Category Archives: International Broadcasting

NY Times: “BBC revives shortwave radio dispatches in Ukraine, and draws ire of Russia.”

Woofferton Transmitting Station (Photo by Shirokazan via Wikimedia Commons.)

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post contributors who share the following news item from the New York Times. I’ve included an excerpt below, but the full article article can be found on the NY Times website. You may need a NY Times account to read this article if you’re not a paid subscriber; the account is free and allows you a limited number of free articles each month:

BBC revives shortwave radio dispatches in Ukraine, and draws ire of Russia.

As Russia is trying to cut off the flow of information in Ukraine by attacking its communications infrastructure, the British news outlet BBC is revisiting a broadcasting tactic popularized during World War II: shortwave radio.

The BBC said this week that it would use radio frequencies that can travel for long distances and be accessible on portable radios to broadcast its World Service news in English for four hours a day in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and in parts of Russia.

“It’s often said truth is the first casualty of war,” Tim Davie, director-general of the BBC, said in a statement. “In a conflict where disinformation and propaganda is rife, there is a clear need for factual and independent news people can trust.”

On Tuesday, Russian projectiles struck the main radio and television tower in Kyiv. Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, wrote on Twitter that Russia’s goal was “to break the resistance of the Ukrainian people and army,” starting with “a breakdown of connection” and “the spread of massive FAKE messages that the Ukrainian country leadership has agreed to give up.”

Shortwave radio has been a go-to vehicle to reach listeners in conflict zones for decades, used to deliver crackling dispatches to soldiers in the Persian Gulf war, send codes to spies in North Korea and pontificate through the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. But more modern forms of radio along with the internet eventually pushed shortwave out of favor; the BBC retired its shortwave transmissions in Europe 14 years ago. [Continue reading the full article…]

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The Guardian: “BBC website ‘blocked’ in Russia as shortwave radio brought back to cover Ukraine war”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris, who shares the following report from The Guardian:

BBC website ‘blocked’ in Russia as shortwave radio brought back to cover Ukraine war (The Guardian)

Website reportedly available at only 17% of normal levels in Russia, hours after broadcaster revives radio technology to reach Ukraine and parts of Russia

Access to BBC websites has been restricted in Russia, hours after the corporation brought back its shortwave radio service in Ukraine and Russia to ensure civilians in both countries can access news during the invasion.

State communications watchdog Roskomnadzor restricted access to BBC Russia’s online presence, as well as Radio Liberty and the Meduza media outlet, the state-owned Russian RIA news agency reported on Friday.

According to Globalcheck, a service that tracks internet censorship in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the availability of the entire BBC website was at 17% of normal levels in Russia, which suggests some services have been blocked.

BBC Russia also reported that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, also appeared to be blocked, as was Google Play.

The signs the BBC was being blocked emerged hours after the BBC’s decision to revert to a mostly obsolete form of broadcasting, broadcasting four hours of its world service, read in English, to Ukraine and parts of Russia each day.

“It’s often said truth is the first casualty of war,” BBC director general Tim Davie said in announcing the move on Thursday. “In a conflict where disinformation and propaganda is rife, there is a clear need for factual and independent news people can trust … millions more Russians are turning to the BBC.” [Continue reading at The Guardian…]

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Ukraine: ORF adds two German language shortwave services

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Image by Thomas Ledl

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Jamet, who shares the following notice from ORF Austria:

Please note that ORF – Austria makes two new transmissions in German towards Ukraine as follows:

- 1100-1200 UTC 13730 kHz and
- 1700-1730 UTC 5940 kHz

The 17H00 UTC transmission lasts 25 minutes from Monday to Thursday. On Friday it lasts 20 minutes and on Sunday it lasts 15 minutes.

There is no broadcast on Saturday. It is a relay of the 1st ORF program.

Many thanks for the tip, Paul!

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Radio Waves: Virtual Winter SWL Fest March 4-5, 2022, SDRplay Updates, Contact with Ukraine Radio Ops, and Hams in Poland Provide WinLink Options

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David Goren (left) and Richard Cuff (right) during the Shindig live broadcast at the Winter SWL Fest.

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Winter SWL Fest: March 4-5, 2022, Online using the Zoom webinar platform

The Winter SWL Fest is a conference of radio hobbyists of all stripes, from DC to daylight. Historically, every year scores of hobbyists have descended on the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania suburbs for a weekend of camaraderie. The Fest is sponsored by NASWA, the North American Shortwave Association, but it covers much more than just shortwave; mediumwave (AM), scanning, satellite TV, and pirate broadcasting are among the other topics that the Fest covers. Whether you’ve been to every Fest (all 34, starting with the first year at the fabled Pink & Purple Room of the Fiesta Motor Inn) or this year’s will be your first, you’re sure to find a welcome from your fellow hobbyists, even if it’s a “virtual” welcome!.

In 2022, the 35th Annual (!!) Winter SWL Fest will again be going virtual courtesy of the Covid-19 pandemic. All activities will be conducted online via the Zoom webinar platform.

Registration will be $10 per computer screen to defray the Zoom hosting expenses. If you already have a PayPal ID you can simply send $10 from your account to swlfest [at] naswa.net. If you aren’t a PayPal member you may also register online via PayPal here. Paper registrations will not be processed for 2022.

Your hosts, Richard Cuff and John Figliozzi, work throughout the year to ensure that attendees have a great time over the weekend, and by all accounts, they succeed stunningly. How else could this event have lasted for 35 years (egad) — even with a Pandemic — and draw people from around the world to southeastern Pennsylvania? Won’t you join us?

Click here to join the 2022 Winter SWL Fest!

SDRplay Updates on Hardware Shortages (RTL-SDR Blog)

As we all know many electronic components are currently in shortage, and this global shortage is affecting some SDR manufacturers like SDRplay. Recently on their blog SDRplay have provided some updates on their hardware shortage situation. They write:

As we have mentioned before, due to the worldwide shortage of electronic components, we are suffering from production delays at both our manufacturing subcontractor operations here in the UK. This means that many of our resellers have completely run out of RSP1A and RSPdx devices.

However we are pleased to say that this week, we have been able to build some additional units. This means that by the end of next week (February 25th), our resellers should have more stocks of RSP1A and RSPdx. More RSPduos are promised for mid to late March.

It is highly likely that even after the latest production runs are delivered, some of our resellers will run out again in the weeks ahead. Meanwhile we are working to do all we can to secure more critical components for our manufacturers. This includes tweaks to the designs so that they can accommodate alternative more readily available parts.

Many thanks to customers who have been left waiting to buy, and to our resellers for your patience as we navigate though this situation.

A list of our authorised resellers can be found here: https://www.sdrplay.com/distributors/

[Read this full post on the RTL-SDR Blog…]

Meet the Jersey man using his radio set to make contact with people in Ukraine (Southgate ARC)

A man in Jersey is using amateur radio equipment to make contact with people caught up in the fighting in Ukraine.

Paul Mahrer spoke to more than 1,700 Ukrainian radio operators last year, but says all communication has been lost since the country declared martial law. Continue reading →

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Tuning in Ukrainian Radio and State Of Emergency Includes Amateur Radio Ban

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Kyiv, Ukraine (Photo by @lifeinkyiv)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following note he also posted to Glenn Hauser’s io group:

As we know, Radio Ukraine International, a.k.a. Ukrainian Radio, is no longer on SW except perhaps for a one-hour German-language relay from a low-power transmitter in Germany. It is also on satellite but that doesn’t help too many. But RUI can be easily accessed on the Web from a couple of URLs:
http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/schedule/play-live.html?channelID=4
and
http://www.ukr.radio/uk/schedule/play-live.html?channelID=4

During the continuous 24-hour streaming, a one-hour English segment is broadcast four times per day (all times UTC ):
21:00 – 22:00
23:00 – 24:00
02:00 – 03:00
13:00 – 14:00

It appears that the first new broadcast of the day is at 21:00 – 22:00 and is then repeated in the following slots.

At other times, there are segments in Ukrainian, Russian, German, and Romanian.
Please let me know if I got anything wrong here.

UPDATE (24 Feb 2022): WRMI has resumed broadcasts of Radio Ukraine International. Click here for details.

Ban on amateur radio in Ukraine (The Kyiv Independent)

Ukraine has declared a state of emergency in all of Ukraine except for eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts starting on Feb. 24.

The parliament approved the decree introduced by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 23, as the threat of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine continues to grow.

Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts already have a special legal status because of Russia’s ongoing occupation since 2014.

Restrictions introduced by the state of emergency are due to last 30 days and will vary depending on the region.

The state of emergency allows the authorities to temporarily limit the public’s constitutional rights.

The decree green-lights the following measures:

- increased public order protection and security;
- checks of identification documents of civilians and frisking if necessary;
- ban on protests;
- temporary or permanent evacuation of people from dangerous areas and providing them with accomodation;
- ban on relocation of conscripts and reservists without notice;
- ban on producing and spreading information that may “destabilize the situation”;
- ban on amateur radio transmitting devices.

Other measures that may be implemented “if necessary” include:

- a curfew;
- a special regime of entry and exit;
- ban on mass events;
- “special rules” for spreading information online.

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International Radio Club’s Reprints collection of 900+ articles

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Nick Hall-Patch, who shares the following announcement:

The International Radio Club’s Reprints collection of 900+ articles about antennas, radio propagation, receivers, accessories, plus items of general interest to MW DXers, continues to grow. We’ve published an update to the index, at https://www.ircaonline.org/editor_upload/File/reprints/irca-reprint-index.pdf , so that everyone can get access to these latest additions.

We’re also pleased to start offering reprints that did not initially appear in IRCA’s DX Monitor, but are not easily found elsewhere. For example, we’ve obtained permission from the family of the late prolific author, Dallas Lankford, to organize and republish his out of print articles.

(if you’ve used the index before, you may need to refresh the browser page to see the latest update, dated December 2021)

Click here to check out the IRCA Index (PDF).

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Radio Waves: Listening to Jupiter, Radio Emma Toc, Turkish Bans, and RT DE to Sue German Regulator

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Under a darkening sky, earthlings tune in to ‘Jupiter Radio’ (KLCC)

Ever eavesdrop on the planet, Jupiter? This past weekend, some radio enthusiasts gathered at Eugene’s Riverfront Field to do just that.

Roughly a dozen members of the Ducks on the Air Amateur Radio Club gathered on the grassy space (making sure to sidestep goose poops) to set up an array of cables and rods called a differential dipole antenna. They managed to assemble it and realign it just before Jupiter appeared on the dusky horizon. [Continue reading and listen to the audio at KLCC…]

Radio Emma Toc – celebrating wireless station 2MT – at 100! (Southgate ARC)

Dear Listener / Viewer

I’m pleased to let you know that I will be broadcasting another video stream this coming Monday, 14th February, with the theme of celebrating wireless station 2MT.

In 1922, after requests & petitions from radio hams in the United Kingdom, a licence was issued for station 2MT to transmit a programme of CW (morse), Telephony (voice) and music, on a weekly basis. Transmissions came from a small wooden hut in Writtle, Essex, where engineers working for the Marconi Company were given the task of putting on air a wireless station for ‘calibration purposes’ aimed at the growing number of radio hams and enthusiasts.

Over a short period, and with the good fortune of this Marconi team having a selection of gifted radio engineers & maverick individuals, 2MT became incredibly popular & – probably without realising it at the time – went on to lay the foundations of entertainment broadcasting that was to follow.

Monday the 14th February will be the centenary of the first transmission from 2MT. From 11am in the morning – 11:00UTC – we will be playing audio documentaries & videos looking at the start of broadcasting here in the UK, & then at around 6.45pm – 18:45UTC – I will present a live programme where hopefully we can all join in to drink a toast to ‘2MT’.

Our broadcast will not be a full history of the station, more a celebration of the people involved & everything that we enjoy about radio today. I hope to link with others celebrating 2MT & also radio hams on the air on this anniversary day.

I invite you to join me for this amateur enthusiast video broadcast!

Further details are available here:

Links & information relating to our broadcast stream:

Website – https://www.emmatoc.org/
Website page for this celebration – https://www.emmatoc.org/2mtcelebration
Link for viewing (only linking to us on the day of the broadcast) – https://www.mixcloud.com/live/RadioEmmaToc/
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/emmatoc
Twitter page – https://twitter.com/radioemmatoc

You can take part in the programme by emailing me with any comments & radio memories – I’d love to say hello to you – our email address is – [email protected]

Check our Facebook & Twitter pages for updates in case of any problems with transmissions (things can always go wrong!)

Our friends at Essex Ham have produced a short interview video with more detail – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk_XnGvsJ0M

Links & information for other items of interest:

For radio hams, there will be two special event amateur radio stations in operation.
Local Radio Club CARS – Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society – will be operating GB100 2MT from Writtle Village Hall – http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/events/gb1002mt-writtle/index.htm
Radio Club Essex Ham will be operating GB2MTC from the East Essex Hackspace Hut in Hockley – http://sxham.uk/2mt

It is also hoped that items about 2MT will feature in programmes on the 14th on BBC Essex, Chelmsford Community Radio, & Phoenix FM. I will have more detail on this during my live stream, & if possible will link up with our friend Tim Wander at some time during the evening!

I look forward to being with you on the 14th!

Best wishes

Jim

DW, VoA and Euronews facing Turkish ban (Broadband TV News)

Turkey has given three international broadcasters a deadline of 72 hours to apply for local licences or be taken off the air.

“Deutsche Welle, Voice of America and Euronews have been given a deadline of 72 hours by the RTÜK. They must apply for a broadcast licence within that period or face a broadcast ban,” said Okan Konuralp, a member of the Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Twitter.

At issue are the broadcasters’ websites that have drawn the attention of the authorities because they also feature video news. Such websites have become increasingly popular in Turkey as the government places restrictions on local news outlets.

If the broadcasters don’t apply for a licence the regulator has the right to go to court and get the website closed down. [Continue reading…]

RT DE to sue German regulator after broadcast ban (Broadband TV News)

RT DE says it plans to take legal action against Berlin’s media regulator after the German-language channel was ordered to shut down its streaming service.

The simmering row between Berlin and Russia has resulted in the imposition of restrictions on the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s Russian operations.

“We believe that the regulatory authority acted unlawfully with its decision against RT DE Productions GmbH on February 2. The MABB claims that RT DE Productions GmbH is responsible for broadcasting the RT DE channel, blatantly ignoring the fact that the RT DE programme is managed and distributed by Moscow-based TV Novost,” said RT DE in a statement. [Continue reading…]