The Complete Shortwave Listener

A book by Joe Pritchard, G0RNC

The Complete
Shortwave Listener

A ground-up guide to hearing the world on shortwave: the theory, the receivers, the propagation that makes it all possible, and a tour of everything actually out there to listen to — from broadcasters and hams to the fringes of the spectrum.

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The Complete
Shortwave
Listener Joe Pritchard · G0RNC

What's in the book

Three parts, built to take you from "what is radio?" to reading a waterfall display and knowing exactly what you're looking at.

Part One

Technology

The fundamentals, done properly: basic theory, aerials, and a working tour of receiver designs from crystal sets and regenerative receivers through superhets and modern SDRs — plus how to actually use one day to day.

Part Two

Propagation

How a signal gets from a transmitter on the other side of the planet into your headphones. The ionosphere, the sun, and the atmospheric physics that make shortwave unpredictable — and part of the appeal.

Part Three

Bands & what can be heard

A guided tour of what's actually on air: broadcasters and their schedules, amateur operators, maritime and utility traffic, pirates, jamming, and the stranger corners of the spectrum.

Joe Pritchard, G0RNC

Joe Pritchard is a licensed amateur radio operator and the author of The Complete Shortwave Listener. This book brings together the practical and technical sides of shortwave listening into a single, properly organised reference — the book he wishes had existed when he started out.

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