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See how dvara.org looked in the past

Platinum Media, a unit of Madison Media Group has just announced that it has won the media planning and buying account of Dixcy Textiles. the account was previously handled by MPG and is estimated to be at Rs25 crores.

Tirupur-based hosiery giant, Dixcy Textiles markets its products under the names Dixcy and Dixcy Scott. Within a short span, the company has been able to garner a healthy market share because of high customer satisfaction of all products offered by the company. the company is into inner wear, thermal wear and casual wear and has aggressive growth plans.

“We are delighted that Dixcy has appointed us as their Media AOR and are confident that we will be able to add a lot of value to their business and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership,” said Basabdutta Chowdhury, CEO, Platinum Media.

“Talks were on for almost two years about this shift and also new product launches and the expertise of the agency to handle the same has made us take this decision,” said Rahul Sikka, Director, Dixcy Textiles.

Madison Media Group comprising Madison Media and Platinum Media is a part of Madison World, which also has specialist units in Advertising, Business Analytics, Out-of-Home, PR,Mobile, Rural, Retail, Sports and Entertainment employing over 1,000 communication professionals acrossIndia,Sri LankaandThailand. it is India’s foremost media agency group handling media planning and buying for blue-chip clients including Airtel, Godrej, Cadbury/Kraft, ITC, General Motors, Marico, McDonald’s TVS, Britannia, Procter & Gamble, Asian Paints, Tata Tea, Levis, SpiceJet, Axis Bank, Domino’s, Bharti Axa, MaxNewYork Life Insurance, Tata Salt, Acer, Dish TV, Imagine TV, Indian Oil and many others. the gross billing of Madison Media is Rs3,000 crores.

the next step in establishing full Rapid Attack, Identification, Detection and Reporting system capabilities is underway at Peterson Air Force Base. the 16th Space Control Squadron and 380th Space Control Squadron, a Reserve Associate Unit, formally broke ground near the east gate Jan. 17 for the new RAIDRS space control facility.

“This has been an incredible feat, especially when you consider the very challenging fiscal and manpower age in which we live,” said Col. Chris Crawford, 21st Space Wing commander.

the $14.3 million facility will be 47,427 square feet once completed and house personnel from the 16th and 380th SPCS.

“With the birth of the new building we finally have the opportunity for the entire set of units to live together, to work together in one building,” Crawford said.

the RAIDRS prototype, the Satellite Interference Response system, was initially deployed to U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility in July 2005 for a 120-day proof of concept.

out of this initial success, SIRS was redesignated as RAIDRS Deployable Ground Segment zero and has been continually deployed to the AOR as Operation Silent Sentry. Airmen from the 16th and 380th SPCS have provided the preponderance of the required manpower for this deployed mission since January 2007.

the new facility will be the central operating location for the RAIDRS system. the facility at Peterson, along with various suites of transportable antennas deployed around the world, will be able to detect, characterize, geolocate and report sources of radio frequency interference on U.S. military and commercial satellites in direct support of combatant commanders.

“Basically the DoD uses satellites to communicate over vast distances, and these satellite communication links are vulnerable,” said Lt. Col. Roger Sherman, 16th SPCS commander.

the 16th and 380th SPCS monitor certain signals of interest from RAIDRS. If the operators pick up any interference, they start taking action.

Operators first characterize the problem, then geolocate, or pinpoint the location on the Earth where the interference is coming from, according to Sherman.

“That will allow us to tell the user of that signal to go to a different frequency or satellite transponder. in the case of something hostile, we can provide decision makers with information as to where the hostile action is coming from,” Sherman said.

Completion of the facility is expected during fiscal year 2013.

I knew Bob Simon since the early ’70s (I remember our first meeting at the Golden Door’s darken bar in 1970 . . a clandestine get together of two guys from two competing stations) — and worked with him at KJR and KZOK. I liked him and thought he was a natural air talent. He didn’t do wacky voices or comedy bits . . . he only had one schtick . . . something most guys don’t have: The natural ability to communicate one to one. Ironically, although he often called himself “B.S. for The great Northwest” he had no B.S. on the air.

But . . Bob did not fit into A.O.R. radio. He wasn’t into the music and when it came to the “hip” crowd he always felt like he was on the outside looking in.

After leaving the KZOK air staff . . he came back a few years later to the join the station’s sales stuff. And was successful.

Advertisement

Outdoor TV manufacturer SunBriteTV has hired independent shop The Buddy Group as its digital agency of record. The Irvine, Calif.-based agency is charged with handling social media for the company’s first consumer-facing integrated campaign to launch in the spring.

“We’re doing a complete brand makeover. We’re rebuilding the website, making it very consumer friendly,” said Tom Dixon, vp of marketing at SunBriteTV. The Buddy Group’s first work is to build Facebook pages that will go live in connection with the site’s expected February relaunch.

But the bulk of The Buddy Group’s work will debut in April to support the launch of SunBriteTV’s signature product line that Dixon said will be more affordable for the average consumer. Social media will be the campaign’s primary channel, but SunBriteTV will also run print ads in luxury lifestyle magazines and target initiatives to consumers in California, southern Florida, new York, Chicago and Texas.

Sporting venues featuring the company’s products include Gilette Stadium, Wrigley Field and Soldier Field, but Dixon said “our biggest challenge is people just don’t know these products actually exist. Conventional wisdom says thou shalt not mix electronics with water.”

The Buddy Group was the only agency SunBriteTV considered for the role, Dixon said. he had worked with the agency while serving as vp of marketing at audio technology company DTS.

SunBriteTV works with a variety of boutique creative agencies such as Oneplustwo, said Dixon. Definition Branding and Marketing handles PR.

Now this happens to be an area in which I have a fair amount ofexperience. I’ve been listening to shortwave for almost 30 years. Ihelp produce a monthly magazine on the topic, serve as a member of theboard of directors of the largest shortwave radio club in the Americas,and am webmaster of a popular and well-regarded site for that club.I think that in an earlier entry in the series, the Professor brieflymentioned how some people have elaborate setups with long antennas andexpensive radios and such.

I am one of those people.

So I figured that maybe the audience that eats this stuff up atBeware the Blog might be interested in what you can hear with anoutdoor antenna specifically constructed to be good at receivingshortwave and a top-notch radio. On June 28, between 1855 and 2013 UTC(2:55 and 4:13 pm), I tuned through the 25 meter band, extending from11500 to 12200 kHz, recording as I tuned. My shack is down the shore inMonmouth county, about 30 miles south of WFMU’s Jersey City location.I’m about 5 miles from the ocean and maybe 2 or 3 miles from the bay. Ihave a couple of external antennas, one long piece of wire about 300feet long, and another about 100 feet long in a configuration called a T2FD. My main receiver is an AOR AR-7030 Plus,a tabletop communications receiver designed by the genius Englishengineer John Thorpe. AOR offers an optional noise blanker and notchfilter, and I had those installed when I bought the radio. When I sentthe radio back to the U.K. for servicing a couple of years ago, I alsohad AOR retrofit the radio with the ability to receive digitalshortwave broadcasts. the radio is basically all tricked out.

One thing you’ll notice as you listen is that most of these stationsare the same international broadcasters you can hear with a portablereceiver. There’s often a conception out there that one of theseexpensive tabletop receivers are required to hear oddball weakstations. but the truth is that what these radios and the antennasassociated with them really get you is better reception of the stationsyou can already hear for the most part, and the ability to "clean up" amessy signal to some degree. You can hear almost anything on a portablethat I can hear on my radio. You probably won’t hear it as well, andnot as often. but when the conditions are right, you can do amazingthings with a portable receiver. the reason to get a tabletopcommunications receiver is to do those amazing things even when theconditions are just shy of right.

If you’ve listened to any of the Professor’s recordings, you’llnotice one thing different about these recordings: as I approach astation, you will hear a descending tone. the reason for this is thatwhen I scan a band, I typically do so in sideband mode rather than AMmode. An AM signal consists of a carrier and two sidebands. Thesidebands carry the audio information, and they are mirror images ofeach other. Someone realized many years ago that this meant that one ofthe sidebands was redundant, and that it was possible to transmitrecoverable audio by transmitting only one sideband and no carrier.Radios that can tune sideband transmissions have the capability ofgenerating their own carrier to replace the missing one on the signal.so how does this explain the descending tone? When I tune across an AMsignal in sideband mode, the carrier of the AM signal and the carriergenerated by the radio generate what’s called a heterodyne; basically,the tone that you hear is defined by how far apart the two carriersare. a radio-generated carrier that’s 800 hertz away from the carrierof the AM signal the radio is receiving generates an 800 hertz tone. Asthe tuner approaches the carrier, this tone drops in frequency.Ideally, with a radio with sufficient resolution, you can place theradio-generated carrier right on top of the signal’s carrier. This isuseful for a couple of reasons: first, on a weak, fading signal, theradio-generated carrier is likely to be far more stable, allowing thereceiver to decode the sidebands without the fading one associates withshortwave. Second, when you’ve placed the radio-generated carrier righton top of the signal’s carrier, whatever frequency the radio shows isthe station’s frequency. It’s surprising how often they’re a little bitoff the frequency they’re supposed to be on. in some cases, withstations that are known to be off frequency all the time, this can evenhelp you identify the station. the tone that’s generated by thecarriers when they’re separated is called a "beat", so when you’vesuccessfully placed the two carriers together, that’s called "zero beat".Not all stations that generate a heterodyne have recoverable audio. Sotuning in this manner is a good way to find even weak stations(although I wouldn’t log a station simply based on hearing itsheterodyne; that’s considered bad form).

There are radios out there that do this heterodyne hunting automatically. This feature is called "synchronous detection",and what happens is that the radio finds the carrier, locks on to it,and substitutes its own carrier automatically. You would think thiswould be something you would find only on expensive tabletop radios,but the two best synchronous detectors produced in a non-military radioare on portable receivers, the classic Sony ICF-2010 (now discontinued, but produced for 20 years, a testament to its high quality) and the brand new etón E1XM.  the synchronous detector on my 2010 is far better than the one on my early Drake R8,and probably even a little better than on my AOR AR-7030 Plus. Theseradios are definitely at the high end of the spectrum of portables, butyou can get a radio with an excellent synchronous detector for muchless; the Sony ICF-7600GRtypically costs less than $150 and has pretty much the same circuitthat much more expensive ICF-2010 had. with synchronous detection, youcan reduce the fading that can make shortwave difficult to listen to,and in most implementations, you can select one or the other sidebandto listen to. That’s very useful; if there’s a strong station 5 or 10kilohertz above a station you’re trying to hear, tuning to the oppositesideband can make a signal that’s being interfered with perfectlylistenable. That’s one reason I tune in sideband mode, but theseportable receivers make it easy to do that at a fraction of the cost.

The 25 meter band presented here is a transitional band; at times oflow sunspot numbers, like now, it is mostly a daytime band; at times ofhigh sunspot numbers, as we’ll probably see in about four or fiveyears, it’s useful at night as well. At this hour of the day, the bandis open to quite a bit of the world, including Europe, Africa, andparts of Asia. a few hours later, shortly before sunset at yourlocation, European stations would likely be inaudible, but more Asianstations would be available. This is prime listening hours in Europeand Africa, so many of the broadcasts recorded here are directed there,and merely overheard here in North America. That’s one of the neatestthings about listening to shortwave is this ability to eavesdrop on theworld. One other nice thing about this reception is a relative lack ofU.S. religious and fringe political broadcasts. Personally, I’m not afan of those broadcasts, and tend to tune right by. There are a coupleof instances of them in these recordings, but they’re far outweighed bynational and even local broadcasters.

Segment 1 – 25 meter band 06-28-2006 (download MP3)

11605 – Deutsche Welle

This sounds like it might be Arabic via their transmitters inWertachtel. One thing that’s interesting about listening to broadcastsin languages you don’t understand is that, once you’ve listened to anumber of broadcasts, you can often figure out what kind of program isbeing aired. This is toward the end of the hour, and there areaddresses in a number of countries being given. the largestinternational broadcasters often open postal addresses in othercountries so that their listeners in that country can write themwithout having to pay for anything more than domestic postage. There’sa brief stinger after the addresses that gives the identity of thisstation away; this brief piece of music is used in all their languageservices.

11620 – All India Radio

News from India in English via transmitters in Aligarh. and tuned injust in time to get the ID at the top of the hour! Shortwave is full ofbroadcasts like this, offering a different perspective on the news thanwe usually get in the U.S.

11630 – Golos Rossii

Russia’s external service in Russian via Moscow. the news ends, thenthere’s an ID for "Radio Compania Golos Rossii", just like what weheard a few seconds earlier from All India Radio. Radio is radio. Oneof the nice things about my tabletop receiver is that I can play withthe sound, trying to get better reception by switching which sideband Ilisten to or engaging different filters. You can hear some of that here.

11650 – China Radio International (maybe)

Too weak to really tell.

11655 – Radio Netherlands

English via transmitters at Flevoland. Radio Netherlands is astation that definitely punches above its weight in internationalbroadcasting. the people who make the programs there have a visceralunderstanding of what it means to make interesting radio of a certainsort. As a result, their programs often win awards at festivals likethe International Radio Festivalin New York each year. One other interesting aspect of their broadcastsis that they don’t flinch from covering the darker side of life. so,for example, you get this program about alcoholism, something youwouldn’t expect to hear from most international broadcasters.

Radio Netherlands’ programs compare favorably to those of the BBC,from a station in a country that doesn’t speak English as their firstlanguage and made with a tiny fraction of the budget. they do it bydeploying their limited resources carefully, by hiring excellentpeople, and by being clever. for example, when the BBC World Service shut down its shortwave broadcasts to North Americaa few years ago, Radio Netherlands seized the opportunity and bought upmany of the now-silent transmitter hours for a few weeks so that whenpeople tuned in expecting to hear the BBC, they would hear someexcellent programming in English, but from Radio Netherlands. Theycouldn’t afford to buy most of the time permanently (although NorthAmerica did gain a morning broadcast from them that wasn’t there beforeas a result), but they gained some listeners and some goodwill from theBBC’s now abandoned listeners.

11655 – Voice of the Arabs (Egypt)

Arabic music via Abu Za’bal. This is pretty faint, but you can hearthe music, slightly distorted because I was tuning in SSB and didn’thave a perfect zero beat here. There are a number of stations thatbroadcast hours and hours of Arabic music, many of which come in muchmore strongly than this.

11680 – BBC World Service

Arabic broadcast from the BBC via their transmitters in Rampisham.whatever they’re talking about, it has something to do with Israel.

11690 – Deutsche Welle

Arabic from DW via Wertachtel, Germany.

11695 – China Radio International

French transmission via a relay in Cerrik, Albania. CRI is really anup-and-comer in international shortwave broadcasting. At a time whenthe BBC and Deutsche Welle are abandoning large patches of the globeand the VOA is cutting its English broadcasts in favor of focusing onsurrogate home services in Arabic, Farsi, and other language, CRI isexpanding its broadcasts. It’s investing in relay stations to ensurethat they’re widely heard everywhere. and it has seriously upgraded thequality of its programming. This is not your father’s Radio Beijing.

11705 – Radio France International

If Radio Netherlands punches above its weight, RFI has long punchedbelow its weight. Much like its insistence that French is the languageof diplomacy long after English has usurped its former position there,so French is the language of international broadcasting. they focuslargely on former colonies, so perhaps there’s a justification fortheir approach. they have an hour or two per day to Asia and maybe abit more to Africa in English, and most of the rest of their broadcastsare in French. They’re well respected, particularly for their reportingin Africa, but within Anglophone communities perhaps not as visible asthey could be.

Segment 2 – 25 meter band 06-28-2006 (download MP3)

11735 – Radio Tanzania Zanzibar

This station is a great example of a station that’s worth listeningto despite having no clue what the presenters are saying. mostly, theybroadcast music, and it’s beguiling. Typically, there’s a fairsprinkling of the local taarab music, mixed with Arabic pop, Indianfilmi music, and African music, largely South African and Congolesestyle. I like the use this station as an example of how I switchbetween being a DXer and being a program listener. the first time Iheard this station, I was thrilled to add a new station and a newcountry to my log. the next 70 or 80 times I listened, it was because Iloved the music. I actually took to listening to this station mostafternoons while I worked for a while.

This particular reception is not the best representation of theirprogramming. the reception is a little weaker than usual, and this kindof unaccompanied Arabic singing is not what I usually hear. That said,I still enjoy listening to it. RTZ typically starts fading in aroundmid-afternoon; given that it’s summer and that this recording was madenot long after the longest day of the year, that fade in is fairlylate. in the winter, it’s much earlier. There’s a five minute newsbroadcast in English every weekday at 1800 UTC, relayed from theirlocal FM station aimed at tourists, Spice FM. That’s not so easy tohear at this time of year, but in the autumn and winter, it comes inquite clearly.

Given that, this station comes in much better an hour or so later.Check out this bonus reception of Radio Tanzania Zanzibar from 2017 totheir closing at 2100 UTC. RTZ is without question one of my favoritestations in the world.

11740 – Holy Koran (Saudi Arabia) mixing with Radio Farda

Many Arabic countries broadcast readings of the Koran. Saudi Arabiahas a station entirely devoted to it. While the readings sound quitemusical, it’s considered offensive to describe it as "music" or"singing". the Saudi station is mixing with Radio Farda, a U.S. stationaimed at Iran, broadcasting in Farsi and serving as a surrogatedomestic service in much the same way that Radio Free Europe and RadioLiberty did for Warsaw Pact countries and the Soviet Union during theCold War. Sadly, this is usually being done at the expense of the Voiceof America, which has a reputation for impartial news reporting andprobably does more good for America’s image abroad than all of thesesurrogate stations combined.

11755 – YLE Radio Finland

Finnish via Pori. This station recently decided to stop transmittingon shortwave, and in fact are already off the air. in lieu of this,they’re saying they can better reach their audience of expatriate Finnsvia satellite and the Internet. they used to broadcast in English aswell. several years ago, they had a wonderful English service thatbroadcast a half hour a day, with a number of releases throughout themorning that were easy to hear here in North America. Then they movedtheir broadcasts to the North American evenings and largely lost theiraudience. I had a conversation with the head of Radio Finland at the Winter SWL Festin Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, several years ago shortly after they madethis move, and told her why I thought this was a bad move. in theevenings, they were competing against the dozens of other broadcasterswho were trying to reach North America at the same time, and they kindof got lost in the noise. but their morning broadcasts, which coincidednicely with breakfast time across the continent, had littlecompetition. I don’t want to take credit for the move, but the nextseason they reinstated their morning broadcasts. Unfortunately, by thentheir audience had moved on, and it wasn’t much after that when theydiscontinued broadcasting in English. That was a shame; they hadexcellent programming that I enjoyed listening to.

11775 – Caribbean Beacon

The late Dr. Gene Scott® has been covered pretty extensively in TheProfessor’s musings, but I have to say that I particularly like thisclip where he talks about getting laid. This is a nice example of theGood Doctor’s more eccentric approach to evangelism.

11780 – Radio Nacional da Amazonia

Portuguese language domestic broadcast from the capital, Brasilia.This is a national service, aimed at areas in the Amazon and theinterior of Brazil that are not well served by AM and FM stations. Theyplay some interesting music, and, unlike international broadcasters,they include commercials. Latin America has a tradition much like NorthAmerica’s with small local commercial broadcasters dominating the sceneas opposed to monolithic national broadcasters like in the rest of theworld. Even a large national broadcaster like this one can sound like acommercial broadcaster. There are dozens of shortwave stations inBrazil, and this is one of the strongest and easiest to hear.

Segment 3 – 25 meter band 06-28-2006 (download MP3) 

11785 – Possibly Radio Free Asia via Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands, or Chinese Jammer

The music here is clearly Chinese. Radio Free Asia, the U.S.’surrogate home service for China and a few other countries, is jammedby the Chinese using transmissions of traditional Chinese music. It’snot uncommon in this circumstance for propagation to favor the jammingstation and not the jammed station. so it’s probably the case here thatwe’re hearing the jammer, but not the jammed. That said, the fact thatI can hear the jammer more clearly here in the eastern U.S. is noindication that the same is true in China itself; often times whenpropagation is different at the transmitter site and the jammer site,the jammer will have little effect on the transmission it is attemptingto jam.

Most jamming is unpleasant to listen to, such as the dieselengine-like sounds used by the Cubans against Radio Marti. the Chinesejammers, on the other hand, aren’t half bad, and can be listened to fortheir program content. I wonder if the jammers QSL….

11795 – Deutsche Welle

German via Kigali, Rwanda. the largest shortwave stations, like theBBC, VOA, and Deutsche Welle, maintain numerous relay stations aroundthe world. This way, the signal doesn’t have to travel too far to reachits intended audience. This transmission is from Rwanda, and is one ofthe easiest ways to hear that country. It’s perhaps not as interestingas hearing Radio Rwanda though. Radio Rwanda is not an easy catch; itsbroadcast on 6055 kHz is usually covered by one European broadcaster oranother. There is a five minute window from 2055 to 2100 UTC afterRadio Slovakia signs off but before Rwanda signs off when Rwanda canoccasionally be heard. interestingly, that last five minutes of theirbroadcast every day is usually filled up with IDs in a number oflanguages, including French and English.

Arabic via Qasr al Kharana. At this hour, there will be a lot ofthis sort of unadorned vocalization, which is often broadcasts of theHoly Koran.

11820 – Holy Koran (Saudi Arabia)

This is the same station as on 11740, but this time not mixing withRadio Farda. This transmission is aimed at Arabs in Europe. America isin the same direction from Saudi Arabia (just a little further away),so this broadcast typically pounds in here.

Not sure who this is, but they’re in Arabic.

11850 – Voice of Turkey

French via Emirler. There’s an ID in French, "La Voix du Turkey",toward the end. the best source for IDs in languages you don’tunderstand is the World Radio TV Handbook.they typically print IDs in many or most of the languages anybroadcaster transmits in. so you don’t need to speak the language inorder to ID the station.

Hausa, the language of northern Nigeria, via Ascension Island in themiddle of the south Atlantic Ocean. Probably. I don’t hear an ID, sothis goes down as tentative in the logbook.

11895 – possibly China Radio International

Sounds like Chinese, but pretty weak.

11915 – Holy Koran (Saudi Arabia)

More of the same station as on 11820. the clicks you hear in hereare the sound of me flipping between the two frequencies to confirmthat they’re the same broadcast. Finding parallel frequencies like thiscan be used as a way to identify stations in a language you don’tunderstand. It’s not as good as hearing an identification or aninterval signal, but it will do in a pinch.

America’s anti-Castro surrogate domestic service to Cuba. Totallywiped out by those diesel noises. Not nearly as listenable as theChinese jamming, is it?

11940 – China Radio International

English via Kashi. Their English language program is closing. Thisis a good time to get an ID, as is the beginning of a broadcast.

Segment 4 – 25 meter band 06-28-2006 (download MP3) 

11945 – Radiodiffusão Portuguesa

Portuguese to Africa via Lisbon. This station used to broadcast inEnglish, but stopped about five years ago, along with all other foreignlanguages. now they only broadcast in Portuguese, aimed primarily atexpatriates and former colonies. On weekends, you can hear soccerbroadcasts on this station, which are almost as animated as theSpanish-language broadcasts on Univision during the World Cup.

11975 – Voice of America

English to Africa via São Tome, a small island off the west coast ofAfrica. This station is very weak. VOA is often much stronger andeasier to hear, but not on this frequency at this hour.

11995 – Radio France International

French to Africa via Moyabi, Gabon. This is relayed via the transmitters of Africa Numero Un,a commercial shortwave station broadcasting to Africa that plays someexcellent African music. RFI also often plays some great African musicand can be worth listening to in French for that. This is just a newsbroadcast, however.

12015 – Radio Exterior de España

Arabic from the home of the Moors.  Lots of talk about American-Arab relations.

Not sure who this is, but they’re broadcasting in Arabic too.

Relay of their domestic service in Arabic via Abu Za’bal. Egypt isthe home of much of the Arabic language music industry, so Radio Cairocan be worth listening to for the music. Unfortunately, they’relegendary for their poor audio quality.

12070 – Voice of Russia

English service via Moscow with the latest news. This is followed upwith a program promo in the dulcet tones of Estelle Winters, an expatBrit who has worked for VoR for several years. That high pitched voicereally cuts through the static. She came to the Winter SWL Fest inPennsylvania several years ago, and served as the keynote speaker. Shealso brought a prize for the Fest raffle, a no-expense paid trip to agolf resort just outside Moscow (she was appropriately sheepish aboutit, but it was all she could get someone to donate). I was sitting inthe back of the room next to two of my best friends when this excitingprize was drawn in the raffle. the one friend muttered to himself"please, Dear God, not me" as the winning ticket was drawn; two secondslater, his name was called out, and I and our other friend burst outlaughing.

12085 – Radio Damascus

Syria’s English service via Adhra is not an easy catch here in NorthAmerica. I think this is English, but it’s awfully muddled. You canhear me trying to adjust the radio to get a better sound, but nothingreally worked.

12095 — BBC World Service

English to Africa via Ascension Island. This frequency used to be onthe air pretty much 24 hours a day from a variety of transmittersaround the world, and could therefore be heard at almost any time ofday. with the BBC de-emphasizing shortwave, that’s not so much the caseany more.

World Wide Crackpot Radio, from Nashville. I couldn’t leave youwithout at least one example of the fringe politics and questionableclaims that emanate from the modern day equivalent of Doc Brinkley andthe border broadcasters. the odd sound here is a result of my not quiteaccurately zero beating this signal.

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That’s it. Again, much appreciation to Ralph Brandi for his work and insight in providing the meat and audio for this post. (And you can check out his personal blog here.) I hope you can do this again sometime Ralph.

But, it sure would be swell to hear some reception in this series from other reader/listeners as well. I like the bandscanning format a lot, but I’m open to historic or rare recordings of shortwave as well. and as far as bandscanning, I’d really like to hear some reception from around the country and the world, on AM as well as shortwave. If you’re interested in making recordings of scans, or have some radio recordings sitting around that might provide compelling content for this series please send me an email. and if you’d like any tips or suggestions I might have as far as recording or encoding radio for the web, drop me an email as well. While it would be great to get more audio contributions from experienced DXers like Ralph, if you have an interest in shortwave or venturing through far off late night AM signals AND have a tape recorder, you could do this too.

If you’d like to write about shortwave or the reception you’ve recorded (as Ralph has here), that’s great, but not compulsory. however, providing a log or notes offering the frequencies (and local or UTC time they were received) would be extremely helpful. I’d really like to hear what it’s like to tune across the AM or shortwave dial in Alaska, California, Luxembourg, Guam, New Zealand, just about anywhere (especially not in the NE U.S. and the Midwest, the only locations I’ve offered bandscan recordings from thus far in this series). My preferences are that there’s some English language broadcasting in the mix, and that at least some of the reception has enough clarity to be understood.

Always interested in comments, corrections, questions, and other relevant interaction. please leave them in the comment box below or you can send me an email here. in the next post in this series I think ‘ll get back into the medium wave realm– AM radio. Other posts on such topics can be found here.

Thanks for listening.

Matt Harveysaid…

Hi, I have the following airband radios. top 3 are1960′s Nova Tech Pilot II – analogue, great squelch control and lovely audio.1990′s Radio Shack Pro-2036 (made by Uniden), very sensitive, fast scan and good clear audio. Connected to Howes Active Aerial.1990′s Yupiteru MVT-7100, very sensitive, audio is not bad. let down by internal noise appearing in129 – 131MHz range,this makes any stations in this range hard to hear clearly. All the Yupiteru models I’ve tried seem to have this weakness.Bottom of my list are :1990′s Win 108 it is quite hissy once the squelch is open, it gets tedious listening on this set.2006 Uniden UBC 92 XLT I find the squelch is too coarse. the audio is very noisy, similar to the Win 108. Audio power output is too low and cannot drive external speakers very well. I think it would have been better if it had been designed with 4 AA’s instead of 2 to provide more useable power.For the future I’m thinking of the Uniden BCT15 which they don’t seem to have any EU release plans for.I also need to get my 1960′s Shorrock and Gauer’s sets working again.should also mention the best advance I have is not another scanner but my Kinetic SBS-1 Virtual Radar. it has transformed my aviation hobby….Hope this is of interest.Matt

5:38 PM, April 08, 2007Nick B.said…

Hello again.Reading though Matt’s list of receivers I realized I’ve been through a few myself, mainly during the early 1990′s when I spent a lot of time listening to Mil Air. I started with a Realistic PRO-2005. Bought this new from Tandy and set it up at home with a discone. Performance on both VHF and UHF airband was very good, apart from the odd problem with pager interference around 135MHz.I then sold this and bought the AOR-1000. Big mistake! Although this hand-held covered the frequency range, sensitivity was poor and it was very prone to overload on a discone. I also found the programming very unfriendly after the PRO-2005.I was then fortunate enough to buy a second-hand PRO-2004. This was as good as, or probably better than the 2005. it has a metal case, as opposed to the plastic one on the 2005, and a sloping panel with a membrane keypad. it was easily modified for 400 channels and faster scan speed. I had this for over ten years before selling it.One day, whilst on a visit to Lowe Electronics, I saw a Signal R-535, complete with battery pack which was quickly snapped up. Lowes were also kind enough to let me a have a copy of the service manual. Performance of this receiver is probably one of the best I have heard as is is a dedicated AM receiver. Compared to keypad-entry scanners is it a little slow to program at first, but once mastered there is no problem.Regrettably I sold the R-535, or rather exchanged it for an AOR AR-8000. Again, not something I was particularly impressed with so it got part exchanged against a MVT-9000. Another mistake. the MVT-9000 was another unwilling victim to local pager breakthrough on VHF so had to go, being exchanged for an Icom IC-R10E. I was never really happy with this either and it eventually got sold on.then I got Realistic PRO-60. Simple to program, just like the 2004 and 2005 base scanners, with excellent AM performance. This was regular visitor to the north of Scotland with me, spending many hours monitoring the range traffic at Tain, amongst other places.At home I acquired a PRO-2042. Again, excellent performance for a Realistic scanner, with a few added features compared to the earlier 2004 and 2005.Recently, I was lucky enough to get a dead R-535 which I have repaired. Still a solid performer. They still hold their value, which is probably because they are unique as far as airband monitors go.

10:34 PM, April 11, 2007Peter Cottlesaid…

Hi can any one help me I am a newbe and recently acquired a commtel 102 and it works fine however i took the bateries out and it lost the frequencies. I dont have an instruction set to re programme it. when I have keyed in the frq’s it says error. I am stuck and unsure what to do.Regards allPeter

8:16 PM, May 12, 2007Anonymoussaid…

Hi everyoneI have a UBC 3500XLT scanner and am trying to locate a Service Manual to enable me to work out the connections on the remote socket to connect to a PC.Also a source for the miniature plug to fit the socket.any help appreciated.Dave G0IXZ

4:18 PM, January 28, 2009

Magnuson Hotels has announced yet another complete rebranding of the Magnuson Hotel – Port Allen in Louisiana. the world’s largest independent hotel group, Magnuson hopes to improve the regional and national positioning of this 48 room accommodation on the outskirts of Baton Rouge.

The hotel located within shouting distance of Louisiana State University, the Mississippi River, LSU Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge River Event Center, Belle Baton Rouge Casino, and the Mall of Louisiana, is a perfect midrange hospitality solution for corporate, business, or leisure guests. Tom Magnuson, CEO of Magnuson Hotels, expressed his welcome to the new affiliate; “We are proud to welcome mr. Patel and his staff, and are committed to increasing their property visibility and reservations.”

Magnuson Hotels grew to become the world’s largest independent hotel group in just under 8 years. the strength of the Magnuson promise is free marketing and strategies for hotels typically on the beltway or outside prominent city centers. Magnuson helps these hotels compete with larger brands with websites, marketing tools, GDS help, and other free propositions aimed at maximizing the bottom line. Bookings are the core value in Magnuson efforts for member partners.

The news that Thomas Magnuson will launch a free booking solution for all hoteliers in January, takes the world’s fastest growing hotel name to the next level – agnostic free market booking channels. GHX, as the new brand and platform, will be the first of its kind online travel agency (OTA) so designed to leverage Magnuson ideals. the son of an Idaho hotel owner, Magnuson and his wife Melissa started their chain in their living room. now, Magnuson Hotels is on the verge of a disruptive strategic innovation that will change the way people book hotels.

Magnuson Hotel – Port Allen, and independent hotels like it, now have a massive potential to compete with the most influential hospitality brands in the world. Magnuson operates some 2000 + hotels in the US and the UK now. GHX will be a global player offering a new and economical channel for all hotel owners.

For more information about this new Magnuson Hotels member, please consult the PRWeb press release here. You can also visit Magnuson’s Facebook or Twitter feeds, or CEO Tom Magnuson’s g+ profile. we leave you with YouTube Channel video from GHX, please stay tuned for upcoming Magnuson and Global Hotel Exchange news.

Pamil Visions, parent company of Argo Travel News, is the AOR of Magnuson Hotels and GHX.

LSU cheerleader image courtesy Chiceaux Lynch

By JOE EDWARDSAssociated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Dobie Gray was more than a smooth balladeer who recorded the timeless hit “Drift Away” in 1973.

He wrote songs for an array of country and pop performers, was a trailblazing entertainer in South Africa and, in death, a philanthropist.

Gray died in his sleep at his Nashville home Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 69.

“Drift Away” also was recorded by rap artist Uncle Kracker in 2003 and became a hit again.

Gray's silky tenor also was heard on other hits including “The in Crowd” in 1965 and “Loving Arms” in 1973. His songs received radio airplay on several formats including top 40, country, AOR and adult contemporary.

“He had such a unique style, so identifiable,” said Bud Reneau, Gray's close friend and songwriting partner. “If you listened to his record, you knew right away it was him. it was a big factor in his marketability.”

Gray toured extensively in Europe, Australia and Africa, and insisted on performing for integrated audiences in South Africa, according to his web site. After that declaration, he became especially popular in South Africa.

“I guess what you call my 'signature songs' will never die, thank God,” he told the Tennessean newspaper in 1988. at the time, he was the only major black vocalist to call Nashville home.

He wrote songs recorded by Ray Charles, Johnny Mathis, Etta James, three Dog Night, Julio Iglesias, John Denver, George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

Gray sang on several motion picture soundtracks including “Uptown Saturday Night,” ''out of Sight” and “Casey's Shadow.” Additionally, he sang advertising jingles for companies such as Clorox, Budweiser, Hardee's, Honda and Buick.

“I talked to him the day before he died,” said Charlie Andrews, Gray's attorney and friend. “We just talked about life and living and general stuff.”

Gray was born into a family of sharecroppers in Simonton, Texas. He moved from Texas to California in the early 1960s where he met Sonny Bono, then an executive with Specialty Records. this led to his first record, “Look at Me,” in 1963. while in Los Angeles, Gray appeared in a production of “Hair.”

Funeral arrangements were incomplete. He was not married and had no children.

Reneau said Gray willed much of his property and future earnings to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

“He was a giver,” Reneau said.

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