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Short Wave Listening is a sister hobby to Amateur Radio where the operator only uses a receiver to monitor HF transmissions. The hobby is also commonly known by the abbreviation SWL. Medium quality shortwave units tend to be relatively inexpensive and easily accessible. With good Radio Propagation listening to remote countries' programs can be quite entertaining. Shortwave listeners also listen to Ham Radio operators and many hams will reply with QSL cards from SWLs. Not all but some commercial radios also reply to QSL cards. Shortwave listening can be for many purposes, such as to listen to programming for amusement; to listen to programs on a particular subject, such as science, stamp collecting, or shortwave listening itself; to listen to news that is not freely available where one is located; or to try to catch as many stations as possible, or DXing . A typical shortwave listener may maintain a log of broadcasts he or she may have received. This log can be used to generate Reception Reports to send to stations to receive QSL cards or letters. One of the features of shortwave listening is its unpredictability. A station may be audible on a regular basis, but due to solar and geomagnetic conditions, it may not be audible and a second station from another part of the world may be heard. There are several publications dedicated to providing information to shortwave listeners, including the magazines ''Popular Communications'' and ''Monitoring Times'' in the United States, and the annual publications ''Passport to World Band Radio'' and the ''World Radio TV Handbook'' (WRTH). In addition, stations can provide broadcast schedules through the mail or E-mail. FUTURE OF SHORTWAVE LISTENING The Internet caused many Broadcasters to stop their HF transmissions and begin broadcasting over the net. One of these broadcasters was the BBC World Service , which discontinued service to North America and Australia , generating many protests and creating many activist groups such as the Coalition to Save the BBC World Service. Most of the prominent broadcasters are scaling back their shortwave transmissions or completely terminating them, but especially in Africa shortwave is still very common and active. Many Expatriates all around the world listen to shortwave transmissions to keep in touch, even after the advent of Internet-based news and publications. REFERENCES
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