In recent column on RF DesignLine, Bill Schweber wrote:
The British Broadcasting Corp. recently announced that it would discontinue its shortwave radio broadcasts to Europe, following the lead of other major shortwave services….Shortwave radio is rapidly becoming a museum concept and historical artifact, right next to telegrams and postal letters.
Having been a trade magazine editor, I know how easy it is to fall into the trap that Schweber fell into. A trade magazine editor’s view of the world is skewed by the the press releases he receives. If he doesn’t receive a lot of press releases touting HF radio gear, he’s likely to conclude that HF radio is dead—even though that may be far from true. While most new developments are happening at much higher frequencies, it’s certainly not true that shortwave radio is ready for the museum.
I replied:
Shortwave broadcasting may be falling on hard times, but there is, of course, still lots of activity on the shortwave bands. There are, for example, over 600,000 licensed radio amateurs in the U.S. and more than 2 million throughout the world. Many of them are still quite active on HF frequencies. And amateur radio isn’t the only service using those frequencies–the military, airlines, and a whole host of “utility” services still use HF radio for their communications needs.
It is kind of a shame that the Beeb, and other international broadcasters, are cutting back their schedules, but it’s hardly a museum piece. Shortwave broadcasting is only a fraction of the activity in that part of the spectrum, and hey, you can still buy shortwave radio kits and build your own. If anyone reading this is interested in doing so, look up my callsign on QRZ.Com and get in touch with me.
Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
I’d encourage any of you, especially those still working in HF communications, to set Schweber straight. Click on the link above and leave a comment.