Did anyone pickup any shortwave stations at Sea?
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Ever in history or this week?
Sadly getting anything but religious nutcases is harder and harder. We used to play BBC news quite a bit.
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Not shortwave. At night I used to consistently pick up KGO on ssb out of San Francisco just a few days out from Japan.
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In 2008 BBC stopped shortwave broadcasting in Europe due to perceived obsolescence, no longer justifying the costs. The programs were alternatively distributed via satellite and/or internet. This trend has also been true for many other national broadcasters (Voice of America, Deutsche Welle etc.). After the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the concomittent disruptions of internet services, BBC and VOA reactivated their shortwave broadcasts. However, in several countries, the infrastructure has already been dismantled or fallen to ruins due to lack of maintenance.
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My dad was captain of a ocean tug in Western Alaska and the Arctic coast and had a Zenith Trans Oceanic radio that he used to listen to the baseball games on the defunct Armed Forces Radio network. They had a good and far reaching signal.
I am retired now and an avid Ham Radio (W7TUG) & SWL operator. I particularly like Radio New Zealand on shortwave.
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KGO and Bill Wattenberg late at night was the best, but now it’s tough to find anything consistently. I rigged up a 250 foot long wire antenna hooked up to our old RDF in order to pick up baseball games while up in Bristol Bay in the summer. I was in a cell phone and radio black hole on 9/11 but still managed to hear what was happening on a scratchy Canadian station. Broadcast radio definitely still has a purpose.
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In 1969, while sailing along the “Iron bottom Sound” in the Solomon Islands, we listened to the shortwave transmission on VoA, reporting on the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Otherwise BBC World Service on shortwave was my regular source of news for many years, no matter where in the world I may be.
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I wish I had known about shortwave radio back in the early 70’s when i was at sea. It would have been great to hear something other than my turntable. From what I hear on shortwave these days, it is close to dead. Everything is on the web now.
BBC shortwave is still alive and kicking so I have always been occupying the radio room if i did not take my SONY ICF 2001D SSB receiver.
This baby cost me an arm and a leg in 1992 (500 usd ) in one of the duty free shops in Antwerp. The full set has extra 1.5 mtr telescopic antena with an amplifier with separate battery supply. Still working well on full spectrum of frequences including air traffic .
BBC - Global Short Wave Frequencies
VOA seems dying slowly shifting to web TV coverage plus podcasts. VOA Broadcast Frequency Schedules - Voice of America (VOA News)
Interesting web radio with FM stns :
Radio Garden – New York NY
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Very informative
I just picked up a pocket d220 shortwave radio for $10 on Amazon. It doesn’t have ssb, but should be worth a shot.
The odds of that working are very low, but at least you are only out $10.
This is probably the cheapest radio that will actually work:
TECSUN
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People are loving the choyong lc90 with internet radio but it’s at $200
When I did “boat and ship delivery” back in 1973-74 I carried a shortwave radio with a built-in directional antenna.
This served as my “all in one” direction finder, chronometer, weather forecast and news source.
Cannot remember the brand, or the price, but I remember I bought it in a shop on the overhead bridge from Clifford Pier to the Arcade (and Cellar Bar) that specialized in good deals for seafarers. (“good deals” if you knew how to bargain):
PS> Some oldtimers may remember walking though here?
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On a Shortwave-related topic…
I was listening to the Beeb a few days ago (BBC World Service online), and there was a report from the Morse Code world championships - or “High Speed Telegraphy”…
Incredibly high speed!!
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I have a Sony ICF-SW7600GR FM/ Stereo/SW/MW/LW. I bought it second hand (it was $300) and I relied on it for the BBC and Radio NZ when I was shipping out in Container ships.
You don’t hear from NZ in the international media unless it’s a crisis.
On seismic I read the local newspaper each day and listened to whatever station I wanted to on iheart radio via the internet.
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