Instructions |
What is Short-Wave.Info?Short-Wave.Info is a simple way in which to interrogate a database of all the short wave broadcasts being transmitted by the majority of the world's international radio stations. There are several ways in which this vast database of frequencies can be queried:
In all cases, our sophisticated search software will return a series of results (unless, that is, there were no results matching your query). This software is designed to allow short-wave listeners to quickly find the frequencies to which to tune as well as permitting stations being received to be easily identified. Note: You can click on any frequency, language, transmitter site or broadcaster shown in the results of a search to begin a new search. Selection by Language and/or Broadcaster
To use this option, select a language or a broadcaster (or both) from the drop down menu, then either leave the 'NOW' box ticked for broadcasts on the air at the present time, or unclick this and enter a specific time in hours and minutes (noting that times have to be in GMT/UTC which may not be local time to you) and then click 'GO'. Where a language has been selected, all the broadcasts on-air in that language at the selected time will be shown. A list of the frequencies used for these broadcasts along with the particular radio transmitting stations concerned will be produced, and a map showing the location and frequency of every transmitter on-air will also be produced. Similarly, if a specific broadcaster has been selected, all transmissions on-air by that broadcaster will be shown. Where both a language and a broadcaster are selected, all the transmissions by that broadcaster, in that language, will be listed, whether on-air or not. Any which are on-air at the selected time are highlighted and a map of these transmissions produced. Selection by Frequency
To use this method, enter the desired frequency and, if desired, tick the ± 5 kHz checkbox to see stations on neighbouring frequencies either side of the one entered, and then click 'NOW'. All broadcasts on the frequency you entered and (optionally) within plus or minus 5 kHz of that frequency will be shown. The option to consider frequencies either side of the one selected allows for tuning errors and may also be useful in identifying any strong interfering signals on adjacent frequencies. Any transmissions on-air at the selected time will be highlighted and a map of their location produced. Selection by Band
To use this method of identifying stations, select a short-wave band from the pull-down list and click 'NOW' and stations on-air in that band will be shown. The frequency ranges associated with each band are slightly wider than the official band-edges that are given on the frequencies page, to allow for those broadcasters who use frequencies just outside the bands to be located (this is known as 'out-of-band' broadcasting). Interpreting the ResultsYour search for short wave broadcasters will result in a map showing the location of any stations on air at the time you selected. In addition, the results will show a table like the one below. Meaning of ColumnsThe meaning of many of the columns can be identified by holding your mouse over the heading for the column. For example, holding your mouse over the column labelled Freq should bring up information showing that this column shows the 'Frequency in kHz'. Just in case that is not working, the meaning of the various columns is as defined below.
ResultsFrequencies which are currently on-air are highlighted (in red/pink). If the frequency has a 'zig zag' behind it (as for 9470 kHz in the example above), this indicates that there is the possibility that this transmission is being jammed and that reception may not be possible. A signal strength bar shows on the right of the table if the transmission is on-air, to indicate how likely it is that you can hear the station. There are more details on how the signal strength indicator works and what it means below. Clicking on the name of a transmitter site will produce a list of the transmissions scheduled from that site; again if there are transmissions on-air, these will be highlighted and a map will be produced. Holding your mouse over the name of a transmitter site will reveal a small box showing the latitude and longitude of the site and, if it can be calculated, your distance to the size and the bearing between you and it. Clicking on the flag to the right of the name of a transmitter will launch a map showing the location of that site. |
Hints and TipsFrequencies above around 9 MHz (9000 kHz) will travel across areas of daylight reasonably well. Frequencies below around 12 MHz (12000 kHz) will travel across areas of darkness well. (It therefore follows that frequencies between about 9 and 12 MHz will travel across areas of both darkness and daylight). The map produced by the software shows the location of on-air transmitters and shades the parts of the earth currently in daylight and darkness. If the area in which you are located is currently in daylight, the best reception is likely to be from transmitter sites which are also in daylight and which are on frequencies over 9000 kHz. If you are in the area which is currently in darkness, look for transmitters which are also darkness and which are on frequencies below 12000 kHz. There is more information on how short wave propagation works if you want to understand this better. ExamplesYou are having a friend from Turkey over to stay and want to let them be able to listen to the news from home. One option would be to select 'Turkish' as the language from the pull-down menu and then click the 'GO' button. This will provide you with a list of all broadcasts currently on-air in Turkish. If you wanted to select a particular time, unclick the 'NOW' button and enter a time (in GMT/UTC) into the boxes. Alternatively you might choose to select 'Voice of Turkey' from the station list. You could even do both and select 'Voice of Turkey' and 'Turkish' - this will show you a list of all the broadcasts from Voice of Turkey in Turkish, highlighting those currently on-air. You are tuning around on your short-wave radio and hear a station on 9870 kHz. You then type '9870' into the frequency box and click the 'NOW' button. This will produce a list of all the stations which broadcast on 9870 kHz or on frequencies within 5 kHz of it, and highlight those currently on-air. As long as you can identify the language being broadcast on the frequency you are listening to, you should then be able to find out which station you are listening to! Bearing and DistanceShort-Wave.Info provides information on the distance and bearing that a short-wave transmitter is from your location, as long as we can work out where you are! If we can work out where you are, or someone else from your IP address has already registered a location, a green dot ( If your location can be ascertained, additional information will be provided. If you hold your mouse over the list of transmitter sites, the bearing and distance (in kilometers) from you to the site in question will be given in addition to the site's latitude and longitude. Try it on the examples above (note that these are only examples, and the distances and bearings to the transmitter sites are not accurate). Signal Strength IndicatorIf your location is known, you will also notice that in the right hand column of the table is a signal strength indicator. This goes from no bars (meaning the station is off-air) to five bars. Given the vaguaries of short wave propagation no system can be completely accurate, however a unique short-wave.info algorithm has been used to try and give an indication of the probability of being able to receive a particular transmission. The different numbers of bars represent different probabilities of reception which roughly translate as:
Obviously much depends upon the quality of your receiver and your aerial, as well as whether you are listening in a noisy suburban area, or a quiet rural area. It is also worth noting that no account is taken of whether or not there may be interference on the same frequency. If another station is broadcasting on the same frequency but with a higher probability of reception, then the chances are you will hear that one instead! How does it work?
All these factors are fused together in a complex calculation which models the path between you and the station and the likely conditions to yield the resulting probability. It is not 100% accurate (indeed if it's better than 50% then it's doing well!) but is at least useful in providing an indication of whether or not a station might be audible. Changing The OrderBy default, the results of a search are shown in ascending frequency order. It is possible, however, to re-order the results. To the right of the 'Freq', 'Start' and 'Remarks' columns, a triangle (▼) or a diamond (◆) symbol are shown. Clicking on these will re-order the results. Clicking on the symbol next to 'Freq' will re-order the results in frequency order. Clicking it a second time will re-order the results in reverse frequency order. Clicking on the symbol next to 'Remarks' will re-order the results with the strongest predicted signal first. And, of course, clicking it again will reverse the direction. The same logic appliers for re-ordering the results by their start time (though the default is ascending order and not descending). Please note that as the signal strength prediction algorithm is not 100% accurate, sorting in signal strength order may equally not prove 100% accurate. AcknowledgementsWe are very grateful for the work of Aoki for compiling the database which is used to generate the maps and lists on this site. If you have any updated schedule information please contact Aoki so that the database can be kept as accurate as possible. ContactIf you have any comments about this web-site, please e-mail us. You will need to enable Javascript in your browser to see the email address. |
) will appear on the map of the world. If we have your IP address but can't work out where you are, a red dot (
) will be shown instead (right in the centre of the map at 0 degrees East, 0 degrees North). The short-wave.info database is not always correct or complete. If your location is either wrong, or a red dot appears, you can easily correct the location. Just click on the dot until it turns blue and whilst continuing to hold your mouse button down drag the dot to the location on the world map that corresponds to your location (the latitude and longitude are shown in a small digital display in the top left hand corner of the map). Once you have found the right place, release the mouse button (note that this does work with tablet computers but is not as smooth or reliable as with desktops). You will then be given the option to select this as your location. If you do, the short-wave.info IP look-up database will be updated and next time you select a frequency or station, the location shown will be that which you selected.
The algorithm which calculates your chances of reception uses many factors to try and give a reasonable estimate including: