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The petition was filed by a coalition of financial services companies
affiliated with HF stations operating in the Experimental Radio Service
(FCC Part 5).
They ask the FCC to allocate frequencies for commercial international
shortwave data communications. That is not currently permitted except as
temporary experiments.
The FCC has not yet opened a proceeding for public comment on this
petition, but I expect that to happen soon.
That process assigns the petition a RM-number. It sets a deadline by
which the public may file comments referencing that number.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Ervin, who writes:
Hi Thomas –
Long time fan of your blog. I recently stumbled upon a (new to me) Shortwave Broadcast Schedule database. It is aggregated from AOKI, EiBi and HFCC databases. Home|Shortwave DB™
Not sure if you’ve seen it? But I’ve been using it for about a week now and I really like it! Just passing it along!
Thank you for the tip, Dan. I was not familiar with this database either. Many of the online databases I’ve used in the past have either been abandoned or haven’t been updated in several seasons. I look forward to exploring this one. Thanks again!
To mark Czech Radio’s centenary, Radio Prague International is preparing a special show for you on Thursday 18 May. Listen to it and write to let us know where you heard it to receive a special Czech Radio QSL card made especially for the anniversary!
Regular public radio broadcasting in Czechoslovakia began on 18 May 1923. At 8.15 pm on that day, from a canvas tent lent to the radio by a local scout troop in Kbely on the outskirts of Prague, the words “Hello, hello, this is the broadcasting station Radiojournal” could be heard sounding out.
The broadcast lasted about an hour. Although it was mostly only listened to by technology enthusiasts in its first few months, Czechoslovakia nevertheless became the second European country after the United Kingdom to have regular radio broadcasts.
For May 18, we have prepared a special programme for you from behind the scenes of Czech Radio. Tell us which town or city and country you listened to it in so that, 100 years after the first transmission, we can map where Czech Radio’s broadcasts reach today. We would be especially grateful if you could enclose a photo of yourself in the place where you listen to us along with your message.
In return, we’ll send you a special QSL card issued to mark the centenary, which comes from a 1933 radio exhibition and shows where the first international radio transmissions from Czechoslovakia were received.
Those of you who are interested in receiving a physical QSL card can send us a postal address. Otherwise, we will send you a digital copy by email.
Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio
Welcome to the SWLing Post’sRadio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dave Porter, Mark Hirst, Stuart Smolkin, Bill Forcier, and “Mangosman” for the following tips:
talkSPORT – Proposals to reduce AM Coverage (OfCom)
talkSPORT Limited (“talkSPORT”) submitted a request to reduce the coverage of its national AM
(medium wave) commercial radio service from 93% to 89.9%, by ceasing transmissions from the
following four of its twenty-two transmitter sites:
Dumfries (Dumfries & Galloway)
Kingston upon Hull (East Riding of Yorkshire)
Fern Barrow (Bournemouth)
Greenside Scalp (Tayside)
We consulted on the request with a preliminary view that we were minded to approve it. We have had regard to the responses we have received in reaching our decision. We received two responses agreeing with the proposal and four disagreeing. In section 3 below, we summarise stakeholders’ comments, assess them and outline the conclusions we have reached.
What we have decided – in brief
Ofcom has decided to approve the request submitted by talkSPORT Limited to reduce its AM
(medium wave) coverage by ceasing transmissions from four of its transmitter sites.
In times of emergency AM Radio could be your only source of information.
AM Radio is part of the Emergency Alert System, so critical life saving information during hurricanes, floods, blackouts and other disasters are delivered to you via AM Radio.
Certain car manufacturers have dropped AM Radio from their current and future vehicles.
This profit motivated move by car manufacturers is dangerous!
Sign the petition to maintain broadcast AM Radio in current and future vehicles, including electric vehicles.
Note: The Washington Post article about AM being removed from cars is behind a paywall. The link provided may give you free access.
America’s love affair between the automobile and AM radio — a century-long romance that provided the soundtrack for lovers’ lanes, kept the lonely company with ballgames and chat shows, sparked family singalongs and defined road trips — is on the verge of collapse, a victim of galloping technological change and swiftly shifting consumer tastes.
The breakup is entirely one-sided, a move by major automakers to eliminate AM radios from new vehicles despite protests from station owners, listeners, first-responders and politicians from both major parties.
Automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla, are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. And Ford, one of the nation’s top-three auto sellers, is taking a bigger step, eliminating AM from all of its vehicles, electric or gas-operated.
Some station owners and advertisers contend that losing access to the car dashboard will indeed be a death blow to many of the nation’s 4,185 AM stations — the possible demise of a core element of the nation’s delivery system for news, political talk (especially on the right), coverage of weather emergencies and foreign language programming.
“This is a tone-deaf display of complete ignorance about what AM radio means to Americans,” said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a trade journal covering the talk radio industry. “It’s not the end of the world for radio, but it is the loss of an iconic piece of American culture.” [Possible paywall: Continue reading…]
TAMPA, Fla. — Special operations signals intelligence teams say they need smaller, more versatile gear that gathers and shares data on the breadth of radio frequencies in all domains — land, sea, air and now space.
The mission has shifted dramatically as the United States ratchets up competition in the frequency bands with peer competitors like Russia and China, a far cry from deciphering mobile phone signals from violent extremists, officials said.
That’s one request to industry within a small slice of a larger portfolio under U.S. Special Operations Command Program Executive Office-Special Reconnaissance.
On Wednesday, a panel of program managers ticked off the varied sensor, communications and intelligence gear the office wants during the Global SOF Foundation’s SOF Week here.
Their efforts to upgrade and improve collection and dissemination of data continues in an ever-more crowded radio frequency spectrum across, and beyond, the globe. [Continue reading…]
Who Uses DRM?
The sky was blue and the boats were swaying in the harbor, but the participants from countries as far apart as India, Brazil, Denmark, South Africa — and other African countries like Egypt, Indonesia, Hungary, Germany and the UK — had other fish to fry.
They wanted to know about DRM in India, where more pure DRM hours are being carried, including dedicated content like news and cricket. More MW transmitters will be inaugurated there, but the decision for the FM digitization is still pending. Last year, Ernst & Young consultants concluded in a study for the I@B Ministry that radio digitization is not only technically beneficial, but also financially. “Digital Radio can help grow the Radio Segment in India by three times over five years.” The local automotive industry, with almost six million new Indian cars equipped with DRM radios, is also very interested in the decision. The big Indian and international car brands, eying a return on their huge investments, are ready to quickly software upgrade the existing DRM AM receivers to digital DRM FM. [Continue reading…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Patrizio (IN3032SWL), who writes:
If you are a fan of foreign radio broadcasts (BCL), you may have experienced the difficulty of transcribing the details of the programs, especially if they are in an unknown language. In addition, many radio stations have their own web pages where listeners can input their listening data, but these pages often do not allow the upload of any kind of file, even partial recordings of the broadcasts.
For these kinds of problems, Speechtexter can be a great help. It is a speech-to-text program that can automatically transcribe audio in real time, allowing BCL fans to have an accurate and detailed transcription of what they are listening to.
Speechtexter can recognize a wide range of languages, including Italian, English, French, Spanish, and many others. The program is completely free and does not require any registration. Moreover, it is very precise and offers high-quality transcriptions. It is also available online, which means that you can access it from any internet-connected device.
Using Speechtexter to transcribe foreign radio broadcasts is very easy: simply go to the official website and click on the “Start talking” button. The program will start transcribing everything that is said during the broadcast, and the text will appear automatically on the screen.
Video demonstration
In conclusion, if you are a fan of foreign radio broadcasts and want to transcribe the programs you listen to accurately and quickly, Speechtexter could be the solution for you. Try it now and see how it can simplify your life as a BCL listener! Here’s the link to the website: https://www.speechtexter.com.
73 Patrizio
IN3032SWL
Very clever, Patrizio–what a great trick! Thank you for sharing.
Happy Friday SWLing Post lounge community, Fastradioburst23 here letting you know about our special Imaginary Stations JNHK 2 broadcast which will be aired on Sunday 14th May 2023 at 2200 UTC on 9395 kHz via the services of WRMI. The broadcast features some excellent recordings of Japanese radio from our long-time listener Takuji Sahara from Tokyo. Tune in and sample what’s to be found on the radio dial in Japan. In the words of one of the Imaginary Stations crew “It’s great to know radio is alive and well in Japan.”
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gérard Koopal, who shares the following announcement from Christian Milling. Note that this announcement was originally in German (this English translation via Google):
Photo source: Eifeler Radiotage
Next weekend – after 3 years of corona-related postponements – the Eifeler Radiotage will finally rise again.
This time there is no thematic focus like in 2019 (July: 70 years of UKW, November: 30 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall), but we are ringing in the “big entertainment weekend”. Our team makes 50 hours of hand-picked radio – no voice tracking, no AI, no frills. Quite simply: radio broadcast.
The broadcasts are broadcast online, both in audio and video form at https://www.eifeler-radiotage.de/. Here you can already find the content and the broadcast schedule. All times as always in local Eifel kitchen time.
At the same time, the programs will also be broadcast on shortwave at the following times:
A simulcast also takes place in the popEXPRESS program on DAB channel 12A in Bad Kreuznach and around.
Visits to the bunker are possible as part of a guided tour: On May 12th and 13th there are the regular tours at 4 p.m., for groups of 10 or more people there is also the possibility to request individual tours: https://www.ausweichsitz-nrw .de/veranstaltungen/fuehrungen/bunkerpur
Best regards
Christian
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Benn Kobb (AK4AV), who writes:
