Cold War Media

[voguy]

Those of us who are older, and had shortwave radios, remember the broadcasts of VOA, and RFE. Here is another broadcaster from history.

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php ... &num=13649

I remember being asked by the police why I had so many letters going to Cuba and places in the Soviet Union. It's because I would listen to foreign broadcasts, write to them, and collect QSL cards from the stations like this....

RA.jpg (12.97 KiB) Viewed 3315 times

It was a fun hobby to collect the cards, but it also got me thinking about why the news was different from different countries. Of course I understood why the USSR and US were not on the same page, but when our "allies" were saying the story was different it got me to thinking. As a kid I was told not to listen to "that garbage", but as I look back, other medias were correct in their reporting. The U.S. was sometimes not so honest. Same could be said for Canada, the UK, or any other nation. In fact, North Korea and China radio never report on human disasters. And Japan very rarely whispers about Fukushima.

Kids don't know what they are missing.

[kbot]

I miss shortwave. I was thinking the other day, while listening to a story on NPR about the world's various governments are looking at ways to severely reduce the amount on internet traffic, that maybe we're getting closer to the day when shortwave will make a comeback. Most of my favorites went internet-only, with no direct transmissions to North America and so you really have to dedicate a lot of time now to hunt down a signal.

Your story about the police reminded me of the time I was in my first three years in the Air Force, and I was receiving all kinds of (opened) mail from Cuba, the USSR and so on. At the time, I wasn't thinking about cancelling my mail from Radio Havana or Radio Moscow, Radio Prague and other eastern bloc countries. Just never occurred to me, but Uncle Sam didn't see it that way, and I was being questions at every base I was assigned to over the years - as were my family and friends back home.

Yup, it's a GREAT hobby............

I do hope it makes a comeback.....

One of my favorite shortwaves was an old Zenith Transoceanic. My eldest brother, who started me DXing had two over the years, as well as on old Radio Shack DX-160. Nowadays I use a Radio Shack 202-125, mostly because it's small and portable and nice when we go to the beach. But, it has push button tuning, so the sensitivity of a dial isn't there.......

[voguy]

Some of the biggies are gone. The irony in reaching the masses is that those in government have no clue how vital radio is to some, especially third world nations. After Radio Netherlands shut down there were people lost because of the lack of broadcasts. Same with VOA transmissions (Bethany) which was the only decent link to South America on 6030. There are a a few broadcasters still on, albeit a plethora of bible thumpers seem to have the lion's share of the airwaves.

I use a Sony ICF-2010 and a Radio Shack 2000658 which I picked up in Columbia for only $10(US). At home I use a Perseus SDR which allows for recording, unattended.

[kbot]

Used to love listening to Radio Nederlands. I can still receive some Radio Canada International - and one some good, clear nice, receive their CBC broadcasts. Usually I can pick up their Toronto affiliate on AM, sometimes their other domestic locations further out.

I agree with you that TPTB in the upper offices made bad decisions - just don't know what, if anything, can be done to correct their mistakes.