Best news source if war breaks out in Ukraine

[Hutch]

I realize this might be like seeking a unicorn… but if the ballon goes up in that area, where would you go for the most accurate, least biased information on the conflict? Information like makeup of the forces engaged, progress (or lack) of the campaign, a general understanding of how the fight is being waged, and fast, accurate reporting of the utterances of military and political leadership.  Of interest might also be the location, generally, of the politicos in Foggy Bottom.

Please consider sources on HF radio, mainstream cable sources, YouTube channels, satellite radio channels, or any other media I have omitted.  My spidey senses are tingling.

[charby]

AP or UPI wire
BBC
Shortwave stations in eastern europe
Al Jazeera

[Andiron]

RT,  and just assume the opposite of anything they push.

* I generally like RT, but there's not way they're unbiased for this.

[Nick1911]

It's a good question.  I think we should also keep in mind that modern warfare specifically includes misinformation and disinformation as a part of military operations.  We can expect a lot of noise confusing any truths coming out of the region in the event of war.  In the information age, it's impossible to stop people from spreading what's going on where they are... but you can dilute it to the point of irrelevance.

[charby]

If your going to go shortwave, purchase your radio and start building an antenna.

[Lennyjoe]

If your going to go shortwave, purchase your radio and start building an antenna.

To which I have none.  Can anyone recommend a decent set up that won’t break the bank? 

[HankB]

To which I have none.  Can anyone recommend a decent set up that won’t break the bank?

I have an ~30 year old Realistic DX-390 (Radio Shack brand) portable shortwave radio that's pretty decent. I know Radio Shack is essentially defunct, but I mention this only because it was actually made by "Sangean" which is still around and is making shortwaves. With good conditions in the evening I've picked up broadcasts from all over the world - and this with just the included antenna. (It has provision to plug in an external antenna.)

It's not in the same league as a dedicated ham receiver with a big antenna, but then, it didn't cost nearly as much either.

[charby]

To which I have none.  Can anyone recommend a decent set up that won’t break the bank?

I got an old Heathkit, but one of the bands doesn't work, so I'm looking too. I'm a Kenwood fan boi but I don't think they make shortwave receivers anymore.

I'm also taking my General exam this weekend, so if I pass I'll be buying an HF setup eventually. I got friends making contacts in eastern Europe via voice and FT8 using 20 watt transceivers and homemade dipole antennas on the lower bands.

[Hutch]

To which I have none.  Can anyone recommend a decent set up that won’t break the bank?

There are about three entry point classes for “world band” radios (shortwave).  There are really sketchy receivers that are often part of a “does everything poorly” rig that has a hand crank, flashlight, AM commercial, FM broadcast, TV, Air, weather… you get the picture.

Next are the portable models mentioned earlier. I too had a Realistic DX-398, but it died.  They were relatively capable for what they were, which was relatively inexpensive. The nearest thing I’m aware of to that is the Sangean ATS-909.  countycomm.com has a unit that is interesting as well, th GP-7 SSB.

Once you step up to desktop models, usually referred to as general coverage receivers, the sky’s the limit on price, and then you will need a good antenna.

[charby]

I was curious how many shortwave stations were still in operation in Europe, the number has really dropped. Not very many in English either. Seems like shortwave is still popular in Asia, Africa and South America.

[230RN]

Charby:  Good luck, OM.

Seems to me most inexpensive electronic devices nowadays operate on the same chipset with the same results.  Am I right?

I remember my first boat anchor SW receiver, an old army surplus rig.  Had a beat frequency oscillator so it could pick up code and single sideband. And it was selective enough that you could occasionally pick up FM "on the slope" if you detuned it slightly.

I turned into a SW Junkie. Each foreign station had their own slant on particular news items.  But for general news they were in basic agreement.  The trouble was this basic agreement often had little to do with what I would get in the US news outlets, which made them sound like they were happening on another planet.

That's when I awakened ("woke" ) to the possibility that our news outlets were less than perfect.  I found out that the "slant" on our news was largely governed by high end editors, way up in the news flow process.

So thanks, short wave radio !  No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.

DE Terry, 230RN

[Ron]

Epoch Times is pretty anti China and leans towards straight reporting in my view.

Not sure where they are editorially on Russia.

[Ben]

Epoch Times is pretty anti China and leans towards straight reporting in my view.

Not sure where they are editorially on Russia.

I have come to really respect Epoch Times reporting. They have really impressed me with sticking to "who what where when why". The only place they have bias though, is anything commie. Most especially the CCP obviously, but they really hate all commies, so they get a bit biased there.

They have been doing a history of communism series for the last month though, and that has been very straightforward and fairly unbiased, IMO. Much like reading a good textbook on the subject.

[RocketMan]

To which I have none.  Can anyone recommend a decent set up that won’t break the bank? 

LennyJoe, you might consider an RTL-SDR software defined radio USB dongle.  They run about $30 on Amazon, or you can get them directly from the source at RTL-SDR.  Be sure to get the genuine article if you buy it on Amazon.  There are some counterfits floating about.

I tested mine on HF, and it works okay from 1.5MHz to 30MHz in direct sampling mode.  It can be a little tough to tune in HF SSB signals to be intelligible at times.  It works quite well if you pair it with an upconverter like the SpyVerter R2, approaching some good high-end receivers in performance.

From about 60MHz to 1.5GHz or so the RTL-SDR operates as a fairly standard digital signal processing-type receiver.  Its performance is very good, especially for something that costs only thirty clams.  Among other purposes, I've used it to find open frequencies for our wireless microphones at church.

Lots of great open source (read: free) software is available for the RTL-SDR dongle.  Look for packages like SDRSharp or SDR++.   The RTL-SDR website lists a number of good packages for both Windows and Linux.
Coupled with a cheap home-made longwire antenna, a whole package with an upconverter should cost around $100.

[tokugawa]

Smoke signals, most likely.

[charby]

Charby:  Good luck, OM.

Seems to me most inexpensive electronic devices nowadays operate on the same chipset with the same results.  Am I right?

I remember my first boat anchor SW receiver, an old army surplus rig.  Had a beat frequency oscillator so it could pick up code and single sideband. And it was selective enough that you could occasionally pick up FM "on the slope" if you detuned it slightly.

I turned into a SW Junkie. Each foreign station had their own slant on particular news items.  But for general news they were in basic agreement.  The trouble was this basic agreement often had little to do with what I would get in the US news outlets, which made them sound like they were happening on another planet.

That's when I awakened ("woke" ) to the possibility that our news outlets were less than perfect.  I found out that the "slant" on our news was largely governed by high end editors, way up in the news flow process.

So thanks, short wave radio !  No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.

DE Terry, 230RN

Passed my General. I took the Extra blind, didn’t pass that one.

[zxcvbob]

BBC, Al Jazeera, probably Epoch Times. 

Is Voice of America still a thing?  I know they are propaganda, but less so than the mainstream media and at least they are pro-America (at least I assume so)

[charby]

Quoted from one of my Facebook groups

Iike others have said, I did see the decree and a post from the Ukraine amateur radio club

http://uarl.org.ua/

“We would like to inform you that in connection with the imposition of martial law there is a ban on the use of amateur radio stations for 30 days.
 
The LRU Council is working out and agreeing on the possibility of exchanging operational information
Radio frequencies will be reported additionally.
 
We will win !
 
Glory to Ukraine!
 
LRU Council”

[Lennyjoe]

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/