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Isn't "shortwave" radio used for extremely long distance communication?

• Gracana 12y ago
  Yeah, I was disappointed to find that the name had nothing to do with the underlying technology or the actual use-case. It's just a super-short-range messaging app.
  • alexwhittemore 12y ago
    FWIW, "shortwave radio" is a very historical name: the 1.6-30MHz range is no longer "short" in wavelength relative to even broadcast FM at 88 to 100, much less cell starting at many hundreds of MHz, much much less bluetooth at 2.4 GHz. Really, I think "shortwave" applies pretty accurately given the use of bluetooth, and considering the shorter the wavelength, the greater the attenuation with distance. But you're right, it's not shortwave radio. And since your cellphone doesn't have any shortwave radio hardware on board, I'm not too bothered by that :)