27
votes
Any shortwave listeners here? What are some good frequencies to listen on?
If you are a Shortwave Listener, what are some good frequencies to hear?
If you are a Shortwave Listener, what are some good frequencies to hear?
Have you looked into numbers stations? Those are kind of fun and mysterious. They've been around for decades and nobody really knows what they're for, iirc. One is called UVB-76 and broadcasts on the frequency of 4625 kHz. It plays short tones and intermittent phrases in Russian. I'm not sure how to find other numbers stations but I know there a many others out there.
Semi-recently number stations were used in a federal espionage case. It’s been a while since I looked but I’m pretty sure they introduce examples of cracked codes into evidence. May be worth reading about if you think number stations are cool!
The buzzer! I have no idea what it means but it is very mysterious. The voices are one thing and they are a little concerning. There are also changes to the tone and frequency of the buzz. I check once every so often to see if anything crazy is happening but I've never caught anything too crazy live. There is a YouTube channel that re-broadcasts it live and it is also able to be heard through one of the online sdr tuners.
I actually tried to receive the famous Buzzer (or UVB-76) but no luck, i also check out that YouTube livestream every now and then
Using actual hardware? Or online? I was able to get it to work online by using a Russian hosted SDR server. The other ones I used weren't close enough to pick it up. I think because it's so well known there is a lot of interference around that band.
Using actual hardware! Even at night (when there should be propagation in that band) i can't pick it up at all. I heard some people in my area managed to do so but probably with giant antennas and better radios with filters to remove noise and stuff like that (i use an xhdata d-808 with a matching xhdata an-80 antenna (picture of antenna and radio https://images.app.goo.gl/9vWGUzikGN39EKe4A) which are definetely not gonna be as good compared to a pricier radio and a giant antenna)
I know that you have already listed the shortcomings for the range, but otherwise would you recommend that setup? I've never used actual hardware but would be curious to try something without getting in too deep.
Yeah, i reccomend it! It's not that expensive either, it's a nice little radio! I got it since it has SSB since i wanted to listen to amateur radio broadcasts. It can pick up a lot of stuff even on the telescopic antenna. Also i reccomend looking at the propagation chart on https://hrdlog.net (the higher the arrow the better propagation is on that band (20m is popular and can be found on 14.000 and up, interesting stuff is 14.074 is FT8 that can be decoded with FT8CN app on android, idk about iphone apps, 14.100 to 14.200 is where i found the most people talking (no digital modes, just by voice)) Also that radio can pick up the AIR band, so you can listen to airplanes talking to the base station. Just look up on internet the frequency for your area. If propagation is good, you can pick up really distant stations! I'm in italy and the most distant station i heard was in russia. Also when you receive their callsign, you can look it up at https://qrz.com and it tells you their location.
Great, thanks for the info. I'll check it out then.
No problem!
Edit: I reccomend you check out this review on youtube: https://youtu.be/qAlLvsgpl9w
i still can't believe i typed all of that on my phone
i tried to listen to it but in my location even at night i can't pick it up
Ah darn. I've been aware of numbers stations for a long time but don't have any advice on how to find them. I always assumed one could find them with any radio equipment setup as long as you knew where to tune. It must be a bit more nuanced than that.
Yeah, it depends on a lot of variables so it's very difficult, and also i think that nowadays number station are really rare (there aren't a lot left)
Depending on the frequency and time of day, the radio waves will propagate differently and "skip" through the ionosphere. The HF bands include a good amount of the shortwave frequencies so it may help to even check what the LUF and MUF are estimated at in order to help focus on a frequency range to listen in on. You can pick up stations from thousands of miles away or you may even pick up something from a repeater.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_frequency
Yes, these are exactly the variables i was refering to
A lot of the digital buzzing you can hear scanning around the bands is actually non-military stuff that you can decode at home if your radio does single side band. There's even android apps for some of the more common codecs that let you decode them just by holding the phone up your speaker, although you need a pc for the one app that really does everything. I managed to decode a maritime weather report from Greece all the way on the east coast of the US that way the last time I messed around with it, and that was with a handheld radio and its built in whip antenna, not anything too exciting.
i have a nice xhdata d-808 handeld radio with ssb, as an antenna i use a xhdata an-80 so i could probably try, around what frequencies can i find them?
All over the band. I don't mess with the radio enough to have anything other than the talking clock channels memorized (those are at 5000, 10000, 15000,and I think also 25000 and 2500 kHz), but if you scan around in usb mode you'll find some. My environment is just too electrically noisy to get good signal unless I take the radio outside, and there's only a few months out of the year down here when the weather is nice enough for that to be much fun. I mostly bought it as an emergency radio for extended power outages.
All that said, Signal Wiki is pretty good for figuring out what it is you're hearing. The signals are limited to such a small bandwidth that you can actually ID the codec being used by ear if you know what to listen for, and the site has samples you can listen to to learn that, along with details about what the signals are used for and how they work.
It also doesn't hurt to Google any frequencies you hear weird buzzing on. Sometimes you'll find out it's a numbers station, but more often it's HAMs or weather information and you can decode it.
Thanks for the suggestion! How did i not know about this wiki earlier?
There's a lot of shortwave frequencies out there! I usually scan through and see what I can can find them look it up on a list like this to try to identify what it is I'm hearing. Most of the time I pick up someone giving a sermon. I still haven't run into a numbers station unfortunately.
Thanks! Will definitevely keep that site in mind next time i'm scanning the SW band.
I'd recommend picking up a SDR (software defined radio) which will allow you to more visually scan the signal ranges.
RSPdx: https://www.sdrplay.com/rspdx/
Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvyE5UAMf_E
More General SRD info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4x7cGALaC8
actually a couple of months ago i got a sdr receiver, i also got a decent antenna for handeld radios like baofengs and i can pick up a lot of stuff, being in italy i can get METEOMAR, a NOAA weather radio-like transmission but focusing only on weather for the sea, very interesting transmission i like to hear once in a while, and i won't forget also listening to a couple of Echolink nodes! (PS: since my sdr stick is a generic whatever i will mod it eventually to receive the HF band since generic sticks just don't receive that band, but then again my xhdata d-808 is my go-to radio for listening to HF.)
For packet there are a handful of sound card modems out these days that may work out well for you. Direwolf is one, EasyModem is another.
If you’re into deciding things check out APRS. It’s live location data of hams as well as some message traffic. You can also try to decode data from NOAA satellites. Those should both be VHF/UHF
Decoding APRS is cool, but if i'm gonna do it i prefer using this website https://aprs.fi since it's easier and shows people all around the globe!
I’m a ham so the interesting stuff to me the transmit and receive together but if you want to listen in there should be a lot of activity out there.
Take a look at this site for a general idea where to look: https://www.arrl.org/band-plan
40 meters and 20 meters are probably the more populated bands. The current popular digital mode is FT8 and you can find that on 7078 and 1478. A little higher up (7100 and 14100ish) and you should be able to find some packet radio stuff. BBS still exist on radio!
118.00 to 137.00 will have aviation traffic. Google your local airport’s approach and center frequencies, you’ll probably have the most luck there as at least the planes should be line of sight.
And don’t hesitate to get your ham certificate! A simple test done online and you’ll be able to transmit as well.
https://hamstudy.org
i will definiteily get a ham radio license at some point, also using the xhdata d-808 i also sometimes listen to the air band, but there isn't much to hear.
PS: I also like to decode FT8 a lot! I use an app on my android phone called FT8CN https://github.com/N0BOY/FT8CN/releases i reccomend it. Also packet radio is really interesting, but i'm wondering if it could be easily decoded and also i think that in my area there is no packet radio stuff unfortunately since i scanned a lot the whole 40m and 20m band multiple times and didn't receive anything like packet radio, but i'll try again ASAP!