    
Tech833
Moderator
Username: Tech833
Post Number: 845
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - 1:39 am: | 
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Introduction to Shortwave - History
Written By ~ Tech 833
Shortwave listening as a hobby activity is actually the oldest 'radio hobby' there is. Shortwave was around long before amateur ('ham') radio. Back before the turn of the century in the 1800's, ships were using spark gap transmitters and spark or coherer receivers to communicate with each other and shore stations.
Crafty radio experimenters built their own spark
interruption receiving sets and decoded the morse code dits and dahs, thus beginning the hobby of 'listening in' on short wave transmissions.
 When voice (also called 'phone') communications became widely used just prior to World War 1, shortwave enthusiasts were already using homemade and modified TRF (Tuned Radio Frequency) design receivers to listen in.
Many foreign nations released frequencies in the shortwave spectrum for international broadcasting, news, weather and all sorts of military and national communications. Shortwave was alive!
 When the first shots were fired from an American vessel in WW1, the SW listening community was there. Beginning in the late 1920's through the 30's and charging into the early 40's, radio manufacturers saw the fascination with shortwave listening and most made their most-sought radios in dual band models.
Naturally, the AM broadcast band (AM BCB) was the first band of choice, second was the 'police band' which covered from the top of the AM BCB to about 5 or 6 MHz. on most sets. Then, the higher end sets would also cover from the police band to over 15 MHz.
 At the beginning of America's involvement in WW2, there were shortages of all materials found in radio sets, including metal.
By order of the U.S. government, all consumer radio manufacturing came to a halt, and everyone was to focus all manufacturing on the war effort. During the war, American news coverage was spotty at best, and what news to be found was horribly watered down and edited so as not to disturb morale of the nation. People who wanted to have their news as raw and truthful as possible turned to shortwave for news from foreign sources.
 Radios made prior to WW2 with shortwave bands were scarce and worth several times their original value simply because people who wanted the news straight wanted shortwave capability more than AM BCB.
 The truth is, radios that survived the era with shortwave capability have probably brought their former owners the entire war as portrayed by foreign sources, since 'radio parties' were becoming very common. Those who owned radio sets with shortwave would open their homes to those without and share the sounds of raw news with their neighbors nightly.
It became the predecessor to what we now call a 'block party', but with much more innocent beginnings. It also was the beginning of the modern version of the 'pot luck'.
Parents with sons lost overseas usually found out about their son's fate long before the knock on the door if they had shortwave.
Many shortwave listeners even found clandestine audio sources such as concentration camps and foreign soldiers communicating on shortwave. This did not escape the U.S. military as an intelligence gathering source, and the first radio direction finding equipment was built and utilized to this effort. Soon, jamming and coded signals began to appear, and shortwave listeners were excluded from a lot of what they were seeking.
 As world war 2 was reaching its peak, the population was asked to sacrifice. Already, food and fuel rationing were in place, and people were making due without much of the comforts we take for granted.
When the metal and wood shortage reached critical stage, people were asked to bring their old radio sets to the centers where the raw materials would be recycled for making ships and war machines. Many old consoles were turned in to these centers and their fine wood cabinets burned to fire the factory boilers.
During the war, if your shortwave capable radio were to fail and need repair, you would not get it back with the shortwave band working. Radio
repair centers were instructed to disable the SW band and leave just the AM BCB active in sets they repaired.
 I own one such set that was made in 1938 and had its SW band disabled during a repair in 1943. Needless to say, the shortwave community was at odds with this policy. Not all repair shops complied. However, those who did not wish to have their fuel ration scaled back did comply, though reluctantly. If your radio failed and needed repair, your best bet was to contact a local amateur radio operator.
 The hams were to observe radio silence during the war, so most turned to repairing sets to keep them busy until they were again allowed to operate on the air. There was no shortage of repair centers, but there WAS a severe shortage of parts. Many radios repaired during the war have impossible tube substitutions and parts substitutions that make you appreciate the desperate times.
On August 6, 1945 at 8:16 AM, the United States dropped the first atom bomb, on Hiroshima, Japan.
It was a major event for the underground
shortwave community as well. They knew something big was happening, but what?
A single aircraft flying alone over Japan, breaking away from the other two planes without the usual radio communications of reconnaissance? SOMETHING was up! And it was. When shortwave listeners heard the words of the B-29 'Enola Gay' radio man Dick Nelson go silent, soon followed by the eerie silence of Hiroshima, Japan fireblock building crew communications, they
knew what much of the public would not for days to come. The experiment was a success.
 The end of world war 2 brought a new face to shortwave listening. With amateur radio operators again on the air and much miltary traffic gone, shortwave became much more of a hobby listening to the hams.
 Many of the shortwave radios produced after world war 2 in fact catered to the ham community. Hallicrafters was hands down, the market leader. Many radio receivers made for the war effort were now available to the public in both new and surplus form. The best performing receiver was the Collins R-390 and its siblings. To this day, the 390 is considered the best receiver available and they command a hefty price.
 When the 1960's came around and the Vietman and Korean war eras evolved, shortwave became more of a curiosity to the public than anything else.
 The hi-fi era was born and many hi-fi units came with at least one shortwave band, usually the 31 meter band.
As the nation went to drug rehab and disco danced through the 1970's, many shortwave radio manufacturers, including Hallicrafters found themselves in tough times.
With the commercial AM band full of stations and the new FM band now well populated, and television finding its way into every household, shortwave as a hobby shrunk in numbers. With so many stations available with such high signal strength, people were reluctant to string longwire antennas as they had before, which limited the shortwave they could hear. Truthfully, much shortwave programming was already turning to programs of religious organizations and most government and military communications were coded. There was slim pickins for the domestic shortwave listener.
 However, for the discriminating shortwave listener willing to erect longwire antennas and improve upon their receivers, there was a whole new world of foreign broadcast open to them. Utility stations, information broadcasts, Megawatt national broadcasters, and the under-developed nation broadcasts were now all over the bands.
Even to this day, many underdeveloped nations do not have AM and FM broadcasts like we do in the states. Many nations still rely on shortwave
sent to them by such giants as the VOA (Voice of America), BBC (British Broadcasting Company) and others.
Even though you may hear the Voice of America, it does not mean the transmission you are hearing is coming from the United States! The transmission could be broadcast from transmitters in another nation and beamed to the nation or area of choice.
Many large broadcasters maintain transmission facilities all over the globe to direct transmissions to everywhere in between.
In the next series, we will discuss what types of transmissions you can find on shortwave.
Photo credits-
1. Atwater Kent 10C. Courtesy of John Goller
2. Crosley Mate. Courtesy of Tina Shinn
3. Crosley 52TH. Courtesy of Paul Shinn
4. Crosley 517. Courtesy of Paul Shinn
5. Zenith 11S474. Courtesy of John Goller
6. Crosley 1117. Courtesy of Tech 833
7. Crosley 517 compact. Courtesy of Tech 833
8. Zenith Stratosphere. Courtesy of John Goller
9. Hallicrafters S-53A. Courtesy of Tech 833
10. Collins R-390. Courtesy of Clifford Kurtz
11. Hallicrafters SW-500. Courtesy of Paul Shinn
12. Trio W-38. Courtesy of Paul Shinn
13. Zenith M660A. Courtesy of Tech 833
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