SWL a Dying Hobby?

[James_Bond_007]

sadly there is not enough hams interested in lobbying the arrl who in turn would lobby congress to get the fcc to extend prb-1 to landloards and deed restricted properties.

after all if dish and directv could lobby congress then there is no reason the arrl can't.

the only reason is they won't, because most hams beleive if you signed on the dotted line you should live with it.

dishnet and directv have both proved that this is not the case and thanks to them millions of viewers can have satellite dishes.

it is time us hams and swl listeners at least eliminate one of the threats to swl listening and hf hamming.

hoa/cc&r's is something we can do something about.

bpl i beleive is a problem that will solve itself in due time. it is almost obsolete now and i beleive will disappear entirely soon.

interference in a residential area most times can be minimized to a high degree using various techniques.

the internet well that is beyond our control. we can't control what someone likes or dislikes.

 

[jackj]

Mr. Bond,
I don't think the courts would let something like you propose stand since the FCC doesn't regulate SWLing. The rulings I have seen regarding deed covenants and home owner's association rules have to do with local rules preempting federal regulations. The fact is that you should not sign ANYTHING until you understand fully what is in the contract. Once you have signed it, you need to honor your commitment.

 

[James_Bond_007]

well when hoa's and landlords banned satellite dishes people had signed the contract and agreed to not have satellite dishes. well the government and lobbyists came along changed changed that. are you saying that people should not have been granted exemption for satellite dishes?

there is a flaw in your logic. what makes one ok and not the other?

i was making a comment on what is threatning activities on the HF band as a whole by private citizens. no for just swl'ing alone there is no hope, but swl'ing could wind up with a benefit by ham operators fighting these screwy hoa cc&r's.

and there is no reason why if the ham community would stick together along with the arrl and lobby the government that this could not happen.

let's face it the average HOA drone does not know the difference between cb/ham/ or swl'ing an antenna is an antenna.

there is no such thing as you signed it you live with it these days.

the government and courts can exempt and overturn a clause in a contract or void a contract entirely.

but we are not here to hash out this argument. i merely made a comment into what factors are affecting all activities taking place below 2 meters.

 

[ka3jjz]

I'd prefer not to see this thread deteriorate into a HOA-no-antennas discussion - if you wish to have one, please start another thread....73 Mike

 

[jackj]

No, you misunderstand me. All I'm saying is that if you give your word you should do everything in your power to see that you keep your word. Signing a contract or an agreement is giving your word.

 

[BrigPilgrim]

HF band usage by citizens whether transmitting or receiving is a dying hobby for many reasons. bpl, hoa/cc&r's, increased electronic noise sources, and the internet. internet and cc&r's probably being the biggest threat.

These are all issues, but they are regional. Most neighbors are more worried about getting a good angle for their satellite dish than my long wire run out the backyard. I would like to hear from someone who lives in an area where they are using broadband over power lines to hear what the actual effect is over the Short Wave band. Is this ever going to be rolled out nationwide?

The internet can be the lazy man's receiver to the world, but it is also the worlds window to what he is listening to. When governments feel threatened by their people, the internet gives them a window into who could be the threat. How many different types of trials involve evidence gathered from peoples hard drives. Governments have been using super computers to monitor phone calls for years, (Echelon Program). It is a lot easier to monitor internet usage to make a list of people who could be dangerous in some bureaucrats eye.

People will listen to content on a shortwave radio longer than they will stay with a web page. The audience of short wave is sparse, but the transmission range is wide. Broadcasters may be able to reach numbers that may make it worthwhile to put out viewpoints that may be contrary to the conventional medias. The only way to gauge what those numbers are, are by the sales figures for shortwave capable radios.

I still see a future for shortwave broadcasting.

 

[SCPD]

I still see a future for shortwave broadcasting.

I hate to say it, but the bottom line is money. Someone has to fork up the cash to support these sites.

I think the religious broadcasts will fair well over time. They will likely be the owners of the stations - with other agencies/services just buying air time.

 

[BrigPilgrim]

I hate to say it, but the bottom line is money. Someone has to fork up the cash to support these sites.

I think the religious broadcasts will fair well over time. They will likely be the owners of the stations - with other agencies/services just buying air time.

I believe the bottom line is content. Shortwave has never been a for profit venture. It has always been the domain of governments giving their view of news, issues and culture. I think that is why China is so strong on the Shortwave band, they produce almost all of the Shortwave receivers and they know how many are out there. The pirate and alternative media broadcasters thrive on Shortwave on content that would be under too much scrutiny to survive on commercial airwaves.

The internet is too easy to filter for content and many countries are already filtering what their populations are allowed to see. This is a lot more selective than the jamming that governments do to broadcast, and also allows the government to see who is trying to connect to prohibited content.

As long as someone has a message to send out, and they believe someone might be listening, they will find the cash to broadcast.

 

[SCPD]

I believe the bottom line is content. Shortwave has never been a for profit venture.

Well, I never implied it was for profit. I simply said it still takes a lot of money to build/maintain these transmission facilities. Due to our current economy, a lot of governments (not just the USA) are going to be super-critical of any funding for shortwave broadcasts.

 

[ps249]

Its not dying, but the transmissions are heard on the internet where it is more easily accessable as compared to the damn SW frequencies which change from day to day

 

[icbrkr]

It's definitely slowing down, but it's not gone yet.

I picked up a new rig yesterday to replace my older one and was amazed at what I could *still* get. Sure, no BBC, but RTI, Radio Sweden, Radio Prague, Radio Croatia and Radio China last night. I picked up VOA's transmission to Africa loud and clear this afternoon. Radio Havana is always interesting to listen to - I get a kick out of the guy making radios and antennas out of stuff lying around the place. RTI (East Meets West) is a good show to listen to before I head off to bed.

 

[ka3jjz]

Its not dying, but the transmissions are heard on the internet where it is more easily accessable as compared to the damn SW frequencies which change from day to day

That's a bit of hyperbole there - there are some freqs that do change, but certainly not every station and every day. Schedules are readily available on the web, and the well known NASWA spreadsheet is updated every few days with more stations than you can shake a stick at. Keeping ahead of the curve by listening to the World of Radio broadcasts will also be useful. There are also several mailing lists with lots of topical info - the DXLD and NASWA mailing list (members only) are only 2 of many.

One needs to also keep in mind that propagation is not particularly forgiving; a frequency that came in clearly last week might be in the mud next week because of a sudden solar storm, or simply a poor path has developed between you and the transmitter in the interim. It's always a bit of a crap shoot with things like this, but it's part of what makes HF interesting

It takes work to keep up with all of this, believe me I know. But the more you know, the easier this becomes. 73 Mike

 

[MaximumVerbosity]

R Croatia has a great signal pounding in here to MN. Listening to them right now. One of the few that play a lot of music.

Was tuning around last night and the problem I had was that there was too much on that I wanted to listen to at the same time: R Croatia, Romania, Czech, Russia, Kuwait, Albania, New Zealand, Australia, Serbia, Egypt, Turkey & Greece (plus others that I've forgotten). That doesn't include others I ran across, R Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Cuba, Spain, Vietnam. Even VOA was booming in on 9885 last night with music and interfering with V of Russia on 9890 (good ol' sync detector took care of that nonsense).

And then there's the pirates… heard The Crystal Ship last night on 6875 AM. Just before that, heard another one around 6935 USB (not sure of the freq). The pirates seem to be busy lately.

Sure, I miss the rock from WRNO, but still plenty out there to enjoy these days. Been listening to R Australia in the mornings for the past 20+ years on 9580. Can catch them in the evenings as well on 15515 & 15240 (plus others).

 

[ridgescan]

Oh I get a ton of stuff out here-it seems to me I am in an HF corridor especially in line with the Asias and entities who broadcast to the Asias.
Don't worry guys-SW will NEVER die simply because I don't want it to!:FD

 

[va3saj]

Hi guys:

As a ham radio op, obviously I'm biased, lol....but I don't worry about the future of shortwave at all. It's pretty much the only medium out there where an average citizen, such as myself, can get on the radio and speak to the world. Ham radio ops will keep it alive even if nobody else does. So will utility stations, pirates, navigation, all the rest. As for the big English language broadcasters, it's true that we don't have wall to wall coverage of the world by the BBC or VOA anymore...they need to concentrate on undeveloped areas like Africa and regions of Asia, where SW radio has the reach the Internet just can't provide (and probably never will provide). But with a little effort, you can pick up pretty good English language signals from a whole brace of Inernational broadcasters, especially using online maps of transmitters/schedules like this one here:

Short-Wave Frequency Schedule for BBC in ENGLISH at 22:03GMT

Another point worth mentioning...it cannot have escaped the people here that SW radio offers different points of view you just can't get on the Main Stream Media. In an era of worldwide economic contraction (recession, depression, whatever you want to call it), many citizens are growing increasingly skeptical and often cynical of their governments, and the media that tend to coddle and protect them (wonder why lol) On SW, you can hear all points of view, far left to far right, uncensored, unfiltered, and totally free. That's a powerful incentive, and one that's only going to increase as the "long emergency" drags on.

VA3SAJ