Tate Modern ISS installation doubles as ham radio antenna

Photo by @helenleigh

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Matthew, who shares the following tweet from Helen Leigh:

This sculpture at the Tate Modern blew my mind this week. It’s a wire sculpture inspired by the International Space Station that functions as an antenna for a ham radio.

Photo by @helenleigh

Twice a day it plays live audio and data transmissions from the ISS as it passes overhead.

Click here to view on Twitter.

Fascinating!  Goes to show that the Tate Modern is always chock-full of amazing discoveries. Thank you for sharing this, Matthew!

Spread the radio love

Radio Waves: B&W to Color, Antenna Wins, Hearing Voices in the Walls, and Beached Whales

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers.  To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’sRadio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Ron, Paul Walker, and Troy Riedel for the following tips:


Colorizing black and white photos (Antique Radio Forum)

Ron shares this link to a discussion about vintage black and white photos that have been auto-colorized.[]

State law protects ham radio operator, frustrates neighbors in Windsor Twp. (York Dispatch)

A Windsor Township resident whose neighbors are upset over her amateur radio tower is within her rights to have the antenna on her property, township officials confirmed Monday.

An engineer went out to the site in the 400 block of White Rose Lane to inspect the 40-foot tower and ensure it didn’t pose a safety threat to neighbors, township engineer Chris Kraft told the board of supervisors at a meeting Monday.

“Based on that review, we feel the tower is structurally safe,” he said.

Lindsey Fowler is the homeowner who built the tower on her property last September. Fowler is a licensed amateur radio operator, according to Federal Communications Commission records, and her license is valid through December 2021.

[…]Marc McClure, one of the neighbors who lives near Fowler, told the board in October that he and several other neighbors were opposed to the tower and said it should be removed, according to minutes from the Oct. 21 board meeting.

McClure said the tower was an eyesore in the neighborhood and that he and others were concerned about the structural safety of the tower were it to fall, as well as the potential unknown health hazards from exposure to radio frequencies.

The neighbors were also worried about a decrease in their property values, McClure said.

[…]In Pennsylvania, amateur radio operators’ rights are protected by state statute, and municipalities are not allowed to unreasonably restrict the installation of towers fewer than 65-feet high.

And now that the township has confirmed there’s no safety risk to Fowler’s neighbors, township officials said the dispute is outside of their purview.[]

Lockport family says mysterious voices, music come from house’s walls; local radio station may be source (ABC 7)

LOCKPORT, Ill. (WLS) — A family in Lockport said strange sounds, including music and talk radio, has been coming out of their walls and keeping them up at night off and on for about six years.

“There are voices in the wall and I don’t know what it is,” said 9-year-old Brianna Smith.

It may sound like an episode of the popular Netflix show “Stranger Things,” but the mysterious sounds Brianna is hearing are real.

“It has been waking me up at night,” she said.

The sounds are coming from the bedroom walls of her home in the middle of the night.

“It kind of keeps us up at night,” explained Brianna’s father Richard.

Richard said the family doesn’t have any speakers in their walls. He captured some of the late night noise on his phone and sent it to the ABC7 I-Team. The music was faint, but the I-Team could hear it.

“It’s one of our favorite songs, but not at 10 o’clock at night,” Richard said.

Richard Smith called Lockport police, who took two detailed reports about the bizarre problem. In one, the officer noted that he could hear “voices and music” and “talking about Christ.” Then the officer said he heard a commercial for the Christian radio station AM 1160.[]

The Surprising Way Solar Storms Can Beach Whales (Spaceweater.com)

Space weather isn’t just for humans. Whales are experiencing it, too. A new study published this week in the research journal Current Biology shows that solar storms can confuse whales and cause them to strand on beaches–and the mechanism is surprising. Get the full story on Spaceweather.com.[]


Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

Spread the radio love

Sporadic E on the Red Planet

(Source: Inverse)

Thanks to NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission to Mars, you may soon never need to fiddle with the tuning dial on a car radio again.

When we listen to songs on the radio, the sound travels via radio waves that are given out by a transmitter and then received by a receiver — in the case of a car, the car’s antenna is the receiver.

Radio waves travel in the form of electromagnetic radiation from one antenna to the other. The journey, however, isn’t always perfect.

Sometimes, there is a sudden spike in the amount of hot gas in the upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere which causes interference in radio communications. If you are tuned into a favorite station, that could result in static, or for one radio station to be replaced by another.

This phenomenon, known as sporadic E layer, is difficult to study on Earth because that part of the planet’s atmosphere is hard to reach with satellites. As a result, scientists can’t predict when they will occur — leaving us to fiddle with dials.

But thanks to MAVEN, a spacecraft traveling 300 million miles away from our planet, we could finally have the solution.

MAVEN detected sporadic E layer in Mars’ upper atmosphere, and scientists are hoping to be able to use the Red Planet as an off-Earth laboratory to study the phenomenon up close. Already, the data have provided new insights into the cause of radio static, which also affects communications with aircrafts and military radars.[…]

Click here to read the full story.

Spread the radio love

Shortwave Shindig live stream tonight via the Wave Farm

David Goren hosts the annual Shortwave Shindig at the Winter SWL Fest

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Goren, who notes that the Winter SWL Fest Shortwave Shindig will stream live via the Wave Farm this evening.

The Shortwave Shindig will begin on February 28, 2020 at 9:15 pm EST (or February, 29 at 2:15 UTC).

The stream link will be accessible at the Wave Farm website, but only when the show is live.

To listen to the Shortwave Shindig live, simply click on this link to view the Shindig page at the Wave Farm Website.

You can also access the Shortwave Shindig live stream by clicking on the “Listen” link at the top left corner of the Wave Farm website. Note the stream link will only appear and play when the show is live.

Here’s a description of the 2020 Shortwave Shindig from the Winter SWL Fest website:

ANNUAL SHORTWAVE SHINDIG – David Goren

Come join our informal and popular late night hang as David Goren and friends celebrate the short wavelengths with stories, songs, and vintage sounds.

Shortwave Shindig Opening Ceremonies
2115 – 2200
Our resident folk music laureate Saul Broudy opens the show with old radio favorites and specialties from his vast repertoire followed by a revue of shortwave sounds in popular culture and specially commissioned works.

Meet the Archivists
2200 – 2245
Our panel of radio archivists Thomas Witherspoon, Mark Fahey and David Goren share rarities from their archives including some gems from the recently rescued collection of the late Michael Pool aka The Professor.

NYC FM Pirate Radio Update
2245 – 2330
A sneak peek at a major update to the Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map and related news and discussion about urban pirate radio in the U.S.

Mercy! So Much Noise
2330-????
Tom Miller aka Comrade Squelch and David Goren weave a dense mix combining live radio with archival air checks.

Many thanks, David, for sharing this info!  I look forward to participating in the Shortwave Shindig once again!

Viva la radio!

Spread the radio love

WRMI to start broadcasting Encore – Classical Music in US

EUROPE:
This coming weekend Encore – Classical Music on Radio Tumbril will be broadcast at 11:00 UTC on SATURDAY on 6070 kHz by Channel 292.
There are two repeats – 19:00 UTC Friday on 6070 kHz, and 09:00 UTC on Sunday on 7440 kHz by Channel 292.
NORTH AMERICA:
WWCR Nashville will broadcast Encore for the last time on Saturday at 21:00 UTC on 9350 kHz.
Many thanks to WWCR for relaying Encore to the US and Canada for the last few months.
WBCQ Maine will send out the show on 7490 kHz at 01:00 UTC Monday to the US. (Early evening Sunday local US – obviously.)
WRMI will begin broadcasting Encore to the US and Canada on 5850 kHz 01:00 UTC Sunday and 9455 kHz 03:00 UTC Monday this weekend.
Our email is  [email protected]. Informal reception reports as well as those requesting eQSL welcome.
This week’s programme contains some music for organ and trumpet, a couple of Swedish folk songs, chamber music from Tchaikovsky, some Brahms, Ravel, Marin Marais, and a contemporary composition by Cheryl Frances-Hoad.
A very mixed selection as usual – but they seem to go well together. I hope you enjoy the sequence.
The playlist is on the website and will be updated soon after Saturday’s broadcast of the new show by Channel 292 at 11:00 UTC – but probably not until Sunday evening.
Both Channel 292 and WBCQ as well as WWCR can be pulled live off the internet if the reception is poor in your location. Easy to find their sites with a google search.
In the meantime – thank you for spreading the word about Encore – Classical Music on Shortwave. And thank you to everyone for letting us know how well the signal is received where you live.
Brice Avery – Encore – Radio Tumbril – www.tumbril.co.uk
Regular Broadcast times are:
11:00 – 12:00 UTC Saturday on 6070 kHz and repeated at 09:00 UTC Sunday on 7440 kHz and Friday on 6070 kHz Channel 292 (Germany).
01:00 – 02:00 UTC Sunday on 5850 kHz and 9455 kHz 03:00 UTC Monday on WRMI (Florida USA).
Spread the radio love

The Birth of Radar Memorial

Photo by Amanda Slater

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who writes:

Interesting article on the new monument to radar between Daventry and Towcester in Northamptonshire, UK.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/birth-of-radar-memorial

Legend has it that this was conducted around 25-28 MHz, which was the very top end of higher power RF at the time.

The location sits closer to Towcester, although the event is always quoted as having taken place at Daventry (the source, not the receiver).

It’s fascinating that Plessey Research Caswell was set up almost immediately, not very far away and was heavily involved in radar and other solid-state research through to the 1990s.

[Disclosure: the author (Paul) worked at Plessey Caswell and was Two Terminal device Manager at Plessey Microwave, Towcester in the 1980s]

Many thanks, Paul, for sharing this fascinating bit of history.

Spread the radio love