Meanwhile it has become digital and this means more efficient transmitters and significant energy savings of up to 80 percent compared with the old analog. Shortwave has been put on the agenda again as some of the old transmitters needed to be replaced or upgraded. That is 25 years after the first DAB broadcasts started in London in 1993), and almost 20 years after the commercial players join in. And analog radio in general continues to be resilient: a third of households in the United Kingdom don’t have a digital radio (DAB penetration has reached 64 percent). After all, not all the listeners in the world have broadband, smart phones, data plans, connected cars or enough disposable income. Twenty years after the first big blow to shortwave, this frequency band and its potential is being revisited. At the moment the major shortwave broadcasters are BBC, Voice of America, All India Radio, China Radio International, Radio Japan, Radio Romania, KBS Korea and Voice of Turkey and many more. Other important international broadcasters, including Deutsche Welle, Radio Australia and Radio Exterior de Espana soon copied this model.īut the BBC kept shortwave for its large audiences in Africa and part of Asia. About 20 years ago, the BBC decided to cut its shortwave transmissions to countries such as the United States and other developed parts of the world, since these territories, or rather “markets” were served by FM and the internet etc.
#Swiss radio international shortwave free
Nobody can deny that shortwave goes beyond geographical, cultural, religious, political barriers, is free and can be consumed anonymously, which few platforms can claim nowadays. At their recent meeting last month, they also discussed - once again - the future of shortwave. This is the task of the High Frequency Co-Ordination Conference (HFCC), a non-governmental, non-profit association, and a sector member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This group meets twice a year to produce a coordinated schedule for a summer and winter season, ironing out any interference issues among countries or broadcasters. The Woofferton transmitting station in the United Kingdom. Shortwave signals are not restricted or controlled by the receiving countries and, as frequencies change in winter and summer, they need to be coordinated internationally. Shortwave is used not just by international radio stations or radio amateurs but is also essential for aviation, marine, diplomatic and emergency purposes. Two or three high-power transmitters can potentially cover the entire world. Thus these transmissions reach listeners over large areas, continents and beyond. A mirror around the Earth and then it falls like a ball at great distances, beyond the horizon. When it is beamed at an angle, it hits the ionosphere. Shortwave is just short of a miracle, actually. Many international broadcasters were running expensive, energy-guzzling transmitters for this frequency band “without borders” that ranges from 1.7–30 MHz (176.3–10.0 m), from the high end of the medium frequency band just above the medium wave AM broadcast band, to the end of the HF band. In the past (think the Cold War) a lot of people were able to obtain free information from the international shortwave program. But what if you are on an island in Indonesia, or find yourself in west China, in Kashmir or in Brazilian Amazonia? Because, whether we like it or not, there are several remote places in this vast world, many of which still depend on shortwave broadcasting. This holds true if you are in London, Boston, Paris or Toronto. When is the last time you heard a shortwave radio transmission? And why should you put up with possible crackly audio and some interference when we have now internet, satellites, FM and all forms of digital radio? Ruxandra Obreja The author is chairman of Digital Radio Mondiale.
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