Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.
Carlos notes:
BBC/CGTN: UN warns of strongest El Niño in decades!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.
Carlos notes:
Rescue operations are ongoing in Nepal and Tibet after a devastating flash flood, via BBC and CGTN
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.
Carlos notes:
El Niño and typhoons, via BBC (UK), CGTN (China) and NHK (Japan)
Click here to view on YouTube.
Four typhoons appear in this Japan Meteorological Agency satellite image received via radiofax on Monday afternoon in Porto Alegre. According to an article published by the Tokio Marine Research Institute—citing the Japan Meteorological Agency—the impact of the El Niño climate phenomenon on typhoon activity requires special attention, in addition to temperature trends resulting from global warming.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Majid Hussain, who points us to this RadioToday report on the BBC’s continuing reduction of its mediumwave footprint.
The BBC has begun the phased closure of some BBC Radio 5 Live AM transmitters, with the first two transmitters scheduled to close at the end of July. The move is part of the BBC’s broader transition toward FM, DAB, television, and online listening, and marks another significant step in the gradual decline of AM broadcasting in the UK.
Many thanks to SWling Post contributor, Paul Jamet, who hares the following article and notes:
I enjoyed this beautifully illustrated article: Snail Mail QSLs – A Few Stories from a Bygone Era
I’m also taking up the invitation to share a memorable QSL card of my own.
I’ve received hundreds of QSL cards by snail mail. After some hesitation, I’ve chosen a QSL card that I received quickly (in 6 days) but which reflects a time when two very important international radio stations were strong believers in Digital Radio Mondial (DRM):
by Paul Jamet
My most memorable QSL card bears witness to the collaboration between the BBC World Service (BBC-WS) and Deutsche Welle (DW). These two broadcasters launched a major radio project in the late 2000s: a joint shortwave transmission in DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale), aimed at providing a high-quality digital service for Europe.
The BBC and DW established a partnership to pool their transmission capabilities and deliver a single digital stream (in English) across Europe. Transmission sites located in Sines (Portugal), Woofferton (United Kingdom), and Moosbrunn (Austria) were used to ensure broadcasting from 06:00 local time until midnight.
This is why I invested around €300 in purchasing a DiWave 100 receiver to listen to this programme, broadcast using a technology that both broadcasters were intensively testing at the time. The AFS function—Alternative Frequency Switching or Signalling—allowed the receiver to automatically follow frequency changes throughout the day without any manual intervention. The programme originated alternately from Berlin or London, on one or more frequencies transmitted from the sites mentioned above.
This QSL card, along with the screenshot from the DiWave 100 that enabled me to obtain it, stands as evidence of a broken dream [mainly due to the rise of streaming, but also the lack of DRM receivers].
The BBC and DW eventually abandoned the project. In terms of digital broadcasting, DAB+—a technology stemming from the European Eureka project—has become dominant across Europe. Today, the BBC World Service, and especially Radio Romania International, continue to broadcast daily to Europe. TDF (Télédiffusion de France) is conducting trials on various frequencies from its Issoudun transmission centre.
Today, I still believe in DRM. This technology uses HF bands and makes it possible to cover vast areas with a single transmitter, while offering significantly improved listening conditions and additional services such as text transmission (Journaline), images, and emergency warning messages (EWF technology).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.
Carlos notes:
Climate cataclysms via CGTN (China), BBC (UK) and Rádio Nacional de España (Spain)
News reports from around the world already confirm the intensification of weather events driven by climate change and the already-announced arrival of the (super) El Niño. These radio monitoring sessions were conducted in Porto Alegre using two receivers: the Xhdata D808 and the Ecopower EP-F23B.
Droitwich Transmitter Site (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David Iurescia, who shares this BBC article about the end of an era in British broadcasting: the BBC has permanently switched off its longwave Radio 4 service after nearly a century on the air. The closure marks the end of longwave broadcasting in the UK, with the historic 198 kHz transmitters at Droitwich, Westerglen, and Burghead now falling silent after decades of service.
For many radio enthusiasts, this represents far more than the retirement of an aging transmission system—it is the closing chapter of one of broadcasting’s most iconic services, one that carried everything from the Shipping Forecast to Test Match Special and reached listeners across the British Isles and beyond.
Click here to read the article.
Many thanks as well to SWLing Post contributor Andy Wang, who shares this off-air recording capturing the final hours of the BBC’s longwave service before the transmitters went silent: