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SPIRIT OF THE SHORTWAVE

Shortwave radio was, and still is, a form of international communication which is open to everyone to some extent. Unlike VHF which is a local transmission line-of-sight, the Short Wave has radio waves which are of the length of shortness (a few tens of metres) so they go bouncing all around the world, bouncing off the ionosphere and the ground and generally getting to everywhere.

Those old wireless sets with valve tubes that glow, and with a dial with intriguing names on it like Hilversum, Droitwich, Jo'Burgh, Amateur, Vilnius, etc - these could pick up the Shortwave.

Also see How to Build a Shortwave Aerial

The point about Shortwave was that anyone could receive it just about anywhere, and there was a wide choice of channels to tune in to, free, with no subscription. This is good for business, and the satellite tv business could do with learning from the Spirit of the Short Wave! Although it's not possible to put TV channels on the actual shortwave, it is possible for TV channels to be available via satellite and/or wideband data systems, and to be "in the Spirit of the Shortwave".

The Internet is very much in the spirit of the shortwave, and you can tune in to a vast number of channels by knowing their web address - the equivalent of their frequency. Anyone can set up to transmit, as there is no interference issue, and anyone can receive any channel they know the web address of. It's important to maintain this freedom of the Internet and to oppose government plans to censor it, control it, or shut it down.