Why Is Shortwave Only “the Radio of Last Resort”?
Its powerful new capabilities remain largely unexplored
By Simon Keens ⋅Its powerful new capabilities remain largely unexplored
Published: March 20, 2024, https://www.radioworld.com
The whole article is at https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and- ... ast-resort
SW is still relevant to bypass extensive internet censoring prevalent in may parts of the world. Jamming is ineffective because of multi-hop propagation, skip distance effects. Analog SW broadcasts are easy and inexpensive to receive with no internet provider fees or dependence on VPNs. DRM transmissions are a good solution to audio quality criticisms, and as this article shows, Radio New Zealand deploys such broadcasts to the Pacific Islands already.
The counter argument is that SW transmitters are more expensive to run than an internet stream, and anyway everyone in the world has an internet streaming cellphone. Well not everyone, and very few have one with VPN capability that gives true unhindered access to the world. Sufficient freedom of access to news is provided by national broadcasters who inform their publics adequately. Anyone who has lived in more restrictive parts of the world will know this to be no more than an untrue excuse to avoid broadcasting expense. The transfer of services from SW to the internet save expense, at the cost of freedom of information. I cannot agree with those who say that freedom of speech should matter little to those with little to say.
Ham Radio has FreeDV and VARA, both offer free high quality digital voice over HF bands. You should try them, free and good.
Some want the SW services of yesteryear to return. They had much to offer, but technology has advanced so that while a return to SW broadcasting might be advisable in these increasingly troubled geo-political times, digital seems the way to go, and DRM is ready.
There are links to many authoritative current shortwave broadcast articles at https://www.radioworld.com/tag/shortwave These are fine articles well worth your mouse click!