Tag Archives: Radio World

Radio World explores the PantronX Titus II

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom Ally, for sharing the following article by James Careless in Radio World:

Well, if you are the engineering firm PantronX, you have the Titus II software-defined radio. And when you plan to sell this ultimate receiver for less than $100 each, you hope you have a consumer sensation for the worldwide broadcast market.

Unveiled by the Panama-based company at an international broadcasting meeting in Miami in August, the Titus II SDR is not yet shipping. But it is described as capable of receiving and playing analog and digital radio transmission formats including AM, FM, shortwave, HD Radio, DAB+ and Digital Radio Mondiale. The company is considering adding a DRM+ decoder.

The initial market is among worldwide broadcasters, particularly those serving countries where listeners may lack internet; a secondary market is individual listeners, hobbyists and others. PantronX will not supply all decoders for all formats but add them preloaded as needed.

Read the full article at Radio World…

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Radio World: Schenectady Shortwave Transmitters, 1941

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, for sharing a link to the following article in Radio World:

The General Electric Co. was truly among America’s premier broadcasting companies.

In addition to developing much of early broadcast technology and building a trio of high-power AM stations in the early 1920s — WGY Schenectady, N.Y.; KOA Denver; and KGO Oakland, Calif. — GE was also the country’s pioneer shortwave broadcaster.

GE’s initial shortwave station, 2XI, first broadcast in 1923, and in 1924 it was used to relay WGY’s programs for to KOA and KGO for rebroadcast in the western U.S.

By 1925, there were two experimentally licensed shortwave stations in Schenectady: W2XAD and W2XAF. A third GE station in San Francisco, W6XBE, was added in 1939.

That was the year that the Federal Communications Commission allowed the country’s experimental shortwave stations to relicense as commercial operations, and these three GE stations received the call signs WGEA, WGEO and KGEI, respectively.

Continue reading the full article at Radio World.

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Radio World: International Broadcasters Reconsider Shortwave

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Check out this article from Radio World which addresses the state of shortwave radio broadcasting.

Jeff White of WRMI and Kim Elliott of the VOA are both interviewed. Elliott even speaks about the virtues of the VOA Radiogram experiments which have had success circumventing shortwave radio jamming (broadcasts which were completely omitted from the BBG Special Committee report on the efficacy of shortwave radio).

Click here to read the full article at Radio World.

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Radio World: Dr. Benway’s Good Deed

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Many thanks to Ulis for sharing this article from Radio World about pirate radio broadcaster, Dr. Benway (of Undercover Radio), and his quest to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project Inc.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

“Recently Dr. Benway began offering T-shirts, featuring his station logo, for sale on the fundraising website booster.com. While the shirts promote the station, the proceeds, Benway says, will go to the Wounded Warrior Project to help veterans who have been injured in combat overseas.

This type of fundraising is unusual for a pirate radio operator, but there is nothing illegal about selling shirts and booster.com handles all the orders and shipping, making the entire process anonymous.

“I selected the Wounded Warrior Project Inc. because I have been involved in other efforts with them over the years,” he said. “It just seemed like a natural fit. Pirate operators fight for free speech, and our warriors fight for the freedom of our country.”

The Wounded Warrior Project serves warriors and their families through a holistic approach, nurturing the mind and body of injured soldiers. According to the WWP website, it hopes to “foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation’s history.”

Read the full interview on Radio World’s website…

Click here if you would like to buy an Undercover Radio t-shirt through Booster.com.

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The state of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)

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View of the Capitol Building from the roof of the Voice of America on 330 Independence Ave., S.W.

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Lyle, for sharing this article from Radio World which takes an in-depth look at the state of US International Broadcasting and poses the question, “How effective is the BBG in 2014?”

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Radio World looks into the future of digital shortwave radio

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(Source: Radio World Online)

“DRM is not seen as a profitable line for the major manufacturers,” said Sennitt. “A few smaller manufacturers have produced DRM receivers, but the unit cost is still too high, and there simply aren’t enough DRM transmissions audible at any one location to stimulate consumer demand. It’s a classic chicken and egg situation — which comes first, the transmissions or the receivers? The broadcasters and the receiver manufacturers are each waiting for the other to move first.”

Read the full article at Radio World Online.

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Radio World: HFCC Is About More Than Shortwave Now

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(Source: Radio World)

The High Frequency Coordination Conference is expanding its scope.

[…]According to a summary of the conference, membership voted to expand the scope of the HFCC.

“There are some compelling reasons for doing this,” stated Chairman Oldrich Cip. “TV and radio organizations for home listeners and their unions are busy discussing the future of distribution of the media content and the use of new — mainly digital — technologies. We would like to become a forum for such debate in international broadcasting.”

In other words: We ain’t just shortwave no more.

Read the Full article at Radio World online.

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