Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Goren, who shares this latest update from ABC Reception advice:
Thank you for your email.
We are working towards restoring the services this coming Friday at 9am Sydney time.
Kind Regards,
ABC Reception Advice
A number of Post readers received this same message (thanks to you all for sharing). I, for one, hope to hear my staple broadcaster back on the air Friday morning. I’ll certainly be listening!
Hearing the familiar Radio Australia “bumper” musical cue before the start of the hour on 9580 kHz this morning was very reassuring that all was like it was before!!
Here is what I emailed Radio Australia in appreciation of their continuous use of SW radio. In it I emphasized that not all listeners have full-time, reliable high-speed broadband internet mandatory for web-based listening. I share this email with the hope that others may think about sending RA a similar email letting theirs staff know that we LISTEN to them for their content and not just to collect a QSL card:
To The Staff And Management of Radio Australia:
Thank you for your resumption of Radio Australia’s shortwave radio service! I’ve been listening on 5980 kHz this past Friday and was glad to see all was like before. As a long-time listener (since 1971), I still NEED shortwave radio in order to be able to continue listening in. Even though I live in the States, my region has no high-speed internet service which is mandatory for web-based reception of RA; hence, my need and dependence upon shortwave to make it happen. I should also mention that satellite reception is very poor here due to large mountains blocking a clear view to the satellite you use; so, that is out for me.
Yes, I am aware that America is not your target area; Asia-Pacific is. I would feel certain that there are more than just a few North American and European listeners enjoying your Asia-Pacific transmissions. If I may venture a guess, I would think many Pacific Islanders and Papua-New Guineans, your core audience, do not have the means necessary to listen to Radio Australia over the internet so they rely on shortwave radio. Moreover, if other folks like me in a well-developed country like the USA do not have home-based, high-speed broadband internet, shortwave radio is the only practical—and necessary–means in order to hear the news, issues and entertainment from Down Under, that we do not otherwise get from other media.
Keep SHORTWAVE for now at least. When the world is fully capable of reliable full-time high-speed internet access, THEN and only then, can you abandon shortwave radio permanently!
Thank you for your kind attention and time,
Your faithful listener,
Dean M Bianco
Vermontville NY USA
RA sounded good this morning in Northeast Pennsylvania. A solid signal with shallow fades and minor phase-shifting during the 8:00 am EDT hour on my barefoot RF-2200.
Ah, back to normal, listening to triple J, on 9580 while a fine rain of california wildfire ash floats down.
I’ll be honest. If I had not check on this website as often as I do, I would have no idea Radio Australia was off the air for a little while. It’s good to hear (no pun intended) that RA is back on the airwaves.
Let me send you the files of the program.
I suppose you expect every listener to be awake and attentively listening when Pacific Beat is on. Since people have disparities in their schedules and may miss the announcement however, you’ll use that as an excuse to try to prove yourself right in the end, as usual.
The video is up. I caught them tuning up a little early.
Brilliant, Dan! I’ll sleep a little easier tonight knowing that RA will be there awaiting me in the morning.
Thanks for uploading the video. And, I feel your pain, by the way. Upload speed here at my house is .3 mbps.
Cheers,
Thomas
I’m not sure why it was such a worry. This is something that Radio Australia does every 14 to 18 months. For years that have been switching things off for a between 7 to the longest being 14 days (2009).
Nigel Holmes who spent years at RA until he retired a few years ago said it’s the only way they can check everything at Shepparton.
Well, I had just never remembered it being that long of a period of time. Come to think of it, in 2009, I was building my house and did very little SWLing during the time. I guess it was good timing then! 🙂
Kieth, I’m new new to shortwave so I appreciated your experienced input. By the way, I loved your “Song of India” series on Global 24 awhile back.
Was checking back at some of the email Nigel Holmes the former frequency manager of RA sent me. Shortest outage was 2 days from 2007 the longest was 14 days in 2009 when they were replacing Shepparton power station and all communication lines to the station.
Just checking back on the program logs. But I now wonder how often these concerned people really are. Because 2 days leading up to the outage their was a message that was broadcast saying it would be off air. It wasn’t broadcast during the ABC’s block of programming as they don’t even know what RA does. But it was mentioned on Pacific Beat, which is the only program in English still produced by RA.
Still uploading on my less than stellar service. Link should be here in an hour.
Yay, life is better. I Learned alot from everyones comments. Thanx.
WOO HOO!!!!
Radio Australia is up on 17840 and 14240 kHz at 2300. I’ll link to a video here soon.
17840 5/9 here in Wellington NZ from 2300z Thursday. Steve.
9 a.m. Friday Sydney time would be 23:00 on Thursday UTC, which would be 4:00 p.m. Thursday, PDT. I’ll be tuned to 17840 kHz which should offer excellent reception on the US West Coast at this time. 15240 and 15415 kHz should also be up at this time with fair to good reception on the US West Coast.