Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

Retirement Sale: Grove Enterprises liquidating inventory

It appears that Monitoring Times is not the only division of Grove Enterprises that will close shop when owners, Bob and Judy Grove, retire.

Indeed, Grove Enterprises is liquidating their entire inventory in a retirement sale. There are deals to be found in their shortwave radio selection and entire catalog of products.

Still, sad to see this reputable radio retailer close shop. I’m grateful that Universal Radio and C.Crane are still in business. I’m a strong believer in purchasing from radio retailers rather than online sources like Amazon.com. No doubt, Amazon has competitive pricing and good customer service, but frankly they could care less about the radio hobby in general. To Amazon, shortwave radios are simply a few dozen consumer electronics products out of the tens of thousands they offer.

Universal Radio and C.Crane both support radio clubs, events and hobby-related activities–Amazon does not. Plus, pricing is often very close or even lower than that of Amazon. This is why I always purchase from them if they have what I seek.

Victor Ashe joins CUSIB after leaving the Broadcasting Board of Governors

“You are listening to the Free Hellenic Radio”

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Yesterday was the first day in nearly a month that I had turned on my SDR to record broadcasts. Between my travel schedule, getting the PC fixed, and near-constant summer thunderstorms, my SWLing has been limited to portables and sporadic travel listening. It felt so great yesterday to turn on the WinRadio Excalibur and do a little band-scanning. As I skimmed across the bands, I checked in with my good friend, the Voice of Greece, on 9,420 kHz. And, as I listened, I flipped on the “record” switch.

What I recorded was more than three hours of uninterrupted Greek music. Click hear to download the full recording, or listen via the embedded player below:

Three hours of music with no commentary (save a little dead air) is certainly not a typical format for the Voice of Greece, so I took note. If you’ve been reading The SWLing Post for long you’ll know that the Voice of Greece and its domestic broadcasting counterparts have been going through a major shake-up. In the wake of the government closure of ERT on June 11th, within hours, former ERT journalists defiantly got back on the air. Until courts ordered the immediate re-opening of the Greek national broadcaster, the Voice of Greece was, in a sense, a very powerful pirate radio broadcaster. Interestingly, since the shakeup in June, I learned that the Voice of Greece has barely been off-air.

Since I don’t speak or understand Greek, and since they’ve only made a few public statements in English, I turned to my friend and SWLing Post reader/contributor, Christos, for details. He writes:

I will try to describe…the current situation regarding the ERT issue, I hope in an objective way.

…[I]n front of the Radio House in Aghia Paraskevi suburb…all the fence[s] and part of the building [are] covered by banners. Almost every [evening], concerts take place in the yard. The participant artists express their solidarity [with] those who run the ERT since 11 of June, when the government fired 2,650 employees in order to recruit some 2000 again.

The so-called occupiers of the Radio House demonstrate signs of [fatigue] as less producers and known journalists appear in the programmes. Their programme is transmitted from medium waves 729, 1008, 1260 1404 and 1512 KHz…enough to cover the whole country during night time. I checked the short wave frequency of 9420 KHz; they [host] a different musical programme…the one you receive in [the US] [hear this above]. I think that this is a dead end for those who continue, as 3,000 people in the media business have applied for job[s] in the new ERT. The vice minister responsible…will recruit only 500 of them…

Two days ago, we had a night of tension as some protesters appeared on the mountain where the antennas are located…[P]olice arrested some of them.

You can get an idea of this incident [by] watching the following two videos:

Another source of [information about] the ERT occupiers is:

http://www.ertopen.com/news-in-4-languges/english

…[T]here have not been announcements about the future of the Voice of Greece. Think that some 10 million…Greeks live in the country, and some 10 [million] more [live] abroad.

[The pace of] Greek summer…[is] slow. People go to the beaches or to their native villages. Everybody looks exhausted as the last two days the temperature reached 39 degrees Celsius which is 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Today the SKAI, one of the biggest private radio stations, fired 10 journalists add[ing] to [the] 50 [previously fired]. Now they repeat older programmes and there [is] no news broadcasted.

Remaining journalists in ERT refer to [the broadcasting service] as: Hellenic Radio – The Voice of Freedom, and often announce, “You are listening to the Free Hellenic Radio.”

Once again…giving you an idea [of the political] climate here…this morning the government announced the names of 2,122 teachers – public servants from technical education [–] who lost their job[s].

I hope this will be of…interest.

Christos, we thank you so much for your insight and opinions about the state of Greek national and international broadcasting! We at The SWLing Post support freedom of press in Greece, and commiserate with those who have lost their jobs, especially in such an oppressively hot summer. Please do continue to keep us informed.

I have sincere doubts about the longevity of the Voice of Greece (or Free Hellenic Radio) on shortwave. With the serious budget cuts the new ERT must be built on, I doubt they’ll consider funding shortwave radio in Greece. I feel like it may only be a matter of time before we lose yet another shortwave broadcaster. I certainly hope I’m wrong…

In the meantime, I’ll be dedicating more hard drive space to spectrum recordings of VOG.

Bucking the trend, Taiwan invests in shortwave infrastructure

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(Photo: Ampegon)

While countries like Canada are preparing to tear down their state-of-the-art transmission site, Taiwan appears to be investing in theirs.

Thanks to Andrea Borgnino for sharing a press release from the Swiss manufacturer, Ampegon, who has been contracted by RTI to upgrade two shortwave radio transmission sites in Taiwan.

Ampegon will “manufacture, install and commission a total of ten 300 kW DRM shortwave transmitters and twelve rigid dipole broadcast antennas HR2/2/0.3 securing low and efficient maintenance works.” Ampegon boasts that this is “the world’s biggest SW modernization project.”

Ampegon’s continues in their press release:

The transmitters are manufactured in Turgi, Switzerland while the antennas are designed in and delivered from Schifferstadt, Germany. At the first site near Taipeh four transmitters and two antennas will be installed, at the second site six transmitters and ten antennas. The new infrastructure is partially on air since May 2013 with two most modern transmitters and antennas and planned to be completed in several steps until autumn 2014.

Chi-Ming Wang, Director Engineering at RTI, is extremely satisfied with Ampegon as partner for the project: “Ampegon is very experienced and has delivered shortwave transmitters for us thirty years ago that still work to our full satisfaction. Ampegon offers a complete solution approach including transmitters, antennas, control systems and DRM integration. In addition Ampegon provides the best price/performance ratio”.

Significant benefit for the customer is a reduction in energy consumption by replacing the old equipment which leads to operation at higher efficiency rates. Savings in other operational costs are reached by a fully automated transmitter based on StationMaster Plus control system and because of a decrease in the amount of spare parts due to the market leading technology selected.

The challenges of this project are short delivery periods and the management of local logistics including building and feeder line modifications, while keeping existing old transmitters and antennas on air.

This is the largest contract for Ampegon since execution of the name change in November 2012. It means a significant factory load through 2014 for the locations Turgi and Schifferstadt. The project highlights that AM / DRM radio broadcasting keeps its important role in Asia and other areas of the world.

Tel. +41 58 710 44 00
[email protected]

Radio Taiwan International is obviously not pulling out of shortwave. Neither is neighboring China Radio International.

Note that RTI is not the only Taiwan-based broadcaster investing in shortwave radio; PCJ International has recently completed a series of test broadcasts from their new (still under construction) transmitting station.

BBG Watch: Edward R. Murrow site appears safe in fiscal year 2014

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The Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station campus as seen by Google Earth (Click to enlarge)

This is good news for our friends at the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station (click to read tour):

(Source: BBG Watch)

Thanks to efforts by Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member Victor Ashe, support of his board colleagues Susan McCue and Michael Meehan, and intervention from North Carolina congressmen G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) and Walter B. Jones (R-NC), the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station in Greenville, NC appears to be safe for now from budget cuts previously sought by officials of BBG’s International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB).

In a letter to both congressmen, IBB Director Richard Lobo assured them that the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), which utilizes more than 80 percent of the scheduled shortwave transmissions from the Murrow Station, will work with the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to utilize $50 million of existing democracy and human rights un-obligated funds to pay some of the costs of the station’s operations.

IBB Director Lobo assured both congressmen that under this proposal there will be no personnel changes at the Murrow Station and the employees would remain on the payroll of the International Broadcasting Bureau.

But with Victor Ashe expected to leave his post on the board soon. With new BBG members expected to be confirmed, long-term future of the Murrow Station is still not certain. Ashe and Congressmen G.K. Butterfield and Walter B. Jones worked hard to keep it open despite pressure and resistance from IBB executives who wanted to close it down. The station is the only BBG shortwave transmitting facility on American territory fully controlled by the U.S. government.

Let’s hope the new BBG board members understand the importance of keeping at least one BBG shortwave transmitting on US soil. In my opinion, every country should do this; not only for diplomatic and free press reasons, but for reasons of national security. In an emergency, if other communications systems were to fail, shortwave radio could still cover a vast broadcasting footprint–even the whole of the US.

Brian Hongwe reports on importance of shortwave radios in Zimbabwe

On sale now: the CommRadio CR-1, a great little receiver

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[UPDATE: Check out our full review of the CR-1 by clicking here.]

A hot tip: currently, CommRadio offers the CR-1 software-defined tabletop receiver for just $500 (US), until August 1, 2013. Check out the sale on CommRadio’s website and at Universal Radio.

I have been using the CommRadio CR-1 for almost two months now. I had planned to provide a brief review for The SWLing Post by early July, but my travel schedule has simply been too hectic.

Fortunately, however, I offer a full in-depth review in the August 2013 issue of Monitoring Times magazine (incidentally, their turn-around time from submission to print is simply amazing). If you subscribe to MT–or can get your hands on a copy–you will have my full review.

Many of you have been asking me for my thoughts on the CR-1 so you will know whether or not to take advantage of promotional pricing.

In a nutshell, here is the answer your question:

Q: Is the CommRadio CR-1 a good deal?

A: Yes!

Though I was skeptical about this little receiver when I first saw the announcement in January, the CR-1 truly does hold its own. It’s a sturdy radio built with longevity and performance in mind. It’s the little touches I love: a near-perfect tuning knob (in my opinion), size & portability, multiple antenna jacks, an excellent internal battery and gold-plated circuit board pads…Performance-wise, the CR-1 has great sensitivity and selectivity on the HF bands…

Though there are a few negatives, in my book, the positives far outweigh them. If you really want to dig into the juicy details, I would encourage you to check out my full review in the August 2013 issue of Monitoring Times magazine (especially since MT, sadly, is slated to stop publishing at the end of the year).

If you’ve been on the fence about buying the CR-1, I would encourage you to give it consideration before August 1st, 2013, when the price increases to $599 US.

Here is the press release from CommRadio regarding the current $500 sale:

(Source: CommRadio)

CR-1 News for Friday, July 26th, 2013

Our Promotional Price of $500 will increase on August 1st.

All orders made after July 31st will be priced at $599 (battery included).

Order now before the price goes up.
www.commradio.com

Please note we are working hard to get all radios out as soon as possible, although the lead time could be up to 4 – 5 weeks starting this week (7/24/2013)

For any questions about ordering and shipping

or international orders please contact

Lizz Arias

[email protected]