Author Archives: Thomas

Only One Week To Go: HamSCI Presents the Solar Eclipse QSO Party!

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Edward Efchak, who shares the following announcement:

ONE WEEK TO GO!  SAVE THE DATE!!

Monday, April 8TH!!  

HamSCI Presents the Solar Eclipse QSO Party – April 8, 2024

Join with thousands of your fellow amateurs as part of the largest crowd-sourced event for ham radio scientific exploration ever!  The SEQP is part of The Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science and is for learning more about how the ionosphere works. Use any mode, any band for all or part of the day!  Participation can be from everywhere – you need not be near the path of the eclipse to contribute valuable data by participating.

Or just get on the air and help provide the data to better understand the ionosphere.

Save the date – Monday, 8 April 2024

Get on the air! 1400-2400 UTC

Do it for science!! Any band/any mode (except the WARC bands)

HamSCI serves as a means for fostering collaboration between professional researchers and amateur radio operators. It assists in developing and maintaining standards and agreements between all people and organizations involved. Its goals are to advance scientific research and understanding through amateur radio activities and encourage the development of new technologies to support this research.

For more information about HamSCI, please visit the HamSCI website (www.hamsci.org) . For more information about the Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science educational opportunities for the amateur community and the public please visit our information pages.

###

Spread the radio love

Office of Cuba Broadcasting programming targeting Ukraine via shortwave

11 Replies

One of the 19 curtain antennas on the campus of the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Site (Click to enlarge)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Macon Dail, Transmitter Plant Supervisor at the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station in Greenville, North Carolina, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

Greenville has recently begun shortwave broadcast to Ukraine to support Cubans in that country. We are broadcasting four hours daily in Spanish with programming supplied by the OCB. We are on 17680 KHz, 1700-2100 UTC MO-FR and 17865 KHz, 1300-1700 UTC SA-SU.

UPDATE: Due to a conflict with NHK on the new summer schedule, our 17680 KHz frequency has been changed to 17690 KHz to provide a clear frequency

Thank yo for the update, Macon! Great to hear that the Greenville site is beaming into Europe again!

Spread the radio love

Taiwan: Breaking through censorship via shortwave

7 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following story:

How Taiwan breaches censors’ barriers (VOA News)

Breaking the barriers of censorship in China, Myanmar and North Korea is a daunting task, as these countries have built almost impenetrable firewalls against outside news and information. But Radio Taiwan International is successfully using shortwave radio to break through.

“We potentially have 70 million to 1.2 billion listeners who rely on shortwave to get information [from] outside of their country,” said Isis Lee, RTI’s vice president.

On the air since 1928, RTI say their mission is to bring listeners stories they won’t or can’t hear or see on television, radio, online or in newspapers.

“One of our most important audiences to reach is the Mandarin-speaking society in China, which has very limited internet access,” Lee told VOA. “We have a very big audience in China, and they rely on RTI shortwave service to get perspective outside of China in their mother language,” she added. [Continue reading…]

Spread the radio love

London Calling: Joe Strummer’s Shortwave Influence

2 Replies

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

London Calling by The Clash

Readers may be interested in the shortwave influence and story behind the creation of the song “London Calling” written by Joe Strummer of the band The Clash from the 1979 double album of the same name. It is produced and narrated by the excellent YouTube creator The Professor of Rock..

Here’s the video on YouTube:

Spread the radio love

Hausa missing in the Summer 2024 DW broadcast schedule

2 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who notes, “Hausa appears to be missing in the Summer 2024 DW broadcast schedule.” 

Click here to download the PDF.

Thanks for the tip, Paul. It does appear they’re no longer offering this language service. Perhaps someone can confirm?

Spread the radio love

Pacific Odyssey: Latest Novel by DXer Ralph Perry

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ralph Perry, who shares the following announcement:

Big news here is that after five years of hard work, yesterday was publication day for DXer Ralph Perry’s second novel, written under the pen name of Chet Nairene:

“PACIFIC ODYSSEY – The Curious Journey of Lew 2.0” follows Ralph’s successful predecessor novel in 2021, PACIFIC DASH – From Asia Vagabond to Casino King.

This new story is a quirky mashup, something like Poltergeist meets Wall Street in rural Asia, with mood and themes similar to PACIFIC DASH . . . exotic and funny, about Westerners muddling about and being lost in Asia, experiencing amusing culture clashes, etc.

Lew Clarke is a thirty-something New York tech business wiz who hooks up a supply line with an odd, tiny company hidden away in a quirky little SE Asian country. After a number of Lew’s customers in America start experiencing horrible accidents, which internet rumors link to his imported products, he is forced to travel to the mini hermit Kingdom of Amazia to unwind the mess. But once there in the tropics, he finds his modern Western knowledge all but useless . . . and things generally further unravel from there. He makes great friends, falls in love, and once he learns the dark secret haunting the Kingdom, his mission becomes more than just saving himself and his company.

Both are available as eBook or paperback.

Ralph sends his thanks in advance and gratitude for early Amazon reviews, which are ever so important to get the novel well launched before the public.

Click here to check it out on Amazon.com (note that this is an affiliate link that supports the SWLing Post at no cost to you.)

Spread the radio love