Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

ShortWaveMusic offers one-day music download in honor of World Radio Day

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Our friend, Myke, over at the ShortWaveMusic blog has a very special World Radio Day gift:

As the preeminent blog dedicated to preserving and disseminating indigenous sound and music as heard via international radio, ShortWaveMusic is observing World Radio Day with a special, one-day-only offer: a download of the 5-CD retrospective box set, The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: ShortWaveMusic 2005-2010. This box set was compiled in 2011 for release on a prominent independent record label, but has since stalled at the gate for various reasons. As a result, I’ve decided to give it away on the occasion of World Radio Day – perhaps no more fitting time to compel others to enjoy the vast and kaleidoscopic array of music available via shortwave radio.[…]

What are you waiting for? Go to ShortWaveMusic and get your free download–bookmark the site, too, as Myke offers some incredible recordings and journals of his audio/radio expeditions. (This is not the first time we’ve mentioned Myke’s work on the SWLing Post.)

Thanks, Myke, and happy World Radio Day!

Today is World Radio Day: Support a Cause via Shortwave Radio

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Shortwave Radio Listeners may occasionally feel that their hobby is a passive one–one of simply listening. I’m here to tell you that it is not.

SWLers are among the more enlightened of media hobbyists, and here’s why: 1) they tend to be intensely curious about the world, 2) they tend to cultivate a nostalgic appreciation of the past, of the world’s history and what it teaches, and 3) as a result, they understand the power that radio still holds for much of our world today, especially those the not-so-world-wide internet has forgotten or overlooked, and those that political strife oppresses.

This World Radio Day, you can change that false label of “passive” to active, and create change by contributing to a charity near and dear to my heart–Ears To Our World (ETOW).

ETOW is a shortwave radio charity that sends self-powered shortwave radios to schools and communities in third world countries.  This is because ETOW believes that access to information is access to education.

In other words, every day is World Radio Day at ETOW.

Children in South Sudan listening to music on their self-powered shortwave radio supplied by Ears To Our World.

Click here to donate to Ears To Our World, and make World Radio Day a lasting reality for needy schools throughout our world.

Happy World Radio Day!  To quote ETOW’s tagline:  Listen and learn.

More power to you, SWLers.

RNW: radio = free access without app or web

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Brilliant article from Radio Netherlands Worldwide.  Hat tip to SWLing Post reader Mike Taniwha!

(Source: RNW)

On World Radio Day, 13 February 2012, UNESCO will remind the world that there is a medium which reaches parts that other media can’t reach.

Radio is still a vital form of communication because a radio station can be set up much faster, and at much lower cost, than a terrestrial or satellite TV station. Radio is especially useful for reaching remote communities and vulnerable people such as the illiterate, the disabled and the poor. It also provides a platform for such groups to take part in the wider public debate.

Radio also plays a vital role in emergency communication and disaster relief, which was illustrated following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. RNW was able to help several partner stations in Indonesia by sending out “radio stations in a box” – self-contained mobile FM stations providing a temporary studio and transmitter ready to be used by broadcasters whose own facilities had been destroyed.[continue reading…]

Thanks, RNW, for reminding us why radio is the the most effective information medium. Read the full article at Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

Shortwave Radio Index now has tags for country of origin

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Ten-Tec receivers are Made in the USA

Several readers have written to ask where various shortwave radios are manufactured, and if there are models that are manufactured outside of China.

By and large–with the exception of one Sony model–shortwave portables are manufactured in China, with a few possibly originating in nearby Taiwan and Malaysia.  Chinese facilities certainly produce exceptional value for performance…but sometimes you want to buy something built in your own country, or just a little closer to home.

Many models of SDRs, tabletop, and professional receivers are made in Europe, Japan, Australia, and the USA.

As a result of these inquiries, we have now curated the Shortwave Radio Index, our comprehensive list of shortwave radios currently on the market, tagging each entry with its “Made In” country. If not tagged, assume the unit is made in China.

Our compliments and thanks to those who’ve written us.  We have to agree: country of origin is worth keeping in mind, when you’re shopping for a receiver.

Click below for receivers:

Note: Please email us if you note any errors or omissions. This is a work in progress. Whenever possible, we’ve actually confirmed the country of origin with the manufacturer.

Charles Caudill believes in the power of shortwave radio

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Charles Caudill, is president & CEO of World Christian Broadcasting. This week, he wrote a piece in Radio World about why his organization still firmly believes in shortwave radio.

(Source: Radio World)

In order to make [our] budget go as far as possible, there is no question that we can reach more people on a regular basis with shortwave than with any other method. With an annual budget of something over $3 million, we will be able to broadcast 50 to 60 hours daily from our two broadcast facilities. Those 50 to 60 hours will be produced by six different services: English, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Latin American and African.

Obviously, we cannot do everything on that limited budget, but we can literally talk to millions of people using shortwave. We don’t have the luxury of being able to cut $40 million or even $14 million from our budget as some international broadcasters can. Our idea is that God has given us the ionosphere. Our job is to make use of it.

There are millions of analog receivers in the world — some say 600 million, some say 1.5 billion, some say as many as three billion. Regardless of the number, those receivers will not be turned off tomorrow. Those receivers will have listeners for years and years.

Look around; even though technology advances with great rapidity, there are still newspapers. I receive mine every morning. There are still AM radios and FM receivers and they are still making more. And you can still buy books. They are still being published. Even though Amazon is making a fortune selling electronic digital reading devices, they still sell books.

[…]My point is, no medium disappears overnight. Our belief is that shortwave will be here for a long, long time.

Read Caudill’s full article on Radio World’s website.

Studio 1 Software Defined Radio will give your Perseus a resizable interface

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One of the major complaints I hear regarding the benchmark Microtelecom Perseus SDR is that its GUI (graphic user interface) is not resizable or scalable to fit a large monitor at full-screen.

If you’re a Perseus owner and if this is a problem for you, then you need to watch for the release of Studio 1 Software Defined Radio by SDR Applications. Which will boast:

  • Fully re-sizable windows/interface,
  • support for multiple sessions
  • and state of the art visualization, demodulation and filtering

WoodBoxRadio told me that SDR Applications is still finishing off development, but plan to have a bug-free version of their software available at the end of March 2012. They told me that Studio 1 will work with the Microtelecom Perseus, FDM-S1 and the Softrock family of software defined radios (SDRs).

We will stay in touch with WoodBoxRadio and post any updates here on the SWLing Post.