Tag Archives: VOG

In theory, ERT workers go back to work today

ERT_Digital

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Ayar, who writes:

According to many Greek news sources, the workers of ERT will go back to work tomorrow to restart ERT and take over from NERIT, even though there is no explicit permission from the government for them to do so!

This was a decision taken today by the ERT workers trade union “POSPERT”, who asked the workers to go back to work and start broadcasting from ERT HQ. (Here is the original decision published on their website translated from Greek by Google).

An interesting observation: The domain “ert.gr” no longer redirects the visitor to “nerit.gr“, and the servers connected to the ert.gr domains (dns1.papaki.gr, ns2.papaki.gr, ns120.papaki.gr) are now showing error and test pages from their active servers. Just this morning, they were all inactive! It seems that somebody is working on the servers to
re-establish the ERT website.

It will be interesting to see what will happen!

Indeed, it will! Let us know of any updates. I’ll tune to the ERT Open relay on 9420 this evening to see if IDs have changed. Again, many thanks for the report, Ayar!

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Greece to re-open state broadcaster, ERT

logo-ert-open-bw-color-2Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Ayar (HB9EVW), who shares this news via Reuters:

(Reuters) – Greece’s parliament passed a bill on Wednesday to reopen the state broadcaster abruptly unplugged nearly two years ago, in a symbolic move to heal what Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called a “great wound” of the country’s bailout programme.

Re-opening The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) has been a priority for his leftist Syriza party, which fiercely protested the way television screens went black at midnight on June 11, 2013, after the then conservative-led government decided to shutter the 75-year-old institution.

[…]ERT’s shock closure, with newscasters cut off in mid-sentence, was one of the most drastic measures to help meet the terms of the country’s 240 billion-euro international bailout.

It sparked a wave of protests and the withdrawal of a partner from the coalition government at the time, igniting what many view as the beginning of Syriza’s rise to power.

For weeks, journalists broadcast a bootleg news channel over the Internet, defying management orders to leave the shuttered broadcaster’s headquarters. Hundreds rallied outside the building in daily protests, as musicians from ERT’s national symphony orchestra performed, some in tears. The government has said it plans to rehire the musicians.

I actually recorded the moment the Voice of Greece went off the air on shortwave, only to return (as basically a pirate radio station) only a few hours later. Click here to listen to the recording.

Click here to read the full Reuters article above.

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Shortwave Radio Recordings: Helliniki Radiophonia

GreeceIt’s been a while now since 9,420 kHz–a former Voice of Greece frequency–should have gone off the air.  Fortunately, it has not.

The station is no longer referred to as the Voice of Greece; it’s now a relay of ERT Open, otherwise known as the Helliniki Radiophonia (you’ll hear this name in the station ID).

Friday evening, I recorded nearly four hours of Helliniki Radiophonia because I love the music programming they air during weekends, yet I rarely stay up late enough to listen live. With this recording, I’ll enjoy Greek music most of my working day today–and you can, too!

Simply click here to download an MP3 of the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below.

The music begins, in earnest, a little after 17:00–enjoy:

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ERT Open (Voice of Greece) moves back to 9420 kHz

ERT_DigitalIf you were listening to the 31 meter band last night in North America, you would have heard a very strong ERT Open (Voice of Greece) back on their long-established frequency of 9420 kHz.

Only yesterday, I posted a note about ERT’s apparent move to 9415 kHz to avoid interference with the IRIB. Seems they changed their mind.

Indeed, conditions were superb last night and bands were wide open above 7 MHz. ERT was broadcasting on 9420 and 9935 kHz and both were strong (S9+).

I’m very curious if ERT will remain on 9420 or move back to 9415 kHz during the week. I suppose time will tell.

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ERT Open (former Voice of Greece) moves to 9,415 kHz

View from the town of Litochoro, in the foothills of Mount Olympus, Greece. (Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia)

View from the town of Litochoro, in the foothills of Mount Olympus, Greece. (Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia)

Many listeners have noticed that the former Voice of Greece (ERT Open) has moved from 9,420 kHz to 9,415 kHz. This must be due to interference from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) who has been transmitting on 9420 kHz as well.

Here in North America, even when IRIB was broadcasting simultaneously on 9420 kHz, VOG always overpowered their signal. In other parts of the world, though, it was not the same case.

I’m happy VOG/ERT is still on shortwave and broadcasting to the world–though no one really knows for how much longer.

I recorded about one hour of VOG on 9,415 kHz, starting around 0045 UTC today. Enjoy:

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Shortwave Radio Recordings: ERT Open (Voice of Greece)

greeceAs I prepare the largest post I’ve ever published on the SWLing Posta review and comparison of the PL-660, PL-880, ATS-909X and ICF-SW7600GR–I’ve been listening to the music I recorded Sunday night on ERT Open (Voice of Greece).

Regular readers know that I’ve always had a particular fondness of this station. Some nights they play hour long sets of music ranging from folk to modern (I especially love the folk) on 9,420 kHz. Their signal booms into North America as well; indeed, ERT Open can even be heard on a basic shortwave portable with relative ease.

Since I don’t speak or understand the Greek language, I can listen to this music while writing posts and catching up on email correspondence (I’m terribly behind at the moment).

For your listening pleasure: two hours, six minutes of ERT Open recorded on July 6, 2014 staring around 01:00 UTC.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

If you’re interested in the benchmark portable radio review I mentioned above, check back on the SWLing Post later today.

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Shortwave Radio Recordings: Radio Station of Macedonia (VOG)

TheParthenonAthens

For your listening pleasure: 1 hour 29 minutes of The Radio Station of Macedonia (formerly Voice of Greece). This broadcast was recorded on January 28, 2014 around 1:50 UTC on 9,420 kHz.

During much of the month of December (2013), the Avlis transmitter on 9,420 kHz was off line. Since its return, modulation (as you’ll here) is not quite as good as before. Still, the signal is strong and I’m happy it’s active, even though purely a relay of ERT 3, the Radio Station of Macedonia.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

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