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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ulis Fleming, who shares the following article from KFIZ via Twitter. I love these articles where a mediumwave DXer blows the minds of a small AM radio station’s staff!
A man from Finland contacted KFIZ recently to let us know he was listening to our station IN Finland earlier this month. And while it doesn’t sound like such a big deal since we do announce you can listen around the world on the “Tune In” app, this person actually heard us on the AM spectrum of frequencies.
Jari is a self described AM radio enthusiast in Finland that says he is passionate about listening to and identifying AM stations from around the world.
In early December, Jari travelled about 750 miles from his home in southern Finland, by train and car, to an isolated area in Northern Finland, well into the Artic Circle, where he has a base station set up designed to pull in AM radio signals from around the world. Jari says conditions are ideal there because there is ample space for long antennas and little to no man-made electrical noise or interference.
On December 4th at 6:00 Universal time, which would have been midnight local Fond du Lac time, Jari recorded a transmission on his receiver. Its very faint but it’s our station’s radio ID that we play often throughout the day that says “News Talk 1450, KFIZ Fond Du Lac – a Mountain Dog Media Station.”
Given how hard it is to hear, you can respect the fact that Jari now has transmissions confirmed from over 800 stations from North America.
While generally AM radio waves only travel at most 100 miles from the transmitting antennas, with the right conditions, usually during the nighttime hours, AM radio waves can reflect off the ionosphere and propagate past the curvature of the earth, a phenomenon called “skywave” propagation.
So from all of us here at KFIZ, if you are listening locally, on the tune in App, or isolated deep within the Artic Circle, we want to say thanks for listening.
The radio man listening to the world from the Arctic
Mika Mäkeläinen is a radio enthusiast who listens to stations from around the world in a remote corner of Lapland, 400km north of the Arctic Circle.
He and a group of fellow hobbyists have set up 14 wire antennas in the forest to capture weak signals from low-power stations, thousands of kilometres away. Mika explains why Lapland is a perfect place for listening to distant radio stations and how his hobby continues to inspire him 40 years after first discovering it as a child.
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!
n March 2, the BBC World Service announced that it was restarting four-hour daily shortwave transmissions in English to Ukraine. The decision to resume Ukrainian shortwave broadcasts came after Russian forces began to deliberately target Ukrainian communications equipment, including the Kyiv television tower.
Why do these four-hour daily transmissions matter so much when the world supposedly has moved away from radio and adopted social media and the Internet? Isn’t shortwave an obsolete, century-old technology that harkens back to memories of World War II and the Cold War?
Despite its age, shortwave remains an enduring tool in the global fight against disinformation. In part, this is due to its unique broadcasting qualities. FM and broadcast television can only travel to just beyond the horizon. But shortwave can travel vast transcontinental and transoceanic distances. It accomplishes this feat by bouncing between the ionosphere and the earth—over mountains, skyscrapers, and digital firewalls.
It’s this last obstacle that’s most important here. Russia is demonstrating that it can destroy Ukraine’s television and FM broadcasting infrastructure. It can use hackers and such Kremlin-affiliated subversive agencies as the Internet Research Agency to take down or otherwise block Internet sites of Western and Ukrainian media agencies seeking to provide accurate information about the conflict. Cellphones only have limited range; they need towers to transmit longer distances. Russia has demonstrated that it can shut down cellphone communications in areas of Ukraine it has captured or is shelling, including nuclear power plants.
What about satellite reception? In theory, satellite reception can break through these issues. Last week, Starlink CEO Elon Musk sent “a truckload of satellite dishes” to Ukraine to provide “space Internet service.” But Russia can identify the satellite signals, seek to jam them, and locate those who have the dishes in Ukrainian areas now under its control.
This leaves shortwave, the venerable analog signal infamous for how it fades in and out as each wave is received. Shortwave cannot be hacked. It cannot be bombed or otherwise destroyed because it is being transmitted from far outside Ukraine. Shortwave is notoriously difficult to jam, despite Russia and China’s best efforts. The shortwave signal is always drifting slightly, making it difficult to precisely focus jamming equipment. The shortwave signal can also be more powerful than that of the jammer, effectively overriding the interference.
Shortwave only works if people listen. Fortunately, many Ukrainian families likely still have old, often cheap Soviet-era shortwave sets in their basements that can be powered by batteries or wall sockets. They are usually small and can be easily hidden from prying eyes. Some can even fit in a pocket. Shortwave radios can also be brought in as nonlethal aid. [Continue reading…]
LEBANON, Tenn. (WSMV) – Right now, the people of Ukraine need positive messages. One Lebanon family found a way to give them that with what they do best – a radio broadcast.
We all know there’s AM and FM radio, but there’s also shortwave radio. It’s listened to on a small device the size of a phone. While it may not be common in the U.S., radio personalities said it’s how people in Europe listen to radio continents away.
From the comfort of his home, Ted Randall brought comfort to those who need it most.
“We are broadcasting to the Ukraine and Russia,” Randall explained. “We are playing American rock and roll because our email responses have been saying, ‘please, no news, we are tired of hearing the news.’” [Continue reading…]
Overnight shows at BBC Radio 5 Live have been temporarily suspended due to a shortage of staff at the station’s MediaCity HQ.
BBC World Service will be rebroadcast instead until at least April 4th 2022.
Weekday overnight presenter Dotun Adebayo tweeted yesterday saying there will be no shows through the night until further notice, with a reply coming from weekend overnight host Hayley Hassall confirming the news.
An increase in COVID cases at the station means more staff are off work than usual.
A BBC spokesperson told RadioToday: “Due to increased COVID cases, we have temporarily suspended our overnight programming and will broadcast BBC World Service instead.”
The overnight show usually runs from 1am till 5am.
One retailer said last week’s sales of battery-powered radios were triple that of the same time last year.
Electronics retailers in Finland have seen increased sales of battery-powered radios in the past few weeks, suggesting that some residents are preparing for the possibility of a coming emergency situation.
Sales of portable radios began to tick up at the electronics chain store Veikon Kone in Sodankylä, shortly after Russia’s deadly invasion of Ukraine, according to shop manager Jukka Haavisto.
“Radio sales rose to an entirely new level than they were,” he explained, adding that battery-powered radios were products that mostly sold in the summer.
“It’s a surprise to everyone and there are already availability issues,” Haavisto said.
Portable radio sales have doubled at the electronics store chain Gigantti, according to the retailer’s sales manager, Sami Kinnunen, who noted that last week’s sales were about triple that of the same time last year.
“We’re selling all kinds of radios, but ones with batteries are the most popular. It can be said that the change is significant, but we’re not talking about sales of thousands, but rather hundreds,” Kinnunen explained, noting that some models have sold out.
A noticeable uptick in sales of radios at electronics retailer Verkkokauppa.com has been seen on a weekly basis, according to the firm’s commercial director, Vesa Järveläinen.
He said the most popular radios were basic FM models that sell for around 20 euros.
“Right now we’re often selling about 100 radios a week, while before the increase the figure was a few dozen or so,” Järveläinen said. [Continue reading…]
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — At the Asheville Radio Museum, Tim McVey tunes in an RCA Radiola 20, built in 1927 but still kicking.
“This one still requires that you manipulate two dials to tune it in, and you have another dial here that fine tunes this dial. And this controls the filaments in the tubes,” says McVey, as he tunes the sound of several radio stations with static, down to one station with clear sound.
McVey retired from the FBI and moved from the Washington D.C. area to the mountains a year and a half ago.
“I get giddy thinking about it, because Tim has been such a remarkable addition to the museum,” says Asheville Radio Museum Curator Stuart Smolkin.
Smolkin says McVey has restored some of the most important radios in the museum, built in the 1920’s and 30’s, preserving a vital part of communications history.
“Without radio, we would not have cell phones,” Smolkin explains. “We would not have GPS. We would not have wireless internet routers, or wireless Bluetooth speakers. The list goes on and on.”
McVey tunes in another radio, this one from 1931, sounding great. [Continue reading…]
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.
Many thanks to SWLing Post Contributor, Christoph Ratzer, who recently shared the following video tour by Mika Mäkeläinen. Mika desxribes this video on YouTube:
Join me on a virtual tour of the Aihkiniemi DXing base in Lapland, in northern Finland. This is a nonscripted five-cent tour looking at what the Aihkiniemi cabin can offer for visiting AM DXers. The video was shot in November 2020 during DXpedition AIH124 – meaning that during the first decade of its existence, Aihkiniemi has already hosted 124 successful expeditions. The antennas (a total of 14 Beverage-type wire antennas) are permanent, but participants bring their own receivers and laptops. There’s one essential activity missing from this video though: checking the antennas, which is a major job. Every DXer is expected to check – and if necessary, clean and repair – all the antennas, which run in the forests around the cabin. So there might be a part 2 in the future.
Wow! This little DXing cabin is on my bucket list. I will, someday, make my way to north Finland and spend time DXing from this unique reception spot. The quality of the equipment and antennas is truly amazing.
It is high time to register to this year’s EDXC Conference which will be held in Tampere, Finland on 18-20 August organized by the Finnish DX Association.
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We have already received about 30 registrations from abroad and registration of the Finnish participants will also activate these days. Altogether we expect to have a participation of 120-150. This meeting will most probably be the last big DX and shortwave meeting in Europe, so don’t miss it!
We are working hard to have a comprehensive conference program. A new version has just been updated to the conference website http://www.sdxl.fi/edxc2017. More details will be added later, when some still tentative sessions have been confirmed.
A tour to the beautiful Finnish Lapland will follow after the conference for those interested. We do have already a good list for tentative participants of the tour, but the possibility to join the tour will still be open for 10 days, so if you want to join it, act quickly. After 26 of May we will make a final decision on how the tour will be done and what the costs will be.
Conference registrations, tour inquiries and all questions are welcome to rv at sdxl dot com.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, William Lee, who shares the following story from the CBC:
Hello, Finland, this is Vancouver calling: radio fans listen to CBC from 6,700 km away
When people in other parts of the world tune in to CBC Radio in Vancouver, they usually do it through our app, or online or through Sirius XM.
But some people in Finland recently picked up Vancouver’s CBC broadcast — the broadcast heard locally at 690 AM and 88.1 FM — using an elaborate antenna system roughly 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland, Finland.
“It’s a few [radio hobbyists] from around Finland who have a very nice place up in the north where there’s not much neighbours which means not much interference,” Patrik Willfor, one of the listeners, told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn. “It’s like a silent band there, so even the weakest signals come through.”
The practice is called DXing, and Willfor says he’s been at it for about 25 years since a friend told him that’s what their fathers used to do when they were young.[…]
Post readers: Is it just me? Or do you, too, get a kick out of it when the press gets a glimpse into the seemingly-anachronistic, but still-relevant-and-rocking world of radio–?
Note that you can also listen to the audio interview with Patrik via the embedded CBC player below:
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ulis Fleming, who shares the following article from KFIZ via Twitter. I love these articles where a mediumwave DXer blows the minds of a small AM radio station’s staff! 
