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Author Topic: The importance of being an SWL  (Read 1079 times)

K3XR

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Re: The importance of being an SWL
« Reply #15 on: July 07, 2021, 07:13:09 AM »

I started in the 50's as a SWL.  The big advantage I gained from that is the ability to learn about the customs and traditions of ham radio.  If you are a new operator I would assume you would want to carry on those traditions.  Please take the time to listen around the ham bands and become familiar with proper operating techniques it makes you a better operator and ham radio a better hobby.
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N8YX

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Re: The importance of being an SWL
« Reply #16 on: July 08, 2021, 08:31:37 AM »

I got involved with "listening" at a very young age. Scavenged transistor radios, crystal sets I built...TRF designs. This introduced me to the world of AMBCB DX.

A couple of walkie-talkies introduced me to CB radio. A few years afterward I had a decent SSB/AM CB rig and a DX-160. The latter enabled me to learn enough CW to pass my Novice exam.

Etc.

As my interest in V/UHF amateur communications developed, so too did my interest in scanning and monitoring PS, utility and off-the-beaten-path uses of radio. I actively work with all forms and iterations of the radio medium, transmitting maybe 10% of the time I'm in front of my gear. The bulk of said time is spent uncovering interesting and unusual things.
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VE3CUI

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Whither SWL'ing...?!
« Reply #17 on: July 16, 2021, 06:45:03 AM »

Hi Guys,

I take along my venerable 32 year old ICOM 751A transceiver with us whenever we venture forth to our cottage, for some pleasurable "...VE3XZ/3" QSO's there...& when the bands are so-so, I spin the dial of the transceiver in "General VFO" mode, for some SWL'ing throughout the HF spectrum.

Well, as I've told my wife repeatedly, if THIS was what the short waves sounded like back in 1969 --- when I first acquired my Hallicrafters S-77A receiver, & cut my eye teeth on it before being inspired to move onto Ham radio --- I just know that I would NEVER EVER have gotten my amateur ticket, in the first place...

Because there is absolutely NOTHING ON ANY of the frequencies, of any interest, whatsoever. Apart from the odd "...hell-fire-and-brimstone" pontificating "...Holy Roller," the frequencies are, for the most part, COMPLETELY SILENT. Our collective fears, & the wringing of our hands in angst over the possibiityof other services taking our HF frequencies away from us, are all for naught --- there's nothing on 99.9% of the HF spectrum NOW, as it is!

How depressingly sad, too. Back when I first began, I could hear the entire world beckoning out to me from my SWL radio's loud speaker --- now, all I can detect is the deafening SILENCE of a "...Twilight Zone."
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VA3VF

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Re: Whither SWL'ing...?!
« Reply #18 on: July 16, 2021, 07:12:23 AM »

Quote
Because there is absolutely NOTHING ON ANY of the frequencies, of any interest, whatsoever.

The situation is critical, and perhaps irreversible, for those of us in North America. There is 'life', albeit diminished as well, elsewhere. I use the University of Twente SDR from time to time, and there is still a lot to listen to in Europe.

There is also the 'angle' of the hobby one is interested in. I do not regret super high power stations going silent.

All that said, the SWL's worst enemy is noise IMO.
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KC6RWI

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Re: The importance of being an SWL
« Reply #19 on: July 16, 2021, 06:05:49 PM »

I am in agreement with VE3CUI, I have a 7300 and spun the dial a few times today on a few bands and nothing was there. I'll have to do something else I surmise.
There are times when I hear stations bouncing in on the SSB CB band  then I go up to 28.4 and no one is there, very disappointing.
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N8YX

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Re: The importance of being an SWL
« Reply #20 on: July 17, 2021, 06:59:30 AM »

Unfortunately, HF shortwave broadcasting is in decline...
Tell that to the pirates, clandestines, Utes, freebanders, fishing fleets, .MIL users, aeronautical and marine mobiles, offroading clubs (mainly in AUS, but operating elsewhere as well). the new generation of SWBC stations such as WTWW, WRMI, WBCQ...etc.

There is PLENTY to listen to on HF radio these days. It's rare that I tune in to a shortwave broadcaster as most seem to be stuck on "Repeats of Ralph" (Stair) but whatever floats their economic boat, I suppose.
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VE3CUI

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For N8YX
« Reply #21 on: July 18, 2021, 04:56:57 AM »

"...There is PLENTY to listen to on HF radio these days..."

While I do, on occasion, tune-in to WBCQ, even it has its ample share of your proverbial "...hellfire & damnation" screaming (literally!) Holy Rollers at the microphone, too. And there are always those insidious "...right-wing, left-wing" conspiracy theorists venting their amply-stocked hot air wind bags, should one long for something a tad different...

And I can take only just so much of that sorta stuff here, personally, before returning the receiver to its well-deserved "OFF" position.
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NN4RH

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Re: The importance of being an SWL
« Reply #22 on: July 18, 2021, 05:55:19 AM »

I did it backwards.  I developed interest in SWL after becoming a ham and tuning around to discover there was other stuff going on (1971-72).

My progression was more like this:

AM Broadcast Band DX => CB => ham => SWL
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N8YX

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Re: For N8YX
« Reply #23 on: July 19, 2021, 10:33:57 AM »

...And I can take only just so much of that sorta stuff here, personally, before returning the receiver to its well-deserved "OFF" position.
WTWW - 5085.

8PM - 12AM EST M-F. 70s oldies.

That's my fall-asleep station; how AMBCB used to be back in the day.

I'll also find a non-NA outlet playing regional, instrumental music and leave it on throughout the evening. However, most of my HF-capable general-coverage receivers in the shack (12 as of this posting, including 8 HF/VHF/UHF units) are tasked with Ute/clandestine monitoring - staying out of the traditional SWBC lanes. My tolerance for opinion-speak and manufactured outrage is very low.
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AE5X

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Re: For N8YX
« Reply #24 on: July 22, 2021, 05:22:35 AM »

And I can take only just so much of that sorta stuff here, personally, before returning the receiver to its well-deserved "OFF" position.

Check out this station:
https://rnei.org/

Great music and an interesting website (click on 'Guides').

73,
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RENTON481

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Re: The importance of being an SWL
« Reply #25 on: August 31, 2021, 01:37:38 AM »

RE: Nothing at all to hear on SW BC....

I think most of the problem in the lack of interesting programming audible on SW right now is conditions. Before they dived around 2016 or so, I was hearing some interesting stuff from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, just on a Grundig G2. The most interesting catch was the Vividh Bharati station (an AIR India affiliate) broadcasting out of India somewhere. The music was interesting, and the language was Hindi, but it was something on the SW radio that wasn't Cuba or Brother Stair.

Hopefully by the time the sunspots pick up again in a couple years many of the same stations in Eurasia and Africa will still be on the airwaves. I heard the Saudi Arabia Koran station on 13710 khz this a.m., which was unusual for me, and I know some other guys in the southern tier of US states are still hearing SW from other parts of the world when conditions are better, so who knows.
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N8YX

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Re: The importance of being an SWL
« Reply #26 on: August 31, 2021, 08:23:15 AM »

I heard the Saudi Arabia Koran station on 13710 khz this a.m., which was unusual for me, and I know some other guys in the southern tier of US states are still hearing SW from other parts of the world when conditions are better, so who knows.
I caught similar on 15205 (IIRC...) earlier this year when I was testing a couple of NRD-515s.

Right now there's a really nice sporadic E opening going on, courtesy of the remnants of Ida and thunderstorms associated with the system. 25MHz and up is full of signals, and not all of these are CBers/freebanders/hams.
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RENTON481

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Re: Whither SWL'ing...?!
« Reply #27 on: November 11, 2021, 05:03:13 AM »

Quote from: VE3CUI link=topic=133457.msg12
Because there is absolutely [i
NOTHING ON ANY[/i] of the frequencies, of any interest, whatsoever. Apart from the odd "...hell-fire-and-brimstone" pontificating "...Holy Roller," the frequencies are, for the most part, COMPLETELY SILENT. Our collective fears, & the wringing of our hands in angst over the possibiityof other services taking our HF frequencies away from us, are all for naught --- there's nothing on 99.9% of the HF spectrum NOW, as it is!

How depressingly sad, too. Back when I first began, I could hear the entire world beckoning out to me from my SWL radio's loud speaker --- now, all I can detect is the deafening SILENCE of a "...Twilight Zone."

As I mentioned in another posting... We can thank the sunspot cycle for the roaring silence.

Since 2017, there have probably been countless nights I've tuned across the two major night time SWBC bands -- 31 and 49 meters, and heard maybe a total of 5 stations, all US or Cuba. Even if you throw in 41 meters, maybe you add Marti and a US domestic.

Sometimes WWV is so low in the mud it's undecipherable. WWVH is better here.... but when I was a kid, I never heard WWVH, because WWV was always so strong.

The ham bands, the few times I tune through them anymore, aren't much better.
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KK4GMU

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Re: The importance of being an SWL
« Reply #28 on: November 26, 2021, 12:32:28 PM »

I expected that the majority were CBers, but apparently I was wrong. New GenerationSWL Is the future of ham radio.

Sorry but your whole approach to the question is wrong:

1. Self-selected respondents in a very narrow population base. Data thus meaningless.

2. Assumption, without evidence or any justification, that there is an "either-or" of CB vs SWL. I had a friend who was interested and he got me interested. Pre-CB. No SWL interest.

I didn't see a question to criticize.  The OP was more like posing a few random thoughts about the source and direction of interest in SWL.

One random thought:  The majority of SWL listeners are likely over 50 years of age.

As for me, being 75, I've always had a fringe interest in radios, from my grandmother's floor standing push button console with the radio stations listed on the buttons, to my parent's tabletop multi-band with the "tuning eye" to the 1970's CB craze.

Currently I'm interested in SWL for six reasons: 

1) The challenge of bringing in as many audible stations as possible given my confined HOA space.
2) Liking electronic gadgets
3) Learning what's "out there", unvarnished, unedited.
4) Developing a skill set that enables me to hear what's going on in the event of a SHTF scenario that the internet and other media technologies may not provide.
5) I jettisoned a couple of other hobbies and this one fits my age and capabilities.
6) I like to listen more than talk.
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IC-7100, RSPdx, AT-D878UVII-Plus HT, TGIF Spot
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