Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mark Lane, who writes:
Hi Thomas,
I just wanted to thank you for a great website, I have been interested in SW since I was a boy and used to listen to my grandfather’s world radio. I cannot remember the make or model now but it was an amazing experience.
After all these years, at the age of 44, my interest perked again and I happened across your site.
Like a lot of people I was wondering “is there anything left to listen to on SW now we are truly in the ‘digital’ age”? After reading the content on your site and the blog I made up my mind, jumped onto eBay and after a number of failed attempts at winning any auctions I managed to bag a near mint Sony ICF 2001D [photo at top of page]!
I did get rather over excited and probably paid a bit too much for it, but too be honest I don’t care. I have already had a good couple of evenings trying to bag some far off stations and I am still trying to figure out all the buttons on the thing.
Then this past weekend, my daughter (15) asked about the radio and I showed her what I had been doing–she was hooked and kept asking me to try for some more stations. We spent the whole evening with the help of a couple of other websites trying to track down more distant stuff.
I have to say the 2001D is now my prize possession and my daughter was messaging her friends telling them all about the wonders of SW.
All I can say is keep up the good work and let’s hope SW does continue for as long as possible I will certainly be listening in until the airwaves go quiet, I trust that won’t happen for some considerable time.
Regards
Mark Lane
Worcester UK
Mark: thank you so much for sharing your message! It’s an honor to know that the SWLing Post played some part in your renewed interest in shortwave radio. The community here is simply amazing and I learn a lot myself from so many reader contributions.
Being a father of two daughters, I can say that there’s no better feeling than to know that a little radio listening time also translated into quality father and daughter time!
You just made my day!
What I have found to be successful for recruiting young and old “not familiar with radio” types is to introduce them the online SDR radios. The radio at U. of Twente (http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/) has very interesting chats in the chatbox and it is like an online listening party when everyone shares their intercepts. Those messages help newbies with “I don’t know what to tune” complaints. Most of the chat folks are very friendly and willing to help a new user.
I think it is more fun to hear the stations in Europe in the beginning. So many countries and languages so close together as well as much higher HF usage than the US. Often times I will send a text or chat message to friends if I hear something interesting on Twente (like http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=4625 😀 ) or if there is a good oldies program on Radio Mi Amigo.
Little by little it gets them hooked. A great way to expose people to alternative listening content. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to explain the difference between modulation types or why the Dutch have so many pirate stations. 😀
What I have found to be successful for recruiting young and old “not familiar with radio” types is to introduce them the online SDR radios. The radio at U. of Twente (http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/) has very interesting chats in the chatbox and it is like an online listening party when everyone shares their intercepts. Those messages help newbies with “I don’t know what to tune” complaints. Most of the chat folks are very friendly and willing to help a new user.
I think it is more fun to hear the stations in Europe in the beginning. So many countries and languages so close together as well as much higher HF usage than the US. Often times I will send a text or chat message to friends if I hear something interesting on Twente (like http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=4625 😀 ) or if there is a good oldies program on Radio Mi Amigo.
Little by little it gets them hooked. A great way to expose people to alternative listening content. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to explain the differerence between modulation types or why the Dutch have so many pirate stations. 😀
Mark, great story. Thomas has a great site here for finding out all things sw. I think it’s great that your daughter is interested also. My grandson was always interested in my gear when he visited and I would let him roam the bands and show him on a map where the broadcast was coming from. Then at Christmas “Santa” brought him a Tecsun. My son tells me that the boy has wire strung up in his room and he spends more time with the radio than his Fire Tablet, and that’s a good thing in my opinion. Happy DX’ing
I too, am new to shortwave, having redicovered it two years ago. Now I only listen to shortwave. Love the Voice of Greece, 9420Mhz.
Thanks for your post. Keep it up.
Mark, thanks for sharing your story on the SWLing Post about your return to the hobby! It was inspiring to read it.
You are in a prime location stations that are still active from Europe, Africa, and Asia, provided local noise and interference isn’t too bad at your Worcester home. If it is, consider taking your Sony shortwave to a large park or rural area as blogger “London Shortwave” does.
My area of the world, the Pacific Northwest USA, is often considered a “signal starved” region. I would love to be closer to the action to hear many signals that East Coast USA residents like Thomas take for granted. Oh well, at least I do have more consistent reception of exotic locales like the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu which are on others’ wish lists.
You might consider the Tecsun PL-310ET portable radio for your daughter; it is a fine performer for its price class. The older PL-380 is also a very good value and has multiple bandwidths.
Thanks for the responses, it truly was this site that got me hooked again and now hopefully my daughter too. I may just buy her a little SW radio so she can have her own adventures and maybe get her friends involved to keep this hobby alive for more generations.
Fantastic, Mark! I am so glad your interest was rekindled (I think Thomas’ site has done that for innumerable people) and even more excited your daughter is interested and telling her friends!! You must have a special daughter, and these will be memories you will never forget! Cheers!
if not disclosed to the young people sw radio there ever will be fewer followers
Hello Mark,
two suggestions for you:
* When listening to SW broadcast stations have a computer ready. with http://short-wave.info you not only can identify the station but also search for the actual transmitter.
By clicking on the flag of the respective listing you open Google Maps in another window. The coordinates are not so exact for most transmitter sites. But even finding that the transmitter you are hearing is on a small island in the Pacific Ocean is quite some adventure. And your girls learn something about the world.
* Consider an active receiving antenna like the Mini Whip and mount it outside – as far away from any interference und as high as possible. These antennas are quite small so they can easily disappear from sight. There is no need for 20 m of wire across the yard or so.
Love this story Thomas and thank Mark Lane for sharing it as well.