Radio St. Helena QSL cards being shipped

Radio St. Helena Day 2009 QSL cards

According to Mr Kipp of Germany, who is the project Manager of Radio St. Helena Day revival project, the first batch of Radio St. Helena Day 2009 QSL was shipped on 15 July aboard the Royal Mail Ship RMS St. Helena. The ship would reach Ascension island about two days, then the cards would fly from there to England, then to worldwide. But the first batch is only 36 cards and remaining about three hundreds reports are still in process at St. Helena. The QSL cards and envelopes of Radio St. Helena Day 2009 were sponsored by JSWC.
(Japan SW Club via Dario Monferini, Italy/playdx2003 Via Gayle)

More than 800 new FM stations planned in India

The rollout of the third-phase of private FM radio stations in India is set to go ahead following approval from the Committee of Secretaries. The rollout of FM-III has been delayed for nearly two years over various issues including objections from the Defence Ministry on the potential interference of FM radio signals with those of defence installations.

The Defence Ministry had suggested that all private radio operators would have to seek their permission before establishing any FM radio station under FM-III, especially when the radio towers were in the close vicinity of a defence installation. But a compromise agreementg has been reached, according to which the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry will share details of all sites where radio towers will be set up under FM-III. The Defence Ministry will get two months to communicate its views on sites. "In case of any objections from the Defence Ministry, the height of the proposed radio towers will be reduced to 25 metres from the mandated 30 metres," a top I&B official said.

FM-III will see the rollout of 806 new FM channels across 217 towns in the country. The private FM stations will cover all towns with a population of over 100,000.

(Source: The Financial Express)

2010 Pirate Radio Annual

By Andrew Yoder

Anyone who has dabbled in shortwave listening, knows there is an underground component that borders on the quirky, if not bizarre side of the hobby.

Andrew Yoder, a pirate radio afficionado, has recently released his new 2010 Pirate Radio Annual, a 126 page book focusing on the pirate side of the shortwave hobby. Whether you’re a newbie or the seasoned hardcore pirate listener, this excellent edition will no doubt grace the likes of many radio listening post (including mine).

So, what is the great mystery when it comes to tuning in pirates ? It may surprise the beginner that it involves just listening! Andrew takes you through the pirate mine field explaining that listeners are no longer limited to their receiver, but now have access to the bizarre via the Internet. Additional information includes pirate web sites, QSLing Pirates, mail drops and QSL tips to get you started.

Classifying the stations, includes an explanation of the various classifications of pirate stations and a 97 page section of stations active in 2009 with detailed station information, and their active status during the year. Email and postal maildrop addresses are included, plus QSL card reproductions for each station to keep you up to date on QSLing

A CD is included that features 75 different pirate stations from on-the-air program recordings, a monitoring plus to those new to pirate chasing.

If you’re a seasoned pirate fan or have considered delving into the sometimes bizarre, 2010 Pirate Radio Annual is an excellent guide to assist your listening. The 2010 PRA is available for $15.00 plus shipping ($ 3.00 to US, $ 4.00 to Canada, or $9.00 to the rest of the world) from Cabinet Communications, P.O. Box 109, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214.

Reviewed by Gayle Van Horn for Shortwave Central and Monitoring Times.

AIR super-power station coming up near City

AIR super-power station coming up near City

Clipping (49kbs) - Deccan Herald, 31 / 08 / 1988. By Staff Reporter

Click to browse by keyword: All India Radio Broadcasting Doordarshan Television

By Our Staff Reporter BANGALORE, Aug. 30. "Aralu Mallige", a remote village 10 km off Dodballapur, near Bangalore, is busy giving shape to All India Radio's long cherished dream of making its voice heard by people around the world. Come January, the super-power shortwave radio transmitter being installed here will be in full bloom. The idea of establishing this multiband transmitter for external services germinated as far back as 1979 when the Union Government realised that with the existing facilities it was impossible for it to disseminate to people in alien lands India's news and views. It was only in 1981, however, that the Public Investment Board gave the green signal to set up this super-power transmitter. Designed and built by Asea Brown Boveri of Switzerland, the installation at present consists of two 500 KW shortwave transmitters along with associated antenna equipment. Under Phase-II of the project, four more 500 KW transmitters will be added on in the next two years. Mr. R. K. Taneja, Deputy Director of Engineering, AIR, who is in charge of the project, says the progress of the project has been impressive. LITIGATIONS: The project would have become operational by now but for the land acquisition litigations which delayed the execution by a year. In fact, AIR came into possession of the plot only in January 1986, Mr. Taneja said. Installation work, which started roughly a year ago, is fast nearing completion. The AIR civil works wing put up the building providing for Phase-II installations. While the outlay for Phase-I is Rs. 15 crore, Phase-lI will cost Rs. 35 crore. AIR external services are currently being broadcast by shortwave transmitters at Aligarh, Khampur-Delhi and Kingsway-Delhi, with support service by Bombay and Madras stations. The Aligarh station with a 250 KW transmitter is the strongest station (external services) in the country now. With most foreign countries (including Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) installing 500 KW transmitters, the reception of AIR broadcasts in 'target areas" had deteriorated considerably. The Indian embassies abroad had also constantly complained about this. The "Aralu Mallige" complex will make India's voice more audible in the target areas hereafter. BIGGEST IN ASIA: When commissioned fully with all the six transmitters in action, the Dodballapur complex will be the biggest of its kind in Asia. Said Mr. Adiran Bergamin, Commissioning Engineer of Asea Brown Boveri: "The latest technology has been incorporated in the manufacture of the main tube of the transmitters, the faraday cage and the modulator." The computer-aided frequency control system helps control 100 frequencies at a time. Devoid of manual work, the system also has the facility to know the operational conditions of various sub-systems. The Phase-II transmitters are likely to involve the still more modern "pulse step modulation" technology resulting in very high efficiency. The aerial system consisting of nine multiband aerial curtains are being installed by Marconi and Co of UK. Under Phase-II, 27 more aerial curtains will be installed. The 36 high gain curtains in eight beam directions will help AIR to simultaneously broadcast in various foreign languages to the benefit of listeners around the globe. The aerial system will have remote operation facility for changeover and slewing of certain aerials. The direction of the antennas and the aerials are changed depending on weather conditions, sunspots, target areas and the day and time of broadcast. PROGRAMMES FROM DELHI: The complex will be manned round the-clock by a band of 50 AIR technicians. The programmes to be broadcast will be readied in New Delhi and passed on to the complex either through microwave or the INSAT satellite (with one of them acting as a constant standby). The Electronic Corporation of India of Hyderabad has been entrusted with the erection of the nine gigantic pylons (the tallest tower measuring 97 metres) and the aerials. The company has also supplied certain components, like connectors. While the "European beam" (centred on Moscow) will cover Europe and parts of America, the "North African beam" will serve most part of Africa. In its reverse direction, the beam will land in Australia CITY IN SHADOW AREA: With the Dodballapur complex's "skip area" being 100 kin, Bangaloreans will not be able to catch the waves on their sets. Mr. MJ. Viswanathan, AIR South Zone Chief Engineer, who recently visited the project site, said work on the upgradation of the present 50 KW MW transmitter in Bangalore to two 100 KW MW transmitters (supplied by BEL) and the erection of the new 132-metre high ECIL mast was likely to be completed by November 1988. Mr. Viswanathan also said that the work on the FM Radio stations at Hassan, Hospet and Chitradurga would be completed by March 1989.

New Sangean ATS-909X Coming in November

The New Sangean ATS-909X Coming in November of This Year

 

(Re-post)

Thanks to Tom for this great news. For radiophiles, the up and coming Sangean ATS-909X, featured on Universal Radio, is equivalent to a new version of the BMW M5. No price mentioned yet, but I'll be pre-ordering mine and hope it arrives around my birthday. Here are the specs from the Universal Radio site:

The ATS-909X is the new flagship of the Sangean line. It packs features and performance into a very compact and stylish package. Coverage includes all long wave (153-519 kHz), medium wave (520-1710 kHz) and all shortwave frequencies (1711-29999 kHz). FM and FM stereo to the headphone jack is also available (87.5-108 MHz). The new enlarged LCD features a bright white LED for excellent clarity.

Shortwave performance is enhanced with a wide-narrow bandwidth switch and excellent single side band performance (SSB tuning to 40 Hz steps via fine tuning). Five tuning methods are featured:  direct keypad entry, manual tuning, auto scan, manual up-down tuning, memory recall or manual knob tuning.

This new model is expected November 2010.

Source: http://sw77.blogspot.com

CRI launches radio channel in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, July 2 (Xinhua) - China Radio International (CRI) held a ceremony here on Friday to celebrate the launch of a radio channel in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dissanayake Jayaratne told the ceremony that China and Sri Lanka have been enjoying traditional friendship. Jayaratne said in the era of "Global Village", the launch of the radio channel will provide a new bridge for the two peoples to understand each other.

Wang Gengnian, director general of CRI, said Sri Lanka is among the countries where the CRI has the largest number of audience and receives most letters. "With the support of our friends in Sri Lanka and China, the Colombo FM channel will play an important role in promoting the bilateral relationship and the two countries' cooperation in broadcasting," said Wang.

Formally launched on April 23, the Colombo FM 102 channel broadcasts 19 hours of news and culture programmes in Sinhala, Tamil, English and Mandarin every day. The channel covers Western Province, the island's political, economic and business centre with an area of 3,700 sq km.

Founded in 1941, CRI aims at promoting understanding and friendship between the people of China and people throughout the world. CRI's programmes include news, current affairs, and features on politics, economy, culture, science and technology.

(Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 1633 gmt 2 Jul 10 via BBC Monitoring)