Radio Waves: Station of National Resistance, CEPT Suspends Russia/Belarus, ABC Pacific Expansion, Live Ukraine News Stream, and Mali Bans French Radio & TV

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers.  To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to the SWLing Post contributors who share the following tips:


Ukraine’s radio station of national resistance (The New Yorker)

High up in the Carpathian Mountains, two Kyiv broadcasters keep the signal alive.

Recently, at a closed ski resort in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, Roman Davydov leaned into a microphone and announced the latest news from the war. Kryvyi Rih, in southern Ukraine, was being attacked; a U.S. journalist had been shot; and the British Foreign Secretary had announced new sanctions on Russian oligarchs in London. Davydov, who is forty-three, with dark hair and an oft-furrowed brow, is the voice of Kraina FM, an independent radio station that, after Russian bombing began in Kyiv, relocated to an undisclosed location. (The staff of Kraina FM asked me not to identify the village, for security reasons.) Outside Davydov’s improvised booth, a corner office lent to Kraina FM by a local accountant, an odd sense of normalcy reigned. Beyond the ski-rental shop, where a cluster of sandbags had been piled, a man in a blue jacket and ski goggles operated a small lift for a children’s slope in the bright sunshine.

The area, which is several hours south of Lviv, has become a shelter for displaced people, Bogdan Bolkhovetsky, Davydov’s colleague, told me. Bolkhovetsky, Kraina FM’s station general manager, said that he and Davydov had arrived in the village “by pure chance.” The west of the country is full of refugees, and there are few places for families to stay as they make their way toward the borders of Europe. “We found this place because it was the only place vacant,” Bolkhovetsky said. They arrived in the evening on February 27th; just days later they were setting up the station in a sloped-ceilinged, wood-panelled space that barely fit their two desks. They acquired laptops and a mixer from the supply of aid making its way from the rest of Europe to Ukraine. “We called our friends in Austria and they were so quick,” Bolkhovetsky said. “Guys we’ve never met just sent us the equipment, and a friend of ours brought this equipment in. I mean, they brought us these German laptops and the mixing console and we’ve never seen these people before.” [Continue reading…]

Russia and Belarus suspended from CEPT membership (CEPT via Southgate ARC)

On March 17 the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications (CEPT) announced the indefinite suspension of Russia and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine

The CEPT announcement said:

Outcome of the written procedure with the CEPT Assembly regarding suspension of the Russian Federation and Belarus from CEPT Membership.

Based on a request from a number of CEPT members, the CEPT Presidency carried out a written procedure, in accordance with the CEPT Arrangement, on the proposal to suspend indefinitely and with immediate effect the memberships of the Russian Federation and Belarus in the CEPT.

Thirty-four responses were received to the CEPT Assembly letter in support of the proposal and one abstention.

Based on the above, the CEPT Assembly has therefore decided: Continue reading

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Giuseppe’s Crossed Loop and the “VariabilOne”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Giuseppe Morlè (IZ0GZW), who shares the following:

Dear Thomas and all friends of SWLing Post,

I’m Giuseppe Morlè iz0gzw from central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea, Formia.

A few days ago at a fair for radio amateurs in Latina, I bought an excellent very large variable capacitor–those of ancient military radios–and I found a splendid antique knob with a fantastic gear ratio.

I called this VariabilOne and it consists of two sections of 250pf each. It’s very portable and can be applied to any loop with crocodile clips.

I built another cross loop made up of 2 turns the internal loop, 35 cm. and only one turn for the external loop, 40 cm.

I can tune frequencies from 3.500 to 20.0 MHz. The crossed loop is strongly directive given the two loops that work together being joined on their ends.

I have made some demonstration videos and it is a pleasure for me to share them for our entire community (see below).

Thanks to you and I wish you all the best for you and your family.
Greetings to all.
73. Giuseppe iz0gzw.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Giuseppe, thank you once again for sharing your brilliant homemade antenna projects with us. I absolutely love that monster variable cap and tuning whee! What a thing of beauty–and obviously your loop is very effective.

Thank you as always, Giuseppe!

Readers: click here to check out Giuseppe’s other antenna projects.

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and Recording of the BBC World Service

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a BBC World Service broadcast to Ukraine and Russia in English.


Carlos notes:

BBC, 5875 kHz, listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, March 19, 2022, 21h32 (UTC).

Part of news bulletin: Russian missiles hit military base in Ukraine, killing soldiers.

BBC announced it’s broadcasting news to war-ravaged Ukraine and parts of Russia…in English!

Click here to listen via YouTube.

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HanRongDa HRD-747: Expanding reception to include longwave

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following video which shows how connecting an external antenna to the HDR-747 extends reception range down to longwave:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Thanks for the tip, Dan!

Note: Dennis adds that the antenna used in this video can be found here.

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Polish Radio launches programme to help Ukrainian refugees

(Source: Radio Poland)

Polish Radio launches another programme for Ukrainians (Radio Poland)

Public broadcaster Polish Radio is on Thursday launching a new weekly programme for Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion and their compatriots residing permanently in Poland.

The hour-long broadcast will be delivered in Ukrainian, airing every Thursday at 7 p.m. on Polish Radio’s mobile app, web player and DAB+ platform, the public broadcaster’s IAR news agency reported.

Listeners will hear advice on where to find help, how to apply for assistance available to refugees, and how to obtain information about their loved ones, according to IAR.

Also, the programme will feature news on how the Polish government, local authorities and charities are working to support refugees from Ukraine, and on Poland’s efforts to facilitate Ukraine’s entry into the European Union and the NATO alliance, IAR reported.

The weekly broadcast is prepared and hosted by journalists from Polish Radio’s External Service, also known as Radio Poland.

‘Countering Putin’s false narrative’

“The priority is to counter the Putin regime’s false narrative,” said Radio Poland’s Director Andrzej Ryba?t.

He added: “We’ll be reporting at length on Polish-Ukrainian relations, as well as the policies of the European Union and NATO. In addition, Ukrainians who had been forced to flee their country will hear about what is happening in the places they had had to abandon as a result of the Russian aggression.”

As the programme develops, it is also set to feature Polish-language courses for Ukrainians seeking shelter in Poland, and items on Ukrainian music and culture, IAR reported.

Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Polish Radio has been airing news bulletins in Ukrainian on several of its channels, as well as launching a 24-hour live audio and video stream about the war on Youtube.

It is also broadcasting the signal of Ukrainian Radio on its web player and DAB+ platform so that the people escaping the Russian attack can listen to programming in their native tongue, executives said.

Poland on Thursday reported it had admitted nearly 2 million refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR

Click here to read the full article at Radio Poland.

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Radio Waves: Subversive Shortwave, Radio’s Hardware Problem, Working at RBI, and Russian Comms

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers.  To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!


Owning a shortwave radio is once again a subversive activity (Hackaday)

An abiding memory for a teen fascinated by electronics and radio in the 1970s and 1980s is the proliferation of propaganda stations that covered the shortwave spectrum. Some of them were slightly surreal such as Albania’s Radio Tirana which would proudly inform 1980s Western Europe that every village in the country now possessed a telephone, but most stations were the more mainstream ideological gladiating of Voice of America and Radio Moscow.

It’s a long-gone era as the Cold War is a distant memory and citizens East and West get their info from the Internet, but perhaps there’s an echo of those times following the invasion of the Ukraine. With most external news agencies thrown out of Russia and their websites blocked, international broadcasters are launching new shortwave services to get the news through. Owning a shortwave radio in Russia may once again be a subversive activity. Let’s build one! [Continue reading…]

Radio’s Hardware Problem Grows (Radio Ink)

(By Ed Ryan) When was the last time your station gave away a slick looking radio as a promotion (batteries included)? How many more echo dots will radio stations keep giving away before they realize they may be pushing listeners to find something else to listen to?

In a teaser for Edison Research’s upcoming Infinite Dial presentation at Podcast Movement’s Evolutions next week, the research firm reported that the number of Americans who say they do not have a single radio in their home continues to rise.

In the 2020 Infinite Dial, performed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, just under one-in-three Americans age 12 and older reported not having a single radio in their home, according to Edison. In 2022, that number is now 39%.

Fourteen years ago, only 4% of respondents said they had no radios at home. Continue reading

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UBMP, WBCQ Concert Hall & FTIOM, March 20-26

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, March 20 & 26, 2022:
Episode 260 presents a belated reaction to the recent change to daylight savings time with an hour of songs dedicated to time.
The transmissions take place:
1.Sunday 2200-2300 UTC (6:00PM -7:00PM EDT) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 kHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
2.The Sunday that follows 0300-0400 UTC (Saturday 11:00pm-12:00am EDT in the Americas) on WBCQ’s Radio Angela service to the Americas and Europe on 4790 kHz
Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/UncleBillsMeltingPot/
Our V-Kontakte page is https://vk.com/fromtheisleofmusic
Our Patreon page is https://www.patreon.com/tilford

WBCQ Concert Hall, March 20, 2022
This episode presents the conclusion of the opera Bizet’s  Carmen and some shorter works to fill the remainder of  the program.
The broadcast takes place:
Monday 0200-0400 UTC (Sunday 10pm-12am EDT in the Americas) on WBCQ’s Radio Angela service to the Americas and Europe on 4790 kHz

From the Isle of Music, March 21 & 25, 2022
This week special guest Hugo Cruz helps us present an exciting new Cuban jazz release by his group Caminos, Punto de Partida
The broadcasts take place:
1. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 kHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EDT in the US).
2. For North America and Europe the following Saturday 0300-0400 UTC (11:00pm-12:00am EDT Friday) on the Radio Angela service of WBCQ, 4790 kHz from Monticello, ME, USA.
Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/fromtheisleofmusic/
Our V-Kontakte page is https://vk.com/fromtheisleofmusic
Our Patreon page is https://www.patreon.com/tilford

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