What's after SW?

[woebbers]

WiFi radio? Instead of freqs there will be URL's

 

[Jimepage]

yea but no one has a hobby of logging urls no game there.

 

[rexgame]

Radio Prague has stopped transmitting their shortwave but on their website:

After curtailing our shortwave transmissions as of February 1, 2011 we will continue issuing QSL cards for reception via the Internet.

 

[7designs]

Maybe more listeners need to let them know they are listening. If they do not have feedback that people are listing then they will stop spending money on broadcasting.

 

[ridgescan]

Radio Prague has stopped transmitting their shortwave but on their website:

After curtailing our shortwave transmissions as of February 1, 2011 we will continue issuing QSL cards for reception via the Internet.

Forgive my ignorance on this-but how can you give a "reception report" on a landline transmission??

Oh but getting a QSL from Radio Australia here is like pulling teeth

 

[rexgame]

Forgive my ignorance on this-but how can you give a "reception report" on a landline transmission??

Oh but getting a QSL from Radio Australia here is like pulling teeth

Here it is:
Radio Prague reception report - Radio Prague

 

[ridgescan]

Here it is:
Radio Prague reception report - Radio Prague

Yeah I know it is there I just miss the concept of a reception report on a hardwire transmission-it's like giving a "radio check" for a landline telephone.

 

[rexgame]

I understood what you meant, I was just showing that it ain't a real reception report. As for reception reports on hardwire, I used to do it for field phones all the time.

 

[7designs]

Can you hear me now?

 

[woebbers]

what i was getting at was... I grew up listening to scanners and using crystal radios....then came transistor radios...now digital...is the internet where this hobby is going?... I hope not cause I still enjoy listening to a Phillies game on the radio...it reminds me of a simpler time in my life...and not to mention the time spent with my dad....

After a long break in the action im back listening and really enjoy it.. and also going back and forth with you guys on certain issues is fun...

Whats my reception report?

Sal

 

[ridgescan]

Can you hear me now?

no

 

[N0IU]

I absolutely believe that we will eventually see the end of shortwave broadcasting in the not so distant future. These stations were first put on the air to disseminate information (propaganda?) and there obviously was no Internet. As we are seeing from the Middle East, much of the information is getting out of the country through cell phones and social media on the Internet.

As we all know, listening to shortwave broadcasts can be a crap shoot at best since you are always at the mercy of propagation. Sure, shortwave radio is still fun if you just want to poke around looking for distant stations, but if I absolutely must have information from a foreign country, I will get it via streaming audio or some other more reliable source.

 

[ka3jjz]

Ah but you're forgetting what happened in places like Iraq (where much of the infrastructure for the Net is all but wiped out) and Egypt (which blocked the Internet during the uprisings). Too, the net is much too vulnerable to natural disasters (Japan, for example).

The net is nice, and a wide source of information, to be sure, but relying on it is foolhardy.

best regards..Mike

 

[N8IAA]

Amen, Mike. When the infrastructure goes down, my radios will still get out on simplex frequencies. It's a shame that times have forced the SW broadcasters to go to computers.
Larry

 

[ridgescan]

Read the sig buddy and yes it's because I said so

There are a ton of remote places on this rock who rely on SW-some small villages still gather around a listening post to get some media. VOA, BBC, Deutschwelle, Family Radio, CVC, and many more broadcast to the African continent throughout the day. New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and especially China broadcast to the Asias throughout the day. Go look at the loggings in this forum. SW aint going anywhere. And when the situation gets critical, and cell towers are offline, and internet networks are offline, SW is there via 12 volt and generator and quickset antenna. Heck, even when Katrina hit, there was a shortwave broadcast linkup to MW stations broadcasting 24hrs..why you think that is?
When Japan hit, Australia was the main source of reliable info I heard for the first few days..the broadcasts from Japan were minimizing info to keep folks calm. Then they began reporting the real stuff about 4 days in.
Last but not least, don't forget AFRTS. There's a reason they exist, which can be figured out when you realize where our military folks are embedded to need them.
Obviously, SW stations are much more than "propoganda machines"

 

[k9rzz]

When I was in college (last century), everyone looked at us like we were freaks because we talked on our 2m HTs. Now, everyone has a cell phone and they think nothing of it to use it anywhere. Guess what, cell phones are radio too! WiFi is radio. The 4G network on your iPhone is radio. Radio will never die.

 

[N0IU]

It's a shame that times have forced the SW broadcasters to go to computers.
Larry

The primary factor that "forced" most SW broadcasters to stream their audio instead of broadcasting is the economy. Streaming audio is far less expensive than maintaining transmitters all over the world and is not subject to propagation. This is the natural progression of technology. Millions of dollars in hardware and hundreds of thousands of dollars in maintenance are no longer required to get their message out.

This is the 21st century and radio is no longer the simplest, cheapest and most reliable way to get the message out.