Tag Archives: Shortwave Radio

Thanks for the shout out, Click!

When held captive, radio provides escape

Many thanks to Any Sennitt who shares a link to this article by Telegraph journalist, Colin Freeman.

(Source: The Telegraph via Andy Sennitt)

Along with the glaciers of the Arctic and the sand dunes of the Sahara, northern Somalia is one of the loneliest, most godforsaken places I’ve ever visited as a foreign correspondent. You can wander its Arizona-like landscape for days without seeing another soul, and when I was held hostage there in 2008, I could see why so many British troops posted to Somalia after the Second World War committed suicide through loneliness.

That I did not succumb to the same urge is thanks to many factors – one being the good cheer of the photographer held captive alongside me, another being the Telegraph’s heroic efforts in securing our release.

But during the six weeks we spent held at gunpoint in a cave, one thing that stemmed the despair was the tiny, battery-operated radio that our kidnappers sometimes lent us. On the short wave channel we could get a faint BBC World Service signal, and while it was often fuzzy as it bounced round the cave’s walls, it was better than yet another game on our chess set made from cigarette foil.

So I’m pleased to hear that this lifeline is now being extended to inmates of another, much larger prison – the 25 million citizens of North Korea, who are denied access to any outside media by their leader, Kim Jong-un. As the Telegraph disclosed on Thursday, the World Service is to plan a new North Korea channel, giving the country’s brain-washed citizens a much-needed alternative to the relentless propaganda of the world’s last Stalinist regime.

[Continue reading at The Telegraph…]

Channel 292: Amateur Radio group broadcasts on former DW frequency

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Channel 292 propagation map (Source: Southgate ARC)

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Harald Kuhl (DL1ABJ) for sharing this article from the Southgate ARC:

“When the ‘Deutsche Welle’ decided to close down one of their 500 KW short wave broadcast transmitters near Munich at the end of 2012, a group containing some German radio amateurs applied for and were allocated the then available short wave frequency of 6070 KHz in 2013.

This group now have an operational 10KW station on the frequency, using the driver stages from the old Deutsche Welle transmitter. The rest of the transmitter was built by and is run by Rainer DB8QC . The [license] allow transmission 24/7 but at present most transmissions are on a weekend during daylight hours.

Content is mainly provided by existing Internet Radio stations wanting to get their material “on-the-air” this includes several soceities that remember the days of the Pirate Radio pop music stations in the North sea between England and Holland and a lot of their music content is from the 60’s and 70’s.

Additional content is being sought and at only 15 Euros an hour, this is not a corporate big business rather a facility where smaller groups can afford to buy time to transmit their content. One such group is the Deutsche Amateur Radio Club, the National Amateur Radio Society in Germany, who hope to have a weekly 2 hour slot on the station from mid-March to send a DX orientated program, probably from 6pm local time on Sundays.

The DARC DX magazine will be in the German language and targeted towards German speaking listeners. Amateur radio is an international medium however so there are thoughts of also producing an international / English hour in addition, to reach out across Europe not only to radio amateurs but also to short wave listeners and the general public.”

Continue reading on the Southgate ARC website…

Thanks again, Harald! Even though Channel 292 isn’t a blow-torch station, at 15 Euros per hour, nearly any group could afford to broadcast on shortwave. Now to put Channel 292 in the logs!

For more information, click here to view the Channel 242 website.

23 January 2015: A Friday morning 31 meter band scan

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This morning, I tuned around the 31 meter band and was surprised with favorable propagation out of Asia (see spectrum waterfall above–click to enlarge).

I started logging a few stations, but the effort quickly turned into a full band scan/survey. I logged everything I could easily hear between the 9,390-10,000 kHz portion of the 31 meter band.

I logged 52 stations and omitted eight that I considered too weak for good copy.

I used my WinRadio Excalibur SDR connected to a large horizontal delta loop wire antenna.

The number of broadcasts originating in or targeting China is pretty phenomenal: the 31 band is your oyster, if you speak Chinese.

31 Meter Band 1200 – 1300 UTC, all frequencies in kHz

9390 Radio Thailand Malaysian (1200Z) then English (1230Z)
9410 China National Radio 5 Chinese
9430 FEBC Radio Chinese
9440 China Radio International Cambodian
9460 China Radio International English
9475 Radio Australia English
9490 Voice Of America Korean
9500 China National Radio 1 Chinese
9515 China National Radio 2 Chinese
9530 Voice Of America Chinese
9540 China Radio International Chinese
9550 China Radio International Vietnamese (covered by CRI Cantonese distortion)
Note the blowtorch CRI signal on 9,570 kHz which was blanketing the surrounding spectrum with noise.
9570 China Radio International Cantonese (transmitter spewing distortion 50 kHz wide)
9580 Radio Australia English (covered by CRI Cantonese distortion)
9590 China Radio International Russian (covered by CRI Cantonese distortion)
9600 China Radio International English
9620 China National Radio 6 Chinese
9635 Voice of Vietnam 1 Vietnamese (slightly below freq)
9640 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
9645 China Radio International English
9655 China Radio International Chinese
9660 Radio Taiwan International Chinese
9680 Radio Taiwan International Chinese
9700 Lower Sideband communication (UNID)
9710 China National Radio 1 Chinese
9720 China Radio International Filipino
9730 China Radio International English
9735 Radio Taiwan International Indonesian
9740 BBC English
9745 Guanghua zhi Sheng Chinese
9750 Radio Kuwait Arabic
9730 China Radio International English
9770 KBS World Radio Chinese
9775 China National Radio 2 Chinese (vy weak)
9785 China Radio International Laotian
9790 Voice Of Islamic Republic of Iran Pashto
9810 China National Radio 2 Chinese and All India Radio Telugu
9820 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
9825 Voice Of America Chinese
9830 China National Radio 1 Chinese
9840 Voice of Vietnam English
9850 Radio Habana Cuba Spanish
9855 China Radio International Chinese
9860 China National Radio 1 Chinese (vy weak)
9880 KSDA-AWR Guam Korean (vy weak)
9900 Radio France International Chinese
9920 FEBC Radio Bahnar (w/Jamming)
9940 Reach Beyond Australia (HCJB) Indonesian
9955 Radio Slovakia International English (via WRMI/WRN)
9975 KTWR Guam Chinese
9990 Radio Farda Persian
10000 WWV Fort Collins English

I recorded two broadcasts during the scan–both at 12:30 UTC: Radio Thailand (9,390 kHz) and Radio Slovakia (9,955 kHz). I will post them soon.

Orchestral music on shortwave?

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Photo: Thomas Fries / License: cc-by-sa-3.0 de

SWLing Post reader, Eric (w4OTN/3), asks:

Years ago I loved tuning in Radio Bulgaria and listening to their orchestra play. The ether would deliver the beautiful music to my ears with some fading at times but I loved listening to it. That is, of course, until they stopped broadcasting. I’ve tried to find an alternative without success.

I wonder if you know of any shortwave station that still broadcast orchestras?

Thanks,
Eric W4OTN/3

Any suggestions for Eric? Please comment with details!

Radio Dabanga: Sudan to launch 20 radio stations

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(Source: Radio Dabanga via Andy Sennitt)

Coming January, Sudan will launch ten shortwave radio stations in Darfur, and ten in South Kordofan

The new radio stations will present programmes in local dialects, to counter the broadcasts by Radio Dabanga, in an attempt to reduce its impact on the populations of those regions, especially in Darfur, Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman told Members of the national Parliament on Tuesday.

As for South Kordofan, the radio stations will aim to reach the Nuba people living in the rebel-controlled areas, the minister noted.

Sudanese MPs have criticised the performance of the official media before. They described it as “weak, and failing in the delivery of information”. On Tuesday, 25 November, the daily broadcasts by Radio Dabanga from the Netherlands were discussed in the parliament. Some MPs stressed the need “to disrupt the activity of Radio Dabanga, or completely stop it”, and demanded from the Information Minister of State to develop a plan to at least reduce its impact.

Radio Dabanga broadcasts in shortwave to the whole of Sudan and neighbouring countries. Satellite broadcasts are confined to the larger cities. (See elsewhere on this site for audio feeds.)

Follow this story on Radio Dabanga’s website.

“Less plug” and much “more play”–!

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Aw, gee–you know you’ve made it the in the world when the talented and inimitable Jeff Murray (K1NSS) takes the Mickey out of you with his quirky vintage-style imagery. This time, it was yours truly that got a dose of the Murray treatment…
Jeff, you inject this hobby with the requisite dose of whimsy. Thanks so much for “plugging” Ears To Our World!

Merry listening, friends! If you would like to support Ears To Our World with a tax-deductible donation, click here!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again–if you want to hire a talented artist for graphics or a unique QSL card, Jeff is clearly the guy to call upon.