Radio Ceylon, the trailblazer that was !

By Dr Upul Wiayawardhana

In spite of the likelihood that I may be accused of dwelling on the glories of our bygone days, a favourite pastime of ours, I would fail in my duty if I do not share what I discovered, by sheer accident,about an institution I was associated with in my youth. Listening to 'Radio Ceylon' on a 'valve' radio with a creaky sound, in spite of a huge aerial drawn across the two tallest coconut trees in our garden, was the main source of entertainment in our childhood. It was a time when, fortunately for us, children's programmes were at their zenith and soon Karunaratna Abeysekara, better known as 'Karuayya', became my idol.

Read the article here :

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=140599

Via Alokesh Gupta

Humanitarian Aspects of HFCC Activities

In contrast the huge technical potential of international shortwave broadcasting that operates transmitter facilities tens, or hundred times, more powerful than those of amateur radio, remains almost unused in emergencies. At the moment when local and even regional communication and information networks are needed most, they are destroyed or overloaded and the population suffers from an information blackout. Shortwave radio is capable of remaining the only source of information.

Although the life-saving role of radio broadcasting is widely recognised by the public, and confirmed by surveys conducted after the recent disasters - and even acknowledged by world leaders - no concrete projects have been ever designed and no regulatory framework has been developed.

That is why the HFCC - International Broadcasting Delivery in co-operation with the Arab States and Asia-Pacific broadcasting unions are working on an International Radio for Disaster Relief (IRDR) project that is based on the system of online co-ordination of frequencies managed by the HFCC in accordance with International Radio Regulations.

Read the full article at :

http://www.hfcc.org/humanitarian/
Via Alokesh Gupta

New Winter 2015-2016 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide

New Winter 2015-2016 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Now Available

What is shortwave radio and why should you listen to it?

Shortwave listening, or SWLing, is the hobby of listening to shortwave radio broadcasts transmitting on frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz. These transmissions can propagate thousands of miles and can reach audiences worldwide. For instance, if you live in the United States you can easily hear shortwave broadcast stations from countries like Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, North/South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and many other counties if you have a good shortwave radio receiver, and you know when and where to listen!

Quite simply shortwave radio provides the listener with a window to the world that no other communications medium can provide. The listener will be entertained with unique perspectives to events from around the world that you cannot get from most national media outlets.

Throughout the world, shortwave radio remains the most readily available and affordable means of global communication and information. You'll learn about the lives and concerns of people from all walks of life in over 300 different languages and dialects. Shortwave radio also provides nearly instantaneous coverage of news and events from around the world.

There are even transmissions from the dark side of shortwave radio from broadcasters known as clandestine or clanny stations. Clandestine broadcasters are deceptive and they usually exist to bring about political changes or actions to a particular target country. Programming is essentially propaganda, and may largely be half-truths or sometimes outright lies.

If you want to get into the action then the International Shortwave Broadcast Guide is a must purchase to let you know when and where to listen for broadcast radio stations in the shortwave broadcast spectrum.

The Winter 2015-2016 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide, by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH, is that all important information resource you need to tap into the worldwide shortwave broadcast radio spectrum.

It is a 24-hour station/frequency guide to "all" the known stations currently broadcasting on shortwave radio at time of publication. This unique shortwave resource is the "only" publication in the world that offers by-hour schedules that includes all language services, frequencies and world target areas for each broadcast station.

New In this edition, there is a feature on listening to Asia's broadcast giant – China, updated information on the state of tropical band broadcasting, and a special feature on Who's Who in the shortwave radio spectrum outside the regular broadcast bands. Frequency and station coverage has also increased in this edition to include Longwave frequency broadcasters, and international standard time and frequency stations worldwide.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Winter 2015-2016 edition) is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0196UYDTI. The price for this latest edition is US$5.99. Since this book is being released internationally, Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order this electronic book (e-Book) from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

This new e-publication edition is an expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide that was formerly printed in the pages of Monitoring Times magazine for over 20 years. This one of a kind electronic e-book is published twice a year to correspond with station seasonal time and frequency changes.

If you enjoy listening or monitoring HF shortwave stations, and you miss the monthly English frequency listings formerly published in the late Monitoring Times magazine, and multilingual station listing in the old MTXpress electronic magazine, this valuable tool will now be your new guide to listening to the world.

You can view the complete Teak Publishing book catalog online at
http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/.

Click on the Teak Publishing radio hobby e-book link at the top of the blog page. You can learn more about the author by going to her author page on Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/Gayle-Van-Horn/e/B0084MVQCM/.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide will have wide appeal to shortwave radio hobbyists, amateur radio operators, educators, foreign language students, news agencies, news buffs, and many more interested in listening to a global view of news and events as they happen.

If you are an amateur radio operator or shortwave radio enthusiasts, and want to hear what is happening outside the ham bands on that transceiver or portable shortwave radio in your radio shack, then this new e-book from Teak Publishing is a must in your radio reference library.

(Press Release)
Via Alokesh Gupta