Shortwave

Streams versus signals

An internet stream is not the shortwave signal. It is the same broadcaster, usually a different programme feed, and none of the fading, interference or propagation that makes the transmission itself worth hearing. To hear the actual signal, open a receiver.

The receivers

Receivers are run by volunteers who pay for the bandwidth themselves. Most take about four listeners at once, so one may be full. They are served over plain HTTP, which is why they open in a new tab rather than playing here — a secure page cannot pipe audio from an insecure one.

Live receivers come from the public KiwiSDR directory. If you run one of these and would rather not be listed here, say so and it comes out. the public receiver directory (opens in a new tab)

About the signal bars

An estimate, not a measurement. We have no receiver where you are, so this is derived from the band, the hour in UTC, and how regularly the broadcast is listed — roughly whether the ionosphere should support that frequency over that path at that time. Treat it as a hint about what to try, never as a reading.

Where the schedule comes from

Broadcast schedules come from the HFCC global public database — the registry every international broadcaster files its transmissions with, coordinated through the ITU and published openly. Each entry here is a transmission somebody registered: a frequency, a time, a language and a named transmitter site, with the site's own coordinates. The snapshot is refreshed each season and its date is shown below. the HFCC public database (opens in a new tab)

A registry only knows what was registered. Stations that broadcast outside the coordination process are missing from this board even when they are on the air — among them Voice of Greece, Radio Habana Cuba, Voice of Korea and most clandestine broadcasters. Their absence here says nothing about whether they are transmitting.

Season A26, snapshot taken 2026-09-30. 1827 transmissions from 3347 listed.