Monthly Archives: April 2012

I just caught wind of a now all-too-familiar story in international broadcasting–this time, via Reporters Without Borders.

While I encourage you to read the full press release below, the summarized story is that Reporters Without Borders has launched a mirror web site for La Voix de Djibouti, an independent news source in Djibouti. Why? Because the regime in power in Djibouti, in an effort to stifle the free press, have decided to block the primary website of La Voix de Djibouti.

The article states (we add the boldface):

A Europe-based exile radio station that supports the opposition Renewal and Development Movement (MRD), La Voix de Djibouti, began by broadcasting on the short wave and then switched to being a web radio, but the authorities have blocked access to its website from within Djibouti.

The decision to move off of shortwave has, in essence, severely limited their freedom of the press and their listeners’/subscribers’ access to information. Reporters Without Borders is addressing this censorship by actively creating mirror sites of La Voix de Djibouti that are hosted outside of the blocked domains.

This is admirable, and we strongly support their worthy efforts in creating mirror sites. However, this solution is, at best, full of holes:

How do those who wish to follow the news find each new mirror site after it has been blocked? And presuming they can do so, how long will this take to figure out?
Will the website reader be tracked by the government and/or punished for attempting to circumvent imposed blocking? (Hint: Most regimes now have tools to do this: read this and this.) Has anyone considered these consequences to any individual caught for circumventing a blocked site?
What if the regime decides to simply turn off the internet? Can they do this? Sure they can…and frustratingly, they may.

As we’ve stated here many times before, the Internet is a wonderful information resource and it is proliferating across the planet. But with the Internet, as with FM radio, cable TV and terrestrial TV, repressive regimes can and do hold the power button, as well as the ability to control the content, or even take it over.

Shortwave radio is comparatively immune to this, and moreover, is untraceable. When we eliminate the infrastructure that supports shortwave broadcasting (as is happening at RCI Sackville) we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Poor child.

Full article as follows:

(Source: Reporters Without Borders)

4 April 2012–Reporters Without Borders has today launched a mirror site of radio La Voix de Djibouti’s website, http://lavoixdedjibouti.com, in order to help circumvent the government’s censorship and allow the population to have access to a news sources to which it is being denied.

The media freedom organization invites Internet users to go to http://lavoixdedjibouti.rsf.org in order to access an exact copy of the original site.

“As this is a country without media freedom, where only government propaganda is tolerated, we think it is crucial to help the population to gain access to other news sources,” Reporters Without Borders said. “While it is true that the level of Internet use is still low in Djibouti, it is not negligible, and use of social networks in particular is growing. The population will now be able to read critical news bulletins online.”

A Europe-based exile radio station that supports the opposition Renewal and Development Movement (MRD), La Voix de Djibouti began by broadcasting on the short wave and then switched to being a web radio but the authorities have blocked access to its website from within Djibouti.

So that independent news websites that are targeted by cyber-attacks and government blocking can continue posting information online, Reporters Without Borders has started mirroring sites. The first sites to be mirrored were those of the Chechen magazine Dosh and the Sri Lankan online newspaper Lanka-e News. The organization has also been urging Internet users all over the world to create more mirrors of these sites in a chain of solidarity.

Mirror sites can be used to circumvent blocking by governments. Although the government of Djibouti is blocking access to La Voix de Djibouti’s site, http://lavoixdedjibouti.com, by blocking the site domain name or the hosting server’s IP address, Internet users can still access the Reporters Without Borders mirror site, http://lavoixdedjibouti.rsf.org, because it is hosted on another server with another domain name.

The mirror site will be regularly and automatically updated with all the new content posted on the original site. If the mirror is itself later also blocked, the creation of further mirror sites together with a regularly updated list of these mirrors will continue to render the blocking ineffective in what is known as a Streisand effect.

Reporters Without Borders urges Internet users who want to help combat censorship and have the ability to host a site on a web server to follow suit. Send the URL of the mirror site you have created to wefightcensorship [at] rsf.org. The next mirroring operations launched by Reporters Without Borders will be reported on the @RSF_RWB and @RSFNet Twitter accounts with the #RSFmirror hashtag.

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CKUT’s International Radio Report sheds light on RCI cuts

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The International Radio Report with Wojtek (left), Janice (center) and Sheldon (right). Photo: RCI Action

Sunday, concerned as I am about the deep cuts to RCI’s (Radio Canada International’s) vital radio programming, I listened to CKUT‘s International Radio Report with much interest. Hosts (and good friends) Sheldon and Janice were joined by Wojtek Gwiazda, RCI Action Committee spokesperson, as their on-air guest. RCI Action is a coalition that has worked to restore RCI funding since cuts in 1991; Wojtek explains some of their history in the interview.

Most importantly, the interview provides insight into the internal reaction to the program cuts and changes. Wojtek makes many excellent points, including the fact that since RCI’s English and French news rooms are being eliminated, Canada will effectively have no international voice, no means to offer their opinion of world events. He also notes that, even though the US has the VOA, and UK has the BBC World Service, these countries also have periodicals such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, so forth, all of which carry their voices abroad. Canada, sadly, has no such international news presence. Indeed, I’m aware that The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, has very limited international exposure).

If, like me, you’re interested in the recent developments at RCI–or in reductions to radio’s international presence generally–this show is a must-listen.

Click here to download this episode of the International Radio Report. Click here for an audio archive of past shows.

Note that Wojtek Gwiazda, besides his role with RCI Action, also hosts a show on RCI called Masala Canada. On Saturday, he posted the following message “off mic” for his listeners:

Saturday, April 7, 2012 – 13:34

Why the silence? And a budget cut.

I wanted to take a moment to explain why I’ve been so silent on this site in the last few days.

Some of you may have heard by now that this past Wednesday, Canada’s national radio and television public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada announced the impact of federal government cutbacks to the financing of the broadcaster.

Many services will be affected, many people will lose their jobs.

At Radio Canada International – the effects are quite devastating.

Our budget of $12.3 million will be reduced to $2.3 million.

At least, two-thirds of our staff will be laid off.

We will no longer broadcast on shortwave. The only presence we’ll have is on the Internet, on our website.

The RCI newsroom will be closed, there will be no newscasts.

Our Russian service will be closed, the Brazilian program eliminated.

What will be left is a presence on our website in English, French, Arabic, Mandarin and Spanish. What kind of presence this will be, is yet to be determined.

And yes, that means, that as with everything else that’s being eliminated, the last edition of MASALA CANADA will be on June 23rd.

So far that is all that we know.

I can tell you that there is a union supported lobby group, the RCI Action Committee, which is actively lobbying to stop the cuts. Whether it will be successful, is unknown.

I’ll give you updates when I can.

All the best,

Wojtek

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Fernando’s review of the Bonito 1102S RadioJet software defined receiver

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The Bonito 1102S RadioJet - Click to Enlarge

SWLing Post reader and fellow SW radio reviewer, Fernando, has apprised us of his review of the Bonito 1102S RadioJet. While his site is in German, which we don’t read or speak here, Google Translate gives us English speakers a fair idea of his findings, and Fernando helps us with the rest.

To summarize, his comparison of the Bonito 1102S RadioJet with his Microtelecom Perseus concludes that the two perform well, running about neck-and-neck–in other words, offer almost identical performance characteristics. There were some differences, though. I outline a few key review points that Fernando was kind enough to clarify for us:

The noise floor between the Perseus and RadioJet is more or less the same, in his tests.
He finds that the Perseus is slightly more sensitive on higher frequencies (above 22Mhz). This comparison is made with the “DX Channel” on the Bonito 1102S RadioJet (a feature only found on the Radiojet–see note below).
Fernando believes the sensitivity and selectivity of both radios to be very similar. He told us that he could not hear a great difference.
The Perseus software is, of course, very stable and mature in comparison with that of the new Radiojet. This is quite typical of new SDR products on the market, as it takes time and user feedback to eliminate bugs and quirks. Fernando expresses his confidence, however, that the software engineers at RadioJet will be quick to respond to patches and upgrades.
Overall, he believes that RadioJet will be able to provide a very stable product in short order.

Since Fernando has been a beta tester for the Bonito 1102S RadioJet, he’s familiar with the company and their attentiveness to feedback, and he’s impressed.

One feature unique to the RadioJet is the “DX Channel.” You can see this in action in a video the company released last year: in essence, when activated on a weak signal, the noise floor drops, and the signal seems to pop out of the static. I asked Fernando about this feature and he told me that, when the DX Channel is activated, the software lowers the IP3+ and increases the sensitivity. This is the default channel or mode on the software.

The normal “RX Channel” is used for strong signals and is better for in-band interference. The DX Channel has a higher IP3+. He mentioned that the software can automatically determine which channel should be used, and auto-switches it for the user. Fernando said that this function works quite well.

Like to hear the difference for yourself? Fernando’s website Fenu-Radio.ch has a page dedicated to audio comparisons between the Perseus and RadioJet. The first 15 seconds of each audio clip feature the Perseus, the second 15 seconds features the RadioJet. Click here to go to the audio page.

By the way–Fernando’s website is most impressive. He has a long list of receiver reviews, comparisons and audio files. I encourage you to spend some time there, whether or not you read German.

Thanks for sharing your review, Fernando!

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North Korea relying on shortwave radio listeners to verify upcoming satellite launch/orbit

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NBC News space analyst, James Oberg, will be attending the launch of North Korea’s latest controversial satellite launch in person. As he points out, though, it will be shortwave radio listeners who first verify the success of the launch:

(Photo: VOA)

(Source: MSNBC)

The history of the first two North Korean satellite missions is also a heavy burden for the current campaign for “transparency.” That’s because, despite Pyongyang’s persistent insistence that both satellites were successfully placed in orbit, no sign of them has been detected by anyone in the Western world. No glint of reflected sunlight, no beep-beep of radio calls, no “bogey” blip of radar return. Nothing.

I do not expect any official revision of those old claims. What’s past is past. But the current promises of a renovation in public disclosure policy could be a sign that positive changes are ahead.

Probably the most critical move to establish credibility, aside from our visits, is to allow other outside observers to detect and subsequently announce their own of the satellite to be launched this week. And that could happen, with or without the North Koreans’ consent.

Far more authoritative than anything we report will be the post-launch detection of the satellite’s radio beacon by amateur radio operators in the outside world. Short-wave listeners are ideally placed to pick up such signals — first in Australia, and then along the west coast of South America, and finally up the east coast of North America. Only then will North Korea have its first chance to catch a fleeting signal, unless it managed an extremely long-range radio reception immediately after launch.

Read the full article at MSNBC.

Know the frequency? Please comment and I will update this page.

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RCI’s Sackville towers to be featured in film

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(Source: CBC)

A Moncton artist is now working against the clock to film the Radio-Canada International shortwave towers in her latest film project.

Budget cuts at CBC announced last week mean the towers, near Sackville, N.B., will soon be shut down, but it’s not known exactly what will happen to the towers themselves.

Amanda Dawn Christie said she remembers coming and going from Moncton and the towers signifying that she was almost home.

“Whenever I would drive in, I would just be filled with this exhilaration and I don’t know if it’s the high voltage. Like, some people get headaches and nauseous; I would get exhilarated,” she said. “So I don’t know if it was my interest or if it was the high voltage, but I definitely had this sense of ‘wow.'”

She said she’s heard similar stories as she’s started interviewing people for her feature film.

Christie’s been studying the towers for years.

She even created a sculpture on the marsh near the towers — a kitchen sink designed to catch radio waves — a phenomenon often reported by locals.

Now she’s collecting stories of people who call the towers their landmark, or a tightrope school because of the wires, or the connection to Africa or the Arctic.

Christie said she’s particularly fond of the sight at dawn and dusk.

“The sky’s kind of pink and blue, and the lights are on but you can still see all the towers and the wires. It’s very magical,” she said. “If you don’t know what it is, you’re filled with wonder. And the thing is, if you do know what it is, you’re still filled with wonder.”

Instead of the shortwave towers, RCI will broadcast internationally online.

In truth, even when RCI’s Sackville, NB site is decommissioned, I doubt the towers will be brought down immediately. It’s actually quite an engineering feat to dismantle these. I would hope RCI offers other broadcasters the opportunity to dismantle and use them. VOA (or the IBB) had success doing this at their Greenville, NC transmission site (Site A).

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