Active shortwave radio countries

[CADXER]

If you are a shortwave DXer like me and kept count of the shortwave radio countries you have heard you have probably noticed that many SW radio countries have left the air and are no longer active.

I have been using the NASWA country list to keep track of the countries I logged during my DXing career. Recently I came across an updated list of active SW radio countries created by Jerry Berg and out of the possible 266 NASWA countries only 117 countries are still active on the shortwave bands.

Here is a link to the list: http://www.ontheshortwaves.com/Countries/Active-Inactive-Countries-Aug-6-2018.pdf

Have you kept a log of SW countries heard? If yes, what are your totals? And what do you consider your best shortwave country/station catches?

 

[cyberdad]

117 stations are all that's left, not counting a small handful of pirates. Sad for DXers, but most people don't care. The exceptions are Africa and Asia, where more than half of the SW stations are located (69 of them). Those may be the only places left where the technology is still relevant in some underdeveloped regions.

 

[crainbebo]

And like DavidEduardo has said before, many of those African countries are full of FM stations now. Sure, there may be some listeners, but it's getting fewer and fewer every year. Unlike the '90s, where 49 meters was wall-to-wall signals all evening in North America. BBC, Canada, France, Deutsche Welle, Cuba, Russia, you name it.

 

[cyberdad]

@crainbebo,,,, Indeed. I liked to hang out on 49 meters on winter nights because there was one or more signals on every channel....as well as more than a few sometimes between signals or just outside the band! The tropical bands were fun, too.

 

[davideduardo]

117 stations are all that's left, not counting a small handful of pirates. Sad for DXers, but most people don't care. The exceptions are Africa and Asia, where more than half of the SW stations are located (69 of them). Those may be the only places left where the technology is still relevant in some underdeveloped regions.

I believe that the cited number is "active countries". Some of them, like Perú, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, etc. have multiple commercial stations on SW, so the number of stations is considerably higher.

Still, the bands are dying and have been for half a century. As I've mentioned several times previously, I got a SW license around 1967 when I bought an AM station, HCSP1, in San Pedro de Amaguaña, Ecuador. After looking at the potential revenue, I turned in the SW license to save the S/. 100 per month license fee, and moved the AM station north to Quito.

S/. 100 was, then, the equivalent of about U$S 5.25 and that puts the value of shortwave in perspective.

 

[crainbebo]

60 meters is a ghost town nowadays. Cuba still operates Rebelde 24/7 on 5025, Progreso early/mid evenings on 4765, and you have WWV/WWCR. When conditions are very good, I get a weak signal of Belen, Brazil's Radio Clube do Para on 4.885, only 2KW. But the days of Ecos del Torbes and a gazillion other stations from the tropics and Africa are long gone.

 

[CTListener]

60 meters is a ghost town nowadays. Cuba still operates Rebelde 24/7 on 5025, Progreso early/mid evenings on 4765, and you have WWV/WWCR. When conditions are very good, I get a weak signal of Belen, Brazil's Radio Clube do Para on 4.885, only 2KW. But the days of Ecos del Torbes and a gazillion other stations from the tropics and Africa are long gone.

Some of the bigger signals on that band up this way were Radio Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Godcaster HRVC, Honduras, and Radio 5, South Africa. Was Cuba's unmistakable Radio Reloj, with its ticking clock and frequent time checks, on this band or 49?

 

[davideduardo]

60 meters is a ghost town nowadays. Cuba still operates Rebelde 24/7 on 5025, Progreso early/mid evenings on 4765, and you have WWV/WWCR. When conditions are very good, I get a weak signal of Belen, Brazil's Radio Clube do Para on 4.885, only 2KW. But the days of Ecos del Torbes and a gazillion other stations from the tropics and Africa are long gone.

The remaining Venezuelan SW stations have, for the most part, fallen victim to the de facto dictatorship and the collapsed economy of Venezuela. I know of one station that had to pirate parts from its SW transmitter to keep their AM operation alive.

 

[cyberdad]

I believe that the cited number is "active countries". Some of them, like Perú, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, etc. have multiple commercial stations on SW, so the number of stations is considerably higher.

That sounded plausible when I read it. And it may well be.

So I went back and checked the report. Bottom line is that it seems hard to tell with certainty, so I defer to your knowledge and experience on the subject.

As for the report, it shows Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru as "active" but gives no specifics. It also shows Ecuador as active, but the only reported station still operating as HCJB. (I'd have guessed that). Anyway, I'm wondering what it means when a country is shown as "active" but without further information. Does it mean poor or incomplete record-keeping? Does it mean the three South American countries in question have followed suit with Ecuador? Or does it mean something else entirely?

One south American country that surprised me a little was Venezuela. Inactive since 2009, according to the report. I seem to recall several commercial shortwave stations routinely audible here in Northern, IL. Most notably R. Rumbos on 31 meters (9660 IIRC). A good listen, actually. I liked the lively music, and got a kick out of the sounder they were using between stories on newscasts.
.

 

[CTListener]

Here's a half-hour of nostalgia for longtime SWLs, an album called "For Shortwave Listeners" that came out in the mid-'60s. I remember borrowing this from the Boston Public Library when I was about 13. Some familiar stations, others obscure, but worth a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Ns3qG57Y8&t=1589s

 

[gr8oldies]

For old times sake: "Lo Que Esta Noche, Recuerda" (except during Feria de San Sebastian). Listened many nights to that show on Ecos del Torbes. Radio Barquisimeto was the first 60 meter station I ever IDed, along with sisters Radio Juventud, Radio Yaracay and a couple more. I enjoyed the Africans drifting in around 4:30pm in the winter, replaced by Latin Americans, then back to Africa late nights

 

[channel99]

The low point in the sunspot cycle is not helping either. The bands are emptier from the listeners point of view, and the poorer coverage probably helps sway broadcasters on the fence about shutting down. When the count increases in a few years, there may not be many stations left.

 

[davideduardo]

As for the report, it shows Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru as "active" but gives no specifics. It also shows Ecuador as active, but the only reported station still operating as HCJB. (I'd have guessed that). Anyway, I'm wondering what it means when a country is shown as "active" but without further information. Does it mean poor or incomplete record-keeping? Does it mean the three South American countries in question have followed suit with Ecuador? Or does it mean something else entirely?

One south American country that surprised me a little was Venezuela. Inactive since 2009, according to the report. I seem to recall several commercial shortwave stations routinely audible here in Northern, IL. Most notably R. Rumbos on 31 meters (9660 IIRC). A good listen, actually. I liked the lively music, and got a kick out of the sounder they were using between stories on newscasts.
.

Colombia has a couple of SW stations, mostly in the far SE jungle areas. Ecuador has one HCJB operation, and I am told that a couple of the stations that used to be on SW still have transmitters and occasionally fire them up... but that seems suspicious. Perú has over 20 stations, Bolivia around the same, Brazil has about 50. Paraguay has two. In many cases, the facilities are not being maintained and they go off permanently when the equipment fails catastrophically.

In Perú, Bolivia and rural Brazil, SW is still the only efficient way to reach many communities.

Even Suriname appears in WRH as having SW still active.

And WRH, in the 2018 Handbook, says that SW stations are off due to "crisis" and many other stations, AM and FM, are off or irregular for the same reason.

 

[Ai4i]

It was a hobby and it made me feel special because with all of those powerful signals all around me,
I was part of a tiny but exclusive group of people who even knew that they were there.
I wish that I had had two receivers for diversity reception;
that would have made listening even more exclusive
The end of the end of the end!