Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Winter SWL Fest registration form now available

It's just 66 days until the Winter SWL Festival comes to the Philadelphia region; we've been privileged to have several ODXA members join us for the Fest in years past, and we hope ODXA members will again help the US balance of trade by spending some foreign currency in the USA for a change. The registration form can be downloaded from the Fest website,
http://swlfest.com

Hope you can join us!

Richard Cuff / co-chair
Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA

Via ODXA yg

Vatican Radio changes morning frequency

Tue, 06 Jan 2009
Due to unavoidable circumstances Vatican Radio ceases its broadcast from Russia at 0200-0320 hrs on 12070 kHz to South Asia in Hindi,Tamil, Malayalam, English and moved on to 9545 kHz from Santa Maria station at the same time.

( Alok Dasgupta Via http://dxasia.info/news)

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Art of Radio Hawaii Competition

To celebrate Hawaii's 50 years of statehood in 2009, the Radio Heritage Foundation [www.radioheritage.net] is running a new competition open worldwide. It's on-line exhibition 'Art of Radio Hawaii' features great art work of letterheads and logos from Hawaiian AM radio stations since the 1930's, and is already amongst the most popular content at www.radioheritage.net. To enter the competition, simply visit the 'Art of Radio Hawaii' exhibition before February 14 2009, and send an email to info@radioheritage.net headed 'Art of Radio Hawaii Competition' with the answer to this question:

What is the callsign of the Hawaiian AM radio station that began broadcasts in 1957 from the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel in Waikiki?

You'll see the art work for this station logo in the exhibition, along with many others in a nostalgic tour of the island state's radio dial.

The prize is a brand new copy of the 2009 World Radio TV Handbook that also contains a full list of all 32 AM and 57 FM radio stations on air in Hawaii today. It also includes many website details, so you can listen in to your favorite Hawaiian radio stations wherever you live in the world!

Judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Entries are only by email and must be received by February 14 2009. As a condition of entry, your email address will be added to a mailing list to receive newsletters and other mailings from the Radio Heritage Foundation. The Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization that connects radio heritage and popular culture across the Pacific. It's volunteer based and welcomes donations of time, skills, memorabilia and funds to continue its projects.

Website: www.radioheritage.net. Email: info@radioheritage.net. To be removed from this list email 'remove me' to info@radioheritage.net. However, we hope you'll enjoy hearing from us from time to time, and our special offers and competitions celebrating radio heritage across the Pacific.

International Radio Forum 2009, Iran, 18-20 May 2009

In its inaugural year, the International Radio Forum brought together leading radio media practitioners, media specialists, policy makers and academics from across the Middle East and other parts of the world. Eminent speakers from all radio broadcasting industry shared their experiences and their vision for the future of this medium. Most of them underscored the need for radio to reinvent itself and reposition itself in the evolving multimedia environment. The theme selected for the International Radio Forum 2009 responds exactly to this requirement. The era of diverse multimedia platforms being available for delivery of content is already with us. Several of these new platforms cab gainfully be used for delivery of radio programming. While this multimedia environment creates new competition for radio broadcasters, more importantly, it provides them with exciting possibilities for creating new genres of content and delivering their programming in many new ways. As a medium of communication, radio has immediate access to mass audiences. Being a cost efficient mass medium, it lends itself best to low cost at the production end as well as at the receiving end. Together with the ease with which radio services can be received, it is not surprising that radio has found itself deeply involved in dissemination of developmental communication. Considering that in many developing countries radio may still be the only affordable medium of mass communication with access to target population, the role of radio broadcasting is to provide a powerful tool for flow of modern ideas. Developmental communication is about human development and the quality of human life. Developmental communication is a means of binding individuals into a society by the use of shared language and aspirations, common interests and objectives. Coupled with economic growth, social dimensions like education, health and ecological considerations are important factors for development. In particular, developmental communication focuses on the disadvantaged and deprived groups. Radio is a medium that is aptly used to encourage positive individual attitude to development and constructive social change. Radio can, in a more effective manner, carry interesting, entertaining and valuable information into the homes and lives of millions of listeners, through imaginatively conceived lessons, music, dramas and documentaries that engage listeners' emotions and thought-process towards life improvement. Creation of content (programming) for developmental communication is a major challenge for radio programmers. An innovative approach rooted in the cultural ethos of the target audience and making use of modern metaphor and content creation tools is the key to developmental communication programming. Devising appropriate formats for developmental communication is
of vital importance. What is also important is that these formats and content need to be location specific, language specific, borrowing heavily on local mannerisms, nuances and traditions. Delivering developmental communication to audiences is one of the important roles that radio has been playing over the last one century. Across the region, many families continue to be at disadvantage on social, economic and developmental opportunities. The such medium of radio has been, and continues to be utilised to impart gainful information to such audiences designed to enable them to work towards their empowerment through awareness-generation, confidence-building, employment, economic independence, education, training, health, nutrition, welfare services and legal safeguards. Radio will have to continue to play this role in the society effectively. And for this purpose, the new delivery opportunities can be harnessed.

Public Service Broadcasters continue to play a pivotal role in broadcasting. While the PSBs may not always produce the most popular content, they do try to reach a wide and broad segment of the population. Demands to stay competitive, relevant and current mean that PSBs have to find unique new ways to attract and retain listeners. With technology playing an increasingly important role in reaching audiences, PSBs have embraced technology and used it to advantage. This second edition of the International Radio Forum is an effort to focus on all the aspects of radio in the traditional and emerging markets in West Asia and North Africa. Given the mix of public service and commercial radio broadcasters operating in this region, the conference takes up issues which concern both the public values and the commercial world. The Forum takes place alongside the 10th International Radio Festival of Iran 18-20 May 2009) in Tehran.

P.O.Box : 19395-3778 Tel : (+9821) 22168048
Fax : (+9821) 22168048 E-mail :IRF@irib.ir

JSWC QSL 2009

Japan SW Club is issuing a new QSL card for 2009, the Year of the Ox.
All correct reports to the Asian DX news segment in HCJB DX Partyline (every 4th Saturday) and AWR's Wavescan (the first Sunday of the month) will be verified by this new "Year of the Ox" QSL Card.

Send your reports to JSWC c/o T. Ohake, 5-31-6 Tamanawa, Kamakura 247- 0071,
Japan. Please enclose 1 IRC. (No more US one dollar bill, which does not
cover an airmail stamp.)"

Broadcasting station attacked by armed gang in Sri Lanka

Submitted by Sahil Nagpal on Tue, 01/06/2009 - 02:36.
Colombo - A private radio and television station on the outskirts of Sri Lanka's capital has been attacked by an armed gang that inflicted extensive damage to the studio complex and interrupted its broadcasts, a spokesman for the station said Tuesday.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Spanish-language radio stations refocus their missions

By MELISSA SÁNCHEZ
Yakima Herald-Republic

Read the complete story here :
http://tinyurl.com/82zwz2

Bangladesh 4750 kHz is off

As I wondered whether Bangladesh 4750 kHz inaudible from Kolkata, India was a propagation hiccup, I got a prompt reply from the station which puts the controversy to rest.

"Senior Engineer, RRC,BB, Dhaka" to Supratik

Dear Dr Supratik Sanatani
At present 4750KHz is in trouble. There is no other SW transmission for HS. Please try to reach 693 KHz MW.

Thanks
Supratik Sanatani
Kolkata, India

DX Report From GK

Here is some latest radio monitoring observations ...............

R.Japan NHK World in Bengali,Hindi & Urdu:::
After several days rather weeks of poor to barely audible signal , on saturday i.e. January ,2009, I heard loud & clear signal of Radio Japan's Bengali,Hindi & Urdu Transmission on 15215kHz from 1322UTC onwards (my monitoring starting time).But on sunday i.e.January 4th, there was very poor signal signal on 15215kHz from 1300UTC onwards. I checked around 1421UTC during the time of Hindi Transmission, the signal was poor with slight noise.

VO Turkey English on 11735kHz from 1330UTC onwards:
There has been poor spell of reception with poor to barely audible signal for past several days rather weeks. On saturday i.e. Janaury 3rd, there was loud & clear signal during almost entire transmission period. I recorded a moments of audio of that transmission also.But on on sunday i.e.January 4th, there was poor signal again.

SARL's DX Programme for HAM Operators etc on 17860kHz on Janaury 4th:
Now-a-days, on every sunday, I'm getting good signal of this transmission via Sentech Relay from South Africa on 17860kHz during 0800-0900UTC. I recorded a few moments of audio of this programme on January 4th.

Voice of Mongolia English on 12085kHz during 1030-1056UTC:
The reception of this transmission is also improving day by day after a long spell of poor reception here due to very weak signal etc. On January 4th, sunday, I heard initial a few minutes of its transmission with fair signal.

AWR Transmission.....
The spell of poor reception of AWR transmission is still going on here in my place.Nothing to add further as I mentioned you in detail in my earlier e-mail.

KBS World English:::
I heard KBS World English a few days back on 7275kHz during 1800-1900UTC with slight QRM from nearby stations plus with fair to poor signal.I think best option will be to listen to 2200-2230UTC trax on 3955kHz via UK Relay for QSLings etc.This transmission is reliable.

Radio Taiwan International -English:
RTI-English is still not audible properly (poor signal often & sometime initial fair signal fades away later ,also noise is there) on 9785kHz (via France Relay) & not audible at all on 11550kHz now-a-days during 1600-1700UTC.

That's all for this report. Thanks for reading it.
More DX reports etc soon.
73 & 55
Yours
Gautam Kumar Sharma(GK)
Abhayapuri
Geographical Location of Reception Place(Abhayapuri)
Longitude:26º18´20´´North
Latitude:90º37´50´´East
Receiver:Grundig YB400 (Digital)
Antenna:Long Wire

Hamfair 2009 at Kollam

Ham Fair 2009 will be conducted on a house boat on April 19, 2009 at Kollam, Kerala by Quilon Amateur Radio League. A Fox Hunt Event will also be held at Kannur. For details please contact : VU2KGN - vu2kgn@yahoo.com

(Thanks to VU2YNS)

Sunday, January 04, 2009

AIR frozen in time warp

Mahesh Joshi
EVEN THOUGH it has about two months passed for Deepawali festival, it seems that All India Radio (AIR) still has not come out of from the mood of festive season. When new celebrations were going on, AIR relayed a program telling importance of Deepawali and pollution control measures on first day of 2009 across the state. However, after this incident AIR is also shocked and said that they will look into the matter.

Read the full story here :

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=154897

VOA Urdu service dropped SW frequencies

from DXAsia News
Effective 31st December 2008 VOA Urdu service has dropped all SW services to South Asia at 0100-0200 (9520 9820 kHz) and 1400-1500 (7440 9390 kHz) hrs. Only MW 972 and 1539 kHz are available at 1400-0200 hrs. There are many listeners in India and Bangladesh who are listening to this Urdu service on SW and many more especially after the closure of VOA Hindi service.

(Alok Dasgupta via http://dxasia.info/news/ )

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Broadcast Matters: Long, Medium and Short January 2009

http://dxinternational.blogspot.com/2009/01/broadcast-matters-long-medium-and-short.html

SWR-January 2009 transmission

Dear listeners ,
Scandinavian Weekend Radio's January 2009 transmission started 22 hours UTC on 1602, 6170/5980 and 11720/11690 kHz. Check our time and frequency tables from http://www.swradio.net . Lot of more information there as well. +358 400 995559 call or send your SMS's info(at)swradio.net send your e-mails here. Letters and reports for QSL's (add 2 euros/2 IRC's) write to:

SWR reports
P.O.Box 99
FI-34801 VIRRAT
FINLAND

Best regards,
Alpo Heinonen
Scandinavian Weekend Radio

Greeting waves in the air

http://retailigence.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/greeting-waves-in-the-air/