Yesterday, around 7:00PM local, I turned to 7,475 kHz–a favorite spot for Voice of Greece.
Once again, they filled my radio room with great Greek and international music…hours of uninterrupted music. Don’t believe me? Listen to the four hours of music I recorded. Enjoy!
This morning at 00:00 (Universal Time), I recorded the Radio Bulgaria originating from their Plovdiv, Bulgaria transmitter, 5,420 miles from my home. I started my recording on 5,900 kHz at 00:00, then moved to and stayed on 7,400 kHz after Radio Havana Cuba started transmitting nearby at 00:30 UTC and bled into their frequency (a very common occurrence with RHC).
The first hour is (00:00 – 00:59 UTC) Radio Bulgaria’s English service, the second hour (1:00 – 2:00 UTC), their Bulgarian Service and third hour, (2:00 – 3:00 UTC) French service.
In this recording, you’ll hear multiple announcements regarding the closure of their shortwave service as of Feb 1, 2012. They did mention they will continue services over the internet.
This was recorded with a Zoom H1 on an Alinco DX-R8T–antenna was a vertical delta loop.
Last year, we published two popular articles on preparedness. As I mention in the articles, I’m no hard-core survivalist, but I certainly believe in being prepared.
This year, on New Year’s day, I got tested. Big time. Here’s what happened:
Our hero on New Year's Day 2012
We had planned a New Year’s day lunch for twelve, which meant quite a bit of food preparation. I was chef for the day. At 11:00 am, right after I had just begun searing a large pork roast with the intention of cooking it in the pressure cooker, the lights went out. I thought perhaps a circuit breaker had tripped. One glance at the power meter, though, and I knew there was no electricity on tap.
So–although we’re not talking life and death here–I had a huge, raw (and frankly expensive) hunk of locally-raised pork to prepare, not to mention all the vegetables I intended to cook; no lights; no water (i.e., no toilet flushing); no auxiliary heat–and a herd of guests, all of whom had driven at least an hour’s distance, en route and looking forward to a delectable dinner. I didn’t even have time to call the power company to report the power failure. What’s more, as we live in the middle of nowhere, in a best-case scenario it would take the company at least two hours to get here…and on New Year’s Day?
But I try to practice what I preach.
I have a 5550 Watt portable Genrac generator that we use in case of power failure –mainly to supply power to our water pump, lights, and a few appliances (like a microwave). It’s at least six years old, but works beautifully for those modest energy requirements. BUT: I had never tested the generator with the stove top. And looking at my raw dinner, and at the clock, I decided I was going to. No way was my nice cut of pork going to be crammed into our microwave.
So I washed my hands, and zipped around the house turning off all unnecessary power loads and sensitive equipment (radios, computers, router, modem, lights, etc.). I then stepped outside, poured about two gallons of gas from the 10-15 gallons I keep on hand for emergencies into my generator, and fired her up. Though this unit doesn’t have electronic ignition, it did start almost immediately, because I test it every couple of months.
Our external generator connector box
I plugged the generator into our breaker box via an external junction and 12′, 240V cord that we had installed by a certified electrician earlier this year. This system included a fail-safe switch that forces us to disconnect our house from the grid, prior to permitting the generator to do its job (lest our power hurt someone working on the power lines).
I flipped the switch, walked back into the house, and saw that the generator had restored our lighting. Still, the lingering uncertainty in my mind was, “Will the generator power the stove’s burner so that I can at least cook the pork and veggies?” I listened to the generator hum as I turned the burner dial on…it barely strained. Whew!
This switch, located on our breaker box, prevents the generator from being connected to the house while the grid is connected.
Over the course of the next hour, guests started arriving; I continued to cook as if we had grid power. It was amazing. Everyone looked a little puzzled when they drove up and heard the generator running, but inside, found us enjoying lights, music, warmth, and the delightful aroma of the succulent pork and apples. Happily, the meal went off without a hitch.
Mind you, I don’t think the generator could have handled the load of the water pump and the stove top if we didn’t have solar hot water and passive solar heating. An electric furnace and electric hot water heating elements in a traditional water heater would have simply been too much of a load.
So what’s my point?
I know people who go through a nasty power outage and say, “never again!” They either:
Obviously, neither is ideal.
Preparedness is as much about testing and understanding the limits of what you have–running a few “real-life” scenarios to flesh out anything you might overlook in an actual outage–like fuel, a non-functioning generator, power cords, etc.
And my radios? Not only will the generator power all of my tabletop receivers and ham radio transceivers, but I keep a separate 40 aH sealed battery fully charged, and at-the-ready, at all times.
After all, every seasoned radio hobbyist who lives in a populated area knows that the best and quietest conditions for catching a little DX is when all of your neighbors’ power is out!
Always keep spare batteries and power for your radios when the grid fails. Don’t just do it for preparedness’ sake, do it for your listening ears!
Happy New Year, and 73s, friends!
Yesterday, a message from Radio Bulgaria floated around the shortwave community that indicated the broadcaster may stop all shortwave broadcasts soon. Upon hearing this, my heart sunk.
Radio Bulgaria is no BBC World Service or Voice of America, nor is it the go-to station for the latest in international news. However, what this unique little station does, and does remarkably well, is provide their listeners with news that is relevant to their part of the world. Like shortwave broadcasters of old, Radio Bulgaria draws listeners in, interacts with them, tells them about life in their ever-changing country. Radio Bulgaria was once a mouthpiece for its government; after the Berlin wall fell, it became a true community-based station with both domestic and international listeners. In short, Radio Bulgaria is a traditional shortwave station with accompanying warmth and charm.
Alas, my heart sunk a bit further this morning upon reading another, more substantiating, message; this time, from Ivo Ivanov, Radio Bulgaria’s frequency manager (via Mike on Cumbre DX):
BULGARIA / Dear listeners and friends of the short waves and Radio Bulgaria, / With a huge regret to inform you very bad news. After more than 75 years in the world broadcasting from January 31, 2012 at 2200 UT, Radio Bulgaria cease broadcasting on short and medium waves. The solution is that Radio Bulgaria is not necessary now its short waves and medium waves listeners. The reason –– no money for broadcast on short and medium waves. And who listens to short waves today? Already has internet. Maintaining the short waves was “Mission Impossible”! Hope dies last. As a frequency manager in the last 19 years my main task was to provide best quality signal of Radio Bulgaria in worldwide coverage. There will be no short waves, there will be no frequency manager. For all people who work in Radio Bulgaria that bad news is shock and horror Beginning of the end. But expect your moral support. Please send e-mail to:
Albanian section: <albanian @ bnr.bg>
Bulgarian section: <bulgarian @ bnr.bg>
English section: <english @ bnr.bg>
French section: <french @ bnr.bg>
German section: <german @ bnr.bg>
Greek section: <greek @ bnr.bg>
Russian section: <russian @ bnr.bg>
Serbian section: <serbian @ bnr.bg>
Spanish section: <spanish @ bnr.bg>
Turkish section: <turkish @ bnr.bg>and from January 14, 2012:
Thank you and goodbye,
Ivo IvanovP.S. SW txs Kostinbrod & Padarsko will be destroyed in the next few months.
Heartbreaking. It sounds as though the decision was swift, with little regard for those good station operators and others who work at Radio Bulgaria, nor for those who listen to its broadcasts.
Is this a sign of the times?
This is, sadly, a prime example of what is happening to many international broadcasters. It’s that combination of shortwave radio listenership being on the decline (in parts of the world connected to the internet; my apologies to our kind readers who are the exception) while our weak global economy forces belt-tightening in governments and other organizations which support international broadcasters. Shortwave programs, which can be costly, often find themselves “justifiably” lopped off. After all, it’s much more difficult to gather listener numbers than to track internet users and outlets over the internet. But most heartbreaking, those who actually listen to and rely upon shortwave are the least able to protest these closures. These listeners tend to be people who have no internet, and often live in remote, impoverished parts of the world.
Imagine you live in central Africa, for example, and tune into your radio every day for your world news. Then one day, you attempt to tune in a favorite station program, but find only static…Have you made an error? You tune again, but the station is nowhere to be found. Then the next week, another favorite is absent…and another…
Here, in North America, I have very little ground to stand upon when complaining about shortwave closures. I have excellent internet access and some local radio, internet and TV outlets to turn to for news, music and more. When I stand up for shortwave broadcasters and protest closures, it’s for those I just mentioned, those without a voice.
Here in the US, I can’t help but draw an unlikely analogy. I grew up in a small blue-collar town that manufactured furniture–lots of it. My father worked for a furniture factory his entire life. Indeed, almost everyone I knew had someone in their immediate family who built furniture. Something strange happened in the 1990s, though; suddenly, it became cheap, very, very cheap, to manufacture furniture abroad. As our local manufacturers started competing with others whose prices were supported by cheap foreign labor, locals felt the pull to move much of their manufacturing abroad too.
We put all of our eggs in the least expensive, most convenient basket. Today, in our little hometown, there are massive factories that have been sitting dormant for nearly a decade. They have no equipment inside, they have no skilled labor to build things. But that’s not the worst of it: now, we couldn’t manufacture something if we needed to. We’ve exported our entire infrastructure. Family and friends are without jobs, and this is the reason. The same could be said of many, many other industries throughout the world.
Let me be clear: I’m no opponent of international trade–just like I’m certainly no opponent of the internet–but if we invest everything in the internet, we may very well lose our ability and means––our infrastructure––to broadcast over shortwave, should we need to do so in the future. Already, there are many examples in which we need to do so.
I urge you to contact Radio Bulgaria via email (above) and sign the online petition at Save Radio Bulgaria. Whether or not we can stop this closure, I am uncertain, but we can make our voices heard.
This blog has published more details about the DE1128. For those of us not fluent in Chinese, Google translate seems to do a fair job of translating details.
We have updated the SWRI entry for the Degen DE1128 with our interpretation of the translated features.
It appears it has many of the features we had assumed and is strikingly similar to the Grundig G2 Reporter.
Thanks to the Herculodge for the tip!
UPDATE: eBay seller Tao Qu has informed us that the Degen DE1128 will have AM (Mediumwave) steps locked in at 9kHz, meaning this portable would not be ideal for the MW DXer in the US.
(Source: Radio Today)
Babcock International Group has won a 10-year contract to continue providing radio and TV transmission and distribution services to the BBC’s World Service.
The deal sees the firm manage more than 150 FM relays around the world as well as 180,000 hours of shortwave broadcasts each year.
The contract kicks in on 1 April and is worth around £200m over the 10 years. Babcock says it will build on the work they’ve been doing with the BBC over the last 15 years to ensure the corporation ‘provides a reliable and resilient service to its global audience’.
[…]The contract includes:
- Scheduling and co-ordination of all BBC World Service shortwave broadcasts across the globe. In the first year of the new contract Babcock will co-ordinate a total of 180,335 hours of transmissions for the BBC.
- Operating and maintaining the BBC’s six high power sites and a power station to ensure global coverage. This includes the BBC key target areas of Africa and the Middle East, the Indian Sub-Continent and South East Asia.
- Monitoring of high frequency broadcast performance (using independent data). The BBC is committed to offering the best quality of service to its worldwide audience and Babcock’s monitoring ensures the best possible audio quality is achieved in the desired target areas.
- Managing the satellite network contracts and support of the satellite distribution systems including 1,300 receivers worldwide in over 650 locations in 128 countries.
- Maintaining the BBC World Service’s FM Relay network. In addition to the satellite receiver maintenance, Babcock will support the equipment of more than 150 FM relay sites around the world. This will underpin the resilience of the service offered by the BBC.
Filed under our ever-growing tag, “why shortwave radio“:
(Source: The Guardian, via Kim Andrew Elliot)
Zigon does, however, have electricity – unlike 90% of Burmese villages – installed by the government late last year. This has meant a number of changes. One of the more significant is the arrival of television. A satellite dish has now been installed at the village tea shop, largely used to watch state TV networks and Premier League football.
Though censorship has been eased in recent months, information is still tightly controlled. News of the Arab revolts last year was blocked for weeks – though millions use cheap Chinese-made radios to listen to the BBC, Voice of America or other networks broadcasting in local languages.