World Band Radio

WBCQ

2010-07-31T05:22:00.000-07:00

I wonder if this is the future of shortwave.

Alan Weiner's WBCQ transmits on 5110, 7415, and other frequencies and depends on listener support and programming income for operations. Alan previously ran a pirate station, "Radio Newyork International", but WBCQ is FCC-licensed and perfectly legal.

It's an interesting story. With all the government-owned stations worldwide shutting down (Radio Sweden being the latest victim), will there now be more opportunists putting independent stations on the air? WBCQ's programming is incredibly diverse and features everything from solo musical artist and comedy shows to the dreaded wingnut and religious programming that already permeates the bands--but pays the bills.

WBCQ is nevertheless a welcomed voice of diversity. In the eastern US it is readily heard on the aforementioned frequencies plus 9330, 15420, and 17495.

Shortwave in the News

2010-04-03T03:48:00.000-07:00

Illustrating how easily Internet "Radio" can be censored: VOA says Ethiopia may have blocked their website.
A great article on the relevance of shortwave broadcasting, from Monitoring Times.
Network Europe is a daily program from a consortium of European broadcasters (RNW, RRI, and others). I think it's a fine program. Have you heard it? What's your opinion?

Voice of Russia

2010-03-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

Strange how an old shortwave friend evolves, while keeping much of its charm.

When I started listening to shortwave, Radio Moscow was omnipresent. It seems that, just like the BBC in those days, you could always catch an RM broadcast in English, regardless of time-of-day or band.

Programs have really improved since the old Radio Moscow days. It's a pleasure listening to them in the evenings, especially when they present programs of classical or operatic music. I've heard Shostakovich, Stravinsky of course, and highlights of Boris Gudonov by Mussorgsky (whose "Great Gates of Kiev" is now Voice of Russia's interval signal).

Oddly enough, or perhaps not, the quality and timbre of VoR's sound is identical to what I remember from Radio Moscow. Like an old friend, only better.

As I write this, Voice of Russia is best heard around here (Pennsylvania, US) at 0000-0500 on 6240.

Here are some old Radio Moscow QSL cards.

Kudos to Voice of Russia World Service for such fine programs and commitment to overseas broadcasting.

Replacing "Passport"?

2010-02-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

With the announcement that Passport to World Band Radio has shuttered its publishing operation, the conventional thinking is that the logical replacement is the World Radio TV Handbook, and that's all you need. If you are familiar with both publications, WRTH, as fine a publication as it is, will certainly not be a direct replacement for Passport.

These tips were put together to try to help us through Passport withdrawal without the foregone WRTH fix. I hope it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: I received no compensation, freebies nor price breaks from any of the vendors I happen to mention.

By the way, I work with information systems all day, so when I turn the radio on, I don't want to be NEAR a computer--just one reason Passport fit my listening so well. That prerequisite drove a lot of the recommendations that follow.

Let's open up the ultimate edition of Passport at the index and start walking through. Chances are you will not need to replace all of these resources, so consider the ones that are most important to you.

The World Map
This resource identifies only shortwave transmitting locations around the world. A cynic might admonish you to use the 2009 map and just cross them off as they go offline. While interesting, I think this map was too small to be useful. Why not get a decent-size wall map and customize with push-pins, sticky notes, or just write on it as you hear new stations? Makes for an impressive-looking listening post, too. Another alternative is Rand McNally's quick reference world atlas which is a nice size for a travel bag.

The lead article
This was one of the best features in Passport. Great narratives on Colombia or Tangier were a delight to read; author Klemetz did a great job in covering all the angles of such stories and how radio broadcasting played a part. There's no replacement here; this was unique content by Passport. But after all, it is an article--you read it once.

Quick Start
This content did not change much year-to-year. Still, you now have to pretty much depend on online articles for this content. Some good online quick-start articles can be found at swling.com and the AOR (UK) site.

Best Times and Frequencies
This refers to propagation and general band selection. Online resources abound here, such as hamuniverse.com, and many are up-to-the-minute with solar flux information such as dx.qsl.net.

Top Shows
Though well put-together, I feel this section was pretty subjective. For me a "top show" is whatever I happen to enjoy. For instance, some China Radio International programs appeared in this list, but lately I find much of this content unlistenable. Many of the African and Asian broadcasters have outstanding music regardless of the language, so I listen frequently. For English, stick with the African or Asian services of Deutsche Welle, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Radio France International, and Voice of Russia for high-quality programs. Programs and shows are also covered regularly in the Van Horn's unique shortwave blog; peruse their listings for something that interests you.

Glossary
A great resource that does not change much year-to-year. If you have a copy of Passport from the last five years, you're covered for now. If you don't, there's always search engines (ugh).

Equipment Reviews
A sticky subject. This was another area where Passport really shone. Two obvious resources are David Zantow's page which was mentioned on Passport's online comments section, and the user reviews at eHam.net.

What's on Tonight?
This was a great combination of schedule and program details that's difficult to replace. A resource that tries, though it breaks my "no computer" rule, is the aforementioned http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com, kept up-to-date by the Van Horn's who regularly post program guides. Since "What's on Tonight?" covered only English programs, you can also use one of the next two resources below:

Broadcasts in English
Two alternatives come to mind, the first is free. Prime Time Shortwave has well-maintained, no-nonsense schedules for English programming, but it's online; to be useful to me personally, I have to print it out. More elegant and functional is the program listing from the magazine Monitoring Times. This monthly publication contains a centerfold with all broadcast schedules in English, by time. Broadcasts that span multiple hours are repeated in each hourly listing for completeness and clarity. If you don't want to receive another magazine, subscribe instead to the Groves' monthly online MTExpress; you will get a PDF copy of the magazine, and you can print only the applicable pages, if you wish. Also included in MTExpress are the stations' websites if you want to plan your program listening in advance. Very well done.

Voices from Home
MTExpress subscribers also receive a complete PDF monthly listing of broadcasts in all languages, called MTXtra. Then you can use the search utility in your PDF reader to search all entries for the language you are interested in. Familiar with UNIX or Linux computer systems? Save the MTXtra as a text file, then use standard UNIX text processing commands to extract a list of broadcasts in your favorite language.

The Blue Pages
I have found a worthy salve for my gaping Blue Pages wound, in the Klingenfuss 2010 Shortwave Frequency Guide, but at a somewhat dear price: USD 49.95 from Universal Radio. This is an excellent resource which includes utility stations and lots of supplemental information, including schedules by broadcaster as well as by frequency. I do wish their listings included a column for transmitter power, but that's my only complaint. On page 182, author Joerg Klingenfuss puns about the cost of producing the book "in high-cost Germoney" but you get what you pay for: the physical quality of the book is excellent. It will lie flat, and it's easy-to-read, with high-quality pages that can be thumbed through quickly. I highly recommend you view the online sample before purchasing to see if it is your cup of tea. Klingenfuss also offers its manuals in CD-ROM format, and although I have not tested this, you should be able to produce custom listings by filtering on language, time, country, etc. Then print the listings so you can put away the PC and listen!

Addresses Plus
Assuming that station addresses don't change much, or that addresses can be looked up online, this should not be much of an issue. MTXpress' website list in Monitoring Times can also help here, as a pointer to web sites and subsequent snail-mail addresses. However, Passport's unique insights into local mail and QSLing techniques may be lost.

Honorable Mention
One area that Passport never addressed is the desire of some listeners to simply "DX"; that is, find new distant stations to hear, regardless of language and program. Popular Communications magazine has a monthly pull-out center section called World Band Tuning Tips, expressly for this purpose. Generally these are stations that are audible under the right conditions and are a good resource for those of us who like to hear new stations strictly for the sake of exploration.

The best advice
If you don't already have a copy of 2009's Passport, I encourage you to obtain it while you can, use it to fill in many of the gaps above, and be assured of at least a few years of subject relevance.

So you see, WRTH is not the only alternative. I welcome your feedback in comments, and feel free to add your own recommendations. I'll take my lumps for suggesting that electronic resources should be printed out, but having to schlep a notebook PC to the listening post destroys the ambiance of the listening experience for me. To be more green, print double-sided, or two pages per sheet, if your printer supports it.

Passport, we'll miss you, but life and listening go on.

Note: Please check out the comments for additional replacement suggestions.

The Sound of Silence

2009-09-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

Noise, hash, static, buzz. No matter what you call it, for the world band radio listener it's also known by another name: pain!

I look around my house and I'm amazed I can hear anything on shortwave at all. Among our family, we have four house phones, eleven PC's or servers, an Ethernet switch, a wireless router, and cable modem. Not to mention other wonderful noise generators like LCD TV, fluorescent bulbs, guitar amps, ad nauseum. And that's just MY house...who knows what my suburban neighbors are running. Even though my regular short wave antenna is a good one (a trap dipole in the attic, fed with balanced twin-lead), the noise level is still typically S4 to S5 (on the signal-strength scale of 1 to 10).

I started to think about what else I could hear if the noise was not a factor. I set up an old mag-mount for my car with a long CB-style whip antenna, made up the appropriate connectors, and took my E1 receiver in the car with me to the quietest place I could think of: the Hillman state game lands about twenty miles west of me.

I couldn't believe my ears. The noise level was less than S1, and although my whip was not the best antenna, I could hear just about anything that was out there. Some of my loggings can be read here. Note that this is after about one-and-a-half hour of listening all together. It was just amazing.

So now I'm looking forward to a few quiet winter nights, and a few more sunspots, to maybe hear some of those South American stations that are usually buried in the noise.

Meanwhile I'll also be looking for a way to get rid of SOME of the noise here. Maybe enough to get it down to an S3? Please?

Deutsche Welle

2009-09-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Of all the stations that no longer explicitly broadcast over shortwaves to North America, Germany's Deutsche Welle is likely the best-heard in North America.

DW's English broadcasts at 2000 and 2100 to Africa are very well heard in the Northeastern United States. The reasons are simple: excellent signal strength and modulation...let's just say, technically excellent, and correspondents whose proficiency in English is reminiscent of the BBC's heyday.

The programming is superb, with "Newslink" as their anchor news program. Listening to DW in the afternoon is a highlight of my day, and not only because of my (obvious) heritage.

Who needs a beam to the Americas? As long as DW broadcasts its shortwave signal to Africa, they'll be well heard in this neck of the woods.

CRI: the new BBC?

2009-09-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

China Radio International (CRI) has, over the last few years, valiantly tried to fill the void left by the old-guard broadcasters who have all but abandoned the free airwaves...notably the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

From a technical perspective, CRI has certainly succeeded. They now employ relays throughout the world to beam their voice into North America, Europe, and all other major world band target areas in all the world's major languages.

Even from a programmatic view, CRI has made good strides. Shows like "China Drive" and "Frontline" are entertaining and worthy.

However, there's a fair amount of slant to the pro-China, anti-Taiwan side. The recent twentieth anniversary of Tiananmen Square? Didn't even rate an acknowledgement on CRI. Can you imagine, such a seminal moment in the country's development and "China Drive" didn't even think it was worth a single mention?

But make no mistake: CRI is a voice to be reckoned with, and a major shortwave power. We appreciate the strides she has made and look forward to ever-improving world-band programs.

Radio Habana Cuba

2009-09-12T03:48:00.000-07:00

When someone living in the Americas first purchases a shortwave receiver, often the first station they'll hear is Radio Habana Cuba, and usually on one of their stalwart evening frequencies of 6000 or 6140 kHz. Thus continues a tradition of broadcasting for RHC that has endured decades.

RHC is probably best known among shortwave listeners and radio amateurs for its fine program on radio propagation topics, "DXers Unlimited" with Arnie Coro, CO2KK. The genial Coro presents an insightful and entertaining program every week that is certainly a "must hear" for radio hobbyists.

Like most broadcasters, RHC provides a news bulletin, but I'll charitably say that this one is slanted a bit to the left. Indictments of US government policies and of the large anti-Castro organizations of south Florida are presented as "news". In that respect, RHC's hourly reports will remind you of the cold-war days where many Eastern bloc stations practiced the creed, "All propaganda, all the time." I'm curious as to why most shortwave publications don't call out RHC more often on this.

But most significantly, and to their eternal credit, RHC provides a great variety of Latin music by the very best artists with Cuban roots. The strong signal from Cuba pumps out seductive rhythms and great vocal performances into the evening.

The WBR blog sends out a big "thank you" to Radio Habana Cuba for years of worthwhile and enjoyable programming.

Mornings with Radio Australia, 9580

2009-09-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

For as long as I have been a world band radio listener (thirty-seven years, but who's counting?), Radio Australia has been a fixture on 9580 kHz every morning. Very few stations can make that kind of claim to schedule and frequency longevity. They broadcast continuously on that frequency from 0800 to 1400 UTC, or about 4 to 10 AM Eastern Daylight Time.

The programming is mainly for international audiences, with news and information about Oz, and lots of musical variety. A relay of their domestic ABC radio is sometimes also heard. Notables are "The Breakfast Club", "Saturday Night Country", and many others. Its coverage of the recent Beijing Olympics and of wildfires across Australia was extensive and complete.

Signals are usually very well heard on the US east coast; a portable receiver will do fine, a ten-foot length of wire clipped to the antenna will help reception greatly.

Here's the back of a reception card (QSL) showing that, even in '72, Radio Australia held court on 9580. Long may she continue.

(I should mention that RA broadcasts on other frequencies as well at this time, but I pick 9580 because of its historical presence and good reception.)

As I write this...

2009-09-02T15:54:00.001-07:00

The editors of the classic periodical Passport to World Band Radio, the yearly directory for shortwave program listeners, say their production of the 2010 edition is in limbo (their words).

Hard to believe, but I remember a time before PWBR existed. The only place then to get frequency information was the World Radio & TV Handbook, which wasn't nearly as elegant or helpful for beginners as Passport, though it certainly was (and continues to be) a good source of information.

I guess I'm picking a pretty morose moment in the history of shortwave broadcast listening to start a blog about it! That's okay. I hope to focus on the still-pertinent, still-exciting experience of hearing broadcasts from around the world...uncensored, unfiltered, always unpredictable, and always rewarding.

What of the Internet? The promise of audio with near-perfect fidelity, from around the world, across your broadband connection is certainly seductive, but fundamentally flawed. A few months ago I created a short list of bookmarks to some stations' streams. Not a single one of these links works right now. So, back to Google, create a new link, download a new player, etc.

Sorry, there's just something wrong with that model. What happens if an ISP courts a big-time broadcaster to host their content, but fails? Do they have any incentive to stream their competitor?

What's to prevent any nation's government from blocking the Internet addresses associated with the website of their clandestine opposition? Or censoring whatever content they deem offensive? I'm sure I don't have to tell you that this is happening today.

And why should I allow a broadcaster to use cookies to determine my listening habits? Sorry for being a stickler about privacy, but what I listen to is my business.

(By the way, there've been a number of great articles written lately on this topic. I'll try to link to them here.)

The answer is STILL shortwave radio. Nothing else gets through all the censors, and around all the politicians. Nothing else informs and entertains across thousands of miles without subscriptions or monthly charges. With a small portable radio, you can still hear the world.

And despite ongoing predictions of shortwave's demise, there are still plenty of great broadcasters who know the value of taking their message directly to the world's listeners. I salute them and look forward to recognizing them individually.