortunately, SWL had become quite boring. The only thing I found even remotely interesting was listening to ham QSO's, and by Jan 2006 I once again had my ham ticket.

There are are some things worth listening to with SWL, but it is certainly a past era. I think that hams will eventually be the only operations keeping SW communications alive.

Mike
I used to wind coils galore as well.The bbc and germany, and voa were easy on a crystal set!My first good rig was a 500 series zenith trans-oceanic.This was followed by a BC348R.A Bearcat DX-1000 joined the collection from a blind ham in cary,nc.The DX-1000 was so poor in the overload/intermod dept I built a 4 band preselector for it!Then a SP-600, followed by a Drake R8A, 2 ITT Mackay Marine 3031A's and finally a Icom R-8500.
The SP-600 is superb, and classic.The R-8500 is fantastic too.The Mackays are SERIOUS for lowfer work( 400 kc cw filters really help!)
I am pretty well set.
I liked military listening, the phone patches,EAM's, nets.Most of the fun is on the birds now, or encrypted.McMurdo base in Antarctica is still one of my favorite catches, followed by the B52 with a nose gear non lock light on.After he landed on a foamed runway he said"I need to change my pants".
When I was a boy, the New York Marine operator ran in full AM, and you could hear people calling home from the ships.Very cool.

[W5HTW]

Changing times. Most of today's HF communications is digital. There are only a few services (besides amateurs) using voice, and all of that is SSB. Even in the early 1960s I used to listen in the evenings to ship to shore, making phone calls. The guys line up in the radio room, to call a shore station, which in turn calls the wifey at home. Or sometimes the girl friend. Few of them realized these were not private conversations, could be heard by anyone with a SW radio. I heard women complaining about the husband not sending any money, and even about how their boy friends weren't treating them well.

Overseas phone mostly went by cable, but overflow went by HF SSB radio, duplex systems. I spent many hours listening to such phone calls, ordinary long distance, piped into HF SSB. Again, the callers were not aware their conversations were open to the world!

Fishermen were always a source of fun and irritation. Mobile CB is what it was, except the profanity would make a CBer blush and turn off his radio!. And that is going quite a ways!

Foreign broadcast was always enjoyable, and some of it still is. I still listen frequently to Radio Habana, as I like the music. There are many European and Asian BC stations up around 9 mhz, though most are in their native languages. Some broadcast in English.

The USA must have at least two SW Religious radio broadcasters for every human on the continent. You can tune through 50 khz and hear the same station 20 times, it seems. Always begging for money, of course. I don't think anyone really listens to that garbage but the stations make a nice income for the owners, income that is tax exempt. Certain key words, like "God", or "Bible" or "Money" send me spinning the dial.

In the golden days of radio, SWBC was everywhere, of every type. And Radio Moscow overrode them all. But simple receivers like the SW4 or the S38, or more complex ones like the NC125 and the SX71 made SW listening a delight, but the casual SWLer would not likely be using one of those heavy monsters. He would be with the SW4 or the S38, or the Heath kits, or other table tops. And he would be able to hear more than enough to fill his heart with SW love.

I, too, miss those days. Today I mostly listen to aviation, which still uses SSB on HF, and some maritime radio. And, of course, Radio Habana.

I don't think it's going to come back. And there is no way a mouse and computer screen can ever recreate the feel of the days of SW Delights.

[ky5u]

I was looking at universals website tonight.I noticed that table top shortwave receivers are a dying breed.No more Drake of course.But the list of offerings is so small.JRC had one commercial rig, so it looks like they have left the market too.There are more SDR rigs however.I started as an avid listener many years ago.In the boat anchor era.It looks like another paradigm shift is underway! I know that amateur rigs have good to spectacular general receive built in today,however I am saddened by the slow death of this class of rig.
What do you think?
On the upside, today's portables are amazing,but if you want to seriously upgrade, a dearth of choices!And pricey too!
Well the good news is we now have all the no code upgrades. It's the dawn of a new error.

[G0GQK]

Times have changed and broadcasting on the short wave frequencies will not return. The costs are too high, too few listeners and people don't wish to listen to propaganda from China and Russia, they get a belly full of it on national news from TV broadcasts.

G0GQK

[KB1KIX]

The only "professional" sets worth considering these days are the IC9500, AOR Alpha or the TenTec RX340...

And for that price, you can just get yourself a really nice tranceiver and you have the best of both worlds.

Jonathan

[n8yx]

And for that price, you can just get yourself a really nice tranceiver and you have the best of both worlds.

Jonathan

Except no APCO25 decode and continuous coverage from DC-3+ GHz, etc.

I'm looking at an R9500 as an addition to my lab...and could possibly use it from time to time in my "day job". Safe bet is to wait another year or so before moving on that purchase; this to give Icom a bit of time to work out all the bugs.

[KI4WCA]

Except no APCO25 decode and continuous coverage from DC-3+ GHz, etc.

I'm looking at an R9500 as an addition to my lab...and could possibly use it from time to time in my "day job". Safe bet is to wait another year or so before moving on that purchase; this to give Icom a bit of time to work out all the bugs.

If you get one, I would like to see it alongside those Drakes!Serious receiver fun!

[KI4WCA]

Well the good news is we now have all the no code upgrades. It's the dawn of a new error.

My four and a half year old said"Daddy...what is that cat doing?"It was hard to answer I was laughing so hard.I visited your home page.The photos were hilarious.Wrong on a deep level of course but still hilarious.Needless to say, I saw your homepage out of view of the little one!

[KC9JIQ]

or transmitting in Maine and directing their signal to Mexico (and not being very directional at that). Their subject matter is often controversial.


*cough cough* WBCQ....;)

[K0RGR]

Once we've got all of our communications concentrated on the Internet, how long do you think it will be before some governments try to find a way to control the content?

Oh, that's right - the Chinese are already doing it.

[KC2PBJ]

Got started as an SWL back in my ill-spent youth (S38B) when true international short wave was at it height. Today, how many times do I have "get right with God" and get my sorry ass saved.

[KI4WCA]

*cough cough* WBCQ....;)

WA1HLR really gets into WNC when he uses their antenna on 3885!

[wb5ydk]

how many times do I have "get right with God" and get my sorry ass saved. Looks like about 40 times; unless I left out someone from this list of U.S.-based religious networks/broadcasters:

Adventist World Radio, The Back to God Hour, Back to the Bible, Far East Broadcasting Company, The First Church of Christ: Scientist, Gospel for Asia Radio, Grace In Action, HCJB, Herald of Truth, High Adventure Ministries, KAIJ, KFBS, KNLS, KSDA, KTBN, KTWR, KVOH, KWHR, Love Worth Finding, The Overcomer Ministry, Radio Voice of Christ, SIM International, Tomorrow's News Today, Trans World Radio, United Methodist Church, University Network, WEWN, WHRA, WHRI, WINB, WJIE, WMLK, Words of Hope, WRNO, WSHB, WTJC, WBOH, WWCR, WWRB, WYFR.

[KA4DPO]

That's nothing new. I used to hear the bible beaters on SW back in the 60's. There may not have been as many but they were around.

I remember listening to Brother Spencer out of some place in Texas. Brother Spencer would sell you the entire holy family made from glow in the dark plastic or you could buy, for Gods perfect gift of seven dollars, the red string dipped in miracle oil. You could tie it around your waist and loose weight or tie it around your wallet and get money.

At the close of each broadcast Brother Spencer urged his audience to lay those empty pocketbooks and wallets on the radio " I'm a gonna fill em for ya" amen.

He was what you would call a character.

[wb5ydk]

Brother Spencer info found on Internet:
"His specialty was growing people new body parts: in fact he once growed his own momma a brand new lung."

[KC9JIQ]

Ok, this thread is going wierd!

Don't blame the religious broadcasters! or the religious programming!

The facts are that if the Religious organizations were not buying air time, do you REALLY think anyone will?

There is NOT much demand for shortwave, there are SO MANY BETTER ways to get your message across. The internet did NOT kill shortwave, but what the internet did was created a wasteland on the SW bands.

Poor propagation, the internet, so many other modes of communication at MUCH higher quality audio.....SW is done for, eventually....a slow death.

Unless another cold war, or Government tyranny starts to build up, but the Internet will have to be controlled before that happens.

[wb5ydk]

Also, satellites and global coverage news agencies did their share of damage to SW before the Internet became widespread. It used to be that you needed shortwave to catch up-to-the-minute breaking news in another part of the world. Now, you just turn on CNN and there it all is; in high-definition, living color.

[KB1KIX]

Ok, this thread is going wierd!

Don't blame the religious broadcasters! or the religious programming!

The facts are that if the Religious organizations were not buying air time, do you REALLY think anyone will?


Agreed..... but have you ever heard Brother Stair????? OMG, what a trip!

OTOH....

There is a weird paradigm with SWL and normal commercial radio. At least from the national broadcasters standpoint - there never was a commercial intent. Many just figured us Americans were far to successful to actually want to sit down and listen to a broadcast.

Part of that, I bet, was how few people really sent in reception reports from time to time.

I sent them in all the time, still do. Radio Prague always has neat freebies they stuff in the envelope.

Jonathan

[wb5ydk]

Radio Prague always has neat freebies they stuff in the envelope.The Czech Republic and Hungary are really interesting places to visit. There have been big changes since the old iron-curtain days. I (actually the taxi driver) happened to drive past the Radio Prague studios a while back. Maybe, I should have dropped in for a handful of SWL goodies!

[WA7KKP]

Have you listened to the SW BC bands? Outside of VOA, Radio Marti, and CRI (China), what do you have left? Skypilots.

I picked up a Heathkit GR78, and replaced the nicads. It was a waste of time and effort, as there is NOTHING (IMHO) to listen to . . .

Even the ham bands have a dearth of operators. And who wants to listen to talk radio on AM. Looks like I'll just get my Sirius radio receiver.

Gary WA7KKP

[n8yx]

Have you listened to the SW BC bands? Outside of VOA, Radio Marti, and CRI (China), what do you have left? Skypilots.


You need to tune your receiver outside of the ham and SWBC bands once in a while.

The HF spectrum is still awash in pirates, clandestines, remote broadcast feeds, AFRTS, CBers/'freebanders', utes, MARS nets, Russian and Mexican taxicab comms, tropical SW stations, telemetry, ISM and who knows what else.

Good antennas help.

Great antennas help even more, as does a decent receiver.

[k8jd]

I started my interest in radio first with AMBC dxing and then SWLing when I was a kid.
Things are sure more difficult. those strange regional SW stations are replaced with local FM signals in the Australian and South African bush. FCC has relaxed protection rules for the clear channel stations. IBOC signals are wiping out channels adjacent to locals using HD mode..
I was especially sad when Radio Tahiti was shut down by the French government to save money, I loved the Polynesian music they featured. Now I have to be tied to a computer to hear "internet Radio Hawaii" for the great music.

:(
The distant "Foriegn" Broadcasters who actually broadcast from transmitters in Sackville, NewBrunswick or Habana, Cuba kind of spoil the whole concept.
At least in the mornings I can still hear Radio Australia direct from around the world.

[k4avl]

I still have an old 3 tube regenerative Knight-Kit "Ocean Hopper" where you change the coils for different bands. Also a late GE pre-"super radio" which is solid state, and gets the various bands. A few weeks ago I finished restoring my old 1943 Army BC-348-Q, and these old rigs are good for that as well. I think it's a hobby that not too many people are aware of nowadays, as is ham radio, especially for the younger folks. It's a trend of "instant gratification", computers, cell phones, chat, and everything else in this newer age, and many young people are poor at geography as well as even the curiosity to get out there and explore different cultures, languages, etc., just for the fun of it.
I can't attest to what kinds of stations are out there, but I'm sure there are a still a lot of countries broadcasting on the SW/SWL bands for folks to listen to, and it's also great to tune in if you know a bit of a few languages.
I guess that so far in this post I didn't add anything to the thread, but one thing I would like to mention is that back in the 60's when I went to Europe with my parents, almost everyone who had a radio at home there had a shortwave-capable radio, not just AM/FM or something so simplistic, but it looked like they wanted to have a way to tune in different stations in various countries. Not sure if the folks across the pond still have the same habit. I can see that "local" country stations would have a limit on propagation, but if you wanted more of a "world view" on what other folks were saying, besides your local car dealership, you would tune to these other bands and listen in. Maybe someone from the UK or elsewhere can chime in here and say whether or not you folks at home (not just hams) still tune into SW quite a bit?

[wb5ydk]

The distant "Foriegn" Broadcasters who actually broadcast from transmitters in Sackville, NewBrunswick or Habana, Cuba kind of spoil the whole concept.I guess that comment hits at the heart of the debate between DXer's and program content listeners. Still, there is something not quite satisfying about having a distant station's program delivered with an S-9 signal by your neighboring country.

[ka0use]

ah HATES showing mah age. i hates it even more when OTHERS show my age.

in the 80's there was a preacher fella who broadcast............in............slow
.........english. i like to died. ALLLLLL them furriners got put to sleep between words. ah (was a southerner, of course)............need.............yo'........... .
money.............

now, what is it precisely with the southern preacher bc'ing to poor countries always, without fail, axin' for money? somepin' wrong heah.

i digress. was watching pbs last night- pioneers of television: sitcoms. the andy griffith show, and got to drawling right with them, whoops, THOSE folks. i did love the show- substituted for my dad.

i want an nrd so bad, have since they came out with the 515. probably will not get one before i die.

point is, there isn't much difference in swl'ing today than doing the seti thing (search for extraterrestrial intelligence). lots of hash, no intelligence. breaks my heart. i expect the nrd COULD be used for seti, i saw a documentary about amateur seti stations (think it was on the 'first contact' disk.) for
~$5000 you could concoct a station that would cover dc to light. dunno about modes. i s'pect you might be able to hear sheb wooley's 'flying purple people eater'.

woo, if i DID hear a legit signal, would i be allowed to answer back, as long as i operated in my license limits? not sure 1500 watts would get me there whilst i was still alive anyway. AND, would contact with an et be allowed, since he/she/it/them would not have a terra license? might be moot if they were on their way to invading us.

[KE4MCL]

I was looking at universals website tonight.I noticed that table top shortwave receivers are a dying breed.No more Drake of course.But the list of offerings is so small.JRC had one commercial rig, so it looks like they have left the market too.There are more SDR rigs however.I started as an avid listener many years ago.In the boat anchor era.It looks like another paradigm shift is underway! I know that amateur rigs have good to spectacular general receive built in today,however I am saddened by the slow death of this class of rig.
What do you think?
On the upside, today's portables are amazing,but if you want to seriously upgrade, a dearth of choices!And pricey too!

maybe your looking in the wrong place. grundig, freeplay, eton, cc radio, and radio shack all sell shortwave radios. the days of the big radio are gone. the days of the big anything are pretty much gone! as far as drake.. yeah i'll miss them but for the price of a drake shortwave i can buy an hf transceiver. i didnt quite see the point in their offerings at their prices.

[n8yx]

...for the price of a drake shortwave i can buy an hf transceiver. i didnt quite see the point in their offerings at their prices.

No HF amateur transceiver available alongside the R8 offered SAM (synchronous AM) detection...and I don't think that any current rigs offer it either.

[KE4MCL]

Also, satellites and global coverage news agencies did their share of damage to SW before the Internet became widespread. It used to be that you needed shortwave to catch up-to-the-minute breaking news in another part of the world. Now, you just turn on CNN and there it all is; in high-definition, living color.

cnn is filtered by our good ole gov.
shortwave offers the views from other countries and its much harder for uncle sam to get other countries to hide what the U.S. wishes to hide.

[KE4MCL]

No HF amateur transceiver available alongside the R8 offered SAM (synchronous AM) detection...and I don't think that any current rigs offer it either.

grundig millenium has it. i had one of those. thats a big radio!

[n8yx]

shortwave offers the views from other countries and its much harder for uncle sam to get other countries to hide what the U.S. wishes to hide.

While a bit dated, this article (http://www.cvni.net/radio/nsnl/nsnl003/nsnl3jam.html) illustrates to some degree the lengths to which various countries will go to prevent "undesirable communications" from being heard by their citizens..."US" (U.S.) included.

[wb5ydk]

An alternative to jamming is what the Germans did during WWII when they supplied readily affordable radio receivers to German citizenry. The receivers were sensitive enough to pick up local German government broadcasts, but not so sensitive as to hear transmissions from other countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksempf%C3%A4nger

[ka0use]

While a bit dated, this article (http://www.cvni.net/radio/nsnl/nsnl003/nsnl3jam.html) illustrates to some degree the lengths to which various countries will go to prevent "undesirable communications" from being heard by their citizens..."US" (U.S.) included.

while not exactly jamming, denver's khow (now fort collins) used to give crystal controlled am radios away in the '60's. they only received 560kc- khow's freq.