SW Radio Africa: Police targeting children in radio raids

By Nomalanga Moyo
14 March 2013

The illegal seizure of wind-up radios reached new levels this week with reports that the police are now using primary school pupils to source information about the receivers.

Villagers in Lupane revealed that the police have been visiting schools and asking little children in Grade 0 and Grade 1(aged between 4 and 6 years) whether their parents own or listen to any radios.

This follows reports that suspected state security agents on Tuesday raided several homesteads at Mpofu village in the Gwampa area and confiscated the wind-up radios.

Speaking to SW Radio Africa one villager who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said the police have been going to schools, writing down names, and then visiting those suspected of owning the radios by night.

She said although the agents will be wearing civilian clothes, the villagers know it is the police since they have been announcing their ban on radios.

Our source said she suspects the police are aware of the popularity of shortwave radios in the area, hence they are now confiscating them.

“The police have been announcing that villagers should not be in possession of these radios. Their reason is that we listen to news broadcasts from outside the country which criticise ZANU PF.

“Such harassment by the state security agents normally escalates during election time, which indicates that we are not free to exercise our individual choices if we can’t even listen to different views offered by these shortwave radio stations,” she added.

On Tuesday an MDC official from Mpofu Village, Cosmas Phiri, told the NewsDay newspaper that MDC members were raided shortly before midnight on Monday.

Phiri, who was with some of the affected villagers, told NewsDay that a group of state security agents confiscated at least 10 radios from more than 10 people.

The night raids have stirred up fear within the community, following threats that those who refused to surrender their radio receivers will be abducted and “made to disappear” invoking memories of Gukurahundi.

Since the announcement of the constitutional referendum date on February 15^th, Zimbabwean police have embarked on a nationwide campaign targeting civic society organisations and individuals.

On February 19^th the police announced a ban on ‘specially designed’ radios, which they argued will be used to promote hate speech ahead of the polls.

Following the ban several organisations have been raided, including community radio initiative Radio Dialogue where police seized more than 180 wind-up radio sets and arrested its managing editor.

Last month, officers ransacked the offices of poll observers ZESN as well as those of violence monitoring group the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), in search of the so-called “illegal” radios.

The police have since arrested ZPP head Jestina Mukoko and charged her with, among other things, illegally importing short wave radios.

Thanks, Rich, for passing this news along. Read the full article and follow news on the radio ban at SW Radio Africa.

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Ronin Shortwave

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Alvin Lee (19 December 1944 – 6 March 2013) (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

This past weekend, Radio Ronin Shortwave broadcast a tribute to guitarist Alvin Lee, who passed away on March 6th.

As always, Ronin’s AM signal came in loud and clear on 6.925 MHz, starting around 00:15 UTC (March 11th, 2013).

Listen for yourself by downloading the audio as an MP3, or simply listening via the embedded player below. Of course, I included Ronin’s (most excellent) interval signal in this recording:

Video: Fenu navigates the CommRadio CR-1

Vatican Radio: breaking news broken?

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Pope Francis I (Photo: Vatican Radio)

A few moments ago, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected Pope, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas, and taking the name Pope Francis I. When breaking news like this is happens, I often turn to shortwave radio to hear it “from the source;” what better station for news about the Papal elections than Vatican Radio? Right?

Hm. When I turned to Vatican Radio on 13.765 MHZ at 20:00 UTC today, here is what I heard:

After a little music and announcement confusion–including what sounds like at least three audio feeds coming in at once–Vatican Radio settles on an announcement program which states, in several languages, “Vatican Radio’s programming schedule is currently being modified to cover the election of the new Pope.”

It wasn’t until thirty minutes later (20:30 UTC), when the Vatican Radio service to Africa started in French on 11.625 MHz, that I heard any substantive news about the new Pope:

Of course, I can find information about the new Pope from any one of two million different online sources, but it did surprise me that Vatican Radio wasn’t better prepared for this event. I even wondered if there was a different broadcast running on a consecutive frequency, so I checked; all were identical, however.

Still, the radio archivist in me can’t help but experience some appreciation of the confusion on the airwaves. After all, this is a genuine piece of radio history and a fascinating thirty minutes of audio in the wake of a big decision.

In my mind, I envision the Vatican Radio staff frantically stirring to assemble news–for which they had no advance notice–regarding the new Pope. No doubt, the CNNs, BBCs, and Al Jazeeras of the world had pre-prepared material on each of the papal candidates. When the white plume of smoke announcing the election was first spotted, these broadcasters were likely more than ready to pull out the appropriate material and publish.

Perhaps this is not how Vatican Radio usually operates. Indeed, I suspect their live feed of events experienced a technical difficulty which they have, no doubt, since resolved. And for what it’s worth, their website was appropriately up-to-date.

History: sometimes bumpy, but always fascinating. Especially on the airwaves.

David Goren’s numbers station installation audio

Universal Radio: Used RFSpace NetSDR value

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The RFspace NetSDR wideband receiver

I just noticed that Universal Radio has an RFSpace NetSDR on their used list.

The NetSDR typically sells for $1449.95 new, this used one (serial number 0014) is selling for $949.95.

Though still a chunk of change, $949.95 is a bargain for the RFSpace NetSDR. If you’ve considered buying the NetSDR, you should jump on this opportunity. Universal Radio stands behind their used receivers–I’ve bought several–so you can buy with confidence.