50 years of shortwave in Holland

http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/rnw-historical-audio-archive-50-years-of-shortwave-in-holland

RNW Historical Audio Archive: 50 years of shortwave in Holland

April 22nd, 2011 - 12:36 UTC

by Andy Sennitt.

On 30 March 1977 Radio Nederland (as we were then called in English) broadcast a special programme marking our 30th anniversary, and 50 years since the first shortwave broadcast from the Netherlands. The complete programme is now available to listen to/download from the RNW Historical Audio Archive. Here’s a synopsis of the programme:

• Hendrik (Henk) van den Broek, Radio Nederland’s first director, recorded in 1955, explains why Radio Nederland was set up.
• The origin of Dutch overseas broadcasting goes back to 1927, the pioneering year of shortwave telephony. The Philips Laboratories in Eindhoven experiment with the PCJJ short-wave transmitter. The transmissions reach as far as the East-Indies. Mr. A C de Groot, a technical official of the Netherlands East Indies PTT and a radio amateur, is sitting up all night monitoring the 30 metre band in the hope of hearing amateurs operating in morse code from The Netherlands. Somewhere around 3:00 AM, he hears a voice speaking in Dutch saying “This is an experimental transmission from the Philips Laboratory in Eindhoven, Holland, on a wavelength of 30.2 metres”

...

Australian DX Report 252 April 23 2011

 Nifty podcast. Give 'er a listen!

Australian DX Report 252 April 23 2011

Shortwave Quiz!

I haven't had much time to tune around the bands lately, but tonight I found a little bit of time to at least spin through most shortwave bands once. Going through the 60 meter tropical band (my favorite), I noticed something wrong. VERY wrong! I made a video, so test yourself.What did I notice?

48 Years Old and Still a Flamethrower

Great article from Radio World including some awesome photos!    

http://www.rwonline.com/article/119514

While the International Broadcasting Bureau, which oversees Voice of America operations, has closed a number of its domestic and overseas transmitting facilities (relay stations) and moved into placement of programming on AM and FM outlets in countries where a VOA presence is desired, it still provides thousands of hours of programming for shortwave listeners every month. 

Need more photos? http://www.j-hawkins.com/voanc1.shtml

America’s Most Wanted Pirate Broadcaster

http://www.diymedia.net/feature/pirate/f052901.htm

Broadcasting on the upper sideband of 3260 kHz with a handful of watts and a homemade antenna, KSMR caused a small stir in the shortwave pirate community: never before had a clandestine station targeting the United States government actually broadcast from within its own borders.
But, as more and more people tuned in KSMR, more and more began not to like what they heard.
On the air at the start for just an hour a day, Steve Anderson would begin each KSMR broadcast with David Von Kleist's pro-militia song "Take My Gun (From My Cold Dead Hands)." He would then proceed to ramble for about 60 minutes, passing on tidbits of militia news from around the country, relaying contact information for various militia groups, and engaging in some personal commentary.




http://www.radioworld.com/article/118440

Anderson started Kentucky State Militia Radio (KSMR) in March 2001 from his house; the first monitored broadcast transmission of the station was made on March 3 by veteran listener Harold Frodge and cited in Cumbre DX. He had floated the idea of such a station during a militia gathering the previous fall and got a favorable response.

The Kentucky State Militia was one of the most active paramilitary groups in the country at the time, according to the Anti-Defamation League; it conducted military training and hosted national gatherings of militia members. Its members were surprised when the station came on the air so quickly. More importantly, most were shocked to learn that it was an illegal pirate station.

“Most [militia] members thought that this was to be a commercial radio station licensed through the FCC,” said Patrick Perry, a communications officer with the KSM at the time. “Members had no reason to believe that this station would be otherwise.”

Anderson called his program “The Militia Hour.” He only operated for an hour a day on shortwave initially. He later expanded his schedule to a few hours a day. His intended audience was militia members and supporters in Kentucky and beyond.

A licensed radio amateur, AA8DP, Anderson transmitted KSMR in single side band, a mode many shortwave radio sets cannot receive. He said he did this to save wear and tear on the transmitter. KSMR also changed frequency from time to time. Early programs consisted of coded group and militia messages and news. 

 ‘Most Wanted’

Anderson managed to elude the authorities for quite some time. Frustrated that he remained on the loose a few months after the shootout, the Somerset Commonwealth Journal prepared a package on him and sent it into “America’s Most Wanted,” the television show that portrays criminal fugitives and asks viewers to call the police if they have any information. The show aired a segment on Anderson.

This did the trick. Police in North Carolina captured Anderson in November 2002 in response to a tip from someone who had seen the show. He was sentenced the following May to 15 years in federal prison.

During his trial, Anderson apologized for his actions and what he had said on the air. According to press reports of the time, he told U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, “My actions were wrong — bad wrong. What I said was very wrong and I apologize for that.”

He remains in prison today. Anderson declined an interview request from this writer 10 years ago, and to my knowledge hasn’t talked to other journalists since.

Expansion of Guam Shortwave Station

http://www.awr.org/en/news/show/35


"The station’s broadcast equipment consists of six towers, four curtain antennas, and five transmitters. The largest tower is 330 feet tall, and each curtain antenna is about the size of two football fields. The shortwave signals that are generated can travel for thousands of miles, enabling the gospel message to freely enter non‐ Christian areas without being subject to government control.
The current equipment cannot provide a signal of sufficient strength, at the right frequency, to adequately reach listeners in northern China, Mongolia, Siberia, and beyond. Adding a fifth antenna will enable AWR to
broadcast a strong signal to these areas during prime listening hours, as well as simultaneously transmit additional programs in more languages. ... AWR hopes that the installation of the new tower and antenna can be completed by the end of 2012, which is the Guam station’s 25th anniversary year."

 

South Africa’s top DXers

Check out the logs of these guys who just got back from their annual MW and SW DXpedition: http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/seefontein_2011_03.dx

Armed with their favorite radios, a bunch of wire, and a seaside location, this quartet logged stations from around the world. Sounds like a great time!

Radio Serbia

I'm sure you've heard the potent signal put out by Radio Serbia. Here's why!

http://glassrbije.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=58&Itemid=205

 

  Period: 1900 UTC Oktober, 31 2010 - 1900 UTC March, 27 2011

Time (UTC)	Time (Bgd.)	Language	Zones of area	Target	Freq.   (kHz.)	Power    (KW.)
01:30 - 02:00	02:30 - 03:00	ENGLISH (Except Sunday)	7e,8 27,28w	N.AMERICA/ce   EUROPE/w	6190	250
14:00 - 14:30	15:00 - 15:30	ENGLISH	27,29 37,39	EUROPE	9505	100
19:30 - 20:00	20:30 - 21:00	ENGLISH	27,28w	EUROPE/w	6100	250
22:00 - 22:30	23:00 - 23:30	ENGLISH	27,28w	EUROPE/w	6100	250

 
 

World Christian Broadcasting

Owners of KNLS in Anchor Point, Alaska are building a new transmitter site in Madagascar and it's completion is getting close. The antennas are up, the three, 100kw transmitters are ready for shipment, and they should be on the air soon! http://www.worldchristian.org/Updates/LatestNews/updates.php

Glen Houser's World of Radio

Check out the latest edition of shortwave news from Glen Houser:

Text: http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld1114.txt
Audio: http://wor.worldofradio.org/

The highlight of this week's news is the return of Antarctica! Get 'em!

Earth Directed CME: April 9th, 2011.

ShortwaveJamming

There are reports that Germany's Deuche Welle broadcasts towards Ethiopia have been jammed. Ethiopia denies that they are jamming Deuche Welle nor the Voice of America who's Africa Service is also being jammed. Using on-line receivers, I did not find any jamming of Germany's Deuche Welle, but I did find VOA from Botswana being jammed on 11670
but their 15580 is still in the clear. Take a listen for yourself in the video below.