Category Archives: News

Attend the 26th Annual Winter SWL Fest

For those of you readers who often feel you’re alone in your enthusiasm for radio, I highly encourage you to attend the NASWA-sponsored SWL Fest in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania this year. The ‘Fest is jam-packed with radio-related information and attended by many radio kindred spirits. Forum topics this year will include the following :

From the WBCQ Archives – Larry Will
The Annual Pirate Forum – George Zeller
QRP: Operating and Listening at Low Power – Skip Arey
Economically Enhancing Your Collection thru Auctions and Flea Markets – Ed Mauger
Defeating Jammers with Text By Shortwave – Kim Andrew Elliott/Thomas Witherspoon
The Shortwave Shindig – David Goren (Friday night confirmed)
The Other Side of Satellite Monitoring – Dave Marthouse
More! All About Loop Antennae – Jef Eichner

If you’re interested in attending the SWL Fest, too, go to the official website and register!

Deutsche Welle: spies received secret messages on their shortwave receiver

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If you’ve ever been curious who listens to and acts upon the coded messages we hear in numbers stations (a.k.a. spy numbers stations), follow this German-based couple who are being accused of spying on NATO and and the EU:

(Source: DW)

A spectacular trial at a Stuttgart court is about to begin, involving a German-based couple accused of spying on NATO and the EU for decades on Russia’s behalf. Neighbors say they knew something was fishy.

It reads like a John le Carre novel: “dead mail boxes,” secret radio signals, encrypted messages hidden in plain sight on the Internet.

According to accusations, a married couple has been spying in Germany for more than 20 years – first at the behest of the Soviet Union and thereafter for its post-Soviet incarnation, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

On Tuesday (15.01.2013) 54-year-old Andreas Anschlag and his 48-year-old wife, Heidrun, will stand trial in Stuttgart. Federal prosecutors accuse them of “secret agent activity” and of “forgery of documents.”

[…]The history of the purported agent couple begins at a time when the Soviet Union still existed and the Cold War was still cold. According to accusations, Andreas Anschlag traveled to West Germany in 1988 with the help of a forged Austrian passport. His wife did the same in 1990. Both were supposed to have been born in South America. The two settled in Aachen, close to the western border with Belgium, where Mr. Anschlag studied mechanical engineering.

[…]The files were delivered via “dead mail boxes,” according to official charges, to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service in Moscow. The couple apparently received further commands through an agent radio network and sent their own messages via satellite and through an internet video platform.

When they were arrested in October 2011, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the woman was sitting in front of a shortwave receiver, writing down secret messages. At that point the pair was living in a house in Michelbach, a small community in the German state of Hesse.

“Suddenly we had this spy thriller taking place right outside our window – it was better than the movies,” one of the neighbors told DW.

Read the full article on DW’s website.

Note that this story reads much like the Russian couple who spied on the US a few years ago.

Mark Your Calendars: PCJ Media tests new shortwave transmitters February 16

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While so many broadcasters are cutting or eliminating shortwave broadcasting, there is one who has built a new transmission site in Taiwan and has ambitious goals for the future: PCJ Media! Mark your calendars–though no frequencies yet, PCJ has announced a date and time for their first test:

(Source: PCJ Media)

PRESS RELEASE

The first phase of PCJ’s own relay is completed. There are four phases to be completed until the station will be up and running to full capacity.

Technical Data:

1 /20kw

1/5kw

2/1kw

2/curtain type antennas

2/horizontal dipole type antennas

4/Orban Optimods

On February 16, 2013 we will conduct our first test. It will begin at 1600UTC until 1800UTC. The test will be done using the 2/1kw transmitters. Both will be directed to South East China. One frequency to be directed to Fujian Province and the second frequency directed to Guangxi Province.

Frequencies for this test will be published closer to the date of transmission. We have been given permission to use out of band frequencies. At the moment we are looking at around 12100 to 12500khz and 11400 to 11500khz. This was decided since these will be running 1kw and to reduce any type of interference it would be better to transmit in this range.

For more information please contact [email protected]

Wavescan focuses on Africa in 2013

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AWRlogo For those of you looking for an informative show on international broadcasting, shortwave radio and DXing, checkout Wavescan by AWR.

This year, I understand a lot of focus will be placed on radio and broadcasting to/in Africa. Wavescan’s full schedule follows Jeff White’s announcement below:

(Source: Jeff White, WRMI)

WAVESCAN this weekend:

The January 13 edition of Wavescan, which begins to air this weekend and throughout next week on WRMI, contains part 2 of the “100 Years of Wireless and Radio in Bulgaria” series, the Philippines DX Report with Henry Umadhay, and “Focus on Africa: Liberia.” Included is an interview with Allen Graham of HCJB in Ecuador, who is currently working in Liberia doing radio training and helping with a local university FM radio station. Allen talks about the importance of shortwave radio in West Africa.

Wavescan Scheduling: B12 Transmission Period

Radio Miami International

Sunday

0500 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz – Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

1200 UTC via AWR 17535 kHz – Media Broadcast Wertachtal Germany

1500 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz – Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

1530 UTC via AWR 15255 kHz – Sri Lanka Broad Corp Trincomalee Sri Lanka

1600 UTC via KSDA 11825 kHz – Adventist World Radio Agat Guam

1600 UTC via KSDA 15360 kHz – Adventist World Radio Agat Guam

1630 UTC via KSDA 11740 kHZ – Adventist World Radio Agat Guam

2230 UTC via KSDA 15320 kHZ – Adventist World Radio Agat Guam

Monday

1200 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz – Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

Tuesday

0430 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz – Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

Wednesday

0100 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz – Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

1200 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz – Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

2000 UTC via WINB 13570 kHz – World International Red Lion Pennsylvania USA

Thursday

400 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz – Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

1430 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz -Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

Friday

0415 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz -Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

Saturday

0800 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz -Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

1200 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz -Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

1730 UTC via WWCR2 12160 kHz -Worldwide Christian Nashville Tennessee USA

2100 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz -Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

2330 UTC via WRMI 9955 kHz -Radio Miami Int Miami Florida USA

…………..

iPod AWR

Internet Stream AWR.org WRMI.net WWCR.com WINB.com

Telephone Feed WINB at 1 415 655 0846

Smith-Mundt Act eliminated, VOA free to broadcast domestically

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voa logo

(Source: VOA News)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Voice of America will soon be able to make its programs available to the U.S. public following passage of new legislation signed by President Obama Wednesday.

The legislation, which is part of the National Defense Authorization Act, eliminates the longstanding ban on domestic distribution of VOA programs that was part of the original U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (known as Smith-Mundt).

In the coming months, Voice of America and other U.S. international broadcasters will draft regulations governing how they will fulfill domestic requests for release of original programs and materials.

The legislation will not change the focus of the agency’s broadcasts, which are aimed exclusively at international audiences. The new rules will only affect programs broadcast after July 1^st, 2013.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has hailed the new law, which updates one of the founding statutes of public diplomacy in the United States, a change that the Board has long supported and had incorporated into its strategic plan. (See BBG Press Release)

Presiding BBG Governor Michael Lynton said the new law will allow the BBG to accept requests to provide its programs to organizations which, until now, it could not share them with, including U.S.-based broadcasters, publications, universities, non-governmental organizations, and others that have requested these materials over the years. Lynton said the new law will allow “greater transparency as more people in this country come to know what U.S. International broadcasting is about.”

“The new law is a major breakthrough for U.S. international media,” said Susan McCue, a member of the BBG Board’s Communications and Outreach Committee. “All Americans will now have access to the vital and informative reporting of our accomplished journalists around the world who are working under difficult circumstances in closed societies and developing countries.”

For more information about this release contact Kyle King at the VOA Public Relations office in Washington at (202) 203-4959, or write[email protected]. For more information about VOA visit the Public Relations website at www.insidevoa.com, or the main news site atwww.voanews.com.

We’ve mentioned the Smith-Mundt Act before. Kim Elliott also has more articles and comments on this recent legislation.

The Mighty KBC testing on 6150 kHz January 10 & 11

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wurlitzerJukebox The Mighty KBC will be doing special broadcasts to test modulation on 6,150 kHz. They will broadcast old shows of The Giant Jukebox. Here is the schedule with dates/times in UTC:

Thursday, 10 January 2013 from 10.00 – 12.00 UTC on 6,150 kHz
Friday, 11 January 2013 from 13.00 – 15.00 UTC on 6,150 kHz

Mail your reception reports to [email protected]

Radio France International features Ears To Our World

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Many of you know how important I consider shortwave radio to be in the third world and for those living under repressive regimes. Radio France International recently interviewed me regarding these views and my position as the founder and director of the charity, Ears To Our World.