Tag Archives: shortwave

KTMS Test Transmission December 17, 2020

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following announcement he originally discovered via reddit user fastradioburst23:

Notice of a KTMS winter test transmission beaming to Europe/USA on 9670 kHz at 2300 UTC on 17.12.2020. This transmission will consist of interval jingles, engineer test signals, rare re-media mixes of cult radio favorites, strange tones, and vox. Thank you for your continued attention as the KTMS crew continue working to bring the SWL community unique transmissions.

Thanks for the tip, Bill!

Dockside DXing with the super-portable Belka-DX receiver

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I’ve been on the coast of South Carolina enjoying a little R&R with my wonderful family.

We rented a vacation home on a tidal river just south of Charleston, SC and it was just what the doctor ordered. The location was gorgeous, the weather was amazing, and there was very little RF interference outside our home.

The best part? We had full access to a private dock.

I took a few portable radios on vacation (ahem…obviously!) but I so thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Belka-DX.

If you haven’t gathered already, I really appreciate simple radios for field operation and it doesn’t get much more simple than the Belka-DX or Belka-DSP.

The radio is so incredibly compact, durable, and a pleasure to operate–especially if cruising the broadcast bands.

On the dock, I didn’t have a place to easily hang a wire antenna, so I used the supplied telescoping whip antenna. It served me well on a number of listening sessions.

As 13dka pointed out in his brilliant review of the Belka-DSP, the Belka radios are so compact, yet pack so much performance, they smack of a little spy radio! On top of that, the chassis is incredibly durable. I can’t tell you how much I love this. My Belka receiver has been living in my EDC bag in a small zippered pouch.

I barely notice it in my bag–it take up almost no space and weighs so little–but in the back of my mind I know I have a portable DXing machine everywhere I go.

I have no fear of being damaged in my bag, either–the chassis protects it so well.

Since London Shortwave has sorted out how to make spectrum recordings using the Belka-DX I/Q out, you’d better believe I’ll be sampling spectrum as I travel the globe post-pandemic!

I didn’t have time to gather what I needed for making Belka-DX spectrum recordings on this trip, but you can be certain I will when I return!

I should add that one of the little joys about my dockside DXing spot this past week was watching dolphins swim by as I tuned to some of my favorite broadcasters. Bliss.

Post readers: Have you taken your radios on vacation recently? Please comment! Better yet, consider submitting a guest post with photos!

RTI’s New Korean Language Service on Shortwave

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who writes:

Generally, the news about shortwave is bad (stations that close, stations that leave the short wave and go to the Internet), but this time the news is good: After 15 years, Radio Taiwan International is broadcasting again in Korean language in short wave.
At the link, the article is in Spanish (not yet available in English).
Good week

David Iurescia (LW4DAF)

(Source: RTI – translated into English)

After 15 years, RTI restores shortwave broadcasts in Korean language

Starting on Sunday the 13th of this month, Radio Taiwan International will resume shortwave broadcasts in the Korean language. Today, 10 during a ceremony held at the radio station, the president of the RTI board of directors, Lu Ping, highlighted the many common aspects that Taiwan and South Korea present and highlighted the audiovisual and cultural exchange with which both countries can learn from each other. The reestablishment of broadcasts in Korean through the short wave is a new milestone that will further strengthen relations between the two countries.

Also present at the ceremony were the director of the Department for Asia-Pacific Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Larry Tseng, and the representative of South Korea in Taipei, Kang Young-hoon.

Lu explained that since taking over as chairman of the board five years ago, he has supported the restoration of Korean broadcasts. In 2018, programming was relaunched through the RTI website and YouTube, and now, two years later, shortwave broadcasts are resumed.

These were her words: “As of December 13, short wave broadcasts will resume. Under the leadership of our CEO, Chang Cheng, this is a very important date. This is a new milestone and we hope that through programming in Korean the exchange in various fields will increase and that communication will strengthen the values ??in which both peoples believe. “

Lu Ping explained that Taiwan and South Korea have many similarities in historical and cultural aspects. Through the exchange, both countries will be able to enjoy the values ??that the two peoples share.

For his part, Kang said that, due to the pandemic, this year interpersonal relationships have been severely limited and that, in this scenario, Korean broadcasts that transmit news about Taiwan have become an important bridge that crosses borders and connects hearts.

Radio Taiwan International’s programming in Korean was launched for the first time in 1961. In 2005 the broadcasts were suspended after adjustments in the organization’s budget, although during those decades many groups of listeners who followed these broadcasts were formed. At today’s ceremony, seven Korean listening friends expressed their congratulations and congratulations through a video. The listeners told that they went from childhood, adolescence to adulthood listening to these broadcasts and one of them even asked his son to offer a word of greeting in Chinese. Listeners look forward to tuning in to these broadcasts that they will hear with great pleasure.

This is the schedule that RTI gave me:

Radio Taiwán International : New Korean Service : Schedule

10:30 – 11:00 UTC – 9610 Khz

22:00 – 22:30 UTC – 5955 Khz (Repetition 1)

23:00 – 23:30 UTC – 9430 Khz (Repetition 2)

Thank you very much for the tip, David!

A True Treasure Trove: International Radio Club of America Free Reprints

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Nick Hall-Patch, who writes:

Since 1964, the International Radio Club of America has been documenting medium wave DXing and DXers’ efforts to improve their understanding of radio reception and to develop better listening techniques. During that time, over 900 articles have been written, that have furthered the art of DXing. Many of these continue to be relevant to the more general radio hobbyist, including articles about antennas, radio propagation, receivers and accessories, plus general technical information.

Previously, those articles were available only to club members, but they are now available to all. Go to www.ircaonline.org, and click on the “Free IRCA Reprints” button to download your own copies.

Oh wow! What an amazing and deep treasure trove of articles! Thank you so much for the tip, Nick!

Dan discovers a video and photo montage of VOK listeners

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, DanH, who writes:

The YouTube channel Phuong DPRK Daily recently posted a video titled Listeners to Radio “Voice of Korea” in Pictures. This video offers a look at photos of VOK Voice of Korea (DPRK) shortwave listeners. I recognize the voice of one of the VOK newscasters as the narrator of this video. It is interesting to take note of the shortwave receivers shown in the photos as well. This video was also posted on the Voice of Korea website on September 25, 2020.

I listen to the English Language Service of VOK Voice of Korea from my suburban listening post in Northern California, USA. The VOK English language broadcasts beamed to South America usually provide the best reception for me. Here is my most recent reception video of VOK. It was recorded on November 10, 2020.

There are more reception videos of VOK available at my website Willow Slough DX. These videos include newscasts read by the male announcer heard on the photo album video.

Happy SWLing! The shortwave broadcast bands are beginning to improve after the long nadir of solar minimum!

DanH

Thanks for sharing this, Dan!

Aircheck cassette leads to lost album with heavy shortwave influence

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Pete Polanyk, who shares the following story that all started with a recording he submitted to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive:

Remember I sent you that clip of Radio Canada (that went up on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive) that was on the other side of a punk tape? Well I digitised and sold it on eBay. The tape featured a live gig of the band ATV (Mark Perry was the lead singer and main ideas person). A few days later I received an email from the buyer–a nice chap called Phillipe in France–who’s a big ATV fan.

“Just listened to the ATV one… I wonder, have you the faintest idea what the B-side is? It sounds like radio recordings, but on repeated listening sounds like some kind of noisy pieces or experimentation, which reminds me of similar ‘shortwave’ experiments done by ATV at the time of the second album. Do you know if this was somehow linked to the band?”

I replied saying it was a recording by me off the shortwave from the early 1980’s sadly, not the band, he wrote back:

“So, I guess playing with shortwave must have been something in the air back then?!
The funny thing is that there is a very similar track from a ‘lost ATV album’ entitled The End Of Flight 182 from late ‘78.

It’s actually more Dave George (later of The Good Missionaries) than ATV but still Mark Perry contributed a bit to the recordings; and one of its tracks was released somewhere else as ATV. Anyway… the album features a ‘Shortwave’ track (entitled as such) by Dave George, and I’ve have included it here (I’ve attached the track he sent us.) Can you hear how it sounds similar to yours? The track/experimentation may also been what led ATV to write ‘The Radio Story’, but that’s just a personal assumption. Mark and George were definitely in touch back in those days since Mark contributed a bit to his album which was was recorded a few months before Dave joined ATV (which then soon became The Good Missionaries). Sadly Dave George passed a few years ago, so we won’t know much more about the album and the track.”

https://youtu.be/EuvxU_3B99A

I wrote back and told him that I will probably send it to you as you’ll be well interested in the story. This is his last reply:

“Yeah, it could be nice and interesting Thomas’ mentions it on his site. To avoid any confusion here’re a few more details: the ‘Shortwave’ track is only Dave George, and was recorded a few months before Dave joined ATV (which then soon became The Good Missionaries), so technically it’s not ATV. But he was definitely in touch with Mark Perry back in those days since Mark contributed a bit to the album as I said; hence Thomas could also publish a youtube link to The Radio Story as well. Sadly Dave George passed a few years ago, so we won’t know much more about the album and the track.”

So that was the story! What a mad coincidence eh?

A mad coincidence indeed! Thank you for sharing the story, Pete. I love where art and shortwave meet and especially in moments of serendipity like this! Now to explore more Dave and ATV…

End of an Era: Universal Radio is closing shop

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Universal Radio’s showroom at their previous Reynoldsburg location

While I’m very happy for my friends Fred and Barbara Osterman as they head into a well-deserved retirement, I’m very sad that Universal Radio will be closing.

I’ve been a Universal Radio customer since before I was a licensed ham radio operator. They have been–and are to this day–the one ham radio radio retailer that still specialized in shortwave radio receivers.

Fred and Barbara have generously supported numerous radio clubs, organizations, and non-profit organizations throughout the years and are simply some of the nicest people you could ever meet.

Fred and Barbara shared the following message with their customers:

Dear Friends Of Universal Radio,

Time waits for no one, and that includes Barbara and myself. We have decided to retire and our current location in Worthington
will close on November 30, 2020. Even though the store is closing we will fulfill all existing customer orders and have a large amount of inventory to close-out. The Universal Radio website will be maintained for the foreseeable future to sell this remaining stock, publications and some select products. Unfortunately the lack of a store front showroom will preclude us from carrying some manufacturers’ products.

I am very fortunate to have been in the radio business for over 50 years, 13 at Radio Shack and 37 at Universal Radio. We have met many wonderful people along the journey who have supported me personally as well as Universal Radio. It has been a privilege to have a continuous career in the fascinating field of radio since 1969.

Please accept our sincere “Thank You” for your support of Universal Radio
for these many years, and for the months to come.

Our new address for correspondence and mail order is below.
This is not a store front.

Universal Radio Inc.
752 N. State St. Unit 222
Westerville, OH 43082

Phone: 614 866-4267

Thank you.

73,

Fred Osterman N8EKU
Barbara Osterman KC8VWI

Thank you, Fred and Barbara, and here’s wishing you a very happy retirement!