BBC revives shortwave radio dispatches in Ukraine, and draws ire of Russia.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/business/media/bbc-shortwave-radio-ukraine.html

No paywall
https://archive.ph/LX7KN

As Russia is trying to cut off the flow of information in Ukraine by attacking its communications infrastructure, the British news outlet BBC is revisiting a broadcasting tactic popularized during World War II: shortwave radio.

The BBC said this week that it would use radio frequencies that can travel for long distances and be accessible on portable radios to broadcast its World Service news in English for four hours a day in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and in parts of Russia.

“It’s often said truth is the first casualty of war,” Tim Davie, director-general of the BBC, said in a statement. “In a conflict where disinformation and propaganda is rife, there is a clear need for factual and independent news people can trust.”

On Tuesday, Russian projectiles struck the main radio and television tower in Kyiv. Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, wrote on Twitter that Russia’s goal was “to break the resistance of the Ukrainian people and army,” starting with “a breakdown of connection” and “the spread of massive FAKE messages that the Ukrainian country leadership has agreed to give up.”

Shortwave radio has been a go-to vehicle to reach listeners in conflict zones for decades, used to deliver crackling dispatches to soldiers in the Gulf War, send codes to spies in North Korea and pontificate through the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. But more modern forms of radio along with the internet eventually pushed shortwave out of favor; the BBC retired its shortwave transmissions in Europe 14 years ago.

*snip*

[Hekate]

1. Kick!

[Wounded Bear]

2. K & R...nt

[mitch96]

4. Shades of the BBC broadcasting to Europe during WW2...

I wonder if putin is gonna ban shortwave sets like the Nazi did...
m

[BlueIdaho]

5. Hats off to the BBC!

We should coordinate with them on Voice of America shortwave broadcasts.

[gay texan]

6. Hell to the YES!!!

You can wipe out the internet and cell service, but you cant wipe out HF (shortwave) radio. You can try to block it. But its gonna get through.

Glad to have you back BBC!!!

[TheBlackAdder]

7. What do we still have, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty & VOA?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. I don't know. I used to listen to shortwave all the time.

I pulled some SWRs out of storage a few days back. They need new cells, but more than that, I need to know what's out there to listen to. Most of what I get is either Radio Havana or someone telling me I'm going to hell.

[Yonnie3]

33. Alex Jones and Infowars is on too

Last edited Fri Mar 4, 2022, 09:00 PM - Edit history (1)

Edit: I'm observing that sadly Jones is there too, not recommending. Via these receivers I linked below I can listen to long and medium wave (AM) in various localities world wide.

There is a network of online software defined receivers so you can listen to different areas of the world. Although I have a receiver here, I often listen on the G, ZL and VK receivers.

http://rx.linkfanel.net/

[SheltieLover]

8. Good!

[Karadeniz]

9. Wonderful!!! Have we decided to do this, too...I'd love to see the Russian people have access !!!

[2naSalit]

11. When I was up in the mountains...

All I could get was short wave so I found BBC broadcasting from a few locations. I got news from Australia and India, I think, not all BBC.

[wnylib]

34. I don't have a short wave any more,

But in 1986, I picked up reports from BBC and Germany about a high rate of radioactivity in Sweden and Finland, with other nations in the area starting to report the same. Since the Soviets were saying nothing, it took a while before the source was identified as Chernobyl.

[yaesu]

12. Old school information technology. I listen to the shortwave radio almost every day

glad they are starting up again.

[Mopar151]

13. London Calling, to the faraway towns!

[crickets]

14. Good job, BBC!

[erronis]

15. I keep a small LW/SW/etc. radio near me with plenty of batteries.

If the world comes to an end and I can still hear, I'll be listening to the last broadcasts.

On The Beach
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(1959_film)

On the Beach is a 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film from United Artists, produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, that stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins.[2] This black-and-white film is based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war.[3] Unlike in the novel, no one is assigned blame for starting the war; the film hints that global annihilation may have arisen from an accident or misjudgment.

[riverbendviewgal]

19. That movie had a great effect on me

I was 12. It made me antiwar as did the Adolph Eichmann trial 2 years later.

[wnylib]

35. I read the book On the Beach in 1962,

when I was 12, just a couple months before the Cuban Missile Crisis. Definitely had an effect on me, especially since the time of the story was set in 1963.

I also remember the Eichmann trial, but was not allowed to watch it because it was considered inappropriate for children. I got a glimpse of Eichmann in his glass booth before my mother noticed me lurking in the doorway and chased me away.

[multigraincracker]

23. About 8 years ago I picked up a battery/plug in/ hand crank,

combination flashlight radio. In case the lights go out, I'll have something to do. They are pretty cheap and worth having around..

[Bo Zarts]

16. I'm a Ham Radio operator ..

I'll be firing up the old Yaesu FT-897 all-mode tranceiver for some SWL (short-wave listening). Thanks for posting this.

[DENVERPOPS]

18. Isn't it difficult to get a ham license?

I was thinking about it when I was a teenager, and it seemed a Ham had to know all kinds of stuff including being able to transmit and receive morse code at a pretty good clip. And I seem to remember that the equipment wasn't cheap, especially the back yard antennae.
Do you have to get an approval to put up one of those antennae's???

[Bo Zarts]

20. Morse code requirements dropped .. otherwise, check this out for info.

https://hamradioprep.com/how-to-get-your-ham-radio-license-made-easy/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA64GRBhCZARIsAHOLriIrn1DccZ0EYBZMB3JKGFwQTc4HwDN09MM_6IbooP3JZBIGnWYlTAkaAjNFEALw_wcB

[DENVERPOPS]

24. Thanks for sharing

where to look BZ !!!!!!!!

[Nevilledog]

27. Cool beans! Let us know what you hear.

[halfulglas]

17. My BIL was in Iran in the 70's and when they stayed behind after evacuating the families

He used it to keep other Americans left behind, including American servicemen who were working there, in touch with families back in USA (plus other contacts). He had it set up in the attic of the house where he lived.

[paleotn]

21. We should relish their ire.

Fuck them.

[dchill]

22. Reminds me of D-Day broadcast to French resistance:

"My heart is drowned / In the slow sound / Languorous and long."

[GB_RN]

25. Isn't That A War Crime...

By attacking public communications like that? I could be mistaken, and I'll look it up momentarily, but I thought that attacking public infrastructure and communications was forbidden as a war crime.

ETA: I couldn't find anything specifically mentioning communications infrastructure, just that it's a war crime to destroy anything that's vital to civilian needs to survival and civilian structures. Technically, civilian communications could fall under either one, as civilian comms tell people where to go to get out of the way, get food, etc., but again that's just a technicality.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

26. It was a huge mistake for the free world to abandon international broadcasting. nt

[Hiawatha Pete]

28. K&R

[Liberal In Texas]

29. I wonder how many ruskies still have world band radios. (Shortwave receivers)

I think it was pretty common during the Cold War. With the internet the need for these radios greatly died out.

I still have a couple of them, but don't use them very often anymore.

[BootinUp]

30. Excellent. Too bad Vlad. nt

[cos dem]

31. It's hard to make complicated things robust, especially against intentional attack.

The internet is complicated, but it's not really all that robust. It's not that hard to take it down, either physically, or by attacks like denial of service.

Old technology like shortwave is much simpler, and these things are often much more robust because of it. One good reason not to abandon old technology too quickly.

We used to make fun of the old USSR (remember the USSR, when they were just ruled by communist dictators, not fascist assholes?) for continuing to use vacuum tubes in their radios. But tubes are much more robust against EMP that can occur during nuclear attack. In the US, the radios had to be hardened with heavy, expensive shielding.

[Alwaysna]

32. My dad was a ham radio operator during the cold war.

He used to talk to people behind the "iron curtain". I was too young to to understand but it seemed to be a big deal at the time.