As a child, we had low noise levels (apart from LORAN on the top part of topband) and lots of shortwave broadcasters, many in English. These days many (most?) are plagued with very high manmade noise and there are few English language broadcasters. I enjoyed QSLing many stations. Some sent me gifts too as recently as the 1970s. Much was communist propaganda. Most of this was ignored. What was more important was that QSL card.
As I have said before, you can take a nostalgic trip into the past. The shortwave bands are not the same!
See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/interval
Short wave listening was a great source of information and self education. It has largely been replaced by the internet. However, how many people look at sources of "news" and information beyond BBC, Google, Facebook and Twitter? Just as there are many remote areas of the UK with no cash machines and no Internet or 3G signal for digital money transfers, so there are many areas in the World dependent upon shortwave and Freesat broadcasts.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to Hack Green SDR and heard a very strong signal from the UK.
The signal on 1942 KHz was not merely a solid white band but was splattering adjacent frequencies, touching 1930 and 1950 KHz. One of his contacts suggested he could reduce power but he was insistent that he would absolutely not reduce power. He signed off flippantly as a political broadcast. I don't have an issue with humour but when I got my license we were cautioned not to discuss religion, politics or use bad language. Bleedover was to be avoided, with the prospect of equipment being confiscated and licenses withdrawn.