Radio Australia facing serious cuts

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ABC-Radio-AustraliaOne of my favorite broadcasters, Radio Australia, is facing severe cuts as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s international broadcasting budget of $35 million is being cut in more than half.

Below, I’ve copied excerpts from two news sources with links.

I will post updates with the tag: RA Cuts

(Source: The Australian via Richard Cuff)

THE ABC will confirm a wave of job cuts today, with Radio Australia’s services the first major victim.

A management proposal for a new “converged service” for its international broadcasting outlets will be outlined to staff today as the ABC rearranges its overseas obligations after the axing of the Australia Network television service.

(Source: International Business Times)

It is a sad day for the mainstream radio industry in Australia on Monday, July 14, as Radio Australia anticipates major job cuts. However, this fact-of-life among employees of being axed during hard times could be an opportunity for broadcasters to try new platforms to continue with their careers.

The job cuts at Australia Network television service is part of its management’s proposal for a new converged services for the network’s international broadcasting outlets.

Speculations on the jobs to be shed has created fear among Radio Australia workers and Australia Network as the employees anticipate a number of its services within the region abandoned with the planned reduction of the public broadcaster’s $35 million yearly budget for international broadcasting to shrink to just $15 million.

To worsen matter for the affected radio staff, the job cuts would be on top of redundancies at Australia Network and shutter of the transmission in September after finishing only one year of its 10-year agreement with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Also expected to get the axe are Radio Australia’s language service, while ABC News 24 will remain the foundation of the international service with some specialised news and current affairs content on the service.

[Continue reading at the International Business Times website.]

China Radio International warbling on Dave’s home brew receiver

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IMG_7078My buddy and SWLing Post reader, Dave Richards (AA7EE), wrote several weeks ago with an interesting comment:

“I was just now  tuning around the 31M band on a [regenerative receiver] that I am putting the finishing touches on, and noticed that the audio from China Radio International on 9790KHz was not only cutting in and out, but was also warbling, as if the program was being played from a tape machine with a slipping pinch wheel.

I’m finding it a bit hard to believe that in this day and age, a country like China would be using tape machines in their studios still, but am trying to figure out what other explanation there could be for this. The warbling doesn’t sound as if it is being caused by the propagation. Have you heard this before?

I have attached a short recording. Please excuse the bassy audio – I need to modify the receiver circuit to provide some bass roll-off.”

Click here for Dave’s recording or listen below:

I agree with Dave; it sounds like CRI is playing from a tape deck with a slipping pinch wheel. I’m not sure this could be a modulation issue. Perhaps it’s both? Curious what other readers think.

IMG_7082

Warble aside, I was also very intrigued by Dave’s home brew 31 meter broadcast band regenerative receiver. I asked him for more details; he replied:

“I built another version of the WBR. The original version, as well as the first version I built, was for the 40M amateur band. I was intrigued to see how it would perform on other frequencies, so I built a version for the 31M band.  The only change I need to make now is a bit of filtering to provide some rolloff of the bass frequencies, as they are hurting the intelligibility in my opinion.”

IMG_7111Wow! What a cool little home brew project! And many thanks to Dave for the brilliant photos of the WBR. I should mention that Dave has an excellent ham radio blog where he documents his radio projects. Indeed, check out this page for more information about the WBR broadcast band receiver.

Dave told me that he is currently working towards his goal of designing and building the “ultimate” regenerative receiver with  plug-in coils for many different bands. I’ll be following him, so I encourage you to do the same by bookmarking his website.

Many thanks, Dave!

Listener Post: Tim Rahto

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SP600Dial3Tim Rahto’s radio story is the latest in our series called Listener Posts, where I place all of your personal radio histories. If you would like to add your story to the mix, simply send your story by email!

In the meantime, many thanks to Tim for sharing his personal radio history:

Tim Rahto

The Sony Earth Orbiter CRF-5100 (Source: Universal Radio)

The Sony Earth Orbiter CRF-5100 (Source: Universal Radio)

One night, when I was about six or seven, my brother put me in front of his Sony Earth Orbiter and changed my life forever. He handed me the earplug and told me that, if I was really quiet and didn’t bother him, I could hear stations from all over the world. His ploy to keep me occupied and out of his hair worked like a charm, as I was completely fascinated by what I heard.

Fast forward about ten years later to 1987, when I received the best Christmas present ever: a Realistic DX-360. I remember staying up until the wee hours of the morning listening to the BBC, Radio Havana, and many other stations. Imagine my surprise when I found Radio Australia the next morning. Radio from Australia? How was that even possible!? For the next few years, that radio went with me just about everywhere, and serenaded me to sleep just about every night for years. Back then, my favorite stations included not only the BBC and Radio Australia, but also Monitor Radio and Super Power KUSW, the station that sent my my first ever QSL card. I still have it too.

RadioShack-DX360

One afternoon while I was in college, my roommate and I decided to stop into a local liquor store and do some comparative shopping. We were just about to leave when I turned around and found myself eye to eye with this beautiful old European style shortwave radio. It turned out that one of the proprietors, a guy by the name of Howard, was a ham, and sold old used radios out of the back of the store. I got to know Howard a little, and bought several radios from him. One day while visiting his store, he shows me the most beautiful thing made of metal I’d ever seen: a Hallicrafters SX-73. Believe it or not, he sold it to me for $75! I think Howard new it was worth ten times that, but he also knew I was a young radio nerd that would give it a good home. That radio was my main receiver for many years after that, and I still have it today. My estate executors can sell it when I’m gone. Until then, it’s a keeper.

Hallicrafters SX-73 (Source: radioreprints.com)

Hallicrafters SX-73 (Source: radioreprints.com)

These days, my shack is an odd mix of both the old and new. I have an old r390a that was recently overhauled by Rick Mish, and a Watkins Johnson WJ-8718a that was brought back up to spec by PCS associates. If I do my part, both of these cold war relics should give me decades of service. My latest addition to the shack is an Elad FDM-S2, which is an amazing receiver! I’ve never been much of an SDR guy, but this radio might change all of that. Stay tuned!

Anyways, thanks for letting me go down memory lane.

Many thanks, Tim, for sharing your memories with us! Snagging a Hallicrafters SX-73 for $75 was, indeed, an excellent deal. Sounds to me like Howard enjoyed feeding your interest in radio. Keep that old girl in good nick and you’ll have a radio that will outlast us all. Tell your executors to put it in the casket!

Click here to read our growing collection of Listener Posts, and consider submitting your own!

The World Cup on shortwave, continents apart

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WorldCupBall-001Yesterday, I was primed to follow the FIFA World Cup semi-final match featuring the Netherlands vs. Argentina. Moreover, we have good friends from Germany visiting; of course, they wanted to see who their winning team will be playing in the final match come Sunday.

But as we live in a fairly rural area, and don’t place much of a priority on television (radio, anyone?), we have no cable, no satellite, and with no more than a rabbit-ear indoor antenna on our only telly, no local over-the-air broadcasters available. But we found we were able to watch the match stream live on ESPN via an Apple TV box attached to our only television.

Of course, I also tuned in the match on shortwave radio–via the BBC World Service on 11,810 kHz out of Ascension Island–starting a little after 20:00 UTC. And guess which stream was more “live” (i.e., immediate), ESPN or shortwave?  Here’s the recording:

Answer:  You guessed it–the shortwave coverage was one full minute in advance of the ESPN “live” stream. My friends watching television in another room marveled at my clairvoyance…

When the match went into extra time, as Argentina and the Netherlands were tied 0-0, the BBC World Service dropped the frequency to KBS (you’ll hear a few minutes of KBS in the recording).  At this point I was resigned to watching the match on ESPN, as I didn’t want to miss any of the action while trying to find another broadcaster covering the match.

Then, radio to the rescue:  I received the following tweet from SWLing Post reader/contributor @LondonShortwave:

So I quickly tuned to Radio Nacional Amazonia on 6,180, where I discovered a booming signal and full match coverage. Even though the commentary was in Portuguese, a language I can’t speak, I could still follow the match knowing player and team names. When Argentina won the penalty kicks after extra time, commentators exploded with excitement. Listen for yourself:

What made the match all the better, besides watching it with my good friends here at home, was following it with my shortwave friends across the globe. As we exchanged tweets (while following coverage) it was as if we were all in the same room. Indeed, here’s what @LondonShortwave said:

So true–!  While using the Internet to communicate, we were listening to the same and far-more-efficient shortwave station for coverage.

Now on to Sunday, and hoping I can catch the final match on the BBC World Service…with the rest of the world. If you can, join us. Game on!

Remembering Nikola Tesla on his birthday

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Mikola-Tesla
Today is Nikola Tesla’s birthday (lived July 10, 1856 – January 7, 1943) and I, for one, will be remembering him for his enormous contributions to our hobby.

If you’re not familiar with Tesla,  I highly recommend Margaret Cheney’s book, Tesla: Man Out of Time. In the meantime, I would at least encourage you to read his page on Wikipedia.

And if you’re in the mood for a mixture of fact and funny, check out The Oatmeal’s comic, “Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived.” (Profanity warning!) In fact, Matthew Inman, the comic artist behind The Oatmeal has raised over $2 million dollars to create a Nikola Tesla museum in New York. Amazing…Looking forward to visiting that.

My thoughts? We need more Nikola Teslas on this planet–clearly, a man ahead of his time.

Hat tip to my buddy, Skip Arey, for sharing this dynamic photo of Tesla.

Amazon still has the RadioShack DX-402

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RadioShack-ShortwaveYesterday, we learned about the excellent deal Paul found on the RadioShack DX-402 (a.k.a. Sangean ATS-505).

Within a few hours of posting the retailer sold out on Blinq.com and then a little later on eBay.

I checked Amazon this morning and found that there are still some units for sale at an excellent price:

Even the higher price is quite a bargain for a shortwave radio with SSB; $29.89 shipped is a steal.

Great deal: $27 RadioShack shortwave portable with SSB

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RadioShack-Shortwave

SWLing Post reader, Paul, spotted a deal on the RadioShack 20-629; the lowest price I’ve ever seen on a shortwave portable with single sideband (SSB).

Paul writes:

Great deal on a radio: Blinq has the RadioShack 20-629, an upgraded re-issue of the previously discontinued Sangean [ATS-505], for sale for only $27 with coupon code WELCOME10:

http://www.blinq.com/electronics/portable-am-fm-radios/radio-shack-am-fm-shortwave-radio-with-dual-alarm-clock-2000629/164398?condition=new-open-box

They also have the same radio in their eBay store but of course you can’t use their 10% off coupon there, although you may be able to use your eBay Bucks:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radio-Shack-AM-FM-Shortwave-Radio-with-Dual-Alarm-Clock-2000629-/351107847476

I just received mine and it appears brand new, never used.

Discussion on the radio:
http://forums.radioreference.com/hf-mw-lw-equipment/267831-radioshack-synthesized-world-receiver-reviews.html

Thanks for pointing out this deal and for sharing your experience, Paul! I just purchased one and can confirm that they’re still available. I can’t imagine that this stock will last long.