Category Archives: News

A new way to navigate the BBC Archives

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Zenith-Dial-2

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, William Lee, who shares a link to this article on the BBC Blog:

Currently there are over 15,000 permanently available programmes, largely radio programmes, on the BBC website dating back decades, but they can be very difficult to find. From today, we’re launching a new piece of technology called ADA (Automated Data Architecture) that unearths and helps people navigate the BBC’s rich archive of permanently available programmes.

As you can see below, it adds a list of related topic tags under the description of the programme. So if you’ve just listened to an episode on Ada Lovelace and were interested in other notable women of the Victorian era, you can now click that tag and find all the permanently available programmes on that topic. There are programmes on Beatrix Potter, Florence Nightingale and Sylvia Pankhurst to name a few. There will also be up to three recommended programmes on the right hand side, with a link to the topic that connects them.

This seemingly small change to a programme page can lead you down interesting little alleyways to fascinating places you never expected to visit. For example, starting off at Ada Lovelace can take you all the way to a programme on Julius Caesar via ‘the Byron family’ followed by ‘Fellows of the Royal Society’ then ‘Captain James Cook’ and finally the ‘Deaths by stabbing’ topic tags. Give it a try here and see where you end up.

Some programmes like Desert Island Discs, which have a lot of programmes available, have navigation which is tailored very carefully to the brand. This makes it easy to find programmes but also means the system cannot be re-used across other BBC brands or programmes.[…]

Click here to continue reading this article on the BBC Blog.

eBay Sighting: Sony CRF-V21

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sony-crf-v21-001

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, London Shortwave, who shared a link to this Sony CRF-V21 on eBay:

Click here to view on eBay UK.

I’m sure a Sony collector will eventually snag this rig. Thought the listing mentions no shipping outside the UK, the Seller states otherwise:

“[I]f you don’t live in uk you can arrange a courier at your own cost”

Do any SWLing Post readers own the CRF-V21? Please comment!

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Four NPOTA activations planned today

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npota-tr10-pk01-qrp-elecraft-kx2-clipboard

Around noon (EDT) today, I’ll start my short journey to the W4DXCC conference in Sevierville, TN.

En route, I’ll pass through three National Parks: the Blue Ridge Parkway, The Appalachian National Scenic Trail and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s a beautiful drive and the weather appears to be near-ideal–clear skies.

ARRL-NPOTAThis also affords me the opportunity to activate two “two-fers” for the National Parks On The Air  (NPOTA):

  • Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains Park (PK01 & NP26)
  • Appalachian Trail and Great Smoky Mountains Park (NP26 & TR01)

I’ll only get credit for three activations, but chasers will have a better opportunity to snag two park entities in one QSO.

I plan to activate the PK01 & NP26 two-fer starting around 17:00 UTC, then the NP26 & TR01 two-fer starting around 19:15 UTC. Look for me on 14,286 and 7,286 +/- 6 kHz.

SWLs: please comment if you happen to hear me at your location!

On the way back from the conference, Sunday morning, I plan to activate the same sites once again (weather permitting).

AirGig: a new BPL technology that promises less RFI

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projectairgig

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, DanH, who writes:

I read this news item today. AT&T has a new approach to broadband over power lines called AirGig. Supposedly, this technology will avoid RFI issues encountered with previous BPL technologies. This shouldn’t be an issue in my neighborhood where power lines are underground. Underground utilities still have RFI issues. My next door neighbor’s AT&T high speed internet swamps out all nearly all shortwave signals below 4.7 MHz within radius of 30 feet from the connection box.

http://fortune.com/2016/09/20/att-internet-over-powerlines/

Many thanks, DanH! Here is a short promo video for AirGig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF09OWzv_pw

SDRplay releases new API driver for the RSP

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SDRplay-Logo

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike (K8RAT) who writes:

SDRplay has released a new API/hardware driver for the RSP (1.97).

Here is what they say about it along with a download:

http://sdrplay.com/platforms.html

So that’s a new SDRuno version and RSP hardware driver in less than one week. SDRplay has been busy!  Thanks for the tip, Mike!

RAE – Argentina To The World: RAE’s new name and new commitment to shortwave broadcasting

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RAE Antenna farm (Source: RAE)

RAE Antenna farm (Source: RAE)

Many thanks to Luis Maria Barassi (RAE Director) and Adrian Korol (RAE Executive Advisor) for sharing the following press release:

RAE- RADIODIFUSION ARGENTINA AL EXTERIOR becomes RAE- ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD

A new stage begins in the history of RAE, that will transform from RAE-RADIODIFUSION ARGENTINA AL EXTERIOR to RAE- ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD, updating the identity of our international signal.

argentina-rae

Among the news to share, there’s the decision to maintain presence on the shortwave frequencies of 15345 and 11710 KHZ, which are broadcast from the transmission plant located in General Pacheco. Currently, we’re facing some technical problems with regard to modulation, but we’ll face the challenge of fixing this and increase our presence on the shortwaves.

We’ll keep on transmitting in eight languages, now with a homogenous programming, that will be coherent with regard to contents, with the specific contribution of each language considering particular characteristics. RAE’s new stage will feature programs Mondays through Mondays.

Each language will have a daily 55-minute broadcast on the shortwaves, with one daily re-run.

In addition, the daily show will be available on the new website of RAE, where the program will be on streaming 24 hours a day.

Specific applications for RAE will be developed for mobile devices and on a second stage, podcasts and RAE content broadcast by local stations in other countries. The most recent shows will also be available to download on demand.

Another innovation are the six channels of Argentine music available on RAE’s website, organized by genre: Tango, Folk, Rock, Pop, Jazz and Classical, that will play music 24 hours, with playlist in constant expansion and a radio sound, that’s to say, with a presentation of songs, that will provide additional data about the tunes.

This way, listeners will be able to enjoy at any time of the day the best works by artists such as Charly Garcia, Yupanqui, Piazzolla, Sandro, Malosetti, La Camerata Bariloche, announced in various languages, with a radio format. This is part of the new design of what we call DIGITAL RAE.

The daily programs of RAE cover various topics developed jointly by the new production team of RAE as well as the language teams. After the news bulletin, with the inclusion of music and bite-sized features about various topics.

In addition, we’ll now have a new interval ID signal.

The schedule for our station in all languages now will be:

MONDAY: Our Football/Argentine Tango

TUESDAY: Argentines Without Borders / La Folklórica

WEDNESDAY: The Conversation/Argentine Roads

THURSDAYS: Welcome/Science and Technology

FRIDAYS: Multi-Sports Center/Histories in Common

On Saturdays, a SUMMARY OF THE WEEK will be broadcast, followed by ACTUALIDAD DX.COM.AR, the new segment dedicated to DXing, radio, media and information technology.

This program will be produced and presented in Spanish by ARNALDO SLAEN and RAE’S director, LUIS MARIA BARASSI, featuring news about radio and technologies applied to communication, plus audio files, interviews, etcetera. The program will have an average duration of 25-30 minutes.

This format will be broadcast also on various languages and will not only be available on RAE’s website, but also in the spaces dedicated to DX-related content on the web.

Finally, Sundays will be the day of program THE BRIDGE, a weekly space focused on the contact with listeners, music and interviews. The show will also pay homage to classics of international broadcasting such as the STATION OF JOY and similar programs that left their mark in the history of international radio.

rae-argentina

The support of all DXing colleagues, radio ham enthusiasts and fans of the Short Waves is paramount, in order to spread their messages, emphasize the importance of the shortwaves as well as the need to increase the presence on various bands, complementing digital content.

A new stage begins for RAE, ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD, with many ideas and challenges ahead, a phase in which the participation of all sectors linked to our field will be key for our growth and for the steps that will follow.

It’s important to underline that after many years of being practically ignored by various administrations, the new stage of Radio Nacional, under director Ana Gerschenson, and Deputy Director Pablo Ciarliero, includes a project for RAE, with the participation of the excellent and historic professionals of RAE, plus the arrival of experts in digital content and with the incorporation of Adrián Korol, who, beyond his renown for his work in Radio and TV, is a passionate DXer and Radio Ham fan.

Over the next few days, we’ll release the definitive schedule, with timetables, frequencies and targeted zones for all languages.

The launch of this new phase will be next October 5 at 7PM, at the Auditorium of Radio Nacional Buenos Aires. We let you know, as well, that next week a definitive timetable will be released. It’s clear that all ideas, proposals and specially the dissemination to this news will be greatly appreciated.

73 & DX

RAE ARGENTINA TO THE WORLD

Luis Maria Barassi – Director

Adrian Korol – Executive Advisor