In a post disaster situation local radio stations may be off the air, either because their emergency power has failed at their station or their transmitter site. It is also possible that the transmitter site or tower has been damaged, such as in the case of a tornado or hurricane. Radio stations that transmit on AM radio frequencies can be heard over far greater distances, especially at night. Therefore, you can hear stations that can be hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away and potentially out of any impacted area. The same can be said for ham radio transmissions. You will hear stations from all over the world and potentially gain situational awareness and actionable/usable intelligence.
The advantage with a receiver, or scanner, is that they are easy to carry and set up. This allows you to receive commercial radio stations in the short-wave bands, such as the BBC World Service, as well as some ham radio transmissions, and are much cheaper than a transmitter. The common scanners you see sold, such as Bearcat and Home Patrol, is they are designed to listen to local frequencies, usually in the VHF and UHF bands. Shortwave scanners are designed to listen to the frequencies range of 3-30Mhz. These frequencies are used for long distance communications in Amateur Radio, aviation, marine, government and other services.
Broadcasts
Radio frequencies are divided into ‘bands’ which, for the most part, give indications as to their properties and ability to ‘bounce’ around the earth. Most countries have authorized commercial broadcasts in the shortwave (AM) bands so they can broadcast to other parts of the country and these have been around long before the internet radio capabilities. Many countries also have stations that broadcast to their expatriates in their native language. Some countries ‘aim’ broadcasts at ‘unfriendly’ countries. For example, South Korea has a number of shortwave stations broadcasting towards North Korea. The BBC World Service is one of the oldest shortwave broadcasting services. In the US there is one authorized broadcasting organization called the International Broadcasting Bureau that operates Voice of America, Radio Free Europe (Radio Liberty), Radio Marti and Radio Free Asia. Even Russia has a shortwave broadcast station, originally called the Voice of Russia, it is now called Radio Sputnik.
Military and Spy Stations
Military and ‘spy’ stations (known as Numbers Stations) can be found transmitting in the shortwave bands.
The High Frequency Global Communications System (HF-GCS) is a network of about fourteen high-power HF stations which provide ground to air command and control for the Department of Defense, it is not agency specific. During the Cold War, and even today, this is one of the positive control systems for airborne strategic forces (i.e., bombers). The frequencies are 8992.0 and 11175.0 kHz (primary frequencies 24-hours). 13200.0 and 15016.0 kHz (daytime backup). 4724.0 and 6739.0 kHz (backup nighttime).
Emergency Action Messages (EAM’s) can be heard on the HF-GCS. Other messages will usually start “SKYKING, SKYKING do not answer..” then consist of a letter/number combination. Other transmissions will start “FOXTROT” or “SKYBIRD” or sometimes “SKYMASTER.”
There are a number of other services within the HF bands and more information will be in the section on signals intelligence (SIGINT).
Receivers
There are a number of different shortwave receivers on the market, not all have the same frequency reviving range. If you want to listen to non-commercial stations you will need to make sure it has single-side band (SSB) capability. Single Side Band (SSB) is where are only using half of the signal bandwidth is used. This is a more efficient use of the frequency. Transmission can be on the upper side band (USB) or lower side band (LSB).
For the purposes of this article I’ve only listed receivers capable of single side band.
The C. Crane CC Skywave scanner is one of a couple of models C. Crane has, so when searching be careful to read the description to make sure it is their SSB model . It includes FM and the NOAA weather frequencies and lists shortwave frequency range from 1711-29999khz (1.711- 29.99Mhz).
| FM Band | 76-108 MHz |
| VHF Air Band | 118-136 MHz |
| AM Band (MW) | 522 -1710 kHz |
| Shortwave (SW) | 1711-29999 kHz |
The Tecsun PL-600 is one of two scanners by Tescun that will receive SSB transmissions. The company that makes the Tecsun scanners has been in the radio business for a long time, and also make the high end radios under the Grundig name. The PL-600 is no longer listed on their web site but there is a PL-660 and is their only product listed with SSB now. However the PL-600 is commonly available from Amazon dealers.
| FM Band | 76-108 MHz |
| VHF Air Band | 118-137 MHz |
| Longwave (LW) | 100-519 kHz |
| AM Band (MW) | 520 -1710 kHz |
| Shortwave (SW) | 1711-29999 kHz |
Tuscan PL-660, as I mentioned above, is the only SSB capable receiver Tucsun lists on their web site. Frequency coverage is listed as:
| FM Band | 76-108 MHz |
| VHF Air Band | 118-137 MHz |
| Longwave (LW) | 100-522 kHz |
| AM Band (MW) | 522 -1710 kHz |
| Shortwave (SW) | 1711-29999 kHz |
The Tuscan PL-880 was their newest receiver when I originally reviewed them in early 2020 but is no longer listed on their web site. It has some very nice enhancements making it probably the best portable receiver on the market.
| FM Band | 64-108 MHz |
| Longwave (LW) | 100-522 kHz |
| AM Band (MW) | 522 -1710 kHz |
| Shortwave (SW) | 1711-29999 kHz |
It costs about $160 and from all the reviews I’ve read, and the available features, this is the one that I’d recommend over others that I’ve reviewed.
What to Listen To
There are a lot of web sites for the short wave listening hobbyist. As far as other interesting stations to listen to, those will be in the section on signals intelligence.