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Author Topic: Why SWLing?  (Read 884 times)

HFCRUSR

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  • Posts: 413
Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #30 on: November 11, 2019, 03:34:53 PM »


Boy have you been around! Some neat history there. One of the best things about SWL for me is the long-distance DX. I shot this one for you to show what I caught just now at just under 11,000 miles. 1950UTC, 13670kHz, Radio Feda transmitting from Madagascar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52RRVaOAd5A&feature=youtu.be

You have great set up there with excellent gear. Great signal & audio from the antennas and the radios. Very nice set up.

Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the thumbs-up too:) yeah that was quite a clean signal-I must've got a clean shot of them over the Pacific and not that it matters much with these loops especially on hf, but I did have it pointed west/southwest.
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Not a ham, but an avid hobbyist in HF world. All things, short of transmit happen in this shack.

K7KBN

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  • Posts: 3750
Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #31 on: November 25, 2019, 10:19:56 PM »

In November 1963, I was on watch in Radio Central aboard USS Kitty Hawk CVA-63 heading v..e..r..y slowly toward Sasebo, Japan through unbelievably heavy fog.  Since I'd just reported aboard and my security clearance paperwork hadn't been completed yet, I was in charge of keeping commercial press stations tuned in properly as time and longitude changed.  That way, we had "up to the minute" news all the time.

Early in the morning of November 23 (Japan Time) the teletype printer for the United Press International stopped dead in the middle of an economics item.  Signal was very strong and clear, just not being keyed.  Then it started up again, obviously being hand-typed rather than the 100 WPM normal speed.  It said:

DALLAS TEXAS.  SHOTS FIRED KENNEDY MOTORCADE.  MORE TO FOLLOW.

I notified the Comm Watch Officer.  He knew I wasn't officially "cleared" yet, but I'd obviously read it, so he and I, for several minutes, were the only ones on the ship who knew.

History has made it "clear" that the President was shot on Nov. 22, 1963, Dallas time.  For me, it's always been the 23rd, about 0400.

That's what SWL meant back in the 60s.  Those teletype stations run by UPI, Associated Press and Reuters were excellent sources of hot news.  Sometimes sad, but always before the newspapers got it.
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73
Pat K7KBN
CWO4 USNR Ret.

UTESWL

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  • Posts: 15
Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #32 on: November 30, 2019, 08:31:08 AM »

You mean stations can be blocked in certain countries?
Also see "The great firewall of China".

Throwing all of one's communication eggs into the Internet basket is viable only up until the point that the controllers of said choke points deem your traffic as "unacceptable".

Guess you never heard of TOR. What you said is a myth. People in China easily get around the firewall. The Internet was built during the Cold War to basically be decentralized and unstoppable. If someone wants information bad enough they find ways through. Its really no different than DXing in difficult band conditions, it just takes a different set of skills.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2019, 08:38:00 AM by UTESWL »
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K4PIH

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  • Posts: 117
Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #33 on: February 18, 2020, 05:38:04 PM »

I SWL to hear world news and events without the filter as presented in the US. The major US news outlets no longer report news, the're all op-eds and opinions.
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KB7AA

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #34 on: February 24, 2020, 07:50:28 AM »

Because...like always....it is a FULL BOX OF CHOCOLATES!!
Best intercept I ever had was copied on voice, a phone call from Nixon back to the White House, discussing Watergate. Was NOT scrambled in those days. Soooo fun!! de KB7AA
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N8AUC

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Re: Why SWLing?
« Reply #35 on: February 24, 2020, 02:36:41 PM »

The major US news outlets no longer report news, the're all op-eds and opinions.

The job of "the news" these days is not to report the actual news.
It is to show you something so outlandish, and on the fringe of society, that it keeps your eyes glued to their channel long enough so that you watch the advertising they are getting paid big dollars to broadcast.

The longer they do this, people begin to believe that all the fringe whackos are far more common than they really are. It's not about the news. It's all about the advertising dollars.

If you want the real news, you have to bypass the "retail outlets", served up to the general public. That requires some skills. And you can acquire those skills through SWLing.

Besides, SWLing is just plain fun.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2020, 02:41:26 PM by N8AUC »
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