When my Air Guard unit was activated for Desert Storm, one of my brother-in-laws (who was a Ham and an electrician) bought me a small S/W radio to take with me so I could get the BBC World Service and anything else that was out there. I really enjoyed it as the BBC gave me news I had no other source for, plus our base had a low powered AM broadcast station that played various music CDs pretty much non-stop (especially for some reason, a lot of Pink Floyd stuff). I had owned a S/W radio as a kid so I knew what I was doing cruising the various bands particularly at night when I could (I worked night shifts, but I was also the boss of the shift so I had a little more flexibility to listen in). Great little radio. Due to sand exposure, it was pretty much toasted when our tour was up. But a highly appreciated gift.
@@marcustoups4228 No, I never listened to that station. I got my fill of enemy propaganda when I was in Vietnam listening to Hanoi Hanna when she had Traitor Jane Fonda on as guest.
Ok, Josh, you got me. Had to subscribe. Just got my first radio (tr)uSDX (no antenna yet), but I've been using SDR. This KiwiSDR is so much better - never heard of it 'til now. You're always pretty darn helpful and expound on things well. I've really been wanting a breakdown of what I am seeing on the HF spectrum, as that's what I'm focused on. I've wondered about those digital "streams" and thought maybe they were Sun activity. Fascinating stuff. Glad you appreciate Christian content too.
In northern europe like 80% of what you hear are Chinese broadcast stations overpowering everything. I'd recommend Tecsun PL-330 for budget SSB radio. Only thing it is missing is air band but it has good reception and pretty decent automatic search.
I bought a G90 and built a portable go bag for it with a Comet HFJ-350M and a Dakota Lithium LiFePo4. I love the challenge of signal hunting on SW. Just need a few more things for a complete kit but currently serves its purpose for SWL and EMCOMM
I love KiwiSDR. Love hearing the stations out there. Also had a friend in Iowa call out to a station in Australia while I was sitting here in Missouri. I was listening on a SDR stream down there and I could hear him. He also gave me a shout out while transmitting. 😀
Josh, you noticed that WRMI had a couple of different shows on at the same time. They actually have 16 transmitters at the site there in Ochechobee Florida. They lease time out to various people and groups.
WWCR is also a multi transmitter site, I think they have 3 but it has been awhile since I was on their website. Used to listen to their amateur radio show and the show on the station engineering changes. Really interesting listening to how they tuned the antennas to shift the pattern to target different parts of the world!
What I remember about WRMI was that on November (I think) 2020 they sold airtime to the developers of Call of Duty to sponsor their latest release (at that time), Call of Duty Black Ops (I think it was called like that). It sounded like a numbers station broadcast but it wasn't that, it was cool to listen to that
Wonderful video and Thank you. It encapsulates the curiosity most Ham radio operators should have. Listen to World News instead of JUST American versions. And yes... many SWL stations broadcast in several languages - French followed by English followed by Chinese followed by Portuguese: changing at the top of the hour.... FYI - you can "pipe" the audio output of CW & RTTY into many decoders via virtual audio software.
I began listening to SW radio back in the 1970s while stationed in Europe, using a Yaesu FRG-7 receiver. In the late 1980s I acquired a Sony ICF-7600DS digital receiver, as I was travelling on a regular basis. My latest acquisition is an SDRPlay RSPdx SDR receiver which has great expanded my listening bandwidth.
One of my old favorites used to be Radio Moscow. Actually miss that station. Very good music! (( yeah, higher frequencies are bad for long distance. Guess that explains why I commonly talk to Brazil and Chile on 10m (smh))).
When I had an antenna up, and bored with the ham bands, I would tune into them (Radio Moscow) and listen to their English language broadcast. Of course it had a slant on the broadcast, but our news does too. It was refreshing to hear their view of what was happening.
I really dig SWLing. Legit just got my long wire back up and have an active mag loop in the mail. Some wild stuff out on the shortwaves. It’s a neat way to relax in the evenings.
Yes, I started at 16, in 1960, with a tube, battery operated RCA portable to DX Medium Wave, AM, which had a lot of music back then, before FM became popular for Music. In 1961, we bought a Hallicrafters Receiver, SX-110 for about $170.00 back then, to tune SW and ham bands. It was from an original New England Radio Shack. I went to amateur radio In High School in 1962 as WV2ZPD, and a year later as a Technician with WA2ZPD with some other calls from moving to different states, and as an Extra Class, the Vanity call, W2CH in 1997, being licensed now 62 years at age 80. 73 de W2CH Ray 😊
The Tecsun PL-330 doesn't have a waterfall display, and it's pretty much the "little brother" of the PL-990. It has a smaller speaker, but does SSB very very well. The built in rechargeable battery lasts for hours and hours, it's the perfect travel radio, and cheaper than the Skywave, though slightly larger. It also is very good at pulling in fringe FM ststions. I highly recommend it, just my humble opinion. 😊 73 DE W8LV Bill.
Josh, thanks for another excellent video. Just today someone was asking how come the lower frequencies are call high frequency? I explained about state of technology when the bands were named, etc, etc, however from now on I’m just going to send people this video! Thanks again!
I remember using my grandfather's Zenith Oceanic to listen to the English language broadcast of Radio Moscow. It would be cool to listen to a station like the Buzzer using the web sdr. Thanks!
Wow, this is a great video! I didn’t even know this existed! I’m just starting out in radio and I currently have a new SDR4 that I’m still learning and trying to understand (in addition to my rapidly growing collection of “cheap Chinese Radio’s”). This single video with you explaining SW and this Web SDR, I now have a huge better understanding of what I’m looking at and how to navigate using SDR. Thank you 🙏 Josh. Newbies like myself greatly appreciate your videos!!!
Glad it was helpful! I did aim this one more towards people starting out and the sometimes confusing terms we use in Shortwave and High Frequency. KiwiSDR is a great resource to share with people who don't want to take the plunge yet into buying gear!
IIRC, early 1950' (before TV) I vaguely remember whole family gathered together tuning in & Listening to very old, huge wooden Zenith 4 band radio...The huge Round "Lightning Bolt) dial had many SW Foreign broadcast frequency allocations + an odd 1600--1700 kHz "Police Radio" band & Only heard Base station (Radio dispatcher ?) transmissions....By late "50s or very early "60s, that "Polics" band went Quiet never heard again....When the Dial cord began Slipping, I marveled & Respected my dad Blindly poking his Bare hand into Rear of cabinet manually turning the dial over the "Stuck" point..."Like dad, like son" I later did that "Bare hand" maneuver Myself !! .....Thank God those naked Bare vacuum tube Top electrodes were probably low voltage "Grid" caps !!
Thank you, so your examples of a radio, the 1st instance Tescun PL330, does say it has a single sideband. doesn't it? Also, I watched a few Ham RU-vidrs from NC, and after doing though the storm recommend to get an analog scanner. Would you please recommend?
That's cool that you happened across HCJB. My dad supported the Christian broadcast ministry of HCJB. I remember us getting mailings from them. Clarence Moore of HCJB invented and patented an antenna which he called a quad, but is different than from the modern quad antenna.
I used to send off for QSL cards as a kid. Holland had a weekly learn Dutch broadcast. And of course, "This is London" (never the newsreader's name, they were all London) on the BBC world service reminded us that the British Lion wasn't yet dead. Finding Numbers stations were fun, too, wondering what spy stuff was happening.
Great video! Overcomer Ministries is Brother Stair. I am working on a documentary about him and his shortwave operations. I am finding out that rapper Craig Mack left Brother Stair a lot of money to buy airtime on shortwave and AM stations when he died. I was told by someone in the church that Mack's record royalties go to the ministry. I have not been able to prove that. Mack was a member of Brother Stair's ministry and is even buried on the ministries farm. I am also finding out since a lot of the US based shortwave stations sell airtime to keep the transmitters on and they do not update their programming guide on their websites. as programming changes weekly. Again great video and please do more on shortwave as I have been a long time listener since the days I worked at radio shack in high school.
I knew that Brother Stair must have had a sugar daddy... but a rapper? LOL. So far as the selling airtime to keep the power amps humming, I don't know why WWCR killed their Power Hour and Alex Jones slots... I think Alex is still listed in their programming quide... and he has been off for more than a year.... I expect stations like WWCR are humping it to keep programming alive... I only ever listened to the 2 shows that I just mentioned... It is a tough life being a shortwave broadcaster for sure.
An excellent presentation on shortwave. I started SWLing after coming back from overseas. I've heard some bad things about the Sangean, so buyer beware.
Thanks for video. Im getting back into dabbling. I used to be big into the 11 meter band (if you know you know). Just picked up a sdr dongle to play woth and do some local scanner feeds with.
I got into shortwave radio as a kid. My uncle had a radio that picked up shortwavw and when my parents saw how interested I was in they got me on for christmas
kiwisdr is neat for poking around with - and you can sometimes find some really weird things A few months back I popped onto a Kiwi and saw some activity on 630M. It was AM mode audio of a commercial FM station that was a few miles from the SDR receiver Very faint and very local (I couldn't hear it at my home 150 miles away). Still puzzled at how an FM station that does not seem to have AM broadcast as part of its normal operation would end up on AM like that
Josh, could you use Kiwi SDR to see how well you're "getting out" with your HAM station? I've often looked for friends and said "how am I sounding", then made adjustments and like "how about now". If you could use Kiwi SDR to monitor your own transmissions it would make this process easier, and you'd be able to evaluate your antenna, band conditions, etc. from a single location. Let me know what you think if this possible use. (By the way I went from no license to Extra starting with your video series, and Tech class by HRCC folks!)
Remember public access tv? Wayne's World ex. We need a lil no profit, but link to soc. media broadcast band. Some time limits or you have to claim your slot and get you bits and segments together and then shut it down at the end time. Plenty of content rules and then the adapting begins. Just a missing thing in the radio spectrum.
Greetings from Sweden! Just what I needed! I have a few dongles and all work fine but.. Do you know how to get the rsp1a to work with DragonOS? I tried to find a tutorial but I must be stupid and don't seem to find any. 😢
KiwiSDR allows me to sit in the library, copying digital modes silently on my laptop. Amazed that Marconi memorial Kiwi in California could log four milliwatt CW beacons in Arizona transmitting in the 13560 kHz experimental band.
I started listening to shortwave before I got my ham license at 14... built a radio form junk TV parts that sorta worked, then got an old antique radio I fixed up... listened to SSB on the CW setting of that old radio with a hand constantly on the BFO because it drifted horribly LOL Fun to hear WWVH(Hawaii) announcer(female) just before the WWV announcer(male) and if propagation is good the ticks have a very tiny offset if you are hearing WWVH long path, like an echo... WWCR used to do a bit on amateur radio and on the station engineering of WWCR and how they tune the antennas to shift the patterns... it was an interesting 30 minute show. They may still do it, haven't listened to them in quite awhile.
It wouldn't be science if there weren't multiple names for the same topic. I have been confused by the term short wave for years. While, not an actual definition, I finally ended up for myself deciding that in general when people use the term Shortwave, they are talking about receiving capability primarily, even though yes, we are talking about the same bandwidths as Amateur Radio.
IMHO: ...SADLY FM RADIO SOUNDS GREAT, BUT, THEY ALWAYS PLAY COMMERCIAL, OR, "PUBLIC RADIO" CRAP, OR "RELIGIOUS" CRAP, OR, SPANISH VERSIONS OF THESE SAME DISMAL STYLES.... "AM" IS EVEN WORSE, AND FULL OF STATIC, IS HAD TO GET A CLEAR STATION, AND I'M TIRED OF "HISS"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "SW" IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST.... CONSTANT HISS!!!!!!!!!!!!! UNINTERUPTED STATIC, BARELY AUDIBLE FOREIGN LANGUAGES, AND RADIO GEEK-SPEEK, THAT IS MEANINGLESS, AND USELESS... I DON'T LIKE ANYTHING ON "RADIO"... NEVER HAVE..... IMHO: IT COULD, AND SHOULD BE A GREAT TOOL, USED TO PROMOTE, TEACH, USE, AND PRESERVE MANY OF THE WORLD'S DYING LANGUAGES!!!!!!!...
