Broadcast listener resources

It is some years since I did some BC DXing. A useful list of BC related resources is at DXzone.

For a serious window on radio around the world these days an internet radio seems the answer: my XYL is listening to a classical ABC station in Perth, Australia. It is perfect copy.

See https://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Shortwave_Radio/BCL_Resources/

Fewer shortwave broadcast stations

Today Southgate News reports on more shortwave broadcasters closing, this time in South Africa. I guess more broadcasters are turning to the internet as it is probably cheaper and more reliable.

I guess this means more shortwave spectrum for amateurs potentially, but the nature of the shortwave broadcast bands is changing. In 20 years a casual tune from 3-30MHz will sound quite different, assuming the manmade QRM is low enough!

It would not entirely surprise me if OFCOM released the entire shortwave spectrum at a limited power level on a non-interference basis.  This could happen within 5 years. Increasingly, people are deserting shortwaves as too unreliable, which suits amateurs perfectly. Maybe they will release spectrum on something like the FCC's Part 15 rules.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/march/bloemendal-shortwave-station-final-transmission.htm#.XJircfZ2u00  .

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_CFR_Part_15   .

The first UK broadcast station

The first public broadcasts in the UK were not by the BBC but a few years before in 1920 from the station 2MT in Writtle, Essex. It was known as Two Emma Toc.

The book "2MT Writtle – The Birth of British Broadcasting" by Tim Wander gives the history of this first station. It is available from Amazon for £18.95.

Radio Nederland and shortwave broadcasts

One of my favorite shortwave broadcast stations back in the 1960s was Radio Netherlands . I still have my QSL card from them somewhere. When testing my shortwave crystal set today I noticed a strong transmission of the Dutch language service today in the 31m band. Little did I realise (until tonight) that this is the very last day ever of transmissions in their worldwide Dutch language service.

The HF broadcast scene is quite a lot different from when I last seriously listened some years ago: there are far fewer English language services to be heard. I guess these days people who want to find out about different countries listen to broadcasts on the internet.

Also, the CW maritime services, which could be perfectly copied sometimes on a crystal set as a result of cross-modulation (the CW sounded like a raspy hiss keyed) are long gone. One of my interests some years ago was seeing how many HF marine coast radio stations I could positively ID on a simple crystal set: the answer was quite a few around western Europe.

In fact SWLing on HF is rather a dying scene I think, although devotees will no doubt disagree.

Shortwave broadcast QSLs

Talking about QSL cards makes me think of my very first QSL cards received back in the 1960s. In those days I used the ISWL QSL bureau which handled broadcast band QSLs (I think it still does) and well remember the thrill when I got my very first cards. The first ever QSL was from Radio Nederland and it was an exciting moment. Somewhere I still have that red card with a windmill on!

In the subsequent years I did a fair bit of QSLing when using just my shortwave crystal set and got a few cards back from these reports. I heard stations all over the globe using that simple crystal set with best DX being Radio Havana Cuba, All India Radio and even Radio Australia, all direct and not via any relays. Not bad for just a tuned circuit, a diode a resistor and a crystal earpiece. I must have another go at a shortwave crystal set just for fun, especially as HF conditions are so good now, but these days shortwave broadcasting is not what it was. Using a decent toroid and a bridge detector it should be possible to arrive at a sensitive design with quite good selectivity.

HF broadcast band reception

With the broadcasters supposedly moving out of the 7.1-7.2 MHz slot from earlier this month I thought I'd check who was still there last night. Firstly Radio Ethiopia on 7.11 was a strong signal as was Voice of Broad Masses of Eritrea on 7.175MHz, both around 1915z last night. Also heard on 7.570MHz was Radio Thailand. I guess this is in the new 41m band allocation?

At much the same time a listen on 15.120MHz brought in Radio Nigeria at good strength at 1930z with their news commentary in English.

All this BC listening made me quite nostalgic for those heady days in the 1960s when the joys of Radio Sofia, Radio Prague International, Radio Moscow and others graced the airwaves with their propaganda. Although I never cared for the propaganda I did like the interval signals which thrilled me when receiving them on a crystal set under the bed clothes late at night. Hear these again at http://www.intervalsignals.net/ .

A useful guide to English language BC schedules and frequencies can be found at http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/ .