BBC World Service To Reduce Shortwave

Posted on February 20, 2014 by | Comments Off on BBC World Service To Reduce Shortwave

bbcqsl

“The Beeb” on SW  is once again getting pared down in an effort to save money. This story from The Guardian website.

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Posted in Broadcasters, Shortwave

WRTH Supplement Available

Posted on February 8, 2014 by | Comments Off on WRTH Supplement Available
WRTH-2014
WRTH 2014 Int. Radio Supplement 1 (B13 Update) is available, the information  below is provided by Nicholas Hardyman, Publisher of the WRTH. Via Mark Nicholls on DX Dialog user-group.

Updates are provided in PDF format and can be downloaded by right-clicking on the link and selecting ‘Save target as…’. In order to view PDF files you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.
This is a free service but if you would like to make a voluntary donation to help support the continuation of these free updates, please click a button below. Suggested amount is $3, €3 or £3.
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Posted in Publications

Video Killed The Radio Star

Posted on February 2, 2014 by | Comments Off on Video Killed The Radio Star
Buggles

Buggles, performers of the hit song “Video Killed the Radio Star” Cr: Wikipedia

Or did it? Radio has withstood all manner of technological incarnations, will anything kill it off?  Thanks to Martin Hadlow via the DX Dialog user-group for alerting us to this interesting article.

 

 

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Posted in Broadcasters

Radio And Gender Equality

Posted on January 28, 2014 by | Comments Off on Radio And Gender Equality

MartinHadlow

From Martin Hadlow:

“She enters the radio field feeling that there is a great chance for her to show the world at large that no science or business is too complex for the feminine ambition.”*

(Radio World magazine, 1922)

History records that, from the very advent of radio, women have had a strong involvement in the development of the medium. When Reginald Fessenden made what is recognized as probably the first wireless broadcast of music and voice in December, 1906, his wife and her best friend were key partners in the event. Reports from the time indicate that, apart from the transmission of the inventor’s own violin performance and a recording of Handel’s Largo, this ground-breaking radio broadcast also included the voices of Helen Fessenden and her friend singing Christmas songs.

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Posted in Broadcasters

DW Makes Major Changes

Posted on January 25, 2014 by | Comments Off on DW Makes Major Changes
Deutsch: Deutsche Welle in Köln.Eingang zum eh...

DW Cologne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Martin Hadlow via the DX Dialog reflector, reports from the ABU conference that DW has announced major changes to increase global reach.

More on this story from the ABU website.

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Posted in Broadcasters

Shortwave Remains Essential – ABU

Posted on January 25, 2014 by | Comments Off on Shortwave Remains Essential – ABU

abu

From Martin Hadlow reporting on the DX Dialog reflector:

The 10th global High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC) with the  Asian Broadcasting Union (ABU) and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) 20-24th January 2014 meeting reported that shortwave will continue to be an important part of international broadcasting.

The story in detail is available on the ABU website.

 

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Posted in Broadcasters, Shortwave

Apps For SWLs

Posted on January 20, 2014 by | Comments Off on Apps For SWLs

ShortwaveSchedule-1024x576

Thanks to the good folk at the Southgate Amateur Radio Club, apps (programs) for hams and SWLs are available:

 

The best Amateur Radio and shortwave apps for iOS and Android smart phones

Advances in technology have always gone hand-in-hand with our radio hobby – indeed, in many cases, those advances originated with our hobby.

Because of this, it should comes as no surprise that in a world where we are rapidly replacing home computing with mobile computing, radio hobbies are “app-ly” supported in the the mobile realm.

Check out our extensive list of Ham Radio apps:
http://wp.me/pn3uc-2cL

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Posted in Broadcasters, Schedules, Shortwave

Veteran SIBC Chief Passes Away

Posted on January 15, 2014 by | Comments Off on Veteran SIBC Chief Passes Away
DXers who have previously QSLd the SIBC in Honiara, Solomon Islands will be saddened to learn of the passing of one of the organization’s most prominent announcers.
Patteson Mae died on Saturday at his home on Gela in the Central Province. Patteson joined the Government Information Service in 1972 and transferred to the SIBS and, later, SIBC. He rose from the position of announcer to General Manager of the SIBC and left the organization in 1993.
The “Solomon Star’ newspaper printed this story today:
A veteran broadcaster and provincial politician has died at his home village in Central Province on Saturday. Patteson Mae passed on after a long battle with diabetes and heart problem.

Mae started his career as a broadcaster with the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in the late 70s. He went to become the station’s general manager in its later years.  While heading the station, he was elected president of the Fiji-based Pacific Islands New Association (PINA) for a term.

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Posted in Broadcasters

Eton Announces Additions to SW Receiver Range

Posted on January 6, 2014 by | Comments Off on Eton Announces Additions to SW Receiver Range

Satellit

Eton Corporation has released four new SW radios, the Field, Mini, Traveller III and Satellite  were previewed at the Las Vegas CES show. Details can be found on Eton’s website.

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Posted in Shortwave

WRMI Joins The Big Boys Club

Posted on January 4, 2014 by | Comments Off on WRMI Joins The Big Boys Club

wrmiThis article from Radio World takes a look at WRMI’s transition from a bit-player to a substantial broadcaster. Just hope we don’t end up with another defacto “radio station” that is really just a carrier for anyone who cares to pay to have their opinion aired.

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Posted in Broadcasters, Shortwave

Tecsun Releases New PL-880 Portable

Posted on December 30, 2013 by | 4 comments

tecsun_pl880

Thanks to Tony King for passing along news of a new portable on offer from Tecsun. And if you don’t like those narrow, fiddly tuning knobs of most portables, this will be on your present list!

Here’s an excellent review and plenty more info from the SWL Info blog.

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Posted in Receivers

Radio Aspidistra, British WW2 Black Op Station

Posted on December 30, 2013 by | 2 comments

apidistraThanks to Paul Rawdon for posting the following to the DX Dialog user-group:

A drama/documentary about the once famed, but now largely forgotten ‘Radio Aspidistra’. The brainchild of The Daily Express columnist, Sefton Delmar, Radio Aspidistra – under its many guises as ‘The Soldiers Radio Calais’, and ‘Radio Atlantic’ etc.; in German language for its intended German audience, became a vital part of Britain’s wartime ‘Black Operations’ broadcasts in WW2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk6xdkhkMzw

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Posted in Clandestine

“Cherry Ripe” – The Numbers Station

Posted on December 27, 2013 by | Comments Off on “Cherry Ripe” – The Numbers Station

randomnumbers

From the Wireless Institute of Australia News bulletin 27/12/13: In our world of Radio Communications over the years maybe the Weirdest you may have come across are what are known as “The Numbers Stations.”

Many have heard of the Cuban numbers being read by a female, but here in VK Cherry Ripe was the nickname of a mysterious, powerful shortwave numbers station that used several bars from the English folk song “Cherry Ripe” as an interval signal. The station was believed to be operated by the British Secret Intelligence Service and to have emanated from Australia.

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Posted in Clandestine, Shortwave

Voice of Russia Continues On SW

Posted on December 27, 2013 by | Comments Off on Voice of Russia Continues On SW

vor_qsl

Reminiscent of a Mark Twain’s quote “rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated”, the Voice of Russia is not closing down!

They have been merged with another media agnecy and they have had their transmission hours curtailed.

Here is their 2014 schedule from Wolfgang Bueschel:

RUSSIA   Full schedule of broadcasting WGD “Voice of Russia” in the winter
season B-13, since January 1, 2014.
automatic translation by Google translator

language       UTC       transmitter   kHz   kW direction notes

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Posted in Broadcasters, Shortwave

Pioneer DXers Recalled in Radio Documentary

Posted on December 26, 2013 by | Comments Off on Pioneer DXers Recalled in Radio Documentary
Jack Fox

Jack Fox

ATCushen

Arthur Cushen

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Bryan Clark for posting the following on the DX Dialog user-group: Thanks to a tip from Peter Grenfell in Oamaru, I have just heard an 11
minute excerpt of a documentary by Jack Perkins called “Germany Calling”
replayed on Radio NZ National around 10.00am this morning.

It includes reference to DX League pioneers Arthur Cushen and Jack Fox,
and audio from Jack and Arthur (very briefly) about the wartime
monitoring service they set up.

You can listen too at:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2581159

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Posted in History

A Day In The Life Of Radio Caroline

Posted on December 24, 2013 by | Comments Off on A Day In The Life Of Radio Caroline

 

caroline

 

Thanks to Paul Rawdon for posting the following on the DX Dialog user-group: The 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s saw the evolution of a new type of radio broadcasting around the British Isles. With the BBC being considered as a dinosaur completely out of touch with the younger generation, a number of brave souls decided to do something about it. “Pirate Radio” was born.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URl4bW5uoO0

Ross Revenge Radio Caroline

Ross Revenge Radio Caroline (Photo credit: mrrobertwade (wadey))

 

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Posted in Pirate

Changes Ahead For The VOA

Posted on December 23, 2013 by | Comments Off on Changes Ahead For The VOA

voa_qsl

David Ensor may be at once on the side of the angels and the wrong side of history. A former CNN and ABC correspondent, he heads the Voice of America, a proud, underfinanced and embattled government media agency that’s part of a little-known amalgam of Cold War relics that mix virtue, ideological necessity and a whiff of anachronism. Read more at the New York Daily News website.

 

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Posted in Broadcasters, Shortwave

Admiral Byrd’s Ancient Tweets From Antarctica

Posted on December 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Admiral Byrd’s Ancient Tweets From Antarctica
Admiral Richard E. Byrd

Admiral Richard E. Byrd (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s an interesting notion; that shortwave was the first medium for “tweeting”.

This article from the Daily Caller throws a modern spin on shortwave, or is that a historic spin on tweeting?? Using the “ancient” reference is maybe a sad indication of how far removed Shortwave is from modern technology!

 

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Posted in History, Shortwave

Trucker’s Radio On Shortwave

Posted on December 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Trucker’s Radio On Shortwave

mgihtykbc

Those familiar with the US AM rafio dial, will now that stations like KRVN and WWL have long catered for truckies hauling their loads across the USA. There is a more international trucker’s radio, the Mighty KBC. This article from the Radio Survivor website explains.

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Posted in Broadcasters, Shortwave

Solomon Islands New Frequency

Posted on November 30, 2013 by | Comments Off on Solomon Islands New Frequency

From Martin Hadlow:

My Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation contacts advise me that the SIBC has been testing a new (Japanese supplied) transmitter on 6080 kHz. This is part of a plan to provide better national radio coverage in the event of a natural disaster, such as a tsunami. The SIBC has been testing in October and more recently in November. There have already been YouTube stories about the new frequency: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZEKEYzNANY
The SIBC is keen to hear from listeners as to whether the signal is getting out widely so please e-mail them if you hear the new frequency. No doubt there will be problems given that Radio Australia is also on 6080 kHz…not to mention several other stations.
Regards,
Martin
Feedback fron Bryan Clark, Mangawhai: Yes Martin, have been monitoring over recent weeks to establish the sign-on time, given that 9545 usually closes abruptly at 0501 UTC.
One night they appeared on 6080 about 0607 UTC, another night they were there at 0525 check.
Understand they should change to 6080 immediately after 9545 closure but yet to confirm that’s definite.
They usually override the co-channel Brazilian.
Very good signal by 0800 and then at 0900 they are clobbered by RA’s Papua New Guinea Service – though still audible underneath, parallel to 5019.88kHz.
Bryan
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