Why no shortwave band on radios?

1950. My family had a mains radio. It had long, medium and short wavebands, with lots of lovely interesting names on the dial - Hilversum, Kalundbourg, Luxembourg, Lahti, Munich, Oslo - that sort of thing. Most of the listening was done on the long and medium wave. Most of the short waveband gave just weird hissing, whistling, chirruping noises, etc. There were just a few tight spaces where actual broadcast programmes could be received, crammed so  close together that tuning needed to be to a hairsbreadth. Reception was faint on most of them, and the odd one or two that did come in loud and clear were inevitably in a foreign language. (Probably BBC Overseas broadcasts from Britain) Most of the time spent on this waveband was myself messing about and finding out what was there. There was one service worth mention - Radio Luxembourg also broadcasted on the 49 metre band, a practical alternative to 208 metres, before that medium wave signal was boosted.

1970. I bought  myself a portable transistor, a hefty Ferguson for the serious listener, LW, MW, SW, VHF with sockets for car radio aerial, aux-out, headphones. All these facilities were put to good use during the time I had it. That year, whilst touring, I visited the Daventry area and had a look at the short wave station, a huge forest of wires running at every angle imaginable. The mast radiator for the medium wave Radio 3 broadcasts was on the other side of the hill. That radio came with me to other parts of the world, to Saudi Arabia, to Sweden, to the USA, and its short wave facility was put to good use to tune into the BBC World Service to keep up with the news. It served this purpose well, though took up quite a bit of room in my suitcase.

1990 or thereabouts. I bought an Aiwa radio with digital tuner (not a digital radio). It could select individual short-wave broadcasting bands and had number buttons to key in a short wave frequency if known and save many favourites in a memory. Much more compact than the previous radio so more suitable for travelling. It did not travel however as much as its predecessor. The last occasion when it was used abroad was a memorable night in the USA on December 31, 2003 at 7:00 pm when we listened to Big Ben striking midnight as it happened. It is little used nowadays - just for the occasional piece of casual listening on VHF. In 2004 I revisited Daventry. Practically nothing left now of what was once the short-wave capital of Britain.


The reality is that short wave has always been a more-specialist service and nowadays its use is in continual decline. The World Service is now available crystal clear on digital channels, though I understand it is still receivable in short wave in some places. Radio manufacturers see no point in complicating designs and upping the price by providing a facility that is unlikely to be used by the regular listener. We now live in the age where information is only too available world-wide on TV in hotels, cruise ships, etc., via satellite communications. There is also of course the Internet; anyone with a mobile smart-phone can check up on world events pretty quickly. There is no longer the need to use radio for the purposes for which I used to; new methods are quicker and more convenient.

1950. My family had a mains radio. It had long, medium and short wavebands, with lots of lovely interesting names on the dial - Hilversum, Kalundbourg, Luxembourg, Lahti, Munich, Oslo - that sort of thing. Most of the listening was done on the long and medium wave. Most of the short waveband gave just weird hissing, whistling, chirruping noises, etc. There were just a few tight spaces where actual broadcast programmes could be received, crammed so  close together that tuning needed to be to a hairsbreadth. Reception was faint on most of them, and the odd one or two that did come in loud and clear were inevitably in a foreign language. (Probably BBC Overseas broadcasts from Britain) Most of the time spent on this waveband was myself messing about and finding out what was there. There was one service worth mention - Radio Luxembourg also broadcasted on the 49 metre band, a practical alternative to 208 metres, before that medium wave signal was boosted.

1970. I bought  myself a portable transistor, a hefty Ferguson for the serious listener, LW, MW, SW, VHF with sockets for car radio aerial, aux-out, headphones. All these facilities were put to good use during the time I had it. That year, whilst touring, I visited the Daventry area and had a look at the short wave station, a huge forest of wires running at every angle imaginable. The mast radiator for the medium wave Radio 3 broadcasts was on the other side of the hill. That radio came with me to other parts of the world, to Saudi Arabia, to Sweden, to the USA, and its short wave facility was put to good use to tune into the BBC World Service to keep up with the news. It served this purpose well, though took up quite a bit of room in my suitcase.

1990 or thereabouts. I bought an Aiwa radio with digital tuner (not a digital radio). It could select individual short-wave broadcasting bands and had number buttons to key in a short wave frequency if known and save many favourites in a memory. Much more compact than the previous radio so more suitable for travelling. It did not travel however as much as its predecessor. The last occasion when it was used abroad was a memorable night in the USA on December 31, 2003 at 7:00 pm when we listened to Big Ben striking midnight as it happened. It is little used nowadays - just for the occasional piece of casual listening on VHF. In 2004 I revisited Daventry. Practically nothing left now of what was once the short-wave capital of Britain.


The reality is that short wave has always been a more-specialist service and nowadays its use is in continual decline. The World Service is now available crystal clear on digital channels, though I understand it is still receivable in short wave in some places. Radio manufacturers see no point in complicating designs and upping the price by providing a facility that is unlikely to be used by the regular listener. We now live in the age where information is only too available world-wide on TV in hotels, cruise ships, etc., via satellite communications. There is also of course the Internet; anyone with a mobile smart-phone can check up on world events pretty quickly. There is no longer the need to use radio for the purposes for which I used to; new methods are quicker and more convenient.