Instead of Amazon cancelling Prime services (+Netflix, hulu, etc.) in Russia, just cancel regular Prime Video and streaming content, and only provide real info on wazzup w/ Russia's invading of Ukraine. Keep finding ways to bring the Russian populace up to speed on what Pootie's doing, and the sanctions that he's bringing onto them, and why. Clearly demonstrate his lies, and lay out how much of the free world is against him, and how it's his actions that are causing their economy to crash all around them. Show the oligarchs' yachts being repo'ed, and how Russian soldiers are dying because of Poopoo's misbegotten whims. Edumicate the masses until they call for the spawn of Stalin's head.

2¢
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every source of real info is being blocked by russia

Maybe we could get Microsoft to push a new Windows update on them, something that will auto-update to Vista.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

Short-wave radio would come in handy now.

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Acer
Short-wave radio would come in handy now.

BBC reactivated their shortwave radio broadcasts.

How many operational short wave receivers are still in existence?

It’s been what, six years now where we’ve had a chapter and verse demonstration of how, even in the face of an open, massively organized and funded main stream free media infrastructure, even the most patently absurd disinformation can be inculcated into the minds of millions upon millions.

Layer on top of that an autocratic political structure as the overwhelming political voice and structure, and changing the tide with a twitterverse or Facebook style hammer and tongs would be a very tough row to hoe.

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National Suicide Prevention Hotline tel:1-800-273-8255

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

So... I like the idea - leave the streaming services up - for free even, and interject 30 second infomercials of truth.

But the bigger issue is that lies propagate better than truth on the internet and in human society.

We need a moonshot-style investment in mass deprogramming both domestically and abroad.

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g=

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RgrF
How many operational short wave receivers are still in existence?

LOTS of radios can pull in "Short Wave" signals.

"Short Wave" is commonly referred to as "ham radio". Years ago, the FCC dropped the requirement of proficiency in MORSE CODE. The FCC also reduced the number of license classifications from seven down to three. LOTS of "new blood" came to ham radio as it was very easy to pass the first AND second license class (Technician & General) written tests. The third level, "EXTRA", is a much tougher written exam but, once achieved, grants the Extra Class Licensee legal access to LOTS of additional bandwidth. Pretty much ALL U.S. astronauts are licensed ham radio operators. I wouldn't be surprised to find the astronauts from other countries are also licensed by their respective FCC counterparts. Finally, VERY inexpensive hand held ham radios (transceivers) can be purchased for $30 (and sometimes less)! Such inexpensive transceivers, in my experience, can be VERY difficult to program though.

When a disaster (natural or otherwise) strikes and takes down "normal" communications, ham radio operators often step up and provide reliable communications with other "hams" who pass along said information to a wide variety of agencies, people, resources etc.

>I wouldn't be surprised to find the astronauts from other countries are also licensed by their respective FCC counterparts.

So you're saying the Russians and the Americans on the ISS have a means of communicating!

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Quote
testcase

Quote
RgrF
How many operational short wave receivers are still in existence?

LOTS of radios can pull in "Short Wave" signals.

"Short Wave" is commonly referred to as "ham radio". Years ago, the FCC dropped the requirement of proficiency in MORSE CODE. The FCC also reduced the number of license classifications from seven down to three. LOTS of "new blood" came to ham radio as it was very easy to pass the first AND second license class (Technician & General) written tests. The third level, "EXTRA", is a much tougher written exam but, once achieved, grants the Extra Class Licensee legal access to LOTS of additional bandwidth. Pretty much ALL U.S. astronauts are licensed ham radio operators. I wouldn't be surprised to find the astronauts from other countries are also licensed by their respective FCC counterparts. Finally, VERY inexpensive hand held ham radios (transceivers) can be purchased for $30 (and sometimes less)! Such inexpensive transceivers, in my experience, can be VERY difficult to program though.

When a disaster (natural or otherwise) strikes and takes down "normal" communications, ham radio operators often step up and provide reliable communications with other "hams" who pass along said information to a wide variety of agencies, people, resources etc.

I have a really nice emergency radio that I bought to replace one that I bought for hurricane use. The one I'd previously bought was covered in that sticky/tacky plastic, which I couldn't, for the life of me, seem to get off, without damaging it... which sure enough I did, and that's why I needed a new one. (Why they use that kind of plastic I don't know, but that's a different issue. )

Anyway, the new radio has AM/FM/SW and multiple ways to charge, it's just fantastic; and the SW radio is fun to play with ... mostly so far what I've been getting are religious stations/programs, many of which veer toward the apocalyptic/fire-and-brimstone variety. Not sure if that's because it's relatively easy to get a SW license, or just because the regular stations won't broadcast that stuff. There's also a LOT of stations that are being broadcast in foreign languages, mostly Spanish, but I don't know if those stations are inside or outside the US.

We do tend to forget that there are a lot of SW operators/stations outside the US, and though the wikipedia page claims that it's dying out (Link), I'm not so sure -- especially when things like what's happening in Ukraine (and Russia) are happening. It's apparently harder to shut down a SW broadcaster and also determine who is listening, thereby making censorship harder.

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

"Not sure if that's because it's relatively easy to get a SW license, or just because the regular stations won't broadcast that stuff. There's also a LOT of stations that are being broadcast in foreign languages, mostly Spanish, but I don't know if those stations are inside or outside the US."

NO license is required to RECEIVE short wave ("ham radio") broadcasts in the US. FCC regulations REQUIRE ham radio operators to identify themselves by their FCC assigned call signs. As for foreign languages, just about every country on the planet have "hams" and, under "just right" atmospheric conditions, ham radio broadcasts can be reflected back to earth allowing transmissions to be receivable many thousands of miles away from the source (especially at night). There are also numerous repeater stations in this country (and I expect, other countries as well). The are regular contests for ham operators to see who can communicate with the most hams in a given time period as well as the farthest away hams so, hearing a foreign language short wave broadcast is not unusual.

Seems to me that while ham radios and ham radio operators were voluminous during the Second World War few had any real operational impact. Any impact was primarily inspirational and depicted throughout films or other propaganda.

Ham radio is just one set of bands that are fairly narrow and in the short wave region don't use AM modulation much anymore. There are lots of other commercial broadcast stations using a lot more power which can be heard for long distances.

I suspect that there are multiple methods to get the message through to the ordinary Russian. It merely depends on what the message is going to be.

I have an old Hallicrafters short wave receiver that my brother in law picked up at the TRW swap meet a few years ago. With a few feet of copper wire as an antenna, I can pick up stations from across the Pacific so it should be possible to get signal into any place in Russia with a couple of thousand watts from most places in Europe or Asia.

Bob -- Advanced Class amateur radio license

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testcase
"Not sure if that's because it's relatively easy to get a SW license, or just because the regular stations won't broadcast that stuff. There's also a LOT of stations that are being broadcast in foreign languages, mostly Spanish, but I don't know if those stations are inside or outside the US."

NO license is required to RECEIVE short wave ("ham radio") broadcasts in the US. FCC regulations REQUIRE ham radio operators to identify themselves by their FCC assigned call signs. As for foreign languages, just about every country on the planet have "hams" and, under "just right" atmospheric conditions, ham radio broadcasts can be reflected back to earth allowing transmissions to be receivable many thousands of miles away from the source (especially at night). There are also numerous repeater stations in this country (and I expect, other countries as well). The are regular contests for ham operators to see who can communicate with the most hams in a given time period as well as the farthest away hams so, hearing a foreign language short wave broadcast is not unusual.

I knew no license was required to receive, I was referring to the transmission side.

What I'm not clear on: how to tell where the broadcast is coming from, whether it's inside or outside the country-- since as you pointed out, there are repeater stations.

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

"What I'm not clear on: how to tell where the broadcast is coming from, whether it's inside or outside the country-- since as you pointed out, there are repeater stations."

The ham who is transmitting is REQUIRED to identify using their government assigned Call Sign. An online search will show the name and general location of a licensee (an FFC records check will show the address of said licensee). Copy down the Call Sign and Google / DuckDuckGo etc and run your check. Repeaters should not change the Call Sign just because it goes through a repeater.

If a Call Sign does NOT show up in a FCC search, I'd expect said call sign was NOT US based. I would be surprised if a search did not return at least basic information (such as issuing authority / country ham is licensed in).