What kinds of things can you hear on a short wave radio or ham radio? What is the difference between the two?

Question

I know there are hobbyists who enjoy this, but I don't know anything about it and wonder what people enjoy about it.

Answer 1

"Shortwave radio" technically includes all radio emissions on frequencies between 3 and 30 megahertz. Because some of those frequencies are used by ham radio operators, one could say that there is no difference. But that would be too simple. "Shortwave radio" in common parlance is the commercial, governmental, or religious broadcasting for public reception of entertainment, news, sports, music, or other programming on frequencies that can support long-distance propagation via the ionosphere. If you like listening to such programs for their intrinsic value, or spending time trying to hear hard-to-hear stations of that class without trying to make two-way contacts, shortwave listening is for you.

Amateur radio, which is what most people call "ham radio," is a hobby and a communications service that generally involves the transmission and reception by licensed radio operators of noncommercial radio signals directed to other similar licensed radio operators on frequencies allocated for that purpose by world and national telecommunication authorities. Active participation in ham radio requires obtaining a license through successful completion of examinations administered by governments or other ham-radio operators, although anyone with the proper receiving equipment and antennae can listen to transmissions made by ham radio operators to each other.

I'm a ham radio operator, and I like knowing Morse Code (which many hams do) and being able to contact stations in distant lands with a simple transmitter/receiver combo using a simple wire antenna and only a fraction of the power that shortwave broadcasters use -- I once made a contact while in the Eastern United States with a station in Mauritius while using 5 watts of power, an amount that would barely light a small light bulb!

Answer 2

On an short wave radio you should be able to hear radio from all around the world.The Ham radio is like an CB ,but you need a license's to operate a ham radio,contact the FCC
for more info.

Answer 3

Basically, short wave radio is international transmissions from around the world. Short waves have a tendency to skip off of the atmosphere and bounce all around the world, particularly at night. So, you might hear news or other programming transmissions from virtually anywhere in the world.

Ham radio is operators who have a license to operate their own personal radio station. They generally have networks of other operators who they talk with over the radio. These transmissions can also be picked up over great distances, especially at night.