QRZ Press Release - Radio Buyer's Guide

From AA7BQ: click to read entire entry without sentence cut-off.

Five New Amateur Radio Satellites In Orbit

FASTRAC-1, FASTRAC-2, NanoSail-D2, O/OREOS and RAX were launched at 01:24 UT on Saturday Nov 20, reports of the signals are needed.

So far signals have been reported from FASTRAC-2 (Emma), O/ORES and RAX.

Nominal Frequencies:
- FASTRAC-1 "Sara Lily" 437.345 MHz FM AX.25 1200bps
- FASTRAC-2 "Emma" 145.825 MHz FM AX.25 1200bps
- RAX-1 437.505 MHz
- O/OREOS 437.305 MHz
- Nanosail D2 0.5 sec beacon every 5 sec on 437.275 MHz.


RAX Facebook  RAX Twitter 
FASTRAC Facebook  FASTRAC Twitter  O/OREOS
NanoSail-D2

Amateur radio operators - help track the FASTRAC satellites

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB)

Orbiter Forum



Source: G4TUT at QRZ

Shortwave Pirate Radio Directory

Those elusive pirates turn on their transmitters for fans all over the world, always careful not to create a solid schedule / frequency / directional signal pattern. They use different power levels to reach their respective audiences. Pirates are usually gracious enough to send reception confirmations via different means. Some will use FRN, others will use e-mail, some use EQSL.

The mood for something new & different is always there. That desire to spin the VFO through the bands in each different mode until something is found will eat away at a radio addict until he/she completes the daily routine until satisfied, and only when the thirst is quenched will your dear loved one be happy. SWL's are a vast audience who come from all walks of life. Even licensed amateur operators engage in monitoring whatever they find.

Shortwave America has decided to help everyone get their radio fix quickly, efficiently, and logistically. This is the Official Shortwave America Shortwave Pirate Radio Directory. This project has been months in the making and includes frequencies, pirate station identifications, and QSL information. Now, the contact directory could not be copied and published here, but it will be linked to. This is your one stop shop for Pirate Radio information!

First, a couple of pirate listening tips asked by Shortwave America over at the HF Underground Forum:

Spotting pirates during the day, according to RAFman:  "The tendency I have noticed over the years is the use of low [& very high] end of 15MHz/19M 15070KHz. Similar propagation to the world, like 20M where it is said "the band is always open to somewhere"...

Pigmeat gives this information for evening listening: "Most guys use the 6850-6955 range weekends between 12 and 15:00 utc this time of year. I can normally hit much of eastern N.America with just 14 watts and wire antenna in that time frame. It's a nice time to broadcast,conditions are quiet,and you have your pick of the prime frequencies.The band opens and shuts about an hour earlier during daylight savings time."  

North American Pirate Radio Wiki

Pirate Radio by DXing.com

Pirate's Week

Radio4All

Transmitter Documentation Project - Pirate Stations

Pirate Radio Logs Searchable Database

Pirate Radio Links

Shortwave Central 2010 Pirate Radio Annual

Shortwave Central - Chasing Pirate Radio

Shortwave Central - QSLing The Unpredictable & Unlicensed

Pirate Radio Central Directory

Pirate Radio Station Addresses by UKDXER

This is all that is out here for now. If anyone else has anything at all, please leave a comment here. Pirates are welcome to add their information as well, and it will be updated in this post. Shortwave America would like to update pirate information as often as possible. To make this ambition work, contributions are needed.

Radio Australia Receives Use of Singapore's Kranji Site

Singapore's Media Development Authority has granted Radio Australia the use of their Kranji relay site starting on Monday, November 22nd 2010.Programming will be in Burmese: 0100-0130 UTC on 11780 kHz 340deg 250kW, English: 1100-1300 UTC on 6140 kHz 13deg 250 kW.

Reception reports can be sent to:

Radio Australia
GPO Box 428, Melbourne
Australia 3001

You can also see the Radio Australia Website

Source: RNW Media Network Blog

Someone Stole Our Equipment!

The Radio Netherlands Media Network Blog has the story

It's too late for April fools tricks, and just before the holidays, so it must be those pesky radio pirates! Guess it's time to make sure everything is under more advanced security technology!

French Radio London Makes Huge Splash

The Ambassador of France to the UK - Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, Pascal Grierson French Radio London CEO, Laurent Voulzy, celebrated French singer; Alex Riha, Commercial Director French Radio London; Thierry de Panafieu, Finance Director, French Radio London have all come together to successfully launch French Radio London. FRL has been assigned a channel slot on the London II DAB digital radio multiplex. These gentlemen worked with Piers Collins of Switchdigital to make this station a reality.

FRL is the UK capital’s first French language terrestrial broadcast station.Its studios and offices are based in
Central London, with a satellite office in Paris. Programming Director Jean-Michel Duffrene joined after many years at the BBC World Service. Presenters include Olivier Jauffrit, whose successful broadcasting career in France included stints at Rire et Chansons and Europe 2, and specialist music manager Alain
Galès, who has worked for the BBC World Service.

Source: FRL Press Release

Shortwave America commentary:

Most everyone can understand the need to have a local presence, and use digital technology with a digital radio giveaway to get this station on the air. One mistake these well meaning diplomats made was to not research putting FRL on the shortwave bands where the world at large could have access to it. There are indeed, people in the world who don;t have an unternet connection or fancy cellular technology to rely upon and these digital networks are not the end - all / be - all of radio. If they really want to reach what they term "Francophiles" then they need to have a wide RF distribution.

The FRL website is well done with just the right placement and choice of graphics, classy, yet also standard format seen at other major broadcasting sites. Programming seems to be well produced, well engineered, and the flavor of the station, it's style, and professionalism are something to be proud of.

Good Opportunity For Meteor Scatter

The Leonid Meteor Shower will peak at it's best until November 18th 2010. Best time is two or three hours before sunrise when the moon has set. Yahoo! has the entire story

Those meteor scatter operators out here should take this opportunity while they can! SWL's should listen for signals they normally wouldn't hear unless there was a band opening.

Antenna Designs, Reviews, and Tutorials

Long ago, Shortwave America promised an article on antennas. All of the projects, designs, reviews, and related items were simply too numerous to write just one piece on. Even a multi-part series would have been too large of a project. A more practical approach was needed, so, Shortwave America went scouting for everything and used the most practical information.

This guide is not intended to be the end-all, be-all of antennas because of all of the various designs out here, different emission types, different needs for antenna radiation polarization, and operator preference for minimum power usage. this is mostly handy for new Operators / SWL's, those who want or need a refresher, and those who want a nice resource for double checking their work.

Finally, the Shortwave America readers have a one stop resource for antenna knowledge similar to the more popular resource that was written for monitoring numbers stations. It's been quite a long time, but it's here now. Enjoy this resource to your heart's content! That why it's here!

Frequency Definitions / Theory

What is Frequency? Wiki

Radio Frequency Wiki

What Is Radio Frequency? 

Radio Frequency & Antenna Theory (PDF File)

ANTENNA SAFETY, POWERLINES, RF SAFETY

Antenna Safety & Powerlines by Ham Universe
The above link contains two safety videos that are Mandatory watching!

W0JEC RF Exposure & Safety Resource (Includes RF Exposure Calculator) 
   
Radio Frequency & Antenna Basics

Frequency Band Definitions

Antenna Theory & Basics

Radio Nature: RSGB

RSGB Antenna Books

Antenna Basics by HDTV Primer

Antenna Length Calculator

KB5WCK Antenna Calculator

ELF Antennas

Wikipedia ELF Tutorial

ELF Fields: A detailed guide

Longwave, LF and HF Antennas 

Wikipedia LF Primer

LF (Low Frequency) Antenna Theory by vias.org

Antennas For 3 to 30Mhz and AM Mode

Radio Waves Below 22Khz

NRL Low Frequency Antenna Development

OLFAR: Orbiting Low Frequency Antennas For Radio Astronomy

HF Antennas 101

HF Antennas - Ham Radio Library
This above link has TONS of antenna information
and just might be better than any other resource
out here!

K3MT's Grasswire Antenna

RadioReference HF Antenna Wiki

Cloud Warmer NVIS Antenna by Ham Universe

Medium Wave Antennas

Marc's Technical Pages: Antennas For MW Reception

K9AY Loop Antenna

Optimized MW Antenna Systems

Sarmento's Ferrite Rod Antenna For MW

Antennex - THE Place For Antenna Discussion & All Antenna Related Items

Shortwave Antennas

Understanding Shortwave Radio & Antennas

Hamuniverse - Build A Shortwave Antenna

Build A Broomstick Antenna by Arnie Coro

DX Zone - Shortwave Antenna Plans & Links

Homebrew Shortwave Antennas @ E-How

Hardcore DX - Birdfeeder Antenna

TDP Shortwave Antennas

Active Antenna Electronic Circuits

VHF Antennas

IW5EDI VHF Antenna Library

2 Meter Antennas

Slimjim 2 Meter Antenna

1.25 Meter Quickie Quarter Wave

1.25 Meter J-Pole

UHF Antennas

AC6V UHF Antenna Resource

70CM Eggbeater Antenna Resource

9Db, 70CM Collinear Antenna From Coax

70CM 2 and 4 Element Yagi's

70CM Super J-Pole

SHF Antennas

33CM Wiki

EHF Antennas

Curtain Quad Antenna, 1.296Ghz

Curtain Quad Antenna, 2.4Ghz

2.4Ghz Omni Antenna

2.4Ghz Sardine Can Antenna

Kent Electronics, WA5VJB

Shortened 3D Corner Reflector Antenna (PDF File)

Advanced Antenna Resources

Stealth Antennas

N4UJW Antenna Design Lab

Major Antenna Pages

The Radiotelegrapher

Tom, AB9NZ of the suburbs, near Chicago, IL has decided to join the Amateur Radio Journalism circle by creating a rather neat site over at posterous, called The Radiotelegrapher. Tom is a veteran Radio Man and a U.S. Veteran from the United States Air Force who is a friendly, skilled, outgoing man who has earned his respect from many to include this publication.

Tom worked NA1SS yesterday and spoke to Col. Wheelock on one of several International Space Station Orbit passes, a great accomplishment in itself! Welcome, Tom!

AB9NZ can often be found hanging around on the NORA Repeater, located in Glenview, IL on 147.090Mhz plus 600Khz and a 107.2PL. Tom was one of this author's first contacts and remains a great friend! Besides hanging out on NORA, Tom is proficient with the fine art of Morse Code (CW) and can be found on the CW portions of the HF bands.

Peoria Area Residents Cry Foul Over Amateur Radio

Central Illinois News has the most recent details, as does the Southgate Amateur Radio Club 

One neighbor involved in this high emotion fight over access to the amateur radio bands has threatened to erect an electric dog fence or to committ to other activities that would impede Craig Thompson's use of the amateur bands. What this neighbor doesn't seem to know is that it is illegal to knowingly and willingly interfere with any licensed radio operation, even amateur radio.

The biggest question being asked is: "How does Craig Thompson's amateur radio activities trump the right of the neighbors to a traditional country view?" Well, the law being referenced here as it pertains to the "right" to have an "unobstructed view" is itself misinterpreted. The law speaks to conservation of the land, and the rights of land owners to not have anything built on THEIR land without their consent. Mr. Thompson OWNS the land he is building on and it does not belong to the community or any of the neighbors, and there has not been any proven argument as to how any environmental danger is posed to the community or to the land itself. Trivoli neighbors also have yet to prove that they actually have such a right to not look at some specific object or a specifically guaranteed right to be without some specific class of structure that blocks their vision when it doesn't pose a major danger.

Trivoli neighbors say they want to challenge HR2160 and use force to derail it's passage in Congress. This doesn't seem very likely given the reality of the support behind this bill. Mr. Thompson obeyed the laws completely, and his towers will indeed be erected as planned, and his operations will take place because his Amateur Radio License gives him access to the frequencies he is operating on and regulation of the use and access to radio and television signals are strictly the domain of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and FCC laws trump local ordinances. 

One specific neighbor states to have concerns about a medical implant for his heart condition. This neighbor should know that the frequencies Mr. Thompson is operating on are well BELOW what would be a concern for such a device, and furthermore should be advised that his own home appliances pose more of a risk to him than Mr. Thompson's RF signals pose.

A paranoid bunch has attempted to get local officials, as well as fellow neighbors to believe that Mr. Thompson can "listen in" on their "telephone conversations". This is simply not true! It is illegal for anyone to listen to cellular phones and almost impossible even if it were legal because cellphones today are all digital spread spectrum devices. This means that the signals hop frequencies several times per second and are most likely encrypted.

Neighbors also complain that there will be "interference" to their televisions, telephones, and other home electronic devices. Amateur Radio equipment, if constructed properly, will not pose any of these problems unless the band opens up OR the manufacturer of the home electronics equipment made the devices poorly and this is almost always the case. Mr. Thompson's neighbors also need to be aware that FCC Part 15 states on each and every home electronic device that the device MUST accept any and all interference, may not cause harmful interference, and must accept even that interference which causes undesired operation.

Filters are available on the market in the event that any of this interference takes place. Filters are affordable, and available in mass quantity. If neighbors ever chose to blame Mr. Thompson for any interference, they would be hard pressed to actually prove that 1. Interference is indeed coming from Mr. Thompson's antennas and 2. That the interference is due to a lack of compliance with good engineering standards.

Shortwave America thumbs it's nose at the Trivoli neighbors and laughs while advising them to find a life.

Live Amateur Radio Webcast To Feature Well Known Companies

 This broadcast should be fun with all of these Amateur Radio Manufacturers all at one time! That's W5KUB.com and don't forget the Fall time change has occurred already, so you may want to adjust your time for this event if needed. Thanks to VA3UG for making this information available!

Understanding LF & HF Propagation: FREE E-Book

G0KYA and G3NYK over at RSGB have written an E-Book about LF and HF Propagation. They decided to make this detailed book available for free. Here is the original link to G0KYA's site 

To download this FREE PDF file, click on the link for Understanding LF & HF Propagation
Sponsored by the RSGB Propagation Studies Committee.  

Shortwave America Salute To U.S. Veterans

Happy Veterans day to all of the United States MARS Operators from your fellow Radioman! If you are a veteran, thank you for all you have done to make this a free country, for the contributions that no one else sees, and for the loyalty you have shown. If you are a family member of a veteran, whether living or dead, thank you for continuing to support the cause for freedom at every cost and never looking back!

Thank you to all branches of the U.S. Military for continuing to support MARS and have us around to be your auxillary radio communications source when you need trusted communications to get through in a hurry.

Shortwave Broadcast Multilingual B10 Schedules & Frequency Changes, November 2010 HF Propagation Report

Shortwave America brings you the B10 season shortwave broadcast schedules for Multilingual programming, a short list of English language B10 schedule programming, and a list of B10 schedule / frequency changes for certain broadcasters. As always, please remember that stations can change their programming, frequency, schedule, and signal direction at any time. Need help finding out what you're listening to? Use the HFRadio.org / NW7US Shortwave Broadcast Frequency Search.

Multilingual

North Korea B10 Schedules

Radio Prague B10 Multilingual Schedule

KBS World Radio B10 Multilingual Schedule 

Radio Thailand B10 Multilingual Schedule

Voice Of Greece B10 Multilingual Schedule

Radiofonikos-Stathmos-Makedonias B10 Schedule

Radio Netherlands B10 Multilingual Schedule

Radio Free Asia B10 Multilingual Schedule
   
Radio Pakistan B10 Multilingual Schedule

Radio Slovakia B10 Tentative Schedule
 
VT Communications Relay Schedules - Part 1

VT Communications Relay Schedules - Part 2

VT Communications Relay Schedules - Part 3

English Schedules

Voice Of Russia B10 English Schedule

Voice of Turkey B10 English Schedule

TWR - Swaziland B10 English Schedule

Radio Japan B10 English Schedule

WWCR B10 English Schedule

Also see the previously posted B10 English Broadcast list

Schedule / Frequency Changes

VT Schedule Changes

Radio Relays Frequency Update

IBB Schedule Changes

BBC Frequency Changes

Radio Free North Korea Frequency Change 

Schedule Updates From Sentec

Updates From DX Mix News

November 2010 HF Propagation Report

G0KYA HF Propagation Prediction Report, November 2010 

Shortwave Schedule Explanation For New Amateur Operators / SWL's

If you are new to the world of radio, welcome! It doesn't matter if you're a newly licensed Amateur Operator or a brand new SWL, getting accustomed to the deep culture of radio and how it all works is both intriguing and frustrating. Most radio newbies like to just sit back and listen. Listening is just the thing to do right now, because there's alot to hear and learn about!

First, let's start by reminding those of you who are new that each different frequency wavelength has it's own behavior during each different time of day, night, and season. This means that one band will be more useful than the other during the day, during the night, and during each of the four seasons.

The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) has two main HF broadcast schedules a year.  The "A" season starts the last Sunday in March, the "B" season starts the last Sunday in October.  Those dates coincide with the European time changes.

For a beginner's guide to tuning the bands, see the Amateur Radio Band Characteristics by Hamuniverse. Because the shortwave bands are both just below and above the amateur frequencies, this information applies to these portions of the band as well. AM band DX listening is best during the winter season.
Also see the ARRL HF Radio Wave Propagation Tutorial

You can also use the Shortwave Wiki

For your convenience, Shortwave America provides the following radio tutorials written by DXing.com:

Here is an excellent tutorial on tuning / using the HF spectrum from 150Khz to 30Mhz

Frequency Vs. Wavelength

Radio Terms

UTC / GMT Time Conversion

The Best Of Pirate Radio For Halloween 2010

At the bottom of this post, Shortwave America is providing a link that will take you to a list of recordings of pirate radio broadcasts from Halloween 2010 made by Lex in the State of Texas. There are many links on this list, all of which will give you specific choices for whatever your interest is for that day. All links take you to a site called mediafire.

According to Lex, propagation did not favor a station named "Gopher Stomp", and so he only obtained a few fairly clear recordings.

Stations logged included:
WAHR, Automated Halloween Radio
West Coast Radio
Voice of Doom - Morak: The Thing Behind The Wall
Radio Ronin Shortwave
CYOT
Halloween Midi Radio
Bust-A-Nut

Further information from Lex: 

"Most of these are only a few minutes, selected segments from the most audible portions.  All have been run through hiss reduction so the slight jangly sound is due to digital noise reduction, not the original broadcast audio.  But you wouldn't want to hear the original versions since the local RFI level was very high at times."

Halloween Pirate Radio Recordings At HF Underground

North American Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame

Fellow Radio Enthusiasts from all walks of life, please welcome to our ranks, the North American Pirate Radio Hall of Fame! Ragnar has posted the introduction over at HFUnderground. Suffice it to say that of all of the unique halls of fame, this is likely the most meaningful because most anyone can learn the everyday things that a hall of fame is usually meant for honoring, but radio is quite a technical skill.

When people see a radio, they usually just think of a microphone and a transmitter, their minds jump to some sort of antenna and it ends there. The word "Pirate" in Pirate Radio does not mean some guy who looks like Captain Hook on the high seas with an old gun ship and a radio transmitter! Pirate radio means an unlicensed station transmitting on the shortwave bands.

A proper pirate radio station sticks closely to the engineering standards ascribed for licensed amateurs or licensed commercial stations, does not bother the neighbors by tearing their electronics up, and does not knowingly transmit on top of existing radio signals authorized to be on their frequency. The most unruly pirate stations will discard these rules and most who behave this way do not last long. The longest running stations operate for years or even decades without being detected by the Feds.

Let's be honest, we all love hearing pirate stations because it is a break from the same day in / day out shortwave listening. Want to know something? The Feds don;t care to chase down these stations so long as they behave. They have other places to use their resources in.

The NAPRHOF as we will always know this organization, devotes itself to professional standards that call for uniqueness, creativity, and other requirements before a pirate station becomes an inductee. According to the most important piece of their standards, a list is made and then whittled down in the same way most other halls of fame whittle down their lists to get the finalists for induction.

Welcome to the North American Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame! Shortwave America wishes you all the best as the organization grows.

The first list of inductees, ever,  starting in 2010 are:

• Allan Weiner/RNI
• Radio Clandestine
• Radio Garbanzo
• V. of the Voyager
• Voice of BoB
• Voice of Laryngitis
• WUMS
   
   Meet The NAPRHOF Board:
   
  Pat Murphy, John T Arthur, James Brownyard. Larry Will, Ragnar Daneskjold, Bill Finn, Gregory Majewski, Andy Yoder, and George Zeller. 
   
  All of the above are gentlemen of the radio circle recognized for their expertise.
   
  This organization is something for the friends and fans of radio to keep an eye on!   
  

U.S. Attorney's Office, FCC File Complaint In U.S. Federal Court: K1MAN To Pay

Glen Baxter, the amateur broadcaster who has been clogging up the upper portion of 3890Khz has to face the U.S. Federal court system after the U.S. Attorney's Office teamed up with the FCC to ask the court to enforce the $21,000.00 fine levied against him by way of the FCC Enforcement unit's issuance of the NAL to him.

The term "amateur broadcaster" is used as opposed to "licensed amateur radio operator" because Baxter does not exude the proper traits of a law abiding licensed amateur operator.

The ARRL has the story

Here's the PDF Copy of the U.S. Federal Complaint filed today

The U.S. Attorney's Office and FCC are asking the court to order Baxter to pay a $350.00 filing fee and other legal, just fines the court may find in the best interest of justice.

All of us who are Licensed Amateur Radio Operators AND all around radio enthusiasts owe you a huge debt, Laura Smith! Thank you so much for stepping up to help us the way you have!  This publication is asking that the community of Licensed Amateur Operators and SWL's take a few moments to write Laura Smith just a few short, simple lines to say thank you for the work she has done. If you can't find a few moments to write, consider leaving a simple "thank you" voice mail for Laura at her Office Number:

1-717-338-2577

New B10 Shortwave English Broadcast Schedules

New B10 Schedules for English broadcasts have been published at three separate places. Dan Ferguson of NASWA has an Excel spreadsheet available for public use over at HFSkeds.

Here are the other two links for the TXT file which is an internet page as opposed to a download in case some of you out here don't have enough disk space or just don't like to download too much stuff onto your drives. The nice thing about these is that you can just copy and paste these files or just pick your favorite frequencies / stations to pay attention to.

Here is the EiBi TXT SW English Broadcast File

This is the AOKI English Broadcast File

Dan warns that all of these are likely to be very preliminary. 

Shortwave America Presents: Halloween Fun!

Nothing radio related today, as SWA takes a Halloween break to be with family. For your listening pleasure, Shortwave America presents classic Halloween nostalgia from the old radio days. Last evening, PCJ Media aired war Of The Worlds on WRMI, and for those of you who were as frustrated as this author was about having to download a file to enable the "listen live" function at WRMI's site, fear not! War Of The Worlds in seven parts and other neat Halloween stuff is just below:

War Of The Worlds Part 1

War Of The Worlds Part 2

War Of The Worlds Part 3

War Of The Worlds Part 4

War Of The Worlds Part 5

War Of The Worlds Part 6

War Of The Worlds Part 7

Cyndi Lauper: Goonies R Good Enough, LIVE!

Cyndi Lauper: Goonies R Good Enough original video featuring Captain Lou Albano, Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Iron Sheik, and The Bolsheviks. This talent appears in the video courtesy of the World Wrestling Federation. 

Horror Sounds

1950's Halloween Radio Show: Bing Crosby with Boris Karloff (Part 1)


Part 2 of the above 1950's Radio Show featuring Bing Crosby with Boris Karlov


What would Halloween be without the old classic, Night Of The Living Dead!?!? 

This old George Romero movie is in 17 parts, so only the above link will be provided and you can follow the other links all the way through. Have a safe & fun Halloween everyone!

Shortwave America Special Focus: Broadcasting For Freedom - The People Of Iran - Part 3

In part one of this series, Shortwave America interviewed Canadian Broadcaster, Shabnam Assadollahi who came back to this publication in part 2 as a guest with her interview of the Senior Economic Advisor to the E.U. 


Shortwave America now brings you part 3 of this special series focusing on communications freedom in Iran, and how it apples to the human rights of those who must live under the rule of an extremist regime. This is a combined interview with two of the three expected guests in this specific portion of the series. 

Speaking now with Shortwave America is Homayoun Mobasseri:


Iranians are peaceful people and among the Muslim countries of middle east Iran has the highest number of university graduates per capita, like most people of the world they want to provide a better life and future for their children, suppression of communication has enabled the regime to carry out their evil doings for example the mass killings of the prisoners of conscious back in Sept. 1988 and to some estimates it is in the range of 30000 to 100, 000 people which they were buried in mass graves that the most famous one is Khavaran and no one knows how many are buried there.

Iranians have been struggling for individual rights for a long time and their first achievement was the first European style constitution of 1905 with the help of some of the religious leaders but soon the repressive religious leaders and Mohammad Shah the king of the time had a coup which was later crushed by the people and constitution was reinstated and ever since it has been a battle between the progressives and regressive forces of the community.

The regime has taken lessons how they used the shortwave radio and flow of information to combat the previous regime and they are fully aware of the power of the media and as they are preachers themselves they know who ever has the access and control of flow of information is the ultimate winner, that is why they want an do control the airwaves by using jamming equipments and we know there are certain wavelengths that they have problems in jamming, but we should not volunteer this info publicly.

Iranian people have listened to propaganda of the regime for the past 31 years and are fed up and tired of one way propaganda that everything that regime is doing is good , holistic and everything opposition no matter how mild or harsh is doing is evil, and at the same time opposition radio and satellite TV stations are saying exactly opposite, and people have lost their trust at both ends, each party is painting the other as evil, So many Iranians are hungry for real life solutions and guidance and I believe here comes the role that short wave stations could play; The main objective of these station should to educate the people of Iran on the significance of human rights in society, to facilitate a better understanding of the interdependence between the responsibilities of citizens toward each other and the freedoms and democratic rights of the individual. 

The programmers should provide regular coverage of those issues which may impact on the entitlements and rights of people in Iranian society, to demonstrate how, in a modern civil society, the human rights of citizens are not conditional upon ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class and/or political beliefs. Coverage should include discussions on the ways in which, in other societies, the development of effective institutions designed to protect human rights has impacted on social cohesion, economic development and a stable foreign policy. In the process, the role of the state and the relationship between the state and citizens to be explored.

Iran is a multi - ethnic and multi - religious and beliefs, unfortunately there are no official data and the official figures which are available are heavily distorted, but by looking at the above map one could construct the heavy presence of Sunni Muslims, that are Kurdish, Baluchi, Turkmen and Bandari , etc

Almost about 1/4 ~ 1/3 are non shiites but the current regime likes to impose their will on every body and they think that they have a mandate to convert everyone to their way of thinking which is not shared by the silent majority.Iranian Islamic leadership has no influence on other Muslims by the religion since it is on the minority itself but is trying and has been successful in modeling in Palestinian / Israeli issue by spending money and financing the most radicals, and Hamas people they do not share the same religion but Lebanon Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiites have the same religion, if Iran becomes a free society it would be a beacon of freedom for the entire region.

Now, please welcome to Shortwave America, Dr. Mehrdad Emadi, Senior Economic Adviser to The E.U. in this exclusive interview with Shortwave America on 27 October 2010: 

                                                                        

                                                                    
Mehr, you recently spoke with Shabnam Assadollahi about how sanctions might impact Iran, the Seppah, and opportunities for private sector business to see growth to become independent from the Iranian regime. Part of that growth would be best served if communications for the people were included by way of shortwave radio reception not directed or censored by the government. Do you see this happening? 


"To broaden this sort of explanation that you just gave which is accurate, the more appropriate response would be that the more unsanctioned information we can transmit will increase awareness of the economic situation and crisis, and at the end of the day it will expedite the process of change. Naturally it will also deepen awareness of the unfolding crisis, which by the way is not just instigated by sanctions but also by the economic situation which is corrupt and also corrupting."


What will it take for the growth of communications freedom in Iran to become a reality?


"One is to not be shy about what are the changes which Iran needs to introduce in it's system. to become once again a full member of the international community."


What obstacles are faced between the current reality and the dream of independent democracy for the people under rule of the regime to freely communicate with each other as well as communicate with others outside of Iran?


"I could categorize these: there has to be a significant improvement in the transparency of Iran government. That would help the system to become more accountable. The second one would be to tell the regime that with any rights, like the right to nuclear energy or international banking, there comes responsibilities also. The two are interconnected. If you have access and assistance to energy programs, you also have responsibility to how you are going to use that peacefully. and not weaponize it. The same thing is important about banking, if you are unconnected to international banking you should do the best you can to discourage money laundering activities."


In the face of all of this, do you see the use of government licensed amateur radio stations as a beginning to freedom of communications? 


"I think it will be a very important step towards liberalizing the system and empowering citizen democracy. I do genuinely believe even if we have the occasional lemon ya know, radio station, stations that are not always positive in their contribution. Then the net effect will be the positive one for a democratic society. The effects will be more than compensated by good cases."


How can these licensed private citizens use the radio communications art to build relationships between themselves and everyone else that would have to be part of the building process in this context?


"I think we really need to look at the licensing structure and probably extensive intervention regulations which have given all authority and power to officials, and very little to community level or community based broadcasts. 


This is only my personal view at this point, but I think the rise of corporate ownership in media has been very counterproductive instead of democratization in our society." 


Mehr, it has been great to have you here for Shortwave America. As you know, us Americans are first and foremost about freedom of speech and the freedom to obtain information and communicate between ourselves and the rest of the world. The time you have taken is so very appreciated, and the hope is that this will make it's rounds among the Iranian people in their movement towards freedom. 


Mehr: "It has been a pleasure!"


Dear Readers, this closes the series on communications freedom in Iran with it's in depth look at the differences between the regime who takes from it's people, the everyday culture of the people, and their struggle for the right to enjoy incoming & outgoing communications based on shortwave broadcasting and the use of licensed amateur radio as something of a start towards effecting change.

Special thanks goes to Shabnam Assadollahi, CHIN Radio Canada,  Homayoun Mobasseri, and The Honorbale Mehrdad Emadi - Senior Economic Adviser Of The European Union (E.U.).