Anyone into shortwave radio?

[staticshock]

I’ve been on a shortwave radio YT binge for the past few years and this stuff is interesting as hell to me. From the amateurs operating their own stuff to those old “numbers stations” governments used to use to secretly pass messages to each other is interesting.






There’s a black association for amateur ham radio operators
OMIK Amateur Radio

could be a useful skill if anything crazy ever happens to this country

 

[VladTheImpaler]

I’ve been on a shortwave radio YT binge for the past few years and this stuff is interesting as hell to me. From the amateurs operating their own stuff to those old “numbers stations” government used to use to secretly pass messages to each other is interesting.






There’s a black association for amateur ham radio operators
OMIK Amateur Radio

could be a useful skill if anything crazy ever happens to this country

 

[Lord_nikon]

B back later

 

[Wildin]

I’ve been on a shortwave radio YT binge for the past few years and this stuff is interesting as hell to me. From the amateurs operating their own stuff to those old “numbers stations” governments used to use to secretly pass messages to each other is interesting.






There’s a black association for amateur ham radio operators
OMIK Amateur Radio

could be a useful skill if anything crazy ever happens to this country

Yes. I am and @DrBanneker is.

I got my general license last year, done ICS-100,200, 700,800 and the arrl online courses for emergency communication.

I've done quite a few networking in my area for ham shyt. It sucks because I'm usually one of the few black radio operators in my area.

I jump on national and international nets using wires-x, I also access dstar nets on my phone with droidstar.

 

[DrBanneker]

Yes. I am and @DrBanneker is.

I got my general license last year, done ICS-100,200, 700,800 and the arrl online courses for emergency communication.

I've done quite a few networking in my area for ham shyt. It sucks because I'm usually one of the few black radio operators in my area.

I jump on national and international nets using wires-x, I also access dstar nets on my phone with droidstar.

Yep I am a general licensee too though I haven't been doing it regular for some years. I wanted to get back in it during the COVID lockdowns but kid schooling sucks up time like crazy. I have an OMIK directory from a few years back when I was still a member. There are a lot of Black hams though like most hams they tend to be older. Some areas have OMIK nets I think you can hop on using a local 2m repeater or over HF.

I have been doing shortwave since the early 90s. Back before the Internet it was lit because literally that was one of the only ways you could get news from around the world that wasn't filtered by the American media. People would buy gear to pull in rare and hard to find stations like from Madagascar, North Korea, or Tahiti and shyt. Everyone from every country had English language broadcasts too. Pirate radio stations were also big where all kinds of groups would broadcast illegally without license from clandestine locations, etc. I remember Radio Havana having some dope ass jazz on their broadcasts.

There used to be a book called Passport to World Band Radio that listed almost ALL the frequencies and schedules for stations. They stopped publishing around 2000 or so. The Internet killed shortwave worse than it did Ham. I haven't turned on my shortwave radio in 10+ years but I bought a new one around 2010 to have as backup. If comms ever go down, ham radio is good for two-way communication but shortwave may be good for government or even pirate broadcasts.

 

[Skooby]

@Wildin @DrBanneker

So shortwave doesn't require a license or a test like ham does.

What ham and shortwave radios do you all have?

Should everyone have a ham radio for emergencies...just in case?

 

[DrBanneker]

@Wildin @DrBanneker

So shortwave doesn't require a license or a test like ham does.

What ham and shortwave radios do you all have?

Should everyone have a ham radio for emergencies...just in case?

Nah shortwave is passive, like listening to a regular radio but over much longer distances. There is no license needed bc you can't broadcast yourself. I have a Sony ICF-SW7600GR. Good radio but you can buy extended power amplifying antennas too.

Ham for me is a Yaesu 5R for handheld and another Yaesu 2m/70cm mobile (to be put in a car).

Ham is great for emergencies if the cell network goes down but you should know how to use it, use local repeaters, etc. A technician license is easy to get and keeping a HT (handheld) with a good antenna around should be part of a real preparedness kit.

 

[Wildin]

@Wildin @DrBanneker

So shortwave doesn't require a license or a test like ham does.

What ham and shortwave radios do you all have?

Should everyone have a ham radio for emergencies...just in case?

Shortwave is mainly just listening. You don't need a license for that.

You need a license to transmit. I think a radio for transmitting is good for emergencies but I also believe that you need to have the knowledge/education and training to know how to transmit, when to transmit, if you ever need to transmit.

If you think in an emergency you're going to turn on the radio and yell "help! Help!" Or just scan channels and yell "help! Help!" It's not really gonna work like that.

 

[DrBanneker]

Shortwave is mainly just listening. You don't need a license for that.

You need a license to transmit. I think a radio for transmitting is good for emergencies but I also believe that you need to have the knowledge/education and training to know how to transmit, when to transmit, if you ever need to transmit.

If you think in an emergency you're going to turn on the radio and yell "help! Help!" Or just scan channels and yell "help! Help!" It's not really gonna work like that.

Yeah basically the best thing to do is get a Technician license, buy a good 2m/70cm HT and know the frequencies of local repeaters, participate in nets, etc. If something goes down there will likely be emergency nets on these repeaters that could actually be productive.

If you need help though you could try broadcasting it through a repeater. In the old days before cell phones, hams did this when their cars broke down, etc. ARRL publishes an annual guide to repeaters nationwide

http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Repeater-Directory-2021-Edition

 

[Splash]

Been getting into this last couple of weeks.
I started just listening to Web SDR but I bought a phyiscal radio and I have it on most days.
It's fiddly but I really like hearing some of the weird shyt that I stumble onto like miltary stuff or some of these number stations.

 

[DrBanneker]

Start with getting your HAM radio license, I'm working on mine right now

I’ve been on a shortwave radio YT binge for the past few years and this stuff is interesting as hell to me. From the amateurs operating their own stuff to those old “numbers stations” governments used to use to secretly pass messages to each other is interesting.






There’s a black association for amateur ham radio operators
OMIK Amateur Radio

could be a useful skill if anything crazy ever happens to this country

Yes. I am and @DrBanneker is.

I got my general license last year, done ICS-100,200, 700,800 and the arrl online courses for emergency communication.

I've done quite a few networking in my area for ham shyt. It sucks because I'm usually one of the few black radio operators in my area.

I jump on national and international nets using wires-x, I also access dstar nets on my phone with droidstar.

OMIK Fall 2023 Newsletter mentions emergency communications preparedness.

 

[Wildin]

OMIK Fall 2023 Newsletter mentions emergency communications preparedness.

Now that's dope. I want to do it. Thursday's during that time I'm busy until middle of October. I fukk with that though.

 

[Address_Unknown]

I was interested in this shyt until I realized that not only am I not in America, which would make the range of people that would have been listening in to what I wanted to do, virtually Nil, The fact that you can't broadcast, meant that I could never do an Art Bell/War of the Worlds type broadcast Every other Sunday at odd midnight hours and make up a cult following of bullshyt but....it's still really intriguing shyt. Been meaning to do the research and see if getting the equipment down here will be legal and what will I hear other than Maritime/Drugman bullshyt.
​

 

[DrBanneker]

I was interested in this shyt until I realized that not only am I not in America, which would make the range of people that would have been listening in to what I wanted to do, virtually Nil, The fact that you can't broadcast, meant that I could never do an Art Bell/War of the Worlds type broadcast Every other Sunday at odd midnight hours and make up a cult following of bullshyt but....it's still really intriguing shyt. Been meaning to do the research and see if getting the equipment down here will be legal and what will I hear other than Maritime/Drugman bullshyt.
​

Shortwave broadcasts are global by design breh. You can hear BBC, American stations, Asian, etc.

Pirate radio is done though. Those types on YT now.

 

[Wildin]

I was interested in this shyt until I realized that not only am I not in America, which would make the range of people that would have been listening in to what I wanted to do, virtually Nil, The fact that you can't broadcast, meant that I could never do an Art Bell/War of the Worlds type broadcast Every other Sunday at odd midnight hours and make up a cult following of bullshyt but....it's still really intriguing shyt. Been meaning to do the research and see if getting the equipment down here will be legal and what will I hear other than Maritime/Drugman bullshyt.
​

I'm regularly on nets. My fav thing to do is catch some Spanish nets, talk to people in Spanish. To me it's far more interesting than local (American). I have some recordings off bullshyt. You hit the right bands at the right times you'll find some white people talking about race and shyt. I'll have to find some of my recordings. It's like Tuesday at 11:20am I'm sitting on my patio skimming channels "Yeah....the blacks..they blame everything on white people and they destroy cities, they complain about getting killed by police and trump. They they only vote for black people, they don't even know or care what the position is, as long as they're black and they're democrat!".