{"id":18238,"date":"2016-04-12T07:23:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T11:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=18238"},"modified":"2016-04-12T07:23:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T11:23:26","slug":"nothing-to-hear-on-shortwave-jacques-disagrees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/nothing-to-hear-on-shortwave-jacques-disagrees\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing to hear on shortwave? Jacques disagrees…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MauritiusIsland-IndianOcean-SM\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> reader, Jacques\u00a0Catherine, who left the following comment on our post from 2012: Is there anything to listen to on shortwave?<\/a><\/p>\n

“I live in Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean and I\u2019ve been listening to Shortwave since I was a kid (I\u2019m 58 today) on my dad\u2019s good old Phillips wooden valve radio.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry, but shortwave is certainly not dead. After having read all the comments above<\/a>, I come to the conclusion that reception definitely depends on your location.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Tecsun PL-660.<\/p><\/div>\n

I have two Tecsun receivers ( Tecsun S 2000 and PL 660) hooked to a Windom antenna and an ATU. I receive dozens of stations from all over the world here as well as a lot of stuff on ssb, including \u2013 in the morning \u2013 New York MWARA (8825.0 usb), Gander (8831.0 usb) or, in the evening, Brisbane (5634.0 usb).<\/p>\n

Broadcast stations from Japan, Taiwan, India, Iran, Australia, Singapore, China, Africa and even the US, come in here loud and clear with very little static, depending on the season and time of the day. I think I\u2019m privileged to be located where I am !<\/p>\n

And I bought some years back a pair of cheap small wooden amplified speakers in Hong Kong that reproduce exactly the sound of my dad\u2019s old valve radio!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you for your comment, Jacques. You’re right: it’s all about your location…and you certainly live in a prime spot!<\/p>\n

I’m most fortunate that I live where I do–quite far away from sources of noise that plague our urban readers\/listeners (and that have plagued me in the past). My location is not ideal (from a radio\/receiving standpoint) because my ground conductivity is very<\/em> poor and I’m in North America where very few broadcasts are targeted these days. I do, however, have the space for a rather large horizontal delta loop antenna that serves me well across the HF bands. I might have invested $50 in the antenna wire and components five years ago.<\/p>\n

When propagation is good, some broadcast bands are actually packed tightly with signals. Indeed, Thursday last week, I could’ve easily logged two dozen stations on the 31 meter band alone. \u00a0Here’s a screen capture from the spectrum display of my SDR:<\/p>\n

\"TitanSDRPro-Spectrum-31MB\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you live in an urban area and feel that you’re missing out on the action, consider taking your receiver outdoors and away from interference.\u00a0Take your receiver on hikes<\/a>, camping trips or to the beach. You might be surprised by the number of stations you’ll log!<\/p>\n

Recently, our friend London Shortwave<\/a> has been posting an amazing array of broadcast recordings he’s made in a park in the middle of London, England<\/em><\/a>. He’s the guru of mitigating urban interference.<\/p>\n

When I have time to curate the recordings, I hope to do a 2016 update of “Is there anything to listen to on shortwave?<\/a>“–it’s been on my to-do list for a while now.<\/p>\n

Jacques, thanks\u00a0again for your comment and reminding us to keep listening!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Jacques\u00a0Catherine, who left the following comment on our post from 2012: Is there anything to listen to on shortwave? “I live in Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean and I\u2019ve been listening to Shortwave since I was a kid (I\u2019m 58 today) on my dad\u2019s good old Phillips wooden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373,3607,56,627,960,3,43,1167],"tags":[1228,1230,1231,4946,737,1229,4116],"class_list":["post-18238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-antennas","category-broadcasters","category-how-to","category-international-broadcasting","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","category-whats-on-shortwave","tag-is-shortwave-radio-dead","tag-is-there-anything-on-shortwave","tag-is-there-anything-to-listen-to-on-shortwave-radio","tag-mauritius-island","tag-shortwave-radio-recordings","tag-what-to-listen-to-on-shortwave","tag-whats-on-shortwave"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-4Ka","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7317,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/shortwave-radio-recordings-bbc-world-service-hausa\/","url_meta":{"origin":18238,"position":0},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: BBC World Service Hausa","author":"Thomas","date":"September 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For your listening pleasure: the BBC World Service Hausa language service recorded on 17,885 kHz on September 16, 2013, starting at 19:30 UTC. This BBC WS broadcast originated from a 250 kW transmitter located on\u00a0Ascension Island in the south Atlantic ocean. Click here to download the recording as an MP3,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BBC-Hausa","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/BBC-Hausa.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8755,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/nothing-on-shortwave-i-still-disagree\/","url_meta":{"origin":18238,"position":1},"title":"Nothing on shortwave? 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Is there actually anything to listen to on shortwave? Should I even bother?\" It's no wonder I get asked this question\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/1-TecsunPL-380travel-296x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6750,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/shortwave-radio-recordings-bbc-world-service-to-the-british-antarctic-survey\/","url_meta":{"origin":18238,"position":3},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: BBC World Service to the British Antarctic Survey","author":"Thomas","date":"June 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Mentioned earlier today, here is the recording of the BBC World Service's thirty minute broadcast to the British Antarctic Survey. 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