Universal Radio to close in a few days

[kenglish]

https://swling.com/blog/2020/11/end-of-an-era-universal-radio-is-closing-shop/

I started buying from them shortly after Gilfer closed. Been a regular customer ever since. I talked to them on Friday, and nothing was mentioned about retirement.
Where will I get my next WRTH?
And all those neat NRC publications?

 

[boombox4]

The news of their closing is all over the radio hobby forums. It looks like they don't have a buyer for their business, or if they do, it hasn't been made public. Their online business should still be worth something, one would think. Unless the radio hobby is in decline.

I never did business with them (bought all my radios locally at retailers), but have looked up info on their website, which is a valuable resource for info on radios. And online a lot of guys say they have bought things from them. Their demise, if that's what it is, is a sad thing for the radio hobby.

 

[CTListener]

The news of their closing is all over the radio hobby forums. It looks like they don't have a buyer for their business, or if they do, it hasn't been made public. Their online business should still be worth something, one would think. Unless the radio hobby is in decline.

I think you've hit on it right there. I've been a shortwave listener for 55 of my 65 years, but all my listening now is to ham radio operators, and not on a physical radio but on software-defined ones online, since the noise level at my apartment building makes RF reception on HF frequencies futile. There's nothing Universal Radio can interest me in anymore, including the WRTH, because international broadcasting has lost all of the content that once fascinated me, and no annual publication can tell me which rare country will turn up when on 40 meters.

 

[gr8oldies]

Wishing all the best to Fred and Barbara in their retirement, and I certainly remember Universal being a must-stop when in Columbus. Times change, the shortwave and ham hobbies are aging. Last field day I don't think anyone in attendance was under 75 other than me. I use the SDRs for my DXing as well.

 

[channel99]

Wishing all the best to Fred and Barbara in their retirement, and I certainly remember Universal being a must-stop when in Columbus. Times change, the shortwave and ham hobbies are aging. Last field day I don't think anyone in attendance was under 75 other than me. I use the SDRs for my DXing as well.

Activities like field day, hamfests, etc., along with browsing equipment in retail outlets may have much less appeal to younger hams and hobbyists. Equipment purchased today is more likely chosen from social media recommendations, and purchased online from Amazon after a Google search.

Oddly, though the internet allows remote use of SDR's worldwide, it is also one of main factors in the decline of shortwave broadcasting.

Universal's store was apparently already closed due to Covid-19, so that may have contributed to the decision.

 

[KeithE4]

I think you've hit on it right there. I've been a shortwave listener for 55 of my 65 years...

Same here. SW listening on my folks' Sears AM/FM/SW portable radio is what got me interested in ham radio. I hit 50 years as a ham this past May. But until the demise of the USSR and Al Gore inventing the Internet in the '90s, there was plenty on the broadcast bands as well. No more. TuneIn is the new Shortwave.

...but all my listening now is to ham radio operators, and not on a physical radio but on software-defined ones online, since the noise level at my apartment building makes RF reception on HF frequencies futile.

Those online SDR rigs are great. I can see how well I'm getting out (PSK Reporter is also my friend), which is necessary when one has a 100 watt rig and 40 foot Inverted L antenna. No tower, beam, and or linear here.

There's nothing Universal Radio can interest me in anymore, including the WRTH, because international broadcasting has lost all of the content that once fascinated me, and no annual publication can tell me which rare country will turn up when on 40 meters.

Like Amateur Electronic Supply, Universal Radio and other old-line dealers are going away with the owners' retirements. There are still others around, like Ham Radio Outlet, but Amazon and Ebay are killing them.

As far as publications are concerned, the WRTH still has value, although the last time I saw one was 5 years ago. If you want to DX the ham bands now, you need to connect your PC to your rig, and install WSJT-X on it to copy FT8. That mode alone accounts for about 75% of all HF activity, other than during contests. Also, with Solar Cycle 25 finally starting up, the 17 thru 12 meter bands (10 still needs more sunspots) are becoming more active. I've been working lots of DX on those bands during the day. It will get even better.

73, WW7KE

 

[davideduardo]

Oddly, though the internet allows remote use of SDR's worldwide, it is also one of main factors in the decline of shortwave broadcasting.

Shortwave was severely "declined" well before the widespread use of the Internet or the arrival of what is really a limited number of SDRs.

Shortwave became obsolete due to the occurrence of two things: the privatization of radio in nearly all free nations and the popularization of the FM band. In nations from Burkina Faso to Bolivia, every town had at least a handful of stations with a variety of formats and great quality. The need to listen to shortwave in rural areas gradually died in the 70's and in the big cities it was pretty much dead in the decade prior to that.

I bought an AM and SW station in Ecuador in 1967. I moved it to a larger city, and after exploring the economics of shortwave, trashed the transmitter and turned in the license. All around the lesser developed nations of the world, the same thing was happening.

The growth of FM pretty much precluded the need for shortwave on domestic and portable radios, so the availability of SW receivers at the consumer level crashed in the 70's and 80's to the point of nearly non-existence except for hobbyists. Stations that had a tradition of also broadcasting on shortwave disappeared as their gear became obsolete and there was no justification for the expense of replacement.

 

[boombox4]

Shortwave was severely "declined" well before the widespread use of the Internet or the arrival of what is really a limited number of SDRs.

Shortwave became obsolete due to the occurrence of two things: the privatization of radio in nearly all free nations and the popularization of the FM band. In nations from Burkina Faso to Bolivia, every town had at least a handful of stations with a variety of formats and great quality. The need to listen to shortwave in rural areas gradually died in the 70's and in the big cities it was pretty much dead in the decade prior to that.

I bought an AM and SW station in Ecuador in 1967. I moved it to a larger city, and after exploring the economics of shortwave, trashed the transmitter and turned in the license. All around the lesser developed nations of the world, the same thing was happening.

The growth of FM pretty much precluded the need for shortwave on domestic and portable radios, so the availability of receivers at the consumer level crashed in the 70's and 80's to the point of nearly non-existence except for hobbyists. Stations that had a tradition of also broadcasting on shortwave disappeared as their gear became obsolete and there was no justification for the expense of replacement.

All that -- and the Cold War ended... And satellite delivery of entertainment to mariners. In the 70's and 80's I could hear Mayak and other Russian outlets that served Soviet mariners -- they would pound in here on any transistor SW radio in the PNW. Not too long after the Cold War ended, during that 1990-2000 time period, the predominance of satellite delivery of broadcasts to ships eliminated the need for SW outlets which were previously used by them. It was just one more nail in the SW coffin.

 

[gr8oldies]

Makes me wonder who, other than hobbyists, were listening to all of these shortwave stations. Diplomats? Students? Would-be revolutionaries? Even the religious broadcasters.

 

[KeithE4]

Makes me wonder who, other than hobbyists, were listening to all of these shortwave stations. Diplomats? Students? Would-be revolutionaries? Even the religious broadcasters.

At least until World War II ended, shortwave bands on consumer radios were common. That started to fade after the war. Those radios in the '60s that did have shortwave were pretty shoddy, although they'd pick up the major broadcasters. Try to tune in a station on a consumer portable radio that's broadcasting within a band that takes up 1/2 to 1 inch of an 8 inch dial without bandspread. Some had an uncalibrated "fine tuning" control (like the one my folks had), but most had nothing.

By 1970, shortwave listeners were mostly hobbyists and hams, who bought better equipment. But the American market for communications receivers outside of hams was dying. Fast. Heathkit was the low end, and hung on for a few more years, but Allied/Knight-Kit, Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, and National were gone before Nixon resigned. The main Japanese companies, Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu, produced general coverage receivers, but they really were geared to hams as well. Today, most are built into ham transceivers.

 

[davideduardo]

Makes me wonder who, other than hobbyists, were listening to all of these shortwave stations. Diplomats? Students? Would-be revolutionaries? Even the religious broadcasters.

In much of the world, radio stations were located only in the big cities. In rural areas, listening to local "tropical band" SW stations was very common, and there were many, many stations. All over Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America there were many, many SW stations. They were listened to both locally and in rural areas where there was often no telephone service and of course no radio station.

International shortwave began in earnest in the 30's and was a popular way to hear entertainment and news from other parts of the world. It was extensively used in WW II for propaganda by both sides of the conflict. And then, the Cold War caused many countries to broadcast their preferred ideology. Other nations promoted their culture and tourism via shortwave.

In most of the world, radios had SW and AM. When FM started growing in the late 60's outside the US, more and more people wanted FM radios and manufacturers traded FM for SW on their products, so SW began a slow fade over the next 30 years.

As an example, in the late 60's, Quito, Ecuador had over 30 AM radio stations... all fulltime and full signal. Yet there was one SW station from a city about 100 miles or so away that consistently showed up in the Quito ratings... not very high up, but it was there. That SW station (it had an AM, but it was separate only for its home town) was one of the highest billing stations in the nation, despite being in a city that was not even in the top 20 in population.

 

[cyberdad]

In much of the world, radio stations were located only in the big cities. In rural areas, local "tropical band" SW stations were very common. All over Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America there were many, many SW stations. They were listened to both locally and in rural areas where there was often no telephone service and of course no radio station.

Until relatively recently, the 49 meter shortwave band at my location near chicago had a listenable signal on nearly every channel on a nightly basis. This despite the Midwest not exactly being a primary target for many, if not most, shortwave broadcasters. In the southern reaches of the United States, you could still hear dozens of stations from Latin America in the tropical band. While north of the border, you had Canada's government-run "Northern Service" to serve vast remote segments of the country with CBC and other programming., This was augmented by several big city commercial stations operating with repeaters on shortwave.

This ended with the advent of internet and satellites.

 

[CTListener]

International shortwave began in earnest in the 30's and was a popular way to hear entertainment and news from other parts of the world. It was extensively used in WW II for propaganda by both sides of the conflict. And then, the Cold War caused many countries to broadcast their preferred ideology. Other nations promoted their culture and tourism via shortwave.

In most of the world, radios had SW and AM. When FM started growing in the late 60's outside the US, more and more people wanted FM radios and manufacturers traded FM for SW on their products, so SW began a slow fade over the next 30 years.

I got my start in shortwave listening fiddling with a late-'40s vintage radio that was part of a phonograph-radio console in my grandparents' living room. Its dial had markings for the international broadcast frequencies and even some of the countries that could be heard on them. I remember that the frequency range directly about the AM broadcast band was marked "police." By the late '60s, police radio systems had vacated this band for "low band" VHF, so I never heard any cops on that radio, but when that receiver was built, listening to police calls from near and far, especially at night, was a fairly popular form of entertainment.

 

[KeithE4]

Until relatively recently, the 49 meter shortwave band at my location near chicago had a listenable signal on nearly every channel on a nightly basis. This despite the Midwest not exactly being a primary target for many, if not most, shortwave broadcasters. In the southern reaches of the United States, you could still hear dozens of stations from Latin America in the tropical band. While north of the border, you had Canada's government-run "Northern Service" to serve vast remote segments of the country with CBC and other programming., This was augmented by several big city commercial stations operating with repeaters on shortwave.

This ended with the advent of internet and satellites.

I don't know about the other Canadians, but CFRX (CFRB) Toronto is still alive and well on 6070. I hear it in Phoenix at times.

 

[CTListener]

I don't know about the other Canadians, but CFRX (CFRB) Toronto is still alive and well on 6070. I hear it in Phoenix at times.

In suburban Boston, I would get CFRX, CFCX 6005 (CFCF), and CHNX 6130 (CHNS) with no problem during the day, but all three were swallowed up by international broadcasters at night. CFCX carried Montreal Expos baseball.

 

[radioman148]

I don't know about the other Canadians, but CFRX (CFRB) Toronto is still alive and well on 6070. I hear it in Phoenix at times.

I remember listening to CFRX back in the 60s and setting my clocks to "CHU".

 

[KeithE4]

I remember listening to CFRX back in the 60s and setting my clocks to "CHU".

CHU is still around, although they moved from 7335 to 7850 kHz years ago.

 

[WCJ]

CHU is still around, although they moved from 7335 to 7850 kHz years ago.

CHU, here at my QTH, Orange County, TX, is a very infrequent visitor altho I just checked and could hear them above the ground noise that starts to increase about this time of day.

 

[CTListener]

CHU is still around, although they moved from 7335 to 7850 kHz years ago.

It's still beeping away at 3330. CHU also has a transmitter at 14670, but skip is usually too long for it to be anything but a faint signal here. The format has stayed the same over the years, the only major change having been changing "Eastern Standard Time" and "Eastern Daylight Time" in the announcements to "Coordinated Universal Time." At some point, also, "exactly" and its French counterpart "precise," were dropped from the top-of-the-hour announcements.

Getting back to CFRB/CFRX, I wonder how management justifies keeping the shortwave signal going for so long. It's been about 30 years since shortwave broadcasting has been of any value in Canada, maybe longer, and by this point the audience has to consist of hobbyists and a tiny number of former Torontonians nostalgic for the sounds of home.

 

[gr8oldies]

Can CFRX have more than a dozen listeners in any given day? Its value has to be zero.

In suburban Boston, I would get CFRX, CFCX 6005 (CFCF), and CHNX 6130 (CHNS) with no problem during the day, but all three were swallowed up by international broadcasters at night. CFCX carried Montreal Expos baseball.