HFU HF Underground
General Category => General Radio Discussion => Topic started by: atrainradio on November 25, 2013, 0251 UTC
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The SW bands are dying from all these boring religious yapps. We need good classic rock back on SW! Granted In this day in age classic rock on the shortwave wouldn't last long, but wouldn't it be nice to hear Led Zeppelin or the who etc... On shortwave again?? Come on- its worth a shot to save shortwave. GOD BLESS THE PIRATES- dont get me wrong, but it's not always easy to pick them up. A nice powerful USA station would be great. Some one has to agree with me!
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Should bring back a few memories ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4cQHkqntOU
Here is a recording our own Kilokat7 did back in 87
http://amdxer.com/download/1980s_Shortwave_Broadcast_Recordings/KUSW%20Shortwave%2017.715%20Mhz%202118-2205%20UTC%2026DE87.mp3
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The current situation is partially the fault of legislation. Its not legal to broadcast on shortwave to the USA from within the USA, so says CFR 47. Domestic stations that have coverage in the US do so more by accident than design.
I'm behind ya 100% I wish we had several music outlets on SW, but no one wants to pay for it. At least for now, the best we can do is 'BCQ
+-RH
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WAIT- why the hell can't you broadcast to the USA from the USA?? Thats stupid. But C'Mon- KUSW paid for it. Or Why doesn't WWCR or WBCQ start using the Shortwave for a good reason- rather then this utterly boring religious crap and start playing music!! That would get more listeners I figure than their current programs. For God's sake- SW mainly consists of 100 different religious stations, 100 different CRI stations and The voice of greece. And then the pirates. Thats it. No wonder no one listens to SW, because it pretty boring sometimes. Music would certainly liven it up!
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WAIT- why the hell can't you broadcast to the USA from the USA?? Thats stupid. But C'Mon- KUSW paid for it. Or Why doesn't WWCR or WBCQ start using the Shortwave for a good reason- rather then this utterly boring religious crap and start playing music!! That would get more listeners I figure than their current programs. For God's sake- SW mainly consists of 100 different religious stations, 100 different CRI stations and The voice of greece. And then the pirates. Thats it. No wonder no one listens to SW, because it pretty boring sometimes. Music would certainly liven it up!
It's pure economics. There's very few shortwave listeners, which is why many government run shortwave stations are shutting down. Yes, there's a very valid argument that shortwave can reach people when the internet and other communications methods can't (due to disasters or censorship). But for most people, for general day to day listening, shortwave isn't even considered. It's a pity, since there still are a number of very interesting things to listen to. I'm not sure what the solution is, if there even is one.
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The current situation is partially the fault of legislation. Its not legal to broadcast on shortwave to the USA from within the USA, so says CFR 47. Domestic stations that have coverage in the US do so more by accident than design.
+-RH
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't VOA broadcasting on SW to America now? I know it got the official nod recently
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I'm having difficulty locating it now, but recently I read in the rules for international stations, that a station located within the USA could not broadcast to its own target zone, ie to the USA. Most programs targeted toward the USA are broadcast either from the Dutch Antilles, or other islands or continents surrounding the USA. That is why its called "international broadcasting" after all. VOA has transmission facilities around the globe, and because of their previous rules pertaining to broadcasting to the American people, its unlikely they have any arrays facing the continent. Anything heard within the borders of the US is probably due more to antenna limitations than by design. Also, referring to the rules, omnidirectional antennas are prohibited, so coast to coast coverage would be difficult..legally.
Unless you have lots of money to burn, music on shortwave would probably be a losing enterprise. So for the time being, we will have piracy ;D
+-RH
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And redhat- thank god for the pirates. They are then current low powered nod to the only 2 stations which played great music and made SW interesting. Don't get me wrong- some other stations today are interesting. BBC- a prime example.
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I agree.
I'd love nothing more than to have the old WRNO back that was on the air in the late 80's & early 90's and would be a dream come true.
I was in Grand Forks, ND in 1989 and received a call about a local market radio survey. They asked my favorite station and gave a list of local FMers. I told them, none of them, but instead I listened to WRNO from New Orleans on shortwave. She, needless to say, was confused. Don't know if she wrote it down or not, but hope it was. Did the same thing last year with Arbitron, but this time gave them WXYG[1], CFZM, R Romania Int'l, and R Croatia.
FCC rules for domestic HF broadcasting:
https://www.fcc.gov/ib/sand/neg/hf_web/appinfo.html (https://www.fcc.gov/ib/sand/neg/hf_web/appinfo.html)
It should be noted that an international broadcasting station is intended for broadcasting to a foreign country and is not intended for broadcasting solely to the United States.
As far as policies against the U.S. gov't broadcasting to the U.S citizens, that was recently changed with the passage of the NDAA, which now allows the BBG to propagandize to us.
http://www.bbg.gov/blog/2013/01/03/passage-of-new-law-enhances-our-journalists-reach-improves-the-agencys-use-of-resources-increases-transparency-bbg-says/ (http://www.bbg.gov/blog/2013/01/03/passage-of-new-law-enhances-our-journalists-reach-improves-the-agencys-use-of-resources-increases-transparency-bbg-says/)
The defense authorization bill that the President signed last night includes a provision that reduces restrictions on the dissemination of materials within the United States that were originally intended for audiences overseas.
[1] redhat - Album Rock 540, WXYG "The Goat" in Sauk Rapids, MN broadcasts in AM Stereo. ;D
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The "Goat" rocks ;)
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[1] redhat - Album Rock 540, WXYG "The Goat" in Sauk Rapids, MN broadcasts in AM Stereo. ;D
I know, I read all about it here. http://www.broadcastengineering.info/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4117 (http://www.broadcastengineering.info/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4117)
+-RH
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Hadn't seen that site.
Nice picture of the setup. And later in the thread, it was mentioned someone designed & built a low-power tube C-QUAM transmitter.
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I don't mean to break in, but don't forget The Mighty KBC, folks. Talk about music stations on shortwave... Admittedly they're not full-time, but you can't deny they spin some excellent records. :) My bias is kind of legendary, I know.
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No forgetting about The Mighty KBC... listen & record them every week. But, that's only two hours a week.
Uncle Eric does have a good selection.
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True- The Mighty KBC does play some amazing tunes!
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Some problems facing low interest in shortwave:
-A lack of available shortwave radios to the average Joe (good quality with SSB and an external antenna jack).
-Radios are expensive.
-People are inundated with entertainment available at their fingertips online.
Possible solutions:
(Is anybody familiar with the Make phenomenon? There's even a magazine that tells how to make things.
http://makezine.com/ )
-Somebody could write an article on how to make your own shortwave receiver that receives 6850-7000 kHz by using an arduino or Raspberry Pi.
-Spread pirate radio propaganda like videos on youtube about the risks that people take and the extremes they will endure to hijack the airwaves. Have people's faces blurred or wear masks and stuff to get the point across that this is serious (therefore cool).
-Put old-school radio content on the pirate shows that don't have anything to do with music but are still entertaining. Stories, funny skits, secret codes where you have to catch each broadcast in order to get the next clue on how to decipher it. SSTV is really cool, integrate this into the secret code content. QSL cards are totally cool too, especially physical ones sent in the mail. There's nothing like collecting something. E-QSLs aren't the same as a physical QSL. I think physical stuff is lacking in this electronic age. I think teens would eat it up. Especially if the QSL art is like Mad magazine stuff.
Then once you have ample following, pay for some time on an existing broadcaster to send it to the US all legit. That will bring in more lazy/casual listeners that have been on the fringes because they are lazy and don't want to try hard to catch the weaker pirate signals.
An outline:
1.Get people SW radios
2. Use pirate stations as the gateway drug
3. Then once you have a market you get money from advertisers (which will make it suck)
4. Use money to legally broadcast to USA
5. Watch it slowly die.
(Think of it as a cycle of bringing something from the underground to the surface and mainstream with the end product not resembling the beginning product. But before you get all mainstream, you have something cool for a while. Much like MTV now which I hear is lame. )
PS the religious stations are like mariachi on FM. Good reception but not really wanted.
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-Somebody could write an article on how to make your own shortwave receiver that receives 6850-7000 kHz by using an arduino or Raspberry Pi.
-Spread pirate radio propaganda like videos on youtube about the risks that people take and the extremes they will endure to hijack the airwaves. Have people's faces blurred or wear masks and stuff to get the point across that this is serious (therefore cool).
-Put old-school radio content on the pirate shows that don't have anything to do with music but are still entertaining. Stories, funny skits, secret codes where you have to catch each broadcast in order to get the next clue on how to decipher it. SSTV is really cool, integrate this into the secret code content. QSL cards are totally cool too, especially physical ones sent in the mail. There's nothing like collecting something. E-QSLs aren't the same as a physical QSL. I think physical stuff is lacking in this electronic age. I think teens would eat it up. Especially if the QSL art is like Mad magazine stuff.
I could certainly see the second two bringing some new folks into the hobby. Perhaps even some sort of SDR type radio for the first?
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Yes, I was thinking some kind of SDR. One that hooks into your smartphone would be ideal. Or one that uses your cigarette lighter and the aux port into your car stereo. I wonder if you could make one that would work without a computer screen. You have a knob that would tune to 5 or 6 of the most popular frequencies with another knob for up and down (care would need to be taken here because this might start an industry standard ::) ) With new cars these days, they almost all have USB power jacks and AUX-in ports. Then you can drive around and park for best reception with your random wire.
And for the propaganda, you could have links to the videos and other stuff right on the home page to make it easy for the new users to get indoctrinated with. ;) And shirts for the forum! and hats! STICKERS!!!