If you want to get in on the action, consider pursuing your Amateur Radio Operator’s License. If you’re in the US, the Amateur Radio Relay League is a sufficient place to start, and you can use hamstudy.org to prepare for your test.
In the 14Mhz range you’ll see a diurnal oscillation of who you can hear because during the day this particular band tends to only get out to about 1500 miles, at night we can reach over 10,000 miles. I’ve had plenty of contacts with Japan, and on digital modes I’ve gotten out to 11,000 miles. I’ve made contacts in Indonesia from New Mexico. On digital mode (which does not use voice) I hit the Reunion Islands on the east side of Africa with only 100W and a vertical omnidirectional antenna.
Number stations are wild. There’s even more to signals intelligence, too. There are Over the horizion radars (OTHR) and bouys, wave radars, and wildly encrypted digital bursts–all of which you can hear.
You can listen to your heart’s content here: http://websdr2.sdrutah.org:8902/index1a.html?tune=14290usb (where this image is from).
If you want to get in on the action, consider pursuing your Amateur Radio Operator’s License. If you’re in the US, the Amateur Radio Relay League is a sufficient place to start, and you can use hamstudy.org to prepare for your test.
In the 14Mhz range you’ll see a diurnal oscillation of who you can hear because during the day this particular band tends to only get out to about 1500 miles, at night we can reach over 10,000 miles. I’ve had plenty of contacts with Japan, and on digital modes I’ve gotten out to 11,000 miles. I’ve made contacts in Indonesia from New Mexico. On digital mode (which does not use voice) I hit the Reunion Islands on the east side of Africa with only 100W and a vertical omnidirectional antenna.
Number stations are wild. There’s even more to signals intelligence, too. There are Over the horizion radars (OTHR) and bouys, wave radars, and wildly encrypted digital bursts–all of which you can hear.