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Author Topic: Why SWLing?  (Read 884 times)

ALPARD

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Why SWLing?
« on: November 05, 2019, 12:33:05 PM »

You get all the news on the internet, BBC, CNN, NBC, ABC ..... all they programs on the youtube and Netflix these days.

Many major SWL broadcast service have shutdown.

And why are you still listening to Short Wave?
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UTESWL

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2019, 02:24:14 PM »

You get all the news on the internet, BBC, CNN, NBC, ABC ..... all they programs on the youtube and Netflix these days.

Many major SWL broadcast service have shutdown.

And why are you still listening to Short Wave?

I don't listen to shortwave broadcast stations, like you said, anything they have I can get online in higher quality audio with no fading. I get the feeling many here do it as a hobby (DXing) to see how far away they can hear a station, etc. The content is almost irrelevant. USA shortwave is garbage to be honest. Look at how much shortwave time is bought by wackos like Brother Stair and Alex Jones. If its not lunatic fringe stuff its religious or hate filled stuff.

I think most of the people who listen to shortwave broadcast stations who aren't DXers are boomers who are nostalgic for pre-internet days.

I listen to utility stations, which is more like what you'd get on a VHF/UHF scanner but on HF: International air communications, military operations/exercises, ships at sea, drug runners, spy numbers stations, etc. That stuff and pirates are the only things which interest me about shortwave/HF listening.  I also decode digital signals on shortwave, of which there are ALOT!
« Last Edit: November 05, 2019, 02:26:58 PM by UTESWL »
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RENTON481

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2019, 04:22:19 PM »

In the 1970s and 1980s you could get foreign news and information without Shortwave. Most American news outlets presented the affairs of the world reasonably well. Most major cities had a kiosk where foreign newspapers and magazines were sold.

Most major libraries (especially at universities) had subscriptions to foreign newspapers, and foreign affairs could be gleaned there.

It's not like pre-internet, the only way to get foreign news was Shortwave. In fact, most people who were into foreign news and affairs weren't into SWL.

Of course, Radio Moscow and Radio Havana presented alternative views that one wouldn't get domestically anywhere. But overall, SWLing was to hear music and signals from other parts of the globe, and see what the ionosphere has to offer. And that part of it still remains.

I agree with UTESWL that probably the majority of SWLs are boomers nostalgic for earlier times. It's not much different for hams, probably. HF is an archaic medium, but it doesn't make it any less enjoyable to monitor (or actively use, if you are a ham).

I myself enjoy DXing HF as well as MW. The phasing sound of the signals sounds like something from far away, and I find that enjoyable. Some of it may be nostalgia, I guess. But the appeal it had back then still appeals today.
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VA3VF

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2019, 04:42:27 PM »

Quote
And why are you still listening to Short Wave?

Because it's there.
Credit: Sir Edmund Hillary.

So many other things that don't 'make sense', yet are enjoyable.

As long as it's clean and legal, it's all fun.
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ONAIR

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2019, 10:48:33 PM »

The magic of hearing a voice thousands of miles away from you, without wires.
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ALPARD

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2019, 02:34:22 AM »

I do agree with all your replies.

I used to wonder about the question myself, and tried to find the answers.
It is, to me, keeping up with the old tradition of wireless communication.  It is going back in time with the bands and radios.

I feel good when using the medium.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2019, 02:49:58 AM by ALPARD »
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N8YX

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #6 on: November 06, 2019, 08:18:37 AM »

Because - unlike some megalomaniac with an "Internet Kill Switch" - there's simply no way to knock out all of the HF spectrum for a prolonged period of time. You might target individual frequencies or ranges but the signal will get through from somewhere, Mal.
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W2JJV

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #7 on: November 06, 2019, 09:19:06 AM »

As a boat anchor enthusiast it is just so darn evocative to listen to my BC-348, still powered up by the original dynamotor, still using the original Signal Corps tubes, or my Hammarlund HQ-180A, my "knob twirlers delight" or a couple of my Hallicrafters S-38 versions with their "hot chassis".  The compare and contrast opportunities are fascinating and the warmth of the tube glow takes me back to my ninth birthday when Dad spent 25 dollars on my first S-38D.  It's not so much what I listen to but the act of tuning in foreign stations, often in languages I don't understand until the station ID that still intrigues me.
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HFCRUSR

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2019, 12:16:06 PM »

You get all the news on the internet, BBC, CNN, NBC, ABC ..... all they programs on the youtube and Netflix these days.

Many major SWL broadcast service have shutdown.

And why are you still listening to Short Wave?
Because radio, that's why. I, for some reason even unknown to me, have had a lifelong love for radios. Radios touched my soul when I was little when I'd be at Granny's home in Lake Zurich, Ill. and I was the only one who gave a crap about her gorgeous Grundig Majestic console with shortwave, or when I'd be at Uncle Joe's home in Lake Forest, Ill. and I was the only one who gave a crap about his Zenith 3000-1 in the den (it's been mine since I was a kid-he gave it to me cause he knew I loved it so much)
Now, I have so much invested in this SWL thing-two HF receive antennas up on the roof, a Hallicrafters SX-88, an Icom R75, an Icom R8600 and a Realistic DX-160 all working in rotation here daily.
The Icoms pump audio through each their own high end A/V units with multiple speakers in two different rooms, and the SX-88 through a nice old XAM bookshelf box that actually compliments the rig's beautiful audio ability.
Almost every night if in the mood, 5085 WTWW's music plays on one of them, or WRMI on 9395.
I still get VOA at over 10,000 miles even in the daytime and at night in English. BBC too. New Zealand as well. Yes it's getting thinner on BC but still riding that wave 'till it runs out-why not?
I also listen to lots of utes and hams if the conversations are good, pirates and MIL. Still fun, and enough out there to justify this receive station.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2019, 12:19:18 PM by HFCRUSR »
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Not a ham, but an avid hobbyist in HF world. All things, short of transmit happen in this shack.

K5TED

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2019, 08:09:33 PM »

Shortwave remains interesting for many reasons. If you don't get it and don't have a modicum of interest in exploring on your own, then there's probably no reason to waste time evangelizing.
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ALPARD

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2019, 03:56:09 AM »

But the SW contents could be found in the other medium often with more intelligibility and clarity and convenience via the smart phones, the pads and the PCs?
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K6PH

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2019, 04:26:03 AM »

When sailing offshore, there is no internet (at least affordable internet), SWL is the only practical way to get news.
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W5YZR

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2019, 06:35:38 AM »

On many nights of listening to the bands, Shortwave is the only place I can find voice! HAM Bands at night appear to be mostly DATA. At least at my house, here on the Prairie, with a minimal DIPOLE in my attic. But yeah I am a boomer and proud of it.....
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N8YX

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2019, 10:49:00 AM »

But the SW contents could be found in the other medium often with more intelligibility and clarity and convenience via the smart phones, the pads and the PCs?
Hint:

Widescale DNS poisoning.
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RENTON481

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #14 on: November 09, 2019, 12:47:19 AM »

But the SW contents could be found in the other medium often with more intelligibility and clarity and convenience via the smart phones, the pads and the PCs?
Hint:

Widescale DNS poisoning.

You mean stations can be blocked in certain countries?
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