Happy New Year!

What a year! It has really been exciting! The readers, fans, followers, and listeners have been great, and all of us here at Shortwave America want YOU and your family to have a happy, healthy, memorable New Year!

The United States is one of the last countries to see the New Year come in, so celebrations here have yet to start. As is usual each year, we want to tell you to please stay out of your car if you plan on drinking. DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!! IF you must drink, please make plans to have a sober driver take you home or take you to another safe place for the night after the party is done. Make sure you hand your car keys to a trusted person for your own safety. If you are in a major city of the U.S., remember that public transit is always there and most public transit agencies give cheap rides into New Years Morning.

If you are at home with nowhere to go, here are a few radio related New Years activities you can do for fun:

1. Monitor your local Public Safety Agencies to see if they perform a last second countdown on their radio system. (IF they are not encrypted)  Some agencies have a tradition involving the dispatcher doing the last 5 seconds of the countdown and wishing units on the air a happy New Year!

Are your local agencies on P25 / MotoTRBO / Opensky and you do not have a receiver for such reception? NO WORRIES!!! Here is FREE DSD and PROVOICE decoding software that has been proven to work! There are versions for Linux AND Windows. You will need a discriminator tap and on some connections you will need a resistor in - line with the cable from the radio to the computer. THIS SOFTWARE DOES NOT DECODE ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATIONS!

2. Monitor your local VHF/UHF Aviation frequencies and document the last flights in and out of your airspace, then go to FlightAware and print up the flight record. Keep it in a safe place and you will possibly start a neat new years tradition for yourself.

3. Spin the VFO on the HF bands and see how many stations you can copy by 12AM. Document the station heard, the frequency, time, and any other interesting items. Keep a yearly record of this and over 5 years, you should start to see a pattern. Another neat New Years tradition to keep!

4. Monitor your local AM/FM broadcast frequencies an hour before the New Year rolls in and see how many stations you can record performing special New Years programming. Then, at the last seconds, spin that dial and see how many stations you can copy giving the official New Years greetings! This is a fun thing to do!

5. IF you are a licensed amateur radio operator, you can tune in to your local New Years net or tune HF to participate in an HF New Years net. There are still a few out there that are not listed anywhere and frequencies tend to change from year to year.

Anonymous - Phase 1: Seven Month Anniversary / Letter From Anonymous To Amateur Radio and Shortwave Communities

Shortwave America has supported Anonymous for 7 months now, and has assisted the first two phases of "the plan". Anonymous is well aware of the vital contribution made to the world by amateur radio operators in all of their respective countries, and is also aware of the vital role of shortwave radio and SWL's. Anonymous supports amateur radio and shortwave communications because they understand that when nothing else is left, a radio signal gets through. Phase 3 is almost at hand.

A special statement to amateur radio operators and shortwave / ssb monitors from Anonymous:

Greetings from Anonymous! We are aware of the abilities and talents each of you possess. We salute all of you for your service and willingness to step up in times of real emergencies. The injustices unlawfully forced upon the peoples of every nation by their respective governments and the inhumane conditions brought forth from it have created a real emergency.

This is not a call to arms, but a call to come together as a combined populace with a conscience. There are many different mentalities in the world, each with its own school of thought. Each of you are important in the dream to bring justice as an unjust ruling party has continually succeeded in dividing us. We use the word "party" because the democrats and republicans are not two parties, but one party functioning under two separate names in a bid to take choices away from the citizens of the United States under color of law and gain extra power for itself.

If absolute power corrupts, the power corrupts absolutely. You all are aware by now of the two separate bills that have passed the U.S. House and Senate. SOPA and PIPA (Stop On-Line Piracy Act and Protect IP Act) are not based on any real fear of financial losses to Hollywood or its many contracted "celebrities", but is based on waging war against technological communications between private citizens. Censorship is an act of war no matter how pretty you try to make it sound. Some of the technology you use relies upon the internet and will become illegal if these bills are signed into law.

Amateur Radio and Shortwave are vital to the Anonymous "plan" and so we call upon you to support us as we have supported you even without you ever knowing it. If the U.S. Government is successful with their plans to kill the internet, radio will be the only legitimate form of communications left. We are appreciative of those amateur operators who have assisted in the occupy movement thus far. You are all a valuable asset in this revolution. There is no doubt that uniting those of you in radio to help provide needed communications will be a win-win situation as we fight for the rights of humanity on a global basis. We wish all of you around the world a happy and healthy new year.

We hope you will join us in phase 3 of "the plan". - Anonymous

Corrupt leaders in power the world over:
We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.

SOPA and PIPA Threaten To Shut Down World Wide Web, Stop ALL Information Sharing and Communication

More importantly, watch this video at THIS TIME FRAME for full explanation of this threat.

Here is a layperson's explanation of SOPA and PIPA and just HOW these threatening bills will shut down the internet in the context of information sharing, communications, and free expression.



Shortwave America has been watching this legislation closely due to the fact that we are indeed, the media in the context of information sharing and entertainment. Shortwave America wants its readers, listeners, and fans to know that IF SOPA OR PIPA are signed into law, Shortwave America will have no choice but to shut down.

What does SOPA or PIPA have to do with amateur radio, and shortwave communications? It means that things like Echolink, D-Star, Tetra Over - IP, MOTO TRBO, logging software, and on-line radio receiver sites such as WEB-SDR will become illegal. WHY? Because these communications modes rely upon internet links and under these laws, creating ANY sort of link on or to the internet will be against federal law.

WHY is this? Because Echolink, D-STAR, Tetra Over-IP, MOTO TRBO, logging software, and things described above are either trademarked or copyrighted in some form. 

Will SOPA or PIPA be retro-active? YES! This means ALL the links here are already criminal. Even the links to original content by this site and its authors constitute a federal crime even though the license applied to this site is Creative Commons. SOPA and / or PIPA override Creative Commons licensing.

Will SOPA and / or PIPA silence sites that provide streaming audio of its own broadcasts? YES! Even though the amendments spoken of in the first video have been written in, the bill is still dangerous and poorly written. SOPA and / or PIPA equal a sneaky override of the 1st amendment in which government and corporate permission to create speech and release such speech publicly will be mandatory. "But, it doesn't say that in any express fashion!" This is true, but the statement is made when you read between the lines and interpret these new bills by their language alone and what such language means when taken as a whole. SOPA / PIPA FULL TEXT

Can the average citizen without tech savvy ways get around SOPA and / or PIPA? YES! Here is a place for all of you to get to the Emergency IP LIST in the event SOPA or PIPA becomes law. Shortwave America also HIGHLY recommends getting in touch with the well known Anonymous organization. ANON OPS, Legion News Network, ANON Leaks, ANON News.

                      Shortwave America supports ANONYMOUS!

Here are some other resources for all of you:

TOR Browser, OP Blackout KIT: DO NOT USE THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING! , Anonymous Survival Guide, Anonymous Downloads: YOU WANT TO USE THIS!

 



We Are Legion. We Do NOT FORGIVE. We Do NOT Forget. Expect Us!

Radio Is More Than Tuning

Radio is more than just turning on the rig and listening. Making contacts is just as important as hearing the world. Learning how to build equipment is challenging and results in great pride once you actually get a project finished and find your project actually works. Whether it is a low power transmitter, a receiver, an antenna project, APRS, packet, or anything else you can dream of. You can accomplish it after you experiment a bit and become proficient with it.

If you haven't done so already, study and get your amateur radio license. If you have it already, it is never too late to pick up your interest again.

Shortwave America 2011 Christmas Special

This episode aired on WRMI, Miami Radio International at 1900UTC on 9955Khz. Merry Christmas to all of you from Shortwave America, PCJ Media / PCJ Radio, and everyone involved in the making of this show.

Here's what you'll hear:Christmas music mix intro, program intro, Bob Zanotti presents Christmas In The Emmental, Christmas Music Humor Segment, Interview with Victor Goonetilleke - Christmas In Sri Lanka, Ping - Ping and Jules China Radio International presents Christmas In China, Paulette MacQuarrie from Nash Holos presents A Ukrainian Christmas, Christmas In Poland including Christmas At The German / Polish Border by Radio Deutsche Welle, Christmas In Sweden featuring "It's Christmas Time" by Swedish rock/pop band, "Bubbles"; Keith Perron of PCJ Radio and PCJ Media presents "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" in his own original telling of this classic tale.

LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD HERE

Shortwave America Episodes To Air On WRMI

The "Full Circle" pilot episode with Jerry Bryant and Randy Stonehill will air December 24th on WRMI at 1900UTC (2PM Eastern Time), and the Shortwave America Christmas Special featuring Bob Zanotti, Victor Goonetilleke, and Paulette MacQuarrie will air on Christmas Day, December 25th, 2011 at 1900UTC (2PM Eastern Time)

Both of these shows can be heard on 9955Khz at the listed times. You can LISTEN HERE if propagation is bad on these two dates. If you end up missing the show, and want to hear it later, the pilot episode is already up a few articles down from this one. The Christmas show will be put up on December 25th right here for you.

Thanks to everyone involved for helping this past three years to be what they've been! Special thanks to Keith Perron and Paulette MacQuarrie at PCJ Media, Jeff White at WRMI, Jerry Bryant at Full Circle, and Randy Stonehill. Most of all, thank you to the loyal readers, fans, and listeners! Without any of you there would not be a show. Shortwave America is for all of you, and you should know that great things are in store in regards to programming.