9. c. SHORTWAVE LISTENING
(1) Listen across several
short-wave bands for four one-hour periods, - at least one period during the daylight
hours and at least one period at night. Log the stations properly and locate them geographically on a globe.
A shortwave radio and thirty feet of bell wire strung out your window for an antenna will bring the
whole world into your room. Because the sun affects the ionosphere, some shortwave broadcast bands work better in daytime
and some work better at night.
Try listening to the bands between 5 and 10 MHz at night and bands above 10 MHz during the day. Sunset
and sunrise are interesting times as different stations pop up as the earth turns.
Try and identify the station your hearing by the locations mentioned in stories and it's interval signal
(the music played just before broadcastIng). The language might help, but remember it's language of the intended audience,
not the necessarily that of the nation that's doing the transmitting!
Click here to hear different station's interval signals
Click here to see shortwave broadcasting schedules
To log a station, record the following information:
Date
Time
Frequency
Station Name
Location
Program notes (what music was playing, News, sports, etc.)
SINPO Code
SINPO is a measure of the quality of reception, standing for Strength, Interference, Noise,
Propagation and Overall merit.
S (Signal strength) - Simply the strength of the transmission.
I (Interference) - Interference from other stations.
N (Noise) - The amount of noise.
P (Propagation) - Whether the signal is steady or fades from time to time.
O (Overall merit) - An overall score for the listening experience
under these conditions
The best possible score would be 55555.
| (S)ignal |
(I)nterference |
(N)oise |
(P)ropagation |
(O)verall |
| 5 excellent |
5 none |
5 none |
5 none |
5 excellent |
| 4 good |
4 slight |
4 slight |
4 slight |
4 good |
| 3 fair |
3 moderate |
3 moderate |
3 moderate |
3 fair |
| 2 poor |
2 severe |
2 severe |
2 severe |
2 poor |
| 1 barely audible |
1 extreme |
1 extreme |
1extreme |
1 unusable |
|
