Many thanks to Texas Radio Shortwave for the following update:
We added an additional broadcast of our monthly program over Channel 292 in Rohrbach, Germany. We’re working to cover Western NAm with a broadcast on 9670 kHz at 0300 UTC. Listeners in the South Pacific have also reported a listenable signal.
We want folks worldwide to hear us and welcome reception reports from listeners using remote receivers (SDRs).
73.
trsw
Texas Radio Shortwave
Back to our roots on Channel 292
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 SWLing Post contributors Paul, Dennis Dura, Richard Cuff, and Bake Timmons for the following tips:
The U.S. Agency for Global Media has announced that it will be closing its Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station in the CNMI after decades in operation.
The station broadcasts the Voice of America transmission to Asia.
In a letter form USAGM’s William S. Martin, director of operations and stations division, a big change is taking place at the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station.
“The change is a discontinuation of all shortwave radio transmissions at our Saipan and Tinian sites, the first step in closing the station,” he said.
According to Martin, on June 26, the USAGM—an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and other U.S. funded international civilian broadcasters—announced it was closing REKTS, its two shortwave radio transmission sites, on Saipan and Tinian.
[…]”While shortwave radio was an effective and popular way for people in media-deprived countries to access international news and information during WWII and the Cold War, Martin says shortwave use has fallen dramatically almost everywhere since the invention of the internet and the fall of Soviet Union in the 1990s. [Continue reading…]
WCBS 880 AM, one of New York’s leading news radio channels for nearly 60 years, will be replaced with ESPN New York on Aug. 26, as 1010 WINS becomes the main radio station for real-time news coverage in the New York metro area.
Audacy, the parent company for both WCBS 880 and 1010 WINS, announced the agreement with Good Karma Brands, a sports media network, on Aug. 12. The station 880 AM will become the new home of ESPN New York and will use the call letters WHSQ-AM, pending FCC approval.[Continue reading…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bake Timmons, who writes:
Hams are stepping up right now in a very busy place — Dhaka, Bangladesh.
I heard ham radio mentioned this morning on this morning’s broadcast of the BBC program “The Newsroom”. A volunteer traffic coordinator and ham described (18:55 in the podcast linked below) how every traffic hub is now connected w/ amateur radio in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh, in response to the absence of police, who have withdrawn from their normal duties after the ousting of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The story begins about 17:21 into the podcast at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172zbqdkb748vg
The decline of AM broadcast radio is a slow but inexorable process over much of the world, but for regions outside America there’s another parallel story happening a few hundred kilohertz further down the spectrum. The long wave band sits around the 200kHz mark and has traditionally carried national-level programming due to its increased range. Like AM it’s in decline due to competition from FM, digital, and online services, and one by one the stations that once crowded this band are going quiet. In the middle of all this it’s a surprise then to find a new long wave station in the works in the 2020s, bucking all contemporary broadcasting trends. Arctic 252 is based in Finland with programming intended to be heard across the Arctic region and aims to start testing in September. [Continue reading…]
Click here to check out Arctic 252’s website.
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Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!
by Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
Here are the rules:
There are no prizes, just bragging rights.
Feel free to report in lavish detail on your experience during the contest . . . especially if you had fun!
There are two ways to report your results.
1. If you simply want to report your total number of logged stations on each band the D-220 receives, as well as the distance to your longest logging on each band, do it in the comments section of this post. (This will save some bandwidth for Thomas.)
2. If you want to report your detailed loggings for each band, you can post them in response to this message on the SWLing Post Message Board: https://swling.net/viewtopic.php?t=206
Finally, if you find any of the above confusing or unclear, please let me know immediately. You can post here in the comments or reach out to me here: [email protected]
Remember, the whole point of this is to have fun!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:
A Band Aid for the XHDATA D-220By Bob Colegrove
In the olden days of analog radios, we would have generated a graph plotting frequency against a 0 to 100 linear bandspread scale. That permitted determination of a station’s frequency with varying degrees of accuracy.
The case of the charming little D-220 requires a simpler approach. The dial covers 5.6 MHz to 22 MHz in less than two inches. They could have cut off coverage at 18 MHz and gained a precious half inch of dial.
With the shortwave scale well below the pointer, I needed some additional guidance indicating where I was. Best not to get too fancy. I cut a strip off a sticky-back label and attached it to the dial right below the pointer. Using the left edge of the pointer as a guide, I marked off the location of each international broadcast band and a couple time stations. The width of each band isn’t much more than the point of a sharp No. 2 pencil. Any further resolution is hopeless, but at least you know what part of the spectrum you are in.
Red lettering is not part of the band aid.
Again, going by the old logarithmic analog dials you would expect the frequencies to be increasingly mashed together as you go higher. This is not the case with the D-220, nor do the increments appear to be very linear. At any rate, it is now relatively easy to tune from band to band.
The sensitivity and clarity of the D-220 is amazing. Perhaps it’s the green one.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a recent AWR broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Part of Adventist World Radio evangelist preaching in Yoruba language to Nigeria and region, broadcasted from Nauen, Germany. Listened in Florianopolis, Brazil.
Many thanks to Texas Radio Shortwave who shares the following announcement:
Because propagation was terrible on August 5th, we’re again testing on 9670 kHz next Sunday, August 11, at 0300 UTC. The test will come from Channel 292 in Rohrbach, Germany.
We’ll issue Texas Coloring Book QSL #7 for correct, detailed reception reports to [email protected].
73.
Texas Radio Shortwave
Returning to our roots on Channel 292
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Aaron Kuhn, who shares the following guest post:
The authors own Sangean Portable + AirPod Pros + a Bluetooth Transmitter rubber banded to the radio back, Coca Cola Park – Allentown, PA
In recent years, I’ve enjoyed attending minor league baseball games in my region. One of my favorite aspects of live baseball is bringing a radio to listen to play-by-play commentary. Experiencing the game in person while hearing the commentary in my ear offers the best of both worlds.
Over the years, I’ve brought various portable and ultra-portable radios to games, and I’ve realized that certain criteria make for a good “Live Baseball Radio.” Whether it’s form factor, size, or features, a live sporting event presents specific considerations and trade-offs for the radio you choose to bring.
While there are many options for internet streaming on a smartphone, like the free game audio feeds from MiLB.com, streaming game audio on a smartphone is not ideal for live baseball due to one major issue: latency.
Ideally, you want the action you see to match as closely as possible with the play-by-play you hear. With internet streaming, you’re subject to internet latency and buffering, leading to audio delays that you cannot fix. This makes streaming better for listening to games from afar, but not for live baseball.
Picking a radio to bring to a game involves considerations that become obvious only after you’ve tried it a few times. Hopefully you can learn from my past mistakes and be more informed.
There are no fixed rules about the frequency’s baseball teams use for broadcasting. Some teams are on AM radio, some on FM, and some simulcast on both. Some teams don’t broadcast on free-to-air radio at all, opting for streaming-only solutions. Choosing a radio that receives both AM and FM is your best bet to ensure you can use it at different stadiums.
Many ultra-portable “pocket” radios support only FM, which might leave you without audio if your local team is on AM. Conversely, vintage pocket transistor radios might leave you stuck with AM-only signal receiving capability, missing the FM signal.
Amazon Product Listing Photo for “ZHIWHIS” Ultra-Portable
Vintage RCA Transistor Radio, Photo by Joe Haupt – https://www.flickr.com/photos/51764518@N02/49435844673/
The Author’s recent ill-fated radio choice for a live game
While HD Radio seems like a great idea for live baseball, the HD signal suffers from similar issues as streaming a game: latency
I recently picked up an ultra-portable FM HD Radio for a great deal secondhand, only to take it to the ballpark and realize the HD Signal was delayed by nearly 20 seconds. Worse yet – the radio offered no way to turn off the HD signal and revert to analog! The radio was unusable for watching the game as play-by-play in my ear was nearly four pitches behind what I was seeing live.
If you choose a radio with HD Radio features for the ballpark, check the broadcast delay on the HD signal before the game, and ensure you can turn off the HD Radio features if necessary.
Any radio can be portable if you try hard enough, but space is often limited at live sporting events. Stadium seating varies at some ballparks, you can spread out a blanket on a hillside, sit at a picnic table, or even watch the game from a pool (better check that IPX rating!). However, you’ll likely be using your radio while seated in your ticketed seat. Some stadiums offer spacious, modern seating, while older stadiums may have small, cramped seating.
Antennas on radios are another consideration. In cramped stadium seating, you may not have the luxury to fully extend the antenna for the best signal without poking the person in front of you or next to you. You might want to consider a radio without an external antenna, such as one like the Retekess V112, which uses the headphone cable as the antenna. You may also need to stand up and sit down repeatedly to let people through the aisle rows to their own seats, which is where going “antenna-less” can be useful.
Retekess Product Image for V112 Model
While a headphone-wire antenna setup may be a perceived undesirable feature for dedicated radio hobbyists, pocketability and ease of use in a crowd can be beneficial at a crowded game. Many stadiums are moving towards bag restrictions or not allowing bags at all, making the proposition of transporting even a modest-sized portable radio to a game a chore. A pocket-sized radio you can stick on a lanyard, wear into the park, or stick in a pocket may be the difference between being annoyed all game carrying around a radio, or just enjoying it.
On the flip side, if you plan on pairing your radio with a Bluetooth transmitter to use Bluetooth earbuds or headphones, you may want to select a radio with an antenna. The short cable run on many Bluetooth transmitters may not provide adequate reception for units that use connected headphones as the antenna.
If you’re not using the radio for tailgating, consider whether you need a speaker on the radio. Many pocket radios omit a speaker to reduce weight and cost. If you need to unplug your headphones during the game, it might be better to avoid a speaker that could blast game audio accidentally and disrupt your neighbors. Ditching the speaker is also likely to save weight and battery life.
Choosing the right radio for live baseball involves considering factors like frequency options, latency issues, size, portability, and whether you need a speaker.
Everyone’s finances and purchasing abilities differ, but there are many adequate radio options available for under $20 USD that check a lot of these boxes, making it possible to have a dedicated radio for live sports without spending a lot of money. As radio hobbyists, we sometimes want the best for our listening experiences, but taking an expensive radio to a live sporting event can be risky due to cramped quarters, constant movement, and the potential for spills or accidents.
In my opinion, it’s better to enjoy the game with a “lesser radio” than to spend the entire game worry about damaging an expensive radio. After all, cleaning mustard out of your expensive radio’s speaker grill is not fun post-game entertainment. Focus on enjoying the day and the live sporting experience while enhancing it with the wonder of live ballpark radio – no matter what you bring along.