The Grundig G2 Reporter is now shipping from Universal Radio. The price is $149.95.
It’s worth noting that Universal has a lot of images of the radio, including photos of the box and contents.
I’ll post reviews of the G2 in the SW Radio Index as they become available. Have a G2 already? Please share your impressions.
ShortwaveSchedule.com's interface is easy to use and read. (Click to enlarge)
There are a number of online shortwave frequency databases out there, but until recently, I was never satisfied with any one single site. Some of the more user-friendly sites are horribly out-of-date and many of the up-to-date sites are difficult to navigate when you’re in a hurry. After all, it’s one thing to view schedules in a book like WRTH or the Worldwide Listening Guide, where you can touch the page and make notes; it’s a much different experience to scroll down frequency listings on your computer monitor.
I’ve been using a new shortwave schedule database recently called ShortwaveSchedule.com, and I must say, I’m very pleased with it. This site combines several useful features into one shortwave schedule database that have previously not belonged to any one site.
This site makes it easy to search by frequency for quick ID and for a full listing of what is broadcasting at that moment.
This site’s database allows you to search:
These are the most common searches I use when I need a quick identification. The site is basically an online version of Aoki’s Bi Newsletter shortwave transmission database.
Best yet, the site’s owner, VAXXi, tries to continuously improve the site and is even open to suggestions from users. I made a suggestion recently and received a quick response. The site author also created a very helpful online user guide and updates the homepage with version notes.
Anyway, check out the site and feel free to comment, to note your favorite online schedule site, or make suggestions.
In this interview with Levon Sevunts, producer for RCI’s The Link, we get a little more insight into the impact of these cuts at Radio Canada International.
One notable quote from the audio interview: Sevunts states rather bluntly, “RCI is getting out of radio altogether.”
RCI’s last day of broadcasting will be June 26th, 2012.
(Source: The Link)
RCI will bear the brunt of the 10 per cent funding cut to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced in the last federal budget. RCI is going off the air. The international service will no longer be heard on shortwave or satellite broadcasts. A budget cut of more than 80% at RCI will mean only limited service will be offered on the Internet in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Mandarin and Arabic. Russian and Portuguese services will be dropped. A total of 650 jobs will be lost at the CBC over the next three years and there will be changes in programming. To generate additional revenue, CBC plans to introduce advertising on its CBC Radio 2 and Espace Musique channels. CBC TV will also shut down 620 analog transmitters and cut its in-house documentary unit. Marc Montgomery discusses the changes with The Link’s producer, Levon Sevunts.
It appears that the cuts at Radio Canada International will be deep and swift (see below).
(Source: RCInet.ca)
Spending cuts announced last week in Canada’s latest federal budget have reached Radio Canada International. Speaking to employees at RCI’s headquarters in Montreal on Wednesday, RCI director Helene Parent declared that two out of three RCI employees—about 40 people—will lose their jobs by the end of July. RCI’s Russian and Portugueuse sections will be closed along with the English and French-language newsrooms. All shortwave broadcasts will cease as well. RCI will continue to exist solely on the Internet in five languages—English, French, Arabic, Spanish and Mandarin.
As with the cuts at the BBC World Service, and Radio Netherlands Worldwide, I am thinking about the friends I made there over the years and hoping they are able to keep their jobs or move to another meaningful post. Unfortunately, since these cuts are also affecting their domestic arm (the CBC and Radio Canada), there may be no easy refuge.
We will keep you posted as we learn more.
Google has once again featured a radio-related theme–this time (unfortunately!) as an April Fool’s joke. This video will explain it all:
Though I’m at least happy that RNW is making it their core mission to keep broadcasting to parts of the world where free speech is suppressed, I do fear how far the cuts may go beyond their Dutch broadcasts to expatriates. With 70% cuts in funding, future changes are likely to go beyond Dutch services and hurt many who live in remote, impoverished parts of the world where they rely on shortwave.
Andy Sennitt wrote the following about the RNW changes:
(Source: RNW)
As the clocks in Europe go forward to summertime, Radio Netherlands Worldwide is entering a period of drastic change which will see the closure of many services and the relaunch of the organisation with a much smaller staff. RNW will in future be specialising in producing material for audiences in countries with limited press freedom.
RNW will no longer be broadcasting to Dutch expatriates. The Dutch radio service will hold a 24-hour marathon broadcast on 10/11 May to mark the end of its 65 years of service.
Other services will be affected too – plans are still to be finalised, but Radio Netherlands Worldwide will cease to operate in a number of languages and other services, including this website, will be adapted to meet the new focus of promoting free speech.
All these changes have been forced on RNW by the Dutch government’s decision to slash our budget by 70 percent with effect from 1 January 2013. The budget will come from the Foreign Ministry rather than the Ministry of Education and Culture as at present. The editorial independence of RNW will remain sacrosanct.
More information about the changes will be published as soon as these are official.
A problem worth noting: Radio Korea has been having difficulty keeping their shortwave broadcasts on the air. As North Korea Tech points out, their domestic broadcasting arm is still operating:
(Source: North Korea Tech via shrtwvr)
Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international shortwave radio broadcaster, is still having technical problems that result in entire broadcasts failing to make it on-air.
The problems began just over a month ago when some Voice of Korea broadcasts failed to appear at their scheduled times.
Now, a month later, the broadcaster is still failing to match its schedule. Today, on March 27, some of the scheduled transmissions were heard but others were missing.
[…]The problems have also hit the DPRK’s radio jamming operations, which attempt to block Korean-language foreign radio reception by broadcasting strong noise on the same frequency.
The most severe jamming is usually targeted at “Echo of Hope” and “Voice of the People,” two stations that are believed to be broadcast by the South Korean government.
[…]It’s [also] worth noting that the DPRK’s shortwave transmitters carrying the domestic service, largely for listeners in the country, have not been hit by such problems.
The problems could be technical in nature, perhaps related to faulty equipment, or due to an electricity shortage.
Curious, that these problems are occuring not so very long after the death of Kim Jong-il. Could it point to other problems with infrastructure under Kim Jong-un’s authority? These may be difficult times for those people living under North Korea’s repressive regime–= especially in light of recent food aid suspension.
Read the full article–and listen to radio clips of the interruptions–at North Korea Tech’s website.