Shortwave radio, the original and most crucial form of radio communication in our history, and dropped by many countries 20 years ago, is set for a resurgence!
Used heavily during the Cold War, shortwave was vital for communications in isolated areas.
After the war, listenership dwindled and as the equipment aged and the energy bills continued to accrue, one of the first in line for budget cuts was shortwave, with no importance placed on replacing it.
Not unlike the song, “Video Killed the Radio Star”, many say that satellites and the internet killed shortwave radio.
Really it is a combination of technology and content delivered directly to the savvy FM listener and streamed to the cell phone obsessed user generally at a reduced cost compared to shortwave.
As Shortwave dwindled, radio began being broadcast in FM and DAB modes to radios, devices, and laptops, with thousands of listening options.
Many new broadcasters began piggybacking on the local popular informative radio stations.
This new technology, however, in many countries is not without its issues. At first, it might appear that these are cheaper and more modern options, but slow buffering times, multiplexed DAB+, excessive and expensive cost of data in many countries, as well as a listener’s preference for anonymity has seen a return to shortwave.
As mentioned in previous articles the emerging ability to transmit shortwave radio digitally using DRM ( Digital Radio Mondiale) has seen a resurgence in the use of shortwave due to its wide coverage and heavily reduced cost.
Specifically China has opted to use DRM Shortwave to provide full coverage to the areas between the large cities.
China National Radio broadcasts from five upgraded sites 80 hours a day with seven to eight transmitters sending shortwave DRM to most areas of North China, East China, South China and Southwest China. Russia is also airing DRM in shortwave over huge areas of Siberia.
India is now looking to increase its three DRM shortwave transmitters for further national and international reach.
Several CRN transmitters beam enormous DRM signals into our part of the world daily.
Indonesia and Brazil are also said to have expressed interest in adapting their shortwave analog over to DRM for greater coverage.
As mentioned previously Vanuatu, has recently opted for DRM shortwave to save lives in disaster situations by using its integrated emergency warning capability, and a site in the United States has recently started broadcasting in DRM the popular Radio Marti programs toward central and Latin America.
As many areas of the world are re-discovering the value of shortwave we may see the resurgence of shortwave being replaced by its new digital form.
Are you interested in listening to Shortwave radio? Imagine picking up and decoding radio stations from remote areas of the world? Re connect with the world during this time of isolation.
Tecsun Radios Australia has a great range of Shortwave and Digital radios available.
Shop the range here
Russia is considering the re-introduction of shortwave radio using DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale), a technology which is designed to cover large areas at modest operating cost.
Prior to the 2000’s, shortwave was broadcast in Chukotka for communications across the far northeastern region of Russia and the Northern Sea but was gradually discontinued as funding became more difficult to obtain.
Due to the unique capabilities of shortwave transmissions coupled with the new capabilities of DRM, an audience size of a few thousand spread over a vast area could be best serviced by shortwave again.
Transmitting shortwave digitally offers the advantage of long-distance coverage and a higher fidelity signal. Text information such as news and weather can also be embedded in the signal and decoded at the receiver. Recent studies show that DRM is just as reliable as analog shortwave over this distance via single-hop transmission. An added benefit of DRM transmissions is they use a quarter of the power that analog transmissions.
This new shortwave service is named Radio Purga (“Radio Blizzard”), a joint project between the government in Chukotka and the Far Eastern Regional Center and the government in Chukotka
The target audience includes people in the Northern Sea including mariners, miners, geologists, hunters, and nomadic reindeer herders. All of these groups would benefit from both news and weather as well as traditional entertainment programming.
A range of test transmissions commenced in August 2019 via different DRM modes and bandwidths to trial “hardware setup and determine signal acceptability,” with the goal of covering over 95% of the area. Programming consists of a music loop and interestingly has been heard as far away as the United States.
Currently the broadcaster is still carrying out transmission tests on 5935, 6025, 11860 and 15325Khz.
Radio Purga’s regular programming is expected to begin sometime in the next few months. One of shortwave’s finest capabilities is to communicate to hard-to-reach locations. Radio Purga’s audience is spread over a remote and vastly spread region.
Resuming shortwave via DRM will provide the population with a critical communication source in both audio and text.
Have you seen the latest edition of Silicon Chip magazine? Our latest product the Xiegu G90 has its own 2 page spread with a favourable review by ROSS TESTER.
The most notable features are: transmit power of up to 20 watts adjustable in 1 watt increments so output power can be adjusted to suit band conditions, built in ATU, detachable control head for vehicle operations, and a superb general coverage receiver.
Operating frequencies can be directly-entered via the microphone keypad or “dialled up” using the 1.8 inch front panel with 25 push buttons for control.
ROSS TESTER noted that online reviews of the G90 world wide, rate the transceiver at least 4 stars, with many rating the radio 5 out of 5. The unit has been reviewed recently in QST magazine in the USA and Radcom, the monthly magazine of the Radio Society of Great Britain.
Here at Tecsun Radios Australia we heavily research and test new products and much consideration is put into what products we release to the market.
The Outstanding Features of the Xiegu G90 for us are the following.
** 20 watts output power
** Inbuilt ATU
** Detachable front panel
** Superb general coverage receiver
** Waterfall and spectrum display
In addition to these fantastic features the Xiegu G90 represents fantastic value retailing for around half the price of most transceivers on the market.
The Xiegu G90 transceiver is available for order in our webstore with same day shipping available for orders placed before 12pm Business days.
Are you looking to add the Xiegu G90 Transceiver to your collection? Get yours here.
See a preview of the article by clicking here.