World Radio Day

This was posted on the European broadcasting Union page:

To mark World Radio Day (13 February), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is organizing a ‘Musical Caravan’ from east to west in partnership with other broadcasting unions across the globe.

Listeners will be taken around the world in a little over two hours.

This special compilation submitted by EBU Members, Associates and its sister unions (ABU, ASBU and CBU*) and coordinated by the EBU Music Unit in Geneva consists of songs representing the musical heritage of 34 countries.

The broad list of contributions include a Richard Strauss lied recorded by Bavarian Radio, an Indonesian song for peace and friendship, a folk tune from India and carnival music from the Caribbean.

The EBU will also share key facts about radio listening compiled by the organization’s Media Intelligence Unit in the week leading up to World Radio Day 2016 on its Facebook page and Twitter account.

Another highlight of the EBU’s contribution to World Radio Day 2016 will be a special performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo and the Kunitachi College of Music Chorus. An interview with conductor Paavo Järvi can be found here.

EBU Head of Radio Graham Dixon said: “Radio plays a very significant part in all our lives. On average, we will listen to nine years of radio in a lifetime – more than any activity except breathing and sleeping! Radio provides a convenient way to encounter new ideas, new music and new ways of thinking, and also provides valuable company to counter isolation and loss. Nine years of an average lifetime is indeed an impressive figure, but the real personal impact of radio cannot be quantified. World Radio Day provides a great opportunity to reflect on the power of radio.“

– See more at: http://www3.ebu.ch/news/2016/02/ebu-takes-listeners-on-a-global

Robert Gulley, AK3Q, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Robert also blogs at All Things Radio.

Gary discovers a way to lock narrow filters on the Tecsun PL-880

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Gary (WN9U) who writes:

Just an FYI comment about the narrow filters NOT staying on while tuning. I read about the similar problem that you encountered during the initial testing of the PL-880.

While tuning CW stations with the 500 Hz filter turned on (fast or fine tuning), the filter would always revert back to the 3.0 wider setting. It had never done this before. I tried several resets with no cure.

After further testing I found the fix: I had turned on the Hidden Menu Noise Reduction (switch 6) and did not realize it was on.

After turning off the Noise Reduction, I was able to tune with the narrow filters set at any band width. Evidently, the filter opens up to 3.0 when tuning with the Noise Reduction turned on & reset does not turn off this function.

Thanks so much for the tip, Gary! I’ll add this to our (still) growing list of PL-880 hidden features and tips. Seems there’s always something to discover on the Tecsun PL-880.

Check out the new web-based KiwiSDR in New Zealand

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Borgnino, who shares a link to a new web SDR in New Zealand: The KiwiSDR installation.

Andrea posted the following on Twitter:

The new KiwiSDR is fantastic !! Best web-receiver ever !!! https://t.co/YiIEUE3CIe @SWLingDotCom @LondonShortwave pic.twitter.com/d3i9UVynt7

— Andrea Borgnino IW0HK (@aborgnino) February 9, 2016

I agree with Andrea: this WebSDR has an amazing display and user interface. It even includes both a spectrum and full-color waterfall.

I’ve enjoyed tuning around the mediumwave band in New Zealand this morning. My Internet connection is terribly slow (and unreliable) but I was still able to view the full display while streaming audio with only a few hiccups. With a moderately robust Internet connection, I believe you’ll be pleased with the KiwiSDR.

Click here to visit the KiwiSDR online.

Many thanks, Andrea, for the tip!

The Mighty KBC is seeking sponsorship

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mike Nikolich (N9OVQ), who writes:

Hi, Tom:

Uncle Eric mentioned [this past weekend] on The Mighty KBC (6040 kHz) around 0145 UTC that they will be leaving the airwaves if they cannot attract enough advertising revenue.

I would really miss this radio station if it left the air.

[…]I’m sure Kenwood, ICOM, Ham Radio Outlet and C Crain have enough discretionary funds to advertise on this station and I can’t imagine a more targeted ad buy for shortwave listeners than The Mighty KBC.

Thanks for the message, Mike! Yes, I would also miss The Mighty KBC if they left the air–their music program, “The Giant Jukebox” is one of my favorites.

If you have any sponsorship leads or ideas, please contact The Mighty KBC via their website.

Paul schedules new shortwave broadcasts via WRMI, WBCQ and Channel 292

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Paul Walker, who writes:

I will be doing another broadcast on Shortwave and it’s going to be even bigger and better right now.

Tentatively, this is how the broadcast schedule times/frequencies work out to be:

WBCQ 5110khz and 9330khz Friday March 11th, 2016
10pm to 12midnight Eastern (which is 0300 to 0500 UTC Saturday March 12th)
WRMI 11580khz Thursday March 10th, 2016 Thursday March 10th, 2016
8pm to 10pm Eastern (which is 0100 to 0300utc on Friday March 11th)
Channel 292, 6070khz (Germany transmitter site) Friday March 110th, 2016
10pm to 12midnight UK time (which is 5pm to 7pm eastern, not that Channel 292 can be heard in the US… just giving you a frame of reference)

I am in the process of booking all this time, so something could change in terms of times/dates between now and the broadcast dates.

I’ll be doing 2 hours of rock n roll and country music .. no commercials, no pleading for money, no asking for donations.. just me, playing the music I like.. because. well I want to and I can.

I’m paying for time on all 4 of these stations out of MY OWN POCKET, again for no reason, other then I want to.

So many complain about what radio lacks, wether am, fm or sw and lament about the old days or suggest what would work today.. but want it done with other people’s money.. they won’t put up and shut up. What I do won’t change radio or make much of a difference in the grand scheme of shortwave radio, but I can have fun and share my love of radio and music with others.

I am trying to secure an hour or two on a United Kingdom area AM station as well if it is affordable and I can find one to sell me time.

Writing to you from an apartment only 500 feet from the frozen Yukon river in Alaska’s interior region.

Excellent news, Paul! Please keep us informed as I’m happy to post any updates you may have. We’ll be listening!

Hallicrafters booth at the 1970 Consumer Electronics Show

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Click to enlarge.

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bob, who writes:

A great photo for your blog, for no particular reason…

[The image above is a] part of a long blog post by Lenovo about CES history, but I did not see any attribution to Hallicrafters.

Here is the post:

http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/ces-history-technology-consumer-electronics-show/

Very, very cool! What I wouldn’t give to travel back to the CES shows of the 1970s and 80s.

According to the Levono blog, the 1970 CES was when the VCR made its debut. Amazing.

Thanks again, Bob.

I’m curious if any SWLing Post readers have attended the CES in past decades. I really wanted to attend CES in the 1990s, but since I was a university student half of that decade, I never had the funds (or justification) to do so!

Your favorite radio stations that stream online?

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The Grace Digital Mondo WiFi radio

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time with WiFi radios.

You see, I’ve been preparing a three part series about WiFi radios for The Spectrum Monitor magazine (Part 1 will appear in the April 2016 issue). Not only have I been evaluating and reviewing several radios, but also station aggregators: the curated databases of radio stations to which WiFi radios link.

Internet radio = Local radio discovery

Internet (or Web/WiFi) radio is a fantastic platform for discovering small, even semi-isolated, community radio stations that, until the Internet, had never broadcast signals beyond their local communities. With Internet radio, we can enjoy these stations as if we, too, are locals. Local becomes international.

As I travel, I try to note the callsigns of AM/FM radio stations I enjoy.

Sadly, not all of my favorite local radio stations stream online as it’s a major expense for a small broadcaster and yields very little in the way of ad revenue. After all, who in South Africa is going to buy auto parts from a store in Homer Alaska? It’s a conundrum for sure, and one shared by private shortwave broadcasters.

Still, there are a number of stations that do manage to have a reliable streams online.

In no particular order, here’s a short list–a handful–of some of my favorite stations that stream (click on the callsign to listen to the station live):