Sunday, February 09, 2014

Wavescan NWS259





* Theme - 00:00
            “Birthday Serenade” - Willi Glahe

* Opening Announcement - 00:17
            Welcome to “Wavescan”, international DX program from Adventist World Radio
            Researched and written in Indianapolis, produced in studios of shortwave WRMI
            Program outline
                        1. Review: WRTVHB 2014
                        2. Radio Conventions
                        3. International DX News
                        4. Philippine DX Report
                       
* Review: WRTVHB 2014 - 01:00
            The long awaited 2014 edition of the World Radio TV Handbook has finally arrived, and we take delight in giving you an audio preview of this important annual publication. 

      Ray Robinson KVOH
            All 672 pages are chock full of interesting and uptodate information that is fundamentally necessary for any and every international radio monitor.
            This 68th edition of the WRTVHB is compiled, as always, from information obtained directly from thousands of mediumwave, shortwave and FM stations located in all countries around the world, together with monitoring information provided by a panel of well known international radio monitors who specialize in different areas of the international radio spectrum.  The publisher is Nicholas Hardyman, the International Editor is Sean Gilbert, and the high quality annual volume is printed and published in England.
            All of the several articles in this year’s WRTVHB are, as always, of real interest, and the first tells the radio story of international radio monitor Max van Arnhem in Holland.  Listed also are the names of the many international radio monitors who provide monitoring assistance to WRTVHB.  Some of these men you may know personally, some you know by name only, and others are equally well known in other parts of the world.  You will note for example, that Jose Jacob VU2JOS in India is listed representing his country.
            Listed also are reviews of half a dozen new radio receivers varying in price from $245 right up to  $6500.  Some of these receivers are stand alone units, and others are attached to a computer system.
            Two men who stand high in the international radio world have contributed major feature articles.  Jerome Berg of suburban Boston presents “The History of Shortwave Broadcasting in a Nutshell”, together with half a dozen mouth-watering QSL cards in full color.  Victor Goonetilleke of Colombo Sri Lanka tells the story of “Broadcasting in Sri Lanka” with on the spot photos.  Another feature article presents the story of the Voice of Vietnam from Hans Johnson in Florida.
            A total of 13 maps in shiny full color show you the locations of the world’s shortwave stations; then begins the listing of mediumwave and FM stations with postal addresses in every country in alphabetic order, beginning with Afghanistan.  The listing of mediumwave stations in Australia shows a total of only 14 transmitters in 5 states operating at 50 kW, all on the air with government ABC programming.       
            The highest power for a commercial station on mediumwave in Australia is 10 kW, with just three stations, 4KQ (693 kHz) & 4TAB (1008 kHz) both in Brisbane, and 6PR (882 kHz) in Perth.  The Public Broadcasting Station 2WEB in Bourke NSW also operates at 10 kW on a mediumwave channel, 585 kHz.
            The listing for Brazil shows nearly 2,000 mediumwave stations with 100 on shortwave; China & Russia have just as many, and the United States has even more..  Lonely Pitcairn Island is shown with two FM stations at very low power; 87.5 MHz with 2½ watts and 107 MHz at 1 watt.  Zimbabwe is at the end of the alphabetic list in the section for national radio.  The international shortwave section is followed by a listing of all clandestine stations currently on the air. 
            Just as appealing is all of the advertising presented in full color.  Many receivers are shown, as is also transmission equipment for broadcasters, and radio magazines with a wide appeal too.

* Program Announcement - 06:30
            Allen Graham

* International DX News - 07:16
     Spy Numbers Stations
            Item from Radio World

    New Time Zone for India
            Reports from North East India indicate that serious consideration is currently being given to the introduction of a new time zone for all of the north eastern states.  At the present time, there is only one time zone in all of India, UTC plus 5½ hours, and this is 90 minutes wide right across India.  Unofficially, the tea gardens in North East India observe their own time zone, one hour later than the official local time.

     Chinese News Reporters Visit Northern Finland
            The New Zealand DX Times reports that a group of news reporters from China visited a DX camp in northern Finland to investigate the mediumwave DX scene.  A total of 14 beverage antennas each 3,000 feet long is established at the DX camp, and one of their major interests is to tune in to mediumwave stations that are on the air in mainland China.
            And while we are talking about China, we can mention another item in a recent edition of the New Zealand DX Times.  A giant radio receiver was placed on display in the radio museum in the lobby  of the Central People’s Broadcasting Station in Yunnan province.  This radio was built at a nearby radio factory, it measures 14 ft long, 8 feet high & 4½ feet thick, and it was designed to tune in the four local radio channels.
            A recent edition of the magazine Radio Maailma in Finland reports that a new longwire beverage antenna was installed at their DX camp at Aihkinienmi.  The antenna was beamed at 160 degrees and a multitude of mediumwave stations in Iran were logged.

     London England
            The American radio magazine Popular Communications reported a while ago that a radio has been produced in London with the use of a printed circuit board which is in the shape and the form of a map of the underground railway system in London.

     New Radio Stations in New Skyscraper in New York City
            The American news magazine Radio World reported recently that the new skyscraper in New York City is now ready to accept organizations that would like to establish radio and TV stations in their building.  This new tower, One World Trade Center, is constructed on the site of the previous buildings that were destroyed in the air attack designated 911, September 11, 2001.  The height of the new building stands at 1776 feet at the top of the spire, ⅓rd mile high.  This is 49 feet taller than the previous building on the same site.
            In another report, Radio World printed a photograph of a wireless transmitter that was in use in Berlin for the broadcast of speech transmissions in the year 1906.

     AWR on FM in India:
            Currently, Adventist World Radio is on the air on five FM stations in India.  The scheduling is as follows; and we might add, that reception reports would be appreciated:-
            Hyderabad      AIR      Vividh Bharathi            102.8 MHz      10 kW  Telugu Daily 1730 IST
            Pune (Poona)  AIR      Vividh Bharathi            101.0               10                    Fri Sat Sun 1845 IST
            Shillong           AIR      FM Rainbow               103.6               10                     Fri Sat Sun 1645 IST
            Trivandrum                 Big FM                          92.7                 5                     Fri Sat Sun 1330 IST
            Bengaluru        AIR      FM Rainbow               101.3               10        English Fri Sat Sun 1645 IST
                                                                                                                                    Also via AIR DTH

            And while we are talking about AWR FM transmissions, we report that the first AWR FM station in Indonesia was inaugurated recently at Menado in the province of North Sulawesi.  This station is currently on the air on 90.6 MHz 12 hours daily according to the license requirements, and it is expected that a full time schedule will be introduced during the earlier part of this year 2014.  The station identifies on air as Radio Angkat Nafiri in Bahasa Indonesia, a title that is taken from the AWR theme melody under the title, “Jesus is Coming Again”.

     Special Amateur Callsign AU3NIAR Celebrates Three Decades in India
            The National Institute of Amateur Radio was established with its headquarters at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India in the year 1983. The activities of the organisation include Awareness Programs, Training, Technical Workshops, Advocacy, DX-pedititions, Contesting and Emergency Communications to promote people participating in Communication through Amateur Radio.  Celebrating three decades of continuous service to society, the NIAR Club station will operate a special callsign AU3NIAR throughout this year 2014, for which a special QSL card is available.

     Norfolk Island Radio Broadcasts Programs from New Zealand
            The mediumwave station VL2NI on Norfolk Island carries a relay of radio programming from New Zealand, states David Ricquish in a recent edition of the New Zealand DX Times.  Norfolk Island is an Australian territory out in the Pacific some 877 miles from the Australian coastline.  Station VL2NI operates on mediumwave 1566 kHz and the programming from Radio National in New Zealand is received on Norfolk Island via satellite.

     Usage of Spark Gap Morse Code Officially Ended
            A recent feature article states that the transmission of spark gap Morse Code in the United States was prohibited by law, beginning on January 1, 1940.

* Radio Conventions - 13:42
            HFCC 2014 Kuala Lumpur
            SWL Winterfest

* Philippine DX Report - 21:55
            Henry Umadhay

* Music of the World - 26:56
            USA Death Valley: Theatre organ, Streets of Laredo


* Closing Announcement - 27:30
            Thanks for listening to “Wavescan”, international DX program from Adventist World Radio
            Researched and written in Indianapolis
            Next week:-
                        1. Focus on Asia Philippines - 6: Navy Wireless at Cavite
                        2. Bangladesh DX Report
            Two QSL cards available - AWR & WRMI
            Wavescan address:-
                        Box 29235
                        Indianapolis
                        Indiana 46229 USA
            Wavescan @ AWR.org
            Jeff White, shortwave WRMI

* Music Outrun - 28:29

* Program Ends - 28:55