Friday, May 25, 2018

Uncle Bill's Melting Pot, Sun, May 27 & Tues, May 29, 2018

Episode 64 presents the music of the delightful singer Irina Sarbu and the Ethnojazz Project, an award-winning ensemble that fuses Romanian music and Jazz.

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

2. Tuesdays 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe. If current propagation conditions hold, the broadcast should reach from Iceland to Western Russia, Scandinavia down to North Africa and the Middle East, AND a long bounce to parts of New Zealand.

If you don't have a shortwave radio or are out of range, the Sunday transmission livestreams (NOT AVAILABLE ON DEMAND) on the WBCQ.com website (Listen Live, 7490) and Tunein.com (WBCQ The Planet). The Tuesday transmission can be heard on several different Web SDRs throughout Europe.

Digital Radio and the Role of Regulators

What is their place in the ever more complex world of broadcasting?

By Ruxandra Obreja

Read the RadioWorld article here :  





From the Isle of Music, May 27-June 2

From the Isle of Music, May 27-June 2:

This week we re-broadcast a conversation that we had with Arturo O'Farrill in the Iris Jazz

Club in Santiago de Cuba in December 2015 and listen to some excellent Cuban Jazz and dance music.

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 Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)

2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US). This has been audible in parts of NW, Central and Southern Europe with an excellent skip to Italy recently.

3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.



Monday, May 21, 2018

WRTH A18 schedule file published

We are pleased to announce that the Summer (A18) broadcasting schedules file is now ready for free download. This file is in PDF format (you will need a program that is capable of reading the PDF format, such as the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, etc.). Please visit http://www.wrth.com and follow the links for 'updates'. The file is called: WRTH2018IntRadioSuppl2_A18Schedules.pdf

The A18 schedules file contains the broadcasting schedules of over 200 International and Clandestine/target broadcasters; International LW/MW/SW transmitter sites table; International DRM broadcasts; Selected language broadcasts; a 'by frequency' table of every frequency used by each station in the main schedule section.

We hope this file will be not only be a useful companion to the printed WRTH, but will also prove indispensible as a standalone source of information.

Best wishes and happy listening/DXing

WRTH (World Radio TV Handbook) Editorial team.


(Via Sean Gilbert - WRTH International Editor)

SLBC Hindi revised schedule due to transmitter valve failure

Urgent and Important Announcement 

There is sudden failure in shortwave transmitter valve of SLBC.

Due to which Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation management has made few changes in the air time of Hindi Service.

From tomorrow, 22nd May 2018 the broadcasting on shortwave is available between 2 slots :
1) Morning 6 am to 6.30 am (0030-0100 UTC) - 11905 kHz
2) Morning 7.30 am to 8 am (0200-0230 UTC) - 11905 kHz

But on the website the streaming will be available for entire 2 hours i.e. from 6.00 am to 8.00 am (0030-0230 UTC)

Please note this change is temporary for about 1 month and all we need to keep patience until the transmitter gets repaired.

I hope all Listeners will get extra feed on 1 hour on the internet by SLBC.

Thanks to Siddi Farook for continued support to Hindi Service inspite of such tricky situation.

Hope all the listeners from India, Nepal , Pakistan time zones will listen in these time on short waves  and web site stream dependant listeners will note enjoy the broadcasting.

Thanks Nalani Mallika Nalani M Perera ji for notifying this sudden change to all the listeners without fail.

Admin RCGLG (HB)

(Via Girish Manakeshwar, RCGLG)


Other language services may be affected.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

America's Oldest Commercial Shortwave Station Testing in DRM mode

Screenshot courtesy : Marcel from North East France via drmrx forum

WINB, America's oldest commercial shortwave station, is testing in DRM via two transmitters. The test transmissions are directed to both parts of Europe and North America.

A new ASI transmitter, a CE-50000WS, is on the following test schedule: Monday-Friday 1100-1700 UTC on 15670 kHz. The transmitter is rated at 15 kW and is using a rhombic antenna at 62 degrees.

At times when the ASI transmitter is not being tested, WINB will be testing in DRM via its existing Continental 417B transmitter on 9265 kHz via a rhombic antenna beamed 242 degrees.

Programming is from WINB's Internet audio stream and is in English and Spanish.

WINB is America's oldest commercial shortwave station, having come on the air in 1962. The station is located in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, USA.

(via Hans Johnson, WINB Sales Manager, winb.com winb40th@yahoo.com)

Thursday, May 17, 2018

WINB testting in DRM mode


Marcel from North East France heard WINB testing in DRM mode on 15670 kHz at 1535 UTC. Further details awaited.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

TWR’s Bonaire Facility Gets 440,000 Watt Makeover

Power boost makes station most powerful in Western Hemisphere

In an era when most operators are reluctant to spend even very modest sums maintaining AM broadcast facilities, a southern Caribbean Island medium-wave broadcaster has "gone for the gold," rebuilding its transmission facility and boosting power nearly five-fold from 100 kW to 440 kW.

The rebuild was more of a "second coming" for the 800 kHz facility, located in Bonaire, an island that is part of The Netherlands, situated about 100 miles off the Venezuelan coast. The station is owned and operated by Trans World Radio, one of the world's largest evangelical media organizations.

Source and full story at :


Related :

TWR360 reaches over a million users a month


Radio Veritas Asia to shut down its shortwave broadcasts

Radio Veritas Asia, Philippines will stop it's shortwave broadcast (all language services) with effect from 30th June, 2018. It will be available online from 1st July 2018.

RVA A18 Schedule (March 25, 2018 - June 30, 2018 )

2100-2230 Mandarin 6115
2300-2327 Filipino 15355
2330-2357 Vietnamese 9670
0000-0027 Kachin 9645
0100-0127 Urdu 15280
0130-0200 Teddimchin 15255
0130-0230 Vietnamese 15530
1000-1027 Khmer 11850
1000-1130 Mandarin 11945
1130-1157 Myanmar 15450
1200-1227 Hmong 11935
1200-1227 Karen 11760
1230-1257 Kachin 15225
1300-1357 Vietnamese 11850
1330-1357 Chin 11870
1400-1427 Bengali 11880
1430 ∸ 1457 Urdu 9610
1430-1500 Telugu 11870
1500-1553 Filipino 11675

Sri Lanka state TV, radio get new chiefs

Siddeek Mohamed Farook is the new the Chairman of Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, state radio.

More at :






Saturday, May 12, 2018

AIR Dibrugarh celebrates Golden Jubilee

All India Radio Dibrugarh, during the yearlong celebration of its golden jubilee this year, is broadcasting programmes on a particular subject as the theme for each month starting from March last. 



Friday, May 11, 2018

Google keyboard gets Morse Code support

Google is working on accessibility features, like rolling Morse Code into its Google keyboard.


Google is adding Morse Code support for its Gboard keyboard. Pichai showed a video of a woman named Tania who uses Morse Code to communicate. Now, when she starts spelling a word out in Morse Code, she can use Google's predictive word suggestions.

More at :

Gospell GR-216 DRM receiver at Convergence India 2018



The latest DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) receiver GR-216 from Gospell was on display at Convergence India Expo, New Delhi during 7-9 March 2018

Launched in 1992, the Convergence India series of expo is credited as South Asia's largest ICT expo.

Convergence India is the only platform in this region which demonstrates convergence of technologies in Telecom, IT, Broadcast and Digital media sectors.

The expo showcases latest trends and technologies related to Telecom, Broadcast, Cable and Satellite TV, Cloud & Big Data, IoT, Digital Homes, Mobile devices, Film and Radio, Content Creation, Management and Delivery, etc. and also provides engagement with digital innovators, international business gurus, telecom and broadcasting czars, leaders from IT & Internet and IoT industries.



Saturday, May 05, 2018

Burundi to suspend operations of VOA, BBC ahead of May 17 referendum

Burundi on Friday announced broadcast bans on two international networks. The measure which takes off on Monday May 7 affects the Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The ban according to a government statement is to last for a period of six months. The reason for the suspension is for "falling short of laws governing the press" and "breaching professional ethics".

More at :


VOA statement on Government of Burundi's Suspension of VOA Operations

Washington, D.C.—The Voice of America condemns the recent action of the government of Burundi to suspend its broadcast operations for six months, effective May 7.

"We are dismayed by the actions taken today by the Burundi National Communications Council to ban VOA from broadcasting its news and information programs," said VOA Director Amanda Bennett. "Our audience members count on VOA to provide factual, unbiased and objective coverage of current events, so this ban deprives the citizens of Burundi of a trusted news source during a critical time in that country. This is even more distressing coming only one day after World Press Freedom Day – a day calling for governments to remove, not impose, restrictions on the media."

VOA content will continue to be available in Kirundi and Kinyarwanda via shortwave channels, on the Internet and on FM transmitters located in neighboring countries.

Friday, May 04, 2018

Deutsche Welle marks 65th anniversary

For six-and-a-half decades, Germany's international public broadcaster has been providing the world with news and information. Deutsche Welle's offerings are more diverse and widely used than ever before.

"Dear listeners in faraway countries" — with these words from German President Theodor Heuss, Deutsche Welle (DW) began broadcasting on May 3, 1953. Germany's foreign public radio station was charged with providing audiences abroad with a political, economic, and cultural picture of the country.

DW broadcast via shortwave and initially only in German. The first foreign languages were added in 1954. In 1992, DW expanded into television and, shortly thereafter, the internet.

"Of course the days of just shortwave were easier," says Deutsche Welle Director General Peter Limbourg. "But thanks to the internet, social media, and our network of partners, we now have the chance to reach significantly more people than we used to. We offer a mix of news, background, and think pieces, presented in a modern fashion and oriented around the interests of our diverse and often very young target audiences."

More at :


Tuesday, May 01, 2018

New RTL-SDR receiver app for iOS released

A new RTL-SDR compatible app for Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad) has recently been released on the Apple App store. The app is called "SDR Receiver", costs US$9.99, and is used together with an RTL-SDR (or Airspy HF+) server running on a separate networked device such as a Raspberry Pi or PC. Limitations by Apple mean that the RTL-SDR can not run directly on iOS  devices.