Shortwave radio - The dark web of the airwaves in 2020
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2020
- The Internet made shortwave radio obsolete over 20 years ago, yet it somehow still lives on today, home to Cuban propaganda, Vietnamese music, time signals, and religious groups and conspiracy theorists paying $35 an hour to get their message on the air.
- Наука та технологія
On a sailboat crossing the Pacific Ocean my only entertainment was short wave radio bands that would put me to sleep at nights after setting the sails it brings back great memories...I had no TV no internet just short wave radio ... it was the only human voices I would hear for months on the ocean... it’s great stuff...
that sounds so cool!
thats scary ,i would be scared
Tell us more…
Please tell us more
Seriously! What the last two said
Brings back so many happy memories. I was raised in the 50's on a farm on the Alberta prairies, with no grid power, no TV, few books and very isolated. Very boring for a curious and innovative mind, driving tractors and heaving hay bales just didn't do it. Fortunately I had two uncles who were ham operators and radio repairmen for their communities in the days of big tube-type radios that could be repaired. They handed on to me old radios that couldn't be repaired and junk discarded from their hobby, including a 30's version of the ARRL Handbook. I studied that book 'til my head hurt, but learned enough to get going. I couldn't build a transmitter due to no grid power, but I built a single stage regenerative receiver with a single type 30 tube. That was the most basic triode you could imagine. Could easily see the filament glowing and the grid and the plate and could even imagine the electrons crossing the grid. Scavenged those discarded radios for the components, and wound my own crude coils. Powered the filament with discarded 1.5v cells from the party line telephone, but the 'B' battery was a problem. Those 90v batteries cost a fortune at a time when money was very scarce, but I finally saved up and bought one. Fortunately the receiver drew very little power to feed the old headphones so that battery lasted for years. By carefully adjusting the feedback to just below oscillation, the gain from that regenerative circuit was enormous! and at the same time the selectivity became extremely sharp, so I could pick out weak signals from a very crowded band. There was no powerlines for miles and in the wintertime there was no lightening anywhere and so no static. A 200' aerial from the windmill to a tall homemade tower gave access to the world. This was the late 50's so the 31m band was full of interesting broadcasts from all over the world. Some of them, like Radio Moscow, BBC, HCLB and WWV fairly boomed in and acted as frequency markers to calibrate the dial. The chassis wasn't well shielded so body capacitance made big effects, which was very useful in that I could control the feedback to that very critical peak just by slightly moving my knee under the desk, while I took program notes to send away with an International Reply Coupon for a QSL card. Got 22 of them. The biggest thrill of all was at 3am one night tuning in to Radio Australia just in time to hear the announcer read my letter on air, and they were amazed that I could receive their station with such a basic receiver! Never had near as much fun with any hi-tech receiver since.
wow, what an awesome story from the past, like history becomes touchable. do you have photos about that from back then? do you still have that home made regen receiver, any blueprints of the circuit ?
@@PhantomWoIf Thank you for the encouraging comment. I do have a couple of photos but don’t know how to post them in this space…. Unfortunately the radio itself was lost in storage when I was moving to Australia. I really regret that loss….. The circuit was as basic as it gets and samples can be found in old radio texts.
I had a couple letters read on air on HCJB years ago that I had sent into their dx radio show! Tuned in and heard them being read. I thought that was just too cool! The host even commented on one of them!
Wow, that had to be AWESOME hearing your letter read from the other side of the planet!
@@xaenon Not the other side for me. But definitely a long way from home! It was very cool! Just happened to tune in that day and there he was, reading MY letter! Too cool!
The coded beacon signal in Morse is "CAT". It's a non-directional beacon (NDB) located near Chatham, NJ. In the past, it was probably a navigation point for beginning an instrument approach to runway 05 at Morristown Municipal Airport, but the current approach does not use it. Shortwave in the early 1950's was my exploration of the world. In later years, I got to actually visit those countries on the job as an airline pilot. Very fond memories...
When I was a kid I used a modified cheap MR Microphone transmitter to broadcast dirty jokes over the air to two of my friends who lived on the same block. I got triangulated by some old neighbor who came to my house and told my mom and dad about someone broadcasting smut from this location. That was the end of my comedy career.
Did he say “you lost today kid, but doesn’t mean you have to like it”, then give you his hat?
@@lewisham man. You belong in a museum.
the ggod old times where the neighbors got you before the trucks with the funny antennas
King stuff.
Hahaha. Cool story
Interesting video! I do a show on a number of shortwave stations (WRMI 5850 kHz) every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening. Shortwave might not be the most popular broadcast medium but there are still more listeners out there than one would think!
I love when a couple of my favorite UA-camrs cross paths like this :)
Exactly ,, this VWestlife guy is just talking out of his but.
Awesome
Why eat Philly Steak and cheese Papadias when you can indulge yourself in some mesmerizing and enjoyable shortwave radio instead?
Wow, I never thought you are interested in radios before..Small world.
The ionosphere is net neutral
As it should be.
Earth is Flat. As seen by many long range broadcasts
But jamming can be effective
Ace Mcloud *raises eyebrow*
Ace.... nope.
12:32
It's portuguese.
The woman's voice is from Dolores Duran, singing songs that was composed by Francisco Anysio (he's was actor and comediant too). The broadcast was talking about that.
She was so popular on 1940 and 1950. She passed on 1959.
Francisco had a much more succesfull career at TV shows from 1960 to 2000's, he passes on 2012.
So clear broadcast, and really surprising! Nice DX!
É até eu fiquei impressionado de ver uma cantora brasileira numa rádio brasileira. A saber, essa é a rádio nacional?
This takes me back to when I got a SW radio for my Birthday. Although I had tons of bandwidth to catch almost anything I wanted to listen to, I always found myself listening to Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM.
Art was a great radio presenter
I had no idea Coast to Coast AM was a shortwave station I always listened to it on FM stations. Do they still broadcast on shortwave?
@@Corey_Brandt I had no idea it was on FM. I always listened on AM. Yes I had a SW radio, but like most at the time it had FM, AM, SW, and weather stations.
Ryan Olsen yeah my local Fox station would start reserve midnight to 5:00 am for Coast to Coast AM. I listened to George Noory a lot.
Coast to Coast was also broadcast regularly on shortwave.. that's how I first became a fan of the show.
I think someone is letting a cat play with their morse transmitter.
LOL ;)
Ah, the age-old game of cat-and-morse
It has to be Allen H. Wiener WBCQ the planet or formerly known as RNYI. He always have cats running around the new used transmitter. Formally CBC Nova Scotia including the tower and Arial system.
"Send fish"
Jac Goudsmit hallo nederlander
Shortwave radio was incredible in the 1990s in the USA. The bands were filled with incredible broadcasts. Now it takes some effort to find anything in English besides crazy preachers. One good comedy show comes on each weeknight at 10pm Eastern time on frequency 4840. Tune in and see! You`ll hear things like: "Shrimp on prozac are attacking seagulls!"
Certainly worth hearing
Absolutely. Many stations folded due to lack of Gov. funds so they ended over the years. It really good back then but, ya never know what around the frequency some good night.
Sounds like Alex Jones .
@@Customwinder1 LOL! How did you possibly guess that? I nearly broke some ribs when I heard him say that but he wasn`t lying....it was actually a real news report! HA!
@devontodetroit Back in the 1990s I listened to Bill Cooper every night. He taught me a great deal about the Constitution. Crazy guy though and he was wrong about a few things.
I used to sit out behind my parents farm house in rural Kansas with my shortwave radio and watch the stars while listening to all kinds of weird signals. The house had metal siding so it was a huge faraday cage and I was too lazy to put up a real antenna, so I just sat outside and listened. I spent many summer nights like that. My favorites were clandestine broadcasts like numbers stations and pirates. I spent a lot of time around 6925 khz listening for the pirates on their homemade 5 to 50 watt transmitters playing heavy metal or techno or hip hop or sometimes just reading jokes into the airwaves. They had their own weird inside jokes too and sometimes they'd apparently be trying to jam each other playfully with different sound effects. I always wanted to get my amateur radio license and make my own mark on the airwaves, but I've been procrastinating for ten years now. I could probably pass the test in my sleep.
WBCQ is a shortwave station that makes available air time at a reasonable cost. Perhaps you could start doing programs there.
I grew up in central Nebraska, hooking the antenna to the lightning rods on the barn would open up a whole world of shortwave.
There was something magical about laying in bed at night in the 70’s and 80’s and scanning the bands for civilization different from what I lived in every day. It felt great to succeed in barely tuning in to anything new. Music, news, readings, all in languages I could barely even recognize sometimes. In about 2004 when the BBC World Service stopped broadcasting to North America, I gave up. :(
Yep, 70s and 80s was the magic time for shortwave, it start to die in 1990 and now is just and old memory but that is life. By the way BBC stop their broadcasting to north america in the year 2000.
In Europa, BBC world service stopped in 2011. That was a cold turkey experience.
Supposedly Sony founder and long time chairman Akio Morita was a big shortwave buff, which is why Sony always made so many great SW radios.
That sony radio seems awesome.
@NightShade theWolf But no burned DVD+R DVDs ;)
Motarla and bearcat and used to live at warmspings ga when satalighe antana wppr demorest and warm springs ga my friend lives in tampa fl some times its called playing or jaming
Teresa Anderson Is that English?
My Sony 7600D was jumpy and unstable with strong SSB signals.
I'm so conditioned by radio listening in 80's and 90's, I was instinctively tilting and rotating my phone trying to get better sound quality from this video :)))
Make a video...quick.
For cell phone frequencies of 900 to 1900 MHz, try moving your phone 1/2 to 1 foot for a quarter wavelength, when your signal is weak.
Lol! Or run a line of speaker wire up the wall to the ceiling... aluminum foil "antennae boosters..." lol!
@@aprilmoore2917 we had central heating in my parents' appartment with iron pipes and cast iron radiators.
Pressing AM radio agsinst vertical heating pipes made radio signal much much stronger!
@@badscrewold3162 ah... I'm going to remember that little trick, in these "end times, " ya know - right along with my grandma's eggless chocolate cake recipe...
Boy, does THIS take me back..... to my Navy days, specifically 1986. At night, I'd drag my big ol' boom box up to the flight deck and sit and listen to all the strange stuff that would come across the radio - including that Cuban propaganda beamed right at us by our communist friends whilst we were there for training, certs, and so forth. Voices from the ether, music from foreign lands, strange blips and bloops and chirps and squeals and tones, all fading in and out and intermingling with each other and the static... definitely a surreal experience.
I was never much into shortwave, but listening to it in the middle of the ocean, at night, under a sky full of stars so numerous you can't even imagine, much less count.... it was my 'therapy'. It kept me sane somehow.
Reading that, I was there
That's amazing.
This is what the movie 'Contact' got so right in the opening scene......the earth fadeout with all the radio broadcasts going back to the inception. There is something fascinating about listening to live broadcasts from thousands of miles away, even if it's in another language. I remember as a 10 year old kid around 1979, playing with some walkie talkies in northern British Columbia, Canada, surrounded by mountains and yet still being able to hear a guy in a truck in Texas. It blew my mind.
I can feel that. Just knowing the sound I hear travels thousands of miles through the air is fascinating. I just love listening to the choppy sound in a language I don’t know. It’s a wonderful feeling of being connected to each other from far away.
I like to listen to shortwave, there's just something about listening to the actuall stations transmitter, then to just listen to an internet stream!
It's because you are listening to freaking electromagnetic waves. Somehow we discovered to use universe to transmit our speech. I get the same fuzzy feeling while listening shortwave.
@@devrim-oguz Same here, Its why I got the ICOM IC-T90A because I grew up with this stuff, and you are right, the internet streams are not the same as tuning into it.
I can stream video from my iPhone, that doesn’t make it a TV station. Internet radio isn’t radio at all.
Same here with talking on Side Band then relay towers with local ham operators
Daniel Daniels Technically it IS a radio when it's over wifi or mobile data though.
The beacon was transmitting the letters C A T in Morse.
I'd say it was CAE - compare the dit in the Alpha right before ... that would make it the airport code for Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
One time I saw a series of dots and dashes in the clouds and grabbed a Forrest Mims electronics book I bought at Radio Shack that had morse code in it. The message in the sky was "xstacy." True story.
@@JeffreyHansen It's C A T.. the person must be in NJ as I pass that beacon weekly when I go grocery shopping. It is located in Chatham, NJ.
Sounds like "CW" to me.
So why the 'dark web' title? Click bait?!
The BBC are still broadcasting on shortwave. In August 2019 extended its World Service output.
@@TStudiosInc No, just world service.
@@_s_l_p_ Here is what I used to hear on my Hallicrafters shortwave radio in the 1960's -BBC;Radio Nederland, radio Moscow;Germany's Deutsche Welle; HCJB in Quito Ecuador, and hundreds of radio amateurs-there were only some SSB operators. Also Ici Abijan, Ivory Coast. Many Spanish stations. Many of the stations had unique starting tone sequences -you knew which ones they were after a while.
I get the BBC clear as a bell in NY.
Yes, and interestingly enough, here in Berlin, if I want to hear the BBC I have to tune into their transmitter in Madagascar! That comes in clearest by far!
The broadcast you heard on the second band is brazilian, talking about an early 20th century famous singer :)
Growing up in communist east Germany short wave was my window to the free world. In the early 60s listening to western stations still was a criminal offense.
And in N. Korea today.
LutzSchafer How readily available were SW LW radios?
@@gmb222 the first east German transistor radio was produced in 1959 (Sternchen). It was for medium wave only but for us not available at the time. We had a tube radio that had non spread SW. Finding RTL in the 49m band was a little finicky. I think that radio was from before the war. It had steel tubes in the RF and IF stages. As a kid I was very keen to understand how a superheterodyne worked.
@@mickleather4966 Are you serious? In east Germany they stopped criminal procecution in the mid 70's
A friend who lived in Russia for the first 50 years of his life, until moving to Canada a few years ago is an electronics wizard, and operated an electronics repair shop when he was living in Russia.
To quote him: "Russian government would broadcast noisy to block reception of radio signals from outside of Russia. So then I invent filters for people's radios to remove noisy. Ya ya ya." :)
16:32 Can confirm it's Vietnamese music, not sure what song that is.
Source: I'm a Vietnamese, so yeah
Hi i'm Vietnamese
The song is called Radio by Ha Anh Tuan
so yeah yeah
Nice. I barely tuned from my cheap SW radio.
I'm also Vietnamese as well! I'm lucky to be that boi.
Dude what is that profile pic? I see it everywhere
Shortwave is still a very efficient way of reaching people. Some of the signals you demonstrated were very clear without fading. I believe the major SW powers were stupid in their abandonment of Shortwave. Computers and the internet in general are very vulnerable.
Convenience over efficiency.
Exactly. With shortwave (and radio in general) the bulk of the investment and equipment resides at the source (station & transmitter) while receivers can be inexpensive, mobile, and battery-powered. Shortwave signals travel hundreds to thousands of miles and know no borders. It can be received literally anywhere on the face of the Earth, whether you're atop Mount Everest or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Internet is very dependent on miles of infrastructure, subject to regional boundaries.
@@jeromeglick Jerome, your comments concerning SW and AM Radio in general are fascinating and accurate. In my part of the world, Nova Scotia Canada, we were hit by a massive hurricane in September 2022. All the Cell Phone & Computer infrastructure went down in a few hours leaving us with CBC Radio and stations, evening hours, out of other provinces & US states. We had no electricity for between 7 days and four weeks. In all of this the federal government, in Canada, has rejected SW technology. Shame on the feds in Canada, especially the government of Steven Harper that shut down RCI giving the order in the middle of summer.
@@maryrafuse3851that so stupid and sad
Hello there. I used to listen to shortwave radios a lot here in Brazil between 1993 and 2003.
The language you were (not) trying to guess on time 12:30 on your video is Portuguese from Brazil and it was playing a program about Dolores Duran, a Brazilian female singer from the early radio times here in Brazil.
Then, in the next frequency, it was actually Spanish, just when you finally tried to guess and thought it was portuguese 😂.
Nice video. I've been thinking a lot about buying a nice shortwave receiver to keep listening, since the cheap ones they sell here can't find and play the radios that nice.
Thanks for the video 😊
Eu ia falar isso, mas pela quantidade de comentários eu sabia que alguém já tinha falado😂😂😂😂
Caramba quanto brasileiro aqui! Não esperava tanta gente assim do Brasil kkk
Hello, I'm also from Brazil, I'm in Maceió Alagoas on the coast of Brazil 😊
VWestlife I was considering the acquisition of a radio to lend an ear to the world of shortwave (and all other frequencies) but honestly don't have a clue what I'm looking for. This video showed up rather unexpectedly in my feed while browsing for noise and sound-related content and right off the bat gave me some good examples of what I'm actually after.
I find this world quite fascinating and could use many of these strange (and sometimes creepy) sounds/signals/distortions in my weird little "music" projects.
Also just realized your channel is a bit of a gold mine for my humble mind. Cheers and thank you!
Radio Moscow became the Voice of Russia in the early 1990s, then changed its name to Sputnik News a few years ago. I do miss the old times when the radio dial took me to many different countries. I still do that with the internet, but SW radio was different.
I think the SWL world has had a bit of a revival with the advent of SDR. An SDR device hooked up to a decent antenna using modern software makes the experience altogether more enjoyable. For the nostalgia experience I like to use one of my tube sets from the 50's with bandspread tuning - that's also a blast! As you mentioned, the sets you featured are at the lower end so folks shouldn't judge the experience based on those. NIce video as always.
Cheers, John
This one? websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
It's in the Netherlands (Twente).
@Tone. Yeah, there are a number of webSDR's online. The one I've used a few times is at the University of Twente in The Netherlands.
@Tone. - try this:- www.websdr.org/
Well, there goes my day! I’ve already been listening to strange Russian beacons and Thai radio.
SDR is ok, but real radios glow in the dark and heat the room.
Still listen to shortwave radio when i go camping out in the middle of nowhere
So do I. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I am compelled to do so.
@@ianbutler1983 Staying in touch with civilisation?
@@mikesey1 I don't think so; in the US there is always an AM station available for that. There is just something about being in the middle of nowhere and tuning around the SW bands. It probably is linked to my childhood when I did it on camping trips.
@@ianbutler1983 Well, shortwave is AM, but I guess you mean what we would call the Medium Wave.
Tuning through the medium wave on this side of the Atlantic during the early hours of the morning, I have often heard US domestic local stations, usually eastern seaboard, but occasionally mid-west. The eastern US is of course five hours behind GMT/BST, and the further west the signal travels the further back the clock goes. So far, nothing heard from the west coast, around 8 hours behind GMT, but when the Sun finally gets a few spots, that (8k mile?) journey couldn't be ruled out. !
I do as well. There is a bit of harmony between the two activities. Something about being off in the woods with no one around tuning in to an invisible world from far away. Sadly, there is too much interference to listen enjoyably at home so i only listen when I'm camping.
Great video !
As a HAM I have been into shortwave for over 35 years. Commercial stations are abandoning shortwave because of the high operating costs (investment in and maintenance of transmitters and antenna parks) but luckily enough there are still plenty to listen to. Some radio stations now also have digital transmissions (DRM) which offers even better quality then some of the internet stations! Of course, signals on shortwave are prone to fading and one always depends upon atmospheric conditions (sun spots) but shortwave remains a lot of fun . Should you wish to get the most out of it, make sure to attach a good antenna to your receiver, any length of wire outside, properly fed, will improve reception tremendously (keep it safe and disconnect antennas when not in use ).
The Report of the Week does his weekly podcast on shortwave.
Reviewbrah
I still scan the bands on occasion. I've always had a shortwave radio in my shack. I currently have an Eton Field BT Shortwave radio. Very pleased with its performance. There is nothing like the mysterious and ethereal sounds coming from an SW radio. The whistles, pops, crackles, pings, and howls are like music to my soul. Those sounds would make a good ASMR video for radio buffs.
If the internet ever crashes, folks will want one.
The internet may not totally crash, but your local connection might. Happens to me frequently. Short wave is a very viable medium when such failures, even locally, occur. Radio gets through when other means fail (like cell phones).
No, they won't.
@@jeromewysocki8809 We lost phone and internet connection in our town of 25,000 poeple for more than a day because some farmer accidentally dug up our fiber optic cable with his tractor
@@nickv4073 Wrong. About the only comms medium that will be useful if nuclear war strikes.
@@jeromewysocki8809 my brother in Texas lost all computer and phone service when that freak snow storm hit this past winter/spring when the entire power grid collapsed . Hehadno television or water well either because his water pump ran on electricity and couldn't run a heater or light bulb in the well house cause no power .if he didn't have a shortwave radio that ran on batteries , he wouldn't have known what was happening . Just glad he had a wood burning fireplace to keep warm and cook food with and thick goosedown comforters to sleep under .
About a week ago, I got my radio and it’s a multi-band potable radio with AM, FM, shortwave, CB, Aircraft, Police and Weather bands. All in a good looking set. It was made by Westminster back in the 1970’s. It still works with D batteries and no corrosion there. Now I can listen to any station I want since I haven’t used Shortwave for years. Plus, it even has a map of the world where it has countries where you can get a shortwave station. You can’t get them anymore, plus a wheel where you can set the time zone. Nice feature.
Listening to shortwave reminds me of watching UHF tv with my little antenna, something I miss today.
Thanks for invoking that fond memory. Same thoughts here. If you haven’t already done this, I suggest buying one of the many cheap (< $50) hi-def antennas and connecting it to your TV. Even though over the air TV broadcast stations are mostly digital, you may be surprised to see how many crystal-clear channels you receive - many in hi-def. and several channels broadcast old shows (westerns, game shows, etc.). Grit TV is my favorite.
Why do you miss watching UHF TV? Don't you still watch TV that way?
Just buy an RTL SDR and tune in to TV... Might still work
I absolutely love this stuff. I started listening at a very young age. I don't listen much these days due to time but I still have some old tube zeniths that I plug in once in a while. I've always found it so fascinating how there are so many live transmissions going on 24/7. I swear that some of the transmissions are from another time. It's like a whole other world and has a sort of a supernatural feel sometimes.
what transmissions like from another world and time do you mean, supernatural ?
I am from Pakistan and I used to listen to Radio for years, I was a regular listener of Urdu services of different countries on the Shortwave, such as Radio Saudi, Radio Japan, China, Fiba Radio, Radio Iran, All India Radio, Radio Germany, Radio Saloon, etc. What a golden era that was💓
The only thing you would probably hear on Saudi radio us probably the sound of people having Thier heads chopped off!!
@@nathanchowdry6599 Really? You could say the only thing you hear on US radio is the sound of gun violence.. both are gross generalizations that don't represent our entire existence as nations. Saudi Arabia is a U.S. ally, nobody is cutting off anyone's head like it's a normal thing over there. A couple terrorist FROM Saudi represent their country about as much as the Uni Bomber or Timothy McVeigh represent the United states of America.
A few years back, I was sitting in my room late on a summer night with a kerosene lantern for lighting. I powered up an old tube receiver, and tuned across the bands for a bit.
Until I stumbled upon the Ident of radio Tirana (The Albanian State Radio) just before closedown.. Chills just ran down my spine, and they still do whenever I hear that sound.
When I was in grade school in the late 60,s I would pick up Radio Tirana and Radio Hanoi and other communist countries and they would refer to "the American imperialists fighting the peoples liberation forces " etc. etc.(well you get the idea) but it was a great education. I still tune in on shortwave from time to time
That religious band was like coming across the captains log from Event Horizon.
That signal is straight out of Neptune!
Did it say "Liberate me"?
Beware the warp, and raise your gellar fields.
Could never forget that scene!
Agent K Emperor protect us!
I was an avid short wave listener in the 80s, miss the excitement off picking up those signals in the early hours. We do rely on the internet too much these days. Great video.
Fun Fact: Allan Weiner, who owns and operates WBCQ, also operated pirate radio station Radio Newyork International (RNI) during its brief run about 30 years ago. It operated from a ship anchored off the coast of New York until it was siezed by the US government for its unlicensed broadcasting.
Every night (in North America at least) you can hear oldies music on WTWW 5085 from 8 PM to midnight central time. It's rare for a shortwave station to carry a multi-hour nightly music format like this.
I've been waiting so long for a video like this... Thank you so much! Carry on DXing!!
This is some great content. You should do more videos like this, exploring the more obscure parts of radio that somehow is still alive in this day and age.
I live in Sweden, as a kid about 20 years ago i got an old "Handic" radio as a present. It has a whole bunch of frequencies on it and i thought it was so exciting to stay up way too late on cold winter nights when reception was extremely good and fine-tune that big dial to listen to all manner of strange and "spooky" stations.
I managed to check off some strange Romanian and Polish stations, along with BBC, some weird asian music channels and a whole bunch of russian stations on a small checklist i made. I even managed to tune into what i then believed was some cool numer stations or something, but now i believe it was something along CODAR or whatever people over here used the airwaves for.
It's such a bummer in many ways that so much has moved to the internet. Back in the day almost anyone could tune into some cool stuff with semi-basic radio/tv equipment.
I remember back in the 80s when the space shuttle blew up. Short wave was going crazy. was very interesting to listen to.
I never owned a short wave radio, but once I fixed my friend's radio, was a old Philips with AM/FM/SW bands, it ran on germanium diodes and transistors, was able to recover it because Philips included the actual radio schematics inside it. I could pick up some radios from Brazil (of course) that I used to calibrate the dial, some from Asia, many unindentified ones, and one from Cuba, if I remember. I was amazed to imagine how far those signals were coming from, it was very fun!
Nice video, I personally love a background picture of religious screaming and Cuban propaganda
Radio Havana Cuba is quite a nice news program actually. I'm not sure if its still going on shortwave, but I enjoyed listening to it. :)
My Guess on the airport beacon:
*Chatham NDB , 254 kHz LW, serving Morristown Municipal Airport (KMMU)*
And it says CAT in Morse code. Which I have passed a test in, to obtain a full amateur radio license in 1991. I'm getting old...
@@volvo480 Same year I got my Land/Mobile/Aeronautical RRO !!
Correct! VOR stations are VHF, not shortwave.
Yup! It's CAT, in Chatham. I drive past the beacon every week. Its a 5 min drive from where I live.
@@james1787 Then you are likely a close neighbor to VWestlife. These NDB transmitters aren't high powered.
The weird moaning and groaning is Brother Stair's daily zombie apocalypse gathering. Not survivors of the apocalypse, the zombies.
brother satair, douchebag of the century.
The last day prophet of god - Jesus is coming in your lifetime
That reminds me, I used to hear Harold Camping on WWCR a lot, and Peter J Peters and Bo Gritz, rhymes with whites.
Woxyroxme gets it
YEAH It's Happening
when I was younger always loved tuning late at night to see how far I could here. have a couple short wave radios and still listen every now and than.
In England, the Queen is the expert on short waves.
lol
Dave H she apparently had training
I think your refering to the hairstyle.....lol.
@@mickleather4966 Example here >> ua-cam.com/video/yJQRTQJL7jQ/v-deo.html
Her arms get tired if she waves too much. 😀
Some shortwave radios can pick marine and air bands. Maybe weather stations, too. In Britain, I can pick up stations from India, Eastern Europe and China.
Superb presentation!
You should do a new updated video about short wave radio listening, and also how to improve reception and also do a bandscan like what you're doing. You're getting better, and quieter reception, I wish I knew what you did to keep the RF noise levels down in your place you filmed the video. We all need help with this. I think it's being stuck in my apartment with other people around me that are using inferior power supplies.
As others have noted, so many comforting and happy memories of time spent listening to shortwave and "traveling" the world via the airwaves in the 70s, 80s, and even into the 90s. Thanks for posting. Cheers.
So many memories of sitting in my room with my headset on a snowy Minnesota night hearing exotic signals from PNG, Monrovia Liberia, Paris, London and Melbourne during the late 70s, utilizing my Grandfather's hand-me-down 1950s era Collins 'Boat Anchor' (sorry do not recall the model). Hoping to hear that faint unfamiliar interval signal and country to add to my logs and a cool QSL to my collection. In the 80s the fascination with DXing had not abated, picked a Radio Shack DX-300, I was in the 'digital' readout era, hooray, only to learn a few months later that it was a dog of a receiver, still it pulled on some good DX. Moved up to a Kenwood R-5000 by the end of the decade, I was then in the big leagues. However, the hobby began to take a back seat to, well, life. College, Work, Women and like I said life in general, became my main focus. I believe my last QSL was an e-mail from a PTP station in Puerto Rico, sometime in the late 90s. I have long since sold off my equipment, though I do have a 90s era Sangean portable somewhere up in the attic. I used it on my overseas assignments for most of the decade until MacBooks became lighter and more portable in the early '00s'. I have contemplated returning to the hobby, but with so many names now gone, BBC, Radio Australia, RCI, DW now in the history books, I don't know, maybe. I was an admitted QSL hunter, I cared little for the content, just enough to pop a decent Reception Report in the mail to get that coveted QSL from N Korea (man, that was a toughie, a Japanese DXer provided some invaluable help in securing that QSL), R Botswana and Radio St Helena. I suspect many of the "tropical" stations are still on the air, again, maybe.
Anywho, thanks for the memories...and good DXing
Very good review of shortwave today. Yes the Beacon is in Morse Code, CAT. I used to hear EWR in morse code from Newark Airport on Long Wave when I lived in
the New York City area. After first listening to MW DX in 1960, while in High School, I then progressed to Shortwave in 1961 with a Hallicrafters SX-110 tube receiver
from Radio Shack in Stamfors, CT, which used to have amateur equipment, such as Lafayette Radio did, before even CB was popular in the 1970's. I am familiar
with the usual suspects you mentioned that are now on SW, as opposed to the golden days of international broadcasting. It has happened to amateur radio today
too, though there are many modes, such as digital with FT-8, that is popular for weak signal contacts. I became an amateur radio operator in 1962, with many
other young people in those days, even using tubes at the beginning. I remember when the Sony ICF-2001 came out in 1980 as an early digital read out with direct
key entry, and I still have a review about it on audio cassette from it being reviewed on Radio Canada back then. I have owned many radios, SW and amateur, and
scanners over the years. It's nice to see you have a good collection of receivers and I enjoy your electronics video reviews!
I thinking of getting to ham radio...any suggestions...on what to get?
Ok, Jeff. The first thing would be to
obtain a license manual for the Technician license. Then you could
contact the American Radio Relay
League, in Newington, CT, as to where
there might be classes for the license.
Some classes are a few weeks in duration, or a faster method is to study
over a compressed weekend and then
the examination might be given at the
end of study. Sometimes classes and
VEC exams are listed in the local amateur radio club newsletters.
Once you have this basic license, and
maybe go to a club meeting to find
out more about the hobby and your
local amateurs.
You probably would start with a Handi-
Talkie for say 2 meter or 70 cm repeaters, or a dual band one such as
the Anytone 878, which with a battery
and charger is about $200.00 from an
amateur equipment seller, such as Ham Radio Outlet around the US, or
even go to a hamfest, which can be
indoors, outdoors or both for new and
used equipment. The prices for the equipment might be lower or even negotiable there. Good luck.
Ray, W2CH, ex-WA2ZPD, WB1BTO, and WB7EGN.
Hello to a resident of my native state of Connecticut (nutmeg state) I really need to get a nice shortwave radio. Mine broke 17 years ago and I never replaced it. I miss my home state (and hearing others talk with a crisp accent)but don't miss shoveling snow!
The language in 12:53 is brazillian portuguese. The voice is telling something about the music that has been played just before (sorry my english, I'm brazillian). Great video btw!
Shortwave radio is like coffee to me; I have no intention of giving it up. Shortwave got me interested in science so I remember it fondly. Shortwave also provides a sense of adventure not available with the internet. You can never be sure of what you'll find.
"Turn the dial with your hand/Till you find the shortwave band"
A big shout out to Radioland.
elektronenklange!!!!
I was wondering if anyone would get the reference! I suspected that the answer would be yes, and I was correct!
Brilliant album!
@@bwc1976 Agreed 100%!
Ah, yes. This brought back memories. I remember I would stay up into the night listening to shortwave radio when I was younger. I still have one sitting on my sidetable. I should do that again sometime... Just for old time's sake. :)
I actually sent a reception report to WWV and got a card back from them. One of my favorite memories other than sitting doing band sweeps with my dad.
@NightShade theWolf I remember it was one evening when our city's power had inexplicibly gone out. He called me into the kitchen where he had pulled out a shortwave radio and was doing a band scan. He tuned to the time signal and that was really got me hooked. :)
I'm 53, my uncle had a mobile ham in his car and an electronics bench in the basement. When I was a kid I lived with them while going to school and got into electronics as they offered it as an elective in high school at that time. (idiots to stop this). Changing schools I lost that connection to electronics and only got back into it as a hobby 4 years ago. Channels like this certainly spark my interest to spend some money and start learning. Thank you!
I have been in radio for years. I really enjoyed this video. Thank you. Radioman
This brings back memories. I was given a SW radio in my teens and there is definitely something super eerie about listening to that strange world of distortion, interference, voices and spooky sounds ... It was pretty fascinating.
Ps no idea how this wound up in my feed but cool anyway.
It's strange just how much this sounds like the voices in my head.
13:12 That's Rádio Aparecida from Brazil
@NightShade theWolf they do but not the strongest signal from were im at
Brings back memories of when I got hooked listening to shortwave radio back in the 80s when I was in Africa. Love listening to VOA, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Radio Netherlands, Radio Exterior de España, Swiss Radio International and Radio France International. I could still recall their signing in tones. Particularly the once from RFI, VOA, BBC and the most recallable of them all from DW. The most unique one I got to listen to was Voice of Turkey. Sometimes I would hear Kol Isreael.
Shortwave broadcast from both the BBC and VOA gave us updates on what was happening in the Philippines in February 1986 when the Philippine dictator Marcos was toppled by a People Power revolution. I remember, have the radio on and our other Filipino friends gathered in our house to listen.
You have a very nice collection of radios! It was due to yourself and later on, The Report of the week that I found my new hobby. I now have a Tecsun r9700dx, XHDATA D-808 and an MLA30+ and swling is my new evening passtime. Yeah, it can be done via the internet but that will never be as cool as listening to a physical signal bounced across the world. Thank you for introducing me to it.
Seeing the Sony and hearing those shortwave broadcasts brought back memories. My dad had that exact model and I was always fascinated with it as a child. He had the roll-out antenna hung up on the window so he could tune into the BBC world radio station. I should see if my mom still has it, I think it would be interesting to see if it still works and what I can receive on it.
I've been DXing since the late 1980's I was once interviewed on Radio Netherlands as a kid. Today I like to use the Web SDRs online it's like having different SW radios all over the world.
you mean Radio Wereldomroep? as a kid i was broadcasted from Hilversum studio's to my father, who was a sailor, somewhere on the globe; everybody got 3-4 minutes to send a message to their relatives!
254 is your NDB "CAT" from Chatham, NJ. North Korea still has shortwave radio. CAT machinery with a morse code generator
Care to share the frequencies&local time? :)
Why do CAT have Morse code? Is it to track there machines.
@@Northstar-Media Alan, There are radio beacons scattered across the US that are long wave and used for aircraft navigation. They broadcast a two or three letter identifier in morse code. Pilots find the frequency on a chart, then sure to it, then verify that they have the correct beacon by checking the morse letters against the chart, which shows the more code for that beacon. They were cheap to install and low maintenance, but used less and less with the advent of GPS.
WWV is very handy to figure out which band to listen to for a given time of day for new listeners. 5, 10, 15, 20 all have it, good guide to know roughly what bands are right for the time of day or solar conditions.
This may be your best video yet! I love this kind of stuff!
If you notice the RS DX-397, the SW10 band is painted on the dial like MW and FM. If Sangean marketed this model in Europe (or elsewhere where LW radio broadcasting is common), the SW10 band would be LW. The radio would likely be DX-397L version in that case.
I'm surprised BBC long wave transmission on 198 khz is not heard in N. America. Powerful transmitter that is heard across Europe. The long wave is largely unused in America.
@@mickleather4966 @Mick Leather I believe many DXer's have logged BBC4 on LW. In the early 1990s, on many occasions, from Northeastern Canada, I could receive "Atlantic 252" on LW from Ireland, which broadcast on 252 kHz with 1.3 Megawatts of power. Atlantic 252 was an amazing Top 40 / Rhythmic CHR station, which was something we didn't have on the radio locally. Here is a video with a tour of their massive transmitter facility where there is so much EM energy, the fences are resonating to the music being broadcast!
ua-cam.com/video/BdeFTOjkpzY/v-deo.html
"DANGER - DEATH INSTANTLY ON CONTACT" . . . pretty serious warnings at the antenna site for sure!
I was a military signaller in the 70's and it was my exposure to SW radio as a child that had me hooked already. The strange sounds you would discover were fascinating to a small child and morse was a joy to learn.
As an Infantry signaller, you carried it all on your back and it made you remarkably fit :) There was a black art making all work and a degree of intuition gained from experience was required to be successful.
This video just made me pull out my radio which I use a couple times a month, but haven't used for shortwave in about 2 years.
I still enjoy building my own Ham equipment and shortwave receivers, some as simple as crystal sets and still amazed at all the activity between 1.6 and 30 megahertz.
WRMI out of Florida is a big one . I have picked up radio Slovakia before a lot of the stations will send a QSL card if you contact them with a signal report
13:21 is portuguese language, probable from a Brazilian station
14:27 is spanish indeed, but the accent is from Spain, not from any latin american country
In regards to the Spanish Station: I believe that is the Radio Exterior de España Costa Rica relay station
It is portuguese from Brazil !
He claims to be a shortwave listener, yet cannot recognize Portuguese language, let alone the origin of the broadcast, as if there were so many countries speaking Portuguese...lol
É o sinal da Rádio Nacional de Brasília, Brasil. Transmite em 11.780kHz (25m)
@@onofrevelloso9533 nem sabia que tinha radio transmitindo nessa faixa
If you send a letter to the SW international broadcasting station you hear and supply the date and time (and signal report if possible), along with a general description of what you heard, often times the station will send you a QSL confirmation card. It's actually pretty thrilling to receive a QSL card from an international broadcast station and they in turn really appreciate the signal report information showing them their reach!
Have one from Radio Romania International.
@@pinkteardrops6834 Excellent.. Not many people know or do this but it's super interesting and fun..
Great video.
I've been an avid shortwave listener since 1977.
The BBC still has great programming on shortwave. I was listening to it this morning on 15,490 Khz.
I used to listen to BBC WS in India & used to wait during June - Aug for Test Match Special broadcast on a special frequency dedicated to cricket during English summer. This broadcast was dedicated to South Asia listeners.
It’s always cool to see people Receiving WEWN, since that station is only a mile away from me. Also I can see the tower lights at night in my front yard.
What are the tower lights doing in your front yard?! You may wish to call the station and let them know they need to relocate those lights to the top of their tower instead before a plane flies into their tower at night so you can finally get some sleep without your house glowing red all night like some 50s Sci-Fi alien attack movie!
Ethan Poole very funny! I guess I should stop writing comments while half asleep!
AL TV collector I couldn’t help it, it just read in a funny way and I was in need of a laugh. Thanks!
Cellphone killed the Cb radio Star
Texting while driving killed the cellphone star.
In a warm leatherette
I really miss the CB Radio... Was a favorite of mine.
Video killed the radio star.🎼
Luis de Santos -hear the crushing steel
And you're showing people something and it might peak some new interest in it. So thanks for always putting up videos about things like this. And who knows maybe somebody will go out and buy a shortwave radio and play with it and maybe we'll start up some shortwave radio stations. Who knows it's fun.
Enjoyed this, I always tuned in to brother stair if I was playing on sw. For no other reason than his signals were among the best where I am. Haven't been able to listen for ages, just heard he is no more but his recordings are very much still out there. Thanks
My show airs on AM here in Houston. I frequently joke on air that "this broadcast is promotion for the podcast" being 2020 and all :) Though I fully embrace our digital world, I still geek out and adore that I am privileged enough to have my little show radiate through the universe electromagnetically. It's romantic. AM also just makes spoken word sound "sexier"...anyways....maybe just me.
KPRC 950AM for those curious. 10p Saturday, 6p Sunday (CST)
That is pretty cool. I will try to listen. I'm curious. What does one need to do to get their show on the air? How much does it cost to do so? Inquiring minds want to know!
Listen every time I can when up here in the frozen North working!
Rocky's Roads My show?
M D Cost depends if you’re “muscling” it onto the air as paid programming for a business. In my case it was persistence. I’ve been working in radio for 10:years as a board operator building trust and my brand. Got told “no” for years before finally getting the green light. Baby steps. Key is to hone your concept and pitch it regularly.
@@GeekTherapyRadio Yes..
Spend a good time in my youth listening to SW stations and DXing. Still got a couple of SW receivers here too, including the last one I've got, the Sony 7600GR which is excellent and includes SSB.
Several things. 1) My late father got me into shortwave when I was a kid 40 years ago. His favorite show was Arnie Coro on Radio Havana. I've grown up listening to SW and, especially with his passing, it's sad to see such a medium fade. 2) EWTN in Birmingham, AL .. not only is that right in my backyard, we've been up to their monastery and broadcast station. Cool that you picked them up in your video. 3) Brother RG Stair and Alex Jones... ahh, two very interesting figures. I've enjoyed listening to them for many years; long before g@@gletube ever existed, much less "cancelled" Jones. ....... Thank you for this excellent video.
@VWestlife - Wonderful retrospective! BTW- the Morse code call sign of the NDB station was CAT.
Loved listening to shortwave back in the 60s on a little turquoise colored 7 transistor GE AM radio. I discovered poking around on the taps of the ferrite rod antenna that I could shift the radio to pick up HF frequencies! I put a wire on the tap that caused the radio to tune into HF band and listened to stations all around the world at night, with the radio tucked under my pillow, so I wouldn't wake my parents. Fun times in West Texas at age 11!
Oh! Just in time! I've been interested in shortwave for a week now since I discovered reviewbrah and your video comes to educate me just in time! Thanks!
Amazing, you picked up a lot of stations. Where are you located, again.
In the future , a short wave radio show will teach us about you tube
I’m 17 and was born in 2002. Shortwave has recently peaked my interest and continues to do so...
FYI, the correct phrase is "piqued my interest": www.vocabulary.com/articles/chooseyourwords/peak-peek-pique/
The idea of having my own SW or analog TV station has always been super interesting to me.
Use an old vcr or satellite receiver with rf output and scart input for external sources like a dvd player. The rf output (coax 75 Ohms) carries an analog tv signal you just have to amplify and connect to a well tuned dipole antenna. Works like a charm, your own analog tv station. Cheers from Holland.
@@beverpix I know, but I don't want the FCC knocking on my door, as in America, it's illegal for you to broadcast for more than I think 200 yards without a license.
@@joshm264 For me it's just the hobby, so I use two legal antenna amplifiers in series to boost the signal (this is not as easy as it sounds because they might pick up the output signal and start oscillating). I get a few 100 meters of good signal, not more, but it pleases me so much to watch it in the garden on an old portable tv.
Josh McCellan Yes, in 4:3 ratio!
Buy a Blonder Tongue Agile Modulator. I have one and with a small antenna I can get about a 300 feet. with a nice antenna and an amp? I'll bet I can cover my neighborhood. I already can watch stuff from the neighbors garage, ignoring the static.
It wasn't killed off 20 years ago because a lot of poor people, or in remote areas, in the world can't get the Internet. With SpaceX, T-Mobile, and Amazon about to change the part about being remote with no access coming to an end we still have to think about the poor of the world where one shortwave radio could cost the family a few years wages of saving up. Until poverty (especially in remote areas) is completely wiped out we will always have a need of shortwave radio.
That's how I feel. There's always going to be someone who doesn't have access to the internet or where the government tries to ban information from coming through that SW could serve best in those situations.
@Christopher Sobieniak I didn't want to get political as I am unsure how most around here feel but with what we have learned over these last four years the clamping down of the information superhighway of opposing views (even science based) is very evident and there may yet come a day we will have to use SW to communicate with the masses again.
@@thebeststooge Which I hope.
1988: "Superpower KUSW" in Salt Lake City, UT. I won a R.E.M Green album tape and key chain by sending them a post card.
I can personally recommend the C Crane "skywave" short wave receiver-good little unit and lots of performance for under $100. Its digitally tuned and quite selective. Also the AM FM reception is excellent,for example, I live close to a 5000 watt AM station that tends to de-sense or "swamp out" cheap radios-but I can hear weak adjacent stations just fine=same on SW bands
Once again i'm amazed by one of your videos. it would have been great if you had the chance of tuning to the Cuban Lady (Atencion! numbers station). Here where i live i've been able to get Atencion's radio beacon, a morse signal and a voice broadcast in 9.5 MHz pretty close to Radio Habana Cuba. Sometimes they even interfere each other. Also i've heard the the North Koreans still use SW for broadcasting. Also i have to notice that in one of the broadcasts you presented, i heard someone speaking spanish with an accent from Spain.
@NightShade theWolf Yes, i remember that one too. in fact here where i ilve they change the frequency to 11.4 MHz at 9 am GMT-6. in the past i was able to get Radio Australia too.
@NightShade theWolf once in 2012 i had a strange experience. i knew that ORF (Radio Austria) was no longer broadcasting in 2012 in fact it had stopped broadcasting since long before; but i got a radio that was identifying itself as Radio Austria International. That event was on Apr 2012.
At 12'30”, the language spoken is Brazilian Portuguese. The radio announcer is talking about a Brazilian singer named Dolores Duran who was singing songs by a super famous comedian in Brazil named Chico Anysio. Both deceased. Big surprise. I don't expect to hear this from your radio. Thanks.
Eu sabia que ia ter brasileiro por aqui!!!!
@@marcelosanches3397 Sempre tem.
Great video. Very fascinating subject. This gives me a good introduction. I have a small Grundig shortwave radio, but I am clueless as what’s to be found in there.
My grandfather had a National Panasonic RF2200 to listen to shortwave stations, and I had a little AM receiver with which I listened to stations far away at night. I inherited the shortwave receiver after he passed away and I got an amateur radio license. Fading, noise, interference from other stations, it was all part of the magic. I even have a Philips DC532 car radio with shortwave band, when I bought it in 1995 there were still broadcasts from Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep which I listened to when I was on holiday. Now it's all gone, everything went digital and with that the magic went out as well.
I've been a radio nerd since I was a young child. This is gold.
Shortwave and CB radio will be the only means of communication when the zombie apocalypse occurs. 😱
the citizens band is full of zombies now
I used to DX AM with my Sangean. I used to listen to KDWN from my porch in Ocean Beach, CA. Good fun. I may get into short wave if I come across on at the Salvation Army. Great video!
Wow! An ICF 7600. I had one back in the 80s to listen to hams on the SSB bands and I also linked it to a RTTY decoder to read news/press stations.