What to listen to

Stations worth an evening: what they are, why they are on the air, and how to hear them without a receiver of your own.

Fax and digital signals

Fax DWD 7880 kHz (day and night) story	7878.1 kHz	WEFAX	German weather service charts (Pinneberg) several times an hour on a schedule; 120 lines/min, IOC 576. A receiver in Germany is picked; the 1.9 kHz offset is already applied.
Fax DWD 3855 kHz (night) story	3853.1 kHz	WEFAX	The same DWD programme on the night frequency: heard all over Europe from evening to morning.
Fax DWD 13882.5 kHz (day) story	13880.6 kHz	WEFAX	The DWD daytime frequency, best from noon to evening.
Fax JMH Tokyo 7795 kHz story	7793.1 kHz	WEFAX	The Japan Meteorological Agency: Pacific charts around the clock. A receiver in Japan is picked, where the signal is loud.
RTTY DWD 10100.8 kHz story	10100.8 kHz	RTTY	Marine weather as text from DWD (Hamburg, DDK9), 50 Bd, 450 Hz shift, around the clock. For checking the RTTY decoder.
RTTY DWD 4583 kHz story	4583 kHz	RTTY	DWD DDH7, the same marine weather, better at night.
FT8 20 m (14.074) story	14074 kHz	FT8	The busiest digital frequency in the world: decodes every 15 seconds, stations on the map.
FT4 20 m (14.080) story	14080 kHz	FT4	The fast variant of FT8, 7.5-second cycles.
WSPR 20 m (14.0956) story	14095.6 kHz	WSPR	Low-power beacons, 2-minute transmissions, decodes every 2 minutes with callsign, grid and power.
PSK31 20 m (14.070) story	14070 kHz	PSK31	Keyboard contacts, text letter by letter; several signals in 14.070–14.072.
RTTY 20 m (14.083) story	14083 kHz	RTTY	Amateur teletype 45.45 Bd, 170 Hz shift; contests at weekends.
SSTV 20 m (14.230) story	14230 kHz	SSTV	Pictures of 2–3 minutes; by day someone is almost always sending.
NCDXF beacons 20 m (14.100) story	14100 kHz	CW	18 beacons worldwide in turn, a new one every 10 seconds: they show where the band is open.
APRS 144.800 (Europe) story	144.800 MHz	APRS	APRS packets: cars, weather stations and digipeaters on the map. Needs a receiver with 2 m.
APRS 144.390 (USA) story	144.390 MHz	APRS	The American APRS frequency; a receiver in the USA is picked.
MSK144 144.360 (meteor scatter) story	144.360 MHz	MSK144	The European meteor-scatter calling frequency: short pings in 15-second cycles, best before dawn and during showers (Orionids 21–22 October, Geminids 13–14 December). Needs a receiver with 2 m.
SO-50: the satellite FM repeater story	436.795 MHz	FM	The most popular FM satellite: voice on 436.795 with ±10 kHz of Doppler. A receiver under the pass is picked.
RS-44: the satellite beacon story	435.605 MHz	CW	The RS-44 CW beacon, with the SSB transponder next to it (435.610–435.670); long passes from a 1200 km orbit.