Yearly Archives: 2014

VOA Radiogram this weekend, July 5/6

VOA Radiogram this weekend will include news about reductions to the shortwave transmissions of VOA and other stations of US international broadcasting. These cuts were effective on 30 June.

Fortunately, VOA Radiogram remains on shortwave, at least for now.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 66, 5-6 July 2014 (all in MFSK32 except where noted):

1:33 Program preview
2:45 Major reductions to US shortwave broadcasts, with image
8:10 Car fumes affect pollinating insects
10:10 Test of Mars landing craft a success, with image
14:23 India launches satellites at low cost, with MFSK64 image
20:32 Spanish: Triple black hole discovery, with image
25:59 Closing announcements

Please send reception reports to [email protected]

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

The Mighty KBC will transmit a minute of MFSK64 Saturday at about 1130 UTC on 6095 kHz, and Sunday about 0130 UTC (Saturday 9:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz. Both frequencies via Germany. Reports to [email protected].

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The CC Skywave: C. Crane’s latest shortwave portable

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The CC Skywave is the latest shortwave portable from the manufacturer and retailer, C. Crane. While this radio’s form factor looks a lot like the CCRadio-SWP, you can tell, based on features, that this is a complete re-design internally. Indeed, the Skywave sports an NOAA weather radio–and an aviation band–as well as AM/FM and shortwave.

Here are the features C. Crane lists for the CC Skywave:

AM, FM, Weather plus Alert, Shortwave (2.3-26.1 MHz) and Air Aviation Band
Direct Entry of a Frequency plus Auto Scan and Store
Lighted LCD Display
Selectable Fast or Fine Tuning on all Bands Except Weather
400 Memory Presets
Runs on (2) AA Alkaline batteries (not included)
(Optional) CC Skywave Power Adapter w/ Mini USB Plug Required for Charging NiMH Batteries.
Stereo Headphone Jack and Fold-Out Back Stand
Clock with 12/24 hour format, Alarm
Rotary Volume Knob
High Quality CC Buds Earphones and radio Carry Case included
One Year Limited Warranty
Dimensions: 4.75″ W x 3″ H x 1.1″ D
Weight: approximately 5.5 ounces without batteries
Click here to download the user manual (PDF)

The Skywave is now available to order on the C. Crane website. Since availability is scheduled for July 14, 2014, ordering online is a means of reserving your unit. I would expect C. Crane to ship on time; this is a retailer with a good track record.

I do hope to review the Skywave in the coming weeks. Update: Click here to read a full review of the CC Skywave.

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James Cridland: “Radio’s Brave New World”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Jonathan Marks, who shares this post, “Radio’s Brave New World,” a speech written by James Cridland.

Cridland gave this speech at the opening of the Radiodays Johannesburg conference. Here is an excerpt:

“There’s a theme that runs through the conference today of threats and opportunities. This panel is called “Radio’s Brave New World.” It sounds as if radio is heavily under threat. That radio is on its last legs. That we should pack up and go home.

The facts are that radio is as resilient today as it always has been. Radio is tremendously successful here in South Africa, in the UK, the US and across Europe. The amount of people who tune into radio is as high as it has ever been. And that’s great news for those of us who love the medium.

Radio has a unique place–in that we enjoy radio while we’re doing other things. No other medium can say that. Some people call radio “the secondary medium.” I prefer calling it “the multitasking medium.” There is nothing secondary about radio.

Radio also has unique opportunities. We are part of people’s lives in a way no other medium is. A station in the UK ended up having hundreds of thousands of protestors when the BBC tried to close it down. You wouldn’t get a march on Broadcasting House for a website being closed down. Or a Mobile app. But there’s something in radio that means we are intimately connected with our favourite presenters and our favourite stations. As Franz said, that means that we can be more interactive with our audience, too.

Radio’s reliance on audio, rather than visual, means that it can go places no other medium can. We can make full advantage of podcasts and on-demand listening: something that is continuing to grow. We can use the Mobile internet in ways that are still difficult or impossible for TV. We are fleet-of-foot, and quick to adapt. We have great relationships with our advertisers, and we can involve them in our programming in far more creative ways than TV. Radio is multiplatform. That is our great strength.

And we can now make broadcast quality radio with nothing more than a mobile phone: recording, editing, and sending in to the studio. No other medium has the content flexibility that we do.[…]”

Read text of Cridland’s full speech at Media UK’s website.

James Cridland is the Managing Director of Media UK, and a radio “futurologist”– consultant, writer, and public speaker who concentrates on the effect that new platforms and technology are having on radio.

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NY Times: Journalists “at Odds With Union” over VOA’s role

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The New York Times, in a recent article, describes a growing split between the VOA Union (American Federation of Government Employees Local 1812) and VOA journalists over the proposed changes to the VOA mission (via H.R. 4490), which would make it an active voice of American policy. (Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Marty, for sharing this relevant article).

Below is an excerpt from The Times; click here for the full article:

WASHINGTON — Voice of America journalists who are fighting to maintain what they say is their editorial independence are now at odds not only with Congress, but also with their own union.

The union, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1812, recently endorsed a bill that would change language in the charter for the 72-year-old news agency and require it to actively support American policy. That came as a surprise to some Voice of America employees, who said the legislation would make them mouthpieces for government policy. They want the union to withdraw its letter of support.

“A lot of us would welcome change and reform, but not at the cost of undermining V.O.A.’s journalistic credibility,” said Jim Malone, a senior national correspondent at the government-financed news agency who is not a member of the union.

In its letter, union leaders said the agency’s managers had lost sight of their mission and were trying to turn the “V.O.A. into something they envisioned as a global variant of CNN.”

“In the end, some of the currently entrenched senior management represent a far greater threat to V.O.A.’s journalistic independence, indeed to the very existence of the V.O.A.,” the union wrote.

The danger, said the union’s president, Tim Shamble, is that the government could withdraw its financial support if the agency continued its current course. The federation represents about 40 percent of all Voice of America workers and 11 percent of the journalists in the central news division.

Continue reading…

For other posts about this topic, please follow the tag: HR4490

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WRTH : A14 updates are now available for download

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WRTH has just announced that updates to the A season international radio broadcasting schedules are available to download on WRTH’s website.

This update includes the cuts and changes to VOA/RFA/RFE etc.

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SDR# on a Toshiba Encore tablet PC

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SWLing Post reader London Shortwave recently moved the Software Defined Radio (SDR) application SDR# (“SDR Sharp”) off of his MacBook Pro and onto a Toshiba Encore 8″ tablet PC. He recently posted this video of SDR# running his FunCube Dongle Pro+ on the Toshiba Encore tablet:

His reception of the Voice of Korea’s Spanish service is most impressive, especially considering the high level of RFI (radio noise) he must cope with at his home in London, England.

Click here to follow London Shortwave on Twitter.

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Listener Post: Jeff Zang

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Jeff Zang’s radio story is the latest in our series called Listener Posts, where I place all of your personal radio histories. If you would like to add your story to the mix, simply send your story by email!

In the meantime, many thanks to Jeff for sharing his personal radio history:

Jeff Zang

I have enjoyed your blog…indeed it has been a major factor in my getting the bug again after being away from shortwave for about 20 years.

I had played around with DXing AM stations at night when I was around 10 or 11; I lived just outside of Washington DC and remember hearing WLS and WCFL at nighttime once WLMD went off the air (a daytime station only). Also WBZ in Boston and WBT in Charlotte were pretty easy to hear, as well as KMOX in St Louis.

The original Happy Station Show host, Edward “Eddie” Startz. Photo courtesy of RNW.

I first remember hearing shortwave on a trip to see my uncle circa 1973. He had a shortwave radio. I clicked it on and was fascinated to hear all the different languages and odd music coming from Middle Eastern stations. I also quite clearly remember stumbling on some bagpipe music; I first thought this must be from Scotland but it turned out to be the “Happy Station” show on Radio Netherlands. Straight away I was hooked.

My parents got me a cheap shortwave radio (can’t remember the make, it wasn’t very good). It did however pull in the BBC and Radio Australia well enough and I became a devoted fan of both stations. I quickly moved up to the Realistic DX 160 once I’d saved a bit of money. This was a great radio to do serious Dxing with; especially later in the ’70’s when the sunspot numbers really went through the roof during the solar max at that time. I remember hearing Uganda, All India Radio, Radio Cairo came in fairly well at the time…Plus I was able to hear some Pirates on the weekends and since it had a BFO I could listen to Hams for the first time.

Somewhere around the early 1990’s I fell out of the hobby; had to concentrate on other things for a while. About 3 or 4 months ago I came across your blog and found myself getting the itch again. I now have a Kaito KA1103; amazing such a little radio can pull so much in. I’ve been reading your tips on what to listen to, have managed to catch some pirates and have enjoyed hearing Radio New Zealand in the mornings along with Radio Australia. I am sorry that so many of the stations I heard when I was a kid are now gone, SRI, Radio Netherlands, Radio Sweden, Radio Finland (I used to be a big fan of the latter two). But I have made up for this by doing some more ham DXing and also checking the Utility stations more often than I did years ago.