Monthly Archives: April 2021

FTIOM & UBMP April 11-17

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From the Isle of Music, April 11-April 17:
This week, in honor of Jazz Appreciation Month, special guest Toni Basanta helps us present
the music of Gabriel Hernández.
The broadcasts take place:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Sofia, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 on WBCQ (NEW UTC), 7490 kHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US).
3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 (NEW UTC) on Channel 292, 6070 kHz from Rohrbach, Germany.
Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/fromtheisleofmusic/
Our V-Kontakte page is https://vk.com/fromtheisleofmusic
Our Patreon page is https://www.patreon.com/tilford

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, April 11-17:
For the month of April there is an additional repeat Saturdays 1900-2000 UTC on 3955 kHz from Channel 292, Germany.
In episode 212, we present the first German-language recording of the musical Haare (Hair) from 1968.
The transmissions take place:
1.Sunday 2200-2300 (NEW UTC) (6:00PM -7:00PM EST) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 kHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
2. Tuesday 2000-2100 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 kHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe.
3. Saturday 0800-0900 UTC on Channel 292, 9670 kHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe with a directional booster aimed eastward,
AND a special broadcast Saturday at 1900-2000 UTC on Channel 292, 3955 kHz.
Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/UncleBillsMeltingPot/
Our V-Kontakte page is https://vk.com/fromtheisleofmusic
Our Patreon page is https://www.patreon.com/tilford

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SiriusXM streaming stopped working on legacy Grace radio models as of March 31st, 2021

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Randy, who notes:

One thing that has gone under the radar here is that several Grace Radio models, in addition to being impacted by the Reciva shutdown, can’t stream SiriusXM as of March 31st.

Grace Radio posted the following announcement about this here:

SiriusXM on all Legacy radios stopped working on March 31st. This is the final date for this action which was originally planned to occur last year.

      • Radios with model numbers that start with ‘GDI-WHA’ will not be affected.
      • Radios with model numbers that start with ‘GDI-IR” will be affected.

We apologize for the interruption in your service, and wish we were allowed to upgrade the old platform.

Regards,

Greg Fadul

Grace Digital

CEO

———————————–

[Note from SiriusXM]

Thank you for listening to SiriusXM. We appreciate your loyalty. It has come to our attention that you may be streaming SiriusXM at home using a Grace device. On March 31 we enhanced our streaming service and consequently your streaming player may not be able support the new SiriusXM feed. If you are unable to get SiriusXM at home after March 31 on your current equipment we recommend the following options.  Upgrade to a newer model.

If you are still able to listen to SiriusXM on your current equipment after March 31, then you can ignore this issue. Rest assured, this has no effect on your account and the billing of your SiriusXM subscription package. This also has no effect on listening to SiriusXM by satellite.

If you have any questions, please call us at 1-888-601-6296.

We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for being a loyal SiriusXM listener.

I was hoping that SiriusXM would still work on my model – it’s the only component style Internet radio (GDI-IRDT200) that Grace made that fits in my audio system rack and I’ve used it a lot to listen to SiriusXM’s streaming service. But, it looks like it’s a brick now.

Thank you for sharing this, Randy.

Yes, this now explains why my “legacy” Grace Digital radio no longer plays SiriusXM. Last week, I noticed that it would no longer accept my SiriusXM username and password.

I’m guessing some of the iHeartRadio functionality may still work on my unit, but that remains to be seen (I rarely use that particular service).

I’m sure Grace Digital is experiencing a very serious hit to their reputation. As I understand the situation, the rug was pulled out from underneath them. They (nor C.Crane) had any warning that Reciva (or, rather, Qualcomm now) would pull the plug on the aggregator service. I can also tell by the announcement that they weren’t expecting SiriusXM to “enhance” their streaming service in a way that would disable SiriusXM on older units.

I still haven’t received a firm confirmation yet, but it does look more likely that Reciva radios may use a token system to routinely verify compatible products. If this turns out to be true, there may be no way to stop Reciva units from becoming bricks.

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New Zealand auction includes collection of 400 vintage radios

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

Dear Thomas,

I noticed a New Zealand news article that may be of interest to SWLing Post readers.

Approximately 400 vintage radios are to be auctioned in Nelson, New Zealand. Whilst I use more modern Tecsun radios, the article will be of interest for vintage collectors. Many of the Radios are New Zealand made and rare.

Links below include a video and news article.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124587912/collectors-go-gaga-over-vintage-radio-auction

Radio and Collectables Auction
17 Hereford Street (off Songer St)
Stoke, Nelson
Saturday 10 April, 2021

AUCTION STARTS AT 11am
Viewing from 9am day of auction
and, Friday 11am – 3pm

More information: https://jwauctions.co.nz/upcomingauctions.html

Thank you, Jason. Even though this auction has been widely publicized in New Zealand, the collection is so massive, I imagine bidders will be walking away with some excellent bargains. If I lived in NZ, I would certainly be a part of the bidding. I’d love to have an NZ-made receiver.

I really like the following quote from the Stuff.co.nz article:

The widower of the man who stockpiled the radios told Walker her husband had collected the stash from all over the country.

“His wife was a wee bit disappointed she didn’t know he had half the radios because he used to keep hiding them.[“]

How many of us can relate to that last statement? Let’s face it: par for course, right!? 🙂

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Fenu’s assessment of the Belka-DX

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I recently noticed that Fenu (at Fenu-Radio.ch) has added a review of the Belka-DX on his excellent website.

He agrees that the Belka-DX is a brilliant little portable that delivers a lot of performance and features for the modest price.

As with my Belka-DX, Fenu’s unit includes the built-in speaker option.

In a video he posted on YouTube, Fenu demonstrates reception, speaker quality (including a small issue with button vibration at high volume), and how you can connect IQ out to an SDR application like SDR#:

Click here to check out Fenu’s full review.

More on the Belka-DX and Belka-DSP:

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Brother Stair of Overcomer Ministry has passed away

Photo: RGStair.com

(Source: WSCS)

Colleton County pastor Ralph Stair dies

CANADYS, S.C. (WCSC) – The Colleton County coroner said an evangelist who founded the Overcomer Ministry in the county has died.

Ralph G. Stair died of heart failure at his home, according to Coroner Richard Harvey. Harvey said Stair had been under hospice care.

His age was not immediately clear.

The coroner’s office listed Stair as 84, but Stair’s Overcomer Ministry, which announced his passing on its website, listed his age as 87 and his time of death as 11:17 p.m. Saturday.

At the time of his death, Stair was awaiting trial after being accused of sexually assaulting several women and children at the ministry.

Stair was arrested on Dec. 18, 2017, by Colleton County deputies and agents from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said. Stair was arrested on eight warrants and agents also executed a search warrant at Overcomer Ministry.

The charges from that arrest included three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of assault with the intent to commit criminal sexual conduct first degree, one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree burglary, one count of second-degree assault and one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.[…]

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AM Radio History: 80th Anniversary of the “Havana Treaty,”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

I came across this article on Wikipedia. It is a few days late, but thought it might be of interest to others. The link is

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Regional_Broadcasting_Agreement.

Briefly, this past Monday, was the 80th anniversary of the implementation of the “Havana Treaty,” which was actually signed on December 13, 1937, and finally implemented 80 years ago on March 29, 1941. It provided for reorganization of the “AM” medium wave band into frequency allocations for clear channel, regional and local stations.

AM radio was the Internet of its day. The invention of the telegraph notwithstanding, radio provided widespread, instant communication, albeit one way, to a vast population reaching hundreds of miles from the transmission source. It extended to the most rural parts of the country adding “A battery” and “B battery” to the lexicon.

The initial licensing process had been done with very little planning and forethought using 96 channels between 550 and 1500 kHz. The reorganization was the culmination of the need for some order to reduce mutual station interference and provide more reliable service to listeners. It involved frequency changes for about 1000 stations in several countries. March 29, 1941 was informally known as “moving day.”

The Wikipedia article details the changes made at that time and goes on to describe subsequent expansions of the AM broadcast band.

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this bit of radio history with us, Bob!

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