[geeks] Shortwave tips

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 10:11:42PM -0500, Jeff Cole wrote:
> So, I got a radio for Christmas that does AM, FM, WX, and Shortwave  
> (6000-12100 KHz) bands.
>
> Any tips on 'interesting' Shortwave bands to check out? The product  
> manual makes passing mention to 'aircraft' bands, but, I claim 100%  
> newbie status to this, so I'm kind of lost.

Let's see. I assume that it's a real basic radio (model number might help)
and it only receives AM (amplitude modulation, not the band) on shortwave.

FM, is obviously the FM broadcast band, and WX is the US only weather
broadcasts by NOAA. There are a handful of frequencies used and you can
easily find the one for you. It's rare, but sometimes you can hear more
than one station, so double check the NOAA website to make sure you get
the appropriate one.

Shortwave is full of signals, but the "big guns" of the cold war, e.g. BBC
have abandoned the shortave bands to North America. You can still receive
them, but not as easily as before.

Tune around 6000kHz to 6200 kHz at night. You may, depending upon conditions,
which vary from day to day, and sometimes from minute to minute, the BBC,
Radio Habana (Cuba), Radio Moscow, China (the PRC), Germany, and a bunch of 
other stations. Here near Europe most of them are not in English, many are.

Durning the day, try around 11775.

There are lots of websites, mailing lists and a USENET group dedicated to
shortwave listening for more information.

It can be a lot of fun if you are patient.

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation. 
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.