What are Shortwave & HAM radio differences?

[stevenjj71]

I have an old Shortwave radio that I can use to pick up radio stations from all over the world.

When you have a HAM radio license (and presumably a HAM radio!) is the radio capable of picking up the international Shortwave radios?

Or....are these two totally concepts/ideas that have nothing whatsoever to do with each other!

Thanks

 

[e9999]

my "short wave" radios (the type you use to listen to music and news in exotic countries) have frequencies ranges roughly between 5 and 20 MHz (with big gaps). A cursory look suggests that there is little / no overlap with typical US HAM frequencies for mine at least. I imagine the bands on the inexpensive SW radios are just those for commercial stations (not the same as for HAM).

HAM is a nickname for Amateur Radio. Amateur radio has very specific legal meaning in the US with very specific bands reserved for transmission by those folks with the related license. The bands used by HAMs are usually intentionally different from those for commercial stations (I imagine). The easier to get HAM license are for frequencies well above those SW radios. It takes a more difficult to get license to get in the SW region.

Of course, you can listen to pretty much any band if you have the appropriate receiver (exceptions for cell phones etc), as it does not take a license for listening. Some wideband digital receivers used by some hams can tune in to just about any frequency over enormously wide ranges (expensive) -see below. But the HAMs can only legally transmit over specific narrow bands. And the HAM transmitters are all likely software or hardware-limited to transmitting only on the specific HAM ranges AFAIK, although some have extended reception.

Basically, commercial SW radios (as in British colonials in Kenya listensing to the BBC over a Scotch) and HAM radios are apples and oranges I believe.



example:

this is a wide range receiver that anybody could buy without license in the US, I think: (from the Yaesu web site)

"Yaesu VR-5000 COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER
0.1 - 2599.99998 MHz* LSB/USB/CW/AM-N/AM/WAM/FM-N/WFM
All-Mode Wide-Band Receiver (*Cellular blocked)

The exciting world of communications monitoring, from Longwave to Shortwave to Microwave, comes to your home or station with Yaesu's new VR-5000 Communications Receiver.

Professional features, professional ergonomics, and professional DSP-based selectivity* are yours to enjoy today-and only from Yaesu!

snip

Preset Shortwave Broadcast Memory Bank

Featuring a handy world map showing the station’s location, the special Shortwave Broadcast Station Memory Bank includes several different frequencies from a number of popular shortwave stations, including Voice of America, the BCC, Radio Japan, Voice of Russia, etc. The operating frequencies may be changed by the owner, to keep up with changing station schedules!
"




as you can see, it can listen to any frequency (except cell) in that wide range, including SW broadcasting. Kind of like your SW radio on super steroids.
Of course, you cannot legally transmit on all these frequencies without the related license. For that you need a transmitter also and these are normally frequency limited. In some countries you even need the license to buy the transmitter - not in the US.

 

[stevenjj71]

Thanks for the info, you have cleared things up for me.

 

[e9999]

Thanks for the info, you have cleared things up for me.

wait until somebody else pipes up with a different story...

 

[Kofoed]

I have an old Shortwave radio that I can use to pick up radio stations from all over the world.

When you have a HAM radio license (and presumably a HAM radio!) is the radio capable of picking up the international Shortwave radios?

You can pick up an amateur radio signal, if your sw radio goes "out of band" and it can pickup SSB mode signal. It is perfectly ok to listen out of the sw bands. I have a Sangean 404 sw radio that tunes continuously from just above the commercial AM band up to 26 mhz, in 50khz steps. The radio also have regular commercial AM and FM capabilities, but it doesn't have SSB mode.

You hear some wild stuff on sw (though not right now due to the solar conditions) I usually listen to the BBC World Service when I do (not that much) Radio Havana sounds like ABC/NBC/CBS, go figure

 

[e9999]

come to think of it, my analog (I think) SW shows something like 7 or 8 separate bands in the SW range. But my digital one has continuous tuning too from about 5 to 20 or 25 MHz.



Anyway, how come you guys hear so much on these little SW guys? I don't get much at all on mine - at least inside (wood construction).

Do you use an external antenna?

 

[Kofoed]

Anyway, how come you guys hear so much on these little SW guys? I don't get much at all on mine - at least inside (wood construction).

Do you use an external antenna?

An external antenna helps a lot. When I used to listen a lot, I went ghetto and bought a 50 spool of 18 guage wire, black, and put on the roof and ran one in under the window. You couldn't tell it was up there, and I just wrapped the one end of the wire around the telescopic antenna on the radio. If there is a lot of rfi nearby, you will not pickp up much.