If you're my age (57), you probably remember the popularity of shortwave radios in the 1970s and 1980s. Every household has at least one full-band radio. If your kids are around my age, you probably don't even know this stuff exists. Everyone knows what AM radio is. What most people don't know is that AM is actually called Medium Wave (MW). Frequencies below medium wave are "long wave", and for this reason, frequencies above medium wave are called "short wave". The main reason shortwave is falling out of favor is because of the solar storms the sun sends us. The sun's activity is cyclical, and sometimes shortwave listening works amazingly well, and sometimes it doesn't work well. For some odd reason or Other, there's been a huge uptick in shortwave listening lately, and whether you realize it or not, it's still there and still carries a message. 2. Several uses of shortwave at present One of the big advantages (and probably a big disadvantage) of shortwave is that it's easy and cheap for you to put something on the air because there's a smaller audience. I've seen a few places where you can buy an hour of shortwave airtime for $50. So we hear a lot of weird stuff, a lot of patriotic stations, a lot of religious stations, and you can even hear Islamic prayers from Saudi Arabia. But what a lot of people don't know is that you can also transmit data on shortwave. The following is an example of a weather facsimile issued by NOAA via high-frequency shortwave. Feed the signal into a computer and software, and it can generate an image like the one below.
Spies also send messages with one-time codes called "digital radios," and a movie was made about it. Are you interested? Did you know that when your pilots are out of tower control they communicate with the tower on shortwave radio? Do you know now? Also, how do they know it's going to be bumpy when you get on a plane in North Carolina and land in Phoenix? Because there is a short wave broadcast called "Flight Weather Radio". Many countries use shortwave radio to broadcast propaganda or news to other countries. In my place at night, I can hear Chinese Radio, Romanian Radio, Vietnamese Radio, Havana Radio, etc. Of course, I can also hear America's own stations. It has a powerful transmitter and antenna on Tinian. I used to go there a lot and always drive by and see a big sign that says "Authorize the use of force." Well? For short wave? Interesting.
Also, you can find out where the transmitter is, but you can't tell if anyone is listening to it. What better way to reach the people of a nation than by broadcasting over long distances?
