BBS is back on 6035 kHz:

Observed Bhutan Broadcasting Service had been back on air for the first time in many weeks on its usual shortwave frequency during my aircheck on 6035 kHz from 0544 UTC to 0600 UTC on April 10th.There was English songs with a host introducing the songs etc, closing announcements plus music, then announcements about a new language service transmission beginning around 0600 UTC. The signal strength was satisfactory and overall reception was good no QRM as such
observed.

And later in the afternoon, BBS English was also heard with News,public announcements & English songs on air on 6035 kHz from 0805 UTC onwards upto 0817 UTC or so as per my monitoring.

(Gautam Kumar Sharma, Abhayapuri, Assam, India)

Thanks to tip from Martien Groot from Schoorl, Netherlands via DXLD list, Bhutan was noted on air on 10th Apr 2012 at 1859 UTC on 6035, strong here // to live streaming at http://www.bbs.bt/news/radio-wan.html

Alokesh Gupta

When HAM tided over jams

Amateur radio (HAM) operators swung into action immediately when they heard news about earthquake and tsunami.
When all modes of communication, including cellphones got jammed due to hyper activity of the people, HAMs started to contact other operators in various parts of the state to help them to pass messages to their near and dear ones in the vicinity.


More at :

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/when-ham-tided-over-jams-713

From Short Waves to Flash Mobs

Watch out Big Brother. In the digital era, Arab dictators aren't the only ones who will be thrown on their heels.

More at : http://tinyurl.com/6q7zy6q

SWR txn - 6/7 Apr

Scandanavian Weekend Radio broadcast slated for this weekend :
6th-7th April 2012, starting 21 UTC

Schedule as usual at :
http://www.swradio.net/schedule.htm

Next txn dates :

4th-5th May 2012, starting 21 UTC

1st-2nd June 2012

22nd-23rd June 2012 Midnight Sun Radio

Amateur e-qsl's received on 5th April

HCJB Australia Newsletter - March 2012

March 2012 issue of HCJB Australia Newsletter :

http://www.hcjb.org.au/docs/144_Voice_and_Hands_Newsletter_HCJB_Australia_Mar_2012.pdf

Dx-Antwerp 30th Anniversary special broadcast

DX-Antwerp (the only Belgian DX-club) celebrates its 30th anniversary on May 12th, we are airing short-wave broadcast as follows :

UTC kHz STATION ITU MOD TARGET

0430-0530 17880 Issoudun F AM India

0800-0900 9680 Issoudun F AM Western-Europe

1200-1300 6015 Issoudun F DRM Western-Europe

1400-1500 17880 Montsinery GUF AM North America East

1530-1630 15775 Issoudun F DRM India

1700-1800 21680 Montsinery GUF AM North America West

2000-2100 17755 Montsinery GUF DRM North America
(www.broadcast.be)

A special QSL card was designed for this occasion. Send a report by ordinary mail to DXA QSL c/o TDP Radio, PO Box 1, B-2310 Rijkevorsel, Belgium or e-mail to dxaqsl@gmail.com.

Please spread this news in your area.

Guido Schotmans via dx_india fb group
http://www.facebook.com/groups/dxindia/

Radio Canada International to shut down shortwave, to cut Russian & Brazilian departments

Summary of cuts announced :

- As announced in the 2012 federal budget, government has chosen to reduce CBC/Radio-Canada's appropriation by $115 million over three years.
- significant impact on services, organization and staff; upwards of 650 positions will be eliminated over three years, including about 475 this fiscal year."
- CBC/Radio-Canada intends to accelerate the shutdown of analogue television transmitters.
- Radio Canada International (RCI) will undergo a transformation that will see the service move away from shortwave and satellite transmission in order to focus its efforts on the web. The service will also end the production of news bulletins and close its Russian and Brazilian departments in order to concentrate on the five languages most spoken by its audiences: French, English, Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin.

More info at :
http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/newsreleases/20120404.shtml

Related News :

CBC to slash jobs, eyes radio ads
Public broadcaster tries to offset $115-million cut in funding

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/slash+jobs+eyes+radio+updated/6410854/story.html

Radio Free Asia starts new QSL series - IBB Relay Sites

Radio Free Asia (RFA) announces a new series of QSL cards recognizing the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) relay sites used for RFA programming. RFA currently uses, and confirms broadcasts from the following IBB sites: Biblis, Iranawilla, Kuwait, Lampertheim, Saipan and Tinian. The first card of this series is from IBB's Tinian relay site. In this picture you are facing north from Tinian's Tower 16, part of antenna 305L, overlooking the antenna fields. The transmitter building is at the upper right side of the picture and above it you can see the Island of Saipan to the north of Tinian. This is RFA's 45th QSL overall; it will be used to confirm all valid RFA reception reports for April-July 2012.

RFA is a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts news and information to listeners in Asian countries where full, accurate, and timely news reports are unavailable. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean to North Korea, Lao, Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham), and Uyghur. RFA strives for accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial content. As a 'surrogate' broadcaster, RFA provides news and commentary specific to each of its target countries, acting as the free press these countries lack. RFA broadcasts only in local languages and dialects, and most of its broadcasts comprise news of specific local interest. More
information about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is available at www.rfa.org.

RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports. Reception reports are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at www.techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DX'ers, but also from its general listening audience. Reception reports are also accepted by email at qsl@rfa.org, and for anyone without Internet access, reception reports can be mailed to:

Reception Reports
Radio Free Asia
2025 M. Street NW, Suite 300
Washington DC 20036
United States of America.

Upon request, RFA will also send a copy of the current broadcast schedule and a station sticker.

(RFA Release)

From Thomson Broadcast, a DRM-FM Solution

Thomson Broadcast will use the NAB Show to highlight a new Digital Radio Mondiale-based system that promises a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution for distributing and broadcasting radio programs over long distances, and to dispersed populations.

More at :
http://www.radioworld.com/article/from-thomson-broadcast-a-drm-fm-solution-/212696

61 years of Radio Nepal and Its Dilemma

By Mohan Nepali
Radio Nepal began its broadcasting services in 1951. The state-owned radio right now is observing its 61st anniversary. Its historical significance and the information and entertainment services it has been providing to rural masses on no account can and must be ignored.

More at :
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Nepal-61-years-of-Radio-N-by-Mohan-Nepali-120401-807.html

Digital radio on the rise

Commercial Radio Australia says the takeup of digital radio in this country is progressing faster than expected. Australians have bought 784,478 digital radios since they were launched in 2009, according to figures from Commercial Radio Australia's Digital Radio Industry Report 2012, released on Monday.

More at :

http://www.skynews.com.au/tech/article.aspx?id=735505&vId=

HF Pirate Weekend Logs

It was real fun last weekend digging out the low powered Euro-pirates admist heavy QRN & QSB....overall bands were noisier than last HF pirate weekend.

Here's my final count :

31st March 2012

0912 - 1416 UTC s/off 15845 USB Spaceshuttle Radio 25222 (35322 at peaks) 200 W

1346 UTC 18950 LSB Baltic Sea Radio Traces only 80 W

1506-1530 UTC 15055 USB Tropiq Radio 80 W 25222

1551 UTC 15020 USB Mustang Radio Faint signal (txn in AM) 60 W 25322

1723 UTC 15070 AM Balkan Radio Intl ( Relayed by Cupid Radio) 25322

1st April 2012

0815 UTC 21460 AM Cupid Radio 25322 (13mb dipole) *

0829/1202 UTC 15845U Spaceshuttle Radio 25322 200 W

0900 UTC 21485 LSB Baltic Sea Radio 80/150 W (13mb dipole )*

* for 21 MHz freq's much better reception was observed with temporarily installed dipole for 13mb

Audio file :
http://soundcloud.com/alokesh/radio-spaceshuttle-15845-usb

DRM General Assembly in Winnersh, UK – new Steering Board elected

The Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium has set its strategy for the next two years at the General Assembly held in Winnersh, UK on 28 - 29th March 2012 and elected its new governing bodies.

The Consortium has inducted two new members to its Steering Board, both receiver chip-set manufacturers – Frontier Silicon and NXP Semiconductors. The annual meeting of DRM members also re-elected Ruxandra Obreja (BBC) as the Chair of the DRM Consortium along with Jochen Huber (Transradio) as Vice Chair, Ludo Maes (TDP) as Vice Chair and Commercial Committee Chair, Lindsay Cornell (BBC) as Technical Committee Chair and Alexander Zink (Fraunhofer) as Treasurer.

Apart from the above mentioned members, other companies who make up the DRM Steering Board are Nautel, RFmondial, Continental Electronics, Thomson, Babcock, SWR, Robert Bosch GmbH and Voice of Russia.

The meeting was hosted by DRM member Harris at its headquarters in the UK. During the two days, the members saw and discussed presentations and updates from around the world and set the strategy and budget for the next year. Two new members were also announced – Parrot SA and Keystone Technologies have joined the DRM Consortium this year.

The General Assembly is the largest decision-making body of the DRM Consortium which elects its governing bodies and representatives every two years. They guide the Consortium's activities in promoting the use and take-up of DRM digital radio technology.

(Source : www.drm.org)

VOA Websites Get New Design

Voice of America is giving its websites a new look and additional features, and saving some money in the process.

The new layout makes navigation easier for the user, moves more content to the top of the page, provides bigger images, and more multimedia functionality. The design also allows online commenting on audio and video for the first time.

VOA, which broadcasts news and information around the world in 43 languages, began the transition to the new content management system (CMS) this week with its Indonesian, Spanish and Creole websites. Eventually more than 50 VOA websites will make the switch.

"Our audience should love it," says Iscar Blanco, Managing Editor of the VOA Spanish site. "It gives us more exposure with social media, and it allows us to be more creative in the way we lay out the page every day. If we have great pictures of a developing story and some interesting audience contributions, we can highlight that, clump them together, and move the entire cluster to the center of the page. I love it," Blanco says.

Martha Townes, the Internet Managing Editor for VOA's East Asia and Pacific Division, says, "The new system makes more sense. It allows editors to move things around and organize graphics and stories in a more intuitive and dynamic way."

The content management system, called Pangea, will also save money by migrating VOA and other U.S. international broadcasters to the same platform and reducing duplicate systems. Pangea was created by Internet technology developers at VOA's sister station, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, a U.S. government-funded international broadcaster, which has shared the program with VOA and will also store content on its servers.

For more information about VOA programs, visit our main English language website at www.voanews.com.

(VOA Press Release)