Shortwave Radio - Shortwave's Future

Shortwave's Future

The development of direct broadcasts from satellites has reduced the demand for shortwave receiver hardware, but there are still a great number of shortwave broadcasters. A new digital radio technology, Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), is expected to improve the quality of shortwave audio from very poor to standards comparable to the FM broadcast band. The future of shortwave radio is threatened by the rise of power line communication (PLC), also known as Broadband over Power Lines (BPL), which uses a data stream transmitted over unshielded power lines. As the BPL frequencies used overlap with shortwave bands, severe distortions can make listening to analog shortwave radio signals near power lines difficult or impossible. However, because shortwave is a cheap and effective way to receive communications in countries with poor infrastructure, it will be around for years to come.

Shortwave use by hobbyists and licensed amateur ham radio operators continues, and after declining interest for a few years due to competing interests in computers and other communication devices, a new resurgence of interest has occurred as evidenced by the increase of new amateur operator licenses issued worldwide. Some hobbyists have combined amateur radio HF with computers for experimental and established data modes that can communicate very close to under the noise floor of receivers.