Shortwave Listening

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ZUT
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2022 3:03 pm

Shortwave Listening

Post by ZUT »

Greetings:
I returned to operating after a 50-year absence. I earned both my Technician and General licenses and operate cw exclusively. Based on my readings of Thomas's SWL posts, I became interested in Shortwave listening also.
Thomas finally wore me down and I purchased a CCrane Skywave SSB 2 and am having fun with it. It lives up to Thomas's and other operator's reviews.
However, as I'm still just getting into SW listening, I contacted Czech Radio to monitor their 100-year celebration. I emailed the address and asked which frequency I should listen on. They responded and directed me to their website. On the schedule, I went to the website and successfully listened to the anniversary broadcast and it was very interesting. As directed, I sent an email requesting the QSL card.
Now, here's the stupid question on my part: as a ham, in my mind, SW listening will be on radio freqs. Is listening to a broadcast on a website considered SW listening?
Thank you and I'm enjoying the hobby.
73/ZUT
Jim
N2ZUT
13dka
Posts: 139
Joined: Sat May 28, 2022 4:27 am
Location: On or near a dike

Re: Shortwave Listening

Post by 13dka »

If you think about it a for a while, it isn't a stupid question at all. First off, you didn't listen to it on a radio, you streamed it off a website and that is by all vague definitions not shortwave listening, or broadcast listening (as in in "SWL" and "BCL"). OTOH you were listening to a program meant for (and simulcast on) shortwave and everyone would agree that a radio of at least some kind must be involved in the process. That would be the case if you stream the program to a device via your WLAN, that's not shortwave but the last few feet of that broadcast were coming over a 2.4/5Ghz radio, making you a broadcast listener, not entirely in the established meaning of "listener of programs on MF/HF" though.

But by all traditional interpretations that's not more related to "radio" as is listening to a record. The core definition might be that this requires demodulation of a transmission on MF/HF using some kind of radio receiver. Even if you use a web-based SDR - that's still a radio with the antenna and front end of that radio just not being located on your property, basically half of a receiver that gets connected to the other half of the radio (physically modeled in your computer) via the LAN. So this is still an elaborated form of radio, while webradio is more kin to wired telephone.

Luckily "carrier current" in the US and the Swiss, Norwegian, Russian and German power line communication systems are extinct and cannot throw sticks between the spokes of this definition anymore - they were by all means radio (on long wave) transmissions, not over the air but over the power grid, therefore not "wireless" either, but still "radio". :)

73s,

Ollie
ZUT
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2022 3:03 pm

Re: Shortwave Listening

Post by ZUT »

Ah, understood.

Thank you!

73
Jim
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