why everyone should own a decent short-wave radio

[RichA]

Because when a catastrophic event happens, your precious landlines and cellphones just won't be working. Even satphones could be taken out.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60034179

[Adam H. Kerman]

Exactly how would a natural disaster render a satellite phone
inoperable, Rich? There could be excessive demand, sure, but it's going
to work as long as there's battery.

[danny burstein]

There's a big "it depends" there. Without ground control
making periodic adjustments to the satellites, bit by
bit many of them would become dysfunctional.

So if we lost the control centers...

I was in awe when I discovered a few years ago the US's GPS
network required pretty damn small, but critical to them,
tweaks to their time signals [a].

Plus, of course, basic orbital corrections...

[a] there was a great writeup on one of the university
web sites, but I can't find that specific one now.

But doing a simple Duck Dive loking for "GPS" and "relativity"
gets plenty of others.

Oh, the notes I saw were about the US systems, but
they probably apply to the others as well.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dan...@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

[RichA]

Who said anything about natural. In war now, communication satellites are a major target. Any car battery will work.

[RichA]

On Wednesday, 19 January 2022 at 15:23:19 UTC-5, chromebook test wrote:

> On Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 11:25:52 PM UTC-5, RichA wrote:
> > Because when a catastrophic event happens, your precious landlines and cellphones just won't be working. Even satphones could be taken out.
> >
> > https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60034179

> mime has 4,5, or 6 of these: Baofeng UV-5R

Good one, original model goes into aviation bands.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3nMV5rOFiw
>
>
>
> ... and so many, dozens, lost count of these: Baofeng BF-888
>
> These are DIRT cheap, even at retail, like 10 or 12 bucks each, and fun way to 'walkie-talkie' and learn cheaply
>
>
>
> All are programmable with free software, a windows computer, and a cheap cable(10-15$USD) . Everything mime bought at auction in the last 3 years on the cheap, except one of the UV-5R which was bought on sale at Amazon because it came with extra batteries, better antennae, AND most importantly, the programming cable. That one, was still under $50 if I recall correctly.
>
> The BF-888 can be set up as repeaters to extend range.
>
> Another hobby mime started, like the drones, but can't find time to get back to...

[Adam H. Kerman]

danny burstein <dan...@panix.com> wrote:
>"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> writes:
>>RichA <rande...@gmail.com> wrote:

>>>Because when a catastrophic event happens, your precious landlines and
>>>cellphones just won't be working. Even satphones could be taken out.

>>>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60034179

>>Exactly how would a natural disaster render a satellite phone
>>inoperable, Rich? There could be excessive demand, sure, but it's going
>>to work as long as there's battery.

>There's a big "it depends" there. Without ground control
>making periodic adjustments to the satellites, bit by
>bit many of them would become dysfunctional.

>So if we lost the control centers...

I acknowledge that such a thing could happen. However, they don't get
built in parts of the world in which communication is so poor that
satphones are the viable option.

>. . .

[RichA]

Actually, shortwave is heavily used in the Third World because once the radio is paid for, communication is free, Shortwave was once very widespread in the U.S. and Europe, but less now with the omnipresence of cellphones.

[trotsky]

On 1/19/2022 10:18 PM, RichA wrote:
> On Wednesday, 19 January 2022 at 16:57:33 UTC-5, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>> danny burstein <dan...@panix.com> wrote:
>>> "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> writes:
>>>> RichA <rande...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>>> Because when a catastrophic event happens, your precious landlines and
>>>>> cellphones just won't be working. Even satphones could be taken out.
>>
>>>>> https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60034179
>>
>>>> Exactly how would a natural disaster render a satellite phone
>>>> inoperable, Rich? There could be excessive demand, sure, but it's going
>>>> to work as long as there's battery.
>>
>>> There's a big "it depends" there. Without ground control
>>> making periodic adjustments to the satellites, bit by
>>> bit many of them would become dysfunctional.
>>
>>> So if we lost the control centers...
>> I acknowledge that such a thing could happen. However, they don't get
>> built in parts of the world in which communication is so poor that
>> satphones are the viable option.
>>
>>> . . .
>
> Actually, shortwave is heavily used in the Third World

Cite?


Never mind, I know you don't have the brains or the balls to answer
cogently.

https://engx.theiet.org/f/discussions/22267/why-no-shortwave-band-on-radios

Denis McMahon over 2 years ago
1950. My family had a mains radio. It had long, medium and short
wavebands, with lots of lovely interesting names on the dial -
Hilversum, Kalundbourg, Luxembourg, Lahti, Munich, Oslo - that sort of
thing. Most of the listening was done on the long and medium wave. Most
of the short waveband gave just weird hissing, whistling, chirruping
noises, etc. There were just a few tight spaces where actual broadcast
programmes could be received, crammed so close together that tuning
needed to be to a hairsbreadth. Reception was faint on most of them, and
the odd one or two that did come in loud and clear were inevitably in a
foreign language. (Probably BBC Overseas broadcasts from Britain) Most
of the time spent on this waveband was myself messing about and finding
out what was there. There was one service worth mention - Radio
Luxembourg also broadcasted on the 49 metre band, a practical
alternative to 208 metres, before that medium wave signal was boosted.

1970. I bought myself a portable transistor, a hefty Ferguson for the
serious listener, LW, MW, SW, VHF with sockets for car radio aerial,
aux-out, headphones. All these facilities were put to good use during
the time I had it. That year, whilst touring, I visited the Daventry
area and had a look at the short wave station, a huge forest of wires
running at every angle imaginable. The mast radiator for the medium wave
Radio 3 broadcasts was on the other side of the hill. That radio came
with me to other parts of the world, to Saudi Arabia, to Sweden, to the
USA, and its short wave facility was put to good use to tune into the
BBC World Service to keep up with the news. It served this purpose well,
though took up quite a bit of room in my suitcase.

1990 or thereabouts. I bought an Aiwa radio with digital tuner (not a
digital radio). It could select individual short-wave broadcasting bands
and had number buttons to key in a short wave frequency if known and
save many favourites in a memory. Much more compact than the previous
radio so more suitable for travelling. It did not travel however as much
as its predecessor. The last occasion when it was used abroad was a
memorable night in the USA on December 31, 2003 at 7:00 pm when we
listened to Big Ben striking midnight as it happened. It is little used
nowadays - just for the occasional piece of casual listening on VHF. In
2004 I revisited Daventry. Practically nothing left now of what was once
the short-wave capital of Britain.


The reality is that short wave has always been a more-specialist service
and nowadays its use is in continual decline. The World Service is now
available crystal clear on digital channels, though I understand it is
still receivable in short wave in some places. Radio manufacturers see
no point in complicating designs and upping the price by providing a
facility that is unlikely to be used by the regular listener. We now
live in the age where information is only too available world-wide on TV
in hotels, cruise ships, etc., via satellite communications. There is
also of course the Internet; anyone with a mobile smart-phone can check
up on world events pretty quickly. There is no longer the need to use
radio for the purposes for which I used to; new methods are quicker and
more convenient.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Rich, no one disagreed with you on that point. You failed to support
your point "Even satphones could be taken out," given that a scenario in
which satellite ground control is in the same path as the natural
disaster in question is unlikely in the extreme. Yes, it would be a
military target.