Uses

nternational broadcasting primarily by government-sponsored advertising stations to adopted audiences: the a lot of accepted use of all.

Domestic broadcasting: to broadly advertisement populations with few longwave, mediumwave and FM stations confined them; or for specialty political, religious and addition media networks; or of alone bartering and non-commercial paid broadcasts.

"Utility" stations transmitting letters not advised for the accepted public, such as aircraft aerial amid continents, encrypted adept messages, acclimate reporting, or ships at sea.

Clandestine stations. These are stations that advertisement on account of assorted political movements, including insubordinate or agitator forces, and are commonly unauthorised by the government-in-charge of the country in question. Artful broadcasts may arise from transmitters amid in rebel-controlled area or from alfresco the country entirely, application addition country's manual facilities. Artful stations were acclimated during Apple War II to address account from the Allied point of appearance into Axis-controlled areas. Although the Nazis confiscated abounding radios and accomplished their owners, abounding humans connected to listen.

Numbers Stations These stations consistently arise and abandon all over the shortwave radio bandage but are unlicenced and untraceable. It is believed that Numbers Stations are operated by government agencies, and are acclimated to acquaint with artful agents alive aural adopted countries. However, no absolute affidavit of such use has emerged. Because the all-inclusive majority of these broadcasts accommodate annihilation but the address of blocks of numbers, in assorted languages, with casual bursts of music, they accept become accepted colloquially as "Number Stations". Perhaps the a lot of acclaimed Number Base is the "Lincolnshire Poacher", called afterwards the 18th aeon English folk song, which is transmitted just afore the sequences of numbers.

Amateur radio operators.

Time arresting and radio alarm stations: In North America, WWV radio and WWVH radio address at these frequencies: 2500 kHz, 5000 kHz, 10000 kHz, and 15000 kHz; and WWV aswell transmits on 20000 kHz. The CHU radio base in Canada transmits on the afterward frequencies: 3330 kHz, 7850 kHz, and 14670 kHz. Other agnate radio alarm stations address on assorted shortwave and longwave frequencies about the world. The shortwave transmissions are primarily advised for animal reception, while the longwave stations are about acclimated for automated synchronization of watches and clocks.

Over-the-horizon radar: From 1976 to 1989, the Soviet Union's Russian Woodpecker over-the-horizon alarm arrangement blotted out abundant shortwave broadcasts daily.

The appellation DXing, in the ambience of alert to radio signals of any user of the shortwave band, is the action of ecology abroad stations. In the ambience of abecedarian radio operators, the appellation "DXing" refers to the two-way communications with a abroad station, application shortwave radio frequencies.

The Asia-Pacific Telecommunity estimates that there are about 600,000,000 shortwave broadcast-radio receivers in use in 2002.12 WWCR claims that there are 1.5 billion shortwave receivers worldwide.