Category Archives: What’s On Shortwave

Voice of Greece update

Good news from our reader and regular Greek correspondent, Christos:

I listen to the programmes of ERT, almost everyday.
They continue transmitting as usual, with full programming, even these days around 15th of August (Virgin Mary Day) which is the peak of the Greek holidays. Other years we had a 2-3 minutes news bulletin and a lot of uninterrupted music.

I have written some comments about it in my blog but only in Greek.

I also have another post with photos of the radio programming producers. I am sure you have listened to some of them from the VoG.

Christos then sent this listening report:

I have checked the frequencies of VoG at my summer house in Marathon. I found out that VoG is on air on 7450kHz and 9420kHz. I couldn’t hear anything on 15630kHz, the one that was active yesterday.

Be sure to check out Christos’ blog for more details (in Greek).

Additionally, Moshe commented on my last post with this logging:

VOG Was heard last night at the 19 Meter band (I was monitoring it with my tube radio, later on confirmed it on 15650KHz).

As for now, VOG is on the air on 19 Meter Band.

Thank you, Christos and Moshe–you’ve set my mind at ease for the moment. In my current travels I can’t easily receive VoG with my portable, so I’m grateful for these reports.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece 8-14, but no signal last night

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I’m a little concerned: last night I couldn’t hear the Voice of Greece on 9,420 kHz. Not even a carrier.

Though I’ve noticed they’ve had intermittent transmitter problems in some broadcasts (you can even hear it in the first minutes below) they haven’t gone off the air this long in recent memory. Not even when they were ordered to stop broadcasting. I fear that when the new Greek national broadcasting service emerges, their international arm may be cut. Their budget is tight and I imagine their shortwave service will receive strong scrutiny.

I would appreciate any news and reports from listeners. If you hear VOG on the air, please comment with frequency and time. [Update: Check out this post from Christos.]

In the meantime and for your listening pleasure: one hour and forty three minutes of the Voice of Greece. Recorded Wednesday, August 14, 2013 on 9,420 kHz starting at 00:00 UTC.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Atlantic 2000 on air Sunday August 18

Trilingual VOA Radiogram this weekend

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(Source: VOA Radiogram)

VOA Radiogram on 17 and 18 August will include our first attempt to transmit Chinese characters. (It’s part of a VOA Chinese story about the future of BlackBerry.) And there will be a VOA News story in Spanish. To view the Spanish accents and the Chinese characters, your character set should be UTF-8. In Fldigi: Configure > Colors & Fonts to change the character set.

The broadcast will also include an Flmsg VOA News story including an SVG-formatted VOA logo created by Mark Hirst in the UK. If you have Internet Explorer, and cannot see the logo, try renaming the Flmsg file with an .xhtml suffix.

If you listen to more than one broadcast of VOA Radiogram this weekend, close Flidigi and restart it between broadcasts. This is because something in Flmsg turns off the UTF-8 character set, even though Fldigi is still configured for UTF-8.

Two of this weekend’s VOA News stories on VOA Radiogram feature VOA journalists who are radio amateurs. VOA Asia correspondent Steven Herman, W7VOA (@W7VOA), is interviewed about his visit to North Korea, and George Putic, KI4FNF, wrote the story about the renewed search for extraterrestrial life.

And there will be a VOA News story about a way to keep older brains healthy — other than experimenting with digital modes.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, 17 and 18 August 2013:

3:04 MFSK16: Program preview
4:50 MFSK32: VOA Spanish logo and news re VOA app
1:46 MFSK32: VOA Chinese logo and sample text
3:26 MFSK32: VOA News re benefits of hot chocolate
1:22 MFSK32: VOA Radiogram logo and addresses
4:43 MFSK64: VOA’s W7VOA visits North Korea
1:18 MFSK32: Photo of W7VOA in Pyongyang
3:28 MFSK64/Flmsg*: VOA’s KI4FNF on search for extraterrestrials
1:18 MFSK32: Photo of Gemini Observatory
1:12 MFSK16: Closing announcements
0:16 Surprise mode of the week

*To make Flmsg work with Fldigi (both can be downloaded from w1hkj.com), in Fldigi: Configure > Misc > NBEMS — Under Reception of flmsg files, check both boxes, and under that indicate where your Flmsg.exe file is located.

As always, reception reports are much appreciated and should be sent to[email protected]

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC)
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1300-1330 6095 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

Call me anachronistic, but I listen to digital tech shows on shortwave

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While I’m passionate about shortwave radio–a technology that has, of course, been around for many decades–I also love to hear about emerging digital technologies, especially those that make our world a better place.

These days, I listen to several shows about technology, many of which are only available as a live stream or podcast (like TWIT, for example).

There are two shows, however, that I like to listen to on shortwave radio when my schedule allows.

One such show is the BBC World Service technology show, Click (formerly Digital Planet). I’ve listened to Click for years, and have even been interviewed on the show by its marvelous host Gareth Mitchell (click here to listen). I especially love the show’s focus on technologies that have a positive impact in developing countries (hence my interview, about my non-profit, ETOW). Mitchell, I’m delighted to add, is quite the fan of shortwave radio as well, and is not afraid of reporting on technologies that are not exclusively tied to smart phones and the like.

Another show I’ve been listening to for a few months is Download This Show on Radio Australia. It’s a fun and informative technology program and always has a great panel discussion on technology news. What I really love about this show is its take on Australian technology in particular, and how this compares with technology in the rest of the world.

Since Download This Show is broadcast via Radio Australia’s Shepparton transmitting site, the signal is quite strong here in North America and easily received on portable shortwave radios.

Click here to download over two hours of Radio Australia, including Download this Show, or listen via the embedded player below. This broadcast was recorded on August 2, 2013, on 9,580 kHz, starting around 13:00 UTC.

You’ll find Download This Show in the second hour of the recording, following the news headlines at 1:05.

Radio Free Sarawak is back on the air!

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Thanks to Rob Wagner’s blog, The Mount Evelyn DX Report, I just learned that the clandestine station, Radio Free Sarawak, is back on the air after declaring a break on May 8, 2013 (see our previous post).

Radio Free Sarawak will broadcast daily from 11:00-12:30 UTC on 15,420 kHz.

The following is the press release from Radio Free Sarawak‘s website (via their Facebook page):

AUGUST 11, 2013: Press release, Radio Free Sarawak back on air from Monday

Sarawak’s independent radio station Radio Free Sarawak is back on air Monday 12th August following its holiday recess.

The rural radio station, which broadcasts mainly in Iban, but also in Malay has received numerous enquiries from listeners eager for information about pressing issues in the state, including the on-going plans to dam key rivers and evict thousands of native people from their lands.

“The state government has moved swiftly to try and take advantage of its dubious election wins by tripling Ministers’ own salaries (back-dating the increase by a whole year and a half) and pushing through further land grabs in native territories, including the proposed Baram Dam region” points out the UK based station head, Clare Rewcastle Brown. “Ordinary folk want to be heard on these issues and it seems their opinions may often be different from the propaganda put out on the state controlled licensed media, which only promotes the narrow interests of the super-wealthy and politically powerful”.

Radio Free Sarawak is the 2013 winner of the prestigious Pioneer of Free Media Award by the International Press Institute, which applauded the station’s efforts to bring freedom of information and freedom of speech to the isolated communities in Malaysia’s Borneo rainforest state.

The station’s call-in facility also provides an opportunity for longhouse dwellers to express their own views and concerns about the effects of deforestation, oil palm plantation, rural poverty and endemic political corruption. The radio station is linked to the online portal, Sarawak Report, which shares the same agenda to shine light on these and related issues.

Radio Free Sarawak is transmitted from London and its familiar team of DJs will be broadcasting from Monday on Short Wave 15420kHz from 7pm-8.30pm local time Monday-Saturday.

It is also available via podcast online www.radiofreesarawak.org , from where it can be downloaded via smart phone for mobile listeners or onto UBS sticks for car radio.

The local call-in line is 082-237191 and listeners are invited to get in touch with their comments and issues.