Shortwave listening in the US?

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toddpedlar

toddpedlar

Iron Dramatist
Hi all -

I just bought a small shortwave radio to take with me on research trips to Japan and elsewhere so that I can tune into BBC and other international English-language broadcasts while there, and I'm playing with it a little this afternoon. There's precious little international broadcasting in shortwave that's directed at North America, it seems (unlike when I was growing up when we used to sit up late, late at night at my grandfather's cabin and listen to BBC, Radio Italy, Japan, Taiwan, etc. Some of those broadcasts probably came from far off transmitters, but many I suspect were "local" shortwave repeaters in North America).

Anyway, I was fiddling around and came upon a couple weird stations - one at 13845 kHz carrying "Pastor Michelle Scott", apparently the daughter of Gene Scott with whom some might be familiar - and another station at 9480 kHz called "We Transmit World Wide" which was carrying a very weird program this afternoon.

Any other shortwave listeners here, and if so, what do you tune in to?

Todd
 
Just out of curiosity, are there internet SW radio tuners?

---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------

I had a SW radio for a time in South Africa. I rarely found anything good, but I never put in the effort to work with the night/day and weather changes to reception. I remember Voice of America and the BBC....
 
With the advent of the internet and I suppose less funding available all the way around, the amount of broadcasting is apparently quite a bit less than what it was about 10-15 years ago. I know that the BBC cut back on its English service in many areas within the past decade. They had transmitters all over the world, including Canada and the Caribbean. The other big broadcasters operated similarly, with some probably having transmitters in former colonies the way the BBC does. On the weekend sometimes you could pick up rugby and maybe other sports on the BBC.

In recent years, I have seen several articles about SW's demise, including a notice that Passport to Worldband Radio stopped publication a few years ago. It was sort of a yearly "TV Guide" type book for SW listening that gave you a good place to start when looking for frequencies and times. It would also have profiles about broadcasters, radio reviews and other information. However, I understand that SW is still an important means of broadcasting in parts of Africa and perhaps other developing countries.

That being said, about a year ago I pulled out my old Sangean 818 CS, which is by no means a great receiver, especially when compared to the old Sony's. (I think they quit making those too.) Mine is basically a low end portable receiver, although not a handheld one. Based on the articles I had read, I didn't expect to hear much. But I was surprised at how many stations I was able to pick up. This was at around 6-7 pm Central time, which is sort of "prime time." (I think that equates to about 0:00 UTC. If I recall correctly UTC equates to Greenwich Mean Time.) My guess is that it's probably a lot worse in the off hours, unless you want to listen to the likes of WWCR and WHRI. I wrote a lot of them down but don't have the paper handy right now. I heard Voice of Russia, China (I think), the BBC and several other stations, some of which I wasn't able to identify as they were only 30 min news programs. Taiwan and Japan would usually have at least 30 mins too. I probably came across one or both. I think some that I heard were from Eastern Europe, but in a 30 min program they don't identify themselves that often. When you're flipping around to see what else you can find b/c you know the time is short, it's easy to miss. I don't think I came across Deutsche Welle, which was another old standby. My recollection is that listening to DW was where I first learned that Massoud (former N. Alliance leader in Afghanistan) had been assassinated, just before the American invasion. That was around the time when I stopped listening. I think DW had elementary German language (i.e. teaching) broadcasts, as did some of the Asian stations.

Apparently the BBC cut way back on the amount of programming but didn't cut it out altogether in some regions. Before they did that, you used to be able to pick it up several hours of the day, sometimes from different transmitters at the same time, with different programming. Maybe they have maintained more of their broadcasts elsewhere.

On my last listen I didn't come across Radio Havana or that independent far left station that used to broadcast from Central America. Those were always interesting listens. :D

Unfortunately, when I used to listen all the time I never heard North Korean radio which was reportedly (in)famous for repeated references to "Great Leader!" and other ridiculously overblown (and tragic) phrases. This was in the mid-late 90's so maybe they had farther reach prior to that. Back then I did hear the legendary Russian broadcaster Joe Adamov, but reception of Voice of Russia was always hit or miss for me. Radio Netherlands usually had at least an hour of broadcasting back then which came in loud and clear. I hardly ever picked up any English broadcasts from Radio France, who as you'd expect didn't waste much time or $$ on English language broadcasting. Their focus was largely on Francophone Africa.

I'm sure most of the int'l stations will have websites where they will give frequencies and times (UTC.) You can probably listen there too, but of course that's not the same.

I think you probably heard Melissa Scott, who is the late Gene Scott's (much younger) widow. Did you hear "brother. Stair"? At one time he was on 24 hours a day on various stations, whether Shortwave or AM. (Scott was probably more orthodox.) I'm sure Family Radio is still broadcasting on SW too. Despite the 1994 fiasco, (which I didn't learn about until later) even 10 years ago they still carried very good programming until Camping said all of the churches were apostate, etc. Until then they had John R. Dewitt, James M. Boice, Lloyd-Jones, Barnhouse and several others. HCJB in Ecuador sometimes had some good programming too, including Alistair Begg.

Also, whether then or now, I've heard that you can pick up a lot more stations if you live on the coast (perhaps E. Coast especially) rather than in the middle of the country like you and I do.

I would definitely tune in when in Japan. My guess is that you're more likely to pick up things there. Depending on where they're broadcasting from, it might include English programming. (I'm guessing Japan, China, S. Korea and Taiwan all broadcast from their home territory, although I guess some may have a transmitter somewhere out in the Pacific.) I'm guessing you might pick up some Australian programming too if they have any service to speak of.

It sounds like you got a small receiver. But I wouldn't be surprised if TSA and maybe foreign airport security wants to take it apart to see if there's anything bad inside.
 
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I used to listen a lot. Old Mean Gene Scott was still alive then. He had quite a few transmitters tied up. RG Stair had a few more. Harold Camping has a few and the RCC has a few. If you like listening to conspiracy theories and kooks, you'll find plenty of material on SW. The internet has siphoned away a lot of the $$$$$$$$$$ that used to get fed to SW stations.
 
toddpedlar said:
"Pastor Michelle Scott", apparently the daughter of Gene Scott
Click to expand...
Don't know about Michelle, but Dr. Scott's work is being carried on by his widow, Melissa Scott, an ex p0rn star. And Wikipedia is showing that he left no children.
 
I doubt Todd heard R.G. Stair, at least not the beginning of the program. Once you've heard it, you won't forget the "Voice of the Last Day Prophet of God" from Walterboro, SC.
 
Tim said:
Just out of curiosity, are there internet SW radio tuners?

---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------

I had a SW radio for a time in South Africa. I rarely found anything good, but I never put in the effort to work with the night/day and weather changes to reception. I remember Voice of America and the BBC....
Click to expand...

Hi Tim -

Found this online... in case you're interested: SDR-RADIO.com > HomeTodd
 
I used to listen to SW quite a bit on my ham radio transceiver (Kenwood TS-820S). The internet has ruined all that.
 
toddpedlar said:
Tim said:
Just out of curiosity, are there internet SW radio tuners?

---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------

I had a SW radio for a time in South Africa. I rarely found anything good, but I never put in the effort to work with the night/day and weather changes to reception. I remember Voice of America and the BBC....
Click to expand...

Hi Tim -

Found this online... in case you're interested: SDR-RADIO.com > HomeTodd
Click to expand...

I am interested, thanks!
 
I have come up with the idea that it might be interesting to tune in to the radio nets that (sail) cruisers use when they make major ocean passages. I understand that each vessel in the net will check in at a specified time each day, for safety and what not. Can you tell the kind of adventure I crave?
 
Tim said:
I have come up with the idea that it might be interesting to tune in to the radio nets that (sail) cruisers use when they make major ocean passages. I understand that each vessel in the net will check in at a specified time each day, for safety and what not. Can you tell the kind of adventure I crave?
Click to expand...

[video=youtube;3A19q7rysLs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A19q7rysLs[/video]?

or perhaps the tamer

[video=youtube;t_aAzT4OwgU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_aAzT4OwgU[/video]
 
No. No! Nothing like that....

---------- Post added at 04:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:04 PM ----------

Don't you have any assignments to grade?

---------- Post added at 04:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:04 PM ----------

But, seriously, I do think that would be neat.
 
The end of the Cold War probably started a process in which many countries began to reevaluate what they were doing. Propaganda was one of the main reasons for the multitude of stations and broadcasts in the first place, along with broadcasts to expatriates. For example, Taiwan's service is not as polemical as apparently used to be. It used to be called Voice of Free China or something like that. Then came the internet and then financial and budgetary issues in the 2000's. Some countries like Sweden and Switzerland got out of broadcasting altogether and are internet only now.

I haven't listened at all hours. But basically what I've picked up here and there are:

1. A lot of Spanish language stations
2. Asian stations, mainly Radio China Int'l and Taiwan
3. Voice of Russia
4. Radio Moldova. Apparently the Moldovan government decided to invest some $$ to get the "brand" out there.
5. Paid religious programming on WWCR and similar stations.
6. Radio Havana

I also picked up a French language broadcast on 12105 (I think) last weekend that lasted for several hours, but I don't know what the origin of that was. There were also some broadcasts of some gypsyish music as well as other types of music.

If you have a more powerful receiver you will be able to pick up broadcasts that are intended for other continents. For example with my receiver (which for 1996 wasn't all that great compared to many other models then available) I was able to pick up an English broadcast of Radio France that was aimed at Africa, but that's only because I was able to find the frequency on one of the SW sites first. It was too faint to have picked it up with the scan feature. You can probably do the same with the BBC, etc. Earlier this year the BBC ended their service to the Caribbean, which apparently ends their service to anywhere close to North America. I'm guessing they may still have a service for the Falklands. I think Radio Nederland may be internet only now too, and maybe the same for Deutsche Welle (Germany.) The CBC has cut way back if it's not gone altogether. In the a.m. I used to be able to pick up Radio Australia but I haven't tried that.

Generally it tended to be Asia in the morning and Europe in the evening, but I've recently picked up China and Taiwan in the afternoon and early evening.
 
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