AWA Video: HCJB “High in the Andes”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark (AE2EA), who writes: 

Good Morning Thomas,

The Antique Wireless Museum has just released a video of a presentation
by AWA member Rich Place about his time working at HCJB, The Voice of
the Andes. I thought your SWLing members might be interested.

Click here to view on YouTube.

AWA member and RF engineer Rich Place, WB2JLR, made multiple trips to
Ecuador to work at the HCJB transmitter and he relates his experiences
with some of the unique challenges associated with operating a high
power shortwave transmitter at a high, dry elevation, in a remote
location near Quito Ecuador.

73, Mark ~ AE2EA

Thank you for the tip, Mark!

Spread the radio love

W9IMS: Indy 500 Special Event Details

Indy 500 Special Event: The Greatest Spectacle in Radio! 

By Brian D. Smith, W9IND

Like the race cars that made Indy famous, your opportunity for another W9IMS QSL card is coming around again. This time it’s the venerable Indianapolis 500 that will take center stage from now through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, May 28 (0359 UTC Monday, May 29).

This is the second of three special events conducted by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club in 2023, and if you managed to catch W9IMS during the first race – the IndyCar Grand Prix – you’re still on track to earn a 2023 Checkered Flag Award. The colorful certificate is presented to any ham or SWL who snares all three W9IMS special events in a given year.

Regardless of whether you can still take the Checkered Flag, you’re eligible for a special QSL card with every race. Both the cards and the certificate feature new images each year.

Tips on finding W9IMS:

  1. Check DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi) for spots listing the current frequency or frequencies of W9IMS. You can customize your search by typing “W9IMS” in the box at upper right.
  2. Go to the W9IMS web page (www.w9ims.org) and look for the heading, “2023 Operating Schedule.” Click on the Indianapolis 500 link, which opens into a weeklong schedule of individual operators and their reserved time slots. Although operators often get on the air at unscheduled times, your odds of bagging the station improve significantly during hours with a listed op.
  3. Prime operating time on weeknights is 6 to 10 p.m. Indy time (2200-0200 UTC). That’s also your most likely shot at finding W9IMS activate on two bands – generally 20 and 40 meters. Preferred frequencies are 14.245 and 7.245 MHz, but it’s possible that the station will move to other bands if propagation warrants.
  4. Remember that the published schedule could be shortened by adverse circumstances, such as noisy band conditions, local thunderstorms or a lack of calling stations. Don’t wait till the final hour to look for W9IMS!
  5. If you work W9IMS for the first two races, keep in mind that the third and final race of the year – the NASCAR 200 at the Brickyard – doesn’t take place until Aug. 7-13. But it’s worth the wait!

 

Spread the radio love

Reach Beyond Australia: Tom notes excellent reception and Jeff White interview

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who writes:

Propagation is very good. Reach Beyond Australia is now picked up with regularity from my noisy Northern Illinois Condominium. I find it fascinating to hear the different 15-minute language programs, including indigenous music, in Hindi, Tamil, different Burmese dialects, etc. Of course, since it is a Christian broadcaster, the music and teachings are about Jesus as Lord. However, all of the programs are authentically created inside the target country and uploaded to the Western Australian computer server in order to be broadcast. Here is a link on archive.org where I spliced 2 mornings of (mostly) music:

Also, it just so happens this week that Jeff White, hosting the popular WaveScan radio program, interviewed the CEO of Reach Beyond Australia, Dale Stagg, who explains the origins and continued mission of Reach Beyond Global as a continuation of HCJB’s shortwave radio vision established in 1931.

Enjoy!
TomL

Thank you for sharing this, Tom!

Spread the radio love

Radio Waves: Czech Radio Coin, Philips Reproduction, Radio Restoration, Turning Radio Around, Titanic SOS, and Ford Decides to Keep AM

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Iurescia, Christopher Brennen, Doug Katz, Dennis Dura, Jon Langley, and Mark Pascoe for the following tips:


Czech National Bank issues special coin to commemorate 100 years of Czech Radio (Czech Radio)

A special CZK 200 silver coin has been issued by the Czech National Bank to mark the 100th anniversary of Czech Radio. The coin’s design features images related to the history of the radio’s first broadcasts.

It was way back in 1923, specifically on May 18 at 8:15pm in the evening, that Czechoslovak Radio began broadcasting from what was a Scouts’ tent in Prague’s Kbely district. Czechoslovakia thus became only the second country in Europe to establish regular broadcasting. At first these were only hour-long broadcasts, but soon they grew into longer and more varied segments that even included broadcasting in English and Esperanto as early as 1924.

The popularity, size and resources of the country’s radio grew rapidly from that point onwards and Czechoslovak Radio would go on to also play important roles in the country’s history by providing vital information to its citizens during the 1945 uprising against Nazi occupation forces and the 1968 Invasion of Czechoslovakia.

No wonder then that the centenary the country’s public broadcaster is being celebrated in great style. Czech Radio itself has prepared a variety of events and shows commemorating the anniversary this year – and especially this week. Meanwhile, the Czech Post has issued special stamps marking the occasion.

Now, the Czech National Bank has joined in, by issuing its own special CZK 200 silver coin. On one side, it features pictures of a radio microphone, transmission masts and of the historic broadcasting facility in Kbely. The other side of the coin shows the tent from which the first broadcast was made and the logo of Czechoslovak Radio. The design is the work of academic sculptor Marie Šeborová, who has already created several commemorative coins and medals in the past. Continue reading

Spread the radio love

The mystery radio that wasn’t…


Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Julian Stargardt, who shares the following in response to our recent mystery radio post:


Deciphering Dan Robinson’s mystery photo from the Marvellous Mrs Maizel

Solution:

  1. The object at the right background below the painting and behind the cravat wearing adult male’s raised hand is a chair with 4 or 5 old leather bound books stacked on it. Thanks to Bill Hemphill WD9EQD for suggesting chair(s)! It was a big hint.
  2. The object with a white frame that’s almost flush with the wall at the extreme lefthand side – to the left of the book case – maybe a mirror or an alcove, difficult to say. It is above a shallow built in cupboard that looks like a book cabinet to me.
  3. Slightly toward the foreground visually in front of the low level cupboard is a corner of a brown wood table.
  4. There is a ledge or mantelpiece beneath and in front of the mirror/alcove(?) and bookcase. On this shelf at the lefthand side there is another stack of 3 leather bound books with a glass paperweight(?) on top of the top volume. Behind the stack of books, either a reflection in the mirror, if it is a mirror, or in the alcove, if it is an alcove, are some other indistinct objects. From Dan’s photo, I don’t think it’s a painting, but it might be.

Steps to solution

Key items in the photo:

  1. Child and adult (“pianists”) at the piano
  2. Piano
  3. Wall and features of the wall behind the pianists
  4. Gilt framed painting at the righthand side of the photo
  5. Below the painting is a difficult to interpret composite object. To resolve the identity of the composite object, I copied and pasted the image to a word document, then pasted the image again and cropped it to focus in on the composite object. Looking at the image of the composite object several components become apparent: (i) a slightly curved and tilted vertical brown frame surrounding with a gap on either side (ii) an unornamented white panel, (iii) an object or stack of objects in front of the vertical white panel, (iv) at the extreme bottom right hand side of the frame an angle, a close to a right angle that transitions the rear slightly curved and tilted vertical brown frame to a horizontal frame containing a padded off white insert that matches the vertical off white insert surrounded by the vertical brown frame, ergo a chair, (v) so what is or are the object(s) on the chair? They are objects, i.e. there are more than one. These objects are 4 or 5 leather bound books, see 2 below.
  6. Book case with diagonal wire lattice security doors containing mostly leather bound books on 3 shelves that are visible or implied
  7. Shelf below bookcase
  8. Small stack of 3 leatherbound books and glass paperweight(?) at lefthand side
  9. Alcove/mirror/painting behind the stack of 3 books and glass object at the lefthand side – how do I know it’s glass and likely a paperweight? (i) Glass: Because the frame behind it can be seen indistinctly through it, (ii) Paperweight: because of its shape and size and apparent mass, seems likely to be a solid or near solid object
  10. Right angled brown object at left hand side – looks most likely to be a table

  1. Just to throw the viewer off the mark, many of the books in the image have broken or damaged spines revealing the underlying binding, this makes it difficult from this photo to confirm if there are 4 or 5 books in the stack on the chair. It’s possible that there is a bottom-most thin dark bound book at the bottom, an alternative interpretation is that this bottom-most object is the bottom cover of the book resting on the chair.
  2. (a) The books in the photo seem to be at most quarto or small folio in size, with most being octavo or smaller. (b) From the usual size of a chair my guess is that the 4 or books on the chair are all quarto or small folio sized. (c) From the bindings and the state of the bindings, I’d guess that they are mostly mid to late 19th century books, possibly early 20th century.
Spread the radio love