Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

RBI: “The radio station at the heart of an India-GDR friendship”

The radio station at the heart of an India-GDR friendship

The untold story of a shared history is now coming to light.

Berlin, Germany – The 1980s represented a turbulent and transitional period in global affairs. The end of the Cold War was drawing closer, a new era of Thatcher-Reagan neoliberal economic politics was being ushered in, and India was reeling following the assassination in 1984 of its prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Keen to keep up with global current news and affairs, Arvind Srivastava, then a young student studying for a master’s degree in history in Madhepura, a town in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, would gather daily with a group of fellow students. Together, they would tune in to Radio Berlin International (RBI) and its Hindi-language socialist-tilting radio programmes.

From 1959 until German reunification in 1990, RBI served as the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR, or East Germany) international mouthpiece, transmitting news, views and values across the world through its multilingual broadcast platform.

For Srivastava, now 57, and a writer and poet, RBI played a pivotal role in illuminating his global vision during the Cold War.

“In the eighties, most of my friends and I were undergraduate or postgraduate students studying history and political science. In that era of information technology, radio was the only powerful medium,” he tells Al Jazeera.

“When the world was divided into two camps, by nature our country was very close to Soviet ideology. We were curious, and it was a matter of urgent pride for us to be part of the global mobilisation against imperialism, colonialism and racism.”

Srivastava founded the local listeners’ club, also known as a Lenin club, in Madhepura. The club was one of many across India’s Hindi-speaking regions including Punjab and Haryana in the north, Bihar in the east, and the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where students and workers who shared the GDR’s political values listened to RBI together. [Continue reading and listen to this story on Al Jazeera…]

Trailer

Note: if you turn on subtitles, YouTube will translate the dialog in this video.

Guest Post: Following the Ethiopian war over shortwave radio

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following guest post:

Carlos Latuff at Catacumba Park in Rio de Janeiro, monitoring Ethiopian broadcasts.

ETHIOPIA: A WAR THROUGH RADIO

by Carlos Latuff, special for The SWLing Post

We just entered 2022 and the civil war in Ethiopia has already completed 1 year. On the one hand we have the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) guerrillas from northern Ethiopia and its allies, and on the other hand we have the armed forces of Ethiopian government and its allies. The dead are piling up, accusations of war crimes from both sides, local and international political interests at stake, and no perspective for a peaceful solution. Without going into the reasons for this new war in Ethiopian territory, I’d like to focus on the use of radio waves by both parties of this conflict.

I monitored shortwave broadcasts from Ethiopia and to Ethiopia between October 21, 2021 and January 4, 2022. The receivers were Tecsun PL-606 and XHDATA D-808, using both the telescopic antenna and a long wire. In all cases, listening was carried out in Brazilian cities.

Carlos at Catacumba Park monitoring and recording clandestine Ethiopian broadcasts.

The monitored stations were: Continue reading →

Schulman Auctions posts new lots of radio gear for January 2022

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi, who writes:

There is a lot of gear for auction from Schulman Auctions. There are several shortwave radios and other vintage gear, even crystal radios. Eye candy for radio buffs.

73’s,

Mario, N2HUN

Thank you for the tip, Mario! Click here to check out the catalog of radios up for auction.

KMRT “New Year Savings Show” January 10, 2022

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Fastradiobust23, who notes that KMRT’s “New Year Savings Show” will take place on January 10, 2022 at 0000 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI.

Thanks for the tip!

Alan Roe’s B21 season guide to music on shortwave (version 3 update)

Radio Waves: AIR Doubles Broadcast Times, Radio Prague’s 2022 QSL Cards, Ham On The Moon, and Allouis Transmitter Silenced

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Iurescia, Kris Partridge, and the Southgate ARC for the following tips:

AIR to double broadcast time for programmes in six languages (Deccan Herald)

Starting Monday, All India Radio (AIR) programmes in six neighbourhood languages, including in Dari, Pashto, Baluchi and Mandarin Chinese, will be available to listeners every day in the morning and evening. The AIR’s external services division has doubled the time for the programmes aired in Dari, Pashto, Baluchi, Mandarin Chinese, Nepali and Tibetan languages, the public broadcaster said in a statement on Sunday.

The programmes in these six languages will be aired on shortwave frequency and also live streamed on YouTube, NewonAir App, DD Free Dish, it said.

“The external services division of the All India Radio is expanding its transmission in six neighbourhood languages from January 3, 2022. These languages are Dari, Pashto, Baluchi, Mandarin Chinese, Nepali and Tibetan,” the public broadcaster said. [Continue reading…]

Radio Prague’s QSL Cards (Radio Prague)

The three letters – QSL – constitute one of the codes originally developed in the days of the telegraph. All codes consisted of three letters beginning with “Q”. Later some of these “Q” codes were adopted by radio-telegraphists and radio listeners. QSL means “contact confirmed” or “reception confirmed”. Continue reading →

Carlos Shares Shortwave Art and Recordings of Ethiopian Jamming and BBC News Tigrinya

Ethiopian Jamming

Characteristic noise of “jamming” (intentional interference), probably coming from the Ethiopian government, preventing reception of the signal from the clandestine broadcaster Dimtse Wegahta Tigray (Voice of the Dawn Tigray).

Dimtse Wegahta Tigray broadcasts daily to warring Ethiopia on the frequency of 15340 kHz, using the powerful transmitters of the company TDF (Télédiffusion de France) in Issoudun, France.

Captured at Parque da Catacumba, Rio de Janeiro, 12/29/2021, 2:36 pm (local time):

Click here to view on YouTube.

BBC News Tigrinya broadcasting from UAE to Ethiopia/Eritrea

BBC News Tigrinya, 12065 kHz, broadcasting from Al Dhabbiya, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Excerpt from the news.
– Ethiopian party member EZEMA talks about the intention to form a cabinet in the government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed despite the war.
– US Embassy in Eritrea asks that country’s government to release political dissidents.

The BBC is among the news channels that are accused by the Ethiopian government of “spreading fake news”.

Signal received in Rio de Janeiro, 01/04/2022, at 3:14 pm (local time).

Thanks to yaredinho_r9 for the translation.