[amsat-bb] The Russian Woodpecker

[B J]

On 12/8/16, R.T.Liddy <k8bl at ameritech.net> wrote:
> Sadly, when you tune across the SW Bands these daysyou don't hear very much.
>  It seems that the Internet hasreplaced many of those wonderful high-power
> stationsthat used to fill those airwaves..   -BL

<snip>

Indeed that's the case.  Many of those stations went off the air over
the years.  Many of their transmitters were old and spare parts were
hard to come by.  As well, they were often expensive to run.
Streaming over the Internet cost considerably less.

I used to be a monitor for the BBC World Service.  In 1999, it ended
its broadcasts to North America and I was told that I could only hear
it via the Internet after that.

Slowly, nearly all the familiar stations have gone silent.  There are
still some on the air, but many are usually heard in North America
over existing relays that were used by other broadcasters in the old
days.  Aside from them, there are a few religious stations and that's
about it.

Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted.

73s

Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL