Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares illustrated radio listening report of a special Vatican Radio broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Part of Vatican Radio’s news bulletin (in English) about Pope Francis’ funeral. Listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on XHDATA D-808 receiver.
by Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
Just how hardcore are you as a DXer?
I received the following from a ham radio friend:
Greetings all!
I received an interesting opportunity for anyone capable and interested
in helping NYS DEC. This was aimed at Warren County, however I thought
hams in the Northern District surrounding counties could also assist,
particularly Saratoga and Washington counties:
We were recently contacted by a representative of NYS DEC, Fish and
Wildlife Division requesting the assistance of the amateur radio
community. The DEC will be releasing approximately 20 bats with
transmitters attached and hope to track them to their summer roosting
locations. They are scheduled to be released on April 22 at Hague, NY.
The frequencies for these transmitters will be in the 150-151MHz range
and are included below. They will emit about 35 pulses per minute. The
idea is to set up your radio to scan the frequencies (by entering each
one, or scanning from 150-151MHz in 1KHz steps). Should you get a “hit”,
note the frequency and cross it to the serial number of the transmitter.
Note the date and time and report it to me.
This sounds like a fun exercise and we will be helping the DEC as well.
If you think you will be participating, let me know. I’d like to report
back to the DEC representative with an approximate head county.
Thanks and ’73
Mark KD2RJP
Serial # Frequency
276481 150.052
276482 150.075
276483 150.109
276484 150.172
276485 150.192
276486 150.272
276487 150.290
276488 150.351
276489 150.391
276490 150.429
276491 150.449
276492 150.513
276493 150.549
276494 150.571
276495 150.592
276496 150.670
276497 150.690
276498 150.751
276499 150.794
276500 150.829
276501 150.850
276502 150.875
276503 150.916
276504 150.951
276505 150.990
Update:
The release date has been moved to April 22.
One thing I didn’t mention in the original emai l: the transmitters
will work for about 2 weeks. So please scan when and where you are able
to within the 2 week period. Also, many radios do not have the ability
to tune in 1 KHz steps so your radio may not be able to monitor all the
transmitters. Scanners may work. Regardless, do the best you can. If
you are planning to participate and haven’t already notified me,
please let me know so I can notify DEC how many stations will
participate. Finally, here is the data sheet sent by DEC to help log
any “hits” you might get. If you get any “hits”, please send
info to me no later than the following day.
Update:
The bats will tentatively be released around 2015 hrs. tomorrow April
22. IMPORTANT: the transmitters will be using CW, not FM as previously
thought. (This is completely my fault as I assumed 2m band to be FM)
Anyway, please change your mode to CW. I’m hopeful that we will get
some “hits”, especially from the folks to the South. Ashley Meyer,
the DEC representative, has agreed to do a debrief/presentation on
Monday, May 5 at 1915 hrs. I will be sending out a Zoom link a few days
prior.
Thank you all for your interest in this project.
‘73
Mark KD2RJP
All the DEC is looking for is your location when a signal is heard; and
the serial number of the transmitter. Send any reports to Mark at
kd2rjp(at)arrl.net
Vry 73 de
John
K2QY
Readers of the SWLing Post have been sharing various articles concerning the recent ruling by a federal judge, which directs the Trump administration to reinstate the USAGM staff. This decision was initially reported by Paul Walker earlier this week. Below is further analysis from several news sources shared by Ed C, Ron Smith, and Dennis Dura:
The president in an executive order sought to eliminate the agency’s non-statutory components and functions, but a federal judge criticized how officials determined what parts of USAGM aren’t required by law.
A federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Trump administration to bring back staff at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which the president has sought to dismantle.
Specifically, District Judge Royce C. Lamberth is requiring Trump officials to return employees and contractors who were put on leave or terminated to their statuses before March 14, when Trump signed an executive order directing the elimination of non-statutory components and functions at USAGM as well as other agencies.
As a result of the EO, many employees were let go at government-funded outlets that aim to provide news to people living in restricted media environments around the world, including Voice of America. [Continue reading…]
A federal court has thrown a wrench into efforts initiated by the Trump administration to wind down Voice of America and its affiliated networks, with a judge ruling that the shutdown was likely unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a sweeping injunction Tuesday, ordering the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM)—the parent agency of VOA—to reinstate the operations of VOA and its associated broadcasters. Lamberth also mandated that the agency restore employment for workers placed on administrative leave and prohibited any staffing reductions while the legal battle plays out, The Hill reports. [Continue reading…]
A federal judge on Tuesday found the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle Voice of America (VOA) and affiliated news services likely were unlawful, indefinitely blocking the shuttering of the government-funded news outlet and affiliated news services.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered VOA’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), to restore VOA and other outlets under the USAGM’s umbrella and barred the agency from preventing them from serving as “consistently reliable and authoritative” news sources, as is required by law.
He also directed the USAGM to restore employment to its workers placed on leave and not reduce its workforce while litigation continues, in addition to continuing funding for international broadcasting. [Continue reading…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who shares the following update:
From the Isle of Music, May 2025
May’s program will feature music from two Cuban artists in Scandinavia, Yeisy Rojas in Norway and Eliel Lazo in Denmark.
Friday, May 9:
6070 kHz at 1700 UTC
3955 at 2100 UTC
Sunday, May 11:
9670 kHz at 1700 UTC using beam E (repeat of May 9 episode.)
Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, May 2025
May’s program will feature music from the Kingdom of Bhutan and will air as follows:
Friday, May 16:
6070 kHz at 1700 UTC
3955 at 2100 UTC
Sunday, May 18
9670 kHz at 1700 UTC using beam E (repeat of May 16 episode).
**In addition to direct radio reception, we do honor reception reports using remote SDRs as long as the whole program is described and which SDR is specified.
Hi to all the SWLing community worldwide. Imaginary Stations have a couple of programmes on the shortwaves this week for your listening pleasure. The first is on Saturday 26th April 2025 at 1100 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then repeated on Sunday 27th April 2025 at 0900/1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and at 2000 UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz via Shortwave Gold.
It’s another episode of The Weather Channel where we bring you “All weather, all the time”. Expect an avalanche of tunes that feature mentions of atmospheric phenomena all the way from Isobars to Icicles, some classics of a high- and low-pressure nature and some heavy “Weather rock” to play your air barometer to. Tune in and enjoy!
Recently we found some bad news on the internet where it mentioned that “TV test cards are now only rarely seen outside of television studios, post-production, and distribution facilities. They are no longer intended to assist viewers in calibration of television sets”.
That made us feel very sad here at Imaginary Stations, so on Wednesday 30th April 2025 at our new time of 0200 UTC via WRMI we bring you another episode of Test Cards on Radio. We want to bring back the good times where it was all about screen calibration, test tones and adjusting that TV antenna on the roof with a bit of the good old “left a bit, right a bit” technique.
Tune into a golden time when the standard resolution was 525 and 625 lines and bring back some vertical and horizontal hold back into your life.
More on the Weather Channel here:
For more information on all our shows, please write to imaginarystations@gmail.com and check out our old shows at our Mix cloud page here.
FastRadioBurst 23
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares an illustrated radio listening report from Vatican Radio reporting the death of Pope Francis, along with a recent Kyodo News Agency Radiofax, and numerous archived reports from Carlos also featuring Pope Francis:
Carlos notes:
Pope Francis has passed away:
Full news bulletin (in English) of Vatican Radio Africa’s Service about the death of Pope Francis. Listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on a Xhdata D-808 receiver.
Click here to view on YouTube.
I received this radiofax today, it’s the English Edition of Kyodo News from April 21, the date of Pope Francis’ death, and it has the following news: “Pope Francis emerges from convalescence on Easter, delights crowd with popemobile tour.”
A few illustrated radio listening reports about Pope Francis from 2021 to 2025
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Fred Waterer for also sharing the following article from Tibetan Review. This piece raises questions about the future of Tibetan-language broadcasting and the broader implications of VOA and RFA closures:
Click here to read: The Silencing of Tibetan Voices: Who Benefits and Who Loses from the Closure of VOA and RFA?