Anything new & good in the great wasteland of SWL?

[Omega-TI]

SWLing has sure changed since the 1970's through the mid 1990's. It seems the Internet has decimated things. In the past one could simply tune through the band and find something good, now... Anyway, do you guys have any favorite shows with date, time (UTC) and frequency that we could check out?

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Certainly not like the Cold War days but there is stuff out there to hear.

The Spectrum Monitor can be a useful resource.

The Spectrum Monitor - Powered by Network Solutions.

amateur radio, shortwave listening, vintage radio, WiFi radio, AM/FM/TV broadcasting, longwave listening, scanner listening, DXing, radios, scanners, ham radio

www.thespectrummonitor.com

 

[trentbob]

SWLing has sure changed since the 1970's through the mid 1990's. It seems the Internet has decimated things. In the past one could simply tune through the band and find something good, now... Anyway, do you guys have any favorite shows with date, time (UTC) and frequency that we could check out?

It is what it is, it will never be what it was, times have changed.

 

[merlin]

It is what it is, it will never be what it was, times have changed.

Sadly, you cannot stop the change. The whole spectrum of radio technology is constantly changing.
150 years from now, what we have today will be like Marconi's spark gap and chrystal detectors.

 

[trentbob]

Sadly, you cannot stop the change. The whole spectrum of radio technology is constantly changing.
150 years from now, what we have today will be like Marconi's spark gap and chrystal detectors.

Yes and imagine what it was like in the early 1900s if you were nicknamed Sparky, because of your job LOL, what advanced technology for ships at sea, remote outposts all over the world and eventually just normal operations to be able to send messages very very quickly to anybody.

Things have changed, I personally, at this point in my life, don't like change, it's not for the better.

Started off very young listening to swl, we did have the jamming from the USSR, but that was all VOA, I used to love swl in the '60s as a kid.

It's the way it is, I wouldn't want to own stock in a company that made buggy whips.

 

[wenzeslaus]

there's always Glenn Hauser's World of Radio
has the schedule on the website...
link

... also available as a podcast...

my favorite show is called "wwv". learned how to decode the time/date/year codes. yeeha.

if I spoke Spanish there would be lots more to listen to.

 

[wenzeslaus]

Certainly not like the Cold War days but there is stuff out there to hear.

The Spectrum Monitor can be a useful resource.

The Spectrum Monitor - Powered by Network Solutions.

amateur radio, shortwave listening, vintage radio, WiFi radio, AM/FM/TV broadcasting, longwave listening, scanner listening, DXing, radios, scanners, ham radio

www.thespectrummonitor.com

nah. that costs money. this is free -- short-wave.info

 

[Omega-TI]

nah. that costs money. this is free -- short-wave.info

Thanks for this! I've added it to my radio folder on the bookmarks bar! Good stuff!

 

[autovon]

WRMI-Radio Miami International :: Programming

www.wrmi.net

WBCQ Program Guide

Spectrum Monitor is a great publication as well.

 

[ka3jjz]

There's a few things that one should have at their fingertips and all are free

1. World of Radio (as mentioned previously) has a reflector on the groups.io server. You will get the very latest information here
2. SWLing.com is a blog that often has interesting radio related articles
3. Again from the groups.io server, the SWSkeds reflector publishes a comprehensive spreadsheet from numerous sources of stations on the air from the HFCC, EiBI and other professional sources.
4. Note that Websites that have such information are often dependent on the webmaster to upload information. I wouldn't rely on them too heavily
5. If you are using a SDR, there is a file that is also included that can be used as input to some SDR programs
6. When 5025 Rebelde is off the air, there is a fairly tough Peruvian station that can be heard here
7. Vanuatu is a Pacific station that has a de facto international service, broadcasting their local programming. Nominal frequency is 3945, but their 2nd and 3rd harmonic can be heard, and has been, as far away as Florida as this YouTube video shows

• Learn about the extensive web radio networks that one can use. Kiwi and WebSDR are well known networks and the Twente SDR in Holland is very well known. If the Olympia mountains block you, you can use one of these to see if you can hear something that might otherwise not be possible. We have a fairly decent list of them here

Live Tunable Receivers - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

• And of equal importance is being aware of recent solar activity

SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

Obviously the better your setup the better your results will be.
Lots of this weren't available 20 years ago, but as you can see things have exploded in some respects.

Mike

 

[Genoman]

I still like the ‘romance’ of listening to Shortwave. Especially on cold, winter nights. I have a small C. Crane Skywave SSB and sometimes I’ll just spin the dial and see what I can catch.

 

[wenzeslaus]

Thanks for this! I've added it to my radio folder on the bookmarks bar! Good stuff!

here's another one, has some schedules the first one doesn't

ShortwaveSchedule.com

 

[iowabassplayer]

Here's an online source that I use...

Home|Shortwave DB™

Shortwave Broadcast Schedules

shortwavedb.org

 

[Omega-TI]

I still like the ‘romance’ of listening to Shortwave. Especially on cold, winter nights. I have a small C. Crane Skywave SSB and sometimes I’ll just spin the dial and see what I can catch.

Yeah, sometimes the olde skool retro way can be fun.

 

[Omega-TI]

here's another one, has some schedules the first one doesn't

ShortwaveSchedule.com

Here's an online source that I use...

Home|Shortwave DB™

Shortwave Broadcast Schedules

shortwavedb.org

Thanks guys, I've added them to my book marks and will give them a try this Christmas Morning before my honey wants to get all snuggly.

 

[GadgetGeek]

nah. that costs money. this is free -- short-wave.info

This is my go to too for shortwave radio stations.

 

[Omega-TI]

Thanks again guys for the reference links. I have a few days in a row off and have set aside some SWLing time.

 

[Boombox]

I use EiBi -- I store their text file on my tablet, and have it on my phone -- and Short-wave.info.

But really, you just need to tune around. Even on bad prop nights and mornings there sometimes is a surprise.

But understood that compared to even 11 years ago, SW (and even the HF ham bands) are increasingly vacant. It's a sign of the times.

MW in the US is still a full band, though. There's always that.

 

[Omega-TI]

I use EiBi -- I store their text file on my tablet, and have it on my phone -- and Short-wave.info.

But really, you just need to tune around. Even on bad prop nights and mornings there sometimes is a surprise.

But understood that compared to even 11 years ago, SW (and even the HF ham bands) are increasingly vacant. It's a sign of the times.

MW in the US is still a full band, though. There's always that.

Yeah, sadly sign of the times allright. BCB-DXing can be a nice diversion for sure, but I've decided that being able to "view" the HF band I'm on would make finding stations easier. With that in mind, I think I'll be settling on the RSP1.

 

[N2AVH]

For those of us whose specific interest was 'tropical bands' DXing, it's entirely done and in the past. It was great fun and I enjoy looking at old publications, especially the log sections (and even my old logbooks), but it's entirely gone.