[Boatanchors] Short Wave Broadcast Folks:

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Atkinson" <ranchorobbo at gmail.com>
To: "Richard Knoppow" <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
Cc: "David Stinson" <arc5 at ix.netcom.com>; "Boat Anchors 
List" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 3:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Short Wave Broadcast Folks:


> On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 9:48 PM, Richard Knoppow
> <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
>>     I very much miss all the short wave broadcasting, 
>> even the propaganda
>> stations, but especially the old BBC World Service. These 
>> days Cuba and
>> China are about the only ones left.
>
> You can thank the internet for that.  Just hanging out a 
> wire,
> flipping on a receiver and tuning a station has been 
> replaced by a
> fussy unreliable and complex computer setup and "find the 
> app for the
> streaming format" then you are lucky to have 10 minutes 
> trouble free.
> you can thank cell phones for the disappearance of pay 
> phones and
> AT&T's war on POTS, the good old twisted pair.   Try 
> calling your
> house to check on it when your phone is a cell phone. 
> Try calling
> out when your electric service is of and your "phone" is a 
> computer.
> Plenty of perfectly good technology that worked reliably 
> is getting
> tossed away by millions of people who are ga ga for 
> anything with a
> touch screen.
>
> 73
>
> Rob
> K5UJ

     I am still on a dial-up at home, don't ask why. Its too 
slow for the BBC and some other on-line services.  I think 
the real reason is that its cheaper.  The BBC destroyed 
their short wave audience by cutting back on hours and 
programming and just in general making it difficult to get 
good signals. They then used this as an excuse to get rid of 
the expensive transmitter sites. These days the real estate 
is worth more than the station plus labor costs are high so 
the transmitters go. The end of the cold war meant the end 
of the Voice of America, a service that would be useful to 
have now. The internet is fine but is not as some thought 
beyond the control of governments.
     BTW, I keep a POTS phone as well as a cell phone 
because its more reliable. The phone companies would love to 
get rid of them because they want to get out of the power 
supply business which is necessary for old type phones. They 
also would like to get rid of the copper.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com