Tag Archives: Turkey

Radio Waves: RTUK Demands License, Finding MH370 via Signal Disturbances, Massive Collection of Antique Radios, and Free Tech License Class

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!

Turkey demands Deutsche Welle, VOA and Euronews apply for a licence (Broadband TV News)

Turkish media regulator RTÜK has given three international broadcasters 72 hours to apply for a licence or have their online content blocked.

Voice of America (VOA), Deutsche Welle (DW) and Euronews are including video on their websites and are seen as among the few independent news sources still available in Turkey.

RTÜK published a statement on its website Monday, signalling the start of the 72 hour period.

If the procedure for applying for a licence is underway, a broadcaster can continue on-air for another three months, providing the anticipated licence fee is paid to the regulator in advance. [Continue reading…]

Finding MH370: New breakthrough could finally solve missing flight mystery (60 Minutes Australia via YouTube)

Is the biggest aviation mystery of all time, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, about to be solved? Yes, if you believe the man you’re about to meet. Richard Godfrey is no crackpot; he’s a respected British aerospace engineer and physicist who says he’s found the doomed airliner. If he’s right, he’ll provide desperately needed answers for the families of the 239 passengers and crew who were aboard the Boeing triple-seven when it vanished eight years ago. But knowing where it is isn’t the end of the story – Richard also has to convince authorities to resume the search that’s already cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Retired electrical engineer, 85, has £15,000 collection of 200 antique radios that he has been building up for 50 years – including one of the oldest sets in the UK (The Daily Mail)

A grandfather-of-five has revealed his impressive antique radio and test instrument collection worth up to £15,000.

Richard Allan, a retired electrical engineer, has spent the last fifty years collecting antique transistor, valve and crystal sets and has now shown off his impressive collection of more than 200 pieces.

The 85-year-old from Norfolk, first fell in love with radios because of his father, Alexander William, who built his own transmitter and spoke to people all over the world through the airwaves.

In fact, Richard’s first – and favourite radio within his collection – is the one his father, a HAM, or amateur radio lover, played non-stop during World War II after purchasing in 1938.

Another notable piece within his collection is an E52b German military radio, captured in a vehicle at Foxhill, Bath, which was where his father worked in the Admiralty. [Continue reading…]

Free online amateur radio Technician license class (Southgate ARC)

The Montgomery Amateur Radio Club in Maryland is offering a free online Zoom amateur radio Technician license class on seven Saturdays from March 19, 2022 through April 30, 2022 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM with an outdoor free test session on Sunday, May 1, 2022 8:30 AM to 11:00 AM.

More information about this Zoom class is at
https://www.marcclub.org/mweb/education/classes/technician.html

This is a great opportunity for you to get your amateur radio license. To learn more about amateur radio, also known as ham radio, go to http://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio

To register for this free class, send an email to [email protected] .

Also, please distribute this announcement to anyone who expresses an interest in getting their ham license and to any newly licensed hams.

Thank you,

David Bern, W2LNX
MARC education committee

Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

Spread the radio love

Radio Waves: Listening to Jupiter, Radio Emma Toc, Turkish Bans, and RT DE to Sue German Regulator

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Under a darkening sky, earthlings tune in to ‘Jupiter Radio’ (KLCC)

Ever eavesdrop on the planet, Jupiter? This past weekend, some radio enthusiasts gathered at Eugene’s Riverfront Field to do just that.

Roughly a dozen members of the Ducks on the Air Amateur Radio Club gathered on the grassy space (making sure to sidestep goose poops) to set up an array of cables and rods called a differential dipole antenna. They managed to assemble it and realign it just before Jupiter appeared on the dusky horizon. [Continue reading and listen to the audio at KLCC…]

Radio Emma Toc – celebrating wireless station 2MT – at 100! (Southgate ARC)

Dear Listener / Viewer

I’m pleased to let you know that I will be broadcasting another video stream this coming Monday, 14th February, with the theme of celebrating wireless station 2MT.

In 1922, after requests & petitions from radio hams in the United Kingdom, a licence was issued for station 2MT to transmit a programme of CW (morse), Telephony (voice) and music, on a weekly basis. Transmissions came from a small wooden hut in Writtle, Essex, where engineers working for the Marconi Company were given the task of putting on air a wireless station for ‘calibration purposes’ aimed at the growing number of radio hams and enthusiasts.

Over a short period, and with the good fortune of this Marconi team having a selection of gifted radio engineers & maverick individuals, 2MT became incredibly popular & – probably without realising it at the time – went on to lay the foundations of entertainment broadcasting that was to follow.

Monday the 14th February will be the centenary of the first transmission from 2MT. From 11am in the morning – 11:00UTC – we will be playing audio documentaries & videos looking at the start of broadcasting here in the UK, & then at around 6.45pm – 18:45UTC – I will present a live programme where hopefully we can all join in to drink a toast to ‘2MT’.

Our broadcast will not be a full history of the station, more a celebration of the people involved & everything that we enjoy about radio today. I hope to link with others celebrating 2MT & also radio hams on the air on this anniversary day.

I invite you to join me for this amateur enthusiast video broadcast!

Further details are available here:

Links & information relating to our broadcast stream:

Website – https://www.emmatoc.org/
Website page for this celebration – https://www.emmatoc.org/2mtcelebration
Link for viewing (only linking to us on the day of the broadcast) – https://www.mixcloud.com/live/RadioEmmaToc/
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/emmatoc
Twitter page – https://twitter.com/radioemmatoc

You can take part in the programme by emailing me with any comments & radio memories – I’d love to say hello to you – our email address is – [email protected]

Check our Facebook & Twitter pages for updates in case of any problems with transmissions (things can always go wrong!)

Our friends at Essex Ham have produced a short interview video with more detail – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk_XnGvsJ0M

Links & information for other items of interest:

For radio hams, there will be two special event amateur radio stations in operation.
Local Radio Club CARS – Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society – will be operating GB100 2MT from Writtle Village Hall – http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/events/gb1002mt-writtle/index.htm
Radio Club Essex Ham will be operating GB2MTC from the East Essex Hackspace Hut in Hockley – http://sxham.uk/2mt

It is also hoped that items about 2MT will feature in programmes on the 14th on BBC Essex, Chelmsford Community Radio, & Phoenix FM. I will have more detail on this during my live stream, & if possible will link up with our friend Tim Wander at some time during the evening!

I look forward to being with you on the 14th!

Best wishes

Jim

DW, VoA and Euronews facing Turkish ban (Broadband TV News)

Turkey has given three international broadcasters a deadline of 72 hours to apply for local licences or be taken off the air.

“Deutsche Welle, Voice of America and Euronews have been given a deadline of 72 hours by the RTÜK. They must apply for a broadcast licence within that period or face a broadcast ban,” said Okan Konuralp, a member of the Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Twitter.

At issue are the broadcasters’ websites that have drawn the attention of the authorities because they also feature video news. Such websites have become increasingly popular in Turkey as the government places restrictions on local news outlets.

If the broadcasters don’t apply for a licence the regulator has the right to go to court and get the website closed down. [Continue reading…]

RT DE to sue German regulator after broadcast ban (Broadband TV News)

RT DE says it plans to take legal action against Berlin’s media regulator after the German-language channel was ordered to shut down its streaming service.

The simmering row between Berlin and Russia has resulted in the imposition of restrictions on the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s Russian operations.

“We believe that the regulatory authority acted unlawfully with its decision against RT DE Productions GmbH on February 2. The MABB claims that RT DE Productions GmbH is responsible for broadcasting the RT DE channel, blatantly ignoring the fact that the RT DE programme is managed and distributed by Moscow-based TV Novost,” said RT DE in a statement. [Continue reading…]

Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

Spread the radio love

Ibrahim Eren appointed director general of Turkish Radio and Television (TRT)

Alive and Well: Post-Coup Amateur Radio in Turkey

4 Replies

Many thanks to a number of Post readers who shared a link to this news item which claims that the government of Turkey revoked 3213 ham radio licenses after the recent coup attempt.

I was reluctant to post this story because I couldn’t find any other news source substantiating the claim.

Turns out, the story is completely inaccurate.

Aziz SASA (TA1E) President of TRAC (IARU-Member Society of Turkey) writes:

There is no ham radio licence [sic] revoked in Turkey and ham radio operators are operating normally.

The reports on ham radio licenses being revoked by The Supreme Council of Radio and Television (RTUK) are unconfirmed and speculative. RTUK is not a regulatory body of ham radio. We believe that it is against ham radio ethic to share unconfirmed information, especially in this sensitive time. We would like to remind every ham radio operator to avoid sharing unconfirmed news and speculation.

In addition, I can confirm that I’ve heard a number of Turkish amateur radio operators on the air since the coup attempt.

The site that originally made this claim has posted an update (at the bottom of the page) stating :

It’s [sic] look like this news has been labelled as “FAKE” – Yesterday we gave this news for first after a quick phone chat with ham radio op. In Istanbul. Apparently there was no interdiction to use HF radio

This blogger should consider adding the update at the top of the post and amending the title to reflect reality. I suspect he’s reluctant to do so due to the increased traffic this misleading post has brought him.

On a side note: I happened to be listening to (and recording) the Voice of Turkey during the coup attempt. Of course, the news had been pre-recorded earlier that day and almost completely focused on the Nice attack. There wasn’t even an interruption of service. One I’m back from travels, I’ll post this recording on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

Spread the radio love

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Turkey, English language service

2 Replies

For your listening pleasure: the Voice of Turkey English language service.

This program was recorded on June 7, 2015, starting around 2205 UTC on 9830 kHz. I started recording the program a few minutes after the top of the hour when a digital transmission on the same frequency finally went off air. I made this recording with the TitanSDR Pro hooked up to my horizontal delta loop antenna.

You will actually hear a few seconds of the digital broadcast at the very beginning of the recording. Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Spread the radio love

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Turkey

1 Reply

Gezi protest in Ankara (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

A few days ago, I posted a recording of the Voice of Turkey that noticeably lacked coverage of the Gezi Park protests.

Friday, I recorded VOT’s English language broadcast and was surprised to find that they actually mentioned the protests (admittedly, without it’s due weight) in several news items. I’m very curious how future VOT broadcasts will cover news of yesterday’s riots in Istanbul as police cleared crowds of protesters with water cannons and tear gas.

Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Spread the radio love

The Gezi Park Protests: don’t look to the Voice of Turkey for information

2 Replies

On shortwave, sometimes it’s what’s not heard that speaks volumes.

Gezi protest in K?z?lay Square, Ankara (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Turkey has been in the world headlines now for well over a week. In case you’re not up-to-date, here’s a summary of what has happened:

On May 28, 2013, about fifty environmentalists led a small protest in Istanbul to oppose the replacement of Taksim Gezi Park with a reconstruction of the Taksim Military Barracks. The protests escalated when the group occupying the park was attacked with water cannons and tear gas by the Turkish police. This event led to riots, which were soon widespread; the protests, meanwhile, broadened their scope into full-fledged anti-government demonstrations across the country and even into the Turkish diaspora across the globe.

Yesterday, I turned to the Voice of Turkey on shortwave radio to hear about the active protests currently ongoing throughout the country…

But what did I hear? The only mention I heard of the Gezi Park protests in the Voice of Turkey’s English language service were in a passing Turkish press report on the reaction to the protests by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry. The item, moreover, was completely buried in their broadcast and certainly not something upon which they elaborated in the least (listen, beginning at 12:50 below).

I’ve always loved listening to the Voice of Turkey, but events like this remind me of the simple fact that many international broadcasters are still very much the mouthpieces of their governments.

Click to enlarge (Source: Reporters Without Borders)

Of course, Turkey certainly would not win an award for press freedom; not even close. Reporters Without Borders list Turkey as a country with a “Difficult Situation” with regards to press freedoms, ranking them 154th out of 179 countries in their 2013 Press Freedom Index. To put this in perspective, Finland and the Netherlands occupy the top two spots as models of press freedom, the USA is number 32, and North Korea and Eritrea occupy the bottom spots (numbers 178 and 179, respectively) obviously countries without press freedoms.

I’d like to think that the news readers at the Voice of Turkey would rather give this news the attention it deserves, or at least offer the Turkish government’s perspective on the demonstrations. Instead, what we heard was…nothing. And we heard that loud and clear.

Indeed, the world is paying attention to the lack of news coming out of Turkey right now. Time Magazine posted this article article yesterday, which begins:

As epic clashes between anti-government protesters and riot police turned downtown Istanbul into a battle zone last weekend, the country’s two main news channels had, well, not much to report. One ran a documentary on penguins. The other, a cooking show. To many Turks, their silence was symptomatic of the self-censorship Turkey’s media have practiced under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s tightfisted 10-year rule. Penguin T-shirts, penguin jokes and penguin costumes now abound — the bird has become a symbol of protesters’ frustration with the mainstream media.

VoiceOfTurkey One of the most amazing things about shortwave radio is that by really listening, you can hear the unfiltered voices of regional broadcasters, the clandestine organizations, and the media representatives of their respective countries.

If this story had broken twenty years ago, moreover, I would have heard it as a headline from every respected international broadcaster. Then, upon turning to the in-country “news source,” as I attempted to do yesterday when I tuned in the Voice of Turkey and was subjected to a total lack of news, I would therefore be instantly made aware of what the Turkish government didn’t want me to hear.

Unfortunately I feel we’ve lost a bit of this comparative news consumption, not just because of the exodus of many trusted radio broadcasters from the field, but because we’ve been trained to consume news in (palatable) bites. Our attention spans and interest seem to have diminished to the point that we now often rely on our news sources to interpret for us. A sad fact…especially considering politically-evolving countries like Turkey still need our attention, interest, and thoughtful support.

Listen to the same Voice of Turkey broadcast I heard yesterday, by downloading the off-air recording or by listening via the embedded player below:

Spread the radio love