Tag Archives: RNEI

Radio Carpathia and RNEI to fill in void left by TIAMS

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rose, who shares the following announcement:

The beloved ThisIsAMusicShow has ceased broadcasting for the foreseeable future, but you can rest assured, as the broadcast slot that was used by TIAMS (Thursdays between 0200-0300 UTC on WRMI 5850 kHz) is now in good hands.

In the first 30 minutes, starting at 0200 UTC, you will hear a monthly episode of Radio Carpathia, presented by Luca, featuring the best music from Eastern Europe and sometimes beyond, as well as some digital text and sometimes an image in MFSK64. New shows air on the Thursday that follows the third Sunday of every month (it’s not always the same), and will be repeated throughout the month.

In the other half of the hour, you will get to hear a special program from Radio Northern Europe International (whose normal program airs at 0100 UTC on the same day and frequency), called RNEIxtra, which introduces listeners to new genres, presenters, and music outside of the normal RNEI remit. Previous RNEIxtra shows have been DJ mixes, video game jazz, data experiments, and my personal favorite: Japanese music specials! We love getting new presenters on air on RNEIxtra so look out for exciting new shows and contact us if you want to give shortwave a try! New shows come out on the Thursday that follows the second Sunday of every month.

Reception reports for Radio Carpathia can be sent to radiocarpathia[at]gmail[dot]com, or by post to:
Luca Trifan
O.P. 6, C.P. 615
400810 Cluj-Napoca
ROMANIA
and will be answered with a physical QSL card, regardless of how they are sent.

RNEI welcomes reception reports to qsl[at]rnei[dot]org.

More information, as well as previous on-demand shows, are available at https://radiocarpathia.org and https://rnei.org respectively.

Both Luca and I are looking forward to receiving your feedback and reception reports, and we hope you will enjoy this new, albeit quite different programming.

Click here for more information.

Thank you for sharing this news, Rose. TIAMS was an excellent program. I certainly hope we haven’t seen the last of it. Very pleased your stations have both stepped up to fill in the gap!

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DnB mix on shortwave via RNEI!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rose with RNEI, who writes:

Hei Thomas,

This week we’re showcasing a new show as we like to do from time to time and this time it’s DK Radio. It’ll be on the WRMI broadcasts of RNEI for this week only (that’s 01UTC Thursday on 5850, 13UTC Thursday on 15770 and 01UTC Sunday on 5010.)

It might be noteworthy due to it being a full DJ’ed DnB mix on shortwave which isn’t all that common!

Wishing you well,
Rose
Radio Northern Europe International
https://rnei.org

Thanks so much for the tip, Rose! I look forward to tuning in!

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RNEIxtra Japanese Show Special: June 2nd & 5th, 2022

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Roseanna, with Radio Northern Europe International who shares the following announcement:

RNEIxtra Japanese Show Special Announcement

Hei alle sammen,

The first week of June is a special week at RNEI: It’s a 5th show week!
This means that there are 5 broadcasts before the next RNEI show airs on 6070KHz, (Channel 292).

During this “5th week” we like to create something special and outside of our usual remit.
For the first week of February, we had an EasyDRF demonstration from Daz followed by the normal shows from Mamma and Stephen. This time the special before Mamma and Stephen is of Japanese music from Rose! Without any further ado, here is the announcement:

While there might be a blue light in Yokohama, this Japanese special has unlocked a green light to be on RNEI’s 5th week broadcast!

I thought about writing a normal-style announcement post.. but that felt predictable like small talk about the weather. Instead I’ve included hints only a dimension hacker could crack as to the songs I am playing this show.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Japanese music recently.. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned before but I’ve always had a liking for Japanese music. I remember listening to J-pop at train stations and I remember one summer’s day hearing Sentimental Journey on NHK in 2021 which got me back into listening to J-Pop! I feel my love of Japanese pop will probably last until the day after eternity!

Anyways, that’s enough of me rambling on, time to give you the broadcast dates and times!

RNEI WRMI Map for RNEIXtra Japanese Show

Day of Month	Time	Frequency	Az
2022.06.02 Thursday	01:00 UTC	5850KHz	315°
2022.06.02 Thursday	01:00 UTC	7730KHz	44°
2022.06.02 Thursday	13:00 UTC	15770KHz	44°
2022.06.05 Sunday	01:00 UTC	5010KHz	181°

Click the ° to see details. More information at rnei.org/listen.

I hope you enjoy my little selection of Japanese music and I hope you also enjoy the new RNEI show that airs soon!

This show will not be made available on-demand so you only have these 3 chances to hear it!

Until next time,
Roseanna

Click here to read this announcement at RNEI.

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Radio Northern Europe International Show #26 Announcement

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Roseanna, with Radio Northern Europe International who shares the following announcement:

Radio Northern Europe International Show #26 Announcement!

Hei alle sammen,

RNEI #26 will be our two year anniversary .. it’s crazy to think that it’s already been two years since the first episode of RNEI back in February 2020!
I’ve put together a packed show full of lesser known music and artists and worked extra hard to make this show a good one and we’ve now got a new weekly slot on 15770KHz WRMI for our European listeners!
Some of the goodies you’ll hear in RNEI 26 are:

Some little known artists like Svea S, LAOISE and Vök
TATYANA wanting to lock us down
Little known Samí artist Inna Marja Amindsen brings us a fantastic joik
Our Song of the Month chosen by Karl from Scandipop.co.uk
Our most edited dance mix ever complete with MFSK 64 data!
On WRMI 5850, 7780 & some 15770 broadcasts or our On-Demand shows you’ll also hear:
- Mamma’s Mest Metal (there are some fantastic choices this show!)
- Stephen’s Feature on the Swedish-Samí artist Sofia Jannok
- Daz’s EasyDRF Playlist (Decoder here – WRMI only)
On Channel 292 & some 15770 broadcasts you’ll also hear :
- You will hear a fantastic episode of This is an Express Music Show (There are some production delays so the 292 version might be just RNEI 26 repeated or a shorter 30 minute broadcast)
- You’ll also have a chance to receive Daz’s EasyDRF Playlist (Decoder here) just before TIAEMS starts

RNEI Winter 2022 Target Map (v2)

ND = non directional. The colour of AZ matches the map prediction.
For our schedule on other frequencies please see rnei.org/listen.

We’ve recently added 15770KHz as a testing main frequency for our European listeners and we are really looking forward to hearing your feedback about this change!

Note: 15770KHz at this time has interference on the lower side band.
For radios we recommend using USB mode or tuning between 15772 – 15774KHz to eliminate the noise. For SDRs we recommend using a notch filter or dragging the lower side of the filter in.

If you miss the show or are unable to hear it you can always catch up on demand and, if you prefer to only hear our music, we have Spotify Playlists of each show which are usually published shortly after the first broadcast of the show on WRMI!

We really hope you enjoy this show and look forward to receiving your feedback and reception reports,
Til vi møtes igjen,
Roseanna

Click here to read full announcement and additional details at RNEI.org.

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Radio Northern Europe International Show #24 announcement and more

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Roseanna, with Radio Northern Europe International who shares the following announcement:

Radio Northern Europe International Show #24, Jul 2021 & Annual Report Announcement!

Hei alle sammen,

There’s going to be some big changes to our broadcast schedule starting this December and our Annual Report for 2021 full of insider statistics is being published. And we will be bringing you some amazing Christmas songs too!

Firstly our Annual Report has now been published here. This report contains details about the music we play, the running costs of RNEI and how we are making our decisions. If you want to help support us we have a Patreon here

We’d also love it if you could email us what your favourite song from 2021 was for the January “best of 2021” special!

Now on to the fun stuff, RNEI #24 is our December & Christmas show in one!
It will feature:

Fun Christmas music from Norway
Punchy Swedish Pop from Petra Marklund
Silent Night but it’s ABREU
Lea Heart helps it feel like Christmas
Julia-Maria, a small artist from Ireland, brings us a beautiful song
Órla Fallon brings us multilingual traditional Irish Christmas song
Our song of the month from a Danish newcomer, chosen by Karl from scandipop.co.uk
Daði Freyr gives us something magical this Christmas
Boyzvoice is back and this time they’re dancy complete with the MFSK64 playlist embedded inside!
On WRMI or On-Demand you’ll also hear:
- Mamma’s Mest Metal (Christmas Special)
- Stephen’s Feature on the English singer/songwriter/guitarist John Bramwell
- Daz’s EasyDRF Playlist (Decoder here – Not on-demand)
On Channel 292:
- You will hear a fantastic episode of This is an Express Music Show
- You’ll also have a chance to receive Daz’s EasyDRF Playlist (Decoder here) just before TIAEMS starts

RNEI Christmas 2021 Target Map

We have a bonus broadcast from Channel 292 this month that is aimed at 332° targeting Northern Europe between Ireland and Finland and Southern Europe between Ukraine and Italy. This happens because there is some backbeam with these directional antennas so give them a go and see what happens!

Click here to view a clickable antenna pattern schedule at RNEI.org

If you miss the show you can always catch up on demand and, if you prefer to only hear our music, we have Spotify Playlists of each show usually published shortly after the first broadcast of the show!

We really hope you enjoy the show and look forward to receiving your feedback,
God jul alle sammen!
Roseanna

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Radio Northern Europe International Show #19 announcement

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Roseanna, with Radio Northern Europe International who shares the following announcement:

Hei alle sammen,

We’ve been continuing to write your QSL cards and we’re now sending them within 2 months of receipt of your emails!

Just like the last few months, we’ve split the broadcasts into 3 versions;
• WRMI & On-Demand Version: RNEI 19 + RNEIxtra (Mammas Mest Metal & Stephen’s feature) + HamDRM.
• Channel 292 & Radio Onda version: RNEI 19 + HamDRM + This is an Express Music Show.
• World FM version: RNEI 19 only.

RNEI #19 is packed full of great music including:
• The show starting with some Icelandic Rock
• Cindy Chiche
• A really pretty song from Døssi
• Spooky vibes in our traditional pick from Gyda
• Scandipop.co.uk‘s fantastic song of the month that has some Sámi Lyrics!
• Some MFSK64 embedded in two parts of our dance mix at the end of the dance mix!

The 4th show of Mamma’s Mest Metal will bring some amazing symphonic metal this month, it’s an amazing genre and some of Mamma’s picks this month are fantastic!
Stephen is bringing us a feature on the Scottish artist Julie Fowlis with some really beautiful songs and, lastly, YH brings us another fantastic episode of This is an Express Music Show.

Daz has coded some HamDRM data for you to have a go at decoding too!
You can use EasyDRF, Easypal & WinDRM on Windows (or Wine in Linux) and QSSTV & TRXAMADRM on Linux. We recommend against Easypal due to some security flaws we’ve noticed and WinDRM because it’s an older version of EasyDRF.

We have found that 158° has a good signal in South Eastern and Northern Europe, 80° has a signal in Brazil and surrounding areas as well as Portugal & Spain and 332° is good between Ukraine and Italy. These happen because there is some backbeam with these directional antennas so give them a go and see what happens!
Also keep an eye on our announcements for extra broadcasts!

If you miss the show you can always catch up on demand and, if you prefer to only hear our music, we have Spotify Playlists of each show usually published after the first broadcast!

Wishing you well,
Roseanna

Click here to read this post at the RNEI website.

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Guest Post: Listening to Comb Stereo on Shortwave

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who shares the following guest post:

Comb Stereo on Shortwave

by TomL

Comb Stereo is an old technique being implemented over shortwave by the main sound engineer (Daz) at Radio Northern Europe International (RNEI). It ONLY works on Comb Stereo broadcasts which currently are RNEI, This Is A Music Show (WRMI), and one of the KBC broadcasts. It works in real-time or for SDR recorded files, too. It does NOT need a special HD/DAB+ radio.

A number of pluses for Comb Stereo on shortwave compared to digital:

“The bandwidth is the same as mono – So the SNR should be about the same as mono.

Selective fading doesn’t affect the comb bands much, so the balance is largely unaffected by selective fading notches.

The Comb Stereo artifacts are much like typical music effects of echo, chorus, fast reverb or room reflections.”

You can read about it here on Daz’ web site: homepages.ihug.com.au/~daz2002/tech/CombStereo/

You can also read Roseanna’s comment on the SLWing.com blog post: https://swling.com/blog/2020/04/rnei-now-broadcasting-in-comb-stereo/

An enhanced version is broadcast on WRMI for the RNEI time slot on Thursday morning (01:00 UTC) on 5850 kHz. It sounds very good and is not a pseudo-stereo like in my previous article, Music on Shortwave. For one thing, pseudo stereo is not real two-channel encoding and shifts vocals to one side, depending on which channels are chosen for high and low filters, which might get annoying after awhile. What seems amazing to me is that I have been able apply some minor noise reduction in Audacity and the Comb Stereo stays perfectly intact. It also still works after converting the WAV file to MP3 and sounds much like a regular FM broadcast. Furthermore, it does not require a special patented transmitter or receiver chip. It is compatible with regular mono transmitters.

If you want to try it, go to the RNEI web site; download and install the two files listed (VB Audio Cable and CombStereo Pedalboard x64):

https://rnei.org/stereo/

It is slightly tricky to setup and use or you will not hear anything (most Windows systems default to 48000 Hz these days). Right-click on the lower-right taskbar Sounds settings. Make sure to setup Properties – Advanced in both the VB-Audio Virtual Cable (Playback and Recording) and your output speakers (Playback) to 24-bit 44100 Hz processing.

Now run the app Pedalboard BAT file which corresponds to the broadcast you recorded (in this example “Start Comb Stereo for WRMI.bat”). Set the Options – Audio Settings:

Since the VB-Audio Virtual Cable takes over your volume output, adjust the volume of your Speakers in Windows’ Sounds – Levels (or you can adjust the volume in the sound player you are using, too):

Play the mono WAV or MP3 file and you should be hearing stereo!

When you are done, close Pedalboard2 and then disable the VB-Audio Virtual Cable for Playback and Recording to get your Sounds back to normal:

I cannot demonstrate what it sounds like unless you have the VB-Audio Virtual Cable and the Comb Stereo app setup and working properly. Here are snippets from recent RNEI broadcasts captured by my noisy porch antenna:

Here are links to the artists’ YouTube videos for comparison:

Kari Rueslåtten – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFN4O3YrUG4

Ani Glass – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T63QS9enT-A

What is nice is that I can create a space-saving MP3 mono file and this setup will decode the stereo when run from the computer (sounds really nice on a stereo system with a subwoofer). Unlike digital, this analog-friendly stereo seems mostly immune to fading, has a minimum of digital artifacts, and will not go silent and “drop out” like digital does for long, annoying periods of time. It is not perfect stereo but audio players with features like Stereo Widener or Windows Sonic for Headphones can overcome some limitations. Perhaps content providers should consider Comb Stereo for all their shortwave radio shows since it is perfectly compatible with mono AM transmissions!

Enjoying the Music,

TomL

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