1 Jan
2020
1 Jan
'20
6:40 p.m.
On Jan 1, 2020, at 09:23, Chuck Guzis via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
?I could see the writing on the wall when the local independent
electronics parts supplier (Norvac) closed in the 90s. That left
mail-order or Radio Shack, but the smaller stores who had very limited
inventories. I still have my portable all-band radio that I bought
around that time. It cost, IIRC, somewhere around $200. I listened to
the BBC World Service a lot during that time. I remember first hearing
about 9/11 on the WS.
Now, of course, who listens to shortwave broadcast radio? The Internet
has killed off a lot of things, broadcast radio and TV among them.
There are a lot of short wave services shutting down, but there is still a lot out there.
With a 75-foot long piece of speaker wire run up a tree behind my house in the Seattle
area, I can listen to stations in New Zealand and central Africa. Being able to listen
stations that far away over the air with such a rudimentary setup gets some people
interested in short wave.
In a similar vein, supposedly cell phones are killing ham radio. Ham radio stores (who
customers were buyers of electronics parts) have shut down in most places. But there are
more license holders than ever and there is a bunch of public interest in it (for
emergency preparedness and such).
alan