Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, @experimradio, who notes:
Experimental Radio Service license renewed 1 March 2018 for this HF station.
Good luck extracting useful intelligence from this:
https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=170747&x=.
Copy of license:
Thank you for the tip! You’re right–vast portions of this documentation have been marked out.
(Source: Kuwait News Agency via Mike Hansgen)
KUWAIT, March 8 (KUNA) — Minister of Information Mohammad Al-Jabri on Thursday opened a project updating shortwave transmitters from analogue to digital radio mondiale (DRM) broadcasting systems, at Kabd radio station.
This is a new achievement for the ministry to be added to a series of vital projects that aim to keep pace with the rapid technical progress around the globe, Al-Jabri told KUNA and the Kuwait TV.
Kabd station, through the new DRM system, will allow “Kuwait’s voice” to reach the entire Middle East region, Europe and Asia, he noted.
Kuwaitis have planned and supervised the project, the minister said, noting that updating the infrastructure of radio stations aims to cope with latest digital broadcasting development, the minister said.
Al-Jabri praised officials, and all the personnel at the ministry’s Engineering Affairs Sector, for their hard sincere efforts.
I snapped this photo inside the RCI Sackville transmitter site in 2012, a few months prior to its closure.
Earlier this year, we posted a note by Marc Goldstein who is in the process of dismantling the Radio Canada International Sackville, New Brunswick, transmitter building.
Marc is tasked with selling some of the equipment that used to make this site hum. The First Nations group who now own the site are using the revenue from sales to help fund site cleanup and renovation. Mark recently passed along the following note:
We are trying to determine the value of the large quantity of 1940 era engineering blue prints of the station. I hoping your readers will be able to establish their worth.
While rummaging through an old file cabinet in maintenance building (RCI Sackville, New Brunswick), we located about a 100 or so more engineering blue prints (1938-1945), about a dozen black and white photos (RCI reporters interviewing what appears to be world celebrities), and annual engineering reports (1938-1980). Would any of these items be of interest to your readers?
Post readers: If you are interested in any of these items, Marc can be contacted via the following email address: [email protected]. He is open to offers and happy to ship these items internationally.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN), who writes:
Here is a handy tip for those using small magnetic loops, like the Grundig AN-200. Using a simple Lazy Susan makes rotating the loop a lot easier as in the picture attached. It gives you a very smooth 360 degree rotation using a simple flip of a finger. Lazy Susans come in all sizes and luckily I had one already which fits the AN-200 perfectly.
This is a handy tip, indeed! In fact, I once spoke with a mediumwave DXer who told me that when he prepares for a DXpedition, he packs the Lazy Susan before he packs his portable’s batteries!
Lazy Susans are quite easy to find. Most “big box” retailers have them, Amazon.com has a massive inventory (affiliate link), IKEA and I’ve had incredible luck finding them at thrift stores for next to nothing! In fact, if you have a local thrift store with a large selection of kitchen accessories, you’ll likely find a Lazy Susan or two on the shelves.
Thank you for the tip, Mario!
(Source: Aljazeera via Mike Hansgen)
Despite the legal challenges, Indigenous communities use radio to ‘keep their language and culture alive’.
Sumpango, Guatemala – Sitting in a courtyard, wearing an indigenous huipil dress, Amanda Chiquito glows as she talks about the challenges and successes of working with the community radio station in Sumpango Sacatepequez, Guatemala.
“There is no media that represents our community,” the 25-year-old says.
“There wasn’t a media outlet that could inform us and keep our culture and language alive,” she tells Al Jazeera.
Chiquito is a reporter and radio host at Ixchel Radio, the only community station in Sumpango Sacatepequez, a small town 42km from Guatemala’s capital.
More than 95 percent of the town’s 50,000 inhabitants are indigenous, living in remote areas, where access to information and technology is limited.[…]
Way High Radio’s studio.
(Source: Westword via Mike Hansgen)
Will the FCC Sink Pirate Radio in Colorado?
Word spread quickly about the mysterious unmarked black SUV parked at a highway exit just outside the town of Ward on January 24. In the self-sufficient mountain community perched at 9,500 feet, strangers always attract attention. But the strangers in the SUV weren’t just a curiosity; they were enforcement agents with the Federal Communications Commission, and they presented a real threat to a beloved community resource.
Since 1997, Ward had played host to an unlicensed FM radio station called Way High Radio. Colloquially known as “pirate” stations, radio operations such as Way High Radio are expressly forbidden by the FCC, which regulates America’s airwaves. That the station had been able to illegally broadcast from 90.5 FM for so many years was largely thanks to the isolation of the mountain town, roughly an hour-and-a-half drive from the FCC’s enforcement office in Denver.
When DJ Willy (not his real name) heard about the federal agents parked near town, he got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was a moment he’d been dreading for a long time. But he’d also studied up on FCC enforcement, and knew the agents would want to catch someone actually inside the radio station’s studio, a small trailer located next to Ward’s town hall with an antenna on top and a wooden sign that proclaimed “Office of Human Rights.”[…]
Many thanks to Raoul with Jazz From The Left, who writes:
My program, Jazz from the Left, continues on WRMI. With a slight schedule change.
From Jeff White:
“We now have Jazz from the Left on at 0000 UTC Wednesday on 7730 kHz, and at 0100 UTC Thursday on 5850, 9395 and 9455 kHz.”
By the way, for fans of jazz on shortwave radio, I recently found dozens and dozens of air checks of Willis Conover playing jazz on the VOA. These are all excellent quality recordings from the 1950’s through 1970’s [at the University of North Texas Library]. Click here to browse the recordings. Enjoy!
Thank you, Raoul! Your show is excellent–the new time on WRMI has been noted in my calendar. And thanks for mentioning the UNT archive–it is indeed a superb collection (click here to read an archived post).