Today's Station Loggings

15.220.00Khz AM Voice: Chinese Opera / theater, female vocalist. Program went into speaking parts involving other characters. 1430UTC Sig was 5 by 9 +20

15.285.00Khz AM Voice: Chinese News Programming 14:46UTC Sig was 5 by 9 +20

15.436.00Khz AM Voice: Chinese News Programming lots of noise with this signal, fading. Most likely propagation related. 14:47UTC Sig was 5 by 9

15.510.00Khz AM Voice: Weak signal station, news reporting in unknown foreign language. lots of noise and fading, propagation related. 14:51UTC Sig was 5 by 7 swinging to 9

15.770.00Khz AM Voice: Foreign male choir singing followed by a male speaking, sounds possibly like Portuguese. 1453UTC Sig was 5 by 9 +20

17.104.52Khz - 17.113.00Khz AM: OTHR? Loud and wide banded! 14:57UTC Sig was 5 by 7 to 5 by 9

17.555.00Khz AM Voice: Spanish programming. 1500UTC Sig was 5 by 9 +15

17.680.00Khz AM Voice: Spanish programming with music. 15:06UTC Sig was 5 by 9

17.795.00Khz AM Voice: English religious programming with music and scripture reading. 15:10UTC Sig was 5 by 9 +20

11.550.00Khz AM Voice: Spanish programming 15:28UTC Sig was 5 by 9 +15

11.713.00Khz AM Voice: People chanting, as if reading from something. Bad audio but signal was 5 by 9 +15 15:31UTC

11.772.00Khz AM Voice: English religious programming giving the following info, but no station ID 1-800-338-3030 P.O. Box 1 Los Angeles, Ca. 90053-0001 15:34UTC Sig was 5 by 9 followed by Pastor Melissa Scott. Even in her Pastor's garb she's HOT! How does a woman go from being a porn star to being a Pastor and why does the church even allow it?

11.845.00Khz AM Voice: Spanish programming host with phone caller. Great sig at 15:37UTC with 5 by 9 +20 and up to +40! Same program heard on 11.930.00Khz

12.050.00Khz AM Voice: Spanish Programming host with phone callers 15:39UTC sig was 5 by 9 +15

12.787.92Khz USB Voice: Marine Weather Forecast 15:42UTC sig was 5 by 9 +15 and nice audio!

13.089.00Khz USB Voice: Marine Weather Forecast 15:43UTC Sig was 5 by 9 +15 Good audio!

13.682.00Khz AM Voice: China Radio International 15:46UTC Sig was 5 by 9 with fading

Who Reads ShortwaveAmerica?

People in Germany, China, Russia, Netherlands, Canada, South Korea, United Kingdom, Denmark, and Finland, that's who! The first five countries are SWA's top international readers. Thank you to everyone who reads!

Those of you in China who read SWA should be ready to defend your right to read this publication after the recent piece about Firedrake. There may be a time when China officials see the criticism there and likely ban this publication. Should this happen, please feel free to e-mail the blogmaster and we'll find a way around that!

It would appear that either no one from the middle east has viewed this site or SWA may have been banned in those troubled regions. ShortwaveAmerica wants to issue a challenge to the international readers:

1. Although you guys and gals give this site traffic, the U.S. readership outranks international interest in this site. Do you international readers really want to be beat out by Americans? According to the stats, you international readers love this site and this site loves you right back, so pass this blog on to your friends, your family, whoever you know! Post the link to this site everywhere, give it to strangers too!

2. SWA wants the readership of people in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Spain, Puerto Rico, Italy, Central America, South America, North Korea, Australia, Japan, and anywhere else. If you international readers have friends, family, business associates, or aquaintances in any of these countries; tell them about this site!

SWA loves it's American readers just the same as it's international readership, so those in the U.S. should know that you are highly appreciated! ShortwaveAmerica has seen a rise in traffic approaching numbers in the dramatic range for a publication of this type. Thank you to all of the readers out here!

Other stats for ShortwaveAmerica:

The most volume of traffic comes from readers using Internet Explorer with Windows followed by those using Firefox & Windows. A small percentage of the readers use Linux, yet others are a small percentage of people using Chrome, Opera, and lesser well known systems.

ShortwaveAmerica gets it's highest amount of referrals from Google. The other sites will remain a secret, because the top two referring sites you wouldn't believe even if a screen shot were published here, and SWA wants the users of those top sites to enjoy their privacy. Likewise, this publication doesn't want to start a war with the top referring sites & their users.

Keep visiting everyone! Thanks so much for the time you spend here!

Firedrake - The Great Firewall Of China

HF Underground has an excellent thread running touching on the subject of what is known to be the greatest and most powerful use of censorship in the world, the Firedrake. Finding the Firedrake Jammer has become a worldwide fascination for those who hate censorship, especially when it masks something truthful.

China has long been known to be one of the last remaining communist places on earth, and they guard the airwaves with every bit of resources they have. Firedrake is said to be operational aboard Chinasat 6B.
To know what Firedrake is, where it is, and how it works you should first follow the next two links to what appear to be the best written articles on the subject:  Satdirectory ends it's report with very specific information about where Chinasat 6B is. Wikipedia's report on Chinasat goes on to tell everyone in the second section describing Chinasat, that the satellite was to be used for "improved radio and television reception"; something we all have come to know as an outright lie and makes ya wonder just who wrote that entry!

The Chinese Jammer - Keith Perron & Mark Fahey Interview takes place over on Youtube. Two interesting things from this interview are that Fahey was able to distinguish which channels each portion of audio come from, and he was able to make a CD quality copy of the music that makes Firedrake what it is. 


Some essential questions that need to be asked about Firedrake & Chinasat:


Why 38 transponders? You don't need 38 transponders to jam, so what are the other transponders being used for? 


Why the games with renaming or re-numerating all the sats in the Chinasat program? Did China really think this was going to confuse anyone with brains?


Why can't China let go of their communist regime, and what is it in the critical material presented by various stations that China is so afraid of? What does China have to hide? One day, whether it be through radio, TV, or the passage of time and the changing of society; skeletons will rattle, pointing their bony fingers at the responsible parties. 


As technology evolves & advances, doesn't China know that sooner or later they will be subject to the same embarrassing attacks they once had to deal with before Sat6B? Someone, somewhere will get fed up enough to outsmart whatever security is in place and no amount of Government intelligence work will detect it. 


Lastly, didn't China ever figure out that someone with skills in Direction Finding was going to find their relay stations? Afterall, they are emitting RF! Pay particular attention to SW-J's post at HF Underground.

Firedrake Quicklinks: 

ARRL: Firedrake On The Loose Again


IARU Firedrake Article Including Chronology

Here is the CD Quality sample of Firedrake for all of you.

New York Ham Aquitted Of Cellular Use While Driving

The ARRL has recently released a statement regarding the New York Ham who was parked while using his mobile amateur transceiver. This individual was aquitted in city court after failing to win his case in traffic court.

The city court ruled along the lines of differentiating between a cell phone and a citizen's band radio. Amateur Radio is not citizen's band, but under this court ruling, the legal statement and legal effect is the same in the end: an amateur radio set is not a cellular telephone according to New York Law!

Commenters at a popular radio communications forum have asked good questions about the FCC rules difference between amateur and citizen's band, due to CB being covered under Part 95 rules and Amateur Service Radios falling under Part 97 rules. It seems that they may be worried about amateur radio and CB being mixed up with each other. After all, this is a common public image problem because the public usually has zero technical knowledge and no knowledge of what separates CB and Amateur Radio.

SWA encourages mobile hams to always carry a copy of their FCC License, a copy of PR91-36, and a copy of FCC Part 97 rules, as well as a copy of your state's laws on distracted driving or cell use while driving. Always respond to police in a professional manner when pulled over, and remember you can write in to their department later and complain or hire an attorney to do that for you. The police cannot remember everything and are just as human as we are.

Congrats to our fellow ham in New York on a well fought case!

ShortwaveAmerica Readers Ask Questions, Give Praise

Tom, AB9NZ asks: "When are you going to add some content to this cool site?"

SWA Answers:

Thanks for reading, Tom! As you are probably well aware, shortwave stations are disappearing due to several problems on part of the station management having largely to do with wanting to focus more on local listenership, and the rest has to do with funding, as well as a lack of knowledge about the wide range of listeners the shortwave broadcasts provide for the station.

It seems that only a handful of stations are still on the air. Thankfully, we can still hear Germany, Radio Taiwan International, China Radio International, Radio Habana Cuba and some pirate stations such as The Crystal Ship, Outhouse Radio, Radio Rin Tin Tin (yes, lovingly named after the old story of that friendly K-9 by the same name.)

Finding shortwave or amateur radio related news that is worthy of posting, is original, and not already hyped by sites / publications such as QRZ, ARRL, PopComm,World Radio, etc. is kinda hard to come by. SWA likes to find and post the stuff that no one else cares to print, neglects to review or refuses to consider.

The radio listening audience is still out here, but have become silent about their activities for good reason. The major players in radio news don't always know what everyone wants to see in print on the web so they just print along the same old revolving door of subject matter. SWA is not afraid to experiment with content, and is always on the look out for new material not covered elsewhere, or only sparsely covered.  

An Anonymous reader says:
"I love your blog! Your writing is quite professional, and even my wife thinks so; she's a professional writer herself and says it's a well done publication. Keep writing & publishing!"

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! It's nice to see people are paying attention out here!

N3U/FLT93 - 9/11/01 Memorial Station

N3U Pa Memorial Station For Sept 11, 2001 Attacks , USA Lookups:   2190 QSL: W3PN Biography Detail Special events station N3U / United Flight 93 will be activated  Sept 09 - 13, 2010 to remind "Amateur Radio Operators World-Wide"  of the tragic events that happened near "Shanksville, Pa,  New York City and Washington DC on  September 11, 2001."  This operation (along with the prior "P41USA" operations from Aruba Island)  will be sponsored by the "Blair Amateur Radio Society"  (W3PN) along with various local,  state & government agencies  (City of Altoona, Blair County Pa, Red Cross, EMA/911,  LEPC, PEMA, DHS) N3U / United Flt 93 operators will include:  Bob W3BTX / P49T, Roy W3TEF  and various other W3PN club members.  We also intend to include different bands &  modes during this "1st" ever initial upcoming operation  in September 2010. Operating Freq (+ -) Phone               CW 1.850              1.810 3.820              3.530 7.195              7.030  -------              10.120 14.240           14.030  18.130           18.090 21.300           21.030 24.930           24.895 28.485           28.030 50.130           50.090        N3U/ Flt 93....... QSL INSTRUCTIONS Note: Everyone worked will get a QSL card  "Direct or via Buro" DIRECT QSL: Please send to W3PN & include SASE &  enough return postage. If additional postage is needed...your QSL will  be returned via the BURO.   *Special note: USA postage rates will increase in 2011 BURO QSL: Starting in December all remaining QSO's  (not counting any DIRECT QSL's rcvd) will be sent via the buro.  **If you need your buro card sent to another ham,  please email w3btx@arrl.net with information /request. ***Please DONOT send your QSL via the BURO.    It saves everyone time & money.  Please no E-QSL or LOTW at this time] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September 11, 2001.............Sequence of Events............. . Photos on back of QSL card At 8:47AM, American Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City killing all on board. This tower collapsed at 10:28AM. At 9:03AM, United Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower (2nd tower on left) killing all on board. This tower collapsed at 10:05AM. At 9:45AM, American Flight 71 crashes into The Pentagon Building near Washington, DC killing all on board. At 10:10AM, a large side section of the building (at the point of impact) finally collapses. At 10:10AM, United Flight 93 crashes (into an open field) in SW Pennsylvania. Earlier at 8:01AM, (4) terrorists hijacked United Flight 93 and was diverting the plane towards their intended target (the Capital) in Washington DC. The passengers and crew made a decision to stop this from happening and at 10:10AM, the plane crashed in an open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The N3U/Flt 93 Memorial Operation is  dedicated to United Flight 93 Thanks to everyone who has worked  N3U/Flt93 or P41USA Last modified: Fri Aug 13 05:52:30 2010

Radio Hamseda

Shabnam Assadolahi is a human rights advocate who uses her show, Hamseda, to highlight violations of human rights in order to bring these acts to public knowledge in an effort to pressure the Iranian government to stop it's tortuous acts. Hamseda  ( means a United voice) Persian show is only two hours Live on Sundays from Ottawa on 97.9 FM ( and from www.Chinradioottawa.com).  www.radiohamseda.net You can hear this show live if you are in a local receiving area or by going to the site and downloading from the archives. English translation is provided by a translation assistant. Shabnam has a Facebook page where she posts news about the show, and keeps other updates for listeners. As of right now, there is no shortwave availability. SWA is going to try to change that by working with Shabnam and her show supporters to help find a station that is interested in carrying the show beyond the local Canadian FM dial.

Chicago FM Club Misleads Elmwood Park Newspaper, Public

The Chicago FM Club states to be an amateur radio club. They boast to be the largest club around, but all a person has to do is listen to their repeater systems, attend a few meetings / club events, look at the CFMC roster, and it suddenly becomes clear that CFMC is a political club disguised as a radio club. Field day is the largest, most active event in the United States for amateur radio operators who usually take their equipment to parks with their clubs and operate on emergency power. Field Day operators also operate from their homes using normal power supplied from their homes and there is an ARRL classification for those operations as well. Those field day stations operating out in the open air usually have a GOTA station, a CW station, a Digital station, some have satellite operations happening, and all sorts of other radio neatness. Recently, CFMC caught the attention of the Elm Leaves for their field day event. All you have to do is read the article to see misrepresentations & exaggerations. The Elm Leaves is a newspaper based out of the Chicago suburbs and is a company of Sun Times Media. ShortWaveAmerica is going to debunk the statements made by CFMC members in the article one at a time, and then follow up with other facts about this organization. Statement One:  "It's always the last weekend in June," said Mike Brost of Norridge, a member of the amateur radio club. "It's a global thing. New Zealand, Australia, China, Germany, Canada -- the entire world is on the radio. Reality of Statement One: Field Day is not intended as a DX event. Never has been, and never will be. The ARRL does not give clubs nor individual operators any point multipliers for DX stations. Field Day is a U.S. event disguised as an emergency operations readiness drill but, is really just a contest similar to the other ARRL sponsored contests. Statement Two: "This is our staging area," said Rick Duel of Chicago about the gazebo at the park. "We've been here six or seven years now." Statement Two Reality: Field Day doe snot involve any staging areas. This is whacker speak to sound and look important. In amateur radio lingo, a whacker is someone who gets involved in emergency communications and uses it to look more important than they really are. Another reality of this is that CFMC has not been at an Elmwood Park site or any site with a gazebo for six or seven years. In fact, CFMC has had up to three field day sites with one site having been in or around Niles, Il on the property of a public works facility.  Statement Three: The radio group uses the event to help stress emergency preparedness. And most of the operations use generators to power ham radios. Statement Three Reality: Anyone who has witnessed a CFMC field day knows for certain that any generator usage gets shut down as soon as the media and the public are gone, and overnight operations begin. This means that CFMC goes to the usage of near-by power sources from a 120VAC plug. Statement Four: "We're simulating a communications exercise among other hams," said Bob Odrowski of Palatine. "In any emergency event where there's a major power outage, the police departments and the fire department may not be able to communicate. During (Hurricane) Katrina, most of the communication was done by ham radio operators." Statement Four Reality: A close examination of our nation's emergency communications plan shows that emergency responders have their own communications equipment that has more advanced technological features that are not very likely to fail, and if they did...hams would not be the ones called into action. There are internal policies about who a public safety department contacts in the event of a communications failure, and it's always going to be a radio tech. Police & Fire Unions forbid anyone not on their approved list of service providers to do anything at all, period! Hams did provide comms during Katrina, that is true. Statement Five:  "A lot of us have (ham) radios in the car," Brost said. "When I was driving through Wyoming and Colorado, I could talk to South America and Spain from my car." Statement Five Reality: Brost admits in this statement that he performs distracted driving, which is against the law in every U.S. State. Keeping an eye on one's driving is more important than talking to someone on a radio, and may even save a life. Don't drive and perform other actions, it just doesn't make sense. Statement Six:  "It's really amazing who you meet," Duel said. "King Hussein of Jordan was a ham radio operator. So was Barry Goldwater, when he was alive. John Bon Jovi and Joe Walsh are, too." Statement Six Reality: King Hussein was a radio operator, this is true. Bon Jovi and Mr. Walsh? Nope! None of those two gentlemen even know what amateur radio is! Conversations were had with Mr. Bon Jovi and Mr. Walsh back in the mid nineteen nineties and both men said they have no time for playing radio due to the realities of their own lives. Both men stated they have never held amateur radio licenses at any time. Today, there is no trace of them in the FCC ULS database where FCC licenses are stored for the public to view. Statement Seven: Operating a ham radio goes hand in hand with storm watching, weather spotting and tornado chasing, said Tina Odrowski.   Statement Seven Reality: No, it doesn't. All of these activities are the same thing. Tina had no clue what she was talking about here. Amateur Radio Operators do not "chase tornadoes", they volunteer their time for the National Weather Service after receiving storm spotter training. The National Weather Service decides when to activate their spotters. Not every spotter is a licensed amateur.  Licensed amateurs are a small portion of the storm spotter communiyt and are usually looked at as a joke. Statement Eight: "Doppler radar is limited," she said. "In some cases, it can't see the storm, where people on the ground can. "And that's really important to know when the (National) Weather Service is trying to determine what type of warning to put out." "Ninety-nine percent of the time, a storm watcher is also an amateur radio operator," Bob Odrowski said. Statement Eight Reality: The NWS can see everything in the sky just fine with their equipment! NWS equipment cannot see from the ground to a certain portion of the lower atmosphere, which is why teh NWS uses spotters. Doppler Radar, Satellite Imaging, and all of the other NWS tools work just fine and the fact needs to be known that Storm Spotters are not trained meterologists, although some of these people think they are. T%he NWS knows quite well what warnings and watches they need to put out and they do it BEFORE activating spotters and without the help of spotters. Again, not all spotters are amateur operators. Ninety Nine percent of the time, a person who spots a true danger isn't even a trained spotter. Other times, severe threats are spotted by municipal public safety personnel. Spotters use a combination of cellular telephone, E-Spotter, 911 calls, but the amateur radio involvement is a rather small portion of the spotter community. Those spotters who are licensed amateurs are outnumbered by other spotters who are not licensed amateurs. Statement Nine: Duel noted Chicago FM was the first club to operate a repeater for a Spanish club. "We're the single biggest, and one of the oldest clubs, in the Chicago area," he said. "We have 250 members. We're like a social club with radios. We like having a good time in our own way." Statement Nine Reality: CFMC created a division among local amateur operators with this spanish group because very few of these guys speak english and the FCC requires them to identify in english which they never do. CFMC is not a radio club although their state charter says they are. An in-depth examination of CFMC shows that the organization is a political / social club made up of older males who all come from municipal public safety departments, broadcast TV / Radio, Transportation such as CTA workers and truck drivers to include tow truck operators / employees and others who are senior or tenured union employees. All of these individuals have far reaching city, state, and federal connections that may possibly be highly inappropriate. CFMC has a history of financial files that disappear but then magically re-appear when consequences loom. CFMC also applied to become a FCC VEC (Volunteer Examination Coordinator) and the FCC flatly refused to have them.CFMC has a stronghold on local amateur radio testing, a questionable practice. Over a period of years, CFMC has built an empire centered around their repeater systems which are almost exclusively used by organization board members, their close friends in the organization who have special permission to operate the system,  and "jammers" who use shocking language and engage in other FCC prohibited activities. This has always posed a problem for members who pay dues to the organization for "membership" but get denied the benefits of their dues per the organization's corporate constitution. CFMC has a past of deciding when and to whom their corporate constitution applies. There is existing documentation to prove this. CFMC has a history of turning away newly licensed hams as members because of the organization's unwritten rule about not letting outsiders in. The organization is made up of older males who have known each other for more than 30 years and they thrive on exclusivity between themselves and their specially approved others. Statement Ten: "And among us, we have a wealth of information," Prize said. Statement Ten Reality: The wealth of information Prize refers to is held in strict confidence among board members and specially approved CFMC "members".  Amateur Radio technical knowledge is not something CFMC helps anyone learn. CFMC's mentality is that you should already be an electronics expert BEFORE you join them or even obtain an amateur license. Something referred to as "elmering" is not going to happen. Statement Eleven: Brost said club members come from different backgrounds and bring different experiences. Statement Eleven Reality: Read Statement Nine Reality. Statement Twelve: "We can communicate with the military," he said. Statement Twelve Reality: No, you can't. Amateur Operators cannot operate outside of the license classes they earn at their testing sessions. The FCC has set aside frequencies for the amateur radio bands and the military does not use them. Amateurs do not conduct military operations or communications. NTIA has frequencies for military operations and communications, used strictly for and by the military. MARS is not an active organization and was recently threatened with "Sunset". A lack of new MARS membership and lack of interest from current membership is placing MARS in grave danger. MARS frequencies are not any secret to anyone, and if you listen, you'll not hear any amount of MARS activity at all. Statement Thirteen: "Amateur radio is not just a hobby, it's a service. We're able to link radios, like we did during Katrina, so we could cover the entire state of Louisiana." "And you can also turn it into a trade, a profession," he said. "There's a huge demand for this niche market for people who have that skill." "A lot of the electronic engineers are getting old and retiring," Duel said. "Companies need people to replace them."    Statement Thirteen Reality: The FCC has stated that amateur radio is NOT a service in the respect that these CFMC members are speaking in. The FCC has made it quite clear that amateur radio is for HOBBY use only! Duel's comment about using an amateur radio license to gain employment is way off the mark. Part 97, section 97.113 and all of it's subsections in all of it's language spells out that no amateur radio licensee may receive payment for station operation, may not receive gifts for station operation, and may not use an amateur radio license for anything other than the operation of an amateur station. Duel implies that technical skills are learned in amateur radio and this just isn't true. The study books have the questions and answers in them for each license class. Those electronics engineers who are retiring are being replaced with computers and other cheap technology that gets thrown away and bought again new when it fails. No techs are used to fix anything anymore due to the cost. Maintenance costs more than buying a new toy to run an operation. This article has laid out the truth of the CFMC organization and how they misled the Elmwood Park Media and therefore, the readers of the public. Update 9/11/2010: since this article was published at SWA, it has been observed that the article SWA linked to at the Elm Leaves on-line publication has been pulled. Attempts to reach the writer for the Elm Leaves have been unsuccessful.  Threatening / slanderous comments on this SWA post have been removed. SWA chooses to keep this publication civil, and moderates comments toward that goal. Unlike certain amateur radio forums, SWA does not allow trolls, slander, defamation, libel, etc.

State College Chills Licensed Amateur Citing Security Concerns About Amateur Equipment Receiving Frequencies Outside Amateur Bands

N1YS, a disabled ham attending a State college which is obligated to follow all state & federal laws to include PR 91-36 and the ECPA has effectively chilled N1YS and requires him to turn in his amateur HT each time he comes into the building because his equipment receives frequencies outside the amateur spectrum. http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=253387&page=3 No contact information is posted at QRZ for this ham beyond his address. QRZ used to list e-mail addresses, but it looks like they have stopped that practice. N1YS did not give the name of his college, but did confirm it is a state run operation, which would also fall squarely under the 1st amendment as far as communications are concerned. Security said to him that "we do not want anyone listening to our frequencies". If anyone out here thinks they can lend support to N1YS, please consider stepping up. Tolerance equals consent in this type of matter and can set a dangerous precedent for licensed hams, as well as the public if this is allowed to continue.

New York Radio Amateur Ticketed Under Cell Phone Law For Using Amateur Transceiver

From The Southgate Amateur Radio Club: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2010/traffic_ticket_anger.htm This story is also hashed out at QRZ and E-Ham. Video can be found at Youtube. A similar incident has happened before, with the New York Judge convicting the accused ham operator. The judge in that case stated that New York does not recognize amateur radio, nor does it recognize exemptions at the state or federal level for licensed amateurs. This past case will likely pose a burden for our fellow ham in this case in the form of New York Case Law and Court Precedent. All the best, we hope you see this ticket dismissed! If this ham loses his case, PR91-36 will likely not mean anything anymore, neither will any state level exemptions. Maybe the Amateur Radio community should petition the ARRL and the FCC to hold formal training for Law Enforcement Officers on the differences between Amateur Radio and other two way radio communications versus cell phones. They truly do not seem to be able to tell the difference, and this can put Federally Licensed Amateurs on the line quite unfairly, and endanger the amateur radio service altogether. Those rare disaster emergencies in which amateur radio plays a part are just one item that should be on the agenda to discuss, but overall, the issue needs to be brought that if it becomes illegal to operate mobile, how long will it be before hand held portable amateur radio operation becomes illegal while walking down the street?

Dick Van Dyke Show Plays Lincolnshire Poacher

Watching the Dick Van Dyke Show this morning proved to be quite interesting. The show was about different cultures and languages. The older son in the show was playing the guitar for a younger male cast member when a lady walked in and had a couple of bags in her hand. The song being played on the guitar by the older lad was none other than the famous "Lincolnshire Poacher". This is the original history of the song This is the history of the Lincolnshire Poacher in regards to it's use on shortwave / HF radio by British Intelligence. As you can see in both versions of the history of this song, it isn't associated with anything good. Poaching however, is the least harmful of the uses of this work. Something you may want to know is that for the Dick Van Dyke show, they changed the lyrics from the original work so as not to make it recognizable. For humor's sake, shall we assume that Dick Van Dyke was trying to say something? Send a message to someone? Maybe he knew this song's popularity and knew that it was a major hit among radio hobbyists back then even. Strange what you notice on TV after a time engaging in the radio hobby.

Happy Station Show To Feature Shortwave America

Keith Perron, host of "The Happy Station Show", carried internationally via PCJ Media and WRMI - Radio Miami International, will host the annual Happy Station Show tribute to radio. This show's feature is Shortwave America. An interview with this author is the subject of the feature. Tune in to 9955Khz (9.955.00Khz). More information can be found at PCJ Media If you miss the show, click on the archives link at the PCJ site and then click on the show for March 18th.

Keith Perron Joins Amateur Radio Ranks

The long time international shortwave broadcasting celebrity, and current host of the long running "Happy Station Show" has taken, and successfully passed his Amateur Radio Exam in Taipei, Taiwan. Keith is now just waiting for the Ministry of Communications to issue his callsign and send his license. Congradulations, Keith! Expect a pile - up when you start calling! Everyone is going to wanna work you!

British Men With SBS Equipment Being Held In India

Two British men who traveled to India with their electronic aviation plane spotting equipment, commonly known as SBS, which is used by hobbyists and aviation professionals alike, are being held for questioning in India after a waiter at their hotel said they appeared suspicious. http://netindian.in/news/2010/02/16/0005353/two-british-men-plane-spotting-gadgets-being-questioned-delhi

Canadian Pirate Arrested - Equipment Confiscated

A minor in Canada, all of 14 years old was arrested and had his equipment confiscated in Ottawa, Canada recently. Complaints to IC and other authorities in combination with a reported suicide threat made by the minor, who was operating his pirate station out of his Father's strip club had authorities on to his operation quickly. A popular Canadian radio forum first broke news of this pirate station, known as MixFM. This young man also posted his telephone number and actually took callers who were then put on the air. Reports state that MixFM programming was mixed with profanity and diatribes. According to available information, the youngster may have been running at up to 3.5KW ERP while using a dipole mounted on a tower. The first website used by MixFM on a service called piczo has been removed, but MixFM is back as an internet broadcast operation without the benefit of generating RF. At this juncture, the young man who is not being named due to the fact that he is a minor, has vowed to obtain RF generating transmitter equipment again and put his unlicensed operation back on the air. As a side comment, this blog questions Industry Canada's competency in another matter related to this as far as why they cannot take VE7KFM off the air and yank his license, yet they can take this young man off the air using all sorts of manpower. Linkage is here , here, and  here

HF Propagation: Have You Ever Wondered?

Anyone who turns on a shortwave receiver or an amateur HF radio in any mode (AM or SSB) may notice that the signal comes and goes. This is called fading. Although fading isn't always bad, there are times when it's bad enough that you turn your radio off in disgust. Many people blame bad HF reception on near-by electronic sources and this can sometimes be the case, but if you have your listening station properly set up, then you may be no victim of local interference, but to a change in ionospheric propagation. This well written piece over at QSL.Net says it is a beginner's introduction to understanding propagation, however, it is so well written and so concise that you just might become an expert just by reading and understanding everything.That said, it would be understandable if a person wanted to further pursue the subject of ionospheric propagation. There will be more coming on the subjects of antenna's and propagation in the future. The follow up posts to using antennas will be forthcoming and is under development.

Strengthening Your SW Reception Antenna On Grundig / Eton SW Receivers

The radios named in the title come with antennas that are very well constructed, and good for almost all SW reception. Mike, over on the SWA Facebook site brought this topic up, and it was agreed that this topic is an excellent one to post! So, Mike, Thanks for this material! The Grundig and Eton SW Receivers come with a small antenna connector in the back of the radio. You can use a longwire such as cheap copper stereo wire or something similar, and it's very easy to use! If you live in a dwelling that allows outside antennas, throw your antenna around two of the highest points of the roof. If you cannot erect any antennas outside, using the highest points of the inside of the dwelling will also work well. Always make sure to extend your attached manufacturer's antenna to full length, as the antenna will hear much better. Unless you are very advanced in radio technology and electronics, I do not suggest taking your radio apart to work on the provided factory antenna. Doing this will also void your warranty if it is still in effect. For those who are advanced, or have access to someone who is advanced, a good pre-amp can be used in line with the factory antenna. MFJ and a few other corporations make some nice pre-amps! Prices will vary by brand and model, so be sure to do lots of looking around. One draw back of using a pre-amp, however, will be that a pre-amp can help bring in noise along with your desired signal reception, so knowing how to work with various filters in the radio helps! This is just a basic article and will not become much more technical than this tonight. Perhaps a follow-up article will be written giving links directly to working with these issues. 73 for now! SWA

Shortwave America On Twitter!

SWA can now be found on Twitter. The whole blog name was too long, and S_W_A was already taken, so look for SWA as ShortwaveUSA.

In the most recent Twitter revolution, it was thought that readers may want to use Twitter to catch up with SWA if there are those people who use it for radio information that follow SWA.

One fan of ours, PCJ Media is also there and will be very happy to see SWA make it's appearance there!
Hope to see everyone there!

Merry Christmas!

Shortwave America (SWA) will be on break during Christmas. Posting at Facebook, and the official SWA blog sites will resume December 27th 2009, and will be followed by another break in posting from New Year's Eve through New Year's Day. Posting will then resume January 2nd, 2010. Everyone be sure to celebrate safely! If you plan on drinking, even one alcoholic drink, make sure you have a designated driver. If you don't think that's possible...then hand your keys over to someone who will let you stay the night so you can drive home ALIVE and help keep other people using the roads safe and alive as well!

CCrane 2 Radio With 2 Meter Amateur Radio Band

CCrane has accomplished something that no other radio manufacturer has! The marketing of a dedicated AM/FM radio with the addition of the 2 meter amateur radio band. This came to the attention of this author via WBBM Radio commercials by CCrane. The CCrane website tells the basic story of this radio. There are some radio enthusiasts, especially licensed amateur operators who might be happy using their all band - all mode transceivers for this task, but if you wanna shut down the rigs and just have simple coverage in your home somewhere outside the shack without having to buy a scanner receiver, this is your option! A small review of this radio can be found at E-Ham direct,  via this link