Shortwave Radio

The strongest solar flare in five years erupted on the face of the sun Monday, disrupting communications on Earth. It was expected to set off a brilliant show of northern lights early Wednesday. The flare affected Coast Guard navigation systems and shortwave radio signals and was expected to affect surface and satellite communications through Wednesday, said Joe Kunches of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Services Center. The flare, detected at 6:05 a.m.

Spycraft has long been associated with the use of numbers stations - shortwave radio outposts sending cryptic numerical messages over the airwaves, often in a female voice. The thriller "The Numbers Station" employs this low-fi, high-enigma gimmick for a story about a disillusioned CIA hit man (John Cusack) assigned to protect a pretty American numbers reader (Malin Akerman) posted in a bunker in the English countryside. When the pair are ambushed in a brazen siege on the station, they try to suss out who their enemies are while overcoming each other's increasing mistrust.

"This is the North American Service of Radio Moscow." The words sound clearly in the monitor's headphones. The listener twists a dial on the shortwave set and scribbles in a logbook. Before her, colored stickers on a world map mark the Soviet Union and 15 other countries. A CIA listening post? No. A corner of Barbara Tanno's world geography classroom at Central Kitsap Junior High School in this small town across Puget Sound from Seattle. The headphoned listener is 12 years old.

Other kids are consumed with cellphones, text messages and Tweets, e-mails and Facebook postings. But 75 teenagers in Calabasas have become licensed amateur radio operators and hope to lead a new wave of shortwave enthusiasts. For them, the image of the gray-haired ham radio hobbyist tinkering with capacitors, carrier frequencies and coaxial antenna cables is as old-fashioned as the dots and dashes of Morse code.

Hostilities in the Middle East have created a boom in the sales of shortwave radios as consumers, eager to hear the latest news from the war zone, snap up the gizmos. In this age of high-tech doodads, the venerable shortwave radio long ago fell off the bestseller list for most consumer electronics retailers. That is, until Iraq invaded Kuwait in August. "We're sold out," said Ed Juge, vice president of market planning for Radio Shack. The 7,000-store chain, a division of Ft.

It was nearly midnight, and the argument between two ham radio hobbyists, Richard and Darin, was heating up faster than a transceiver with a short circuit. "Wait till I see you," yelled Darin, of Watts, accusing Richard, of Orange, of interfering with his radio transmissions. "You're gonna eat your words. . . . You're gonna get a taste of South-Central in your face. I swear to God--you haven't the slightest idea what you're dealing with here. You read about it in the news."

Listening to international broadcasts is more complicated than snapping on your kitchen radio. But any teacher can master the technical details and introduce students to shortwave. "At first, I worried because there was so much I didn't know," says geography teacher Barbara Tanno of Silverdale, Wash. Now her advice to other teachers is, "Don't be afraid. Just do it." Lots of help is available.

Spycraft has long been associated with the use of numbers stations - shortwave radio outposts sending cryptic numerical messages over the airwaves, often in a female voice. The thriller "The Numbers Station" employs this low-fi, high-enigma gimmick for a story about a disillusioned CIA hit man (John Cusack) assigned to protect a pretty American numbers reader (Malin Akerman) posted in a bunker in the English countryside. When the pair are ambushed in a brazen siege on the station, they try to suss out who their enemies are while overcoming each other's increasing mistrust.

From 1932 until long after the sun set on the British empire, the BBC World Service--with its sonorous and reassuring "This is London" at the top of each hour--was heard around the globe via shortwave radio. June 30 will bring the end of that era in North America when the grand dame of international broadcasting shuts down its shortwave transmitters serving the United States and Canada as well as vast areas of the Pacific.

Two artillery shells and the twisted remains of a Soviet-made Katyusha rocket lie on the carpeted floor of George Otis' Northridge office. On the wall is a framed AK-47 assault rifle, captured from a Palestinian terrorist. The tanned, silver-haired Otis wears cowboy boots and pressed khaki. He is at the head of a table, speaking to eight confederates in front of two wall-sized maps dotted with red pins. His coffee mug says, "Expect a Miracle." Otis, 71, is carrying out a mission.

I'm a licensed member of a near-secret fraternity, amateur radio operators. We have an almost religious devotion to the hum of power transformers, the warm glow of vacuum tubes and the magic of charged electrons bouncing off the ionosphere and into a lit receiver. We "hams" are among those most saddened--and alarmed--by the news that the venerable BBC World Service will be cutting back its international shortwave broadcasts starting today.

From 1932 until long after the sun set on the British empire, the BBC World Service--with its sonorous and reassuring "This is London" at the top of each hour--was heard around the globe via shortwave radio. June 30 will bring the end of that era in North America when the grand dame of international broadcasting shuts down its shortwave transmitters serving the United States and Canada as well as vast areas of the Pacific.

Emboldened by new technology, hackers increasingly are invading police emergency networks, confusing officers across Southern California with hundreds of rogue broadcasts last year that wasted police time and in extreme cases delayed responses to emergencies. Such security breaches, which a few years ago occurred only a handful of times a year, are becoming a problem that affects one local agency or another almost daily. Police channels were once "sacred ground. . . .

It was nearly midnight, and the argument between two ham radio hobbyists, Richard and Darin, was heating up faster than a transceiver with a short circuit. "Wait till I see you," yelled Darin, of Watts, accusing Richard, of Orange, of interfering with his radio transmissions. "You're gonna eat your words. . . . You're gonna get a taste of South-Central in your face. I swear to God--you haven't the slightest idea what you're dealing with here. You read about it in the news."

With their appetite for news from the Persian Gulf unsatisfied, Orange County residents are depleting the supply of shortwave radios in local electronic stores. "After waves of Scuds come in, so do the waves of people," Ham Radio Outlet assistant manager Tom Nelson said Friday after running out of portable shortwave radios, books about international broadcast frequencies and antennas.

It's hard to find on the dial. Its signal is jammed and its studios have to move to avoid bombs, rockets and cruise missiles. There's no sports news or top-40. The announcers seem to have taken voice training at the School for Drones. But for most of the world, Radio Baghdad is the main conduit for Iraq's side of the Gulf War. Every day diplomats, intelligence agents, journalists and tens of thousands of Arabs search for the official Iraqi radio over at least five shortwave bands.

With their appetite for news from the Persian Gulf unsatisfied, Orange County residents are depleting the supply of shortwave radios in local electronic stores. "After waves of Scuds come in, so do the waves of people," Ham Radio Outlet assistant manager Tom Nelson said Friday after running out of portable shortwave radios, books about international broadcast frequencies and antennas.

I'm a licensed member of a near-secret fraternity, amateur radio operators. We have an almost religious devotion to the hum of power transformers, the warm glow of vacuum tubes and the magic of charged electrons bouncing off the ionosphere and into a lit receiver. We "hams" are among those most saddened--and alarmed--by the news that the venerable BBC World Service will be cutting back its international shortwave broadcasts starting today.

Hostilities in the Middle East have created a boom in the sales of shortwave radios as consumers, eager to hear the latest news from the war zone, snap up the gizmos. In this age of high-tech doodads, the venerable shortwave radio long ago fell off the bestseller list for most consumer electronics retailers. That is, until Iraq invaded Kuwait in August. "We're sold out," said Ed Juge, vice president of market planning for Radio Shack. The 7,000-store chain, a division of Ft.