Category Archives: International Broadcasting

Is the end near for Vatican Radio’s shortwave service?

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Bornino, for sharing the following article from espressonline.it:

Goodbye, Jesuits. Vatican Media Get a New Face and New Boss

And this with a Jesuit pope, no less. Vatican Radio will stop broadcasting on shortwave. And “L’Osservatore Romano” will also be absorbed into a single “content hub.” Under the command of Monsignor Dario Viganò

by Sandro Magister

[…]

Because in effect Vatican Radio costs a great deal. It does not run advertising, its revenues are paltry and its numerous linguistic sections push to about thirty-five the number of journalists on the payroll. The total shortfall fluctuates between twenty and thirty million euro per year.

Well then, Monsignor Viganò doesn’t want to hear about shortwave anymore. He sees it as antiquated and to be dismantled, because it has been supplanted by the web. While instead for Fr. Lombardi it continues to have an essential role “of service to the poor, the oppressed, the minorities, rather than of subjection to the imperative of the maximization of the audience.”

They are two antithetical visions. But the marching route appears to have been marked out already. In Africa, where internet access is sporadic, Viganò has announced an agreement with Facebook through which the pope’s messages will be brought to 44 countries by cell phone, through an app.

By December, in short, Vatican Radio will cease to exist as a self-contained reality. It will be incorporated into a single centralized “content hub,” or in Viganò’s words, into “a single center of multimedia production of texts, images, audiovisuals and radio podcasts in multiple languages,” beneath a single editorial leadership held by Viganò himself today and soon to be handed over to a “task force of journalists,” many of them drawn from Vatican Radio itself and adapted to the new role.[…]

Read the full article by clicking here.

I can’t quite tell if this is a news item or opinion piece.

Post readers: Have you noted other sources confirming the closure of Vatican Radio’s shortwave service? I know this topic is certainly on the table at Vatican Radio, especially since it’s been discussed in the past.

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Anniversaries of BBC and CBC broadcasting

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, who writes:

A day or two late, but I don’t know if you have this about CBC:

(Source: Southgate ARC)

Canada’s public broadcaster, the CBC, is 80 years old

Modelled somewhat on the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation came into being on November 2, 1936.

Surprisingly many of the issues that led to the creation of the CBC, are still around today.

In 1936, there were 74 radio stations across the country; three were CBC stations and four more were leased. All however were dwarfed by signals sweeping across the border into Canada from more powerful US stations. Concerns of US domination of Canadian airspace, is still a concern 80 years later.

Full article here:
History: Nov 2, 1936 -Canada’s Public Broadcaster birthday: 80 today

Also yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the start of Television broadcasting in the UK

(Source: BBC Blogs)

The BBC’s first British television service launched 80 years ago today, on 2 November 1936. To mark the occasion our colleages at BBC History have launched a new website celebrating the landmark anniversary combining archive material from the early days of television.

The site is packed full of video and audio footage telling the story of television including its invention, the opening night at Alexandra Palace in 1936, TV closure during the war and its resurrection in 1946, as well as TV’s milestone moments such the Olympics and the Coronations of 1937 and 1953. We’ve selected some choice clips below to whet your appetite[…]

Read the full article and watch the archived video by clicking here & more here.

Additional links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15551270 & http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15554897

Unfortunately due to various geo restrictions the one hour long programme from BBC4 last night is not viewable on iPlayer (catch up TV) outside the UK, sorry about that.

Fantastic! Thank you Kris. I’ve really enjoyed viewing the archived footage on the BBC Blog.

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Oxford Shortwave Log 200 metre Beverage antenna: further MW and SW reception videos

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Hi there, further to my previous post regarding the initial testing of the Medium Wave Circle-design 200 metre Beverage antenna at the woods in Oxford, UK, I am pleased to share further reception videos for both the medium wave and shortwave bands. For medium wave, I operated the FDM DUO via a laptop and the FDN-SW2 software, recorded the entire band at the top of the hour and retrospectiively analysed the signals. For shortwave I utillised the FDM DUO as a standalone receiver, routing the audio via the excellent Bose Soundlink Mini 2 speaker.

As a quick recap, the antenna was terminated at the ‘front end’ with a 650 Ohm resistor into a 1 metre-long, permanent copper earthing rod that I had previously driven into the ground, away from the route taken by the general public. The actual wire was orientated in a generally westerly direction, and thus nulling signals propagating from the east. At the receiver end, I utillised my self-built transformer, wound for a 50 Ohm input impedance (14 turns on the primary), thus making the entire set-up suitable for the Elad FDM DUO. It was quite a pain to set up, taking over an hour to deploy, however, the results were very promising. A scematic diagram follows below.

Links to the next group of reception videos follow:

The reception from VOCM St. Johns, Newfoundland & Labrador and WRCA Waltham, Massachusetts was unprecidented and another indication that the 200 metre Beverage configuration is demonstrating excellent SNR performance. Similarly, the reception of Radio Nacional Brazilia was an improvement on any signal I’d previously recorded with any receiver or antenna. Finally, the signal received from Radio Huanta 2000 – one of the more exotic stations on the Tropical Band and rarely heard in Europe – delivered discernible audio with this set-up, whereas previously I had only ever observed a carrier. All-in-all a very pleasing result, with more reception videos using this antenna set-up to follow in the coming weeks.

Right now I’m uploading SW and MW reception videos to my YouTube channel, recorded during my two week trip to Pará in Northern Brazil – it was really interesting to check out what can be heard on the radio in the middle of what is a very remote area of tropical rainforest. I hope you find the time to take a look. In the meantime, thank you for watching/ listening and I wish you all good DX.

MW DX with the 200 metre Beverage: VOCM 590 kHz, St. John’s, N & L, BIG signal!

MW DX with the 200 metre Beverage: WRCA 1330 kHz, Waltham Mass., big signal/ clear IDs!

200 metre Beverage: Radio Huanta 2000 4747.5 kHz, 0.5 kW, Peru; best signal clarity to-date

200 metre Beverage: Radio Nacional Brazilia 11780 kHz, booming!

Clint Gouveia is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Clint actively publishes videos of his shortwave radio excursions on his YouTube channel: Oxford Shortwave Log. Clint is based in Oxfordshire, England.

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KNL Networks is developing shortwave-powered global Internet access

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Earth

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Steve T, for sharing the following news from Business Insider:

KNL Networks, based in Oulu, Finland, has been in stealth mode during the past four years while developing a revolutionizing system that enables internet connection anywhere in the world – even in the middle of the Pacific Ocean – without using expensive satellite systems.
Today, KNL announced the completion of its series A funding round. The funding amounted to more than $10 million making it one of the biggest Nordic series A rounds. Creandum is the biggest investor.

[…]Facebook and Google have been exploring the possibility of bringing internet to remote locations by relaying data through a network of balloons. KNL’s technology, on the other hand, proposes the opposite: incredibly long range signals, by sending internet protocol over the radio.

KNL’s technology is already being used to provide robust internet connections to ships on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but can be used anywhere on the globe for many different applications.

[…]KNL’s technology relies on shortwave radio transmissions, which can transmit data for thousands of kilometers, for a fraction of the cost of a satellite system. Accomplishing this has required the innovation of long-distance high frequency radio systems. In comparison with satellite internet, the radio technology offers the additional advantages of being easier to use, always on.

Read the full article at Business Insider.

This is very exciting news, Steve!

I’ve always had confidence that inherent HF bandwidth and data integrity issues could be addressed with time as our receivers, codecs and digital signal processing improve with each iteration.

As I wrote in, Does Shortwave Radio Have a Future?, I’ve always believed that the shortwave medium could be leveraged for international digital/data communications, and should be. In my article, I focused on Radio Canada International (RCI), which was then dismantling their shortwave transmitter site:

[B]roadcasters should not dismantle their transmission sites as Canada is currently doing. Not only is the current service originating from these sites a more reliable form of emergency communications than the Internet, should a national disaster befall us; not only do they continue to provide a broad-spectrum mode of diplomacy; but should future digital communication modes find a way to take advantage of the HF spectrum as is now under discussion, this would be most unfortunate.

Imagine a wi-fi signal with a footprint as large as several countries, digital devices with tiny fractal antennas that receive this signal containing rich media (e.g., audio and video)––these are not science fiction, but highly plausible uses of these transmission sites, even within the next decade…

We’ll be watching developments at KNL Networks and reporting updates here on the Post. Follow the tag: Shortwave Internet

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Radio Eritrea and Radio Ethiopia jamming intrudes on amateur frequencies

Oxford Shortwave Log: 200 metre Beverage antenna – initial reception tests

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Hi there, I have finally deployed the Medium Wave Circle-design 200 metre Beverage antenna (schematic diagram above) at the woods I use in Oxford, UK. It was terminated at the ‘front end’ with a 650 Ohm resistor into a 1 metre-long, permanent copper earthing rod that I had previously driven into the ground, away from the route taken by the general public. The actual wire was orientated in a generally westerly direction, and thus nulling signals propagating from the east. At the receiver end, I utillised my self-built transformer, wound for a 50 Ohm input impedance (14 turns on the primary), thus making the entire set-up suitable for the Elad FDM DUO. It was quite a pain to set up, taking over an hour to deploy the wire and connect both earthing rods and the transformer! However, intial results are very promising and here I am very pleased to share 3 reception videos with you:

The reception from Colombia and Ecuador was unprecidented and both of these tropical stations sound like local AM signals, aided of course by the Bose SoundLink Mini 2 (the Elad’s stand-alone audio is puny to say the least). The signal from Peru is weak, as would be expected, however, the low-gain/ high SNR performance of this antenna results in audio clarity that is better than I have ever heard previously from this rather exotic station. Further to these recordings, I managed to make two recordings of the entire MW band using the FDM DUO via the FDM-SW2 software and I’m hoping an analysis of the data will uncover some nice MW DX. Thus, all-in-all, a very good result with the 200 metre Beverage – more reception videos using this antenna to follow soon on my youtube channel Oxford Shortwave Log. Thanks for watching/ listening and I wish you all good DX.

Embedded reception videos with text links follow below:

An unprecidented signal from Alcaravan Radio in Colombia on 5910 kHz

A similarly uprecidented signal from HCJB Quito, Ecuador, on 6050 kHz, with amazing SNR

The clearest reception of Radio Chaski, Peru I have heard to-date on 5980 kHz

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Hurricane Matthew: VOA adds emergency shortwave coverage for Haiti

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Many thanks to Mauno Ritola who notes the following news via the WRTH Facebook page:

VOA emergency shortwave coverage for Haiti in Creole & English has started as follows via Greenville [North Carolina]:

2200-0200 7305 kHz

0200-1200 7405 kHz

1200-1630 9565 kHz

Last night, I looked at the projected path of Hurricane Matthew. Sadly, Haiti and parts of Cuba will receive the brunt of Matthew’s energy in the Caribbean.

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