Shortwave Radio & Ukraine

[IdleMonitor]

How short wave radio is resurfacing as a tool in Ukraine

In a world of mobile phones, satellites and the internet, some old school technology is making a major comeback. The short wave radio, used by spies for decades to send encrypted messages, is being resurrected for the war in Ukraine.

How shortwave radio is resurfacing as a tool in Ukraine

In a world of mobile phones, satellites and the internet, some old school technology is making a major comeback. The shortwave radio, used by spies for decades to send encrypted messages, is being resurrected for the war in Ukraine.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Boombox]

Yeah, and the BBC is fortunate that there are still people with radios that work. One thing this war has taught us is that the internet isn't the answer all and be all for information. Russian people get very little accurate info because most, if not all of their sources are controlled by the government.

 

[Grunddiigg]

Just a quick comment. If we see escalation if the war in Europe which I really hope doesn't happen. I believe you will see shortwave comeback quite a bit. Countries can shoot down satellites and break up cell networks and cut internet cables but it's hard to stop the waves and the ionosphere.

 

[charlieprimero]

Russian people get very little accurate info because most, if not all of their sources are controlled by the government.

It's worse in the U.S. because Americans don't even know their social & mass media are controlled by the Government.

See: Social Media & the National Security State with Alan MacLeod

 

[Scan125]

Just a quick comment. If we see escalation if the war in Europe which I really hope doesn't happen. I believe you will see shortwave comeback quite a bit. Countries can shoot down satellites and break up cell networks and cut internet cables but it's hard to stop the waves and the ionosphere.

As supported by the "numbers" stations used to transmit/convey coded messages "in the open". No fancy digital encryption etc. Just plain old SW audible content

 

[ka3jjz]

There's also been quite an uptick in digital HF traffic from the Russians using modes like CIS-36 and a relatively new one known as AKKORD, a 1200 baud system. While at least some of this is decodeable, it's not clear what all the messages and things really mean. Ripe hunting for the numbers folks

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

Take a look here for a description of CIS 36/50, and it's various other names.

Frequencies for the Russian Navy

In the UDXF we have 2 rather lengthy lists of frequencies - one put together via N0SYA and the other by Mike Chace-Ortiz - for the Russian Navy using CIS36/50, otherwise known as T600 or BEE. Look for the CIS36/50 topic for the list, along with tips on how to clean up the decoding. This is one...

forums.radioreference.com

Mike

 

[nd5y]

Countries can shoot down satellites and break up cell networks and cut internet cables but it's hard to stop the waves and the ionosphere.

Maybe you haven't heard of jamming. It was common for the Soviet Union an other commies to jam shortwave broadcasts back in the day.

 

[Grunddiigg]

Maybe you haven't heard of jamming. It was common for the Soviet Union an other commies to jam shortwave broadcasts back in the day.

I have and it just didn't cross my mind thanks for pointing that out. I still think its a good way to get info in when everything is bombed and destroyed though.

 

[trentbob]

Maybe you haven't heard of jamming. It was common for the Soviet Union an other commies to jam shortwave broadcasts back in the day.

You beat me to it LOL. Anyone old enough to remember the 60s, remember that shortwave radio was the quickest thing to shut down. All you would hear is loud humming up and down the dial LOL.

 

[trentbob]

It's worse in the U.S. because Americans don't even know their social & mass media are controlled by the Government.

See: Social Media & the National Security State with Alan MacLeod

United States is the most censored news in the world. Besides being outright lies in many cases they omit a lot of information that you can find on international news.

It's common knowledge that social media is heavily censored by the platforms on a criminal level, as has been shown repeatedly.

Back on topic as far as Ukraine I have no doubt they are using shortwave radio and coded messages, similar to the French Resistance in the Second World War.

As Russia has its hands full fighting the war I'm not sure how efficient they are in jamming or interfering with the use of shortwave radio by Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers use various types of communication.

 

[Grunddiigg]

United States is the most censored news in the world. Besides being outright lies in many cases they omit a lot of information that you can find on international news.

It's common knowledge that social media is heavily censored by the platforms on a criminal level, as has been shown repeatedly.

Back on topic as far as Ukraine I have no doubt they are using shortwave radio and coded messages, similar to the French Resistance in the Second World War.

As Russia has its hands full fighting the war I'm not sure how efficient they are in jamming or interfering with the use of shortwave radio by Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers use various types of communication.

I read something where the Russian troops were using SSB for their communication unencrypted and the Ukrainians were jamming them and screwing up their communications. Don't know how relevant that is but it sounded interesting.

 

[trentbob]

I read something where the Russian troops were using SSB for their communication unencrypted and the Ukrainians were jamming them and screwing up their communications. Don't know how relevant that is but it sounded interesting.

If you search for it there was a thread here on radio reference regarding Communications used by Ukrainian troops. A lot of knowledgeable people contributed.

Apparently the Russians have been having a lot of problems with communication and being out of range with command centers. Quite frankly we really have no idea what's going on in Ukraine. I really don't trust the American media's reports as they have an agenda and a lot of information isn't given out by the official government that is believable.

As much of our money that may be going down a rat hole I wonder if the ukrainians are doing as well as our media reports they are. I truly believe this is a war that will be won by Russia, who knows, I just hope we don't get nuked.😉

 

[bearcatrp]

I really don't trust the American media's reports as they have an agenda and a lot of information isn't given out by the official government that is believable.

One of the reasons I listen to HF. Sometimes you hear stuff that the USA media doesn't want to broadcast.

 

[cc333]

I'm politically neutral, so I don't have a lot to say in that area.

However, I will say that the BBC World Service, while likely also quite imperfect, is quite a bit better than mainstream US news (VOA isn't terrible, either; however, while I'm not 100% certain that much, if any, of the mainstream media is US gov't controlled, VOA definitely is (and they explicitly say so, so it's not a secret), so they probably do have an agenda of some sort).

I do wonder, though, that if a nuclear WWIII does happen (hopefully it doesn't happen in our lifetimes!), what would happen to the ionosphere with all that fallout? Wouldn't that make long distance radio reception via skywave (one of SW's greatest assets) effectively impossible on any frequency?

c

 

[nd5y]

I do wonder, though, that if a nuclear WWIII does happen (hopefully it doesn't happen in our lifetimes!), what would happen to the ionosphere with all that fallout? Wouldn't that make long distance radio reception via skywave (one of SW's greatest assets) effectively impossible on any frequency?

Go to your favorite search engine and search for "nuclear effects HF propagation" or "nuclear effects radio communications".

 

[trentbob]

You beat me to it, there have been several good threads on EMP on radio reference.

I can remember logging radio Kiev for the first time in 1964 when I was 11 years old. As far as VOA that was jammed up and down the dial then, we allowed radio Moscow, radio Kiev and radio Havana to be in the clear. By the way, Kiev is the proper spelling but it was changed after they won Independence.

Again as far as ukrainians using shortwave radio, I have no doubt they are but I don't see it as any kind of reliable news source for the rest of the world. Who knows what's going on there.