LilyYucarp

I haven't updated the website quite a while, so welcome back. I didn't forget my password, I didn't forget about this website, there were a lot of things happening and I was unmotivated so I didn't update the website but I am here right now. The disclaimer on my main page is still true by the way, unless an unfortunate thing happens I will not leave my page unattended.

So, to get back to track, I recently got a radio from a stationary. (weird I know) I bought it because it was relatively cheap and it had many features such as MP3 playback support, Bluetooth support and radio. It was both a good and bad choice to be honest. When I came to home I plugged an USB cable to it and after charging the radio, I started experimenting with the radio feature of that radio. At first, I switched to the FM switch and it captured all the stations that any other FM radio could capture. But the actual thing started when I switched to the SW switch. I couldn't get any stations at first but when I got my first station from USA, I realized that I could get broadcasts from the world with this radio. Although many of them are state-backed propaganda broadcasts, it was interesting that I could get a signal from the other side of the world with such a basic technology. I mean, it's not too basic but it doesn't technically require a lot of components to barely work. There was also an AM switch but because I couldn't get a signal I didn't bother to check it at that time. Shortly after using the shortwave feature of the radio, I became obsessed with it.

I started to rotate the knob in order to catch stations. With every station I found, I was astonished. I could get knowledge from other sides of the world without complicated technologies like the Internet or satelities. It was hard to catch a signal because the radio wasn't really sensitive but I still could get signals if I turned the knob in the right way. I didn't understand what the narrator said at most times but it was fun to listen to different voices across the world. After a short time, I started to get interested in getting more broadcasts. At first I switched the place of the radio. Because it was portable, it was easy to do that. But that wasn't enough for me. I was really interested and I wanted to know more about shortwave radio. So I did my research and found some factors that affected the strength of the signal. I won't bore you with the details but there were three main factors, the time of the day, the antenna and the location where the radio is. At first I tried getting signals when there was no sun in the sight. It worked and I could get more signals. I also started to get signals for the AM radio. After that, I started to tweak the antenna. I just connected a long wire to the antenna and the signal strength increased. I couldn't change the location of the radio as it was a more macroscopic thing like changing countries. As of right now, I can get 10 to 20 stations if it's a good night for SW waves. I also realized that my radio was preventing me to accurately pointing to a station so I ordered another radio which has the same features but is more accurate.

But why get obsessed with shortwave radio? You can listen to voices from everywhere using the Internet and it's easier and cheaper. Also, there isn't the problem of only having a specific number of stations, with the Internet you can reach everything and everyone. Well, it's true that using the Internet has advantages over using the shortwave radio, like how e-mails have advantage over telgraphs or how trains have advantage over horses. It's true too that Internet has more users than shortwave radio. But shortwave radio has its own merits too. First, you have another choice to listen from. Although we are bound to the Internet, we have to accept that it still can be gone at sometimes. There can be a power outage, or a crisis and you can find yourself without the Internet. Or you might simply miss the days where people wasn't bound to the Internet (it's not really a bad thing but screen time really has disadvantages) and you might try to catch some signals over the world. Secondly, shortwave is anonymous. No one can really find who you are using shortwave signals unless you send them signals back. This might not have any practical use, but if you want complete anonymity, you might use it for your advantage. Shortwave signals aren't encrypted (theoretically they can be but that requires a lot of infrastructure) so it's not technically secure but you will be listening so who cares. Shortwave waves also can travel far distance through the atmosphere, so you can tune into signals which come from a very far distance. But even without them, listening shortwave still has its own beauty. The randomness of turning the knob and the noise that comes from background still interest some people. The glory days of shortwave has long past, but it still lives a relatively small life.

Sorry, this post has been short and I couldn't tell a lot of things about shortwave radio because they were too technical. I also know that my Linux tutorial hasn't been updated for 5 months but I have a lot of free time now so I will work on that too. I also have got obsessed with kernel development but that's another topic. Also for those who are interested in buying a shortwave radio, don't expect it to be a thing that you commonly use. Although there are some stations left there are a lot of propaganda and there aren't many independent news so don't expect too much. It still can be used to retrieve information in crisis times or for fun, but please check the accuracy of information you got.