Relevance of Shortwave Radio

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Ron Chester, David Iurescia, and Dennis Dura for the following tips:

Device transmits radio waves with almost no power—without violating the laws of physics (Tech Xplore)

A new ultra-low-power method of communication at first glance seems to violate the laws of physics. It is possible to wirelessly transmit information simply by opening and closing a switch that connects a resistor to an antenna. No need to send power to the antenna.

Our system, combined with techniques for harvesting energy from the environment, could lead to all manner of devices that transmit data, including tiny sensors and implanted medical devices, without needing batteries or other power sources. These include sensors for smart agriculture, electronics implanted in the body that never need battery changes, better contactless credit cards and maybe even new ways for satellites to communicate.

Apart from the energy needed to flip the switch, no other energy is needed to transmit the information. In our case, the switch is a transistor, an electrically controlled switch with no moving parts that consumes a minuscule amount of power. [Continue reading…]

A Threat Even Bigger Than No Car Radio (Radio World)

It’s about paid subscriptions — to the manufacturer, not the radio station

Apps for everything from optional equipment to entertainment is a big attraction for auto manufacturers.

For AM or even FM radio in cars, the solution could be worse than the problem: When manufacturers stop including radio as an in-console function, the workarounds make radio less local and face unimaginable competition, but what will roll out next is even more concerning.

The straight scoop
AM interference in electric vehicles, leaving radio out of the entertainment center, making radio more difficult to access — these are the real problems that the radio industry now faces.

Fact: Electromagnetic fields generated in non-gasoline engines make AM virtually unlistenable, spurring manufacturers to leave it out.

FM is more resistant to electromagnetic fields so for the present it survives.

Ford’s popular F-150 Lightning, Tesla, Volvo, Porsche and Audi have removed AM from their electric cars.

Tesla will sell consumers an app to get radio or satellite radio for a rental fee through internet delivery that gets around the electromagnetic interference. [Continue reading…]

Help Farm Radio Fight for Radio (Radio World)

We need to show carmakers that free OTA radio is still wanted and needed

his is one in a series of occasional commentaries produced through the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Continue reading →

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This is a brilliant article on the importance and relevance of radio by David Smith with All Africa. Below you’ll find some quotes, but it must be read in its entirety:

(Source: All Africa)

By David Smith

Radio threatens many of Africa’s big men.

Thugs working for Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe have recently been confiscating and destroying receivers. Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki stopped issuing import licenses. Other iron-fisted rulers such as Swaziland’s King Mswati III and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir rarely hand out frequencies, thus reducing the range of independent radio.

The actions taken by these big men merely confirm radio’s supremacy in Africa. It may be old technology, but it is still relevant and appropriate. While not everybody owns a radio, most people have access to one.

[…]A number of radio stations based outside of Zimbabwe’s borders rely on reports from in-country correspondents who use mobile phones and the internet, particularly social media, to send their reports to distant studios.

[S]hort-wave has the advantage of sending signals over vast distances, irrespective of borders and local broadcasting restrictions.

[…]Zimbabwe is not the only country where short-wave is used to bypass restrictive broadcast legislation. Pirate, or clandestine short-wave stations, often staffed by members of the target country’s diaspora, use high-frequency transmitters to send uncensored programming to dozens of countries, including Libya, Madagascar, Sudan, Western Sahara and all the states in the Horn of Africa.

[…]Radios no longer simply transmit. They also receive. The convergence between these two communications devices has created a new community and international platform for lone, isolated voices.

The list of radio stations that do not have an SMS or social network relationship with their listeners, despite their location, is getting increasingly shorter. Any station that fails to interact with its public risks going the way of the dodo.

[…]Video and digital did not kill the radio star. Radio is stronger than ever in Africa, thanks largely to its ability to absorb and adapt to changing technology.[…]

Thanks to author David Smith and All Africa.

Just one more article filed under: Why Shortwave Radio?

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