Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
Ford Motor Co. plans to stop putting AM radio in new gas-powered and electric vehicles beginning in 2024, including the all-electric Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning pickup, the Detroit Free Press has confirmed.
“We are transitioning from AM radio for most new and updated 2024 models,” Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood told the Free Press. “A majority of U.S. AM stations, as well as a number of countries and automakers globally, are modernizing radio by offering internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, digital and satellite radio options. Ford will continue to offer these alternatives for customers to hear their favorite AM radio music, news and podcasts as we remove amplitude modulation — the definition of AM in this case — from most new and updated models we bring to market.”
Commercial vehicles will continue to offer AM radio because of longstanding contract language, Sherwood said.
Drivers often turn to AM radio for live traffic updates and weather reports, as well as emergency communication. [Continue reading…]
Did you know that one of our AM radio stations can also be used as a bunker? What’s more, the opening of this station was of such importance that King George VI addressed the nation during its inaugural broadcast in December 1937? Considered an engineering feat in its time, the Hornby AM radio site is the oldest transmission site owned and operated by CBC/Radio-Canada. Here are some interesting facts.
Listen to the King’s First Empire Christmas Greeting:
A little bit of history
Located in Hornby, Ontario, this AM radio site was built in 1937 for the CBL radio service (the ancestor of CBC Radio One) one year after the creation of CBC/Radio-Canada. The station contained a 50-kilowatt transmitter and a 640-foot tower, making it the tallest structure in Canada from 1937 to 1954. That’s more than twice the height of Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower, London).
Already a technological feat in itself, the site then added a second radio service (CJBC) in 1944 and became one of the rare AM sites to broadcast two services from one tower. The joint CBL-CJBC signal was so powerful that people could hear the program simply by putting an ear on nearby wire fences.
All about the bunker
Between 1946 and 1948, Canadians were seeing the beginning of the Cold War and, with it, the threat of nuclear attacks. As a result, the site underwent a “wartime expansion” during which the existing underground bunker, a reinforced underground shelter built for protection, was installed. Continue reading →
Lysychansk (Ukraine) (AFP) – The portable radio in the dark cellar of the rocket-damaged kindergarten was transmitting news in Russian over whistling airwaves about the Kremlin’s military triumphs in Ukraine.
The six frightened women and lone man cowering in the heart of the east Ukrainian war zone had no idea whether to believe the monotone voice — or who was actually patrolling the streets of the besieged city of Lysychansk above their heads.
All they knew was that their building was hit a few days earlier by a Grad volley that left the tail end of one of the unexploded rockets sticking out of the pavement at a sharp angle just steps from the back door.
Their feverish fears vacillated between the idea that their shelter’s lone entrance might get blocked by falling debris and that the Kremlin’s forces might come knocking unannounced.
“The Russians on the radio just said that they have captured Bakhmut. Is that true?” Natalia Georgiyevna anxiously asked about a city 30 miles (50 kilometres) to the southwest that remains under full Ukrainian control. [Continue reading…]
In this guest commentary, DRM’s Ruxandra Obreja dives back in to the shortwave debate
Radio World’s “Guest Commentaries” section provides a platform for industry thought leaders and other readers to share their perspective on radio news, technological trends and more. If you’d like to contribute a commentary, or reply to an already published piece, send a submission to [email protected].
Below is perspective from Ruxandra Obreja, consortium chairman of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), in response to the commentary “Shortwave Revival a Non-Starter? The Authors Respond.” Her commentaries appear regularly at radioworld.com.
Seldom have we seen so much passion and polarizing views as in the recent articles for and against shortwave. From “it’s dead and gone” to “this is the revival,” all shades of opinion concerning this simple and all-encompassing platform have been expressed vigorously.
Shortwave Has a Pedigree
Shortwave, currently used for large-area, regional and international coverage in the developing world, certainly registered a decline in the past two decades (but it never died, as you can see here). This loss of pre-eminence in the developed world after the Cold War is not surprising. The platforms available nowadays, in the so called “global village,” include “basic” internet connections (browsing, emails, messaging apps of any type), to the prolific social media products (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit), as well as video, radio and TV apps, satellites, mobiles give the impression that the whole world is truly connected!
At least this is the view from Washington, London, or Berlin. But there are the same proportion of people in Europe and America with everyday internet access as there are in Africa with no way to access to it. In such regions, shortwave and mediumwave radio remains essential for many, one of only a few reliable means to receive communication.
Since the arrival of AM and FM some seventy years ago, the invention of at least three largely recognized digital broadcasting systems (DRM, DAB/DAB+ and HD) is the most notable radio development. Digital Radio Mondiale — the DRM open-source global standard — is the latest and most advanced of the three systems, but the only one that can digitize radio in all frequency bands and the only digital option for shortwave.
Closing shortwave transmitters and then trying to restart them presents a huge time, effort and financial challenge. However, nowadays, broadcasters can often buy shortwave transmission hours, in digital, too, from third party distributors, and do not necessarily need to rebuild a comprehensive infrastructure. [Continue reading at Radio World…]
The closure of the public media organisation’s bureau demonstrates further curtailment of independent and free press in Russia.
CBC/Radio-Canada – the only Canadian news organisation with a permanent presence in Russia – has been ordered by the Kremlin to close its bureau. After more than 44 years of reporting from Moscow, CBC/Radio-Canada staff have been told to leave the country. However, Vladimir Proskuryakov, deputy chief of mission of the Russian Embassy to Canada, said they would not be rushed out of the country. He told the CBC News the staff would not be forced to leave in “less than three weeks.”
CBC/Radio-Canada currently has 10 employees working in Moscow, including locally hired staff.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Intellectuals, broadcasters and cultural figures from Hungary’s Roma community are using the airwaves to reframe narratives and elevate the voices of the country’s largest minority group.
Radio Dikh — a Romani word that means “to see” — has broadcast since January on FM radio in Hungary’s capital, Budapest. Its 11 programs focus on Roma music, culture and the issues faced by their community, and aim to recast the way the often disadvantaged minority group is perceived by broader society.
“Roma people in general don’t have enough representation in mainstream media … and even if they do, it’s oftentimes not showing the right picture or the picture that is true to the Roma community,” said Bettina Pocsai, co-host of a show that focuses on social issues.
Radio Dikh, she said, aims to “give voice to Roma people and make sure that our voice is also present in the media and that it shows a picture that we are satisfied with.”
Some estimates suggest that Roma in Hungary number nearly 1 million, or around 10% of the population. Like their counterparts throughout Europe, many of Hungary’s Roma are often the subjects of social and economic exclusion, and face discrimination, segregation and poverty.
Adding to their marginalization are stereotypes about Roma roles in society, where they are often associated with their traditional occupations as musicians, dancers, traders and craftspeople that go back centuries. [Continue reading…]
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!
Experience in amateur radio can be a boon to the radio engineer
Starting in the 1920s and through the ’60s, almost every broadcast engineer was a licensed amateur radio operator. That has changed a bit, but the importance of being a ham has not.
Both environments involve getting an RF signal from Point A to Point B. But it is interesting to note that radio broadcast and amateur radio are similar and yet so different.
For those who don’t know much about ham radio, I’ll tell you that communicating locally or internationally, via licensed amateur radio, can be a fascinating and challenging hobby. There are about 700,000 hams in the U.S. and an equal number worldwide.
Physics
Broadcast and amateur radio operate under the same laws of science. Transmitters, transmission lines, antennas and receivers make up an RF path to convey a message.
Broadcast engineers know that signal propagation on AM and FM bands is dramatically different. It is because our FM band is roughly 100 times the frequency and 1/100th the RF wavelength of that on the AM band. Engineers also know that 950 MHz STL signals are line-of-sight and roughly a 10-times jump in frequency from FM broadcast frequencies. Each band has its own challenges in getting a useable signal through. [Continue reading…]
Retired sergeant remembers what it was like on the ‘front line of the radio war’
At age 97, Marjorie Stetson has never told anyone her secret code number — until now.
That’s the identity code — 225 — that she typed on every page of her highly classified work for the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War.
The retired sergeant’s wartime work was so covert, she said, she had to sign 15 separate copies of Canada’s Official Secrets Act.
“Nobody knew where I worked,” Stetson told CBC News from her home in Massachusetts ahead of Remembrance Day. “Nobody knew what we did. Even my parents never knew what I did in the service.”
Her husband, an American sailor she met at a celebration marking the end of the war, passed away a decade ago. She never told him what she really did during the war.
Today, Stetson herself is only now learning about the true scope of her role and the significance of all those sheets of white paper she filled with encrypted messages from Japan. [Continue reading…]
Czech public radio ‘?eský Rozhlas‘ is stepping up its information campaign for listeners receiving mediumwave programmes, ahead of the planned switch-off of transmitters by the end of 2021. Since 1 November, more announcements have been broadcast to warn users and a call centre has been set up to explain the possible listening alternatives (from FM to DAB). In the run-up to Christmas, public radio will launch an intensive advertising campaign in the print media and online magazines on 22 November to promote the purchase of digital DAB receivers to replace analogue radio. [Continue reading…]
Seamus Ei8EP reports on the IARU Region 1 website that the 358 page Final Report on the Study on the evaluation of the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive has now been published.
It is publicly available, free of charge, from the Publications Office of the European Union. The Political Relations Committee of the IARU Region 1 responded recently to a European Commission Roadmap on the environmental impact of photovoltaics.
The radio spectrum is an important finite natural resource which must be protected. While PV technology of itself is to be welcomed, the IARU submission pointed out the inherent problems of non-compliant installations, particularly the installation or retro-fitting of optimisers which can produce significant spectrum pollution for very limited efficiency increase.
From Yukon to Finland: CBC’s radio signal heard from afar
Host Elyn Jones heard saying ‘this is Yukon Morning,’ about 7,000 kilometres away
A keen listener has managed to hear CBC Yukon’s radio broadcast from about 7,000 kilometres away.
Jorma Mäntylä lives in Kangasala, Finland.
On Oct.15 he was scanning the airwaves and came across the signal from Dawson City, Yukon, broadcasting CBC’s Yukon Morning show.
The signal lasted about an hour.
“It was clear to hear your Yukon Morning program led by a female journalist and the morning news,” he said.
The host that day was Elyn Jones in Whitehorse.
Upon hearing the signal Mäntylä sent an email with an attached audio clip asking for confirmation.
CBC Yukon wrote him back to confirm what he’d heard. We also scheduled an interview by videoconference to speak about his hobby.
No ordinary radio
Mäntylä doesn’t have an ordinary radio. He’s part of the Suomen Radioamatööriliitto, the Finnish Amateur Radio League.
He started listening to signals in 1967.
He uses custom-built equipment to scan for shortwave and AM radio signals.
Sometimes it takes a while, through the crackle, to determine the language being spoken and from where the signal is broadcasting.
The game is to discover new stations, identify them, and then send an email to confirm the reception.
“I very often listen to foreign radio stations. That has been my hobby for 50 years,” he said. ‘It’s given me interesting moments learning about other cultures and nations,”
Hearing a signal from Yukon is rare. Mäntylä says on Oct. 15 he also heard broadcasts from radio stations in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska.
In the 1930s, it helped sailors properly set their instruments for navigation.
It allowed railway companies to be punctual, and helped Canadians set their watches with precision every day.
Today, if you’re a CBC Radio aficionado, you may recognize its repeated beeps over the airwaves every day just before 1 p.m. ET.
To many, the National Research Council official time signal isa fixture of Canadian society. And on Nov. 5, the longest running segment on CBC Radio turns 80 years old.
Day 6 host Brent Bambury spoke with Laurence Wall, one of the current voices of the National Research Council time signal, about its origins, its importance, and where it stands in the digital age.[…]
Almost every morning and night, Therese Mair can be found sitting on her favourite chair in her living room, in front of a ham radio.
Mair lives in Georgetown, P.E.I., but by fiddling with a dial and searching through static, she can speak with people from around the world.
On a recent evening, Mair reached someone on a ship in Scotland, who — to her delight — struck up a conversation.
“The main thing I’m hoping for is a connection with somebody else — even just for a few minutes,” Mair said.
“There’s no pressure at all. We’re never going to meet. So it’s just a chance to talk with somebody else from a different part of the world.”
As a self-described introvert living alone in a small town, Mair says amateur radio has opened a social part of her life she didn’t know existed.
It has also allowed her to meet people, free of judgment, she says.
“I don’t think I’m a normal person at all, and so finding ways of connecting with people face-to-face hasn’t always been the most successful,” Mair said.
“Once I come home from work and close my doors, I don’t really communicate with people very much at all. The radio is a way for me to make that connection without being judged at all.”
She first picked up her hobby in 2017, after hearing that ham radios were the only way people in Puerto Rico could communicate in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Mair says speaking with people around the world through her radio reminds her that there are caring people everywhere, “no matter what the news brings.”
“There are all these people around the world; they just want a human connection, just for a few moments, and then that fills you up, makes you feel really good.” she said.
