DX Extra Shortwave News Show No.25

Hello fellow DXers, it is with great excitement to release the latest funky shortwave news programme; DX Extra number 25 to the world wide web! Enjoy!

 In this fortnight's podcast:

• Battle over the airwaves
• DRM from high altitude tests
• World Amateur radio day
• Channel Africa summer schedule
• Pirate Radio News, logs and recordings
• Audio Archive: Radio Spaceshuttle (Pirate)

LISTEN via embedded player:

DOWNLOAD  the show.

TRANSCRIPT:

You can now find our transcript via google docs.

Why change? Using google docs enables us to share more information and be more interactive with you. It also turns the transcript into a newsletter.

Image: Abel Tasman Memorial, Salamanca, Tasmania.

DX Extra Shortwave Show No.21 Released!

Hello fellow DXers, it is with great excitement to release the latest shortwave news programme DX Extra number 21 to the world wide web!
 In this fortnight's podcast: 

• Madagascar World Voice progress
• World Radio Day: February 13th
• Digital Radio Summit 2015
• Italian Group Free-Wave Contest
• Pirate Radio News, logs and recordings
• Audio Archive: Radio Singapore International (2004)

LISTEN via embedded player:

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To DOWNLOAD in 320kbps format or lower formats head to: https://archive.org/details/DxExtraNo.21
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TRANSCRIPT:

“World Christian Broadcasting (WCB) has been given permission to put their new station on air in Madagascar - a sister station to their Alaskan KNLS transmitters. The station is to be known as Madagascar World Voice (MWV). This has been in the planning stages for some years now and building commenced in 2006. But local political instability and coup have played a large role in the delay of the realisation of this project. Finally, recent elections have given WCB an opportunity to work with the Government in bringing its dream to fruition. The transmitting facility is stationed at Mahajanga, Madagascar. It is on the western side of the island, more than seven hours and over 550 km away from the long established Talata-Volonondry site on the eastern side.

As some DXers will recognise, KNLS has often been a difficult station to hear in many parts of the globe. But, we know from the past that Madagascar has proven itself to be a fabulous staging point for transmitting to Africa, the Middle East and Asia by other broadcasters. So with new transmitters and antennas, WCB expects to make significant inroads in getting its voice heard around the world.
World Christian Broadcasting’s freshly minted 100 KW transmitters were loaded on a cargo ship in the Port of Houston on January 12, 2015.  A few days later the ship sailed, bound for the Indian Ocean.  Arrival date is expected to be somewhere around March 25.  The ships will cross many, many miles of open Atlantic Ocean before they sail under the tip of Africa to head north to their destination.  The two transmitters were built at a cost of $1,000,000 each, so we are praying for smooth sailing and a safe arrival!
Once the transmitters are unloaded at our station, much work is left to be done.  They must be installed in the transmitter building that has been awaiting their arrival.  They must be connected to the diesel generators that will power them.  Technicians from Continental Electronics in Dallas must go to fine-tune their installation.  Once all that has been done, we can begin the testing process—which in itself will take more than a month.  Once everything is in order, we can begin broadcasting in late 2015 or early 2016.

The new transmitters will send out life-giving messages through these antenna wires.  Radio signals will leave each of three antennas with 16 million watts of power.

Initially we will broadcast in six languages: Arabic (covering the entire Mid-East), Spanish (for South and Central America, plus the Spanish-speaking countries of Africa), English with an African sound (for the continent of Africa), Chinese (for western China), Russian (for the populous regions of western Russia, including St. Petersburg and Moscow), and International English (for India and nearby countries where English is a second language).  

Via the Mount Evelyn DX Report blog http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/


“If memes are to be believed, then it is true when it is said, ‘Home is where the wifi is.’ Wifi signals have become almost synonymous with one’s connect to the world. But before all this came, there was only the humble radio. Be it entertainment or news, that was the world’s only medium to know what was happening elsewhere.
It is World Radio Day. A day formally announced by UNESCO in 2011, after a suggestion put forward by Spain to celebrate this important means of communication. While we fret and fume with weak wifi or 3G connectivity, in some parts of the world, radio still remains an important lifeline to the outside world.
The need to celebrate Radio day is all the more important because as a site says, “In remote farming communities in Australia, children learn their school work through radio. In poor communities in Africa, villages gather around the radio each evening to keep up to date on national news and hear music and speeches. Radio has been superseded by the internet and satellite communications for large parts of the world, but for millions of less fortunate people, radio is still a miracle of technology.”
For some, radio as an instrument might just be a nostalgic piece but even today there are people who feel radio has more potential than the internet or any other networking medium. When the floods ravaged Visakhaptnam and every network including electricity failed, it was the radio that connected and helped rescue work, points out Farhan Ashhar, convenor of Hyderabad Amateur radio. Farhan, who also restores and collects radios, has more than nostalgic moments to share. “Worldwide, radio is seeing resurgence. More and more smaller radio stations are coming up, primarily with governments making it easier to get licenses and setting up a studio and transmitter with modern technology.
In India, the government looks upon private radios as a source of revenue rather than an essential outreach initiative. The FM licenses are prohibitively expensive and the license fee is impossible to recover without resorting to aggressively commercial content.
The government is winding up its shortwave and medium wave transmissions and encouraging private commercial FM stations instead. In effect, providing the rural areas with content that is pertinent to them is being replaced with FM radios that sell filmi content with urban aspirations. The Vividh Bharati, for instance, is no longer available on medium wave.” He makes a point when he says, “For a city that boasts of multilingual image, not a single FM channel has any Hindi/Urdu programming. All of them incessantly play Telugu film content.”
Farhan explains as he shows his radios, “The second radio is a German Metz. My parents used to play it all the time when I was growing up. One of my earliest memories is that of abba listening to BBC world service on this radio. I made my first ham radio contacts with just this radio.” Of the radios that he has, one of the radio them in his possession was made by his friend Venkata Narasappa. “He made it sitting in his village many years ago and is entirely made from valves, before transistors became common in radios,” points out Farhan. Also in Farhan’s possession is a BC-348. It was produced by the American Air Force and flown on almost every war plane during the World War.
However, for many, radio brings in a lot of nostalgia. Promiti Phukan, a music teacher, says the radio was her first teacher and before she knew about the Grammy awards it was the Sunday afternoon music programme that kept her updated about the charts and latest tracks. “In Guwahati, every youngster kept track of that time in the afternoon. All India radio did a great job. One of our school teachers and my aunt used to be the announcers on radio. It was a joyous time. While I love my iPod, I still cherish those days,” she recollects.”
Via The Hindu http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/thank-you-for-the-radio/article6886601.ece

12 Feb 2015
“Yesterday’s Digital Radio Summit marked the 8th anniversary of such an event. With over a 110 participants from 25 difference countries as far as Australia and the United States, the event showed that the discussions around the future of digital radio are still top on the agenda of many organizations. 

Director of Technology & Innovation, Simon Fell, opened the event with remarks on the many exciting developments showing the promise of digital radio in today’s crowded consumer electronics marketplace. He pointed to the example of visual radio coming into its own, with the EBU currently supplying visual radio to at least 20 radio stations and websites for the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Colorado. “We need to ensure that radio has a bright future by continuing to develop and push the boundaries of what is possible,” he said.

The first keynote speaker to take to the stage was Michael Hill, Founder and Managing Director of UK Radioplayer Ltd. Setting the scene for the rest of the day, he focused on how broadcast and internet radio will offer an attractive listener experience in the future. In particular, there are 3 things that he urged participants to do in their countries to help take hybrid radio to the next level: “Launch your own shared player platform; help solve the data-jigsaw and commit to RadioDNS, if you haven’t already; and, help fight back against the companies that want to steal our place on the dashboard.” 

Digital radio is not so much about platforms anymore but rather about offering a simple and attractive listening experience to audiences. Often, the digital radio experience in cars is too complicated compared to newer applications and services. For digital radio to work and maintain its attractiveness, it must be seamless and automatically select the best way to receive services (i.e. service following). Frank Nowack, Ford’s Function Owner for Broadcast Media and Reception, noted in his keynote speech on the topic that the car industry (Ford) is dedicated to going forward with digital radio, but more coverage of European roads must be achieved to do so. He recommended that broadcasters pay attention to send correct information for service linking and information. There is no doubt that connected cars are coming but, streamed radio in cars won’t replace broadcast radio. 

The rest of the morning’s session focused on updates from various organizations, including WorldDMB, DRM, RadioDNS, TISA and IDAG, and different country perspectives. In Sweden there is now a report recommending the deployment of digital radio for public and commercial radio with a FM switchover scenario. Government will give the decision in 2015 for the rollout. Polish radio continues its DAB+ deployment, targeting cities first. In France, there was recent news that the regulator (CSA) has produced a report on radio and has the objective to launch tender targeting cities first. In Germany, ARD has restructured its DAB strategy to go forward and it is planned to define an FM switchover strategy proposal in 2015.

Other key topics of the day included digital migration, smart and hybrid radio, and radio in smartphones. Switzerland has completed the definition of its FM switchover strategy. The objective is to have FM switched off by 2024 latest. Participants also heard more about the EBU Smart Radio Initiative and the latest EBU Digital Radio Toolkit that focuses on best practice and actions for the successful deployment of digital radio. 

Paul Brenner, SVP/CTO of Emmis Communications, showcased the Nextradio Hybrid Radio App, a working example of hybrid radio smartphones from the United States.  His company found that when you give audiences something to look at (it has to be interactive), their listening time nearly doubled – an interesting piece of advice for broadcasters. 

The development of interactivity and personalisation in radio also seems inevitable. To achieve this, BBC has worked within the EBU framework to help create a Cross Platform Authentication Standard which allows user devices to pair with apps and avoids one having complicated logins on every device and for every station. This is just the start.”



Via the European Broadcasting Union https://tech.ebu.ch/home/news/main/newsList/2015/02/10/digital-radio-summit-2015-unifyi.html

“Italian Group Free Wave have organised a radiophonic contest that will be on the shortwaves in Amplitude Modulation, 1st March 2015. The Game is very simple. “TAKE THE MESSAGE".

Each free station will be on air at different times, in their own quarters, transmitting a single part of a complete message in Italian and English, that is not the same. Your challenge is to recreate the complete message!

All parts of the message start with a particular advising sound for all free stations. The single part of the message will be transmitted following this schedule:

6.870 Radio Samurai from 08.00 to 08.30 UTC
6.875 Radio Europe from 08.30 to 09.00 UTC
6.940 Radio Enterprise from 09.00 to 09.30 UTC
7.300 Radio U-Boat 66 from 10.00 to 10.30 UTC
7.300 Mistero Ghost Planet from 10.30 to 11.00 UTC
The complete message will be transmitted instead only via:
3.905 Radio Arcadia from 21.00 to 22.00 UTC

To participate in the game you only have to recreate the complete message, but you also have to write the single part you  heard from each Italian Free Station.

All short-wave listeners may participate in the game by using either their own radio/antenna or by web-SDR receiver. Please send your report to:radioalleanza@gmail.com

International Contest Rank and Special Paper Certificate 
The first through fifth report(s) emailed and received without mistakes will get a paper QSL direct to your postal address (if provided).

To compose the final ranking we will consider the time when we received your email. The ranks of Italian short-wave listeners and International short-wave listeners will be separated, and we will send a total of 10 paper certificates. The final results will be published within 10 days from 1 March  2015. We hope good conditions prevail, and we invite you to participate to the Game!”


Via South East Asia Dxing blog http://shortwavedxer.blogspot.com.au/

[Pirate Theme]

First up we have broadcast annoucements news:

“Dear friends,

GERMANY: Radio Spaceshuttle International,  Rohrbach on 6070 kHz Saturday 14th February 2015, 14-15 UTC.
SWEDEN: Radio Spaceshuttle International, Sale on 6035 kHz and 9865kHz Sunday 15th February 2015, 08-10 UTC

Wishing that conditions will be fine and good reception all over Europe is possible!
All correct reports sent (with 2 EUROS/ 3 International reply Coupon) to our address: Radio Spaceshuttle International, P.O.Box 2702, NL-ZG 6049 HERTEN, The Netherlands will be verified with our printed QSL! (+ some promotional material!)
COMPETITION: After six month period(January-June) special big surprises 1,2 and 3 (valuable Spaceshuttle stuff) will be sent to three listeners sent THE MAXIMUM NUMBER of correct reports [-max one report/transmission counted].

Best regards,
Dick Spacewalker” via shortwavedx Blog http://shortwavedx.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/radio-spaceshuttle-14-15th-february.html



It's time to have a look at the latest pirates logs:
Here are the Europirate logs for the middle of January


Monday 9th February
3905 2100 Maverick Radio. Oldies. Weak signal. SINPO 24332.


Tuesday 10th February
4026 2130 Laser Hot Hits. Dance music. SINPO 54444. (via Twente SDR)

Friday 13th February 2015
4026 2320 Laser Hot Hits. Recordings of offshore station Radio Scotland. SINPO 54444.(via Twente SDR)
6295-20.00 Unid Playing Dutch Music. Fair To Good Signal Sinpo 43433

6747-20.10 Radio Pioneer Playing Dance, Pop And Country Music Including Fergal Shakey And Johnny Cash. Fair Signal, With Some Fading Sinpo 43323

6950-20.50 Radio Enterprise With Music From The Housemartins, The Tornadoes And Robin Beck. Also Id Jingles. Fair Signal Sinpo 43333

6930-23.40 TRX Radio Playing Rock N' Roll Music Including Elvis Presley, Fats Domino And Buddy Holly. Good Signal Sinpo 44344

6295-23.50 Hit Mix Radio Playing Dutch Music. Fair Signal Sinpo 43333
Saturday February 14th
6380-9.21 Little Feet Radio Playing Pop And Soul Music Including Roy Orbison And Hottie & The Blowfish. Good Signal Sinpo 44344

European logs via Pauls Irish Radio blog and shortwave DX blog.

[Audio: ] if time permits to fill.


Heading over to North America:
6770 02h21UTC Feb 13th Old Time Radio “02:52 Big band music followed by George and Gracie.  Should be Old Time Radio, but no ID yet.”By member Tom Haus
6925USB 12th February 01h06UTC XLR8 “SINPO: 33222
0106 - Just signed on with punk ? music” By member ByteBorg
6950USB 00h44UTC February 11th XLR8 “Music now at S4 here at 0044 UTC Playing an alt rock tune...something about "Freedom"” by member shipmuck
6919 00h50UTC February10th Boombox Radio “Just signed on, S8 signal.” “Song called "Girls" [According to Shazam] @ 0058.
Boombox ID @ 0102.
Up to S7 @ 0130 with a Tove Lo song.
Back to S6, but stronger audio @ 0203.” By member Chris Smilonski


North American Logs via the HF underground forum. (We also thank other members contributions to the pirate logs that may have not got a mention.)

Play some music - Donkeyboy


DX Extra is being relayed via World FM 88.2FM in Tawa, near Wellington in New Zealand, Worldfm dot co dot nz and on shortwave via relay partners on Focus International, Magic 6205 Europe, Pandora Radio, Premier Radio and Cupid Radio. A big thank you to all our relay partners. Your generosity means a lot! We also were very excited to be on WBCQ Alan Weiner Worldwide with the Pirate Station special. We hope we can get back on there soon.


[promo]


Before we go it's time to get an audio clip out of the archives. This is a shortwave recording of Radio Singapore International 6150 23h00UTC

Until next time remember shortwave radio is still full of mysteries – keep tuning and keep reporting. Take care and stay safe

Image: Tulip Festival, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, The Domain, Tasmania.

DX Extra Shortwave News No.19 Released!

Hello fellow DXers, it is with great excitement to release the latest shortwave news programme DX Extra number 19 to the world wide web! Another jam packed show!
 In this fortnight's podcast: 

• Number stations and their intelligence role
• BBC ads three Afghan shows
• DW frequency update
• Radio Netherlands special shortwave show
• Radio Australia cuts transmissions
• Pirate Radio Logs and recordings (Audio: WFRL)
• Audio Archive: Radio Berlin International (1990)
• Hobart Radio International Mailbag

LISTEN via embedded player:


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To DOWNLOAD in 320kbps format or lower formats head to: https://archive.org/details/DxExtra19
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We had great reception into Europe on Friday the 16th January 2015 and are still getting reports, below is a recording of 20 minutes of the shortwave broadcast:

LISTEN via Shortwave Radio:

DX Extra No.19 via Premier Radio 6910kHz 16/01/15 21h20-21h047 heard & recorded by Gino Italy. SINPO 45433

Image: Gino's Delta Loop antenna in the backyard.

TRANSCRIPT:

“Many nights, Spooks turn on their shortwave radios and drift through the frequencies. On any given night, one can hear amateur radio stations broadcasting church sermons, utility traffic for aircrafts – with the right equipment, you can hear/contact the International Space Station. Yet one of the most eerie, mysterious uses of shortwave is that of the numbers stations: stations that feature ominous – sometimes robotic – voices saying seemingly random number patterns.

Shortwave radio boomed in the 1920s: For decades, it was the only way to receive transmissions from far way. Numbers stations, as they are called now, have been around since World War I, though many of the most famous transmissions took place during the Cold War. These mysterious stations are all, to date, unlicensed. Some feature automated voices, others have what sound like children’s voices, another with a sultry woman announcing numbers. One station – a Moscow-based broadcast during a Communist party coup – featured only the number five repeated for hours.

Numbers stations and use of shortwave have declined after the Cold War, but there are still transmissions heard every day – the shortwave decline has not been as pronounced as one would expect. Part of the reason for this is that it is a secure means of one-way communication. Since the airwaves are being released out into the ether – the intended recipient is completely untrackable. Presumably, spies would carry a one-time pad, which would have the encryption code to be used (ideally) for just one broadcast (hence one-time). This makes decryption from pedestrians and enemies nearly impossible unless that one-time pad is misused or corrupted.

Almost all of the information we have on these numbers stations is due to hobbyists listening, sourcing, and sometimes attempting to decode the stations with their own radios. The communities of hobbyists are vast – and their logging can be prolific. There is the Spooks Spy Numbers Station Mailing List, the Conet Project (which compiles recordings of shortwave), the Spy Numbers Station Database, and many others. They keep track of the frequency, the time, the numbers, and sometimes record audio each time spooks hear a Numbers broadcast. These shortwave enthusiasts sometimes spend hours trying to locate the source of these broadcasts – sometimes, to no avail.

Akin Fernandez, who started the Conet Project ,recalls his initial interest in these mystery stations. "Once you hear them, it has an effect on you," he says in an interview with BBC. "I never expected to be talking about it 17 years after hearing it for the first time – when the Conet Project first started."”

Via the high brown magazine
http://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4263-numbers-stations-shortwave-radio-and-their-role-intelligence-community



[Audio: DX Extra Promo No.4]


“The BBC World Service says it has expanded its service to Afghanistan through three new live programs.

The new BBC Afghan daily broadcasts are one-hour audience-participation programs, Word of the Day in the morning and News and Views in the evening; and Global Newsbeat bulletins in Dari and Pashto.
News and Views has now become part of the evening schedule following a successful trial run. This daily program is split into two half-hour Dari and Pashto sections.
Matin Samsoor, Gulistan Shinwari, Jawad Samimi and Sharif Walid anchor the morning live interactive show, Word of the Day (which started in December) and examines how stories are being covered by the Afghan papers.
The Pashto and Dari editions of BBC World Service’s Global Newsbeat bulletins launched in late December and target younger listeners. It is presented live from Kabul and broadcast alternately every half hour, between 10 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. local time.
BBC World Service broadcasts to Afghanistan on shortwave and FM, in Pashto, Dari, Uzbek and English.”

Via radio world dot com
http://www.radioworld.com/article/bbc-afghan-adds-three-shows/274040


“At the end  of December, some Deutsche Welle frequencies that were originally part of the October schedule plan, were terminated, or replaced. This confirms that services for English, Hausa and Amharic were not eliminated - but instead the frequencies were updated.

Germany, Deutsche Welle  (winter schedule relay revisions)

Effective: 20 Dec. 2014

All times UTC

English
0400-0500  9600af (Rwanda)  9800af (Rwanda)  15275af (UAE)
0500-0557  9600af (Rwanda)
0500-0600  9800af (Rwanda)  15275af (Madagascar)
0700-0730  17800af (Armenia)
0700-0800  9800af (Rwanda)  15275af (Rwanda)
0730-0800  17800af (Rwanda)

French
1700-1759  15275af (France)
1700-1800  9800af (Rwanda)  12005af (Rwanda) 17800af (Rwanda)”
Via shortwave central blog http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/deutsche-welle-winter-schedule-update.html



“Peter De Groot writes:
A series of special Radio Netherlands broadcasts will begin on January 17th and 18th, 2015.  Presenters will be John van den Steen, Jerry Cowan and Tim Thomasson. See frequencies and times below:

• 0100 to 0200 UTC on 7,570 kHz
  
• 0100 to 0200 UTC on 11,790 and perhaps 13700
  

Peter sent no more information than this, so I’m not sure where the transmissions will originate. Since RNW is no longer on the air, I’m certain these broadcasts aren’t coming from Hilversum.
Hopefully, someone will attempt to record these broadcasts in case I’m not in the broadcast footprint. Would like to add this to the SW Radio Audio Archive.” via the shortwave listening blog http://swling.com/blog/2015/01/special-radio-netherlands-broadcasts-starting-january-17-and-18-2015/



“AUSTRALIA. The ABC has announced major cuts to Radio Australia shortwave transmissions.
From 14 January all overseas relays (via Dhabaya, Kranji and Palau) will end.
From 31 January the Brandon shortwave site will close.
From Jan14 all shortwave transmissions to Asia will cease.”
From 31 January output from Shepparton will be reduced from six full time transmitters to only three transmitters, all operating 24 hours per day with the following schedule:
0900-2100 on 6080 6150 9580
2100-0900 on 15240 15415 17840
(Radio Australia via WRTH via Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
There had been fears that the ABC might abandon shortwave completely so although output is significantly reduced, RA will retain a welcome presence on SW for the time being and hopefully some of the above frequencies will be audible in Europe. Programming includes relays of ABC National and TripleJ (Dave Kenny, ed., Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)” via the DX Listening digest

[Pirate Theme]


Yes it's time to have a look at the latest pirates logs:

Here are the Europirate logs for the middle of January


Tuesday 13th Januray 2015
6210 16h48 Radio Experience Playing Dance Music. Fair Signal With Some Fading
4026-22,15 Laser Hot Hits Paul Stewart With Music From Oddesy And Shakatak. Good Signal


Sunday 11th January 2015
6940 10h30 Premier Radio Music From Suzie Q, Blur And Oasis. Good Signal
6205-7.50 Radio King Shortwave Rock Music Including Poison And Roxy Music. Fair Signal
6875 8h55 Radio Europe Music And Talking In Italian. Weak Signal
6255-9.35 Radio Merlin International With Music  New Order, Ultravox And Depeche Mode. Fair Signal

Via Irish Paul's Radio Blog http://irishpaulsradioblog.blogspot.com.au/



We also have an interesting studio recording of a Europirate I've never heard before but you may have catched on shortwave on 6300 and 7385 January 12th, WFRL from the United Kingdom.
[Audio: WFRL]
Recording from Achims free radio blog http://www.achimbrueckner.de/freeradio/php/wordpress/?p=37985

Heading over to North America:
6940USB 1h5UTC Radio Hummingbird 80s rap with electric guitar. Great reception.
Jive music. 0150utc, "Humbear? Radio testing" 0155 Hummingbird Radio ID
In AM mode its very crunchy or messed up by propagation. In usb its nice and understandable.

Its 0251utc, haven't heard Hummingbird in a while. It was on and off. By member Antennae

There's also been some unusual NAVTEX data messages broadcast into North America, one on 6950 2h05UTC 11th January 2015 “This NAVTEX message came across the wire shortly after Wolverine signed off tonight
VVV   VVV   FANSOME HAD YOUR DARK SUIT IN GREASY WASH WATER ALL YEAR.
DONT ASK ME TO CARRY AN OILY RAG LIKE THAT.
THEY USED  PIGMEAT TO FLAG THOUGHTLESS MOTORISTS.” Via member Kilokat7

Another on 6928USB 2h47UTC 12th January 2015. I'm assuming it is Wolverine Radio ending their broadcast with some extra goodies.
3440 00h57UTC WHYP 12th January 2015 “Signing on now with "Whip It".  S6-S7 in NY. Really cool to hear these shows from the archives once again. Via member curious george


Logs via the HF underground forum. (We also hank other members contributions to the pirate logs that may have not got a mention.)

DX Extra is being relayed via World FM 88.2FM in Tawa, near Wellington in New Zealand, Worldfm dot co dot nz and on shortwave via relay partners as well so look out for us on Focus International, Magic 6205 Europe, Premier Radio and Cupid Radio. A big thank you to all our relay partners. Your generosity means a lot! Also an extra thanks to Pandora Radio who relayed the last DX Extra show, thanks for the out of the blue relay! 

Before we go it's time to get an audio clip out of the archives. This is a shortwave recording of the last episode of DX-tra from Radio Berlin International October 2nd 1990 at 00h45UTC on 9730khz. “RBI ceased broadcasting at the end of the day on 2 October 1990, the day before German reunification took place.” Via shortwave listening blog:
http://swling.com/blog/2015/01/shortwave-radio-recordings-radio-berlin-international-final-episode-of-dx-tra/


[Audio: Radio Berlin International.mp3]

Until next time remember shortwave radio is still full of mysteries – keep tuning and keep reporting. Take care and stay safe

----

Ok so that's the end of the DX Extra, on Hobart Radio International it's time to look in the mailbag and read out some reports from you – “Hello HRI,  here is a quick email  to let you know I was just listening to your DX show being relayed by Cupid Radio in the Netherlands. The Australian accent got my attention !! DX Programme talking about Pirate review of the Year for 2014 and details of when stations were on on air. Show ended with details of QSL and the email address for reports.” From Iain Cameron in Scotland. Thank you.
“Dear Hobart Radio International

I listened your DX Extra No.18 via Cupid Radio.
I used Software Defined Radio at University of Twente in the Netherlands.
I heard your program on January 3, 2015 from 15:32 to 16:02 UTC on a frequency of 6240 kHz with good reception status.
Its signal were strong and there was no interference.
It was regrettable that its sound quality was not good.
Of course, I listened to you again on your website.” From Masahiro Hihara, Japan.
And we are aware of the audio quality which is a fault with the current microphone. I have an eye on a new one this weekend and also have try compressing the show lighter to try and help. Thank you for your report.


We just have time for one more, “thanks from  Gino Italy nice info on Radio Cochiguaz many thanks,     i send  mp3  audio file. .
I used  RX  Teletron TE 712S   and antenna  magnetic loop
I hope in you QSL   e-mail   and many thanks for Info SW
73s  Ciao Happy New Year 2015” From Davide Borroni in Italy.

Of course we would love to hear from you, come on send us as eQSL reception report to hriradio at gmail dot com and tell us what you think of the DX Extra show.

I don't think I've mentioned the website much today, all our shows are archived on the website, www.hriradio.org which includes transcripts photos and a whole heap more and soon to be released is an exciting Pirate Station Special which fingers crossed will be ready next fortnight when the DX Extra number 20 is released. Make sure you join us on facebook, we're up to nearly 150 likes, at facebook dot com forwardflash dx extra

Hobart Radio International is now closing on this frequency, thank you for listening and we hope you will hear us again soon on shortwave.

Image: Hobart's well-known Tasman Bridge. Remembering the 40th anniversary of the 1975-2015 bridge collapse.

DX Extra shortwave show No.17 Released!

Hello fellow DXers, it is with great excitement to release the latest shortwave news programme DX Extra number 17 to the world wide web! It's the Christmas edition! 
 In this fortnight's podcast:  Radio Dabanga: (Govt) launches 10 shortwave stations (to combat Radio Dabanga) Santa on 3916  Radio Exterior Espangna returns Radio Australia - hostage crisis 
Radio Havana Cuba on diplomacy changes
Pirate Radio Logs and recordings
Audio Archive: Radio Vaticana 
(BBC World Service at end)

LISTEN via embedded player:

By the way, it's a week before Christmas day!


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To DOWNLOAD in 320kbps format or lower formats head to: https://archive.org/details/DxExtra17
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TRANSCRIPT:

"Coming January, Sudan will launch ten shortwave radio stations in Darfur, and ten in South Kordofan The new radio stations will present programmes in local dialects, to counter the broadcasts by Radio Dabanga, in an attempt to reduce its impact on the populations of those regions, especially in Darfur, Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman told Members of the national Parliament on Tuesday.
As for South Kordofan, the radio stations will aim to reach the Nuba people living in the rebel-controlled areas, the minister noted.
Sudanese MPs have criticised the performance of the official media before. They described it as “weak, and failing in the delivery of information”. On Tuesday, 25 November, the daily broadcasts by Radio Dabanga from the Netherlands were discussed in the parliament. Some MPs stressed the need “to disrupt the activity of Radio Dabanga, or completely stop it”, and demanded from the Information Minister of State to develop a plan to at least reduce its impact.
Radio Dabanga broadcasts in shortwave to the whole of Sudan and neighbouring countries. Satellite broadcasts are confined to the larger cities." 
Reference: http://swling.com/blog/2014/12/radio-dabanga-sudan-to-launch-20-radio-stations/

UPDATE: 19/12/14 Radio Dabanga is being combated by the 10 proposed shortwave stations and 10 FM stations. While the report says "10 shortwave stations" it is possible they will all be on FM. 

“For the 9th consecutive year, the 3.916 Nets will be giving good boys and girls a chance to talk to Santa Claus via the magic of ham radio.   The '3916 Santa Nets' will be held at 7:30 PM every night from November 28 through December 24th.    The Santa Nets are open to all licensed amateur radio operators who wish to invite kids to their shack to talk to Santa.  Third party rules will apply.

For 2014, The 3916 Santa Net will be on the air nightly during the Christmas season.  The net time is changing from 8:30 PM Central to 7:30 PM Central.   Pete Thomson (KE5GGY), commented on The 3916 Santa Nets.  He said, "Christmas is our favorite time of year on The 3916 Nets.  Each year on the Santa Nets we are blown away by the response.  It's incredible to hear the excitement in kids' voices as they talk to Santa Claus on Ham Radio.   Based on comments from last year, we're going to have the Santa Net every night during the Christmas season and we're moving the net back an hour so kids won't have to stay up too late."

Thomson added that The Santa Nets are a great way to let kids experience both the magic of Christmas and amateur radio.  He said, "We encourage hams to get their kids, grand kids and even neighbor kids into their shacks to participate in the Santa Net.  The kids love talking to Santa and we get an opportunity to show a young person how amateur radio works."

Each evening, The 3916 Santa Net will start at 7:30 PM (Central) on 3.916 MHz.  Pre-net check-ins will be taken on the air starting at 7:15 PM.   You can also do a pre-net check in by emailing ke5ggy@gmail.com.

For more information on The 3916 Nets or The Santa Net, contact Pete Thomson, KE5GGY at ke5ggy@gmail.com.” via Voice of Ham Radio Blog


[Audio: DX Extra Promo No.4]

At ISWBG deadline, we received information that Spain's Radio Exterior Espana was planning to resume broadcasting on shortwave. Severe budget cuts had forced the station to terminate all broadcast on shortwave at the close of their summer schedule season in October.
  After extensive deliberations, the RTVE Board of Directors approved to resume broadcasting transmissions from Noblejas, Spain. Plans are to mainly beam broadcast to four main target areas, four hours a day and eight hours on weekends.
  At this time the following schedule, which has been revised from the previous listing in Late Breaking News is noted as "tentative,"
A start date has not been released at this post. The definitive schedule will be released shortly.



The following revised schedule, has been registered for the winter broadcast
All times UTC


1600-2400 on 9620 NOB 200 kW / 290 deg to NoAm Spanish Sat/Sun
1600-2400 on 11685 NOB 200 kW / 161 deg to WCAf Spanish Sat/Sun
1600-2400 on 11940 NOB 200 kW / 230 deg to SoAm Spanish Sat/Sun
1600-2400 on 12030 NOB 200 kW / 110 deg to NEAf Spanish Sat/Sun


1600-2200 on 17715 NOB 200 kW / 230 deg to SoAm Spanish Daily
1600-2400 on 17755 NOB 200 kW / 161 deg to WCAf Spanish Daily
1800-2400 on 17850 NOB 100 kW / 272 deg to CeAm Spanish Daily
1800-2400 on 21610 NOB 200 kW / 110 deg to N/ME Spanish Daily
1900-2300 on 15110 NOB 200 kW / 302 deg to NoAm Spanish Daily


2000-2400 on 9620 NOB 200 kW / 290 deg to NoAm Spanish Mon-Fri
2000-2400 on 11685 NOB 200 kW / 161 deg to WCAf Spanish Mon-Fri
2000-2400 on 11940 NOB 200 kW / 230 deg to SoAm Spanish Mon-Fri
2000-2400 on 12030 NOB 200 kW / 110 deg to NEAf Spanish Mon-Fri
2000-2400 on 15385 NOB 200 kW / 161 deg to WCAf Spanish Mon-Fri
via Shortwave central blog [Audio: REE] in downloads folder



Audio via the Bulgarian DX Blog


Australia was changed when news surfaced of a hostage crisis that took place at the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place, Sydney on Monday the 15th of December. Terrorism has come to our shores. Shortwave has been highlighted as Radio Australia switched to a live feed from 702 ABC Sydney with rolling coverage that the short wave community would have benefited from if living outside Australia. It just goes to show even the ABC still thinks shortwave is important. A few years ago Radio Australia played an important role with a relay of ABC Queensland radio due to terrible floods in December 2010. 200,000 people were affected and a damage bill of 2.38million dollars. Many affected could not get vital information as power was cut, car radios out of reach as their cars were flooded and as we know smartphone's battery life is pretty average. As three quarters of the state was severely flooded only those who had an emergency radio could hear vital information.

[Audio: Radio Australia – hostage crisis]

The sad news for Radio Australia is news that has surfaced that in 2015 only the Shepparton transmitter will remain 24/7 a day and all other transmitters will close. I will be looking out for more clarity on this change in the weeks ahead.


“WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday ordered the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba and the opening of an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century as he vowed to “cut loose the shackles of the past” and sweep aside one of the last vestiges of the Cold War.
The surprise announcement came at the end of 18 months of secret talks that produced a prisoner swap negotiated with the help of Pope Francis and concluded by a telephone call between Mr. Obama and President Raúl Castro. The historic deal broke an enduring stalemate between two countries divided by just 90 miles of water but oceans of mistrust and hostility dating from the days of Theodore Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill and the nuclear brinkmanship of the Cuban missile crisis.” via the New York Times
As this new news surfaced on Radio Havana Cuba many shortwave listeners wonder what the Cuban take on the diplomatic changes are. After all they can't talk about the Cuban five any more now the three imprisoned were released! Let's listen to news recorded today by Eric Bueneman from Missouri, USA.

[Audio: RHC 6000kHz...] 



[Pirate Theme]


The pirate world has been busy, last weekend produced more logs than normal and if this weekend on the eve of Christmas is anything to go by, expect it to be pretty full!

Here are American and Europirate logs for the last week of December:

6845 Happy Hanukkah Radio 17th December 1h22UTC “Hearing interval signal 0121, into classical violin music, different show or different station?  S-5 here
Adam Sandler's Hanukkah song 0127... faded out buy 0132 or so.” First reported by Chris Smolinski Was also broadcasting earlier before 1hr UTC.

6770 Old Time Radio 23h22UTC December 16th with a good s9 signal into USA. First reported by Chris Smolinski

[Audio: Old Time Radio] Thanks to William Callesen for the clip!
6323 Radio Underground 14th December 2014 17h15UTC playing Baba O'Reily by The Who. First reported by atrainradio


6880 Bangalore Poacher December 14th 2014 at 3h43UTC “with the usual zany mixture of nonsensical numbers and utterings by man and woman announcer, Lincolnshire Poacher IS, then some beeps, IS and OFF abruptly at 0353 UTC. Signal was about an S5, mostly above the noise with some fading. Nice to hear this one again...it's been awhile!” (reference?)


I couldn't wait half the show to air you this clip, it is a recording of the Bangalore Poacher – get ready for some insane radio!


[Audio: Bangalore Poacher]

I received an email announcing some stations on air this weekend to keep an eye out for:

“Relays this weekend

Radio City will be on the air this weekend:
Friday December 19th at 19.00 to 20.00 UTC on 7290 and 1368 kHz,
and repeated on Saturday December 20th at 09.00 to 10.00 UTC on 9510 kHz
Our address remains citymorecars@yahoo.ca

We will also be on the air Saturday December 27th at 13.00 - 14.00 UTC via Hamburger Lokalradio on 7265 kHz
There is also a separate weekly programme via Radio Merkurs, Latvia every Saturday at 20.00 - 21.00 UTC on 1485 kHz.

European Music Radio Relay on 21st of December 2014:
08.00 to 09.00 UTC  (Gohren) on 7265 KHz  Tom & Mike Taylor
09.00 to 10.00 UTC  (Gohren) on 9485 KHz  Tom & Mike Taylor
Please send all E.M.R. reports to:  studio@emr.org.uk  Thank you!

If you live outside the listening area please try the Twente/Netherlands Web Receiver at http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

Every Saturday and Wednesday the programs of HLR:
07.00 to 09.00 UTC, on 7265 KHz
09.00 to 12.00 UTC, on 6190 KHz
12.00 to 16.00 UTC, on 7265 KHz
Every Sunday:
12.00 to 16.00 UTC on 9485 kHz
E-mail: redaktion@hamburger-lokalradio.de  Thank you! “ via Tom Taylor Hard core DX digest

All logs via the HF underground forum. (We also hank other members contributions to the pirate logs that may have not got a mention.)

And if this news was not enough, we recommend The World of Radio by Glen Hauser, the website www dot world of radio dot com



DX Extra is being relayed via World FM 88.2FM in Tawa, near Wellington in New Zealand, Worldfm dot co dot nz and on shortwave last week on WBCQ USA on 5110 and 7490 during the Area 51 timeslot. We have new relays as well so look out for us on Focus International around 6285 the first week of the month, Magic 6205 Europe also on 15700 over weekends and Cupid Radio around 6305 or 15070 airing on the weekends as well. A big thank you to all our relay partners. Your generosity means a lot!

You may also hear our Christmas special on shortwave, it's to be aired on our relay partners and you can hear it in it's entirety n on the website at Hriradio.org


[promo]

Before we go it's time to get an audio clip out of the archives. This is a bit of festive music for Christmas from Radio Vaticana's Portugese transmission.


[Audio: Radio Vaticana.wav]

Until next time remember shortwave radio is still full of mysteries – keep tuning and keep reporting. We wish you a Merry Christmas a safe and prospertive New year.

[Audio: BBC World Service]

Image: Christmas light from a Hobart home in Warrane.

2014 Christmas Special

It's out and ready for anyone to listen to - the 2014 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL.

In this year's show we play music by John Lennon and Cascada, we travel back to Australia in 1958 via Doctor Who's spare TARDIS and see what Christmas means then. On our journey home we get a comical cultural dose of a hot summers Christmas in Australia - it's no winter wonderland downunder! And as we do every year we finish it off with Jiminy Cricket's Twas the night before Christmas.

LISTEN:

DOWNLOAD (also in lower kbps formats)

Image: One of Tasmania's most popular Christmas lights in a Hobart outer-suburb.

Reception reports:

We have had a great number of QSL reports received of Europeans hearing us via relay parter Cupid Radio on 6265kHz 10h50-11h20UTC on December 25th 2014.
Here is a YouTube clip of us.
Below is audio of the show via Cupid Radio on 6265kHz (courtesy of Achim)