Will Shortwave die?

[Shortwave2200]

I hope not, I love it but that thought came to my mind as I was tuning the dial tonight.

What are every ones thought on it?

I personally do not think so but I could be wrong.

 

[Turbo68]

I dont think it will die been around for a long time!!!

Regards Lino.

 

[ridgescan]

Please observe my signature.

 

[w2xq]

Easy answer. Shortwave broadcast radio will never die as it is the ONLY delivery system that cannot be controlled by a gatekeeper (e.g., Internet, satellites).

 

[Shortwave2200]

It is the only medum that isn't controlled by the powers that be.

And that is a good thing....

You cannot be tracked like on the internet or like cell phones.

 

[K9WG]

As long as there are dictatorship nations there will always be shortwave broadcasts.
(p.s. caught radio Havana the other day in English )

 

[ether_king]

¡Viva la Onda Corta!

 

[RohnsRadio]

i really miss the "ole days" of short wave. there are not as many stations as there used to be.

 

[k9rzz]

I think there's plenty to listen to, it's just not the same as it was, and certainly you can't expect it to be.

 

[mayidunk]

No, it won't die... it'll just smell like it did!

 

[K9WG]

It does sound like a lot more religous programming though. I always loved listening to the interval signals.

 

[zl2taw]

lets just hope, it doesn't die

 

[SCPD]

The medium itself will always be around; however, with governments (finally) realizing that's there's no such thing as an infinite pocketbook, shortwave broadcasters will have to rely on private funding than ever before.

This could ultimately lead to fewer SW broadcast stations. This is also why religious broadcast stations are increasing as well.

That being said, I don't think the larger governments (USA, China, Japan, Russia, UK) will stop broadcasting any time soon but funding for these projects will likely be very tight.

Usage of private transmission facilities could also drive up the cost of SW broadcasts.

The good news is that many service industries rely on SW as a medium for long-haul communication. The long-term ROI is cheaper than using satellites.

Aviation and marine will continue to use SW for many years. Governments have also realized the low-cost value in the SW medium -- even though a lot of these transmissions are encrypted.

Amateur radio has always played a big role in the SW medium and with new technological advancements, it has helped drive commercial SW development.

Eventually, a new medium will be discovered that will forever change the landscape of communications -- but this likely won't be any time soon.

Enjoy shortwave while you can.

 

[Shortwave2200]

Well in the event of "the internet" going down SW is the original internet, or so it was in the 70's and 80's (for me).

I remember whe there were so many stations on back in that time.... getting older stinks!!!!

 

[k9rzz]

If everything went digital, then THAT would kill shortwave.

The shortwaves will evolve, but never die.

 

[w2xq]

If everything went digital, then THAT would kill shortwave.

The shortwaves will evolve, but never die.

Shortwave broadcasting will never go digital. DRM is on life support. Tropical band broadcasters in Latin America, Africa and Asia have audiences that cannot afford much in the way of electronics. And where you have conflicts, shortwave is the only medium that cannot be stopped by man. Even during the height of the Cold War decades ago, Russian and Chinese jammers couldn't do anything to stop VOA and BBC broadcasts.

 

[SCPD]

For those thinking shortwave radio will be around forever -- better think again. This is happening in all of the countries that support transmission facilities.

Radio World: BBG

It's pretty sad that we can give $1bn to Egypt (a country that will likely hate the USA in the coming years) but we can't afford to support VOA -- or NASA for that matter. :roll:

 

[N9NRA]

I`m not inclined to believe that shortwave will die, as has been said already, it will evolve. While the bulk of the broadcasters may go away (move to modes like sat radio and mabey digital), there will ALWAYS be something to listen to out there. I can recall listening to (fancy this `un ) piriate radio stations and having fun trying to copy `em through the noise and pick out what they were saying (in some cases using headphones turned up as far as i could stand it). So, i think shortwave will still be around, it`ll just sound a bit different, that`s all . 73. N9NRA

 

[raisindot]

SW probably won't die, but it in terms of listenership going to be like that proverbial "tree falling in the woods." With most of the major old school broadcaster moving to the web, it's getting harder and harder to find any English language broadcasts other than the ubiquitous Radio China, Radio Moscow, and ten zillion raving religious stations. There's only a limited amount of interest in scanning past foreign-language stations and listening to commercial aircraft gets pretty dull after awhile. I predict that within 25 years SW will be totally gone, as probably broadcast AM and FM will be, as everything moves totally to Internet or satellite based transmission.

 

[ridgescan]

SW probably won't die, but it in terms of listenership going to be like that proverbial "tree falling in the woods." With most of the major old school broadcaster moving to the web, it's getting harder and harder to find any English language broadcasts other than the ubiquitous Radio China, Radio Moscow, and ten zillion raving religious stations. There's only a limited amount of interest in scanning past foreign-language stations and listening to commercial aircraft gets pretty dull after awhile. I predict that within 25 years SW will be totally gone, as probably broadcast AM and FM will be, as everything moves totally to Internet or satellite based transmission.

just an example of how many English broadcasts there still are..we just cannot pick up on all of them. This is just in the 0400utc hour