Carlos’ Shortwave Art and recording of Voice of Korea (February 8, 2024)

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

Carlos’ goal is to vividly illustrate the broadcaster’s message in his own unique artistic style and is not a reflection of his own beliefs or those of the SWLing Post. His objective is for his artwork to add historical context and put a visual with the news, reporting, and broadcast content:


Carlos notes:

EEUU, El Lobo Desdentado, La Voz de Corea (en español), RPDC, 12015 kHz.

…es una conducta imbécil confiar la garantía de seguridad en un lobo desdentado que está desesperado para mantener su vida precaria…

(“…it is a foolish act to get a security guarantee by relying on a toothless wolf trying to prolong its remaining days…”)

Spread the radio love

Radio Morania and other mysteries

Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 from the Imaginary Stations crew here letting you know that this week DJ Frederick presents WMMR – Mystery Mix Radio. The show, featuring all sorts of musical goodness from his record collection will be beamed to Europe via the services of Shortwave Gold on Sunday 11th February 2024 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then at 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz. Tune in, put your feet up and enjoy the great tunes.

Then on the new spot of Thursday 15th February 2024 at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI we have some Morianian vibes from Radio Morania. Have a piece of paper and a pen ready to get that all important address to send your reception reports to!

For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.

Spread the radio love

Carlos: Expect the unexpected in a Kyodo News Radiofax

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who shares the Radiofax news report (above) from Kyodo News Agency and his amazing artwork (below) detailing the news and his Radiofax reception. Carlos writes:

Expect the unexpected from the pages of today’s Kyodo News Morning Edition (first two pages).

Few headlines:
281 landslides caused by Noto quake, Hamas demands full withdrawal – Gaza truce proposed by 4 nations including US, massive attack in Ukraine, 12 people injured after being bitten by a dog, contaminated water leaks from Fukushima Daiichi, etc…

Spread the radio love

Guest Post: Bob’s conundrum with the Radio Data System (RDS)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:


A Conundrum with the Radio Data System (RDS),
or Why I Set the Clock Manually

By Bob Colegrove

There’s an old story about a man who owned two watches.  One watch ran but lost a minute every hour.  The other watch didn’t work at all.  He always wore the watch that didn’t work, because as he said, “At least it will have the correct time twice a day.”

First off, a couple of caveats.  This is not a definitive description of the Radio Data System (RDS).  I leave that to much more knowledgeable sources.  One detailed description is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System.  Second, my experience described here is confined to the Eton Elite Executive and the XHDATA/SIHUADON D-808.  Other radios may operate differently.

I have surrounded myself with several multiband travel radios over the past year and enjoy them very much – each for different reasons.  Besides listening, I like to push buttons to see what happens.  The manuals?  At best they occasionally provide a clue.  I read them, eventually filling in the blanks on my own.

XHDATA/SIHUADON D-808

Basic RDS

What is RDS? RDS is a system which enables an FM station to transmit various fields of information such as date, time, call letters, frequency, and program information in text form.  The call letters are useful, but if you have a digital radio, you already know the frequency.  The name of the song and artist are particularly helpful if the DJ won’t tell you.  As for the date and time, well, I’ll get to that.

RDS is an international standard and Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) is the official name used for the U.S. version.  So why don’t we in the States just call it RBDS?  Probably because our radios aren’t made here.

Eton Elite Executive

The XHDATA and Eton allow the user to display four of the several fields comprising the RDS standard.  They each step through the same sequence, indicating a similar or possibly the same demodulator chip.

PS and RT seem to be freeform fields with stations providing whatever information they want to share.  Often the call letters and frequency are contained here, along with program content.  Clock Time (CT) is not displayed per se, but is used to set the radio time, and is included as part of the DATA field.  DATA is important; it has four elements, which should provide the listener with an indication of the call, day, date, and time being received by the radio.  The international RDS standard omits the call letters.

The RDS information transmitted by any given station may not contain all the fields identified above, including the time.  For example, stepping through the fields you may encounter “NO PTY,” “NO PS,” “NO RT,” or “NO DATA.” Consequently, you may tune in to a station broadcasting RDS and wait a long time for the radio clock to synchronize, which it never does.  The display of any content in the DATA field is probably the best clue whether CT is being transmitted.

It is interesting that the Eton is programmed for the US RBDS system, whereas the XDATA follows the international RDS system.  For the international system on the D-808:

  • “DATE” replaces “DATA” in the display.
  • The call letters are omitted from the DATE field.
  • The terms in the PTY field differ; for example, WRBS, 95.1 MHz, the PTY element displays “SOCIAL” instead of “RELIGIOUS MUSIC.”

International PTY RDS term on the XHDATA

US PTY RBDS term on the Eton

The Conundrum

The mischief all began when I got my XHDATA D-808 and tried to program the clock to automatically update using the RDS information off FM stations.  Minutes seem to display correctly, but try as I might, I couldn’t get the hours to register properly.  Then I bought an Eton Elite Executive.  It also has the RDS feature, so I tried again.  It appeared to work OK for a day or so.  Then the hour indication started to misbehave.  In addition to the clock, the Eton allows programming of time zones and day of the week.  I determined that the erroneous indication did not appear to be related to GMT, EST, 12-hour or 24-hour format settings.  In theory, if you try to set your radio to GMT or some other time zone, the RDS time from a local station should override it.

When I tested the radios side-by-side, the DATA field was fraught with problems on both radios.  Several local RDS stations containing CT were monitored.  The whip antenna was extended a tad, as the information may not reliably register with some otherwise clear audio signals.

  • When tuned to the same station, there were occasional inconsistencies between the two radios, presumably receiving the same exact information from the station.

 

  • Sometimes the hour would not advance on the XHDATA after minutes transitioned from 59 to 00.
  • Curiously, both radios might exhibit the correct date and time during the day, then at 1900 EST, several stations on both radios prematurely advance to the next day and date, and the hour would display incorrectly, completely unrelated to local hour.  Minutes may or may not be correct.  1900 EST happens to be 0000 GMT.  Are some station clocks running on GMT?

RDS content obviously requires some attention at the station.  In the end, they are responsible for the information going out.  In fairness, with all that goes on in a studio and limited staffing, RDS content may not be a priority.  As an example:

  • Call letters in the DATA field for local WMZQ read KZQK, which is not assigned.

Conclusions

There are two main factors which may impinge on the accuracy of a radio clock when set automatically by the RDS:

  • Accuracy depends on the station transmitting it correctly.
    • With RDS set to the AUTO mode, there is a good chance that the clock will be updated repeatedly as the radio is tuned among various stations – not necessarily to the correct time.
      • For the Eton, the clock would reset each time when changing stations between WTOP (correct time) and WPRS (incorrect time).
      • For the XHDATA, the clock would reset each time when changing stations between WTOP (correct minutes) and WPRS (incorrect minutes).  In both cases, the displayed hour remained 00.
    • There is still the unexplained premature update of day and date by some stations observed on both radios.
  • Correct time depends on the radio’s RDS demodulator to interpret the incoming data.

Trivial?  Perhaps, but you may want to reconsider and program the clock manually, particularly if you depend on the alarm function of the radio to get to work on time.

Spread the radio love

A Laptop and MixW software give Carlos cleaner Radiofax imaging

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes:


Now I’ve a notebook computer, and I can decode the Kyodo News radiofax signal accurately.

Unfortunately, unlike Fldigi, the MixW software doesn’t have the option to save the image, which forces me to make print screens, paste them into a graphics program and save them as an image. Still, the result is perfect (see image above].

Attached the NX Japan Navigational Warnings, with translation done by the Google Translator app.

For documentation purposes, I saved the decoding in vídeo:

Wow, Carlos! It does make a huge difference when you’re not relying on acoustic coupling for the decodes. Obviously MixW is a very capable Radiofax decoding system as well. I’m surprised it can’t automatically save images, though. Thank you for sharing!

Spread the radio love

More maps and a midwinter broadcast

Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 from the Imaginary Stations crew here letting you know that this week we present another installment of WDWD – Off the Map Radio. Programme 3 in the series will be going out to Europe via the services of Shortwave Gold on Sunday 4th February 2024 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then at 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz. There will be lots of place names, locations and maps mentioned.

Then on early Monday 4th February 2024 we have the annual 45th Parallel Broadcast at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI. We can’t give too much away but do expect some circular latitude business and of course some forty fives played throughout the show. Tune in and enjoy the yearly fun!

For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.

Spread the radio love