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FCC Dismisses ARRL, AMSAT Requests in Small Satellite Proceeding

by qrznow

An FCC Report and Order (R&O) released August 2 in the so-called “small satellite” rulemaking proceeding, IB Docket 18-86, failed to address concerns expressed by ARRL and AMSAT. Both organizations filed comments on the FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the proceeding last year, seeking changes in the FCCs interpretations and procedures affecting satellites operating on Amateur Satellite Service frequencies.

“These comments address topics outside the scope of this proceeding, and we decline to adopt any of the requested rule modifications or updates at this time,” the FCC said in the R&O. The FCC did mention amateur satellites in its 2018 NPRM, explaining what they are and describing the documentation and authorization process, but it did not solicit comments.

“The Commission did not seek comment in the NPRM on any modifications or updates to the rules governing Experimental or amateur satellite licensing. The streamlined Part 25 small satellite process adopted in the Order is an alternative to existing license processes and does not replace or modify the authorization procedures for satellites currently contained in Parts 5, 25, or 97 of the Commission’s rules,” the FCC explained. “Nevertheless, we received a number of comments in response to the NPRM, particularly regarding the rules applicable to amateur satellite operations, suggesting that aspects of those rules be improved or clarified.”

In its 2018 NPRM, the FCC had said, “Because the type of operations that qualify as amateur [is] narrowly defined, an amateur satellite authorization will not be appropriate for many small satellite operations.”

In its 2018 comments, ARRL said it wanted the FCC to preclude exploitation of amateur spectrum by commercial small-satellite users authorized under Part 5 Experimental rules and suggested that the FCC adopt a “a bright line test” to define and distinguish satellites that should be permitted to operate under Amateur Satellite rules.

ARRL’s position was to support and encourage college and university Amateur Radio experiments where the sponsor of the experiment is a licensed radio amateur and all operation in amateur spectrum is compliant with Part 97. Part 5 Experimental authorizations for satellites intended to operate in amateur allocations by non-amateur sponsors should be discouraged, absent a compelling show of need, ARRL told the FCC.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) announced in 2017 that it would no longer coordinate non-amateur satellite operations unless directed to do so by the national administration, and it adopted new satellite frequency coordination guidelines that require educational and university satellites to have an identified amateur component. AMSAT’s comments reflected many of the same concerns that ARRL had expressed. — Thanks to Ray Soifer, W2RS, for his assistance.

SOURCE:ARRL

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KH8C – American Samoa

by DX-World

Atsu, 5W1SA is again active from Pagopago, American Samoa as KH8C until August 26th, however he may have to cut short his time there. QRV on FT8. QSL via LoTW. Paper QSL via JF1OCQ.

FCC Dismisses ARRL, AMSAT Requests in Small Satellite Proceeding

An FCC Report and Order (R&O) released August 2 in the so-called “small satellite” rulemaking proceeding, IB Docket 18-86, failed to address concerns expressed by ARRL and AMSAT. Both organizations filed comments on the FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the proceeding last year, seeking changes in the FCCs interpretations and procedures affecting satellites operating on Amateur Satell…

FCC Dismisses ARRL, AMSAT Requests in Small Satellite Proceeding

ARRL -An FCC Report and Order (R&O) released August 2 in the so-called “small satellite” rulemaking proceeding, IB Docket 18-86, failed to address concerns expressed by ARRL and AMSAT. Both organizations filed comments on the FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the proceeding last year, seeking changes in the FCCs interpretations and procedures affecting satellites operating on Amateur Satell…

2 Meter Sharing Proposal is on CEPT Conference Preparatory Group Agenda

by qrznow

The final European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) Conference Preparatory Group (CPG) meeting prior to World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) gets under way on August 26. Action at that gathering will determine whether a French proposal to have WRC-23 study sharing 144 – 146 MHz with the Aeronautical Mobile Service will be adopted as a CEPT WRC-19 position. International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) experts will be present at the CPG to explain the IARU position on this and other topics. The French proposal, raised on short notice at a CEPT meeting in June, has riled the Amateur Radio community worldwide and prompted petitions to prevent its passage. The proposed 144 – 146 MHz segment would be part of a broader consideration of spectrum allocated to the Aeronautical Mobile Service.

IARU has asked its member societies to explain the Amateur Service’s concerns over the French proposal to their telecommunications regulators, and it has submitted a background paper on amateur usage and regulatory concerns, as well as a basic technical analysis showing the impracticality of such a proposal. IARU has said much more appropriate parts of the spectrum are available to study for non-safety AMS applications.

Another issue addressed during the June CEPT meeting concerned the sharing of the Amateur Radio 1240 – 1300 MHz band with Europe’s Galileo GPS system. IARU has asked its member societies to discuss with regulators the best way to resolve concerns regarding a few cases of Amateur Radio interference to the Galileo navigation system specific to its E6 sub-band at 1260 – 1300 MHz. IARU believes that CEPT is the proper venue to study the matter, rather than proposing it as WRC-23 agenda item.

Regarding the WRC-19 agenda item to harmonize the 50 MHz band, IARU has expressed its hope that member-states will support the European Common Proposal, “with as many as possible signing the optional footnote to allow primary access on a national basis over part of the band being proposed for amateur use.”

IARU has indicated that it will seek support from Region 1 administrations for a “No change” approach to the current regulatory situation in the 5650 – 5850 MHz and 47 – 47.2 GHz bands.

Documents for the CEPT Conference Preparatory Group meeting are available via the CEPT website.

Source:ARRL

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International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend

by DX-World

Now in its 31st year, the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend is almost upon us. A full list of participants is here. Very often some rare or unusual IOTA activities also hit the airwaves.

The K7RA Solar Update

No sunspots were visible over the recent reporting week, Thursday through Wednesday, August 8 through 14.

According to Spaceweather.com, 67% of the days so far in 2019 have been spotless, and for all of 2018 it was 61%. In the previous solar minimum in 2008 and 2009 the spotless days ran 73% and 71%, respectively.

Solar flux has been minimal and unremarkable, with average daily solar flux changin…

The K7RA Solar Update

ARRL -No sunspots were visible over the recent reporting week, Thursday through Wednesday, August 8 through 14.

According to Spaceweather.com, 67% of the days so far in 2019 have been spotless, and for all of 2018 it was 61%. In the previous solar minimum in 2008 and 2009 the spotless days ran 73% and 71%, respectively.

Solar flux has been minimal and unremarkable, with average daily solar flux changin…

What are your favorite radio apps? Tell us and you might win a prize!

by Thomas

Each year, I spend time going updating our curated list of amateur and shortwave radio apps.

I do my best to keep this list of applications up-to-date and am always on the lookout for new ones. Thing is, new apps are developed every day–certainly a moving target for this editor.

This is where you can help…

Please comment on this post with your favorite radio-related iOS, Android, and Windows Phone applications. Please link to the app and/or mention what operating system you use. Of course, please tell us what you love about your choice apps.

A prize! Woot!

Next Friday (August 23, 2019) I’ll pick one random comment from this post and send the lucky reader a copy of Pirate Radio: The incredible saga of America’s underground, illegal broadcasters by Andrew Yoder. This classic pirate radio history book even includes an audio CD with clips from famous (and infamous!) pirate radio stations.

Many thanks to our friends at Universal Radio who supplied this to us as a gift for our readers.

What apps supplement your radio fun?  Please comment!

Congratulations to Peter Atkinson who won the CC Buds Solo and April who won the Joe Carr Loop antenna book in our last giveaways!

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!

Wouxun KG-UV980P Quad Band First Look

by qrznow

VHF

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Equipment

Propagation

The post Wouxun KG-UV980P Quad Band First Look appeared first on QRZ NOW – Ham Radio News.

Australian Radio Amateur Reports First FT8 Contact on 122 GHz

by qrznow

In Australia, Roland Lang, VK4FB, and Stefan Durtschi, VK4CSD, completed what is being claimed as the world’s first FT8 contact on 122 GHz. The distance spanned during the August 11 contact was 92.08 kilometers (approximately 57.1 miles). Signals were –17 dB on one end, and –20 dB on the other. Earlier this summer, VK4FB and VK4CSD claimed a new Australian record for an SSB contact on 122 GHz — 69.6 kilometers (approximately 43.15 miles).

Source:ARRL

Antenna

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News

Digital Modes

App – Mobile

The post Australian Radio Amateur Reports First FT8 Contact on 122 GHz appeared first on QRZ NOW – Ham Radio News.

EX6QP – Kyrgyzstan

by DX-World

A Polish team consisting SP6CIK, SP6OJK, SP9FIH, SP9FOW, SP9TCE and SP9HVW will be active from Kyrgyzstan as EX6QP during September 2-15, 2019. QRV on CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8 using inverted L, phased verticals, Spiderbeams. QSL via SP6OJK.

DS2GOO/3 – Sapshi Island, AS-080

by DX-World

Hans, DS2GOO/3 will be active from Sapshi Island, AS-080 between 24th and 26th August.  It’s his family vacation, so casual holiday-style operating expected. He will take his IC-706MK2G, TS-570S and vertical antennas. QSL via his homecall.

The Space Weather Woman

Southgate ARC – A Coronal Hole Blows, A Perseid Shower, and Mars – The latest space weather forecast from Dr Tamitha Skov WX6SWW

The spectacular end of Longijang-2 moon mission

Southgate ARC – The last commands to Longijang-2 Moon Orbiting Satellite were sent from the from OM Reinhard, DK5LA, during a thunderstorm with lightning strikes nearby his antennas before the satellite crashed on to the moon surface!!

RSGB-Workshop email reflector

Southgate ARC – A new email group has been created for supporting, discussing and developing technical content based around RadCom and related published articles

INDEXA Newsletter

Southgate ARC – The Summer 2019 Issue of the INDEXA Newsletter is now available to download

Amazon Forest operation

Southgate ARC – Daniel ‘JD’, IK2SGL, and his XYL have moved to a location in the Amazon Forest, Peru. They are international volunteers in a world-wide education program which contacst and helps the indigenous people of the region: the Awajun people

DX News from the ARRL

Southgate ARC – The American Radio Relay League’s round-up of the forthcoming week’s DX activity on the amateur radio bands

A Coronal Hole Blows, A Perseid Shower, & Mars: Solar Storm Forecast 08-15-2019

by qrznow

Antenna

Review

News

Digital Modes

The post A Coronal Hole Blows, A Perseid Shower, & Mars: Solar Storm Forecast 08-15-2019 appeared first on QRZ NOW – Ham Radio News.

FCC Staff Recommends Designating 988 as National Suicide, Mental Health Crisis Hotline

by qrznow

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau and its Office of Economics and Analytics have sent a report to Congress that recommends that the Commission considers designating 988 as a three-digit emergency code for a nationwide suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline. The report, mandated by the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018, finds that such a three-digit number “would likely make it easier for Americans in crisis to access potentially life-saving resources.”

The report examines the feasibility of using various three-digit numbers and finds that 988 could be implemented more easily and quickly than repurposing an existing #11 code such as 511 or 611. The 988 code is a recommendation at this point and not active.

Suicide prevention assistance is available today through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, via 800-273-8255 (TALK). This national network of 163 crisis centers is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Calls to the lifeline are routed from anywhere in the US to the closest certified crisis center. In 2018, trained lifeline counselors answered more than 2.2 million calls and handled more than 100,000 online chats.

“Crisis call centers have been shown to save lives,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. “This report recommends using a three-digit number to make it easier to access the critical suicide prevention and mental health services these call centers provide.”

Pai said he intends to move forward on the recommendation. — FCC News Release

SOURCE:ARRL

Antenna

Equipment

News

App – Mobile

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Chinese Satellite Profiles Earth’s RF Spectrum as Seen from Lunar Orbit

by qrznow

the Chinese DSLWP-B (LO-94) satellite that had been in lunar orbit provided a profile of Earth’s HF spectrum as seen from the moon. The microsatellite subsequently was crashed into the moon’s surface after having completed its mission. DSLWP stands for “Discovering the Sky at Longest Wavelengths Pathfinder.” Among other things, DSLWP-B was designed to test low-frequency radio astronomy and space-based interferometry, and it carried Amateur Radio and educational payloads.

The HF spectrum mission included mapping “RF interference” from Earth in the 1 – 30 MHz range by studying its occlusion by the moon during lunar orbit. According to Chinese media accounts, this was done to “verify the technology of ultra-long wave astronomical observation and solar radiation research.” The onboard detector sensed the spectrum of RF radiation at different positions of the lunar orbit.

The Harbin Institute of Technology (BY2HIT) developed and built the DSLWP spacecraft and oversaw the mission. The microsatellite also carried optical cameras from Saudi Arabia.

In July, a contact between radio amateurs in Germany and China took place on July 1 via LO-94. The two-way exchange was between Reinhard Kuehn, DK5LA, in Sörup, Germany, and Harbin Institute of Technology club station BY2HIT (operated by Wei Mingchuan, BG2BHC), in Harbin, China, via the onboard GMSK-to-JT4G repeater — the first such contact ever made.

SOURCE:ARRL

Review

Equipment

Digital Modes

The post Chinese Satellite Profiles Earth’s RF Spectrum as Seen from Lunar Orbit appeared first on QRZ NOW – Ham Radio News.

FCC Staff Recommends Designating 988 as National Suicide, Mental Health Crisis Hotline

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau and its Office of Economics and Analytics have sent a report to Congress that recommends that the Commission considers designating 988 as a three-digit emergency code for a nationwide suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline. The report, mandated by the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018, finds that such a three-digit number “would …

FCC Staff Recommends Designating 988 as National Suicide, Mental Health Crisis Hotline

ARRL -The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau and its Office of Economics and Analytics have sent a report to Congress that recommends that the Commission considers designating 988 as a three-digit emergency code for a nationwide suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline. The report, mandated by the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018, finds that such a three-digit number “would …

Chinese Satellite Profiles Earth’s RF Spectrum as Seen from Lunar Orbit

The Chinese DSLWP-B (LO-94) satellite that had been in lunar orbit provided a profile of Earth’s HF spectrum as seen from the moon. The microsatellite subsequently was crashed into the moon’s surface after having completed its mission. DSLWP stands for “Discovering the Sky at Longest Wavelengths Pathfinder.” Among other things, DSLWP-B was designed to test low-frequency radio astronomy and spac…

Chinese Satellite Profiles Earth’s RF Spectrum as Seen from Lunar Orbit

ARRL -The Chinese DSLWP-B (LO-94) satellite that had been in lunar orbit provided a profile of Earth’s HF spectrum as seen from the moon. The microsatellite subsequently was crashed into the moon’s surface after having completed its mission. DSLWP stands for “Discovering the Sky at Longest Wavelengths Pathfinder.” Among other things, DSLWP-B was designed to test low-frequency radio astronomy and spac…

VP2VEM & VP2V/N5AQ – B.V.I

by DX-World

Jeff, K5WE, will be active as VP2VEM and Bill, N5AQ as VP2V/N5AQ from Tortola, British Virgin Islands beginning October 4 through October 13, 2019. They will operate all bands 160 through 10 meters, mostly CW with some RTTY, FT8, FT4, & SSB. Equipment will include K3 radios with 400 watt amps. Antennas will include a […]

Ulrich L. Rohde, N1UL, Named as Honorary Fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers

The Governing Council of India’s Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) has conferred its Honorary Fellowship on noted researcher Ulrich Rohde, N1UL. The IETE is a prominent professional society in the field of electronics, telecommunication computer science/engineering, broadcasting, information technology, and related areas.

The Honorary Fellowship is accorded to an …

Ulrich L. Rohde, N1UL, Named as Honorary Fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers

ARRL -The Governing Council of India’s Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) has conferred its Honorary Fellowship on noted researcher Ulrich Rohde, N1UL. The IETE is a prominent professional society in the field of electronics, telecommunication computer science/engineering, broadcasting, information technology, and related areas.

The Honorary Fellowship is accorded to an …

22nd International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend Set for August 17 – 18

Amateur Radio operations at some 400 lighthouses and lightships will commence on August 17 as the 22nd International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW) activity gets under way. Germany and the US lead the field in registered operations.

New this year is the US Virgin Islands’ Buck Island Lighthouse, built by the Danish government shortly Denmark sold the islands to the US in 1917, and they beca…

22nd International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend Set for August 17 – 18

ARRL -Amateur Radio operations at some 400 lighthouses and lightships will commence on August 17 as the 22nd International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW) activity gets under way. Germany and the US lead the field in registered operations.

New this year is the US Virgin Islands’ Buck Island Lighthouse, built by the Danish government shortly Denmark sold the islands to the US in 1917, and they beca…

Fldigi v4.1.08 now available

by qrznow

The hard-working development team led by W1HKJ have announced the release of Fldigi v4.1.08.  This maintaneance release of Fldigi brings several bug fixes, performance improvements and several new features..

As with all of the FL suite, Fldigi continues to support both PowerPC and Intel (i386) processors; with individual downloads available for each architecture and can be downloaded here.

Version 4.1.08 – Maintenance release

 - Greek translation files updated by Haris SV1GRB
  - xmlrpc <vector>
    . This reverts commit d681ab54b31100878e16bf2c8c2b9a96ceb2de23.
    . avoid sizing a zero length vector; use resize(size, n) for
      non empty return vector
    - Logbook
      . Fix lost / garbled records on Windows OS
      . Fix lost logbook, zero records on Windows OS
    - Documentation
      . Add missing deadman timer documentation
    - Raster init values
      . Raster::resize() was being called with a negative
        width or height due to bad state being stored in the
        config.  This resulted in fldigi crashing before the
        UI was displayed.
      . submitted by Stephen Hurd <shurd@FreeBSD.org>
    - Image transmit docs
      . Correct manual for thor, mfsk, ifkp and fsk image transfer.
    - BSD soundcard
      . In FreeBSD sound devices e.g. /dev/dsp0.0 can only be open once
        whereas /dev/dsp0 can be open multiple times. fldigi tries
        to open /dev/dsp0.0 multiple times which fails.
        For specific sound card access, use /dev/dsp or /dev/dsp%d
      - RsID squelch open time
        . increase squelch open time to 300 seconds
      - N3FJP ACL
        . send logged frequency with other log info
        . enable setlocale(LC_ALL,"")
Source:https://www.machamradio.com

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“BBC World Service steps up shortwave broadcasts in Kashmir during media shutdown”

by Thomas

(Image source: BBC)

(Source: BBC Media Centre via @George53419980)

The BBC World Service has extended output on shortwave radio in Indian-administered Kashmir to provide reliable news and information.

The Director of the BBC World Service, Jamie Angus, says: “The provision of independent and trusted news in places of conflict and tension is one of the core purposes of the World Service.

“Given the shutdown of digital services and phone lines in the region, it’s right for us to try and increase the provision of news on our short wave radio services. Audiences in both India and Pakistan trust the BBC to speak with an independent voice, and we know that our reporting through several moments of crisis this year has been popular and valued by audiences who turn to us when tensions are highest.”

BBC News Hindi radio output (9515 and 11995kHz) will be extended by 30 minutes from Friday 16 August. The full one-hour news programme will be on air from 7.30pm to 8.30pm local time.

On Monday 19 August, BBC News Urdu will launch a 15-minute daily programme, Neemroz. Broadcast at 12.30pm local time on 15310kHz and 13650kHz, the programme will focus on news coming from Kashmir and the developments around the issue, and include global news roundup tailored for audiences in Kashmir.

BBC World Service English broadcasts (11795kHz, 9670kHz, 9580kHz, 7345kHz, 6040kHz) will be expanded, with the morning programming extended by an hour, ending at 8.30am local time; and the afternoon and evening programming starting an hour earlier, at 4.30pm local time.

The shutdown has left people with very few options for accessing news at this time. However, news services from the BBC continue to be available in the region – through shortwave radio transmissions in English, Urdu, Hindi, Dari and Pashto. As well as providing an important source of news to the region, the South Asian language services have brought added depth to the BBC’s coverage of the Kashmir story.

The recent introduction of four new languages services for India – Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Telugu, following additional investment from the UK Government – has enabled the BBC to offer a wider portfolio of languages and distribution methods to a region that is geographically diverse as well as politically tense. This year’s Global Audience Measure for the BBC showed that India is now the World Service’s largest market, with a weekly audience of 50m.

LN

Huntsville Hamfest this weekend!

by Thomas

For the first time ever, I’ll be attending the Huntsville Hamfest this weekend. Over the years, I’ve heard so many positive comments (from vendors and attendees) about this large regional hamfest.

The entire event is held in the Von Braun Center–thus this hamfest will be fully air conditioned. Not a bad thing for a hamfest held during an Alabama summer!

If you plan to attend the Huntsville Hamfest, pop by the Ears To Our World table and introduce yourself!  I’ll be there along with other volunteers all day Saturday and Sunday.

Of course, expect some hamfest photos to be published here on the SWLing Post. 

I’m really looking forward to this hamfest and hope to meet a few Post readers there!

YO9KXF/P – Insula Fericirii, EU-191

by DX-World

Dan YO9FNP will again be active from Insula Fericirii EU-191 as YO9KXF/P during August 16-19, 2019. QRV holiday style; 100w and vertical wire antenna; 14 and 7 MHz, mostly CW, but also SSB and FT8. QSL via YO9FNP.

AirSpy HF+ vs. HF+ Discovery: Ivan’s blind daytime propagation comparison

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan NO2CW, who shares the following:

I did this video where I compared the two Airspy editions [HF+ and the new HF+ Discovery] only calling them Receiver 1 and Receiver 2:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Using the same W6LVP loop. 3 PM local time daytime propagation. Testing on Medium Wave and Short Wave, no VHF. AM broadcast signals only.

Ivan also included an image comparing the size of the HF+ discovery with other popular SDRs:

When I demo the AirSpy HF+ to radio clubs, folks are amazed that such a tiny SDR can provide benchmark performance. It’s hard to believe the HF+ Discovery might even provide more performance from an even smaller package!

Thanks, Ivan for sharing these comparisons!

The Legendary G5RV Antenna – ARRL The Doctor is In podcast

by qrznow

“The Legendary G5RV Antenna” is the topic of the new (August 15) episode of the ARRL The Doctor is In podcast. Listen…and learn!

Antenna

Gizmotchy Beam Antenna

Gizmotchy Beam Antenna

February 23, 2016 No comments

The Gizmotchy® high performance horizontal and vertical beam antenna traces its roots back to the early dawn of CB history.  The Gizmotchy® antenna st… Read more

VHF

Review

Digital Modes

JS8Call 0.7 Released

JS8Call 0.7 Released

October 07, 2018 No comments

J8Call “Howdy Folks,  We’ve sure come a long way in the past few weeks. Thanks for sticking with me and enjoying the ride! This release is… Read more

Antenna

 

The post The Legendary G5RV Antenna – ARRL The Doctor is In podcast appeared first on QRZ NOW – Ham Radio News.

NX-3000 Series lightbar and custom voice prompts | Kenwood Comms

by qrznow

The lightbar and custom voice prompts are shown in operation on the NX-3000 series heandheld walkie talkie radio, these features are a big advantage for covert or belt warn radios helping to ensure the user is always on the correct channel.

Digital Modes

VHF

Software

App – Mobile

The post NX-3000 Series lightbar and custom voice prompts | Kenwood Comms appeared first on QRZ NOW – Ham Radio News.

VK Remembrance Day Contest

Southgate ARC – Book your diary’s for Saturday 0300z August 17 to 0300z August 18th for the VK Remembrance Day Contest

Parks on the Air

Southgate ARC – Parks on the Air – now in England – This scheme started out from an ARRL event to activate all the National Parks in the USA, during a year. So many Radio Amateurs became involved that following the year there was a high level of interest in working from National Parks. As a result Parks on the Air was born

GX5TO Special Event Station

Southgate ARC – GX5TO Special Event Station on air on Sunday 22 September 2019 from 10.30Z from Kelham Island Industrial Museum, Sheffield, to help celebrate 100 years of the founding of the Sheffield and District Wireless Society

CEPT ECC Vacancies

Southgate ARC – Ofcom’s Chris Woolford, CEPT Electronic Communications Committee Chair, reports the CEPT ECC is looking for a new Chair of the Working Group Conference Preparatory Group (WG CPG)

Tony’s 10m Band Report

Southgate ARC – CY9C (St. Paul Is) was popular along with 5T5PA (Mauritania), EA9/DL1MGB (Ceuta and Melilla) and OL88YL (special YL for Czech Republic). There are certificates available for contacting OL88YL(/P) but they went off air on 7th August. Bad planning that.

[POSTPONED] KH6VV/KH4 – Midway Atoll

by DX-World

NEWS UPDATE by Ron, KH6DV – For a number of very good reasons the Midway expedition is being postponed. Some of the things we are working on will take a number of months – one will take 4 or 5 by itself. We could postpone for just a couple months but then we would be operating […]

Dayton Hamvention Radio Club of the Year to Hold Ham Bootcamp at New England Convention

The Nashua (New Hampshire) Area Radio Society (NARS) will conduct a free Ham Bootcamp at the ARRL New England Division Convention next month to encourage and assist new and inexperienced radio amateurs in becoming more active and engaged in the various facets of ham radio. NARS, the Dayton Hamvention® Club of the Year for 2019, operated a guest exhibit for ARRL at this year’s show. It will also…

Dayton Hamvention Radio Club of the Year to Hold Ham Bootcamp at New England Convention

ARRL -The Nashua (New Hampshire) Area Radio Society (NARS) will conduct a free Ham Bootcamp at the ARRL New England Division Convention next month to encourage and assist new and inexperienced radio amateurs in becoming more active and engaged in the various facets of ham radio. NARS, the Dayton Hamvention® Club of the Year for 2019, operated a guest exhibit for ARRL at this year’s show. It will also…

Market Reef 50th DXCC anniversary!

by DX-World

NORTHERN MARKET REEF, THE OJ0-LAND IS CELEBRATING HER 50TH DXCC YEAR DXOTICA FROM 1969 TO 2019 OJ0O – AUGUST 17 to 24, 2019 NEWS UPDATE — Multiple OJ0 callsigns were activated during the summer season 2019 and the party wagon is to continue this coming Saturday, August 17, with weather permitting as always. Up to […]

Youth and Amateur Radio

Southgate ARC – Belgium’s UBA reports the best way to keep amateur radio alive is to arouse young people’s interest in our wonderful hobby

Special FT8 callsign issued in Bahrain

Southgate ARC – The Bahrain Daily Tribune carries a report on the issuing of the amateur radio special event callsign A91FTDMC to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the FT8 Digital Mode Club

Propaganda and insults on 7055 kHz

Southgate ARC – The latest IARU-R1 Monitoring System newsletter reports every day for the past 5 years licensed radio amateurs from Ukraine and Russia have been insulting each other on 7055 kHz LSB

NanoVNA $50 vector network analyzer reviews

Southgate ARC – The RTL-SDR site has posted a collection of reviews of the NanoVNA vector network analyzer, an instrument that can be used to measure antenna or coax parameters such as SWR, impedance and loss

India flooding: Radio hams join relief operations

Southgate ARC – With mobile towers failing and network curtailed in large parts of flood-affected areas in North Karnataka, the postal department has gone back to basics and deputed officers and HAM operators to provide robust line of communication to relief personnel

IARU prepares for CEPT CPG

Southgate ARC – The final CEPT Conference Preparatory Group (CPG) prior to WRC-19 takes place from August 26, the 144-146 and 1240-1300 MHz amateur radio bands are among the issues of interest

Caroline North August

Southgate ARC – We hope the sun will be shining down on the river Blackwater for the August Caroline North broadcast LIVE from our historic radio-ship Ross Revenge over the weekend 17th – 18th

AmateurLogic 133: In A Tight Spot

Southgate ARC – In this episode, Tommy installs and reports on the ZumSpot. George shows how to modify those cheap 4 and 8 Relay Modules for better operation. Emile presents COMMspiracy 2. Plus your viewer email and what’s been going on

African Telecommunications Union meets in South Africa

Southgate ARC – The ATU African Preparatory Meeting (APM) prior to WRC-19 takes place August 26-30. ATU is one of the four Regional Telecommunications Organisations in Region 1. IARU will be present at the meeting

W9HT/VP9 – Bermuda

by DX-World

Josh, W9HT will again be active from Bermuda as W9HT/VP9 during October 12-15, 2019. QRV on HF + 6m. QSL via home call direct.

FTIOM & UBMP, August 18-24

by Bill Tilford

From the Isle of Music, August 18-24:
This week features selections from several decades of beautiful Cuban vocal music.
The broadcasts take place:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Sofia, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands during the broadcast at
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=9400am
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC (New UTC) on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US).
If you don’t have a shortwave or are out of range, you can listen to a live stream from the WBCQ website here (choose 7490)

Listen Live

3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands during the broadcast at
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=6070am

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, August 18 and 20:
Episode 126, From Mahavishnu to Hahavishnu, features two very different artists, John McLaughlin and The Hahavishnu Orchestra.
The transmissions take place:
1.Sundays 2200-2230 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
If you don’t have a shortwave or are out of range, you can listen to a live stream from the WBCQ website here (choose 7490)

Listen Live

2. Tuesdays 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe.
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands during the broadcast at
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=6070am

Results Posted for USA, IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships in North Carolina

The results of the 19th USA ARDF Championships and 10th IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships in Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) are now in the record books. The joint event was held earlier this month in North Carolina. Results from these championships will factor into the equation to determine the makeup of ARDF Team USA at the 20th ARDF World Championships, set for September 2020 in Serbia…

Results Posted for USA, IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships in North Carolina

ARRL -The results of the 19th USA ARDF Championships and 10th IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships in Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) are now in the record books. The joint event was held earlier this month in North Carolina. Results from these championships will factor into the equation to determine the makeup of ARDF Team USA at the 20th ARDF World Championships, set for September 2020 in Serbia…

[UPDATE] ZK3A – Tokelau 2019

by DX-World

Meeting in Ukraine https://t.co/6A5fkG85ZE via @ZK3A_2019 — ZK3A Tokelau Islands DXpedition 2019 (@ZK3A_2019) August 13, 2019 JULY 9, 2019 — Planning is on schedule for the ZK3A DXpedition to Tokelau Island IOTA OC-048. The DXpedition runs from October 1st – 11th 2019. Tokelau Island ranks #40 most wanted in the world, and #26 most wanted […]

A review of the Sangean PR-D17 portable AM/FM radio for the visually impaired

by Thomas

Photo of the Sangean PR-D17 AM FM Radio while tuned to 96.1 FM and showing RDS backlit display

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and producer, Peter Atkinson, who shares the following review of the new Sangean PR-D17 AM/FM radio:

Sangean PR-D17 review

by Peter Atkinson

I’ve been visually impaired all my life and a radio enthusiast for over 40 years.  I was intrigued when I learned that Sangean was offering a radio for the visually impaired.  I purchased one, and wanted to share my thoughts about the Sangean PR-D17 from the perspective of a visually impaired listener.

Photo of the PR-D17 box

For those readers who are mainly interested in the performance of this radio, please stay tuned, while I talk a moment about the features geared to the visually impaired.

Photo of the radio manual.

First of all: the manual, [see photo above] while it is comprehensive (as most from Sangean are), it is odd that it’s printed in the smallest type I’ve seen from this manufacturer.

Image of the PR-D17 tactile preset keys with Braille.

The yellow controls on a black radio are easily seen.  I like that the preset buttons on the bottom row of the front panel, are in Braille.  The raised symbols, however, on the upper row, may be too complicated to be easily discerned by touch alone.  The yellow-on-black motif, is reminiscent of my Sangean HDR-16.

When the 6 C batteries are first inserted, or AC power is connected, the radio announces that it has entered the setup menu.  The voice prompt menus (whose volume can be adjusted independently of the radios’ main volume but cannot be disabled) make setting up this radio somewhat straightforward.  The setup might have been easier, if the clock setting function was available as part of the menu system. The voice prompts are surprisingly comprehensive. The voice not only speaks the frequency, time & menu options, but will also tell you when something is connected to (or disconnected from) the AC input, headphone or AUX-IN jacks.

When the radio is turned on, it announces that the radio is on, the battery level & the frequency to which it is tuned.

When tuning, the voice gives the frequency at each change. It’s especially helpful when using the seek function, knowing where the next station was found.

Click here to download audio clip of tuning voice prompt.

When storing a station into a preset, the voice says exactly what frequency has been stored & at which present position.

Click here to download audio clip of tuning voice prompt.

The same information is given when recalling a preset. One quirk of the voice prompt, is that when announcing the time, it speaks full numbers (e.g. “twelve thirty-seven’), but when giving the frequency, each digit is spoken (e.g. “one two three zero” or “nine six point one”).

Click here to download audio clip of time voice prompt.

Finally:  Tuning time.  

Image showing that the HDR-16 and PR-D17 are identical in size.

This radio is the same cabinet as the HDR-16.  Aside from the voice prompts, it operates similar to the PR-D5.  Therefore, I’m comparing its performance to that model. Like the PR-D5, the AM tuning steps can be set for 9 or 10KHz, but the FM tuning steps are fixed at 100KHz (0.1MHz).

Image showing right side of radio.

There are 5 presets per band. The display also shows RDS information for any FM station that transmits RDS. The clock can be set from the RDS signal, as well.  I’ve found several stations, in my area, that are sending the wrong time.

Audio

The sound from the twin 2-1/2” speakers is very balanced.  The bass is substantial, but not overpowering. The highs are good for definition, without being too brassy.  There are no provisions for customization, though.

Image showing left side of radio.

There is a 3.5mm AUX-IN jack for connecting an external sound source, such as an MP3 player or smartphone.

AM

While the AM sound is a bit muffled for my taste (the bandwidth cannot be changed) it makes for excellent selectivity.  There was no hint of my nearby 50KW 620, on 610 or 630. Like many Sangean radios, the noise floor is very quiet. The long 200mm internal ferrite bar antenna does a superb job at snagging those weak stations.  I was able to get a noisy, but readable signal on a 50KW station on 700, at 350 miles, during the day. That one is my benchmark for a great DX machine. The top end of the band is no slouch, either. Another benchmark station (10KW 1690 at 75 miles) came in loud and clear.  The long ferrite antenna also helps to better null unwanted signals. This is a greater benefit for nighttime DXing.

FM

The PR-D17’s performance on FM is stellar.  It has shown to be very sensitive, pulling in stations as well as my PR-D5 & PR-D9W.  I easily hear FMs at 60 miles. The selectivity is also amazing. I can listen to stations on 95.9 & 96.3, with a 6KW station on 96.1 less than 10 blocks from my window.  Even though the PR-D17 pulls in those weak stations with ease, it requires a stronger signal to receive stereo.

Close up of RDS display

The RDS is quick to display station information. It starts off by showing the 8-character PS information of the RDS signal, then switches to the scrolling display of the RT segment.

Summary

Overall, I am very happy with the Sangean PR-D17.  It is a superior radio, now with the added benefit of voice prompts.  Hopefully, this will alleviate some of the annoyances visually impaired listeners may have with operating a digitally-tuned radio.

Thank you so much for sharing your review, Peter and thank you for being an SWLing Post producer!

It looks like the Sangean PR-D17 is an excellent choice for those radio listeners who would appreciate voice prompts, high contrast controls and tactile keys. I’m also happy to hear you rate AM selectivity as excellent. When radios only have one chosen bandwidth, I’d rather give priority to selectivity than audio fidelity for the purposes of nighttime AM DXing. 

Sangean PR-D17 retailers:

Media Tuning.mp3

ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program Application Window Opens on September 1

Applications for the 2020 ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program will be accepted between September 1 and December 31, 2019. All applicants must be FCC-licensed radio amateurs, and many scholarships have other specific requirements, such as intended area of study, residence within a particular ARRL Division, Section or state, and license class. Applicants should review the scholarships and check o…

ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program Application Window Opens on September 1

ARRL -Applications for the 2020 ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program will be accepted between September 1 and December 31, 2019. All applicants must be FCC-licensed radio amateurs, and many scholarships have other specific requirements, such as intended area of study, residence within a particular ARRL Division, Section or state, and license class. Applicants should review the scholarships and check o…

JT9 Activity Days – ‘Make haste slowly’

Southgate ARC – We invite fans of digital modes of radio communication to JT9 Activity Days ‘Make haste slowly’ which will take place from 00:00 UTC Saturday August 24 to 23:59 UTC Sunday August 25, 2019 on all HF-bands from 160 to 10 meters

India: Flooding hits broadcast transmitter

Southgate ARC – Public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati reports on All India Radio (AIR) Sangli Engineering staff who have been working at the 20 kW Medium Wave Tung transmitter hit by flooding since August 5

Ham radio at Fort Langley

Southgate ARC – The Aldergrove Star reports on the amateur radio activation of the Fort Langley National Historic Site as part of Canadian National Parks On the Air

BARTG GB60ATG special event

Southgate ARC – Members of the British Amateur Radio Teledata Group (BARTG) will be active as GB60ATG until June 2020

ARRL July Board meeting discussed digital modes

Southgate ARC – The ARRL Board minutes for the meeting held July 19-20 are now available for anyone to download . Page 13 notes that Ria Jairam N2RJ proposed a motion to bestow the 2019 ARRL Technical Innovation Award to the FT8 development team, led by Joe Taylor, K1JT, and Steve Franke, K9AN. This was approved with applause

OX7A – Greenland

by DX-World

During the 2019 CQWW SSB contest look for OX7A from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland operated by OZ1AA, OZ1DJJ, OZ5DM, OZ7AKT, OZ7AM + others. Outside the contest (October 22 to November 1) they will QRV as OX3LX, OX3LG, OX5DM, OX7AKT & OX7AM. Emphasis on low/WARC + 60m band. Expect FT8 activity as well. QSL via LoTW.

Young Radio Amateurs from around the World Gather for YOTA Summer Camp

ARRL -The 9th annual Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Summer Camp opened over the weekend with pomp, circumstance, and celebratory dancing. This year’s Summer Camp is taking place in Bankya, Bulgaria, under the sponsorship of the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA), Bulgaria’s International Amateur Radio Union member-society. After welcoming words from BFRA and IARU Region 1 representatives, th…

E51SFS – South Cook ISlands

by DX-World

Fred, DH5FS will be active from the South Cooks as E51SFS during September 8-25, 2019. 8th-16th — Rarotonga, OC-013. 20th-25th — Aitutaki, OC-083. QSL via H/c (buro/direct)

Classic portables onboard a 1919 Great Lakes tugboat

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Phil Ewing, who writes:

I know you’re always on the lookout for trips and visits so I thought of you when we were up in Wisconsin last week. There’s a maritime museum up in Sturgeon Bay, on the peninsula, that includes a 100 year-old tug. You can go aboard and climb all up and down…and they’ve got some great radios in the crew cabins as part of the displays of what life was like back when the ship was working.

There were a number of standard but interesting normal transistors but what really caught my eye were the Hallicrafters World Wave in the pilothouse and a fantastic pair of Trans-Oceanics in the cabins of the chief engineer and the captain.

The purpose of the visit really isn’t the radios — it’s about the working life of the Great Lakes and an old ship — so discovering them was a fantastic lagniappe.

[T]he appeal of shortwave in these circumstances is clear: Imagine you’re in the middle of Lake Superior towing a barge full of logs to be pulped, or some other unglamorous but essential Great Lakes cargo — maybe a barge full of big rocks to build a breakwater in, say, Sheboygan — and you come off watch in the middle of the night. Life on a ship can be deadly monotonous and deeply lonely but then picture yourself tuning in to the international band on your luxurious Zenith set … not bad since the iPad won’t be invented for another 40 or so years.

These pix also depict the engine order telegraph, which the captain in the pilothouse used to signal commands to the engine room. There was one for each of the two main engines, and duplicates in the pilothouse.

The captain moves the handle so that it indicates the speed he wants (e.g., Ahead Full) and the bottom needle on the telegraph in the engine room moves, ringing a bell. This is why an engineer might report he was ready to sail by saying he was standing by to “answer bells.” The engineers would select the speed on the engines and then move their own handle on their own telegraph to correspond with the captain’s order, signaling to the pilothouse they’d completed the instruction.

The engines are the white things pictured behind the telegraph and on which was stamped the brass plate also photographed here. The diesel engines were made by the Electro Motive Division of GM and replaced this ship’s original steam propulsion system. EMD is most famous for its pioneering and legendary freight locomotives, which led the way in “dieselization” after WWII in converting many railroads from their romantic but much less efficient and much dirtier steam power. But the company also made marine diesel engines as evidenced here and these served this ship for another three decades or so — just think about that. There also are still EMD GP30 locomotives from the 1960s still in service in some places in the U.S., according to what I read in this month’s Trains magazine.

Fascinating, Phil––what terrific vintage kit! Thanks for sharing those wonderful photos and descriptions with us. 

Yes, I can imagine SWLing would have been a vital entertainment outlet for those on working ships in the Great Lakes. No doubt they had access to a number of strong mediumwave stations on the coast, as well. What a way to while away the off-hours.

Click here to follow @PhilEwing on Twitter.

PJ4/K5SL – Bonaire

by DX-World

Randy, K5SL will be active from Bonaire as PJ4/K5SL during September 7-14, 2019. QRV on 40, 30, 20, 17m CW & SSB. QSL via H/c.

J68HZ – St Lucia

by DX-World

Bill, K9HZ will be active as J68HZ from St Lucia during August 23 to October 4, 2019. QSL via LoTW, eQSL.

Oldham ARC Commemorates Peterloo at 200

Southgate ARC – Oldham Amateur Radio Club will be operating a special event at Tandle Hill Country Park, Royton Nr Oldham on Sunday 18th August for the bi-centenary of the Peterloo Massacre that took place in Manchester on 16th August 1819

Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club

Southgate ARC – LCARC members are preparing to participate in the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend event on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th August

ILLW Final Countdown

Southgate ARC – With only a few days to go registrations for the 22nd International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW) we are nearing the 400 mark. A new country in the event is the US Virgin Island with Buck Island Lighthouse being registered for the first time

EI-100-YXQ

Southgate ARC – EI-100-YXQ will be active on the air until the end of 2019 on all bands and modes. This is a special call to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the first East to West voice transmission across the Atlantic from Ballybunion to Louisberg, Cape Breton, NS

DXCC Country/Entity Report

Southgate ARC – According to the Amateur Radio Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 4th/August, through Sunday, 11th/August there were 201 countries active

IOTA news from OPDX

Southgate ARC – Weekly IOTA News – compiled by Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin

TK19IOTA – Corsica IOTA tour

by DX-World

Laurent, F8BBL plans to be active from Corsica during September 6-22, 2019 and QRV as TK19IOTA from the following IOTA groups. Corsica EU-014 Iles Cerbicale EU-100 Lavezzi Archipelago EU-164 Sanguinaires Islands EU-104 QRV on HF bands. QSL via H/c, LoTW.

Guest Post: Bolivian Mining Radio

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Martin Butera, who shares the following guest post which was originally published in the June 2019 issue of the British DX Club magazine:

Bolivian Mining Radio

By Martin Butera

Radio Mineras Bolivianas are unique in the world, because they belonged to the unions of mining workers, and were created to defend the interests and the struggle of the workers’ movement.

Mining was fundamental in Bolivia long before the country reached its independence in 1825. When the Spanish conquistadores began to exploit the silver of Potosí in the 17th century they never imagined that there was such a quantity under the “silver mountain”. Bolivia’s exports were mainly based on silver and then tin, until the country’s economy was transformed in the last decades of the 20th century. For three centuries the silver extracted from Potosí was taken to Spain, until the mountain lost its original shape and gradually collapsed. It has been written that six million Aymara and Quechua Indians, plus a considerable number of African slaves, lost their lives in the mines during that period. Potosí was then one of the great cities of the western world. In 1625 it had a population greater than London or Paris, and more churches than any other city in the new world. Although isolated in the altiplano, at an altitude of 4,200 meters, in Potosí the most luxurious goods imported from Europe could be found.

From the independence of Bolivia in 1825 until the mid-1970s, mining continued to be the main economic activity generating income. Silver gradually became less important, but the country became the world’s second tin producer. In the mid-1950s minerals accounted for 70% of exports. A few thousand workers in the mining centres had on their shoulders the responsibility of sustaining the economy of the country and its five million inhabitants. No government could afford to ignore the political opinion of the miners, especially when their unions were reputed to be the most democratic and politically advanced in Latin America.

Station Resistance

The 1980 military coup of General Luis García Meza had triumphed in Bolivia, many citizens who resisted were killed or imprisoned, others escaped into exile. The army managed to completely control the cities. The first military objective was the media: all the radios, television channels and newspapers were closed and when they came to light again, it was under strict military censorship. Actually, not all radio stations …

The chain of approximately twenty stations in the mining districts of Potosí and Oruro, in the Bolivian highlands, continued transmissions under very high pressure. In order to know what was really happening in Bolivia after the coup, people searched the radio for the frequency of La Voz del Minero Radio Animas or Radio Pío XII. Even foreign correspondents based their news radios on mining radios. The army knew, that is why every day the troops came closer to the mining districts, breaking little by little the resistance of the workers who defended their stations with their lives.

One of the last mining stations to fall under military control was Radio Animas. This is the transcript of the dramatic final live broadcast:

The troops are approximately five kilometres from Siete Suyos and very close to Santa Ana … so we are preparing to defend ourselves … The number of detainees reaches 31, who have been moved to the city of Tupiza according to the reports that have reached us … This is Radio Animas for all the south of the country … We are in this crucial hour, we are in constant mobilization, women have contributed greatly in the preparation of the defence … We will be to the last comrades, because that is our mission, to defend ourselves …

That was near the end. Minutes later shooting was heard at Radio Animas. The last thing the announcer managed to transmit was a message to the other stations, Pío XII and Radio Nacional de Huanuni, to take the signal and continue with the live broadcasts of the mining chain. Others continued until the army silenced the last one, destroying the equipment and killing those who defended their right to communicate.

La Voz del Minero, Radio Vanguardia de Colquiri, Radio Animas, Radio 21 de Diciembre, Radio Nacional de Huanunison are some of the radio stations created, financed and controlled by the mining workers of Bolivia.

In the Beginning

It all started around 1949, with a station that settled in the mining district of Catavi. During the following 15 years, other districts followed suit: they bought equipment, trained young people from the camps, financed by workers who gave a percentage of their salary to support the radio stations.

The stations started precariously, equipped with the bare minimum. Some managed to obtain international support and became more sophisticated broadcasters, with better equipment and facilities. Several even built an assembly hall next to the station, in order to broadcast the union meetings live. Radio Vanguardia decorated its living room with a large mural that tells the story of the Colquiri mining centre. A scene in the mural depicts the bombing of Bolivian Air Force aircraft in 1967, when the country was subjected to a military dictatorship.

At the beginning of the 1970s there were 26 stations in operation, almost all of them in the mining districts of the Bolivian highlands. At that time, the miners’ unions were still very important, considered as the political vanguard in Latin America.

In times of peace and democracy – which were not the most frequent – mining radios were integrated into the daily life of the communities. They functioned efficiently as alternatives to telephone and mail services. The people of the mining centres received their correspondence through the radio and sent messages of all kinds, which were read several times a day: calls for meetings of the Committee of Housewives, messages from the union leaders about their negotiations with the Government in the capital, messages of love between young people, sports activities, funerals, births and local festivities.

In times of political conflict, trade union radios became the only reliable source of information. While the military attacked newspapers radio and television stations in the cities, the only information available came through the mining radios. All of them joined in the “mining chain” until the army penetrated the mining districts and stormed the facilities, defended to the last by the workers. A movie of Jorge Sanjinés, El Coraje del Pueblo, rebuilds the  army attack in June 1967 in the mining district of Siglo XX and the seizure of union radio.

Click here to view on YouTube.

The mining radios were important insofar as the miners were important in the economy and politics of Bolivia. But also the influence of the miners grew during the decades in which they had at their disposal this powerful means of communication to express their ideas. As the importance of mining declined in the 1980s, trade unions weakened and many of the stations disappeared, at the same time the mines were closed.

Participatory Communication

The radio stations played a preponderant role in strengthening the mining unions in the struggle for unity. All unions were affiliated with the Bolivian Trade Union Federation of Mining Workers (FSTMB), which for four decades (1946 to 1986) was the vanguard of the powerful Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB). It is not simply coincidence that unions and radio stations shared premises in most of the mining districts, and that the union’s Secretary ofCulture was usually the director of the radio station.

The social impact of the radio stations of the mines was also important in the process of construction of a cultural identity in the mining centres and in the surrounding peasant communities. On a daily basis, the mining radios were open to participation. The visits to the stations were very frequent, whenever people needed to express themselves on any topic that affected their lives.

The most innovative in the experience of mining radios in Bolivia is community participation. The characteristics of this participation constituted a revolutionary event in the 1950s, as they still are today. Very few experiences of participatory communication have reached a level of total appropriation of a means of communication in terms of technology, day-to-day management, content and service to the community.

One of the most interesting aspects is that of training. The mining stations gave rise to new generations of journalists. The training was usually done locally, with the support of other organizations. Some journalists and broadcasters who began their professional activity in the mining radios later became well-known radialistas when emigrating to the cities.

The end of mining radio stations

Although the mining radios were oriented by the ideology of the unions, this did not represent an obstacle to participation insofar as they reflected the will of the workers. In the positions of responsibility of the union, leaders of different political parties were elected, but none of them intended to break the  sense of unity that was reflected in the radio programmes.

The real challenge of the mining radios was political repression, the same one that affected the mining class as a whole. Some stations were destroyed by the army six or seven times in the course of their existence. Several chose to preserve the traces of resistance on their walls: the bullet impacts received. Again and again, destroyed equipment was replaced by new equipment purchased with the contribution of the workers. Impoverished but worthy, they offered one day of their salary to their station.

From the technical point of view, the mining stations suffered material deficiencies. The equipment of most of them was very elementary, although sufficient to carry out the work. When equipment was damaged it was repaired by local technicians who lacked the necessary replacement parts but were abundant in creativity. The low capacity to pay salaries to producers made the quality of programming low, especially in terms of educational content.

What finally caused the mining radios to end in the 1980s was the abrupt change in the country’s economy. Traditional mining ceased to be central in exports and the cost of producing tin was higher than the international price. The government closed state mines; workers moved to cities in search of employment, leaving ghost camps behind. The influence of the unions decreased, and few stations survived the transition to the new century.

On 28 August 2017, the Ministry of Mining presented a decoration to the directors of the mining radios that are still in force. The award also recognized the “high level of awareness of workers to convey their ideals against the editorial position of the commercial media that did not take into account these struggles.”

The Bolivian government recognized the mining radios for their contribution to the democratic political history, the defence of human rights and their consequences in defence of the working class and workers.

“One of the disastrous actions was when several military radios intervened in the military coup, the equipment was destroyed, many journalists and journalists were imprisoned, because the network of mining radios constituted a whole subversive network of communication for revolution and liberation. , that is why this type of media is important, “said the current Minister of Mining, Cesar Navarro Miranda, when he offered the tribute.

Likewise, he indicated that the political participation from the chain of mining radios in dictatorial processes was decisive for the return of democracy and that is why they constitute a political and democratic history, thanks to the sacrifice of the workers. Among those that stand out: Radio 21 December, National de Huanuni, Vanguardia de Colquiri, 16 March of the Bolívar mine, Ánimas and Chichas de Siete Suyos, among others. The event was nuanced with musical participation achieving great emotion among the participants.

One of the few survivors

On 24 June Huanuni National Radio will be 60 years old. The historic National Radio of Huanuni, one of the first miner-union radios in Bolivia, recognized for its active participation in the country’s social struggles, is ready for its re-launch with a powerful team and state support.

Now with a modern FM equipment (and on 92.5 MHz), it will be a witness to the new Huanuni radio that emerged to the ether in the 1950’s and was a faithful witness of the struggle of the mining unions and the popular classes.

Respondent since its birth, Radio Nacional de Huanuni became the inseparable companion of the workers of this mining centrw who bled tin for the benefit of the great powers and the so-called “tin barons”.

Since then, the union radio station has written an unprecedented story in Bolivia, as an inseparable companion of the workers’ struggles and vanguard of the resistance of the miners against totalitarian regimes between 1964 and 1982.

Also as a school of Bolivian broadcasting, by the passage of the brightest speakers and budding journalists by their microphones. Because of the station’s irrefutable identification with the social movements it suffered several attempts to silence its voice, through dictatorial governments that destroyed equipment and assassinated several miners.

Like the one perpetrated in 1967 in the ferocious massacre of San Juan when military forces razed all their equipment and looted their nightclub when the radio accompanied and encouraged a mining protest against the government of President René Barrientos Ortuño.

www.radionacionaldehuanuni.com

Documentaries

First documentary about one of the most important historical experiences of participatory communication: the radio stations of the mining workers of Bolivia. Made in 1983 for UNESCO by Eduardo Barrios and Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, in 16 mm.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Voices of the Socavón Two Argentines produced a documentary that highlights the struggle of mining radios in Bolivia during the dictatorships. Voces del Socavón, a production made by Argentine filmmakers Julia Delfini and Magalí Vela Vázquez and is about the radio La voz del minero from the Siglo XX mine in Potosí, which was the first station financed and controlled by workers, and a pioneer in America Latina

The voices of the tunnel tells the story of Bolivia’s mining radios, led by La Voz del Minero, and its role in the workers’ union struggle during the second half of the 20th century. The protagonists of this story, union leaders, women of the Housewives Committee, miners and announcers, relate the historical events they went through in search of the Bolivian workers’ revolution. The

film links the culture within the mining camps, accompanied by the poetry and stories of the famous Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, in what is one of his last interviews.

Here you can see his trailer https://youtu.be/HUM40UGEQTA

Mining Radio Stations Today

Currently of the more than 20 mining radios that operated in the country of Bolivia, only three of them are on air. These are Radio Nacional de Huanuni (Huanuni- Oruro), Radio Vanguardia (Colquiri- La Paz) and Radio 16 de Marzo (Bolívar-Oruro).

National Radio of Huanuni (Huanuni-Oruro), that used to transmit by short wave, is on FM (94.5 MHz) and online: www.radionacionaldehuanuni.com/

Radio Vanguardia of Colquiri, owned by the mining workers of that district, currently has a new transmitter on medium wave 1270 kHz with a power of 3 kW and an FM transmitter, 98.3 MHz with a power of 1 kW. The AM signal can be heard in the remotest corners of the department of La Paz and even nationwide.

About the author

Martín Butera is a journalist, documentary maker and founding member of Radio Atomika 106.1 MHz (Buenos Aires, Argentina) www.radioatomika.com.ar

He is an Amateur Radio operator with more than 29 years of experience, and has participated in DXpeditions throughout South America, with the Argentine radio callsign LU9EFO and Brazilian callsign PT2ZDX.

It is to collaborate for the newsletter of the British Dx Club (United Kingdom).

Martin is Argentinian, born in the city of Buenos Aires capital. He currently lives in Brasilia DF, capital of Brazil

About the The British DX Club

This guest post by Martin Butera was originally published in the June 2019 issue of “Communication” magazine of the prestigious The British DX Club. It is now available for free from the club site http://bdxc.org.uk/, remembering that like this report many other very interesting ones can be downloaded.

We congratulate Martín Butera for this interesting report, as well as his editor Chrissy Brand.

If you would like to be a member of the Briitish DX Club, you can find information here http://bdxc.org.uk/apply.html

`Thank you for this fascinating look at the history of Bolivian Mining Radio, Martin!

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Tecsun PL-880: turning off backlight and one mystery function

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Carrod, who writes:

I took delivery of my PL-880 and have seen your notes on hidden features.

With the radio off, press and hold button 5, this disables/enables the light switch.

Pressing same button whilst on FM reveals information of which I’m unsure, I expect you or your readers will no doubt know what that’s about.

Thanks for sharing this, John. I’ve let a friend borrow my PL-880 so I don’t have it for reference. I’m hoping someone here can shed some light on the information display you’re seeing by pressing button 5 while in FM mode.

Encore – Classical Music on Shortwave on Sunday

by Brice Avery

Encore – Classical Music on Shortwave – Broadcast on Sunday afternoon in Europe and USA

Encore – Classical Music this weekend is being broadcast as usual by Channel 292 (Europe) on 6070 kHz at 15:00 UTC Sunday 11th August.
And by WBCQ on 7490 kHz at 00:00 – 01:00 UTC Monday 12th August
There is a repeat on 6070 kHz on Friday 16th August at 19:00 UTC.
This week’s show starts with some Debussy, then a string quartet by Borodine. Then there is some Grieg, an ancient song, and a contemporary suite for the lute. After that we have the whole of a sonata by Corelli and two Lieder from Mahler. The show finishes with some of Saint-Saën’s Piano concerto No. 5. For no very obvious reason the combination seems very pleasing and soothing. I hope you can hear the transmission where you are.
Both Channel 292 and WBCQ do live streams if the reception is poor in your location. Easy to find their sites with a google search.
Thank you for spreading the word about Encore – Classical Music on Shortwave. And thank you to everyone for letting us know how well/badly the signal is received where you live.
Brice Avery – Encore – Radio Tumbril.
Regular Broadcast times are:
15:00 – 16:00 UTC Sunday, and repeated 19:00 – 20:00 UTC Friday on 6070 kHz (Channel 292 Germany).
00:00 – 01:00 UTC Monday on 7490 kHz 9WBCQ – Maine).

YOTA Summer Camp – Bulgaria 2019

Southgate ARC – Today Sunday, August 11, 80 youngsters from 28 countries are meeting near Sofia, Bulgaria, because it’s again time for the YOTA Summer Camp hosted by the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA)

Vintage Night

Southgate ARC – Fair Lawn Amateur Radio Club invites local amateurs to participate on the air as part of ‘Vintage Night’ on Friday, August 16th

The SARL HF Digital Contest

Southgate ARC – The second contest in the SARL HF Contest series is the Digital contest taking place from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC on Sunday 18 August 2019 with RTTY and PSK activity on 80, 40 and 20 metres

QSO Today – Nathaniel Frissell – W2NAF

Southgate ARC – Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, is the 2019 Dayton Ham of the Year because of this contribution to the amateur radio art though his combined professional interest in ionospheric physics and the amateur radio modes, such as WSPRnet and FT-8, that build big data bases of propagation data. HamSCI is an organization founded by Nethaniel on this concept

International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend

Southgate ARC – The International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on 17 and 18 August is not a contest, there are no prizes, certificates or other enticements to participate and therefore, participation is free. Each station’s operators decide how they will operate their station regards modes and bands

‘Ham in a Day’ returns

Southgate ARC – In the USA the complete training course and exam for the 1.5 kW Technician amateur radio license can be done in just 7 hours with a 95% pass rate

OA9DVK – Peru

by DX-World

Got a brand new call OA9DVK. Stay tuned on low bands, lol. — Daniel Ferrato (@IK2SGL) August 9, 2019 Daniel, ex-IK2SL/OA9 is now active from the Amazon Rainforest as OA9DVK and is QRV when time permits. He is active on 160-6m using a TS-480SAT with Inverted V antenna (40-160m) and a homebrew mono-band quad for […]

OY/IZ1AZA – Faroe Islands

by DX-World

Look for Alessandro, IZ1AZA to be active from the Faroe Islands as OY/IZ1AZA during August 21-26, 2019. QRV on 40-10m, CW & SSB. QSL via home call, LoTW, Club Log OQRS.

Music of the Meteors via Dan’s live YouTube stream

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy (VR2HF), who writes:

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC OF THE METEORS!

No matter what the skycover in the coming few days you can hear the Perseid Meteor Shower live via my receiver on 49.749 MHz USB. The hollow PINGS are brief bursts of signal from a TV station transmitter here in Asia enabled by meteors as they streak through the ionosphere. As with viewing the Perseids, patience pays rich rewards of hearing the amazing music of the meteors. Enjoy! Dan…VR2HF

Click here to view on YouTube.

Thank you for sharing this Dan. I have heard a number of pings over the past few hours. Amazing!

VORW Radio International is interested in your reception reports!

by TheReportOfTheWeek

Hello readers! As a broadcaster I am always interested in the reach of various transmissions – how far they propagate and how they can be received! Today I’m asking the following:

Can you hear this transmission?

Saturday 2200 UTC (6 PM Eastern / 5 PM Central) – 6115 kHz – WWCR 100 kW – North America

The show is 1 Hour in length and will feature a variety of music from the 1960s to Present, including listener requests! It’s a very diverse show where you are guaranteed to hear music of many genres and eras!

If you can receive this broadcast I encourage you to submit a reception report via email to vorwinfo@gmail.com and it will be verified with a QSL.

Happy listening!

Propagation de K7RA

Southgate ARC – A new sunspot group appeared only briefly this week, on August 7 and 8. It was sunspot 2747, from current cycle 24. Sunspot numbers on Monday and Tuesday were 11 and 12

WIA Board Comment

Southgate ARC – The last week has seen much activity in the preparation of the submission to put to ACMA in relation to any proposed changes to the Amateur LCD

Ofcom database of callsigns Not Available for issue

Southgate ARC – Short calls are available for those radio amateurs who pass Intermediate or Advanced exams but for Advanced it may not be clear which short G2 or G3 calls are available, this database may help

VK6WIA NewsWest

Southgate ARC – In NewsWest for Sunday eleventh August 2019, we look at Amateur Radio History, and because next weekend is the Remembrance Day contest, our history segments will focus on Amateur Radio during and just after World War Two

Les Barclay G3HTF Silent Key

Southgate ARC – Well known Essex radio amateur Professor Les W. Barclay G3HTF, OBE, BSc, FREng, FIET passed away on July 31, 2019 aged 85

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Southgate ARC – It broke and now what? – Imagine you’re a new amateur. You’ve woken up in the middle of the night because insomnia seems like a good way to use amateur radio as an excuse to get on air and make some noise. You turn on the radio, key up the transmitter and the next thing you know it’s dark

A new source of space radiation

Southgate ARC – As if astronauts didn’t have enough to worry about. Researchers at UCLA using NASA’s THEMIS spacecraft have identified a new source of space radiation

Guest Post: Summer Daytime DXing 2019

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who shares the following guest post:

Summer Daytime DXing 2019

by TomL

I took note of the mediocre band conditions this summer amongst amateur radio operators as they were making off the cuff comments about still being in a solar minimum.  Some had gone out and bought upgraded transmitters to solve the problem (MOAR WATTS!). And more power thrown at a weak ionosphere does seem to help get a signal farther.  I had not been out since the spring and decided to find out for myself. But instead of more watts, I wanted more height.

Greene Valley Scenic Overlook is open to the public from May through October on weekends only (and only from 11am-6pm).  It was the largest land fill (aka, garbage dump) in Illinois, now covered over and producing captured methane gas. On August 3 & 4, I ventured over there to see if its 190 feet above the surroundings might help my radio reception.

After trying my luck with a 12 foot vertical antenna on a tripod (and numerous children running around it chasing butterflies or looking at the view of Chicago), I went out the next day and parked away from anyone and put up my 19 foot vertical on the roof of the car.  This setup is still amazing to me and works much better than the tripod mounted antenna, probably because it has a proper ground plane as well as being 7 foot taller.

So, yes, the conditions were so-so, not too bad and not too good.  Lots of weak signals and some empty frequencies that I had expected to hear some South American stations around the 5 – 10 kw range.  Weak stations from Asia were more scratchy sounding than usual even with the extra 190 feet of height. Here are 5 broadcast recordings as a sample (times in UTC):

9920 kHz at 21.14 – Radio Thailand in Thai, just catching the end of the broadcast:

9685 kHz at 21.20 – Radio Free Asia in Chinese from Kuwait:

9650 kHz at 21.23 – Radio Guinea in French:

9445 kHz at 21.30 – All India Radio in English (fighting off computer generated noise on my SDR and cheap Dell laptop) and just getting a station identification:

11780 kHz at 21.44 – Radio Nacional de Amazonia booming in with the usual annoying host yelling enthusiastically over every tune he played:

Running out of things to listen to, I wandered over to the 20 meter amateur radio band and found a different situation.  Propagation was decent between the Western hemisphere and Europe. Lots of “pile ups” going on with people trying to make contact with their trans-Atlantic counterparts.  Some said they were running 500 watts or more, so more power does seem to help! Here are 5 recordings to show how active it was:

14171 kHz at 21.55 – Inaki (F5RAG) from southwestern France conversing with Carlos (YV3CRT) in Venezuela (surprised anyone is left in Venezuela with operating radio equipment and not sold off for food with the ongoing difficulties there).  Then Inaki makes contact with Alejandro (CE2ATS) from Chile with a good signal. All in Spanish:

14199.38 kHz at 22.04 – Ervin (VE3GAL) tries his QRP portable setup from Ontario to contact Ron (F4VSM) in Southwestern France who has a 500 watt setup and large Yagi antenna. Sometimes things do not go so well but that is the challenge of using low power, maybe around 10 watts (meaning that just because you can hear them, you cannot always transmit to them with the same effectiveness and vice-versa, for various reasons):

14228 kHz at 22.12 – “BAN” (IZ1PNT) from Italy makes contact with Norman (N3PVQ) in FL after asking everyone to be quiet. Good control over the frequency:

14238 kHz at 22.17 – Slavko (S57DX) booming in, making a contact (Rob, KK4HEQ) in Florida:

14245 kHz at 22.24 – Gabrielle from the Czech Republic, participating at a Youth event using station OL88YL contacting Ira (VP2EIH) in the British Virgin Islands and then another dude from Florida, Roy (AD4AN).  She handled it very well:

This outing was quite educational and I find it curious that people running 1000 watts or less are able to be heard well between continents but the large broadcasters were difficult to hear.  Antennas pointed in the right direction, at the right time of day and frequency, can certainly do amazing things, plucking those weak signals out of the air so easily. And I do think the extra height had something to do with hearing this magic, too!

Happy Listening,

TomL

NOTES:

  1. An easy way to lookup amateur radio operator “call signs” is to go to web site QRZCQ.com which does not need a login.  Some records may be out of date, but most of it is accurate.
  2. Setup used was a cheap Dell laptop, Windows 10, SDR Console 3.03,  connected to the AirSpy HF+, a Palstar amplified preselector, and an old Kiwa BCB filter, then going up to the car roof magnetic balun (a Palomar MLB2) which is then connected to the 4 magnet base and the MFJ 19 foot stainless steel antenna.  You can read about it here:

https://swling.com/blog/2018/07/guest-post-backpack-shack-3-0-part-3/

Brilliant report, Tom! It’s true: the bands are fickle, but like you I always find interesting things to hear on HF. I think your setup using your vehicle as the ground plane for the antenna is a fantastic idea. Plus, set up is easy, self-supporting, and you’ll never have to worry about a park ranger, for example, complaining because you have a wire suspended from a tree. And when there are no trees? You’re still golden. 

Thanks for sharing your experience and DX! Amazing that even with mediocre conditions, you still snagged some distant signals.

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

Media 04-Aug-2019-16h14m00s-9.92-MHz-R.Thailand-Thai.mp3

International DX-World Gathering?

by DX-World

In an ambitious move, DX-World is looking at the possibility of creating and hosting a yearly International DX-World Gathering – with the prime aim of bringing website readers, DXpeditioners, IOTA enthusiasts, SWL’s, DXers, speakers, advertisers and generally interested radio amateurs together in exquisite stately homes & surroundings – covering the Seven Continents of the World over a […]

V31JW – Belize

by DX-World

James, NT5V will be active from Belize as V31JW between October 5-12, 2019. QRV on HF bands. Logs uploaded to Club Log / LoTW after the activity. QSL via H/c.

FCC Fines North Carolina Man for Unauthorized and Misleading Public Safety Transmissions

ARRL -The FCC this week issued a $39,278 Forfeiture Order against Ocean Hinson of Surry County, North Carolina, for intentional misuse of a local public safety radio communications network, in violation of §301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

“Mr. Hinson impersonated first responders in unauthorized radio communications on Surry County’s licensed public safety frequency,” the FCC said. …

Radio Wave Propagation Authority Les W. Barclay, G3HTF, SK

ARRL -Les W. Barclay, G3HTF, of Chelmsford, England, a radio wave propagation expert and academic who was well known in International Telecommunication Union (ITU) circles, died on July 31. He was 85.

“Les was Chairman of ITU-R Working Party 3L from 2012 until 2016, and provided key input into the technical discussions for World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 that resulted in the international 60-…

Delaware Radio Amateur Earmarks WWROF Contribution for Youth Contesting Initiatives

ARRL -The World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) has announced receipt of a $25,000 donation from contester Charles “Chick” Allen, NW3Y, of Seaford, Delaware. His contribution will be used at the discretion of the WWROF Board of Directors to promote and enhance youth involvement in contesting, WWROF said in announcing the contribution.

“It is truly an honor to work with WWROF by providing suppo…

The K7RA Solar Update

ARRL -A new sunspot group appeared only briefly this week, on August 7-8. It was sunspot 2747, from current Cycle 24. Sunspot numbers on Monday and Tuesday were 11 and 12.

Average daily solar flux shifted only slightly from last week, from 67 to 67.2. Average planetary A index, a geomagnetic indicator aggregated from magnetometers around the world, more than doubled, from 5 to 10.3. This was due to so…

QRPGuys Active Antenna Splitter Kit

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Eric McFadden (WD8RIF), who shares the following announcement from Ken (WA4MNT) via the QRP-L forum:

QRPGuys is open for orders after this year’s Summer shutdown. We have  added a product that may be of special interest to SWL listeners and some hams. It is an active antenna splitter that will enable connection to three receivers from a single antenna.

Product Deescription:

The KN8TND Active RX Antenna Splitter will allow you to use one antenna with mulitple HF receivers simultaneously. Many hams and SWLers like to monitor several bands and/or frequencies, i.e. 14.300, international nautical emergency freq, 14.100, world HF beacons, etc, etc. Having two or three HF receiving antennas is a luxury some Hams and SWLers can’t afford. With the active receiver antenna splitter you can use one antenna and three receivers at the same time. Keep abreast of what’s going on on the bands, put some of those dust collecting receivers back in action. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, this kit is a 2. Build time is about 2 hours, depending on your experience, with the normal kit tools. Bear in mind, this is for receiving only. For HF transceivers you would need a T/R switch to your tuned transmitting antenna.

Come by and see it at:
https://qrpguys.com/k8tnd-active-antenna-splitter

QRPGuys makes amazing QRP kits. Immediately after receiving Eric’s email, I purchased the active antenna splitter kit. Total cost with shipping was $25 US. A true bargain! Although I already have an ELAD Active antenna splitter, this one would be nice to take to the field as it’s much smaller and lighter weight.

Click here to check out the new Active Antenna Splitter at QRPGuys.

The Space Weather Woman

Southgate ARC – Sunspots Blossom and Sailing the Solar Winds – The latest space weather forecast from Dr Tamitha Skov WX6SWW

HAREC amateur radio exams at the HAMEXPO show

Southgate ARC – Passing an amateur radio HAREC exam enables the holder to apply for a CEPT Class 1 license in any signatory country. REF reports an exam session will be held at the HAMEXPO on October 12

Ham radio eviction on TV news

Southgate ARC – Teleponte TV News broadcast a report about the planned eviction of radio amateurs from their headquaters in Teramo

Ham radio banned at Airpower 19

Southgate ARC – Austria’s ÖVSV reports the communications regulator BMVIT has banned the carrying or use of Amateur Radio equipment at the Airpower 19 event taking place in Zeltweg on September 6-7

Bright Jupiter + Moon conjunction

Southgate ARC – When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look south. The waxing gibbous Moon is approaching Jupiter for a beautiful conjunction alongside the red giant star Antares

ARRL Dayton Hamvention videos available

Southgate ARC – Video recordings of presentations made by several ARRL officials at the 2019 Dayton Hamvention® and ARRL National Convention are now available for viewing on YouTube

DX News from the ARRL

Southgate ARC – The American Radio Relay League’s round-up of the forthcoming week’s DX activity on the amateur radio bands

World Scout Jamboree Ham Radio Balloon Crosses Atlantic

ARRL -An APRS Amateur Radio balloon, call sign NA1WJ-5, launched from the recent World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, has floated across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Scouting Magazine blog reports: “You can reach practically any corner of the globe via Amateur Radio. That’s the message K2BSA wanted to show Scouts at the World Scout Jamboree. Those in the Amateur Radio association launched four Mylar ball…

Ham Radio Magazine Cofounder, Publisher Skip Tenney, W1NLB, SK

ARRL –Ham Radio Magazine cofounder and publisher Skip Tenney, W1NLB, of Francestown, New Hampshire, died on August 4 after a period of declining health. He was 89. In 1968, Tenney and Jim Fisk, W1DTY (SK), joined forces to publish Ham Radio Magazine, which was published for 23 years.

Tenney launched the spin-off Ham Radio Report, edited by Joe Schroeder, W9JUV (SK), a weekly Amateur Radio newsletter, …

Ninth YOTA Summer Camp Gets Under Way on August 11

ARRL -Up to 80 young radio amateurs, primarily from IARU Region 1 but including participants from other parts of the world, will gather in Bulgaria on August 11 for the ninth annual Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Summer Camp. Special call sign LZ19YOTA will be on the air during the weeklong event, hosted by the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA).

The event offers an opportunity for the partic…

So Now What? Podcast

ARRL -“SATERN’S involvement in the hurricane season using Amateur Radio” is the focus of the new (August 8) episode of the So Now What? podcast for Amateur Radio newcomers.

If you’re a newly licensed Amateur Radio operator, chances are you have lots of questions. This biweekly podcast has answers! So Now What? offers insights from those who’ve been just where you are now. New episodes will be posted e…

Fenu-Radio reviews an AirSpy HF+ Discovery prototype

by Thomas

Fernando Duarte of Fenu-Radio has just posted his review of the AirSpy HF+ Discovery SDR prototype.  I trust Fenu’s reviews because they’re always thorough and based on actual listening sessions.

In short, he’s quite impressed with the prototype. In many instances the Discovery outperformed his benchmark Winradio G33DDC Excalibur Pro. Quite an accomplishment for a $169 SDR!

Click here to read Funu-Radio’s full review.

I will evaluate a first production run AirSpy HF+ Discovery. Since it’s incredibly lightweight and compact, I believe I’ll try to even build a small portable SDR station around it. Stay tuned.

ICQPodcast reaches 300 show milestone

Southgate ARC – Back in 2008, a father and son team decided to experiment with a new publishing technology -podcasting. They committed to publishing ten shows and see if anyone was listening

HamSphere 4.0 5 years later

Southgate ARC – HamSphere 4.0 Five years have passed ! Summer 2014 on August 15 exactly, a UFO arrives in the world of radio amateurs and radio enthusiasts, this new program happens to simulate the propagation on the amateur bands radio 10 to 160 meters

Tony’s 10m Band Report

Southgate ARC – As if to copy Stoke City this week, Ten Metres has been poor, very poor. The odd bit of DX but really a good showing by F4CXO as top spotter. His shack looks particularly tidy and organised for a Radio Ham!

Parker Solar Probe gathering data from our local star

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans (W4/VP9KF), who writes:

Parker Solar Probe supposedly going to yield some interesting data [see below].

Hopefully it’ll bring forth some interesting new findings for Short Wave users!

(Source: Engaget)

Over the past months, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flew closer to the sun than any other spacecraft before it — not once, but twice on two flybys. The probe obviously collected as much data as it could so that we can understand the sun better. Now its mission team at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland has just received the final transmission for the 22 gigabytes of science data collected during those two encounters. That’s 50 percent more than it expected to receive by now, all thanks to the spacecraft’s telecommunications system performing better than expected.

Parker’s ground team found out soon after launch that the probe is capable of a higher downlink rate. In fact, they’re taking advantage of that ability by instructing the probe to send back even more data from the second encounter in April. During that event, the spacecraft’s four suites of science instruments kept busy collecting information. That’s why the mission team is expecting to receive an additional 25GB of science data between July 24th and August 15th.

The mission team will release the data from the first two encounters to the public later this year. Before that happens, the spacecraft will conduct its third flyby, which will start on August 27th and reach closest approach on September 1st. Researchers are hoping that over the net few years the mission can gather the information we need to unravel some of the sun’s biggest mysteries, including why the sun’s corona (its aura of plasma) is far hotter than its visible surface.

Click here to read the full article at Engaget.

Radio World: History of Directional AM Broadcast Antennas

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marty, who shares the following article by John Schneider in Radio World:

In the early years of AM radio broadcasting, all stations utilized non-directional antennas. Most all of these were wire antennas suspended between towers or buildings. Interference, especially at night, was severe. An interfering signal of 5% or less in signal strength was enough to disrupt reception of the desired station, and if the frequencies of the two stations were slightly separated, there would be a heterodyne beat note. As a result, only a few widely-spaced stations could operate on each of the AM broadcast channels in the entire country at night. This limited the number of stations that could coexist to about 500 nationwide, with many of them sharing time on a single frequency.

As antenna technologies were developed and improved in the early 1930s, a few progressive stations began experimenting with multi-element directional arrays. This approach offered two attractive benefits: 1) It could reduce radiation towards other stations on the same or adjacent frequencies, permitting more stations to share a frequency; and 2) a broadcaster could direct more signal towards the desired coverage area, and away from wasted areas such as open water in the case of coastal stations.

WFLA-WSUN

The first known use of a directional antenna was by a pair of stations in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla. In 1927, the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce acquired station WGHB and changed the call sign to WFLA. A companion station, WSUN, was operated by the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. The two stations shared the frequency of 900 kHz, broadcasting on alternate evenings to promote tourism and business opportunities in their respective communities. In reality, they operated with two station licenses, but there was only one transmitter and one antenna.[…]

Click here to to continue reading the full article in Radio World.

From the Isle of Music (Aug 11-17) and Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot (Aug 11 and 13)

by Bill Tilford

From the Isle of Music, August 11-17:
This week, our special guest is Denis Martínez, leader of the Timba band Denis y su Swing. Bring your dancing shoes.
The broadcasts take place:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Sofia, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands during the broadcast at
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=9400am
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC (New UTC) on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US).
If you don’t have a shortwave or are out of range, you can listen to a live stream from the WBCQ website here (choose 7490)

Listen Live

3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands during the broadcast at
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=6070am

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, August 11 and 13, 2019:
Episode 125, Music for a Flat Earth, features music by groups with flat earth in their name.
The transmissions take place:
1.Sundays 2200-2230 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
If you don’t have a shortwave or are out of range, you can to a live stream from the WBCQ website here (choose 7490)
listenhttp://www.wbcq.com/?page_id=7
2. Tuesdays 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe.
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands during the broadcast at
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=6070am

August 2019 Rockwork DXpedition

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary DeBock, who shares the following guest post and update from the August 2019 Rockwork DXpedition:

Once again the largest FSL antenna collection on the planet made its way across the Columbia River bridge during an overnight trip to NW Oregon, finally being deployed at the original Highway 101 plunging cliff turnoff– Rockwork 4. There has been a drastic decrease in the squatter population, so that Craig Barnes and I were able to easily set up all four PVC bases for all-out DU-DXing at the dream site this morning (see photo). Unfortunately Chris Black came down with a health issue at the last minute, and needed to cancel out.

Craig and I had some excellent signals from the regulars (including 531-More FM, 558-Fiji and 1017-Tonga), although it wasn’t quite a stellar morning for rare DX. We were kind of spoiled last year with 1017-Tonga staying a S9 practically throughout the session, but this morning it was “only” at S9 for a few minutes at a time. This meant that as soon as I notified Craig of 1017’s potent status, the signal tended to nosedive. Maybe the cumulative effects of humidity and salt water exposure are beginning to take their toll on the Tongan big gun? 558-Fiji showed up with decent signals for a couple minutes at a time, which meant that Craig got the short end of the stick after I notified him of the potent signal. 531-More FM hit an awesome S9 peak around 1312 (including the usual split-second female ID), making it once again seem totally bizarre that no trace of the 2 kW modern rock station has ever been received at Grayland for the duration. The Rockwork Cliff is typically focused in like a laser on New Zealand, and this was a typical morning!

531 More FM Alexandra, NZ 2 kW Potent S9 modern rock signal from this Rockwork regular, with female “More FM” ID at 19 seconds:

Click here to download.

558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji 10 kW Island music at temporary potent level at 1257; typically hit the skids after reaching this level:

Click here to download.

1017 A3Z Nuku’alofa, Tonga 20 kW Female Tongan speech at S9+ level at 1317:

Click here to download.

1017 Newstalk ZB Christchurch, NZ 10 kW Presumed the one under A3Z’s meltdown-level signal:

Click here to download.

73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (DXing with Craig Barnes at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, Oregon, USA)

DXpedition equipment:

7.5″ loopstick CC Skywave SSB and XHDATA D-808 Portables
15″, 15″ and 17″ Airport Unfriendly FSL antennas (see photos above)

Again, thank you so much for sharing your DX, Gary! I’m so amazed by the signals you snag each year with your homebrew loopstick antennas!

To read more of our posts by Gary DeBock, click here.

Media 531-MoreFM-1312z080119CCSWANRRHPF.MP3

Defense One interviews Sound of Hope founders

by Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, RBC, who shares the following article from the website Defense One:

For more than four months, Hong Kong has been in the grips of a civil crisis. Protestors have taken to the streets to challenge the Hong Kong government’s growing acquiescence to Beijing while Chinese government forces and their allies have used militias to attack protestors and electronic tools to disrupt their communications. But media censorship means that few mainland Chinese know what’s going on.

A Silicon Valley-based organization has found a way to get information into China and out to Chinese speakers around the world: shortwave radio.

“Shortwave broadcast is kinda like a grey area,” said Sean Lin, one of the co-founders of the Sound of Hope radio network. “There’s no law that says you cannot do it. It depends on if governments want to keep [a particular radio station] going or shut it down based on Beiging’s pressure,”

Shortwave radio has been used for decades to broadcast news, information, political messages, and disinformation. During World War II, the Germans and the British both used radio waves between 3–30 MHz (10 to 100 metres) to try to persuade listeners around the world.

Sound of Hope, co-founded by Lin and Allen Zeng in 2004, looked to take the same technology and broadcast messages into China. Zeng originally set up the station to broadcast to the Chinese language population in Silicon Valley. It was his response to a dearth of Chinese-language news coverage that wasn’t heavily influenced by the Chinese government. “You would expect them [Chinese language news and media in the United States] to have some basic media decency and do their job. They don’t. They all have family in China. They need to go back to China. They need to do business in China,” said Zeng.[…]

Continue reading the full article at Defense One.

HamRadioDaily – Ham Radio Daily News

IARU at CITEL

International Amateur Radio Union R2 » News – 2019-08-16 18:00:09

IARU at CITEL PCC II meetings in Ottawa, Canada, August 12-16. The CITEL PCC II meeting is the final preparatory meeting before the ITU World Radio Conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt in October 28 to November 22. Left to Right: Bryan Rawlings, VE3QN, RAC WRC representative George Gorsline, VE3YV, IARU R2 Executive Committee Flavio Archangelo, PY2… [continue]

Friday, 16th August 2019

FCC Dismisses ARRL, AMSAT Requests in Small Satellite Proceeding

ARRL – 2019-08-16 18:00:07

An FCC Report and Order (R&O) released August 2 in the so-called “small satellite” rulemaking proceeding, IB Docket 18-86, failed to address concerns expressed by ARRL and AMSAT. Both organizations filed comments on the FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the proceeding last year, seeking changes in the FCCs interpretations and proc… [continue]

YOTA 2019 finishes this weekend

RSGB – 2019-08-16 16:00:13

The ninth annual Youngsters on the Air Summer Camp comes to a close this weekend. Special callsign LZ19YOTA will be on the air during the event, hosted by the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs. QSL LZ19YOTA via the bureau to LZ1BJ. The experiences of the British team are at http://www.rsgb.org/yota2019

146MHz band gets extra year

RSGB – 2019-08-16 16:00:13

Ofcom has agreed to extend for a further year the Notice of Variation (NoV) for 146-147MHz to encourage radio amateurs to experiment and test new communications schemes and systems. The current NoVs expire on 31 October 2019. Any Full licence holder may apply for an experimental NoV for the 146-147MHz band: go to http://www.rsgb.org/nov for […]

IARU prepares for Key CEPT meeting

RSGB – 2019-08-16 16:00:13

The final CEPT Conference Preparatory Group meeting prior to WRC-19 takes place from the 26th of August. Most of its papers are now available, including on current hot topics in the 6m, 2m and 23cm bands, where RSGB volunteers have been working hard to support the IARU. In summary, at 50MHz IARU hopes that the […]

Buildathon at RSGB Convention

RSGB – 2019-08-16 16:00:13

The RSGB Convention takes place in Milton Keynes from the 11th to the 13th of October. The Buildathon on Saturday evening is a little different. Presented as an alternative to the Gala Dinner, those attending the Buildathon get a hot & cold buffet and an evening of surface mount construction. The event includes the food […]

G5RP Trophy Nomination

RSGB – 2019-08-16 16:00:13

The G5RP Trophy is an annual award to encourage newcomers to HF DXing. If you are an established HF DXer and want to recommend someone to be awarded the G5RP Trophy for 2019, now is the time to send in your nomination. Your nominee should be an up-and-coming HF DXer who has made rapid progress […]

The K7RA Solar Update

ARRL – 2019-08-16 16:00:08

No sunspots were visible over the recent reporting week, Thursday through Wednesday, August 8 through 14.According to Spaceweather.com, 67% of the days so far in 2019 have been spotless, and for all of 2018 it was 61%. In the previous solar minimum in 2008 and 2009 the spotless days ran 73% and 71%, respectively.Solar flux has been minimal and unre… [continue]

World’s first FT8 contact on 122 GHz

Southgate ARC – 2019-08-16 12:00:11

Roland Lang, VK4FB, and Stefan Durtschi, VK4CSD, completed what is being claimed as the world’s first FT8 contact on 122 GHz

The spectacular end of Longijang-2 moon mission

Southgate ARC – 2019-08-16 12:00:11

The last commands to Longijang-2 Moon Orbiting Satellite were sent from the from OM Reinhard, DK5LA, during a thunderstorm with lightning strikes nearby his antennas before the satellite crashed on to the moon surface!!

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Top Amateur Radio Websites – Issue 1925

by author@dxzone.com

Folded dipole antennas: terminated vs un-terminated, L.B. Cebik – W4RNL documents by ON5AU, Antenna Mast Guying for Amateur Radio Antennas, 50:450 Ohm (9:1) Balun for vertical antennas, Trapped Dipole Antenna for 20-30-40m, Vertical Antenna for 30 meters band, How setup the antenna tower, MSL – Mechanical Systems Lehmann – Telescopic Masts and Towers, HF SIGNALS, 435 plus 1296MHz ATF54143 Pre-amplifier

Top Amateur Radio Websites – Issue 1924

by author@dxzone.com

A simplified guide to FT8 DXPedition mode, Caravan Ham Radio Shack, 80 meter Ceramic Resonator VXO CW Transmitter, Saluki Technology Inc., Introduction to NPR New Packet Radio – Presentation, NPR New Packet Radio – IP over 430 MHz, New Paket Radio: Hamnet over 70cm by EA4GPZ, S9A Log Online

WSJT-X version 2.1.0 released

by author@dxzone.com

The WSJT Development Group is pleased to announce the general availability (GA) release of WSJT-X Version 2.1.0.

ICOM IC-R20

by author@dxzone.com

IC-R20 by Icom. Wideband Receiver Professional radioreceiver, allow double receiver, from HF to Microwave, digital recorde, DTCS, Memories and 11 hours countinuous reception.

The Wave Antenna for 200-Meter Reception

by author@dxzone.com

Antennas/Beverage
A QST Article published in November 1922 is about the origin of Beverage antennas, an unidirectional antenna type that was discovered and experimented for the first time in that period. This article is the introduction to beverage antenna theory, by the homonimous autho H. H. Beverage.

J-Pole Construction Drawings

by author@dxzone.com

Antennas/J-Pole
Complete plan for making a 2-meter J-Pole antenna. This drawing in PDF File includes a detailed list of the parts needed to assemble the Jpole antenna for 144 MHz.

Signal Stuff

by author@dxzone.com

Shopping and Services/Regional/USA
Amateur radio parts and accessories online shop, born to support hamstudy.org and examtools.org offer super elastic signa stic antennas, sma connectors and other small parts.

Aerial 51

by author@dxzone.com

Shopping and Services/Regional/Europe/Germany
Aerial 51 is an antenna manufacturer producing HF Wire antennas. Their antenna product catalog includes portable, OCF wire antennas for HF bands but also QRP transceivers, and accessories for portable operations.Based in Germany

ICOM 756 and 756PRO

by author@dxzone.com

Radio Equipment/HF Transceivers/ICOM IC-756
Ini this article the author compare the Icom 756 and Icom IC 756 PRO. Comparison is very detailed and includes S Meter Calibration, Microphone Gain, Transverter Jack, the noise blanked, the spectrum analyzer, audio quality, notch filter, compression meter, noise reduction, sensivity and filter settings along to many other features making this article a must for who want to compare this two models

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