Tag Archives: Radio Bulgaria

Radio Bulgaria’s international reach

Vintage Radio Bulgaria QSL

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rich Cuff, who shares the following article via BNNBreaking.com:

Radio Bulgaria: A Beacon of Cultural Diplomacy and International Communication (BNNBreaking.com)

In the heart of Sofia, Bulgaria, a beacon of cultural diplomacy and international communication has been steadily broadcasting its message to the world since 1936. Originally named Radio Sofia, the Bulgarian National Radio’s international service, now known as Radio Bulgaria, transcends linguistic barriers by offering news in an impressive array of 11 languages. From its inception as a short-wave transmitter, Radio Bulgaria has evolved into a vital source of information for its global audience, despite its relatively low profile at home.

From Short Waves to Global Reach

Radio Bulgaria’s journey began under the moniker Radio Elza, marking the country’s strategic move into the realm of international broadcasting. The initiative was propelled by the recognition of radio’s potential to cross borders, connecting Bulgaria with distant lands and cultures. Over the decades, the service expanded its linguistic repertoire to include Bulgarian, French, English, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Greek, Serbian, Albanian, and Romanian. This multilingual approach has not only showcased Bulgaria’s rich cultural heritage but has also facilitated a dialogue with the world, fostering understanding and friendship between nations. [Continue reading…]

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Radio Waves: HFT Update, Radio Bulgaria on Shortwave, IC-R30 Firmware Notice, 2022 Edition of NDB handbooks, and RIP “Johnny Fever”

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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’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Experimental Radio News 3 (Experimental Radio)

This issue concerns High-Frequency Trading (HFT) transmissions, and three prospective stations seeking entry into the International Broadcast service.

Several stations licensed in the Experimental Radio Service (ERS) transmit data for automated trading to foreign exchanges in the shortwave or high-frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) spectrum.

High-Frequency Trading (HFT) is a form of automated trading that employs low-latency, high-speed telecommunications to minimize response times. The term is not related to the shortwave or HF spectrum, but this article concerns transmission of HFT messages on HF frequencies.

HF signals can traverse great distances by refraction from ionized layers of the atmosphere, a phenomenon known as ionospheric propagation. Several ERS HFT stations have operated in the HF bands for years out of the public view. Bob Van Valzah blogged extensively about these stations starting in 2018.

These ERS stations’ licenses are public records, but the licensees typically ask the FCC to withhold access to station details and experimental plans. The Commission’s routine acceptance of these confidentiality requests makes public oversight difficult. [Continue reading at Experimental Radio…]

Radio Bulgaria back on shortwave

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who writes:

As I reported to Glenn Hauser’s group today, Bulgarian National Radio’s Radio Bulgaria is back on shortwave.

Their weekday roughly 22-minute podcast in English, called “Bulgaria Today,” is being aired by ShortwaveService from Kall, Germany, on 3985 kHz from 18:30 until about 18:52 UTC.

Today (30 January), the podcast dated Thursday, 27 January, was broadcast. The program consisted of news, COVID-19 information, weather, travel, and the “Music Slot.” Reception using the U. Twente SDR receiver was fairly good.

There is also a German broadcast before the English one beginning at 18:00 UTC. The ShortwaveService tuning signal is used to fill out the half-hour slot in each case.

All the best
— Richard

Notice and apology regarding the IC-R30 firmware (Ver 1.12) (Icom Japan)

Many thanks to Markku Koskinen who discovered that Icom published the following notice on their website regarding their latest firmware update to the IC-R30:

Thank you for using Icom products.

A defect was found in the IC-R30 firmware (Version 1.12) released on our website on January 13, 2022, so we are currently withdrawing the firmware.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to users. We will let you know when there is any new firmware update information.

[For users who have updated to the IC-R30 firmware (Version 1.12)]
You can continue to use the IC-R30 as before by installing the IC-R30 firmware Version 1.11 again. Please download it from the links [on this page].

[…]We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that we might have caused to our customers.

Click here for more details.

2022 editions of ENDBH / GNDBH / NANDBH handbooks and CDs

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Michael, who shares:

The 2022 editions of my NDB handbooks and CDs are ready now and have
once again been updated extensively to reflect the latest changes and
monitoring results.

The new GNDBH contains the details of more than 17100 NDBs worldwide.
It is the perfect listening companion for radio listeners who use the
extensive and ever-growing network of WebSDRs.

The updated ENDBH shows the data of more than 8300 NDBs, and the new
NANDBH features more than 5900 NDBs.

Please find all relevant details [on this PDF document].

Once again, I’d like to thank all fellow NDB DXers for your continued
support! Please keep up the good work, I do appreciate your direct
input to keep the handbooks up to date!

vy 73 + gd DX,

Michael

ENDBH, GNDBH & NANDBH editor

https://ndbchangeblog.blogspot.com
https://www.ndblist.info/beacons/NDBpublications2022.pdf

Howard Hesseman, who played Johnny Fever on ‘WKRP in Cincinnati,’ dies at 81 (NPR)

NEW YORK — Howard Hesseman, who played the radio disc jockey Johnny Fever on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati” and the actor-turned-history teacher Charlie Moore on “Head of the Class,” has died. He was 81.

Hesseman died Saturday in Los Angeles due to complications from colon surgery, his manager Robbie Kass said Sunday.

Hesseman, who had himself been a radio DJ in the ’60s, earned two Emmy nominations for playing Johnny Fever on CBS’ “WKRP in Cincinnati,” which ran for four seasons from 1978-1982. The role made Hesseman a counterculture icon at a time when few hippie characters made it onto network television. [Continue reading…]

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Radio Waves: Radio Bulgaria Online, Small Town Station is Backbone of Community, 1949 Radio Contact, and BBC World Service Performance Review

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Photo by Flickt user Shirokazan via Wikimedia Commons.

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Hear the voice of Bulgaria – in 9 languages from Radio Bulgaria (Radio Bulgaria)

On the website of the Bulgarian National Radio – www.bnr.bg you can now listen to the new podcast of Radio Bulgaria, “Bulgaria Today” in English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Serbian, Greek, Albanian and Turkish.

BNR has resumed its programmes in foreign languages after a 5-year pause. The change coincides with the 85th anniversary of the first foreign-language broadcasts for foreign audiences celebrated by Radio Bulgaria in 2021. Continue reading →

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Radio Bulgaria celebrates 85th anniversary

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following feature from Radio Bulgaria who celebrates their 85th anniversary:

Speaking your language for 85 years

2021 marks the 85th anniversary of the Bulgarian National Radio’s foreign language service to the world. It all began on 16 February, 1936. One year after the Bulgarian radio was officially launched, what is now Radio Bulgaria went on the air. It was a Sunday when Radio Sofia’s full morning programme was launched, to reach Europe, North America and North Africa.

Now, 85 years later, Radio Bulgaria is still talking to the world about the country in English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Serbian, Greek, Albanian, Turkish and Bulgarian.

Our special feature presents intriguing facts from the history of Radio Bulgaria, its golden voices, as well as reminiscences from the people who have worked at Radio Bulgaria through the years.

Click here to view Radio Bulgaria’s feature articles.

Thank you for the tip, David. This article reminded me to listen, once again, to the final shortwave broadcast of Radio Bulgaria. Seems like yesterday!

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Radio Waves: Radio Bulgaria, Asur Community Radio, Digital Sign Compliance, and a Sound Card Scope

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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!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Marty, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), and Phillip Novak for the following tips:

Radio Bulgaria to resume its audio broadcast (Bulgarian National Radio)

“Radio Bulgaria needs to resume its sound presence and we are to work together with the team, in order to build a firm concept in this direction.” This was what BNR Director General Andon Baltakov said in his first interview with Radio Bulgaria.

On the eve of Radio Bulgaria’s 84th anniversary, which is celebrated on February 16, 2020, Mr. Baltakov said that broadcasts of the National Radio aimed for foreign countries would be modernized, but would preserve their philosophy – being Bulgaria’s window to the world and vice versa. You can read the whole interview here. […]

Radio aids revival of dying tribal language (The Hindu)

Tucked away in the hills of Jharkhand’s Latehar district, Asur, a particularly vulnerable tribal group, may not have access to good road or means of transportation to the outside world, but that has not deterred them from saving their language. Using mobile radio, the Asur community has been spreading the popularity of the language within their geographical limits.

As the voice Dahan-Dahan Turrarr .. Dang T inatang Turrarr.. Noa Hake Asur Akhada Radio Enegabu Degeabu Siringabu Urrarr (Come, sing, dance and talk.. This is Asur Centre Radio) is played out through loud speakers, the bustle at the weekly market at Kotia seizes briefly, as people turn their attention to the sound system that transmits songs and news transmitted in their native language.

Attention of the Asur tribals assembled at the market is immediately diverted to the sound system that transmits songs, news and information about government schemes — all in their native dialect.

[…]“The initiative has got a huge response from people. Now, villagers are requesting us to organise events at their places and they are also interested in preparing radio programmes,” said Ms. Tete.

“When we started working on languages, we focused on five tribal and four regional languages. Then we realised that the bigger groups can take care of their own languages, but smaller communities need help,” said Ms .Tete.

[…]Youth from the community are also being encouraged to write poems in their language and older ones narrate their experience in their own language.[…]

FCC Digital Sign Compliance (International Sign Association)

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues to cite businesses because digital signs are interfering with the wireless spectrum, creating problems with commercial and public wireless devices. This may occur because the signs are operating at Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) levels not allowed under U.S. federal law and in violation of FCC regulations.

Click here for frequently asked questions to better understand these issues.[…]

How To: Surface Mount Soldering (Nuts & Volts)

Some people tend to shy away from using surface-mount components in their projects. It seems to be too difficult or needs an array of specialized equipment. In the past, I found myself in this same mindset — wary of using these types of parts. That all changed when I got involved with an open source motor controller project (OSMC).

It used a mix of surface-mount and through-hole components. I took the plunge and built up a pair of OSMC H-bridge boards and the MOB (Modular OSMC Brain) controller board which I used in the Battlebot Crash Test Junior.

At the time, there was little information available on how to mount these parts using an ordinary soldering station and tools that most hobbyists would have on hand. Not wanting to invest in a whole new set of tools (hot air stations, etc.), I experimented a bit and used common sense techniques to get the job done. A point I’d like to stress is the myth about requiring anything exotic to work with most surface-mount parts. I don’t own or use any special soldering equipment for this. All of the soldering that I’ve done on surface-mount boards is built with an old Weller WTCPT station and TC201 soldering iron. It has the fine tip that came standard on it. If you happen to have access to specialized tools, go ahead and use them but you still may find these tips helpful. It has been my experience that depending upon your techniques, you can get by just fine in most instances without specialized tools.[…]

Turn Your Computer’s Sound Card Into A Scope (Nuts & Volts)

I’ve been using an oscilloscope for almost 50 years. It’s my go-to measurement instrument in every electronics project I work on, helping me debug and fine-tune hardware and software projects.

In this article, I’ll show how you can get started with a simple-to-use scope you probably already have. Best of all, it’s free! When you graduate from this simple scope, you can purchase a more powerful scope using the exact same user interface.

Full disclosure: I love scopes so much, 10 years ago, I joined Teledyne LeCroy — the third largest scope manufacturer in the world behind Tektronix and Keysight. However, I use the Digilent Analog Discovery 2 Scope (described in this article) in all my hobby activities and in the workshops I teach at Tinkermill — our hackerspace in Longmont, CO.

I think the free scope control software, Waveforms, is the simplest to use, most feature-rich pro-level software of any of the available options. Using a sound card as the hardware interface with Waveforms puts a simple — yet powerful — scope in your hands for free.[…]

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Andrea visits Radio Bulgaria studios

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Borgnino, who recently visited the studios of Radio Bulgaria and shared the following photos:

Wow! Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Andrea! I’m most impressed with their auditorium which can accommodate both a full orchestra and an audience!

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Updates from Radio Bulgaria

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following:

I’m sending you two interesting articles from the renewed website of Radio Bulgaria:

The Bulgarian National Radio has changed its home four times (01/25/19):

Many attempts have been made to tell the story of the Bulgarian National Radio but usually, in an effort to present a concise version, we fail to mention some curious details that would sparkle the interest of anyone keen on the history of this country. Over the course of its existence, the Bulgarian National Radio has resisted many changes that transformed Bulgaria over the past eight decades.

What is considered to be the official start of radio broadcasting in Bulgaria? It happened in the remote 1929 and consisted in the construction of a 60-watt radio transmitter by a group of engineers. The desire of the enthusiastic members of the radio amateurs club called Rodno Radio (Native Radio) to create a radio program was supported by the state authorities, which allowed them to use a small building on the corner of the central Sofia streets Moskovska and Benkovski.

Soon, however, it became clear that the available equipment was insufficient to reach a larger audience, and a team of local engineers took up the challenging task to build a more powerful transmitter. Another problem arose as the people working on the radio programs increased and the building soon turned out to be too small to accommodate all. Therefore, with the permission of the state, the amateurs moved and occupied an entire floor of a building on 19 Moskovska Street. After radio broadcasting was made a state monopoly with the decree of Tsar Boris III in 1935, the Bulgarian radio began developing at a rapid pace. In addition to the Bulgarian language broadcasts, the year 1936 saw the start of overseas emissions – first in Esperanto, and several months later, also in French, German, English and Italian, the foreign service department of the radio known today as Radio Bulgaria. […]

Read the full story at Radio Bulgaria.

BNR marks its 84 the birthday and 90 years since first radio broadcast in Bulgaria (01/25/19):

Radio Bulgaria reaches users in more than 150 countries through its internet pages in Bulgarian and nine foreign languages, which is an excellent achievement, Boyko Stankushev who works as analysts at the Programme Department of the Bulgarian National Radio pointed out.

Highest number of people using Radio Bulgaria’s web sites is registered in Germany. The users in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hessen are most active. In the United Kingdom highest number of users is registered in London, followed by Manchester-apparently the people living in these two British cities show specific interest in the information published on the web sites of Radio Bulgaria’s foreign language sections. When it comes to Bulgaria’s neighboring countries Turkey is the undisputed leader in terms of the number of visitors in Radio Bulgaria’s site. I would underline that many people in this country visit the Bulgarian pages of the Bulgarian National Radio, including the Bulgarian web page of Radio Bulgaria. Istanbul is the leader in this ranking, followed by Ankara, Bursa and Izmir. Radio Bulgaria has users in some smaller Turkish towns such as Mu?la and Tekirda?. I believe that the Bulgarians studying at the local universities are regular users of Radio Bulgaria’s content and read both in Bulgarian and Turkish.

In 2018 the interest in Radio Bulgaria’s content by US users increased. The number of visits in publications in English was very high, followed by visits in Radio Bulgaria’s Greek and Spanish page from North and Latin America. In the USA the highest number of visits was registered in Illinois, which is not surprising, because of the huge Bulgarian community living in Chicago. In California huge internet activity was registered in areas with large technological parks and highly-educated people, i.e. we are talking in this case about a very high-quality audience.[…]

Click here to continue reading this full article at Radio Bulgaria.

Thank you, David!

Your message prompted me to find a recording I made of the final Radio Bulgaria broadcast on shortwave which, coincidentally, happened seven years ago today!