[HBR] Whither SWL'ing...?

[David Richards]

Here are a couple of videos which will bring you up to speed regarding what's been going on with the VOA:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlLhWlDbKbI&feature=channel_page pt.1
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19tmiaGpTTo&feature=channel pt.2

--- On Mon, 3/23/09, Edward Swynar <gswynar at durham.net> wrote:

From: Edward Swynar <gswynar at durham.net>
Subject: [HBR] Whither SWL'ing...?
To: "Old Tube Radios" <glowbugs at piobaire.mines.uidaho.edu>, AmRadGear at yahoogroups.com, boatanchors at mailman.qth.net, hbr at mailman.qth.net, "Welcome to the Novice Rigs List!" <novice-rigs at mailman.qth.net>, "homebuilttuberadios" <homebuilttuberadios at yahoogroups.com>, antiquewirelessassociation at egroups.com
Date: Monday, March 23, 2009, 8:52 AM

Good Day All, 

At first blush, this subject may be considered to be off-topic...however, ask
yourself first if it was casual SWL'ing that originally interested you in
radio, eventually leading you up into the Amateur ranks, before hurling flaming
spit balls my way...! Hi Hi.

I've been engaged recently here with the re-alignment &
"...playing around" with my old RCA AR-88LF receiver: this has
entailed lots of time cruising the short wave spectrum, and as a consequence,
getting re-acquainted with the "feel" of the SW broadcast bands ---
something that I haven't done since about 1971.

What a change for the worse the past 38 years have ushered-in! 

The lack of the "used-to-be" omni-present former big powerhouse
stations like HCJB, Radio Deutche-Welle, the BBC, and Radio Canada --- and their
informative broadcasts --- is bad enough, but it's the quality of stuff from
the U.S.A. that is most shocking: nine out of ten U.S.-based SW BC'ers seem
to be dominated by religious themes...and those that aren't are heavily into
radical, extremist political rants that shock and amaze even me with their
blatant content...

Whatever happened to the steadying, re-assuring transmissions from The Voice of
America...? It is sadly missed!

What a poor image of America these current stations are presenting to the
world, and what a lousy incentive to-day's SWL'ing is to budding,
future, wannabe Hams...

I often ask myself, as I come across this verbal garbage, if the current state
of affairs had existed "...way-back-when", would I have become a
Ham...? The answer is always, "Probably not."

~73~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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