Internet Shut Down, SW balance

[BrigPilgrim]

Egypt tried to control the protest by shutting down the internet. The ECHELON program started with phone monitoring, with the super computers our government owns, the internet is a tap into everyones life. The internet may be a cheap way to get a message out to people, but it is not free.

I hope governments and groups that want to get their message out are paying attention to how easy they can be cut off. It is hard to stop Short Wave from being heard.

 

[SCPD]

Everyone relies on the internet now. I really do not.

they have SW receivers that you can pop into your computer, to me thay are not real receivers.

 

[mondomusique]

Agreed. Internet, Facebook, Blackberry and SMS are all well and good until the going gets rough (or the power goes out). They are all far too controllable communication technologies. In fact, within the last two weeks I read a message board post (either on HF Underground or on RR, can't find it now) from a European activist group member looking for contacts to support ham radio communications with Egyptian activists. I predict increased interest in HF communications going forward.

Also during the Australian floods recently, shortwave demonstrated its reliability for wide territory emergency broadcasting.

 

[SCPD]

Think about this: People are talking about an economic collapse or worst.

Don't know if it will happen BUT IF it does happen, how will people know what is going on?

The internet in that case WILL be shut down as will the TV Stations and regular radio stations...

Only SW will be accessible THAT is how we will get our info.

And in a lot of case it will be SW AND Scanners....

 

[ridgescan]

I caught this guy on Radio Canada Int'l interviewing a friend of his who is a SW nut like us in England-he had some interesting insight
YouTube - Future Of Shortwave? RCI

read my sig guys SW isn't going away

 

[K3DRQ]

Agreed. Internet, Facebook, Blackberry and SMS are all well and good until the going gets rough (or the power goes out). They are all far too controllable communication technologies.

The problem is not so much the technologies themselves being controllable, but the fact that everything has streamlined. A government can control/shut down/seize a deck of cards, an analog television, a meeting, a prayer/Bible group, a cassette recorder, a radio transceiver, a car, and anything else they want to. But why waste time and money when you can control only three things - Internet, phone, and electricity - and make everything else depend on them?

 

[SCPD]

Even if they cut off power and such there will be people who will find sources to power the simple items to find information out.

how many people own receivers that take batteries. Yes the batteries will wear down but in these uncertain times i'm sure people have packed away things just in case.

you can use a car battery to power a SW receiver or a transmitter, again it will have a finite life but it will work.

The internet, is A LOT more controllable by the flip of a switch.

SW stations may come and go but there are hams, pirate stations and such that will keep transmitting, so the "Old Internet" (SW) will not go away.

Remember years ago when the internet was not widely used? Remember when we would get information from the SW radio's...

Like the saying goes, " What's old is new"

I see SW making a comeback, not in it's old form but in a new form.

If SW is dying then why are companies still producing Radio's? it might be a niche market but the uber informed still wants them.

I have been into SW since I was 11, I'm 44 now. I still love it and as I get older I embrace it more seeing how our world is becoming.

The internet CAN track you, the government can track you via the internet, via a cell phone via the internet and such.

Can SW do that? NO.

I would gladly give up the internet in a heartbeat, I grew up with out it.

BUT don't screw with my SW radio....

 

[Token]

Everyone relies on the internet now. I really do not.

they have SW receivers that you can pop into your computer, to me thay are not real receivers.

Real radios glow in the dark....and as much as I love my hollow state radios they simply do not work as well as a couple of my SDRs.

T!

 

[SCPD]

to each is own...

 

[mondomusique]

I'm reading about protests in Iran today, the first thing the authorities do is turn off cell phone coverage in the protest areas.

Also, the internet is logged to the nth degree, anything you say (or even read) can and may be used against you. How easy is it for intelligence services to compile lists of political opponents from internet logging?

Really the guys doing their thing on 6900-6990 khz (so called "pirate band"), as crazy as the fun they have sounds, are keeping sharp an essential democratic technology - the ability to communicate and get the word out using the natural phenomena of RF propogation.

This year I'm going to take the ham radio course offered by the local club.

 

[SCPD]

Yes the internet has EVERYONE's footprint on it. and I agree with you that they can use anything against you with that.

But shortwave.... leaves no traces unless they start putting RFID chips in the new radio's so they can track you...

now the goverment can, at the flip of a switch, turn off you phone and internet.

They cannot do it too shortwave, they can "Try" to jam it.

Good old shortwave....gotta love it....

My 20 year old satellit 500 is my main sw reciever, built in 1991. It doesn't have as many belles and whistles but it does have the whole sw spectrum, synch detector and 42 memories but it works so well and it has such a low noise floor on it.

The lights for the LCD have been burnt out for years but unlike the newer LCD's, the one in the Sat 500 really doesn't need to much light to see it.

the newer radio's have a high noise floor and I don't need a newer radio.

 

[kb2vxa]

Shortwave set, guns, ammo, and a motorcycle. What else do you need?

 

[SCPD]

Exactly...!!!

Except...... add a good scanner.... and your ready to go!!!!!

I won an auction on ebay for a Grundig Yacht-Boy YB500 with original box and all the accessories, $61.00.

 

[CoolCat]

now the goverment can, at the flip of a switch, turn off you phone and internet.

No, they can't.

While it is technically possible for [ the thousands of ] individual ISPs in the US to block internet communications through their own systems, the US government currently has no legal authority to order them to do so.

Several bills have been introduced that would give the federal government this authority, but none of them have been passed. The most recent bill (S. 3480) sponsored by Sen. Lieberman passed committee but has not been formally voted on yet.

Bottom line; the US government does NOT have the ability to shut down internet access with "the flip of a switch".

 

[BrigPilgrim]

No, they can't.

While it is technically possible for [ the thousands of ] individual ISPs in the US to block internet communications through their own systems, the US government currently has no legal authority to order them to do so.

Several bills have been introduced that would give the federal government this authority, but none of them have been passed. The most recent bill (S. 3480) sponsored by Sen. Lieberman passed committee but has not been formally voted on yet.

Bottom line; the US government does NOT have the ability to shut down internet access with "the flip of a switch".

Did Egypt have the "legal authority" to shut down their internet? Wouldn't it be in a government's interest to monitor who is searching for what, to prevent a terrorist attack or to protect the children? What authority do they need to expand that power?

My point in starting the thread is that Short Wave broadcasting should be supported and maintained by anyone who has an interest in getting their message out. China realizes this and I believe that is why they are so strong on the SW band.

 

[CoolCat]

Did Egypt have the "legal authority" to shut down their internet?

Yes. Egypt was a totalitarian state ruled by a greedy dictator. He made his own laws and gave himself complete authority over everything in Egypt. When he ordered the Egyptian ISPs to block internet traffic, they listened. This was logistically easy as Egypt had only 5 ISPs total.

Wouldn't it be in a government's interest to monitor who is searching for what, to prevent a terrorist attack or to protect the children?

Sure it would be in their interest to monitor their citizens, but that comes with a heavy price tag; Privacy and Freedom.

What authority do they need to expand that power?

If by "they" you mean the US government, then it would require a constitutional amendment to legally grant the government power to invade the privacy of it's citizens.

My point in starting the thread is that Short Wave broadcasting should be supported and maintained by anyone who has an interest in getting their message out.

I agree.

 

[SCPD]

All very interesting. There's an app in the Android Marketplace called Tune in Radio, which allows you to listen to a S***-load of radio stations from every country and major city in the world. I got on my smart phone and tried to download the Cairo stations while all this stuff was happening. SURPRISE! I couldn't. Not that this was unexpected.

So yes, shortwave radio may still be useful in such circumstances, but I don't know how many Egyptians we're using Yacht Boys to figure out what was happening. Despite the Internet crackdown, common Egyptians were still getting their stories and images out to the rest of the world.

As for me, I mostly use Tune in Radio to listen to the '50s and '60s stream from K-EARTH HD 2 here in L.A. I can't imagine that the Joint Chiefs would want to deprive me of Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

Dave
KA6TJF

 

[rexgame]

It is hard to stop Short Wave from being heard.

Have you ever had to file a MIJI report? One guy with an ancient radio can stop you from hearing shortwave. In fact, all but meaconing can be used to disrupt shortwave. And if a Taliban in a cave with a WWII radio set can do it, imagine what a government can do with equipment designed for it.

 

[majoco]

Many shortwave receivers had their SW bands 'disabled' in WW2, even in the US.

Hitler confiscated all radios and replaced them with low sensitivity BC band radios so that you could only hear the local station.

Jamming will block only a small segment of the SW spectrum and is expensive and ineffective most of the time.

Wind-up SW radios work pretty well and the power source could be extracted and used to supply a better radio or a battery charger for your AA cells if the mains power was cut..

If a gummint really wanted to block SW, then give out free CFL lamps and plasma TVs

 

[N0IU]

The internet CAN track you, the government can track you via the internet, via a cell phone via the internet and such.

Can SW do that? NO.

The government can not track SW receivers, but that is only half of the equation. The one thing that can easily be tracked are SW transmitters!