“Medium wave’s sunset in Europe”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan, who shares the following article from Red Tech:

Medium wave’s sunset in Europe (Red Tech)

GENEVA — European medium-wave transmitters are going silent. On April 1, the BBC shut down the nine transmitters that had previously brought BBC Radio 4 in AM to the whole country. Since January 2018, the British public broadcaster has started to switch off the AM transmitters for its local stations. Looking ahead, it plans to abandon the band totally by 2027 at the latest.

This trend goes beyond the BBC. In the last years, British commercial broadcasters have also switched off AM transmitters. In the case of Bauer Media, not a single AM transmitter remains operational.

The United Kingdom is the last fortress of AM transmission in Europe. Over the last 15 years, many other countries disconnected their last AM transmitters — Austria (in 2008), Switzerland (2010), Ireland (2012), Germany (2015), Belarus (2016), Albania (2017) and Belgium (2018), to name a few. More than 20 European countries have ceased AM transmission. Across the continent, less than 100 AM services remain active.

Notwithstanding, AM still resists against all odds in markets such as Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain, among others. However, many big broadcasters still relying on this technology have often reduced their transmission power without receiving complaints from the audience. This is a strong signal about how the future may look like. [Continue reading…]

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Amazon’s Prime Day: Radios and accessories on sale

Today is Amazon’s Prime Day and there are a number of radios and accessories at a heavier discount than they normally would be. I’ve been browsing this morning and made a list of some of the shortwave radio products included in the sale. Please note that the following links are Amazon affiliate links that also support the SWLing Post at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

There are actually many more models of shortwave radios (click here) and ham radio accessories (click here) in the sale today. I’ll try to add other items of interest today.

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art from NHK and Radiofax via Kyodo News

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a recent broadcast of NHK Japan.


Carlos notes:

Part of NHK news bulletin, in Japanese, about Trump assassination attempt.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Kyodo News Radiofax

[T]his is the radiofax I got today from Kyodo News, with two front pages dedicated to the assassination attempt. Click here for the original radiofax audio file.

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Special QSL Card: RTI Direct from Tamsui July/August 2024

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gérard Koopal, who writes:

Dear Thomas,

See below for a schedule from RTI stating their direct transmissions/programs from Tamsui Taiwan in German starting this Friday [July 12].

Reports can be sent to: [email protected] or by post: Radio Taiwan International, German Service, P.O. Box 123-199, Taipei 11199, Taiwan.

They also state that there will also be programs in French from August 9 until September 1 on Saturday and Sunday on the same times and frequencies directly from Tamsui.

All reports will receive a special QSL card.

The following announcement from RTI was translated to English via Google Translate:

RTI Direct from Tamsui July/August 2024

Dear listeners,

Radio Taiwan International will once again be broadcasting German-language programs on several days this year directly from the Tamsui transmitter in Taiwan.

Broadcast dates and frequencies:
The broadcast times are given in UTC (CEST=UTC+2)

1700-1730 UTC 11995 kHz

1730-1800 UTC 9545 kHz

July 12th (Friday)

July 13th (Saturday)

July 14th (Sunday)

July 19th (Friday)

July 20th (Saturday)

July 21st (Sunday)

July 26th (Friday)

July 27th (Saturday)

July 28th (Sunday)

August 2nd (Friday)

August 3rd (Saturday)
04.08. (Sunday)

Please send reception reports by email to: [email protected]
or via the online form: https://de.rti.org.tw/index/content/id/8
or by post to: Radio Taiwan International, German Service, P.O. Box 123-199, Taipei 11199, Taiwan

We will again confirm reception reports with a special QSL card!

further information:
https://de.rti.org.tw/radio/programView/id/2001

We would also like to point out that in August and September (August 9th to September 1st, 2024) RTI will also broadcast French-language programs directly from the Tamsui transmitter on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the same frequencies at the same times.

Kind regards
Your RTI editorial team
[email protected]
https://de.rti.org.tw/

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Bob shares a 1968 off-air recording of Radio Australia

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Purse, owner and curator of the excellent Inches Per Second audio archive and blog, who recently posted a 1968 recording of Radio Australia. This recording is in the queue to be published on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, but I thought I’d share it here first since I know there are so many Post readers who are fans of Radio Australia.

Bob shares the following notes with his recording on Inches Per Second:

Periodically, I have shared parts of the large collection of shortwave recordings, most of them of Australian programming, which I picked up… somewhere, at some point. I’ve shared most of it, at this point, but have a few tapes left. I held off on this because the quality is fairly poor, then near the end becomes abysmal, but I thought I should share it, since there is an audience for these recordings. The newscast heard here makes it clear (specifically, the golf results, among other stories) that at least part of this tape is from the second week of March, 1968.

Note that this recording will also be available on the SRAA on August 16, 2024. Thanks again for sharing this, Bob!

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and recording of Rádio Mitre (July 14, 2024)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art and recording from Rádio Mitre:


Carlos notes:

“…World commotion, Donald Trump assassination attempt. It was at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. While the Republican candidate was giving his speech, several shots were heard and immediately afterwards he fell with a wound to his ear…”

Click here to view on YouTube.

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Weird question . . . from the old retrocrank

The Grundig G3 sported a Dual Conversion PLL Digital tuner with smooth tuning and no discernible muting between frequency steps.

Like some others of my age (roughly) who have posted here, I vastly prefer radios that do NOT mute between tuning steps . . . that provide smooth, continuous tuning.

So, does anyone know of any true, new, currently in production, radios with an analog receiver? Could be AM, FM, and/or shortwave?

And, if there are any, obviously I am interested in the ones that you think work well.

Cheers, Jock

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