Monthly Archives: September 2016

SDRplay releases new API driver for the RSP

SDRplay-Logo

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike (K8RAT) who writes:

SDRplay has released a new API/hardware driver for the RSP (1.97).

Here is what they say about it along with a download:

http://sdrplay.com/platforms.html

So that’s a new SDRuno version and RSP hardware driver in less than one week. SDRplay has been busy!  Thanks for the tip, Mike!

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From The Isle of Music Preview for Sept. 26/27

promoftiomsep262016small

Our September 27 (September 26 in the Americas on WBCQ) program offers special guest Yissy Garcia, one of Cuba’s most exciting young drummers and leader of Yissy & Bandancha, an explosive new project with which we think you’ll fall in love. And, of course, we’ll play a lot of other great Cuban music as well.

Two options for listening on shortwave:
WBCQ, 7490 KHz, Tuesdays 0000-0100 UTC
(8pm-9pm EDT Mondays in the Americas)
Channel 292, 6070 KHz, Tuesdays 1900-2000 UTC
(2100-2200 CEST)
Visit our Facebook page for more information. 

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RAE – Argentina To The World: RAE’s new name and new commitment to shortwave broadcasting

RAE Antenna farm (Source: RAE)

RAE Antenna farm (Source: RAE)

Many thanks to Luis Maria Barassi (RAE Director) and Adrian Korol (RAE Executive Advisor) for sharing the following press release:


RAE- RADIODIFUSION ARGENTINA AL EXTERIOR becomes RAE- ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD

A new stage begins in the history of RAE, that will transform from RAE-RADIODIFUSION ARGENTINA AL EXTERIOR to RAE- ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD, updating the identity of our international signal.

argentina-rae

Among the news to share, there’s the decision to maintain presence on the shortwave frequencies of 15345 and 11710 KHZ, which are broadcast from the transmission plant located in General Pacheco. Currently, we’re facing some technical problems with regard to modulation, but we’ll face the challenge of fixing this and increase our presence on the shortwaves.

We’ll keep on transmitting in eight languages, now with a homogenous programming, that will be coherent with regard to contents, with the specific contribution of each language considering particular characteristics. RAE’s new stage will feature programs Mondays through Mondays.

Each language will have a daily 55-minute broadcast on the shortwaves, with one daily re-run.

In addition, the daily show will be available on the new website of RAE, where the program will be on streaming 24 hours a day.

Specific applications for RAE will be developed for mobile devices and on a second stage, podcasts and RAE content broadcast by local stations in other countries. The most recent shows will also be available to download on demand.

Another innovation are the six channels of Argentine music available on RAE’s website, organized by genre: Tango, Folk, Rock, Pop, Jazz and Classical, that will play music 24 hours, with playlist in constant expansion and a radio sound, that’s to say, with a presentation of songs, that will provide additional data about the tunes.

This way, listeners will be able to enjoy at any time of the day the best works by artists such as Charly Garcia, Yupanqui, Piazzolla, Sandro, Malosetti, La Camerata Bariloche, announced in various languages, with a radio format. This is part of the new design of what we call DIGITAL RAE.

The daily programs of RAE cover various topics developed jointly by the new production team of RAE as well as the language teams. After the news bulletin, with the inclusion of music and bite-sized features about various topics.

In addition, we’ll now have a new interval ID signal.

The schedule for our station in all languages now will be:

MONDAY: Our Football/Argentine Tango

TUESDAY: Argentines Without Borders / La Folklórica

WEDNESDAY: The Conversation/Argentine Roads

THURSDAYS: Welcome/Science and Technology

FRIDAYS: Multi-Sports Center/Histories in Common

On Saturdays, a SUMMARY OF THE WEEK will be broadcast, followed by ACTUALIDAD DX.COM.AR, the new segment dedicated to DXing, radio, media and information technology.

This program will be produced and presented in Spanish by ARNALDO SLAEN and RAE’S director, LUIS MARIA BARASSI, featuring news about radio and technologies applied to communication, plus audio files, interviews, etcetera. The program will have an average duration of 25-30 minutes.

This format will be broadcast also on various languages and will not only be available on RAE’s website, but also in the spaces dedicated to DX-related content on the web.

Finally, Sundays will be the day of program THE BRIDGE, a weekly space focused on the contact with listeners, music and interviews. The show will also pay homage to classics of international broadcasting such as the STATION OF JOY and similar programs that left their mark in the history of international radio.

rae-argentina

The support of all DXing colleagues, radio ham enthusiasts and fans of the Short Waves is paramount, in order to spread their messages, emphasize the importance of the shortwaves as well as the need to increase the presence on various bands, complementing digital content.

A new stage begins for RAE, ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD, with many ideas and challenges ahead, a phase in which the participation of all sectors linked to our field will be key for our growth and for the steps that will follow.

It’s important to underline that after many years of being practically ignored by various administrations, the new stage of Radio Nacional, under director Ana Gerschenson, and Deputy Director Pablo Ciarliero, includes a project for RAE, with the participation of the excellent and historic professionals of RAE, plus the arrival of experts in digital content and with the incorporation of Adrián Korol, who, beyond his renown for his work in Radio and TV, is a passionate DXer and Radio Ham fan.

Over the next few days, we’ll release the definitive schedule, with timetables, frequencies and targeted zones for all languages.

The launch of this new phase will be next October 5 at 7PM, at the Auditorium of Radio Nacional Buenos Aires. We let you know, as well, that next week a definitive timetable will be released. It’s clear that all ideas, proposals and specially the dissemination to this news will be greatly appreciated.

73 & DX

RAE ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD

Luis Maria Barassi – Director

Adrian Korol – Executive Advisor

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Correction: World Premiere Spectres of Shortwave/Ombres des ondes courtes

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who noticed an error in the original announcement about the Spectres of Shortwave Premiere.

Richard has confirmed with Amanda Dawn Christie that the simulcast is at 7:15 p.m. ADT (not 7:15 AST) as it will still be Daylight Savings Time. This means it will be 6:15 p.m. EDT or 22:15 UTC.

I’ve corrected this in the original announcement below:


unnamedI’m very pleased to share this press release from filmmaker Amanda Dawn Christie:

WORLD PREMIERE :

Thursday, Sept. 22, 7:15 pm ADT (22:15 UTC)
Spectres of Shortwave / Ombres des ondes courtes
A film about radio waves, relationships, landscape, and loss.
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Exciting news! Spectres of Shortwave is finally finished!

After seven long years, it’s finally time to share this film and the radio doc with the public! The final corrections to subtitles and credits were completed two weeks ago, and the DCP shipped out last week! The world premiere screening takes place at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax next Thursday, September 22, at 7:15 pm.

This documentary about the Radio Canada International shortwave towers is both a film and a radio documentary, and while viewers watch the film in one part of the world, listeners can simultaneously listen to the radio doc in other parts of the world.

The film will be premiering in Canada at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, while the radio documentary simultaneously makes it’s premiere on Wave Farm Radio out of New York.

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About the film:

Long before the internet, there was shortwave. A mysterious web of international shortwave radio towers once dominated the Tantramar marshscape. Meanwhile, local residents heard radio broadcasts emanate unexpectedly from their household appliances.

The Radio Canada International shortwave relay site was built during World War 2, to broadcast to Europe and Africa. It continued to broadcast around the world during the Cold War and beyond, not only for Canada, but also relaying transmissions for Radio Free Europe, Voice of Vietnam, Radio Korea, Radio Japan, and Radio China, among others. Located in Sackville, New Brunswick, it was perfectly positioned to transmit across the Atlantic Ocean, and covered most of the globe with its transmissions.

This experimental documentary film focuses on the flat marshland landscape accompanied by stories told by local residents and the technicians who worked at the site.

After beginning this project, the Canadian government announced that the Radio Canada International shortwave relay site would be shut down and dismantled. As such, a final chapter was added to the film, which documents the dismantling of this historic structure.

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About the Radio doc:

While the images of the film capture landscape imagery of the towers over four seasons in various weather conditions, the sound track of the film doubles as a radio documentary as stories told by local residents and the technicians who worked at the site are accompanied by field recordings from the area as well as contact microphone recordings made from the towers themselves.

In the final chapter of the documentary, the audio is comprised only of the contact microphone recordings of the towers and the sounds of their demolition. The beginning of the demolition is a rich soundscape with the drones of all thirteen towers playing together. As each tower falls and crashes to the ground, it’s voice is removed from the mix, until we are left with the single drone of the last tower standing until it falls.

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More info on the film, including video clips, photos, and press clippings can be found here:
www.spectresofshortwave.net

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World Premiere Film Screening:
Thursday, September 22, 7:15pm ADT
Atlantic Film Festival: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Cineplex Cinemas: Park Lane: Theatre 5
Ticket purchases and info: click here

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World Premiere Radio Simulcast
Thursday, September 22, 6:15pm EDT (22:15 UTC)
Wave Farm Radio: Acra, New York
Tune in and listen online here :
www.wavefarm.org/listen

fullscreen-capture-9182016-121906-pm

This film was made possible with the support of
the Canada Council for the Arts,
the New Brunswick Arts Board,
the Shaw Hot Docs Completion Fund
the Linda Joy Post Award
the National Film Board of Canda : Atlantic Centre
the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative
studio Prim, and
Wave Farm WGXC FM

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Reminder: North American DX Contest Survey

 

IMG_20160903_085705777Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, John Cooper, who writes with the following update:

Attention All Shortwave DXers and SW Listeners!

The closing date for the Contest survey gauging the interest in having a North American Shortwave DX Contest is in 10 days from today. As of today’s date I have only received 18 confirmations from DXers who would like to have a Contest, which includes my own survey. I find this to be mind boggling as I truly thought there would be more interest in having a North American Shortwave DX Contest especially with all the DXers who are still active and those who listen to Shortwave for enjoyment and information might want to participate!!!

If you are interested and haven’t submitted your survey yet, please do so. The survey was posted on this website in August. You can reach me at [email protected], or by mail at John P. Cooper, 734 Sally Ann drive, Lebanon, PA 17046, USA.

Thanks to all of you who have submitted surveys. It is greatly appreciated.

73

John P. Cooper

Click here to download, complete, then email the survey (MS Word).

Thanks for producing and administering this survey, John! Readers: if you haven’t submitted participated in this survey yet, please consider doing so!

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The Sony ICF-SW100: a miniture DX marvel, never likely to be repeated

sw100s

Hi there, I’ve owned my Sony ICF-SW100S for about a year now and in that time it has demonstrated a level of performance way beyond my expectations. Notwithstanding it’s incredibly small size (about the same as a packet of cigarettes, give-or-take), the DX results I have obtained with it are simply incredible. A fully featured ultra-portable receiver, complete with synchronous detection, selectable side bands, SSB, CW and coupled with sensitivity that has my (wonderful) Sony ICF-SW55 beat – and knocks on the door of the legendary ICF2001D. I simply can’t recommend it highly enough. Plug in some headphones or connect an external speaker such as the Bose SoundLink Mini 2 and you effectively have table-top receiver performance and audio in a very compact package.

Originally introduced into the market in 1993 and discontinued in 2005, this little radio covers the broadcast FM band from 76 to 108 MHz and AM from 150 to 29999 kHz, continuously. There are numerous other features that I won’t list here as they’re available on the web, but suffice to say, this (now vintage) ultra-portable DXer’s box of tricks is likely never to be repeated. They are available on eBay and prices remain robust for a radio that will be one to two decades old. Of course there’s also the issue on the first generation models with the ribbon cable connecting the lid of the set with the LCD display etc. to the base, which would fracture after some time, but this was rectified in later models with a notch cut out of the hinge to reduce the stress on the cable – see photo. They are also repairable and in fact I believe Thomas has a posting on here detailing how the ribbon cable on his example was replaced. In my opinion, this receiver is worth the hassle of a repair, because it’s quite simply unique.

Below are selected reception videos from my youtube channel Oxford Shortwave Log using the Sony ICF-SW100, which I believe epitomise the performance of this great little portable. Thanks for watching/ listening.


Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log youTube channel

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log Youtube channel

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel

Direct Link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log reception video

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel

Clint Gouveia is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Clint actively publishes videos of his shortwave radio excursions on his YouTube channel: Oxford Shortwave Log. Clint is based in Oxfordshire, England.

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Paul discovers Firedrake in an unexpected place

(Photo: Satdirectory.com)

(Photo: Satdirectory.com)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who writes:

From time to time, I get some interesting shortwave catches here in Alaska.

Sometimes on 10 MHz, I get WWV. Sometimes I get WWVH. Sometimes I get BPM China. And from time to time, I’ve heard all three at once.

Well this clip is something a bit different…

From April 20, 2016 at 1707 UTC here is my Tecsun PL880 connected to a 225 foot long wire with audio set at 3.5 kHz while tuned to 10,000 kHz (10 MHz).

This time, I am hearing WWVH Hawaii and […] the Chinese Firedrake jammer. What’s happening is Firedrake is jamming the Sound of Hope on 10005 kHz and the signal is so wide, it’s [competing with] WWVH.

I am making no adjustments to the dial tuning or audio settings as this happens. Listen to how things fade in and out.

Click here to view on YouTube.

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