Shortwave Still Works, Part I

The other day I came across my old copy of The Complete Shortwave Listener's Handbook by Hank Bennett, long out of print, and spent a few minutes leafing through its pages.  Once upon a time shortwave radio really was the information superhighway, and if you followed it, you were very much in the know on world events, a bit ahead of everyone.

Reading the part of the book that introduced individual stations, I marvelled at the broadcasters who are gone, or mostly gone from the shortwaves.  Swiss Radio International.  Armed Forces Radio. The venerable BBC World Service.  Old friends I've spent hours with over the years.

Mostly a sense of nostalgia.  But also one of loss, as there was (and still is) a never-ending thrill over hearing a radio signal over the air from thousands of miles away.  As much of a fan as I am of web radio, it still doesn't have the magic of analog.

Yet looking through that book, it occurred to me that there still is shortwave radio to be heard, if one wants to take the trouble.  It isn't as plentiful, or as easy as it used to be (due to a variety of factors) but shortwave radio still works.

So, in the coming months I'll dust off the old shortwave sets and see what's out there to be hear.  And post about it here.

First off is a station that I think of as so near, and yet so far.  CBC Radio established a few shortwave outlets decades ago to provide service to Canada's hinterlands.   CKZU from Vancouver is one such station.  Located in Vancouver (about 150 miles from here) it is relatively low power (500 watts, per the World Radio TV Handbook) and beams CBC Radio One to rural British Columbia.   It used to be a regular visitor here in the Pacific Northwest; when I first came to Seattle in the late 1980s it put in a better signal than its CBU 690 KHz mediumwave counterpart.  But thanks to growing electrical noise and interference levels, it is rarer and rarer, and signals aren't nearly as strong as they used to be.

Here's the station on a recent tune-in during October 2011.



Not the best of signals, but listenable, at least with headphones.

I don't know why, but it makes me more optimistic about the world to know that I can still turn on my shortwave receiver and reach out to hear the world.  I don't do it as much as I used to, but maybe it's time I went on a little rediscovery tour.

I hope you'll join me in my quest to rediscover the shortwave dial.

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Thanks for checking out Radio Enthusiast. This blog and its soon-to-be launched companion web site is here to help radio listeners of every interest get the most out of monitoring. The focus is information, reviews and commentary on radio and resources related to it: books, web sites, equipment, discussion forums, and more. I started Radio Enthusiast to help you find the wide range of information and material you can use to make your radio explorations more rewarding.

Although it is ubiquitous in our lives, radio isn't what it used to be. The march of electronic technology is changing how audio communications are delivered. For its first seven decades of existence, it was delivered solely via analog signals sent over the airwaves to a box in our homes, cars, or on our person.

In the last ten years or so, that model is slowly but inescapably being transformed. Today, analog over-the-air broadcasting is beginning to be replaced (or at least complimented) by digital broadcasting, satellite radio, internet radio, wifi radio, podcasts and other delivery methods.Though I am personally a passionate enthusiast of over-the-air analog radio, Radio Enthusiast endeavors to cover the full range of the spectrum and methodology, both old and new. Electronic transmission of music and the spoken work have played a central role in our history and culture. It will continue to do so, however it is delivered. The medium is not the message, it is the messenger. Radio Enthusiast helps you find interesting and unique resources on both the message and messenger.

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Good Listening,

Jim Tedford
Radio Enthusiast
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