Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Australian shortwave broadcasting back on the agenda?

On Saturday, April 23, I attended a rally by ABC Friends Victoria at which Shadow Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus spoke. I've long been a supporter of shortwave broadcasting from Australia both for the inland but also the Pacific and was disappointed when it was shut down. It was a bit of a surprise when Mark Dreyfus mentioned shortwave in part of his speech.

No policy announcements but interesting that he mentioned shortwave.

3 comments:

Clifford Heath said...

I thought the Chinese had started using those frequencies?

dissplayname said...

Shortwave broadcast bands are defined by the ITU but station frequencies are not assigned. The value of 'ABC Radio National' shortwave frequencies is in their traditional use, such that people in the target areas know when & where to listen.

Yes, China Radio International assumed broadcasting on the former known RA freqs but since they are not assigned, it can't be considered a 'squat' per se. When former RA listeners tune the RA freq, they will hear CRI. However, CRI could not occupy the entire band/s (unless they were to set up a a scheme of intentional jamming of RA). Entirely possible for RA to resume broadcasting a few kHz either side of where they previously transmitted.

The formerly known reputation of Radio Australia for high quality news and information particularly coverage of cyclones, will draw listeners back.

Rutgar said...

used to listen to ABC shortwave...IN UK !!On a portable Vega radio 1970s
Bring it back .