Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Borgnino (@aborgnino), who notes:
On shortwave, the BBC is adding 2 shortwave broadcasts to Ukraine on 5875 kHz from 8/10 UTC and on 15735 kHz from 2/4 UTC.
On medium wave, NEXUS- of Milan in Italy on 1323 kHz and proposes broadcasting for Eastern countries from 7/11 p.m. CET
Thank you for sharing this, Andrea.
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’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
In the United Kingdom, you need a license to drive a car, fly a plane, practice medicine and watch TV.
The “TV license” is what Brits call their system for funding their world-famous broadcaster, the BBC. Currently, it costs the equivalent of $216 a year and is compulsory. Anyone in the U.K. caught watching or recording programs broadcast on any television channel or livestreamed on an online platform without a license is likely to be prosecuted.
The BBC — the Beeb, as it’s known — derives around $5 billion a year from this source. That’s 75% of the total revenue it needs to run a vast media empire, comprising 10 national TV channels and 10 national and 40 local radio stations as well as its World Service broadcasts and a global news website.
Full disclosure: The Beeb is a content partner for Marketplace.
But the license fee is under attack. The government just announced that it’s freezing the fee at the current level for two years and not increasing it in line with inflation — a decision that could cost the corporation nearly $400 million. The government has also hinted that it would like to eventually scrap the license fee altogether. [Continue reading at Marketplace…]
It’s everywhere! It’s everywhere! Fortunately, you can take a bite out of RFI.
RF interference — is it interference to you? Is it interference by you? Possibly both! What does this interference consist of? And how can you tell what type is present? A topic that starts off with so many questions is bound to cover a lot of ground, so let’s get started. Continue reading
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, for sharing the following story:
How is a small budget pocket radio able to recreate all the atmosphere and sounds of a football match? CrowdScience listener Andy wants to know about the science enabling his radio listening, so presenter CrowdScience Geoff Marsh sets off – microphone in hand – to follow the journey of sound on the radio.
Starting with the microphone, Geoff learns how acoustic energy is converted into electrical signals. Then BBC World Service presenter Gareth takes Geoff to a little-known room in the BBC called the Radio Shack. Gareth demonstrates how these electrical signals are attached to radio waves before being sent over the airwaves and they take a radio kit apart to understand how these waves are received and converted back into sound waves.
Geoff talks to a speech and hearing specialist who, through the use of auditory illusions, shows Geoff that our brains are often filling in the gaps of lower quality audio.
Finally, Geoff visits an acoustic lab at Salford University where he hears a demonstration of ‘object based audio’. This technology could enable us to create our own bespoke mix of dramas and sports, such as heightening the commentary sound or choosing to hear just the crowd, just by using the everyday speakers many have lying around them, such as mobile phones.
Tune in and join us!
Presented by Geoff Marsh
Produced by Melanie Brown
Radio Sweden QSL
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’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Check out this amazing, dynamic deep-dive into the world of GPS.
Episode 41 (aka Season 3 episode 2):
On January 2nd 1923, John Reith interviewed Miss Frances Isobel Shields for a job at the BBC, to be his secretary. At the time the BBC had four or five male staff members. Miss Shields started work on January 8th, instantly making the BBC a 20% female organisation. It’s been greater than that ever since.
This episode’s fab guest is Dr Kate Murphy: academic, former producer of BBC’s Woman’s Hour and author of Behind the Wireless: A History of Early Women at the BBC. Her book is brilliant and highly recommended for a deep dive into the subject.
Hear Isobel Shields’ tale, plus the women who broadcast before her: Britain’s first DJ Gertrude Donisthorpe, 2LO’s first children’s presenter Vivienne Chatterton, and one of our first broadcast comedians Helena Millais. (You can hear their fuller tales if you go back to the earlier episodes on this podcast.)
And hear about some of the women who joined the BBC soon after Miss Shields, like telephonist Olive May and women’s staff supervisor Caroline Banks. Plus hear about some of John Reith’s unusual management practices, from taking his secretaries to the cinema to his brutal firing criteria.
But we dwell on his hiring not firing, as well tell the origin story of British broadcasting. [Continue reading…]
The link between The Exorcist, Amateur Radio and Alan Turing.
A quick look at how the movie The Exorcist from 1973 has links to the late great Alan Turing via Mike Oldfield’s album Tubular Bells, Scotland and Amateur Radio. It’s Halloween so figured why not throw some horror in the mix.
When Mike Oldfield recorded Tubular Bells in 1973 he had no idea his first album on Virgin Records would be chosen as the soundtrack to The Exorcist later that year. Neither did he know that recording with Virgin Records would have an unintended consequence of hiding a secret message which dates back to 1926, shortly after World War One.
Tubular Bells was famously recorded at The Manor Studio which was owned by Richard Branston and used as a recording studio for Virgin Records. The building is located in Shipton-on-Cherwell, England. Mike was given one week to record the album, on which he played almost all the instruments himself.
The album initially struggled to sell. Then, later the same year, it was chosen as the soundtrack for the movie The Exorcist. It then experienced massive success and has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide. [Continue reading…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Lennart Wennberg, who notes:
Just got the news that Mr Roger Wallis has died at the age of 80.
I remember him from Radio Sweden’s Saturday Shows on MW in the 70s. He was “Big Bad Roger” and hosted together with Kangaroo Kim.
Lennart Wennberg
Sweden
From Wikipedia:
Roger Wallis (8 August 1941 – 22 January 2022) was a British-born Swedish musician, journalist and researcher.[1]. He was an adjunct professor of multimedia at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.[2]
Between 1967 and 1981, Wallis was the main presenter of the English language The Saturday Show on Radio Sweden. Wallis also co-wrote “Judy, min vän”.
Wallis died on 22 January 2022, at the age of 80.
Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!
Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!
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’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Trevor, Dennis Dura, and Markku Koskinen for the following tips:
Its broadcasting territory is restricted and unlikely to grow significantly, and for good reason. Since 1982, Radio Atlantique has been broadcasting in the heart of the French overseas territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, a 252 square kilometers, self-governing Atlantic clump of islands just off the south coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland. The radio station has cultivated its uniqueness, becoming a key partner in the local life and cohesion of the 6,000 or so Miquelonnais. However, this state of mind has not prevented the project from going through difficult times and bringing uncertainties to its future.
Broadcasting in the territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is an extraordinary adventure every day. For example, coverage of the entire archipelago was only concluded in 2010 with effective broadcasting in Miquelon, only 18 nautical miles away from the main island. This challenge for the station has only reinforced its unique place within the islands’ society. The population on the islands is highly mixed, and the vast majority of the inhabitants have French and Basque origins. [Continue reading…]
“Hey, Google. Play Toosie Slide by Drake.”
Within seconds, the Toronto pop singer’s silky voice wafts from the speakers of the ELS Studio audio system of my Acura MDX. Ten speakers in the cabin pump out trilling highs and chest-thumping bass, transforming my vehicle into a soothing audio studio on wheels. Bored, I flip over to SiriusXM for a little Hip-Hop Nation.
Modern car audio systems are so highly evolved, so seamless and so intuitive, it’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always this way. But it’s been 90 years since the first mass-produced car radio appeared, and the road to audio perfection has been a bumpy one indeed.
Michael Lamm remembers. At 84, the California-based auto historian’s car-ownership experience spans back to the early 1950s, when staticky car radios were powered by primitive vacuum tubes.
When he was growing up in Texas, he says he “didn’t really care that much about radio,” in part because programming was so limited. “I didn’t listen to the preachers who were constantly haranguing everybody.” [Continue reading…]
January 11 was Learn your Name in Morse Code Day and Roger Cooke G3LDI was interviewed on BBC Norfolk by Chris Goreham about Morse
Roger has been a keen proponent of the advantages of Morse code since he started teaching it as a teenager when he was first licenced in 1956.
You can listen to the interview by fast-forwarding to 1:54:27 in this recording
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bcktml
Free Morse training courses are available Online, see
Updated Icom IC-R30 firmware has been posted on the Icom Japan web site.
Battery health status (Normal/Caution/Warning) judgment has been improved.
Click here to check it out and download at Icom Japan.
Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!
Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!
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’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, Mark Erdle, and the Southgate ARC for the following tips:
WEST CHESTER, Ohio — Imagine, if you will, a voice so strong that it shakes the very foundations of global tyranny.
In the early days of World War II, a group of Americans, including President Franklin Roosevelt, actor and director John Houseman and Cincinnati entrepreneur Powell Crosley Jr. imagined such a voice, one that could counter Nazi propaganda in Hitler’s own backyard.
They named it The Voice of America.
Today, the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting, 8070 Tylersville Road, occupies the site from which the service beamed its message around the world for 50 years beginning in 1944, recounting its history and remembering the people, especially Crosley, who made it possible. [Continue reading…]
Saturday, December 11, 2021
On a cold winter night on December 11, 1921, members of the Radio Club of America were able to send the first amateur radio message from a small shack in Greenwich, CT to be received by American Paul Godley in Ardrossan, Scotland. This transatlantic test proved the value of shorter wavelengths – long considered worthless to long distance communications and through their success ushered in the age of global shortwave radio communications. The 1921 message was sent one-way. Acknowledgment of Paul Godley’s reception of 1BCG’s massage was sent back to the US via the Marconi high power radio transmitter in Wales.
The Antique Wireless Association, in association with the Vintage Radio and communications Museum of Connecticut (VRCMCT) in Windsor, CT, the Radio Club of America, the American Radio Relay League, and the Radio Society of Great Britain, participated in the 100th Anniversary special events held Saturday, December 11, 2021.
For the 75 th anniversary celebration of the 1BCG accomplishment in 1996, AWA members Bob and Mike Raide constructed a replica of the 1921 transmitter. For this 100th celebration, AWA Museum Staff restored the replica. The VRCMCT in Windsor CT has graciously offered to host AWA operation of the replica transmitter during the evening of December 11th. The 1BCG replica transmitter was placed on public display at the VRCMCT Museum during the day of Saturday December 11, 2021. [Continue reading the full report at the 1BCG website…]
BBC Radio 4 announcer/newsreader, Jim Lee, launched special event amateur radio station GB100BBC, from the BBC’s Broadcasting House, in London, at exactly midday.
Listen to the broadcast:
GB100BBC launches 1st Jan 2022
With thanks to the London BBC Radio Group
Within minutes amateur radio stations around the UK and throughout Europe were clamouring to contact the special BBC station and secure a prized entry in the logbook.
The London BBC Radio Group was granted an extended special event radio licence by the regulator OFCOM, to operate the station throughout 2022.
The amateur radio activity is one of many events organised to celebrate 100 years of the BBC, which began broadcasting from Savoy Hill in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, moving to the iconic Broadcasting House in 1932, gaining a Royal Charter as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The London BBC Radio Group has a growing membership which includes engineers, journalists, producers and on-air talent in both TV and Radio. The group is independent but hosted and supported by the Corporation.
The group was launched in 2017 by a handful of radio enthusiasts to revive a long and rich history of amateur radio at the BBC dating back to the Second World War.
The ‘radio shack’ at the BBC’s headquarters, Broadcasting House in central London, was officially opened by the then Director General, Lord Tony Hall, with an over-the-air message of congratulations. Lord Hall was subsequently bestowed Honorary membership of the club. [Click here to read at the Southgate ARC…]
Prague (dpa) – Radio reception on medium wave (MW) and long wave (LW) has been history in many parts of Europe for years.
Now, in the Czech Republic, at least the public broadcaster will stop transmitting on MW and LW as the new year starts on Saturday.
The powerful transmitters on the frequencies 270, 639 and 954 kilohertz could also be received in large parts of Germany.
The reason given for the move was the widespread availability of terrestrial digital radio DAB+ and the high costs of broadcasting.
Those still listening using medium waves were to be persuaded to switch with a campaign. The radio station Cesky Rozhlas set up a telephone hotline to answer questions.
It was not known at first whether the transmitters would be retained or used for other purposes.
The antenna of the medium-wave transmitter Liblice B east of Prague is considered the highest structure in the Czech Republic, with a height of 355 metres.
Impuls, the most-listened to private radio station, wants to remain faithful to medium wave for the time being. It broadcasts its second programme, with pop and country music, on analogue transmission.
Click here to read at DPA-International.com.
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, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who writes:
Hi Thomas,
The BBC in their transition to digital radio has started closing some of their AM radio stations.
See following link:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/work-warning/news/mw-closures-2021
The AM stations being closed are broadcasting “Re-Tune” instructions on their frequencies.
Not sure how long they will be doing this. The “Re-Tune” messages are interesting.
I have used the G4DYA KiwiSDR web receiver to listen and record some of the “Re-Tune” messages.
Most are just straight forward instructions, but Radio Hereford-Worcester on 738 has recorded individual
messages by several of their on-air personalities. The messages just loop continuously.
Attached are MP3 files for 738 Radio Hereford-Worcester, 1035 Radio Sheffield, 1341 Radio Ulster and 1503 Radio Stoke.
73
Bill Hemphill, WD9EQD
Thank you so much for taking the time to make these recordings and for sharing them with us here!