An experience with a cheap, wind up “survival” radio piqued my interest in shortwave. Even though English broadcasting on shortwave frequencies is waning this may be your only source of information if the internet completely fails or the “kill switch” is thrown.
I had some single channel operator experience with the old PRC 77 and other VHF radios. I have fooled with a shortwave radio a little, at least enough to get a Spanish radio station and a snake handling church with a transmitter, in the past.
Selecting a Radio
It didn’t take long to realize I needed a much better radio, if I was really going to listen to shortwave. I’m not going to labor the details but the serpent gospel couldn’t be found on my windup Chinese turd. So, I turned to the internet for advice. One of the better product review sites I found was Eham.net. It includes A LOT of amateur radio hardware reviews, They have listings for present day models along with older (used) models.
Note: Older (used) reliable models merit serious consideration.
Comprehensive list of shortwave receivers with reviews and prices.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/8
I settled on a cheap very basic model that has received a lot of praise. The Sangean ATS 800 (aka Realistic DX/370) which is now out of production ($35 used). A short time while later, I ordered another receiver, the Tecsun PL-660 ($90 new), which offered some more features. Both have good reviews and are priced fairly modestly for their features.
Finding Stations
But, finding the time, frequency and languages of the stations was tricky. If you don’t know, shortwave listening is better done at night, and stations do not broadcast continuously like your local FM country station.
Short-wave.info is an excellent resource for finding this information. The site is interactive and it knows the time of day and your location. It even gives a little strength meter that lets you pick out more likely prospects to explore.
Other frequency listings
http://support.radioshack.com/support_electronics/doc66/66356.htm#Time
http://www.endtimesreport.com/shortwave.html
After posting this, I had a big Duh moment. I don’t want to overstate the obvious but all these online resources won’t work if something big happens. Write or print these frequencies out that you think are important to you.
The Hard Tack Brigade 