Shortwave America is ending 2010 with more than nine thousand readers! Thank you all for making this a successful site! The Shortwave America Reader Survey is wrapping up on January 4th 2011 at 12AM Central Time (U.S.) and the numbers will be released within the week after it wraps up and will be used to bring many of the enhancements reflected by the voices of Shortwave America readers who participated in the survey.
Thanks so much to those of you who have participated! For those who haven't done so yet, please take a few moments of your time to tell Shortwave America what's on your mind for a better experience!
Over this year, several supporters have been instrumental to propelling this publication forward alongside the loyal readers, and they are deserving of honorable mention as a humble show of gratitude! Without further waiting, Shortwave America would like to thank the following:
Tom - AB9NZ, John - W9HNA, Shabnam Assadollahi at CHIN Radio Canada, Homayoun Mobasseri at NEDA For A Free Iran, PCJ Media and PCJ Radio / Keith Perron, Al - K9ZQO, Enigma 2000, The Spooks List, Mr. Fahey, Lisnews, Hap Holly and The Rain Report, RadioReference / Lindsay Blanton, The Southgate Amateur Radio Club, Glenn Hauser, The many readers of The Radiotelegrapher, Mitch - WV9MJS, Suzanne Alicie at Your Weekly Writer, HF Underground, Chris Smolinski, Members of the Shortwave America Fan Club, Pat Tice and the HandiHam Organization, Bill Pasternak - WA6ITF of Amateur Radio Newsline, Pirate Radio Weekly, all of the various feed providers who have syndicated Shortwave America, Mr. Arey, Pam Mark Hall, retired members of the United States and friendly allied National Intelligence / National Security communities, and the list goes on! Those who are not named here should know that they are not at all forgotten for their support, help, or contributions!
Here's to another fun year of reporting on everything radio from station loggings to shortwave broadcast items, amateur radio, HF SSB Monitoring, radio related ramblings / sarcasm / silliness / observations, interviews, items of interest, etc!
In closing, Shortwave America urges everyone to celebrate the New Year safely & wisely!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
A New Year's Gift!
Shortwave America readers now have two new features as part of the 2011 enhancements to this site!
Look at the top of the page, and you'll notice two new pages have been added. These are Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) and a Shortwave America listening Gallery. When you click on the link for RNW, the player will start automatically. You can use the Listening Gallery simply by clicking on the link and then choosing which station you want to listen to.
The list includes: Radio Australia, BBC, China Radio International, Deutsche Welle, Radio Sweden, and Talk Radio Europe. This list is going to grow and will not remain terribly limited.
Enjoy these two new features as often as you wish!
Look at the top of the page, and you'll notice two new pages have been added. These are Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) and a Shortwave America listening Gallery. When you click on the link for RNW, the player will start automatically. You can use the Listening Gallery simply by clicking on the link and then choosing which station you want to listen to.
The list includes: Radio Australia, BBC, China Radio International, Deutsche Welle, Radio Sweden, and Talk Radio Europe. This list is going to grow and will not remain terribly limited.
Enjoy these two new features as often as you wish!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Media Network Plus - 3rd Edition Airs Radio Bloopers
Paulette MacQuarry and Keith Perron of Media Network Plus have created a masterpiece with their newest edition of their show. You'll have to forward to about a little past the middle of the show to get to the radio bloopers and get ready to laugh with intensity!
Thanks for the laughs Paulette and Keith! Listen HERE
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thirty Names Roberto: Does He Have Thirty Personalities Too?
Roberto Irizarry is a name that has become synonymous with the modern day internet troll, AND also a common example of what a person with an inflated self - image, a manic personality, and a possible internet addiction would look like. Roberto owns a small business in which he supplies emergency responder gear to those in the Public Safety profession.
For whatever reason, Roberto has had an obsession with RadioReference owner, Lindsay C. Blanton III, and an excessive need for attention just this side of abnormal. Recently, on December 08th 2010, Roberto started a thread at RadioReference in which the site itself and Lindsay C. Blanton III was blamed for the trend in Public Safety agencies across the country using encryption on their radio communications systems.
As anyone familiar with internet radio forums knows, any message board serving the radio communications community has a mix of personalities and TROLLS! We all know that forums sections allowing political talk, rants, and general topic discussion will eventually see threads that are just troll bait with the only aim and purpose of getting the forum natives all excited, and annoying the hell out of forum administrators.
Roberto runs a business called "Mutual Aid Supplies", and apparently, according to a quote from RadioReference user K3HY, Roberto treats his customers to unprofessional behavior.
Here is a direct quote from Lindsay Blanton about Roberto's obsessive and unprofessional behavior:
"The community should know who com-21 is.
He is Roberto Irizarry, the Owner/Operator of an outfit called Mutual Aid Supplies
http://www.mutualaidsupplies.com/
He runs a bustling business through his site and ebay selling gear to public safety agencies, and I'm sure he's doing quite well.
However, as you see he has some pretty serious issues with the way that approaches many online communities in the public safety realm.
In our instance, he's registered quite a few usernames for the sole purpose of trolling our boards. They include
Com-4 (original username)
Com-1
easy123
and of course com-21. There might be more... We're not sure why he participates in this behavior, but it is pretty clear that there is some vendetta against RadioReference since his com-21 registration was for the sole purpose to start this thread.
A rant is a rant, but to join RR just to rant about RR is kind of strange to say the least." __________________
Lindsay C. Blanton III
President - RadioReference.com LLC
Facebook: RadioReference | Twitter: @RadioReference
Roberto has sent some pretty nasty letters to the Reference over the years.
According to Reference user "iamhere300", "Izzy" as he has become known in the thread, has even become a PITA over at firehouse.com with a rather spectacular rant about "P25 and Narrowbanding". Here is the complete quote from "iamhere300" directly from the thread:
"Izzy was on Firehouse.com - arguing about narrowbanding, and P25. He thought they were the same - to go narrowband you had to be P25.
Then he started arguing with one of the premier communications attornies in the US, Alan Tilles, about narrowbanding.
Then he said he ate lunch with the upper level brass of Orlando Fire Department, and sat in on the non-public interviews. A current member of the department then sent this,
QUOTE
Where do you get this ? First you post the cold hard facts About Orlando, none of which are true. Second you have sat in on OFD interviews ? I'm calling BS ! OFD interviews are not a public forum. Who have you had dinner with and shared the innerworkings of OFD with ?
Those of you who took the challenge of taking OFD's written / practical and passed congratulations. Hopefully you will be one of the firefighters hired to fill positions in the three new stations we have broke ground on recently.
Those who thought that MutualAidSupply knew anything about OFD and were misled by his "facts" sorry for believing the BS rantings of liar.
I work for OFD and have for the past 8 years. I came to OFD from a small department in south FL and have loved working here. The tradition and brotherhood here are second to none.
If you have any questions about OFD get the truth.
Stay safe
Rob
END QUOTE
Izzy is famous for being ... An idiot!"
On page four of this now famous thread, Roberto actually made a statement that cell phones could be monitored and Lindsay had this to say in return:
"Roberto,
First, there isn't a single service monitor available that can actually *monitor* a live GSM/CDMA cell phone call. GSM and CDMA service monitors are designed to test and emulate handsets and base station equipment - they cannot intercept live calls between subscriber units and base stations. Get your facts straight.
Second, you can spout all day about your credentials in the healthcare/public safety field, but the reality is you own a small business that supplies equipment to a limited number of public safety agencies. The public safety community has seen these types of inflated claims from you before:
From a quote from you on Firehouse.com:
Suggestions for getting hired with Orlando? - Page 2 - Firehouse Forums - Firefighting Discussion
.
End quoted section of response. Anyone interested can go here to see the complete context of this portion of the discussion.
Roberto's delusional rants don't hold water when examined against the following:
Letters From Public Safety Agencies
Restricted Info - RadioReference Wiki
RadioReference Blog: Explaining the Data Removal Policy Change on RadioReference.com
As anyone can see, Lindsay did the right thing when he handled business in the way he did. Anyone else with a head on their shoulders would have done the same thing.
A final quote at the end of this thread from Lindsay Blanton and the final action:
"This thread certainly delivered. We had the protagonist, a few antagonists, some sideline dwellers that criticized both parties, the level-headed "come on folks" and the end of thread racist remarks. Two thumbs up for an epic rant!"
com-21 is now "Completely Banned For The Greater Good" and it is being reasonably assumed that all of his usernames have also been banned. Excellent job Lindsay!
Lindsay Blanton was invited by Shortwave America to be interviewed about this whole experience with Roberto, but comment was not returned most likely because of the timing of this publication's request with the 2010 Christmas holiday.
For whatever reason, Roberto has had an obsession with RadioReference owner, Lindsay C. Blanton III, and an excessive need for attention just this side of abnormal. Recently, on December 08th 2010, Roberto started a thread at RadioReference in which the site itself and Lindsay C. Blanton III was blamed for the trend in Public Safety agencies across the country using encryption on their radio communications systems.
As anyone familiar with internet radio forums knows, any message board serving the radio communications community has a mix of personalities and TROLLS! We all know that forums sections allowing political talk, rants, and general topic discussion will eventually see threads that are just troll bait with the only aim and purpose of getting the forum natives all excited, and annoying the hell out of forum administrators.
Roberto runs a business called "Mutual Aid Supplies", and apparently, according to a quote from RadioReference user K3HY, Roberto treats his customers to unprofessional behavior.
Here is a direct quote from Lindsay Blanton about Roberto's obsessive and unprofessional behavior:
"The community should know who com-21 is.
He is Roberto Irizarry, the Owner/Operator of an outfit called Mutual Aid Supplies
http://www.mutualaidsupplies.com/
He runs a bustling business through his site and ebay selling gear to public safety agencies, and I'm sure he's doing quite well.
However, as you see he has some pretty serious issues with the way that approaches many online communities in the public safety realm.
In our instance, he's registered quite a few usernames for the sole purpose of trolling our boards. They include
Com-4 (original username)
Com-1
easy123
and of course com-21. There might be more... We're not sure why he participates in this behavior, but it is pretty clear that there is some vendetta against RadioReference since his com-21 registration was for the sole purpose to start this thread.
A rant is a rant, but to join RR just to rant about RR is kind of strange to say the least." __________________
Lindsay C. Blanton III
President - RadioReference.com LLC
Facebook: RadioReference | Twitter: @RadioReference
Roberto has sent some pretty nasty letters to the Reference over the years.
According to Reference user "iamhere300", "Izzy" as he has become known in the thread, has even become a PITA over at firehouse.com with a rather spectacular rant about "P25 and Narrowbanding". Here is the complete quote from "iamhere300" directly from the thread:
"Izzy was on Firehouse.com - arguing about narrowbanding, and P25. He thought they were the same - to go narrowband you had to be P25.
Then he started arguing with one of the premier communications attornies in the US, Alan Tilles, about narrowbanding.
Then he said he ate lunch with the upper level brass of Orlando Fire Department, and sat in on the non-public interviews. A current member of the department then sent this,
QUOTE
Where do you get this ? First you post the cold hard facts About Orlando, none of which are true. Second you have sat in on OFD interviews ? I'm calling BS ! OFD interviews are not a public forum. Who have you had dinner with and shared the innerworkings of OFD with ?
Those of you who took the challenge of taking OFD's written / practical and passed congratulations. Hopefully you will be one of the firefighters hired to fill positions in the three new stations we have broke ground on recently.
Those who thought that MutualAidSupply knew anything about OFD and were misled by his "facts" sorry for believing the BS rantings of liar.
I work for OFD and have for the past 8 years. I came to OFD from a small department in south FL and have loved working here. The tradition and brotherhood here are second to none.
If you have any questions about OFD get the truth.
Stay safe
Rob
END QUOTE
Izzy is famous for being ... An idiot!"
On page four of this now famous thread, Roberto actually made a statement that cell phones could be monitored and Lindsay had this to say in return:
"Roberto,
First, there isn't a single service monitor available that can actually *monitor* a live GSM/CDMA cell phone call. GSM and CDMA service monitors are designed to test and emulate handsets and base station equipment - they cannot intercept live calls between subscriber units and base stations. Get your facts straight.
Second, you can spout all day about your credentials in the healthcare/public safety field, but the reality is you own a small business that supplies equipment to a limited number of public safety agencies. The public safety community has seen these types of inflated claims from you before:
From a quote from you on Firehouse.com:
Suggestions for getting hired with Orlando? - Page 2 - Firehouse Forums - Firefighting Discussion
.
End quoted section of response. Anyone interested can go here to see the complete context of this portion of the discussion.
Roberto's delusional rants don't hold water when examined against the following:
Letters From Public Safety Agencies
Restricted Info - RadioReference Wiki
RadioReference Blog: Explaining the Data Removal Policy Change on RadioReference.com
As anyone can see, Lindsay did the right thing when he handled business in the way he did. Anyone else with a head on their shoulders would have done the same thing.
A final quote at the end of this thread from Lindsay Blanton and the final action:
"This thread certainly delivered. We had the protagonist, a few antagonists, some sideline dwellers that criticized both parties, the level-headed "come on folks" and the end of thread racist remarks. Two thumbs up for an epic rant!"
com-21 is now "Completely Banned For The Greater Good" and it is being reasonably assumed that all of his usernames have also been banned. Excellent job Lindsay!
Lindsay Blanton was invited by Shortwave America to be interviewed about this whole experience with Roberto, but comment was not returned most likely because of the timing of this publication's request with the 2010 Christmas holiday.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Following The BBC World Service Drama
The overall goal and objectives here are to analyze each and every move made by the BBC to separate fact from fiction, to ask if any of BBC's actions make any real sense from either the business perspective or the common sense perspective, and to then ask why it is it would appear that relations between the BBC and the body of British Government responsible for granting funding and licensure to the BBC seem to have broken down. Once these tasks were complete, the next sets of questions arising have to do with how all of this affects the corporate leadership and it's relationship with the Journalists Union and the BBC Journalists themselves.
Shortwave America then went digging around the Official BBC Website for anything relating to all of these shenanigans that would either shed light on the facts, contradictory statements, vague statements, material that would show either BBC's willingness to be candid and transparent or to use other material as a way of helping the public to become distracted from the very real problems at BBC.
Without any further waiting, here are the RNW Media Network Blog Archives pertaining to the BBC in exact order from the earliest reports to the most current reports. Shortwave America readers can come to their own conclusions as to the above noted questions.
Former BBCWS Drama Boss Criticizes Axing Of Plays
BBC World Service Could lose Half Its Staff: Press Report
BBC Launches HD Sound For Radio
BBC World Service To Be Funded From Domestic License Fee
BBC Complete Sound Effects Library Now Available On sounddogs.com
New BBC - DW DRM Channel For South Asia
BBC Journalists To Strike In November Over Pensions
BBC Burmese To Add Extra Transmissions
BBC World Service Cuts Risk 300 Jobs
BBC Journalist Strike Knocks Flagship Shows Off Air
BBC Urdu Launches Single Number For Mobile News
NUJ Offers To Suspend BBC Pension Strikes
BBC Joins United States Military Handing out Free Radios In Afghanistan
BBC & Discovery Communications Announce New Partnership
Vandals Force BBC Radio Wales 882Khz Off Air
Here are the findings at the Official BBC Website: NOTHING! Not one word! BBC has stayed absolutely quiet at it's public website.
Friday, December 24, 2010
2010 Christmas Programming & Other Christmas Radio Offerings
Glenn Hauser has this offering: World Of Radio Calendar / Monitoring Reminders
DogHouseCharlie has this offering: Christmas & Seasonal Programming
PCJ Radio offers this: PCJ Christmas Programming December 24th to December 25th
Direct link to PCJ Radio Christmas Video at Vimeo
Amateur Operators may want to pay attention to their specific regions on HF, local FM repeater sub-bands, and FM simplex. Never know what ya might hear! Any interesting Christmas reports can be submitted to Shortwave America here in the comments section, or post your findings at HFUnderground, and RadioReference.
Amateur Station KE5GGY brings us this news: Santa On 3.916.00Khz Christmas Eve
Shortwave America would like to wish everyone from all over the world a Merry Christmas / Happy Holiday. Knowing that not every culture celebrates Christmas, but rather has their own celebration at this time of year, Shortwave America wants to wish you a happy celebration, no matter what you call it!
As always at this time of year, Shortwave America wants to remind everyone where ever you are to make sure you have a designated driver or that you can make arrangements to stay with someone if you feel the need to drink. DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!
DogHouseCharlie has this offering: Christmas & Seasonal Programming
PCJ Radio offers this: PCJ Christmas Programming December 24th to December 25th
Direct link to PCJ Radio Christmas Video at Vimeo
Amateur Operators may want to pay attention to their specific regions on HF, local FM repeater sub-bands, and FM simplex. Never know what ya might hear! Any interesting Christmas reports can be submitted to Shortwave America here in the comments section, or post your findings at HFUnderground, and RadioReference.
Amateur Station KE5GGY brings us this news: Santa On 3.916.00Khz Christmas Eve
Shortwave America would like to wish everyone from all over the world a Merry Christmas / Happy Holiday. Knowing that not every culture celebrates Christmas, but rather has their own celebration at this time of year, Shortwave America wants to wish you a happy celebration, no matter what you call it!
As always at this time of year, Shortwave America wants to remind everyone where ever you are to make sure you have a designated driver or that you can make arrangements to stay with someone if you feel the need to drink. DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Alpha 7 Hotel Numbers Station
Someone has caught a numbers station identified as "Alpha 7 Hotel" over at HF Underground. At this time, it is unknown if there is an official Enigma assignment for this particular station. You can see the thread here
and if you want the direct download, go to MediaFire.
The first thing you will notice about this on the recording is: HORRIBLE propagation! The station is audible off and on, and there is a lot of fading, but definitely worth the listen. It has been said that someone heard a station similar to this recently on four thousand kilohertz somewhere and just near it was a weird space sounding type station with what can best be described as recurring, creepy, "wisps" that remind you of "Encounters Of The Third Kind".
and if you want the direct download, go to MediaFire.
The first thing you will notice about this on the recording is: HORRIBLE propagation! The station is audible off and on, and there is a lot of fading, but definitely worth the listen. It has been said that someone heard a station similar to this recently on four thousand kilohertz somewhere and just near it was a weird space sounding type station with what can best be described as recurring, creepy, "wisps" that remind you of "Encounters Of The Third Kind".
Welcome Waveguides!
Waveguides is a new podcast introduced by Pete Landry, VE2XPL in Canada. Waveguides is recorded every Thursday evening on the SouthCARS T.N.T. Open-Forum Net (20:00 E.S.T. on EchoLink
(node 96140), *SCARS* conference server, operated by the South Coast
Amateur Radio Service - over 10,000 members strong).
This net has been operating since 2009 and now the podcasts are available to the world at large, and that is assuming you live in a country that hasn't blocked this type of media. If you are interested in this media and you live where censors won;t let you access it, please let Shortwave America know and it will get passed to you for free to help promote this net and help continue to grow good will among radio enthusiasts.
You can also see the SouthCARS VOIP Site
Pete is the Executive Producer of the wAVEgUIDES pODcAST and SouthCARS TNT Open-Forum. You can see the entire post at QRZ .
Background about Pierre "Pete" Landry can be found here
Shortwave America wishes this new effort great success and will likely offer access to this podcast right here in the future.
(node 96140), *SCARS* conference server, operated by the South Coast
Amateur Radio Service - over 10,000 members strong).
This net has been operating since 2009 and now the podcasts are available to the world at large, and that is assuming you live in a country that hasn't blocked this type of media. If you are interested in this media and you live where censors won;t let you access it, please let Shortwave America know and it will get passed to you for free to help promote this net and help continue to grow good will among radio enthusiasts.
You can also see the SouthCARS VOIP Site
Pete is the Executive Producer of the wAVEgUIDES pODcAST and SouthCARS TNT Open-Forum. You can see the entire post at QRZ .
Background about Pierre "Pete" Landry can be found here
Shortwave America wishes this new effort great success and will likely offer access to this podcast right here in the future.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Official Shortwave America 2010-2011 Reader Survey
Shortwave America is excited to announce the first annual reader's survey! The survey asks ten questions and will remain open until January 04th 2011 at 12AM since it was posted four days late in order to be fair to the readers. Thanks you in advance for taking a few moments of your time to participate, as Shortwave America only exists because of it's readers and your input matters!
Click here to take the first annual Official Shortwave America Reader Survey
Click here to take the first annual Official Shortwave America Reader Survey
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Shortwave America Reader Poll Update
The reader poll isn't up yet because most of the polling systems found only allow for one question versus multiple questions. If a good poll isn't found soon, Shortwave America will post the poll as a regular post and the readers can anonymously use the comments section to answer the poll questions. Although it isn't the most efficient way of polling, it is still an opportunity for this site to hear from it's readers.
Stay tuned here for the poll when it comes.
Stay tuned here for the poll when it comes.
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