Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
The article about Sergeant Malik Pugh USMC on Okinawa brought back memories from the 1990s. David Cowhig was 73 Magazine’s Hambassador on Okinawa — I had the same “position” in the Dominican Republic. David and I were both in the Foreign Service; we joked that 73 had afforded us our only chances to be ambassadors of any kind. David’s Okinawa QSL and the opening from his initial report to 73 magazine appear above. You can see more here:
Finally (and this is really cool): David Cowhig has been putting his language skills to good use, translating Chinese written material. He sent me his translation of the opening chapters of a Chinese science fiction novel about ham radio. Readers of the SolderSmoke Daily News will like this:
It will provide listeners in Gaza with the latest information and developments as well as safety advice on where to access shelter, food and water supplies
BBC News Arabic has today (1 November) announced an Emergency Radio Service for Gaza in response to the conflict in the region.
The emergency service – Gaza Daily – will broadcast vital news daily to the people of Gaza during this time of urgent need.
It will provide listeners in Gaza with the latest information and developments as well as safety advice on where to access shelter, food and water supplies.
Produced in Cairo and London and broadcast on medium wave, the service will initially run one programme a day at 1500 GMT from Friday 3 November. A second daily update will be broadcast at 0500 GMT from Friday 10 November.
The BBC World Service has a history of responding to emergency situations globally. Most recently, in May 2023 during the conflict in Sudan BBC News Arabic began an emergency radio service. In February 2022, the BBC News Ukraine service began extended TV bulletins following the invasion of the country. The BBC also previously launched a service for Gaza in 2014 following a summer of conflict.
Liliane Landor, Director, BBC World Service, says: “BBC News Arabic are extremely well-placed to offer this vital service for the people of Gaza at a time of greatest need. Their expertise and specialist knowledge of the region alongside the BBC’s reputation as the most trusted news provider, means we can reach civilians in Gaza with the information they need.”
RM3
Notes to editors: The Gaza service will be broadcast on MW 639kHz for morning and evening episodes.
Commission will vote in November on plan to remove outdated technical restrictions
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel says the FCC plans to “incentivize innovation and experimentation in the amateur radio bands” by getting rid of outdated restrictions and providing licensees with the flexibility to use modern digital emissions.
The commission at its November meeting is expected to take action on a Report and Order that would eliminate the baud rate limitation and establish a bandwidth limitation in the amateur radio bands below 29.7 MHz.
The order being circulated for tentative consideration by the commission would remove the baud rate limitation — the rate at which the carrier waveform amplitude, frequency and/or phase is varied to transmit information — for data emissions in the amateur radio bands, the FCC says. The current baud rate limits were adopted in 1980.
The order would implement a 2.8 kilohertz bandwidth limitation in place of the baud rate in amateur radio bands. The 2.8 kHz limitation is consistent with the commission’s treatment of other wireless radio services, the FCC says.
The current rules limit the baud rate for high-frequency amateur radioteletype/data transmissions to 300 baud for frequencies below 28 MHz (except in the 60-meter band), and 1200 baud in the 10 meter (28-29.7 MHZ) band. [Continue reading…]
Amateur radio operators who study space physics and the upper atmosphere probed the ionosphere’s response to the 2023 annular solar eclipse using shortwave transmissions.
On 14 October, millions of people in North, Central, and South America peered through safety glasses and other viewing aids at the partially obscured Sun. Simultaneously, thousands of folks experienced the annular solar eclipse in a different way: through transmissions sent and received over amateur radios.
Before, during, and after the eclipse, ham radio operators pinged signals off the ionosphere and connected to people hundreds or thousands of kilometers away. The experiment, part of the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI), is gathering hundreds of thousands of those contacts to investigate how the ionosphere responds to the temporary loss of sunlight during an eclipse. [Continue reading…]
The U.S. Coast Guard also is concerned about petition from the Shortwave Modernization Coalition
Numerous commenters have told the FCC that a proposal to “modernize” the shortwave band is a threat to amateur radio operators in the United States and possibly the end of ham radio as we know it. And hams are just one source of opposition to the idea.
The FCC inquiry was prompted by a request from the Shortwave Modernization Coalition for a rulemaking to amend the Part 90 rules.
SMC believes there is underutilized spectrum in the high-frequency bands. The coalition wants to use 20 kW transmitters for the transmission of time-sensitive data from fixed stations. It wants the FCC to allow these fixed, long-distance, non-voice communications in multiple bands between 2 MHz and 25 MHz.
Ham opponents worry about interference. One also characterized the coalition as being “packed with special interest groups that harbor little interest in shortwave modernization beyond their own needs to getting faster financial market information.”
The commission’s Office of the Managing Director sought comments on its proposal this summer. The petition, RM-11953, drew more than 800 comments. [Continue reading…]
Many of us hold fond memories of listening to AM radio in the car. But these days, drivers are just as likely to listen to satellite radio, Spotify, audiobooks or podcasts. Good ole FM radio is still around too. That’s led many people to question if AM, America’s oldest broadcast medium, still has a future?
Not many people noticed when Tesla removed AM from new vehicles a few years ago. Ostensibly, they did so because the frequency interferes with electric vehicles. Never mind that older Teslas previously had functioning AM/FM radios. Or that the Federal Communications Commission has rules to limit electrical interference. Seemingly no one questioned Tesla’s decision.
In the past couple of years, other manufacturers including Ford, Audi, Volvo, BMW and Porche began removing AM receivers from new models or announced plans to do so. This elicited a more passionate response from AM listeners, particularly those in rural areas. For them, the frequency is more than just entertainment. They say it’s a lifeline for those in remote areas who otherwise wouldn’t have access to emergency information. It’s also one of the last places where they can get hyper-local news and entertainment. [Continue reading…]
It has been with great interest that I’ve read about carmakers dropping AM reception capability in new cars, particularly EVs, and about the introduction of the “AM for Every Vehicle” Act.
The reason most often cited by makers of electric vehicles is interference from on-board systems to AM band reception. The truth is we have ourselves to blame.
The assault on AM band purity predates the popularity of electric vehicles by decades. The onslaught of cheap switching power supplies in consumer electronics, RF noise-producing computers and personal devices, and the absolute lack of any care given to protecting the spectrum are incompatible with AM quality.
For far too long, consumers, manufacturers, the NAB and even the FCC did not fight to protect the band. It seemed nobody cared whether new fluorescent lights (remember those?) caused so much noise that they even affected reception in neighbors’ homes. Nobody took up the fight to keep the band clean and make noise-free AM reception even somewhat possible in high-density housing areas. Nobody seemed appalled at this complete disregard for the usefulness of the band in the future. [Continue reading…]
ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® is asking that all radio amateurs urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue the existing use of the 60-meter band. A public comment period is open until October 30, 2023. ARRL encourages expressions of support to the FCC for the current 100 W ERP power limit (instead of reducing the power limit to 15 W EIRP) and continuing secondary access to the current channels.
When submitting your comments, be sure the correct proceeding’s docket number, 23-120, is included on the form.Your name and comments will be entered into the official public record of the proceedings and will be viewable by anyone who visits the docket web page.
While radio amateurs are encouraged to include any comments they would like in their submissions, they’re especially encouraged to draw upon their personal experiences using the 60-meter band for public service purposes and for its location between the amateur 80- and 40-meter bands, which is critical to ensuring signal propagation to certain geographic areas during variations in time and the solar cycle.
Some of the main points to comment on for this NPRM are:
Urging the FCC to keep the four existing channels allocated to amateur radio on a secondary basis.
Urging the FCC to keep the 100 W power limit for the four existing channels and the new 15 kHz subband.
ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX, underscored the importance of commenting, urging members to speak up. “ARRL members make up the strongest voice in matters of amateur radio spectrum defense,” said Harrop. “Your membership and participation in the rulemaking process both ensure ARRL continues to make the difference when our band privileges are threatened. Please join us in effort to protect our 60-meter band privileges.”
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and supporter, Bob Raymond with DXtreme who shares the following product announcement:
Product Announcement
DXtreme Monitor Log 14™
DXtreme Software™ has released a new version of its popular logging program for radio and TV monitoring enthusiasts: DXtreme Monitor Log 14. Its familiar, uncluttered, industry-standard Windows® interface lets listeners and DXers log the stations they’ve heard using features that enhance their monitoring enjoyment.
New Features in Version 14
Signal Modes, Transmission Modes, Grid Square Tracking
We added a Signal Modes field to let users specify the signal mode their receiver is tuned to (for example, AM, CW, FM, LSB, USB, RTTY, etc.) plus a Transmission Modes field to let users specify the transmission mode the station is transmitting (for example, CW, FAX, FT8, HFDL, MIL-STD-188-141A, SSB, STANAG 4285, etc.). And we added Signal and Transmission Mode modules to let users maintain tables of signal and transmission modes.
We added a Transmission Mode Details box to allow users to type free-form information about the transmission mode received, such as baud rate, bandwidth, etc. (for example, 1200bps/L). New Log Variables enable users to share Signal, Transmission, and Detail mode information so readers (and users) can reproduce the monitoring environment and log (or relog) the stations. Here are two examples: “1200bps/L STANAG 4285 crypto tfc on USB” and “MIL-188-110A/B continuous mode idle on LSB.”
We added support for tracking Maidenhead grid squares, which is useful when monitoring/logging stations not located in traditional countries, like aircraft and ships operating in international airspace and waters. Grid squares are calculated from specified latitudes and longitudes. Both Performance and Stations reports let you track grids. Search functions let you find log entries for viewing or editing based on their grid squares.
Verification By Improv Imaging
Similar to the legacy Verification By Audio feature, where the presence of an audio file in a log entry designates the station as “Verified By Audio,” we added a Verification By Improv Imaging feature which counts the station as “Verified By Improv Image” if the Shows ID check box on the Improv Imaging tab is selected, indicating the presence of an ID on the window of a captured digital software application (such as PC-HFDL). Performance, Stations, and Log Entries reports let you track verifications by traditional QSLs, presence of Audio files, and presence of Improv Images for which the Shows ID check box is selected.
Schedule Checker Monitoring Advice and Tuning
When Schedule Checker advises users to monitor a station for a new or verified Country, it does so now for the Class (SWBC, Ute, Ham, etc.) and QSL Type (Verified By QSL, Audio, or Improv Image) selected in Properties. The foreground and background colors that indicate the Schedule Checker’s monitoring advice can be defined by users in Properties. The colors appear in an upgraded legend on the Schedule Checker.
Users can now tune their radios to the schedule item’s signal mode and frequency by selecting the desired signal mode in the Signal Mode list box and double-clicking the schedule item.
Solar Indices Enhancements
Acquisition of current solar indices has been improved on the Monitor Log and Schedule Checker windows. • Editing of solar indices has been added to the Monitor Log window for when NOAA is down.
We restored historic solar indices adjustments based on date and time changes made on the Monitor Log window provided users have downloaded historic solar indices from the NOAA FTP site into the Solar subfolder. An interface is provided on the Edit menu of the Monitor Log window for this FTP activity.
Monitor Log 14 lets users log all kinds of stations: radio, television, broadcast, utility, Amateur Radio, military, etc. across the radio spectrum.
Finding Stations to Monitor
The Schedule Checker lets users import schedules from Aoki, EiBi, and FCC AM web sites and display broadcast schedule data according to the filter criteria they specify. Users can filter schedule information by band, frequency, station, country, time of day, language, and more. EiBi schedules also include utility stations.
For each schedule item, Schedule Checker queries the Monitor Log 14 database to let users know – through user-defined, foreground and background display colors – whether they need to monitor a station for a brand new or verified country. The colors appear in a legend on the Schedule Checker window. When Schedule Checker advises users to monitor a station for a new or verified Country, it does so for the Class (SWBC, Ute, Ham, etc.) and QSL Type (Verified By QSL, Audio, or Improv Image) selected in Properties.
Reporting Reception
Users can create customized paper and e-mail reception reports for sending to stations plus log entry data shares for reporting catches to clubs and magazines. Using the Script Editor window, users can create and edit scripts that format reception reports, eReports, and shares to their liking. The software prompts users to select the script they want to use. Dozens of scripts come with Monitor Log 14. Users can also send eQSL requests to hams automatically via the popular https://www.eqsl.cc site and update their databases with downloaded eQSL.cc Inbox records.
Imaging
Improv Imaging lets users associate ad hoc images with log entries using Capture, Scan, and Clipboard functions. Captures of stations received on digital applications, waterfall displays, facsimile and Amateur TV pictures are popular. The Improv Imaging tab and Application let users view images anytime, and an Improv Image Explorer lets them peruse their entire collection and display associated log entries. A QSL Imaging facility functions the same as Improv Imaging for associating QSLs.
Other Features
Rig Control — Retrieves the frequency and mode from supported radios and permits tuning from the Schedule Checker and Direct Tune. Rig control is provided through integration with Afreet Omni-Rig (http://www.dxatlas.com) and CAT for SDR applications like SDR Console (https://www.sdr-radio.com) and SDRuno (https://www.sdrplay.com).
Audio Archiving — Lets users maintain an audio archive of stations heard.
Reporting and Searching — Produces Performance, Stations, and Log Entry reports that track the performance and progress of the user’s monitoring station and provides criteria-based log entry searches.
Documentation — Context-sensitive Procedural Help, Field Help, and Microhelp are accessible on every window to provide instructions quickly. Installation Instructions and a Getting Started Guide also included.
Supported Operating Systems, Pricing, Contact Information
DXtreme Monitor Log 14 runs in 32- and 64-bit versions of Microsoft® Windows® 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista® XP. Retails for $94.99 USD for Internet distribution (discounted pricing for upgrades available). Product support by Internet e-mail. For more info, visit (https://www.dxtreme.com) or write [email protected].
SWLing Post readers should note that DXtreme was one of our first company supporters. Their ad revenue helps bring the SWLing Post to you daily. Thanks, DXtreme!
It’s the huge tower in his back yard that gives Todd Baker’s hobby away. Bristling with antennae, the 30m (100ft) structure is taller than many of the mature trees nearby. Baker, an industrial conveyor belt salesman from Indiana, goes not just by his name, but also his call-sign, the short sequence of letters and numbers that he uses to identify himself over the air: W1TOD. He is a member of the amateur radio, or ham radio, community.
“You name it, I’ve been in it,” he says, referring to different radio systems, including citizens band, or CB radio, that he has dabbled with over the years. “Communications were just plain-o cool to me.”
Now, he dabbles in celestial citizen science, too. On 14 October, he and hundreds of other amateur radio enthusiasts will deliberately fill the airwaves during an annular solar eclipse, as it crosses the Americas. They’ll do it again next April, when a full solar eclipse becomes visible from Newfoundland to Mexico.
Why? Solar eclipses are known to affect radio transmissions, and Baker is planning to take part in a giant experiment designed to monitor how cosmic events affect radio broadcasts. [Continue reading…]
[…]Shortwave radios don’t tell tales
Several points of interest regarding shortwave broadcasting. Although I have been retired from Voice of America as a Foreign Service Officer and field engineer for over a decade, several points are still worth noting.
In my experience of living and working around the world for 20 years, most radios sold overseas are a combination AM/FM and shortwave. So there are radios available to the general public.
Second is the beauty of shortwave. Broadcast can be sent over large distances and be highly effective at reaching the desired audience. AM broadcasting can only reach a smaller listener area and without extremely high power must be in rather close proximity to the intended audience. FM broadcasting has even greater limitations in respect to closeness to the intended listener.
As we have adopted new technology such as the global internet, we don’t seem to have a grasp of its inherent limitations. I witnessed this firsthand in the Middle East where websites or information deemed inappropriate are easily blocked or deleted from a country’s internet stream. Proxy servers and other VPN methods do little for the individuals striving for freedom of information. Information regarding using and searching for these services is easily gathered by internet service providers and can be used to intimidate or prosecute.
Shortwave radios don’t tell tales. Frequency memories can be deleted easily, and there is no way to tell what broadcast were being listened to, especially on analog scale radios.
We need to reevaluate our strategic thinking and remember that shortwave works effectively and has for many years. People around the world have relied on SW broadcast for years as a source of reliable news and information that their host countries did not want them to hear.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gérard Koopal, who shares the following announcement:
On October 29, 1923, the first “entertainment broadcast” broadcast went on air in the Vox House in Berlin. The first regular radio broadcasts began.
The Eifel Radio Days will celebrate this unique anniversary from October 27th to 30th, 2023.
Of course again live and in mono from the studio in the former alternative headquarters of the NRW state government.
S. 1669 would direct the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue a rule requiring that AM broadcast stations be accessible in all passenger motor vehicles manufactured in, imported into, or shipped within the United States. (Passenger motor vehicles are those designed to primarily carry their operator and up to 12 passengers; the definition does not include motorcycles.) The bill would require DOT to issue the rule within one year of enactment and to report to the Congress at least every five years on the rule’s effects.
Additionally, S. 1669 would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the role AM broadcasts in passenger vehicles play in disseminating emergency alerts through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. That study would need to be completed within 18 months of enactment.
Using information on the cost of issuing similar rules and studies, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost DOT and GAO a total of $1 million over the 2024-2028 period. Any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Additionally, S. 1669 would authorize DOT to assess civil penalties on manufacturers that fail to comply with the new rule; such penalties are recorded as revenues. CBO estimates that any additional revenues collected would total less than $500,000 over the 2024-2033 period because the number of violations would probably be small.
Ham radio operators are sounding the alarm over the latest threat to their beloved hobby—and this time, it is coming from Wall Street.
A group of high-frequency trading firms are asking the Federal Communications Commission to open shortwave frequencies to greater commercial use, so they can use radio to zip financial data around the world in milliseconds.
Prominent members of the amateur-radio community say interference from traders’ broadcasts could ruin their hobby, which often involves tuning in to weak radio signals so they can chat with fellow hams in faraway places. Hundreds of hams have filed letters with the FCC opposing the traders’ proposal, and some have railed against the plan in YouTube videos.
Brock Fansler is among those speaking out. A 40-year-old Los Angeles resident with shoulder-length hair, he likes using his radio to send digital data about weather conditions to other hams.
He complains that the traders are looking to transmit with up to 20,000 watts of power, whereas amateurs are capped at 1,500 watts, and many use off-the-shelf radios with 100 watts.
“They’re asking for an insane amount of power,” Fansler said. “It’s like having neighbors move in with a drum set and guitar. This is going to be blasted all over the planet, with how much wattage they’re going to put behind it.”
The group behind the proposal, called the Shortwave Modernization Coalition, says such fears are overblown. The coalition—whose members include such trading giants as Jump Trading Group, DRW Holdings and Virtu Financial —says it has already been using shortwave for several years and there haven’t been any verified complaints of interference. [Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal, or via this article archive…]
In a dramatic bit of improvisation, NASA’ Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, has managed to reestablish communications with the Voyager 2 spacecraft 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion km) from Earth after losing contact on July 21.
On August 4, 2023, NASA engineers managed to make contact with the Voyager 2 robotic probe even though previous estimates were that this would not be possible until October 15. Contact was lost on July 21 after a series of commands sent included an error that caused the spacecraft’s antenna to point about two degrees away from Earth – a small shift that still managed to prevent the craft from maintaining radio contact.
[…]Since Voyager 2’s 20-W radio signal from the edge of the solar system is 1,000 times weaker than that of a conventional FM transmitter and can still be picked up by the DSN while off beam, the engineers reasoned that it might be possible to send a much more powerful signal from the DSN that Voyager could not ignore.
This “interstellar shout” was easy enough to set up, but putting it into practice took some patience because a one-way radio signal to Voyager 2 takes 18.5 hours to reach its destination and another 18.5 hours for a reply. That is a very nerve-wracking 37 hours.
Fortunately, on August 2, 2023 at 12:29 am EDT, Voyager 2 began returning science and telemetry data. [Continue reading…]
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland acknowledged the commercial radio industry’s upcoming 100th birthday with a speech at Parliament House recalling the launch of 2WS in Seven Hills and the continued advocacy and up to date information that radio provides its communities.
Rowland spoke of her childhood growing up in Western Sydney saying:
“I’ll never forget the day that 2WS officially launched in Leabons Lane in Seven Hills. It was the first time that we felt recognised as a community by the media. Here were local voices telling the stories that mattered to us. We were being given at a platform at a time when Western Sydney stories weren’t always reflected in the news of the day coming from the CBD.
RED DEER COUNTY — The world became a little smaller late last month as the Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club (CAARC) held its annual Field Day at the Hillcrest Community Hall, at the corner of Township Road 342 and Range Road 22.
From June 24 at noon to June 25 at noon, members of the club competed to make as many contacts as they could on a wide variety of radio frequencies.
The goal was to do so without using regular power – utilizing portable generators or solar power instead.
When the Albertan was there, contacts had been made as far east as Finland and as far south as Arizona.
A forest of antennas of differing sizes and heights was set up and club members did their communicating in a nearby shelter.
The idea of the challenge, held worldwide, was to prove the operators’ ability to communicate to others without relying on traditional power in case of an emergency. [Continue reading…]
