I found a shortwave radio a week ago. This long range communication device seems pretty useless nowadays but I find myself drawing comparisons between shortwave radio and the internet. Before the internet shortwave functioned as the best way for small countries to express to the whole world their manifestos, ideas, events, and all kinds of propaganda and junk. Countries could also receive international signals and learn about what's happening all over the globe. The internet works the same way except you don't need operators license to get your message out so anyone can broadcast their views. But just like the internet shortwaves signals were censored the way some websites are in certain countries today. Technologie and communication play a major role in politics and we're seeing that now more than ever with cellphone images and twitter pics being a major part of the journalism from Iraq, Libya and Serbia.
Anyways this radio is a lot of fun, I've been listening to Mexican and Japanese people speaking. I'd like to record some of the fuzzy sounds and mess around with them a bit.
Niiiice. SWave Radios are just simply cool, a hop skip and a jump from HAM radios of my youth. Look up the Conet Project (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conet_Project) pardon my Wikipedying. In a way, the mechanics of Shortwave Operations can be seen as a pre-cursor to the Internet. SWave allowed users to create and broadcast content along side of corporate and state interests. One of my uncles, a HAM radio operator, claims to have listened in on one of the Apollo missions in the early days of space explorations.
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