Category Archives: Longwave

RTÉ underestimates need for longwave service

WITH fewer than three weeks to go until RTÉ Radio 1 brings its historic longwave service on 252 to an end, the Irish community in Britain has responded with fury and dismay.

The move, which was announced with just over a month’s notice, is part of the Irish broadcaster’s new focus on digital platforms.

But the decision to cease transmission, from October 27, was described as a “bitter blow” to Irish people in Britain as well as parts of the North of Ireland.

Eddie Walsh, who is PRO of The Workers’ Party (Britain) in Nottingham, said: “Other options are not open to all of us. I cannot get RTÉ on my car radio except on longwave and I certainly do not want to listen to it on my computer. The current radio ads only refer to the island of Ireland, thus not even mentioning those of us on this side of the Irish Sea.”

He added: “I would suggest that the station has underestimated the number of listeners.”

Meanwhile Irish Post reader Sean O’Rinn said: “I have a small radio beside my bed and listen to RTE on 252 every night. There is no way that I can use any digital apparatus in its place. There must be thousands of Irish people here in England who are in a similar position — we will become completely isolated from our native home.”

The loss of the longwave service comes after the broadcaster closed its London offices in 2012. Tom McGuire, Head of RTÉ Radio 1, estimates that no more than 2,000 people use its service.

RTÉ said that 98 per cent of its Radio 1 listeners would be unaffected by the move. It added that to measure longwave listening numbers in Britain would prove “a prohibitive service cost”.

Continue reading online…

Spread the radio love

George Stein’s connection to the 1906 Fessenden Christmas Eve broadcast

4 Replies

Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932)

Some of you may recall that last year, I posted an announcement about WG2XFQ; this station annually airs Brian Justin’s longwave broadcast honoring Reginald Fessenden’s famous Christmas Eve’n 1906 AM voice transmission. I had been lucky enough to capture a recording of this commemorative event on WG2XFQ in 2013.

Just yesterday, I was contacted by SWLing Post reader, George Stein (NJ3H), who had just discovered my recording–and, in turn, shared his own recording of the WG2XFQ transmission. In George’s message, he casually mentioned that he has a close family link to the original Fessenden Christmas Eve broadcast, which I find of great interest. George writes:

“My grandfather, Adam Stein, Jr., was Fessenden’s chief engineer and was present for the Christmas Eve broadcast from Brant Rock, Mass in 1906. He is also mentioned in the Fessenden biography by Helen Fessenden, of which I have a copy…

In scientific journals from that time…it was reported that my grandfather’s voice was the first heard across the Atlantic (Machrahanish, Scotland) in Nov/Dec 1906. This occurred during testing at Brant Rock and was picked up by Fessenden’s man in Scotland.”

All I can say is, Wow! This is an amazing bit of history. Of course, I sent a reply to George asking for more information and permission to post this, which he kindly granted. George continues with an excerpt from S. Belrose, Communications Research Centre Canada:

“In November 1906, Fessenden and colleagues were conducting experimental transmissions using his newly-developed HF alternator, between stations at Brant Rock and Plymouth, Massachusetts. The station at Brant Rock was modulated by a carbon microphone connected in series with the antenna lead.

About midnight, on an evening early in November, Mr. Stein was telling the operator at Plymouth how to run the dynamo. His voice was heard by Mr. Armor at the Macrihanish, Scotland station with such clarity that there was no doubt about the speaker, and the station log book confirmed the report.

Fessenden’s greatest triumph was soon to come. On 24 December, 1906, Fessenden and his assistants presented the world’s first radio broadcast. The transmission included a speech by Fessenden and selected music for Christmas. Fessenden played Handel’s Largo on the violin. That first broadcast, from his transmitter at Brant Rock, MA, was heard by radio operators on board US Navy and United Fruit Company ships equipped with Fessenden’s radio receivers at various distances over the South and North Atlantic, as far away as the West Indies. The wireless broadcast was repeated on New Year’s Eve.”

The Brant Rock staff and operators: Fessenden is seated in the middle and to his right is his son (Reginald Kennelly), holding Mikums, his cat. Mr. Pannill is on the far left. Standing next to him is Jessie Bent, the secretary. Mr. Stein is on the far right. (Radioscientist)

[Above] A picture of Fessenden’s team at Brant Rock, Mass in 1906. Radio pioneer Charles Pannill is shown in the picture. My grandfather, Adam Stein, Jr., who was Fessenden’s chief engineer, is also shown in the picture.

A postcard showing Fessenden’s wireless antenna in 1906 at Brant Rock.

George continues:

In December 2006, a special event amateur radio station, W1F, was on the air from Brant Rock to commemorate 100 years since Fessenden’s Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve broadcasts. Stephan Barreres, K2CX, put a team together for the special event. I was fortunate to be included with the fine team he had assembled.

All that remains of the Fessenden antenna is the tower base.

The picture was taken in Dec 2006, with NJ3H standing in front.

The plaque on the base was provided on the 60th anniversary of the 1906 broadcast.

NJ3H at the operating position of W1F, 30 December 2006

The following is George’s audio and screen cast while he received the Christmas Eve reenactment broadcast on 25 December 2013; WG2XFQ broadcast from Forest, VA by WA1ZMS, this recording was made by George in Stephens City, VA on a Microtelecom Perseus SDR and a Wellbrook loop.

For those of you not familiar with Reginald Fessenden, I encourage you to read about him; he was a Canadian inventor who performed pioneering experiments in radio, including the use of continuous waves (CW) and the early—and arguably the first—radio transmissions of voice and music. Check out some of our archived posts on Fessenden and read more about him at this online Fessenden museum.

George, again, many thanks for sharing a little history about your grandfather and your own way of honoring his work.

Spread the radio love

And now, the Shipping Forecast…

5 Replies

When I lived in the UK, I would often fall asleep and/or wake up to the Shipping Forecast: a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles.

Though I had, of course, no real need of the Forecast, on many occasions it lured me like the voice of a hypnotic siren (especially, I must admit, when read by a woman). When I moved back to the US in 2003, I missed hearing the Forecast on the radio, but thankfully one can listen to it at Radio 4 online. Although the online stream lacks the delectable sonic texture of long wave radio, the Forecast still has the power can still reel in its listeners.

Last December, I followed a brilliant series on NPR which highlighted the BBC Shipping Forecast. I intended to publish it here on the SWLing Post at the time, but somehow lost it in the shuffle of a busy travel season. Fortunately, NPR has archived audio from the series online. I love their introduction:

“It is a bizarre nightly ritual that is deeply embedded in the British way of life.

You switch off the TV, lock up the house, slip into bed, turn on your radio, and begin to listen to a mantra, delivered by a soothing, soporific voice.

“Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger ….” says the voice.

You are aware — vaguely — that these delicious words are names, and that those names refer to big blocks of sea around your island nation, stretching all the way up to Iceland and down to North Africa.

The BBC’s beloved Shipping Forecast bulletin covers 31 sea areas, the names of which have inspired poets, artists and singers and become embedded into the national psyche.

Your mind begins to swoop across the landscape, sleepily checking the shorelines, from the gray waters of the English Channel to the steely turbulence of the Atlantic.

Somewhere, deep in your memory, stir echoes of British history — of invasions from across the sea by Vikings, Romans and Normans; of battles with Napoleon’s galleons and Hitler’s U-boats.

Finally, as the BBC’s Shipping Forecast bulletin draws to a close, you nod off, complacent in the knowledge that whatever storms are blasting away on the oceans out there, you’re in your pajamas, sensibly tucked up at home”

You can listen to the series on NPR, or via the embedded player below:

Click here to listen to the Shipping Forecast on the BBC Radio 4 website. Also, check out the history of the Shipping Forecast on Wikipedia and from this excellent article by Peter Jefferson in Prospero (PDF, page 10).

Spread the radio love

1976 recording of RNW added to the Shotwave Radio Audio Archive

Cross Country Wireless introduces an HF Upconverter

3 Replies

The CCW HF Upconverter (Photo: Cross Country Wireless)

(Source: Southgate ARC)

Cross Country Wireless have just released a HF Upconverter. This will allow HF or VHF SDR receivers such as the RTLSDR dongles, Funcube or our own SDR-4+ receiver to work on HF, LF and VLF.

Unlike other upconverters currently available we have added the RF protection features from our SDR-4+ receiver including an antenna isolation transformer and RF over-power protection. This protects the SDR receiver or dongle and the attached PC from damage caused by static electricity charges on the antenna or nearby high power transmitters.

There are two versions of the Upconverter. One has a 125 MHz local oscillator and the frequency range is 12 kHz to 45 MHz. This is intended for use with the RTLSDR and Funcube dongles.

The other version has a 10 MHz local oscillator and is designed for use with the SDR-4+. This has a frequency range of 12 kHz to 1.6 MHz.

Here are some of the specifications Cross Country Wireless has published for the HF Upconverter:

Technical data – 125 MHz version for RTLSDR and Funcube dongles

Frequency range: 12 kHz to 45 MHz
Input impedance: 50 ohms
IF rejection: > 60 dB
Local oscillator frequency: 125 MHz
Local oscillator level at antenna socket: < -50 dBm
Gain: -6 dB
RF connectors: SMA female
Power connector: USB B

Technical data – 10 MHz version for SDR-4+ receiver

Frequency range: 12 kHz to 1.6 MHz
Input impedance: 50 ohms
IF rejection: >100 dB
Local oscillator frequency: 10 MHz
Local oscillator level at antenna socket: < -60 dBm
>Gain: -6 dB
RF connectors: SMA female
Power connector: USB B

Also, from CCW on YouTube:

“This is a video of a Cross Country Wireless HF Upconverter used with a CCW SDR-4+ receiver to listen to VLF and LF transmissions using a half wave dipole cut for the 80m amateur band.”

(Click here if you are unable to view the video above.)

There are 20 second samples of the following stations:

BBC Radio 5 Live on 693 kHz AM

BBC Radio 4 on 198 kHz AM

GYN2 Skelton on 81 kHz FSK

MSF Anthorn on 60 kHz time signal

GQD Anthorn on 22.1 kHz Anthorn

GQD Anthorn on 19.6 kHz

This version of the Upcoverter uses a 10 MHz local oscillator so the frequency displayed is 10 MHz higher than that received i.e. 10.693 MHz = 0.693 MHz = 693 kHz.

Click here for more information on CCW’s website.

Spread the radio love

Russia “quietly” ends longwave services

1 Reply

The BBC reports that Russia has “quietly switched off nearly all of its long-wave transmitters, ending almost nine decades of broadcasting – as cost finally catches up on the medium.” Read the full story on the BBC News.

Not a huge surprise as many countries are pulling the plug on longwave, despite the medium’s large local broadcasting footprint. It does make one wonder if VOR shortwave could also be pulled with little fanfare or warning.

Indeed, check out Jonathan Marks’ comments on the changes at the (former) Voice of Russia which we’ve mentioned has at least, administratively, been liquidated and consolidated.

I can tell you that for those of us in North America, VOR is now a much harder catch on shortwave–a very strange shift from the ubiquity of the broadcaster’s signal in past decades.

But if you want to hear frank, public comments about how these changes are affecting the staff of VOR, just bookmark and listen to From Moscow With Love. Hosts Vasily and Natasha happily march to their own beat and comment openly to listener inquiries.

Spread the radio love

Longwave Radio Recordings: WG2XFG

1 Reply

Brian Justin with his homebrew transmitter (Source: http://w4dex.com/500khz/wd2xsh31.htm)

A few weeks ago, I posteded an article about Brian Justin’s holiday longwave broadcasts commemorating Reginald Fessenden’s Christmas Eve 1906 AM voice transmission.

I don’t spend a lot of time in the longwave portion of the radio spectrum, so this special event station gave me an excuse to venture a little lower on the radio dial. Fortunately, LW propagation was in my favor, and Justin’s signal made it the 215 miles to my home. While it’s not armchair listening, it’s most impressive, especially considering the transmitter used is “home-brewed” with modest output power.

This recording of WG2XFG was made when the signal seemed to be at its strongest on December 26th, 2013 starting around 12:40 UTC (Christmas evening, EST). Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Spread the radio love