A shortwave solar eclipse for Europe

Registration for the 2024 “Winter SWL Fest” is now available!

The Fest will be May 10th & 11th, 2024.

The Fest will be a combination in-person and Zoom event, and will be held at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania – just north of Philadelphia. We have a block of rooms set aside for the Fest at a special rate; this block will only be available until April 18th, 2024. After that date our special rate may no longer be available, and the hotel itself may sell out.

In-person registration is limited to 65 participants, so register early if you don’t want to get shut out; there is no limit to the number of Zoom participants.

Start your process at the Winter SWL Fest website: http://www.swlfest.com

You can find out more information there, and access the group reservation link for the hotel and also register for either the in-person or the Zoom event.

We apologize if you’re seeing this announcement in multiple places; we wanted to get the news out there as quickly as possible since we have tight deadlines this year.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Richard Cuff and John Figliozzi, co-Festmeisters

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Bandscans from Tokyo via “Radio Radio” YouTube Channel

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Connor Walsh, who writes:

Hi Thomas,
I hope all is well. I think you are a fan of vintage Sony radios, and perhaps blog readers maybe be interested in this YouTube channel, Radio Radio:

https://m.youtube.com/@May_happiness_come_to_you_777

No narration, just a locked-off camera as the radio owner does bandscans in Tokyo. Lots of vintage Sonys and other Japanese brands, along with a few others. It’s a lovely mix of hearing and seeing a dial being twirled in Japan.

All the best,
Connor

I love it! Thank you for sharing, Connor!

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Only One Week To Go: HamSCI Presents the Solar Eclipse QSO Party!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Edward Efchak, who shares the following announcement:

ONE WEEK TO GO! SAVE THE DATE!!

Monday, April 8TH!!

HamSCI Presents the Solar Eclipse QSO Party – April 8, 2024

Join with thousands of your fellow amateurs as part of the largest crowd-sourced event for ham radio scientific exploration ever! The SEQP is part of The Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science and is for learning more about how the ionosphere works. Use any mode, any band for all or part of the day! Participation can be from everywhere – you need not be near the path of the eclipse to contribute valuable data by participating.

Are you a contester? For details on the SEQP contest and rules go to www.hamsci.org/contest-info. Don’t forget to send in your log!
For the Gladstone Signal Spotting Challenge using CW, WSPR and FST4W modes go to www.hamsci.org/contest-info.
If you’re an SWL or AM DX’er, there is The Medium Wave Recording Event for you as well! Go to www.hamsci.org/mw-recordings/.

Or just get on the air and help provide the data to better understand the ionosphere.

Save the date – Monday, 8 April 2024

Get on the air! 1400-2400 UTC

Do it for science!! Any band/any mode (except the WARC bands)

HamSCI serves as a means for fostering collaboration between professional researchers and amateur radio operators. It assists in developing and maintaining standards and agreements between all people and organizations involved. Its goals are to advance scientific research and understanding through amateur radio activities and encourage the development of new technologies to support this research.

For more information about HamSCI, please visit the HamSCI website (www.hamsci.org) . For more information about the Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science educational opportunities for the amateur community and the public please visit our information pages.

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Office of Cuba Broadcasting programming targeting Ukraine via shortwave

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One of the 19 curtain antennas on the campus of the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Site (Click to enlarge)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Macon Dail, Transmitter Plant Supervisor at the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station in Greenville, North Carolina, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

Greenville has recently begun shortwave broadcast to Ukraine to support Cubans in that country. We are broadcasting four hours daily in Spanish with programming supplied by the OCB. We are on ~~17680 KHz~~, 1700-2100 UTC MO-FR and 17865 KHz, 1300-1700 UTC SA-SU.

UPDATE: Due to a conflict with NHK on the new summer schedule, our 17680 KHz frequency has been changed to 17690 KHz to provide a clear frequency

Thank yo for the update, Macon! Great to hear that the Greenville site is beaming into Europe again!

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Taiwan: Breaking through censorship via shortwave

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following story:

How Taiwan breaches censors’ barriers (VOA News)

Breaking the barriers of censorship in China, Myanmar and North Korea is a daunting task, as these countries have built almost impenetrable firewalls against outside news and information. But Radio Taiwan International is successfully using shortwave radio to break through.

“We potentially have 70 million to 1.2 billion listeners who rely on shortwave to get information [from] outside of their country,” said Isis Lee, RTI’s vice president.

On the air since 1928, RTI say their mission is to bring listeners stories they won’t or can’t hear or see on television, radio, online or in newspapers.

“One of our most important audiences to reach is the Mandarin-speaking society in China, which has very limited internet access,” Lee told VOA. “We have a very big audience in China, and they rely on RTI shortwave service to get perspective outside of China in their mother language,” she added. [Continue reading…]

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