European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                English language broadcasts for is Harold Ort or. Even a Small shortwave receiver can draw in signals from far Flung stations. Shortwave worldwide radio news and More by Harold Ort or. How Many times have you heard according to radio Moscow. On a radio news broadcast Why Settle for secondhand reports with an investment of $50 to $200, you can hear the news from its source tune in radio Moscow to catch the soviet View of american policy or the problems of glasnost. It s at your fingertips on shortwave radio. Your options music sports news features or the arts Are varied. More than 1,600 transmitters in some 160 countries from the far East to South America broadcast on shortwave radio also known As world band radio. Many people Aren t familiar with shortwave radio though it s been around for years. Some parts of the world rely almost exclusively on shortwave because it covers greater distances than am broadcasts. Shortwave transmissions use the frequencies just above the am broadcast band to 3000 Kilohertz. By International agreement blocks of frequencies Are set aside for International broadcasting ship to Shore radio Amateur Ham radio aircraft radio and other uses. You need t be a linguist to listen. Many broadcasts Are in English but if you do speak a foreign language there in t any better Way to Brush up on your skills. There Are even foreign language courses offered on the air. When people think of shortwave radio the image that often comes to mind is of someone wearing a pair of Odd looking headphones sitting late at night at a cumbersome Box with an array of dials and lights. Years ago that picture was accurate today shortwave receivers Are compact and simple to operate and listeners can tune in during the Day to faraway countries without any fancy antennas or headphones. One reason is that countries that want the world to hear their voices have powerful shortwave transmitters often 500 kilowatts 10 times As powerful As the largest stateside am stations. Major world broadcasters also have relays in areas they want to reach most effectively. The bbl for example has several relay stations around the Globe enabling a listener in the most Remote part of Asia to easily hear a broadcast from England. Signals in the shortwave part of the spectrum travel great distances because of an invisible layer of the ionosphere 130 to 300 Miles above the Earth. A signal from a transmitter bounces off this of layer of the ionosphere and then hops around the Globe often several times. That s Why some signals Are Crystal Clear and others fade and then suddenly reappear stronger or weaker than before. The amount of times a signal hops depends on a number of factors including the time of Day at the transmitter and receive the season the weather the Power of the transmission and several other factors. Several leading manufacturers including Emerson Sony Panasonic and Kenwood offer a Complete line of portable radios that cover the shortwave radio spectrum. Even some of today s Boom boxes include a sizeable portion of the spectrum. Naturally you can spend hundreds of dollars on a top of the line communications receiver but this in t advisable until you find yourself wanting to stay up until the wee hours searching for a Low Power station for example in the South Pacific area that Only broadcasts for a very limited regional area. That aspect of shortwave listening called do eng Short for extra Long distance reception often captures the imagination of beginners begging them to buy expensive radios and string sizeable chunks of wire out the window. Station location time get bbl London 2400 radio Japan Tokyo 2400 Whir Usa 2400 radio Poland Warsaw 2400 Kol Israel Jerusalem 0100 radio Luxembourg 0100 Kol Israel Jerusalem 0200 bbl London 0300 radio France International 0300 Deutsche Welle West Germany 0400 bbl London 0400 radio Sweden Stockholm 0430 bbl London 0500 walk Usa 0500 voice of America Usa 0530 radio Austria Vienna 0530 voice of America Usa 0600 radio Kuwait 0600 radio Finland Helsinki 0615 radio Berlin East Germany 0700 Wisn Usa 0700 Vatican radio 0700 voice of America Usa 0700 a cab Ecuador 0800 radio Prague Czechoslovakia 0845 radio Korea Seoul 0900 bbl London 1000 radio Norway Oslo 1100 radio Pakistan 1200 radio South Africa 1200 radio Poland Warsaw 1300 radio Bucharest Romania 1400 radio Berlin East Germany 1500 radio South Africa 1500 radio Jordan Amman 1600 radio Belgrade Yugoslavia 1630 radio Dubai United Arab emirates 1 700 voice of America Usa 1800 radio Havana Cuba 1800 radio South Africa 1900 radio Madrid Spain 2000 radio Ankara Turkey 2100 radio Beijing China 2100 radio Bagdad Iraq 2200 Brno Usa 2200 radio Canada International 2300 frequency 3.955, 6.195 and 9.410 11.800 7.365 5.995, 6.135 and 7.270 7.469 and 9.435 6.090 9.855 9.410 3.965 6.010, 6.130 and 9.605 6.195 and 9.410 11.705 3.955 and 7.185 9.465 except saturdays 5.995, 7.200 and 9.740 6.155 6.040, 7.170 and 11.925 15.345 6.120 5.965 and 6.115 7.365 3.955, 6.195 and 9.410 5.995, 6.040 and 7.170 6.205 6.055 and 9.505 7.550 and 13.670 7.150 and 9.760 15.235 15.606 11.900 and 17.755 7.285 9.690, 11.940 and 15.250 6.115 11.925 and 17.755 9.560 9.620 and 15,240 11.730 and 15.300 6.040 and 11.760 15.295 13.660 and 17.795 9.765 and 11.790 9.825 9.820 and 5.250 9.875 13.760 9.760 and 11.945 note frequencies and schedules of radio Moscow services Are not in this listing As the station is found All Over the shortwave spectrum at virtually any hour. For now let s stick with the casual listener and hearing what the Kremlin is saying about us. An Exchange in the Stuttgart area recently was Selling Palm sized shortwave receivers for $40.95. For $150 to $200, there were receivers with digital readouts and expanded frequency coverage. Whatever your taste there s nothing quite like shortwave radio for an endless Stream of broadcasts that will give you a global perspective keeping you informed and entertained 24 hours a Day and helping you to understand our world a Little bit better. On Standard am radio station frequencies Are shown in Kilohertz on shortwave they re in Megahertz Mhz. Generally the higher frequencies usually from 15 Mhz upward Are where most stations can be heard during the daytime below 15 Mhz is generally the Range to look at night. The audio or signal Quality on shortwave can t match pm radio but the listening intrigue far surpasses both am and pm. Elsewhere on this Page is a partial list of some of the English language broadcasts from major stations. The stations listed also broadcast at other times and on other frequencies. Ort now stationed in Nellinger West Germany has been an army journalist since 1971. He also is a military consultant for popular communications Magazine and his articles also have appeared in new York newspapers. February 16, 1989 stripes Magazine