Are there more shortwave radios than HD radios?

[nd2023]

I have a feeling that there are many times more shortwave radios out there than HD radios. So why not let HD2s broadcast on the shortwave bands to multiply their reach?

 

[KeithE4]

I have a feeling that there are many times more shortwave radios out there than HD radios.

If you include ham receivers, most of which include general coverage, my answer is "yes, by several orders of magnitude." ;D

So why not let HD2s broadcast on the shortwave bands to multiply their reach?

Because the FCC doesn't allow domestic broadcasting on the shortwaves, and hasn't since World War II. Besides, for the most part, only hams would be able to hear them. Consumer shortwave listening fell out of favor close to 50 years ago.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I have a feeling that there are many times more shortwave radios out there than HD radios. So why not let HD2s broadcast on the shortwave bands to multiply their reach?

I agree. Shortwave is becoming an anachronism in today's world. More and more shortwave services are going off the air in favor of internet. That is valuable spectrum which could be better used.

 

[K6JHU]

On another board, WFYR will cease SW operations on June 30th. But that has something to do with circumstances. I ougth to take a count because it is just possible that there may as many HD-2 as SW stations (not counting multiple transmitters of the same program). Where I am, I have 2 HD-2 and counted (with a decent antenna) 6 SW on 15 MHz SW. But then I am in the Middle of Nowhere.

 

[luperm]

On another board, WFYR will cease SW operations on June 30th. But that has something to do with circumstances. I ougth to take a count because it is just possible that there may as many HD-2 as SW stations (not counting multiple transmitters of the same program). Where I am, I have 2 HD-2 and counted (with a decent antenna) 6 SW on 15 MHz SW. But then I am in the Middle of Nowhere.

What are the circumstances? Only 4 people under the age of 55 know of or listen to shortwave?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

On another board, WFYR will cease SW operations on June 30th. But that has something to do with circumstances. I ougth to take a count because it is just possible that there may as many HD-2 as SW stations (not counting multiple transmitters of the same program). Where I am, I have 2 HD-2 and counted (with a decent antenna) 6 SW on 15 MHz SW. But then I am in the Middle of Nowhere.

WYFR, along with a lot of Christian radio - is irrelevant and reaches practically nobody for the Christian faith. Almost zero converts, almost no ratings. Didn't keep up with the times.

So much of SW is now foreign talk, the music that was on decades ago was interesting from time to time. But somebody speaking foreign, probably government propaganda, is of zero interest to me because I don't speak foreign. Any foreign.

Use the spectrum for something actually useful, like thinning out station glut in the US and other industrialized nations. You could have hundreds of high power clears all over the world revitalizing broadcasting because you can actually get a signal at night that is listenable. Heck, you could even fit hundreds of new stations on there with a 30 kHz bandwidth - enough to handle digital hash without mutally jamming. People got to buy new radios for HD anyway, so tuning new bands with modern software controlled radio chips would be just a software change in most cases.

 

[Tom Wells]

Let's see....I have two HD ibiquity radios, and at least 15-20 radios with shortwave.
I have two SW converters, a Becker converter for a car, and another (Stewart Warner) meant to use with
mediumwave home radios.

I was really expecting ibquity to introduce 455/262.5 khz and 10.7 mhz IF converters for use with exosting radios,
but they really dropped the ball on that one.

 

[KB1OKL]

Heck, you could even fit hundreds of new stations on there with a 30 kHz bandwidth - enough to handle digital hash without mutally jamming. People got to buy new radios for HD anyway, so tuning new bands with modern software controlled radio chips would be just a software change in most cases.

There are still some of us who listen to shortwave, please don't wish HD onto shortwave. DRM has been a big wash out already anyway so how do you think IBOC would do? The bandwidth on shortwave is 5 kHz and there are plenty of stations so that there are times when they are interfering with each other already never mind with a 30 kHz bandwidth.

 

[xmtrland]

My new favorite portable radio is a Grundig Traveler II Digital G8 AM/FM/LW Shortwave Radio. Easier to carry than my GE super radio II, has FM stereo. When you tune to a station it's like IBOC never existed. It sounds good on speaker or better with headphones.

 

[landtuna]

Consumer shortwave listening fell out of favor close to 50 years ago.

Several years ago I got the old time fever and bought an SW receiver. Strung a long wire across the back yard and had some fun picking up Australian and NZ radio but there wasn't a lot otherwise out there. Most bands were buried in static. Sold the radio less than a year later. Surprisingly it went fast.

 

[ddsparxx]

Here's a somewhat similar question: Is there more desktop communications receivers than HD radios (not including the Sony XDR-F1HD tuner)? When I meant communications receivers, I meant general coverage MW/HF receivers like Drake R8 and Icom R-75. I'm thinking there's more of such receivers.

 

[jhardis]

On another board, WFYR will cease SW operations on June 30th.

You made me do a double-take, since I knew WFYR as an FM station in Chicago that I liked to listen to in the early 80s. The station to which you're referring is WYFR.

- Jonathan

 

[Ai4i]

Not to mention the station with the largest land coverage area of any AM from within the United States if we include Canadian land and the number two if we don't, KFYR.

 

[pianoplayer88key]

Not to mention that KYFR is a Family Radio affiliate on 920 kHz in Shenandoah, IA.

So if KFYR has the second largest land coverage within the USA, which station has the largest?

Also what is the smallest-coverage 50kW station in the USA, and the largest graveyarder? And what are some cases where, due to ground conductivity differences, a GY can be copied farther than some 50kW below 900 kHz? (Including saltwater paths on the GY is permissible.)

And what about cases where a lower-power (<10kW) higher-frequency (>1500kHz) station in the Great Plains or the desert West/Southwest has a bigger footprint than a 50kW below 900 kHz in places like New England, NYC, etc? (For this one, don't include saltwater paths.)

I haven't heard much from WYFR recently, btw. (Of course it doesn't help that my PL-398mp's whip antenna is broken off.)

 

[DavidEduardo]

So if KFYR has the second largest land coverage within the USA, which station has the largest?

With Canada included, it's CBK in Watrous.

 

[Ai4i]

So if KFYR has the second largest land coverage within the USA, which station has the largest?

With Canada included, it's CBK in Watrous.

I can hear their jungle now..."I am the Watrous, coo coo kichoo".
With Canadian land included for US stations, probably K-fire.
If we only include acreage south of 49º, it might be WNAX in Yankton, the other Dakota.
WBAP also makes claims, I think it depends on what signal level is being compared:
A station at the top of the dial could be #1 at 1v/m.
WHO (1040) once boasted, and might still with their Franklin antenna, the strongest signal at one mile.
Also important that the station does not cover much water.
KFI or Hawaiian stations might prevail if we include salt water coverage.

 

[Tincap]

My new favorite portable radio is a Grundig Traveler II Digital G8 AM/FM/LW Shortwave Radio. Easier to carry than my GE super radio II, has FM stereo. When you tune to a station it's like IBOC never existed. It sounds good on speaker or better with headphones.

I've got two G8s, one of them being patched into my Luxman R-1070 and hooked up to an AntennaCraft FM6. The main purpose of this set-up is to take advantage of the G8s excellent FM capabilities, but a bonus is having a nice little SW set-up running through my Luxman. True (as mentioned) Radio Australia and RNZI throw a good signal our way, but that FM6 does a nice job of boosting pretty much everything else out there (mainly from Asia, Africa & the Middle East). That G8...is a great little radio.

~BG

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Shortwave used to be a great place to go exploring. Listening to Radio Moscow and the BBC. Alas the trail has gone cold WBCQ is kinda fun to listen to once in awhile.

HD radio is disappointing, one radio or 30 it's just more of the same with little effort or imagination on the part of the stations. Maybe the engineers listen to it to make sure it's still on.