Intro To Shortwave High Frequency Listening, FOR FREE!

What is Shortwave radio? How is it like High Frequency Radio? How is it different from Medium Wave? Lets explore the Shortwaves and see what is on the air! Much of show was using kiwisdr.com/pub... to demonstrate live remote radio listening.
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[@christophertipton2318]

When my Air Guard unit was activated for Desert Storm, one of my brother-in-laws (who was a Ham and an electrician) bought me a small S/W radio to take with me so I could get the BBC World Service and anything else that was out there. I really enjoyed it as the BBC gave me news I had no other source for, plus our base had a low powered AM broadcast station that played various music CDs pretty much non-stop (especially for some reason, a lot of Pink Floyd stuff). I had owned a S/W radio as a kid so I knew what I was doing cruising the various bands particularly at night when I could (I worked night shifts, but I was also the boss of the shift so I had a little more flexibility to listen in). Great little radio. Due to sand exposure, it was pretty much toasted when our tour was up. But a highly appreciated gift.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

That’s a cool story. Great example.

[@marcustoups4228]

Did you get to listen to Baghdad Betty saying your girl was back home sleeping with Bart Simpson?

[@christophertipton2318]

@@marcustoups4228 No, I never listened to that station. I got my fill of enemy propaganda when I was in Vietnam listening to Hanoi Hanna when she had Traitor Jane Fonda on as guest.

[@alexzalk9860]

Thanks!

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

You bet!

[@RobertoRubio-ij3ms]

As an active SWL I loved this video. The Nooelec Nesdr Smart has been great to use from home in the countryside of Panama with a 20m long wire hanging up a tree (like you would an end fed antenna). Picking up signals from around the world.

[@MauriceCalis]

Ok, Josh, you got me. Had to subscribe. Just got my first radio (tr)uSDX (no antenna yet), but I've been using SDR. This KiwiSDR is so much better - never heard of it 'til now. You're always pretty darn helpful and expound on things well. I've really been wanting a breakdown of what I am seeing on the HF spectrum, as that's what I'm focused on. I've wondered about those digital "streams" and thought maybe they were Sun activity. Fascinating stuff. Glad you appreciate Christian content too.

[@stfanboy]

I love KiwiSDR. Love hearing the stations out there. Also had a friend in Iowa call out to a station in Australia while I was sitting here in Missouri. I was listening on a SDR stream down there and I could hear him. He also gave me a shout out while transmitting. 😀

[@callsigncrypter9010]

I bought a G90 and built a portable go bag for it with a Comet HFJ-350M and a Dakota Lithium LiFePo4. I love the challenge of signal hunting on SW. Just need a few more things for a complete kit but currently serves its purpose for SWL and EMCOMM

[@jwind777]

I have both the RSP1A and PL-880, and they are excellent radios... I also have a cheap SDR dongle kit. But I had to pair this with a $20 band-stop filter to use for HF... For anyone new, I would recommend an affordable SDR. But avoid any "knock-offs" or counterfeits.

[@reiisthebestgirl]

In northern europe like 80% of what you hear are Chinese broadcast stations overpowering everything. I'd recommend Tecsun PL-330 for budget SSB radio. Only thing it is missing is air band but it has good reception and pretty decent automatic search.

[@xlr8r171]

250-500 kW transmitters, with an AM bandwidth exceeding 30kHz... Thats chinese shortwave radio for you, they swamp every other international station with their signal. It sucks!

[@SirJohnRobert]

I really dig SWLing. Legit just got my long wire back up and have an active mag loop in the mail. Some wild stuff out on the shortwaves. It’s a neat way to relax in the evenings.

[@mindfulmunchkin1215]

This is an amzing tool ! how did I miss this -hearing my cw tx overseas ! Also picks up FT8 decodes -Thanks Josh

[@steveburnham5073]

I own a Tecsun PL -330, good radio to have. The radio does have SSB on it.

[@dadsrcworkbench1322]

I was just going to post this. I have a pl-330 and it’s the breaking point in price for a radio with SSB

[@MaryBrownForFreedom]

I have a PL660 I use in the workshop... nice to listen to stuff while building antennas, working on the lawn equipment etc.

[@steveburnham5073]

@@MaryBrownForFreedom I also own a Tecsun PL-660 as well and I also enjoy listening to it.

[@truthdisseminator]

We used to sit around the SW radio in the old days to listen to the news according to the outside world.

[@kicktree]

Yup... I remember the days of BBC when I believed every word... LOL

[@truthdisseminator]

@@kicktree Yes, I laugh at us now for believing all that crap back then. :)

[@radiowaynetx]

Josh, you noticed that WRMI had a couple of different shows on at the same time. They actually have 16 transmitters at the site there in Ochechobee Florida. They lease time out to various people and groups.

[@MaryBrownForFreedom]

WWCR is also a multi transmitter site, I think they have 3 but it has been awhile since I was on their website. Used to listen to their amateur radio show and the show on the station engineering changes. Really interesting listening to how they tuned the antennas to shift the pattern to target different parts of the world!

[@hectormiguelperezgomez6612]

What I remember about WRMI was that on November (I think) 2020 they sold airtime to the developers of Call of Duty to sponsor their latest release (at that time), Call of Duty Black Ops (I think it was called like that). It sounded like a numbers station broadcast but it wasn't that, it was cool to listen to that

[@rickgill2360]

I began listening to SW radio back in the 1970s while stationed in Europe, using a Yaesu FRG-7 receiver. In the late 1980s I acquired a Sony ICF-7600DS digital receiver, as I was travelling on a regular basis. My latest acquisition is an SDRPlay RSPdx SDR receiver which has great expanded my listening bandwidth.

[@shannonestep5506]

Great video as always! I especially love the anime sticker of Inosuke Hashibira on the laptop. :)

[@bordaymoo9228]

SDR++ on an android tablet a dongle and an outside antenna is just pure fun and not a lot of money.

[@rmshoots91]

GMRS dude here, I have a Tecsun 880 on the way! I'm trying to exhaust all options before taking the HAM exam LOL

[@mattstosh6960]

Wonderful video and Thank you. It encapsulates the curiosity most Ham radio operators should have. Listen to World News instead of JUST American versions. And yes... many SWL stations broadcast in several languages - French followed by English followed by Chinese followed by Portuguese: changing at the top of the hour.... FYI - you can "pipe" the audio output of CW & RTTY into many decoders via virtual audio software.

[@garypaulson5202]

Enjoyed this video, thanks

[@uwayzofoster4753]

Wow, this is a great video! I didn’t even know this existed! I’m just starting out in radio and I currently have a new SDR4 that I’m still learning and trying to understand (in addition to my rapidly growing collection of “cheap Chinese Radio’s”). This single video with you explaining SW and this Web SDR, I now have a huge better understanding of what I’m looking at and how to navigate using SDR. Thank you 🙏 Josh. Newbies like myself greatly appreciate your videos!!!

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Glad it was helpful! I did aim this one more towards people starting out and the sometimes confusing terms we use in Shortwave and High Frequency. KiwiSDR is a great resource to share with people who don't want to take the plunge yet into buying gear!

[@uwayzofoster4753]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse That’s awesome!!!

[@Swede_4_DJT]

Greetings from Sweden. At 21:10 that was ARN Airport Arlanda about 30 km North of Stockholm.

[@w8lvradio]

The Tecsun PL-330 doesn't have a waterfall display, and it's pretty much the "little brother" of the PL-990. It has a smaller speaker, but does SSB very very well. The built in rechargeable battery lasts for hours and hours, it's the perfect travel radio, and cheaper than the Skywave, though slightly larger. It also is very good at pulling in fringe FM ststions. I highly recommend it, just my humble opinion. 😊 73 DE W8LV Bill.

[@N2YTA]

Josh, thanks for another excellent video. Just today someone was asking how come the lower frequencies are call high frequency? I explained about state of technology when the bands were named, etc, etc, however from now on I’m just going to send people this video! Thanks again!

[@lavenderlilacproductions]

I used to send off for QSL cards as a kid. Holland had a weekly learn Dutch broadcast. And of course, "This is London" (never the newsreader's name, they were all London) on the BBC world service reminded us that the British Lion wasn't yet dead. Finding Numbers stations were fun, too, wondering what spy stuff was happening.

[@doesstuffoutside]

If you live in the PNW, at least last month BiMart had the CCrane SSB 2 mislabeled as the non-SSB Skywave for $89.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Bruh!

[@1shARyn3]

One of my old favorites used to be Radio Moscow. Actually miss that station. Very good music! (( yeah, higher frequencies are bad for long distance. Guess that explains why I commonly talk to Brazil and Chile on 10m (smh))).

[@dave_n8pu]

When I had an antenna up, and bored with the ham bands, I would tune into them (Radio Moscow) and listen to their English language broadcast. Of course it had a slant on the broadcast, but our news does too. It was refreshing to hear their view of what was happening.

[@Sonicgott]

SDR is really a fun tool for scanning anything that could be out there. You never know what interesting stuff exists.

[@keithshamradioworld2793]

I got into shortwave radio as a kid. My uncle had a radio that picked up shortwavw and when my parents saw how interested I was in they got me on for christmas

[@raymondmartin6737]

Yes, I started at 16, in 1960, with a tube, battery operated RCA portable to DX Medium Wave, AM, which had a lot of music back then, before FM became popular for Music. In 1961, we bought a Hallicrafters Receiver, SX-110 for about $170.00 back then, to tune SW and ham bands. It was from an original New England Radio Shack. I went to amateur radio In High School in 1962 as WV2ZPD, and a year later as a Technician with WA2ZPD with some other calls from moving to different states, and as an Extra Class, the Vanity call, W2CH in 1997, being licensed now 62 years at age 80. 73 de W2CH Ray 😊

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

That’s awesome. You got to hear a great time in radio.

[@raymondmartin6737]

@HamRadioCrashCourse Thanks 😊 239 QSO's at just past Field Day, 2A, ENY, with W2NYW, PCARA, mostly on 40 M, 30% of clubs total QSO's. 👌

[@aperson1181]

Thank you, so your examples of a radio, the 1st instance Tescun PL330, does say it has a single sideband. doesn't it? Also, I watched a few Ham KZbinrs from NC, and after doing though the storm recommend to get an analog scanner. Would you please recommend?

[@rider275]

I remember using my grandfather's Zenith Oceanic to listen to the English language broadcast of Radio Moscow. It would be cool to listen to a station like the Buzzer using the web sdr. Thanks!

[@devshapiro3482]

Great video! Overcomer Ministries is Brother Stair. I am working on a documentary about him and his shortwave operations. I am finding out that rapper Craig Mack left Brother Stair a lot of money to buy airtime on shortwave and AM stations when he died. I was told by someone in the church that Mack's record royalties go to the ministry. I have not been able to prove that. Mack was a member of Brother Stair's ministry and is even buried on the ministries farm. I am also finding out since a lot of the US based shortwave stations sell airtime to keep the transmitters on and they do not update their programming guide on their websites. as programming changes weekly. Again great video and please do more on shortwave as I have been a long time listener since the days I worked at radio shack in high school.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Thank you! The Brother Stair history is like an onion, the more layers you peel is smells worse and makes you want to cry.

[@kicktree]

I knew that Brother Stair must have had a sugar daddy... but a rapper? LOL. So far as the selling airtime to keep the power amps humming, I don't know why WWCR killed their Power Hour and Alex Jones slots... I think Alex is still listed in their programming quide... and he has been off for more than a year.... I expect stations like WWCR are humping it to keep programming alive... I only ever listened to the 2 shows that I just mentioned... It is a tough life being a shortwave broadcaster for sure.

[@MaryBrownForFreedom]

@@kicktree WWCR used to(may still) have a show on amateur radio... plus ask WWCR was always interesting as people ask tech stuff about the station

[@eagl3seyes]

This was very cool to watch. Didn’t realize there were so many different handheld receivers

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

There are a ton!

[@hatchetjackphillips]

I have a realistic DX 160. I listen to shortwave on Friday and Saturday nights.

[@SDWNJ]

That's cool that you happened across HCJB. My dad supported the Christian broadcast ministry of HCJB. I remember us getting mailings from them. Clarence Moore of HCJB invented and patented an antenna which he called a quad, but is different than from the modern quad antenna.

[@bobbysenterprises3220]

Thanks for video. Im getting back into dabbling. I used to be big into the 11 meter band (if you know you know). Just picked up a sdr dongle to play woth and do some local scanner feeds with.

[@Swede_4_DJT]

Greetings from Sweden! Just what I needed! I have a few dongles and all work fine but.. Do you know how to get the rsp1a to work with DragonOS? I tried to find a tutorial but I must be stupid and don't seem to find any. 😢

[@oliverallen5324]

What do you think of LC90?

[@davidsradioroom9678]

An excellent presentation on shortwave. I started SWLing after coming back from overseas. I've heard some bad things about the Sangean, so buyer beware.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

I have one to my step dad. He likes it. The mark II is improved.

[@Discopuss]

I feel like I have a pretty decent setup (100ft wire in a tree comes into a LDG 9:1unun and 1:1 choke just inside the window, then coax thru the house to my radio, abt 30 ft?) But I still get pretty harsh buzzing and interference. I'm sure I'm missing something, but after 100 YT videos, I can't figure out what to do. I've hunted around the house and slapped toroid cores on various electronics, but don't notice much of a difference...what am I missing?

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

In short, kill the power to your house and see if the buzzing goes away, if it does, the interference is in your home and you have to do the work to find the cause, go one breaker at a time turning them on and checking for the buzz. If the noise goes away it means the interference is outside your home and you have to do some direction finding work to find it.

[@Discopuss]

@HamRadioCrashCourse Thanks! The hunt is on!

[@tomstrum6259]

IIRC, early 1950' (before TV) I vaguely remember whole family gathered together tuning in & Listening to very old, huge wooden Zenith 4 band radio...The huge Round "Lightning Bolt) dial had many SW Foreign broadcast frequency allocations + an odd 1600--1700 kHz "Police Radio" band & Only heard Base station (Radio dispatcher ?) transmissions....By late "50s or very early "60s, that "Polics" band went Quiet never heard again....When the Dial cord began Slipping, I marveled & Respected my dad Blindly poking his Bare hand into Rear of cabinet manually turning the dial over the "Stuck" point..."Like dad, like son" I later did that "Bare hand" maneuver Myself !! .....Thank God those naked Bare vacuum tube Top electrodes were probably low voltage "Grid" caps !!

[@Kq4hcuDan]

What you think about using a dedicated scanner hoshnasi.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

I have an SDS200 👍 fan

[@ronleblanc9832]

what do you think of the teksun pl-368 super portable i love this little radio

[@dfmayes]

These Kiwi stations must have a fixed number of SDRs to share, i.e. they can "fill up", right?

[@WilliamBennerJr]

Josh, could you use Kiwi SDR to see how well you're "getting out" with your HAM station? I've often looked for friends and said "how am I sounding", then made adjustments and like "how about now". If you could use Kiwi SDR to monitor your own transmissions it would make this process easier, and you'd be able to evaluate your antenna, band conditions, etc. from a single location. Let me know what you think if this possible use. (By the way I went from no license to Extra starting with your video series, and Tech class by HRCC folks!)

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

YES! We have done this on a live stream and it does a great job is showing you how well you get out and how well you sound!

[@dorvinion]

kiwisdr is neat for poking around with - and you can sometimes find some really weird things A few months back I popped onto a Kiwi and saw some activity on 630M. It was AM mode audio of a commercial FM station that was a few miles from the SDR receiver Very faint and very local (I couldn't hear it at my home 150 miles away). Still puzzled at how an FM station that does not seem to have AM broadcast as part of its normal operation would end up on AM like that

[@davidpal2409]

What is a good budget radio to get in your opinion? Best bang for the buck that covers most if not all frequencies? Thanks

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Just to receive? Or transmit too?

[@migsvensurfing6310]

Watch again. He comes across it.

[@levisorenson7873]

It's not the most newb-friendly software, but I've been really enjoying SDRAngel lately.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Haven’t tried it. I’ll give it a look. Thanks!

[@sandybottom6623]

Check the sensitivity for SSB. The cheap radios are often rather deaf by a factor of 100.

[@aqdrobert]

KiwiSDR allows me to sit in the library, copying digital modes silently on my laptop. Amazed that Marconi memorial Kiwi in California could log four milliwatt CW beacons in Arizona transmitting in the 13560 kHz experimental band.

[@Deltgolftango]

I've been hearing they are going to open up 4 meter for the u.s. by next year.

[@joe.O7X]

Anybody know the name of the song at 26:35?

[@armandorivera957]

Thinks its B.o.B. - So hard to Breathe.

[@MaryBrownForFreedom]

I started listening to shortwave before I got my ham license at 14... built a radio form junk TV parts that sorta worked, then got an old antique radio I fixed up... listened to SSB on the CW setting of that old radio with a hand constantly on the BFO because it drifted horribly LOL Fun to hear WWVH(Hawaii) announcer(female) just before the WWV announcer(male) and if propagation is good the ticks have a very tiny offset if you are hearing WWVH long path, like an echo... WWCR used to do a bit on amateur radio and on the station engineering of WWCR and how they tune the antennas to shift the patterns... it was an interesting 30 minute show. They may still do it, haven't listened to them in quite awhile.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Very cool.

[@dadsrcworkbench1322]

Love SW radio. I wish I could listen in the hay day.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Same!

[@devshapiro3482]

@@bro.weaver1282 I agree! You can add W.A. Criswell and Pastor Chuck Smith to the list.

[@bro.weaver1282]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse Do a video like this for the PIRATES that usually get reported on HF Underground!!!!

[@MatthewHolevinski]

refraction?

[@gdubl11]

I programmed my ft-891 with all six bands of SW in AM mode

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Hell yeah.

[@gdubl11]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse there are a LOT of Chinese broadcasts, might have to learn Mandarin 😃

[@slik560]

Antennas for SW???

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

I talked about it towards the end.

[@jayceew2j202]

heard some radar in there

[@ERICtheLATE]

Remember public access tv? Wayne's World ex. We need a lil no profit, but link to soc. media broadcast band. Some time limits or you have to claim your slot and get you bits and segments together and then shut it down at the end time. Plenty of content rules and then the adapting begins. Just a missing thing in the radio spectrum.

[@Gest-wg2yb]

Ever look across the street and glare at the power relay station? I have....

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

All the time. 🤙

[@TheGmr140]

Shortwave good for sending encoded messages 😊

[@billcosgrave6232]

👍

[@Dusntman]

Do you just confuse spanish with italian lol

[@ChrisLoew]

Virginia? I thought you were in California somehow. I sleuth in the videos every year or so.

[@ericgulseth74]

I believe he was saying the WebSDR station was in Virginia and it was 11pm there at the time he was recording, which was 8pm in California.

[@daniell8387]

Don't google brother stair lol

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Seriously!

[@uwayzofoster4753]

Ahhh man!! Now I HAVE to Google him , LOL 😂!!

[@Mandarin110631]

nice allusion to K8MRD with embiggen!

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

I’m not sure who used that once first. But we’ve been saying it on the live stream for years.

[@Mandarin110631]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse sorry Josh. Noob here. cool. Either way I love it.

[@CurtNovitsky]

Hf and vhf are the same type of animal only one runs faster and jumps higher

[@robmccray6360]

It wouldn't be science if there weren't multiple names for the same topic. I have been confused by the term short wave for years. While, not an actual definition, I finally ended up for myself deciding that in general when people use the term Shortwave, they are talking about receiving capability primarily, even though yes, we are talking about the same bandwidths as Amateur Radio.

[@guloguloguy]

IMHO: ...SADLY FM RADIO SOUNDS GREAT, BUT, THEY ALWAYS PLAY COMMERCIAL, OR, "PUBLIC RADIO" CRAP, OR "RELIGIOUS" CRAP, OR, SPANISH VERSIONS OF THESE SAME DISMAL STYLES.... "AM" IS EVEN WORSE, AND FULL OF STATIC, IS HAD TO GET A CLEAR STATION, AND I'M TIRED OF "HISS"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "SW" IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST.... CONSTANT HISS!!!!!!!!!!!!! UNINTERUPTED STATIC, BARELY AUDIBLE FOREIGN LANGUAGES, AND RADIO GEEK-SPEEK, THAT IS MEANINGLESS, AND USELESS... I DON'T LIKE ANYTHING ON "RADIO"... NEVER HAVE..... IMHO: IT COULD, AND SHOULD BE A GREAT TOOL, USED TO PROMOTE, TEACH, USE, AND PRESERVE MANY OF THE WORLD'S DYING LANGUAGES!!!!!!!...