Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow, who shares the following video (in Japanese) where a technician performs an IC-705 cabinet breakdown and examines the internal PC board layers:
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bennett Kobb, who shares an FCC Informal Objection he drafted and filed together with Kim Elliott and Christopher Rumbaugh.
Click here to download the Informal Objection. (PDF)
Radio World published a great summary of the filing today:
There’s a plan in the works to build a new international shortwave radio station in Illinois, one that would use the Digital Radio Mondiale modulation system. But now several prominent members of the U.S. shortwave community are asking the Federal Communications Commission to take a closer look first.
Parable Broadcasting Co. in April asked the FCC to allow it to build the station in Batavia, Ill., west of Chicago, using the call sign WPBC. It wants to offer “broadcasting and data services.”
Specifically, Parable wrote that the station would “serve the areas of Europe that may be authorized by the commission. The planned broadcast content includes religious and educational programming, as well as data content provided by third parties.” It added that it wants to “take advantage of the recent push by the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters to develop and provide content for the growing DRM market.”
Now three individuals, collectively called the High-Frequency Parties, filed an informal objection. It’s that wording about data content that concerns them.
Bennett Z. Kobb, Kim Andrew Elliott and Christopher D. Rumbaugh said international broadcast stations in the U.S. are intended “to be received directly by the general public in foreign countries.”
Now they told the FCC that it is impossible to tell from the Parable application whether all of the data services and data provided by third parties will qualify. [Continue reading at Radio World…]
Bennett clarified with me:
The [FCC] rules require these [broadcasters] to be 100% broadcast stations, not a cover for some other kind of service.
Because there is no established radio service for international shortwave trading, some have used the workaround of calling them “experiments”. Quite a few such “experimental” stations have been licensed, some at rather high power levels.
See for example this article.
But legally, the Experimental Radio Service is supposed to be for temporary scientific purposes, not ongoing for-profit operations. We don’t know what those stations are really up to because the FCC has kept the details secret. All we know is some technical data such as callsigns, frequencies, QTH.
Instead of experimental stations, others wanting to get into the data business — including the Turms Tech station in New Jersey, and this Parable station in Batavia IL — seem to be using the work-around of the International Broadcast service. That is, proposing an audio programming station that uses the DRM data channel for trading messages.
We are not in the 1970s or 80s. There’s not enough money today in broadcasting audio to other countries, to justify the millions spent on real estate, engineering, antennas and transmitter plant. Most SW broadcasting around the world is not commercial. So it is very peculiar for new entrants to drop major bucks in this field.
The new guys are probably not getting in to spread the gospel. That is a surface paint. There are already several U.S. HF stations with religious content, as you know, including WTWW, WWCR, WRMI, WRNO, WINB, WWRB, WHRI, WBCQ, WJHR etc. and most would welcome new customers for airtime.
No need to construct new stations.
So what is this new station really? Get it out in the open and ask them how they intend to comply with the existing rules. If they are in the business of carrying secure messages for traders, that does not qualify and will need some special FCC action to allow it. Let the public see the reasoning.
The rules that exist are very old. We think FCC needs to do a top-to-bottom review of the HF broadcast rules and scrap a lot of it. FCC should permit stations to be built for U.S. domestic audiences, and they should reduce the minimum AM power (50 kW) to lower this barrier to
entry.And they should perhaps consider how data communications could be formally authorized. Maybe it wouldn’t be just a broadcast service any more, it could be a HF Communications Service with the old restrictions on languages and advertising discarded and more opportunities for people to try out creative ideas.
So we’re pressing the issue that this needs to be examined. Thanks for reading.
Thank you for sharing this, Bennett! We hope your filing gets its due attention. I also agree on one of your final points, that the FCC lower its 50 kw AM power requirement of a shortwave station as it places a huge barrier in front of would-be shortwave broadcasters.
Halley VI Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica (Source: British Antarctic Survey)
On Sunday, 21 June 2020, the BBC World Service officially transmitted the 2020 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast–an international radio broadcast intended for a small group of scientists, technicians, and support staff who work for the British Antarctic Survey.
This is one of my favorite annual broadcasts, and I endeavor to listen every year. Once again, the SWLing Post called upon readers to make a short recording of the broadcast from their locale.
Below are the entries, roughly organized by continent and country/region.
Putting this post together takes almost a full dedicated day sorting recordings, uploading, and formatting them for the Post. Many readers posted a link to their recording on Facebook, Twitter, or even in the comments section on previous posts. I tried to hunt down these links, but if I’ve somehow missed including your entry, please send me an email with details and a link to your recording; I’ll amend this post.
So, without further ado please enjoy the following recordings:
Europe
SWL: Florián Navarro
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
Notes:
Here are a couple of samples from the 2020 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast, both on 5790 kHz, the first one at 21:53 UTC, the second one at 21:59 UTC.
My receiver is a JRC-NRD 535 with an AOR LA400 loop antenna and I used a Roland Edirol R-09 recorder.
My location is Aarhus, Denmark. Best reception from here was on 5790 kHz followed by 7360 kHz (weaker signal and a bit background noise) while 9580 kHz was barely audible.
I really enjoy reading your articles, reviews, etc. in both your website and blog. thank you very much!
SWL: Paul Lethbridge
Location: Worthing, England
Notes: 9580 as received in Worthing with some talkback from G0JXX on 2mtr to me G3SXE
SWL: David (G4EDR)
Location: North Yorkshire
Notes:
I used my Tecsun PL-680 and its telescopic whip antenna to receive the annual mid winter broadcast. 5790 kHz was very strong here on the North Yorkshire coast in the UK. My audio recording was taken from the loud speaker using my mobile phone. Hope the quality is acceptable for posting on your website.
73, David – G4EDR
SWL: Mark Hillman
Location: Littlehampton, West Sussex
Notes: 132ft longwire at my QTH in IO90RT (M0TVV)
SWL: Mark Hirst
Location: North Hampshire, UK
Notes:
I hedge my bets this year and monitored both 5790kHz and 7360kHz using my RSPDuo and FRG-7700 respectively.
Below is the beginning of the broadcast on 7360kHz, recorded in North Hampshire, UK:
7360 kHz deteriorated towards the end, so the RSPDuo recording will be the keeper.
SWL: Nick B.
Location: England
Notes:
Some recordings I made this evening on 5790kHz. I’m around 90 miles NE of Woofferton TX so it’s a big signal here!
Using Airspy HF+ Discovery, SDR Console in SAM mode.
Unfortunately, the BBC caused a lot of confusion due to their incorrect broadcast time (and incorrect pluralising Ascension Island!). I hope they managed good reception down in Antarctica.
SWL: Roseanna
Notes:
I’ve got the BBC Midwinder 2020 broadcast recorded in pretty amazing quality for your archive post!
https://youtu.be/M-lp7SGONGc
https://youtu.be/1cYcqi387jg
SWL: Philippe
Location: Brest. France
Notes:
Good morning Thomas,
i’ve recorded the last BBC Antarctic Midwinter broadcast.
I’m located near BREST, in west France.
SWL: Martin
Location: Hannover, Germany
Notes:
Here is a recording of the 2020 BBC midwinter broadcast, received in Hannover Germany on my XHDATA D-808 and its telescopic whip antenna, with the strongest signal on 5790 kHz via Woofferton.
Thanks for bringing this broadcast to my attention!
SWL: Andreas Bremm
Location: Western Germany
Notes:
Hello Thomas i can send you my record from the BBC Midwinter Show sounds really good. It’s recorded with Tecsun ICR 100 Revived with Tecsun Pl880 and a MLA30+ Loop in Western Germany
SWL: Alan
Location: Ireland
Notes:
5790 kHz Woofferton UK
BBC Antarctic Midwinter broadcast 21-06-2020 21:30UTC
Recorded from County Kildare, Ireland (GRID IO63ri)
Icom-718 and 20m Random wire
Olympus vn-741pc
Best regards,
Alan
SWL: Marco Origlia
Location: Cuneo, Italy
Notes:
My name is Marco and I am an Italian student in Telecommunications
Engineering. Thanks to one of our Professors, I’ve become enthusiast for
radio communications and day by day I’m becoming a shortwave listener. I
must thank you for your blog. I’ve added it to my RSS feed aggregator so
that I don’t miss any of your posts, which I always find very interesting.
Upon your invitation I would like to share a short recording of the BBC
Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast I made. The data of the recording are the
following:
Location: Cuneo, Italy (44.384413N, 7.542607E), from an indoor location
of a urban area
Frequency: 7360 kHz
Receiver: TECSUN PL-660 with wire antenna leaning out of the window
Time: UTC 2020-06-21 21.41
Although at times the signal faded, the broadcast was pretty clear.
I haven’t bought a jack to jack cable to pipe the output of the radio to
the computer, yet. So I plugged my headphones into the computer, I put
the headphone microphone on the radio speaker, I recorded the broadcast
with OBS and converted it using VLC.
Thank you again for your service to the shortwave listeners community,
Marco Origlia
SWL: Giovanni Lorenzi
Location: Messina, Sicily Island
Notes:
I’m Giovanni Lorenzi, and I’m a amateur radio too. I live in Messina, Sicily Island. My working condition are: receiver Yaesu FRG-7000 and dipole antenna.
I’ve tuned the program above and I’m sending 3 audio clip about.
Giovanni Lorenzi
SWL: Giuseppe Morlè (IZ0GZW)
Location: Formia, Central Italy
Notes:
I’m Giuseppe Morlè, iz0gzw, from Formia, Central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea …
Also this year I send you the link where you can see My Antartic Midwinter 2020 video.
I hope you will publish it on SWLing Post for the swl community of the world …
I thank you and always wish you good listening.
Ciao from Italy.
SWL: Przemys?aw Ryszka
Location: Jaslo, Poland
Notes: Recorded in Jaslo, south-eastern Poland using Tecsun PL-360 and some lenght of a wire.
SWL: Anton Kolesnichenko, R9LAU
Location: Tyumen, Russia
Notes:
QTH Loc: MO27SE
Frequency: 7360 kHz, 5790 kHz
Receiver: Icom 7300
Antenna: 40M dipole
73 de Anton, R9LAU
SWL: Dmitry Elagin
Location: Saratov, Russia
Notes:
Good afternoon!
Hello from Saratov, Russia!
UTC time: 21:30 – 22:00
Frequency khz: 9580
Weak signal. Local impulse interference. Sometimes fading a weak signal and noise at frequency.
Signals 7360 and 5790 are much stronger.
Receiver: SDRplay RSP1
Antenna: Long wire antenna 7 meters + counterpoise 20 m. (10 – 14 m. above ground level)
MFJ-959C Antenna Tuner SWL and Preamp / MFJ-931 Artificial RF Ground
Receiver location: Saratov, Russia
SWL: Richard Lacroix
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Notes:
I managed to receive on all 3 frequencies from Toronto, Ontario Canada. Best
of them was 9580 kHz. I first started to listen on 7360 kHz as this was the
only working frequency. Reception was poor, hence the poor audio recording.
Conditions rapidly got much better which allowed me to switch to 9580 during
the broadcast period with much better reception.
LOCATION: Toronto, Ontario Canada
TIME: 2130 – 2200 UTC
FREQUENCY: 9580 kHz
RECEIVER: SDRplay RSP2duo
ANTENNA: Barker Williamson, Inverted V
CONDITIONS: Urban environment, thunderstorm activity
SWL: Richard Langley
Location: Hanwell, New Brunswick
Notes:
I obtained a good recording of the BAS broadcast here in New Brunswick, Canada, on 7360 kHz using a Tecsun PL-880 receiver outdoors at my house with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna strung to a nearby tree. Attached is a photo of the “listening post” at the back of my mosquito-infested backyard. Note the bug spray!
You can hear my full half-hour recording, with more details on reception, on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive: https://shortwavearchive.com/archive/bbc-world-service-annual-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast-june-21-2020
SWL: David Elden
Location: Ottawa
Notes:
Received in Ottawa, Canada using an XHDATA D-808 with ~15 feet of wire clipped to the telescopic antenna. Location was on a balcony, east facing about 20 feet above the ground. Nothing heard on 5790, faint signal on 9580 and readable with variable fading on 7360 (maybe S3R3-4). Recording here:
SWL: Cameron Campion
Location: Melbourne
Notes:
Hello Thomas, Here is my reception of the BBC Midwinter broadcast from here in Melbourne, Australia with my XHDATA Receiver. I received first on 7360khz and then switched to 5790khz where the reception improved substantially.
SWL: Chris Mackerell
Location: Marahau, New Zealand
Notes:
Here are a couple of clips from the BBC Midwinter broadcast
for Antarctica received here in Marahau, New Zealand.
This is 7360 kHz – the best of the signals. 5790 was weaker,
and 9580 was just a spike on the SDR display.
The clips are the first & last minute or so.
Receiver was an Elad DUOr with a Wellbrook loop antenna.
73 Chris
SWL: Ulises Chialva
Location: Rio Primero, Argentina
Notes:
My name is Ulises Chialva, Im 46 years old and I live in a small rural town called Rio Primero, in the Cordoba province, central region of Argentina. Im a DXer since the late 80´s and been a member of several clubs here in Argentina, also a monitor for Radio Netherlands in the 2000´s.
Today is a cold Fathers day here in Argentina, and at the moment of listening I was also enjoying a really beautiful sunset.
I’ve listen to this years BBC midwinter broadcast with my Sony ICF-2010 and a 45 meters long random wire antenna with a 9:1 balun.
Conditions were pretty good with the UK so I’ve listened to Woofferton station transmissions very clear on 5790 and specially 7360 KHz; 6170 and 9580 from Ascension Island were barely audible here.
I send to you a little more than 1 minute recording of 7360 KHz from Woofferton, UK; and a photo of my little shack here at home.
SWL: Carlos Latuff
Location: Porto Alegre, Brazil
Notes:
It was a risky listening to the Midwinter Broadcast during the Covid-19 pandemic, because I had to leave my home since inside my apartment it is practically impossible to listen to shortwave radio due strong interference.
I took my Tecsun PL-606 (telescopic whip only) to the Guaiba waterfront near my home here in Porto Alegre. It was a calm night with calm weather and the place was CROWDED; people with and without masks, ignoring the social distancing. I stayed only for a short time there, trying to keep myself away from people.
SWL: Francisco Miranda Fuentes
Location: Santiago, Chile
Notes:
I send you my participation to reception of the activity “2020 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on June 21”. I also attach a recording in mp3 format corresponding to 44 seconds of the event.
Name: Francisco Miranda Fuentes
Receiving frequency: 7360 khz at Woofferton
Receiver: Kenwood R-1000.
Antenna: T2FD
Location of the box: Santiago, capital city of the Republic of Chile.
Recording: 128 bps mp3 format
SWL: Julio Campos
Location: Costa Rica
Notes:
Hi. This is my brief reception. It was still daylight here, and there was a heavy storm. The reception was poor.
Once again, many thanks to all of you who submitted your recordings of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast!
We’ll be sharing this post with both the British Antarctic Survey and the BBC World Service. And to all of you, from the SWLing Post: Happy (Belated) Midwinter! Happy Summer/Winter Solstice!
Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!
Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike, who writes:
Hi, Tom: Icom Japan have just published a couple videos in Japanese where and enthusiastic JH1CBX takes us on a tour of the new IC-705. Although many of us don’t speak Japanese, it’s easy to understand what she’s talking about as she tours the radio features, functions, and ports. I’ve had an IC-705 on “pre-order” for months now, so I appreciate the preview. Perhaps Icom UK or America will follow-up with some videos as well. Thanks for all you do for the shortwave and ham radio community, Tom. 73, Mike
Thank you Mike! I plan to review the IC-705 and look forward to seeing how well it works in the field.
From the Isle of Music, July 12-18:
This week, Arturo Cruz shares songs from his new release Benny por Siempre, a tribute to Benny Moré with ten prominent vocalists.
The broadcasts take place:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Sofia, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands during the broadcast at
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=9400am
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EDT in the US).
If you don’t have a shortwave or are out of range, you can listen to a live stream from the WBCQ website here (choose 7490): http://www.wbcq.com/?page_id=7
3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to uplinks from various websdrs in Europe.
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
Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, July 12 and 14:
Episode 173 brings us some of the rich multiethnic stew that is the music of Suriname.
The transmissions take place:
1.Sundays 2200-2300 (6:00PM -7:00PM EDT) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
If you don’t have a shortwave or are out of range, you can listen to a live stream from the WBCQ website here (choose 7490): http://www.wbcq.com/?page_id=7
2. Tuesdays 2000-2100 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe.
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from different web SDRs in Europe
including a live uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands at http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=6070am
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
Photo by Ben Koorengevel
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who writes:
I’ve just finished reading “Sealand’s Caretakers”. Very fascinating.
In the article, they give a link to an article “This excerpt describes the fallout that came from a gang of international scam artists bootlegging Sealand passports.”
This article is titled: “The Plot Against the Principality of Sealand” and is hosted on narratively.com.
It’s another fascinating article about Sealand and well worth the read.
Narratively.com is a very interesting site with lots of well written articles. In perusing the site, I came across an article about Deke Duncan who ran Radio 77 from a backyard shed for an audience of one.
At the end of the article, you can listen to the “Radio 77” episode of Snap Judgement by Jeff Maysh.
BBC did a piece on it in 1974:
It’s a great story about someone’s love of radio.
For even more detail about Deke, check out this article.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Bill!
Last year, my friend Matt gave me his Icom IC-756 Pro transceiver.
Yep, Matt’s a very generous fellow and, trust me, one of the coolest radio guys you’ll ever meet.
Matt was in the process of moving and told me nothing would make him happier than the transceiver to go to a good home and be put on the air. Although it’s actually rather difficult for me to accept gifts like this, I did so knowing that Matt still has some of the coolest radios on the planet. In other words, I wasn’t accepting his only HF radio!
I brought the IC-756 Pro home, attached a power cord and antenna then put it on the air. I just wanted to check out the rig by getting to know the functions and controls much like I do when a new rig lands on my desk for evaluation and review. Thing is, I didn’t stop tuning around for well over two hours!
The IC-756 Pro reminded me how much I miss some of the larger DX or contest-grade receivers and transceivers I’ve had in my shack–most notably, the Ten-Tec OMNI VI PLUS.
For the past few years, with the exception of radios I test and evaluate, I’ve been operating exclusively from the shack with my Elecraft KX3. The KX3 is a fine rig and the ergonomics are well thought-though, but larger rigs (like the IC-756 Pro (II and III), Elecraft K3s, Kenrwood TS-890s, Yaesu FT-DX101, etc. etc.) have a sizeable front panel space that allows for more controls and a larger display. Evidently, I had been missing that.
There’s a reason why we see larger radios being used on DXpeditions even though cargo capacity is often at a premium: performance aside, spacious front panes and informative displays make it easier for radio ops to make quick adjustments without having to reference a manual. You learn how to manipulate the notch, filters, passband, RF gain, split, etc. and muscle memory takes over.
I’m sure this is why SWL DXers like our friend Dan Robinson still prefer and gravitate to commercial, rack-mounted receivers. (I would, too, if I had the room!)
As for the Icom IC-756 Pro, I’ve got it set up to to be my dedicated SSB and digital modes transceiver. I’ll also plan to play a little CW once I find the quarter inch adapter for my key! I haven’t really tested the ‘756 Pro’s performance on the broadcast bands because I have so many dedicated receivers for SWLing and MW DXing in the shack.
The IC-756 Pro is an oldie, but goodie: a very capable transceiver, and a proud resident of SWLing Post HQ.
Not sure if you’ll read this post, Matt, but thank you once again. I’m truly enjoying this rig!
Post Readers: What’s your favorite “big” rig? Please comment with details!