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Originally Posted by boroda1
Never heard any shortwave radio?
That's when I got an impression how big (and small  ) the world is!
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Yeah, when I was in grade and high school, back in the 50s, during the duck and cover days when everyone was terrified about a NUKE attack, and I spent HOURS glued to my old (even then) Hallicrafter's SW receiver, which glowed in the dark, listening to BBC and Radio Moscow, and China, and other places around the world, trying to get a different perspective on things.
I drifted away from that hobby over the years, with ham radio and the internet replacing that aspect. However a couple years ago, I was somewhat surprised when I found that I was receiving Radio China International, (or something like that, I think that's the name), and was receiving it NOT on one of my numerous receivers, but I was receiving it on my computer! Ie, I'd be sitting there typing something on my computer, and I'd start to hear music, and then talking, sometimes in English sometimes in Chinese, sometimes other languages. It was coming out of my sound card speakers!
At first, I thought this must be due to the fact that I have a couple scanners connected to my computer, to listen to aircraft, however I still got reception independent of what these scanners were doing.
I did some experimentation, and found that I was only getting this reception when I had a long speaker wire connected that went downstairs to some speakers I had down there. Apparently my speaker wire was acting as an antenna, feeding the signal into my sound card, rectifying the signal, and outputting the audio out to my sound card speakers again!!!
I finally decided that it was Radio China, and tuned in that freq on one of my short waves, and found out unlike when I was a kid, when the signal from China was rather weak, Radio China was a BOOMING signal, as strong or stronger than many of the local AM stations! Well, I did a bit of research, and found out that the transmitter for Radio China, was just a few hundred miles away, across the border in Canada! They must send their signal to Canada via telephone lines or the internet or satellite or something, then pay the Canadians to re-broadcast it. One funny aspect of it was that the 3 letter symbols of the Chinese station (like RCI or CRI or whatever) and the Canadian stations that were rebroadcasting it were real similar, which confused the transmitter source even more.
Anyway, I only mentioned the above because when I was young SW radio, as you say gave a feeling of how big the world was, pulling in these static filled signals from FAR AWAY, but NOW, it gives you a feeling of how SMALL the world is, being able to pick up China, half a world away easier than an AM station 20 miles away. All because of satellites and the internet.
SW isn't the same anymore.