Although radios that pick up shortwave broadcasts can still be bought today, vintage shortwave radios are a fun (and useful!) collectible.
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Shortwave radio broadcasts between 3 and 30 MHz (3,000 kHz to 30,000 kHz), and signals can be heard across long distances. They were frequently used during World War II, usually transmitting coded messages.
First introduced in the 1920s, shortwave broadcasts revolutionized the world of radio, making international broadcasting and international communication possible. Shortwave broadcasts work in conjuncture with the ionosphere... the frequencies fall into the ionosphere and bounce back, broadcasting across the globe...
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Recent News: Shortwave Radios
Source: Google News
'Come back in May or June'
Albany Times Union, February 7thAccording to a police report, a cellphone, DVDs and a shortwave radio were stolen. Police Chief Carol Lawlor said an arrest was made in the residential burglary, and the incident was part of a rash of burglaries in the Westmere area...Read more
Radio mast approved
This is South Wales, February 7thNigel Williams wanted to put up a shortwave radio mast at Ffrwd Vale in Neath. When Neath Port Talbot planners said no to his request, Mr Williams appealed to the Assembly — and won. In his report, council planning boss Geoff White said the inspector...Read more
Radio Journalist Threatened and Tortured for 24 Hours
AllAfrica.com, February 3rdHildid works for La Voix de Djibouti, a radio station that broadcasts on the shortwave from Europe and is now also available on the Internet. "I was in Djibouti City yesterday waiting for a meeting. It was 11:30 am. Two men in a car with tinted windows...Read more
Robert Williams' Odyssey in Cuba
Radio World, February 2nd“Robert Williams Reports” became a regular part of Radio Havana's English program by 1962, but it was heard at first only on shortwave. Williams described what happened next in oral history interviews with Robert Cohen and Thomas Mosby...Read more
Radio in the Nazi Period
Seton Hall University News & Events, February 1stRichard D. Lucas, (MA in Political Science, Binghamton University), is a life-long shortwave radio enthusiast as well as a freelance writer. He studies the use of radio as a tool of propaganda and persuasion. He published a thorough and scholarly study...Read more
VOA Celebrates 70th Anniversary
Voice of America, February 1stSpeaking in German, American journalist William Harlan Hale delivered VOA's first broadcast from New York City via shortwave radio. "This is a voice speaking from America. Daily at this time, we shall speak to you about America and the war," Hale...Read more
Flights rerouted as massive solar storm slams Earth
Times of India, January 25th
They can, however, affect satellite operations and short wave radio. WASHINGTON: Solar radiation from a massive sun storm - the largest in nearly a decade - collided with the Earth's atmosphere on Tuesday, prompting an airline to reroute flights and...Read more
Amateur Radio Training Course
BBC News, January 15th
Volunteers from the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society are running a course for those wishing to get started in the popular technical hobby of Amateur Radio. Radio amateurs use short-wave radio transmitters to talk to fellow enthusiasts around the world...Read more
