Radio User 2018 012 - December

Radio around the World Comms from Europe
LM&S becomes International Radio Scene The Midland Dual Mike
December 2018 £3.99 www.radioenthusiast.co.uk

Review & Competition Win bhi’s
Dual In-Line Module Worth £199
Radio on the Water

Piloting The Solent using Radio Communications
An SDR User’s View

ISSN 1748-8117
of the Icom IC-7610

Aerial Analysers | Airprox & East Midlands Airport | HFGCN Monitoring
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Index
Contents Favourites Reviews Features News
Cover Story
December 2018 Vol. 13 No 12 14 Radio on the Water
On sale: 22nd November 2018 John Periam unlocks the fascinating world of radio
Next issue on sale: 27th December 2018 communications in ship pilotage on the Solent.
RadioUser
Warners Group Publications plc
The Maltings, West Street
29 Digital Radio
Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH Kevin Ryan installs welle.io on an Android tablet and
www.warnersgroup.co.uk reports from Continental Europe and the IBC.
Tel 01778 391000
Editor 36 Software Defined Radio
(c/o Warners Group Publications plc) Andrew Barron appraises the ICOM IC-7610 SDR
Georg Wiessala
wiessala@hotmail.com transceiver, from the angle of SDR enthusiasts.
Designer
Mike Edwards 39 Network Radio
mike.edwards@warnersgroup.co.uk Chris Rolinson relives Newark meetings, enjoys a
Advertisement Manager professional presentation and listens to emergency
Claire Ingram communications from North Carolina.
claire.ingram@warnersgroup.co.uk
Multimedia Sales Executive 43 Scanning Scene
Kristina Green Tim Kirby looks at DropBoxer for WTR Browser,
kristina.green@warnersgroup.co.uk
Tel: 01778 392096 evaluates signals and tests satellite prediction tools.
Advertising Production
Nicola Lock 6 Subscriptions Page 46 Comms from Europe
nicola.lock@warnersgroup.co.uk Avail yourselves of our subscription offers; never Simon Parker assesses the Midland Dual Mike,
Publisher miss a review, article, offer or competition again. charts CB events and introduces new transceivers.
Rob McDonnell
robm@warnersgroup.co.uk
7 News & Products 48 International Radio Scene
Subscriptions An indoor loop aerial, a pi-top, remote control In her re-formatted column, Chrissy Brand surveys all
Subscriptions are available from as little
as £11. Turn to our subscriptions page for
scanner software, and a selection of radio news. forms of global radio and offers her listening hints,
full details. news and logs.
Subscription Administration 10 Radio Book Store
Radio User Subscriptions, Check out our ever-growing catalogue of books to 52 Aerials Now!
Warners Group Publications plc own and enjoy with your radio hobby activities. Keith Rawlings visits Duxford and offers a detailed
proile of aerial analysers and their functions.
Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH
Subscriptions Hotline: 01778 395161
11 Airband News
subscriptions@warnersgroup.co.uk David Smith covers Airprox-incidents, trafic volumes
and ATC comms at East Midlands Airport.
Technical Help
We regret that, due to editorial time scales,
replies to technical queries cannot be 20 DXTV – Special
given over the telephone. Any technical Keith Hamer and Garry Smith conclude their short
queries by e-mail are very unlikely to
receive immediate attention either. So, if series on the history of the BBC Weather Forecast.
you require help with problems relating to
topics covered by RU, then please write to 22 Your Feedback
the Editorial Offices, we will do our best to
help and reply by mail.
David Smith covers Airprox-incidents, trafic volumes,
and ATC comms at East Midlands Airport.
Book and back issue orders
Send your completed form to:
RadioUser Subscriptions Dept 23 Maritime Matters
Warners Group Publications plc Robert Connolly has updates on maritime environ-
mental and safety matters and goes Down Under.
Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH
26 NDB DXing
Robert traces Fishnet, Channel Marker and Cluster
Beacons and presents his detailed quarterly
loggings.
20
Sign up to our FREE email newsletter at www.radioenthusiast.co.uk

4 RadioUser December 2018
Editorial
Welcome
Auntie’s Hot Button
H
ello and welcome to
the December issue of
AudioUser. No, not anoth-
er change to the maga-
zine; I am just writing this
under the inluence of a lurry of recent
articles on the replacement of the BBC
48 Radio iPlayer by the new BBC Sounds
app – “For the Generation that Forgot
55 More of Your Feedback About Radio” (The Independent (‘I’), 31st
More of your letters, messages and e-mails received October 2018: 21). “Radio sets are scary
over the last month (Continued from Page 38). things for millennials”, the commentator
quips, as the BBC is dropping the term
56 Utility Monitoring ‘radio’, in favour of ‘audio’. The Observer
Nils Schiffhauer introduces the US High-Frequency called the app “Auntie’s Hot Button” (4th
Global Communications Network (HFGCN). November: 41).
Here at RadioUser, we stay as we are,
59 VLF Snapshot for now, and we are not scared of any
The editor briely assesses the VLF transmission form of radio; I hope that there is many Europe. Tim Kirby, meanwhile, evaluates
from SAQ Grimeton on United Nations Day 2018. a new toy under your Christmas tree this DropBoxer for WTR Browser and some
time. You know you deserve it. satellite prediction software.
60 Emerging Issues in Radio We have a bit of a maritime focus in- Our other regular columns this month
In this – now monthly – column, Chrissy Brand shows side this issue - this is no less welcome relect some smaller updates: LM&S
how international radio and audio events can signii- for it being relatively involuntary. Broadcast Matters is now International
cantly inluence broadcasting quality. In our main feature, John Periam and Radio Scene, and it merges with Radio
Geoffrey Lee accompany the pilots who Websites, to report on all kinds of global
steer ships to safe berths on the Solent, radio broadcasts, be they on LW, MW, HF,
with the indispensable help of radio. online and all other formats.
Robert Connolly continues the mari- Emerging Issues in Radio has to ac-
time safety theme in his column and of- commodate an ever-growing plethora
fers the inal 2018 instalment of NDB of current trends and developments and
DXing, homing in – if you will forgive the has gone monthly, so that you can stay in
pun – on some much lesser-known kinds the loop, as it were.
of beacon transmitter. In other sections this month, our team
The DXTV column this month contains of authors covers a range of topics, from
Part Two of the feature, by Keith Hamer ‘Airprox’ incidents, digital radio soft-
and Garry Smith, on Changes to the BBC ware, the US HF Global Communications
Weather, set against the background of Network (HFGCN), and aerial analysers,
the latest reports on our future weather. to successful, and not-so-successful, for-
63 In terms of equipment reviews, my mats of broadcasting, genre-music and
apologies to those of you who are look- the global reach of Network Radio.
63 Review: bhi Dual In-Line ing for the test of the AOR AR-DV10 Add to this the latest product news
Noise Reduction Module wideband scanner; as we went to press, on everything from custom pi-laptops
Clint Gouveia returns to look at the bhi Dual In-Line some exciting new features and capa- to indoor HF loops, and a taste of the
unit, primarily with Short Wave listeners in mind. bilities appeared, and I have, therefore, latest from the fast-moving world of ra-
held the full review over for a later issue dio, and you will, I hope, enjoy this inal
68 Off the Record of the magazine. issue for 2018.
This month, Oscar the Engineer debates non-linear However, fear not, we have plenty of re- I am looking forward to hearing
music consumption methods and critiques lazy views: Cint Gouveia reviews the bhi Dual from you in 2019 and wish you all a
broadcasting formats. In-Line Noise Reduction Unit; Andrew Very Happy, Healthy, Prosperous and
Barron looks at the ICOM IC-7610 Successful New Year.
71 Rallies & Events Transceiver in SDR Radio this month,
Our updated list of radio-related gatherings, and a and Simon Parker appraises the Midland Georg Wiessala
preview of our exciting irst issue for 2019. Dual Mike microphone in Comms from Editor, Radio User Magazine
Why not visit our new online bookshop at www.radioenthusiast.co.uk/store

RadioUser December 2018 5
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■ Network Radio ■ Software Defined Radio
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Plus all your old favourites like: Digital Radio,

Utility DXing and all the latest emerging radio issues
NE HA
WS M
Maritime Mat ters & P FES
ation
DXTV-Special HO T
perbolic Navig
Decca Hy
C Weather TO
Changes to the BB S
LM&S Broadcast Matters LM&S Broadcast Matters
The Magic of Short Wave

Chrissy Brand shares some exciting summer schedules and looks at key
radio anniversaries. Readers share their latest news and tips, including a
decoding of the first SAQ Alexanderson transmission since 2016.
David Harris 1130 to 1200 UTC, 1230 to 1300 UTC, 1330

mydogisfinn@gmail.com to 1400 UTC, 1330 to 1400 UTC and 2330 to
0000 UTC, all using 9840 and 12020kHz.
enjoy trawling the broadcast bands at When I first started DXing, The Voice of
I all times of the year but, for me, sum-

mertime listening brings its own spe-
cial magic. Once the sun goes down
on a day walking the hills or working in
Mongolia seemed an ‘exotic’ catch and, on
the rare occasions I heard it, I listened intent-
ly, straining to hear the programme details
over the mush. Today, it is easier to hear on
Ibust, tet as moloribus amusand ipsamus cuscia ipsunt volore nonectis
siast.co.uk
a city office, I’m happy to head home to tune 6005kHz from 0700 UTC, thanks to the re-
along the bands. broadcast from Kall Krekel in Germany. The
www.radioenthu
Many decades ago, it was the long warm station beams English directly to Asia from
summer nights that first hooked me onto 0900 to 0930 UTC on 12085kHz and again
world band radio. Back then, part of the at 1530 UTC on 12015kHz.
thrill was listening to classical music from
£3.99 a Conservatoire on Radio Moscow, catch- Readers’ Reports
November 2018
pen
ing the news from Down Under on Radio Bob Houlston decoded one of the historic
ught DrnsaCrtlaip
Australia or hearing Latin American mu- SAQ CW transmissions, from 1000 to 1006
sic on Radio Bras. UTC on VLF 17.2kHz on May 1st. Usually
In addition to this, the hunting down and scheduled to take place twice a year, this
eless Ca
identifying of low-powered stations in unfa- was actually the first one since 2016. The
miliar languages, particularly on the tropical next transmission is due on July 1st from
How Wtheir‘ele
bands, opened up a whole new world to me. Grimeton (callsign SK6SAQ) in Sweden, to Ibust, tet as moloribus amusand ipsamus cuscia ipsunt volore nonectis Ibust, tet as moloribus amusand ipsamus cuscia ipsunt volore nonectis
That excitement has not subsided and mark Alexanderson Day Day.
ntic chase
some of the stations I listen to today could The May Day broadcast was part of the receiver). He thanked Norman G8ATO of was off the air but returned on April New station,
be logged regularly back in the early days. European Route of Industrial Heritage’s con- Verulam ARC for technical advice. 20th. However, its absence made it eas- NE H
WS AM
’ in the tra TRT Voice of Turkey, The Voice of Vietnam, tribution to the European Year of Cultural g4pvb.eu5.net/saq.htm ier to hear the Romanian station Radio Radio Harmony,
DXTV-Special Maritime Matters
ctric constable
The Voice of Mongolia and Radio New
Zealand International still form part of my Ibust, tet as moloribus amusand ipsamus cuscia
Heritage. It included thousands of young
people simultaneously dancing at 100 ERIH
http://alexander.n.se
[see also the short article on Grimeton
Cluj, which signs on at 0300 UTC on the
same frequency.
plays a wide range of
Changes
music to the
including BBC Weather
easy Decca Hyperbolic Navigation & P FES
staple radio listening. sites, to the strains of Beethoven’s Ode to SAQ in last month’s issue; RadioUser, June Also, at 0300 UTC, Radio Kuwait is in
HO T
The role of
Thanks to Channel 292 in Germany on what is happening in the world, from the Joy (The Fourth Movement of Beethoven’s 2018: 33 – Ed.] Arabic on 5960kHz. Graham wrote, “You “ listening, oldies...
6070kHz from 1930 UTC, relatively new pro- Turkish state’s point of view. Whether or not Ninth Symphony
Symphony). Among his logs this month, Lionel Clyne don’t hear Radio Kuwait much these days. I TO
grammes can be heard, including From the you agree with the views – and the slant of There was also a dance event entitled had one unidentified station. He heard it think it was originally intended to be a gen- S
Isles of Music and Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot. the news reported – there is often a good WORK it OUT (Figs.
Figs. 2 and 3). from 1740 UTC on 6375kHz. At the top of eral station for the Arab world, rather like Al
Another newcomer is a free radio station choice of cultural programmes to hear and Bob’s decoded text was as follows: the hour, there was no identification nor any Jazeera Arabic today.” 153kHz long wave from 2100 UTC. It has a
called Charleston Radio International, heard this can transcend political and geographi- CQ CQ CQ DE SAQ SAQ SAQ SAQ =
“CQ continuity announcements of any kind, “just Graham can sometimes hear the religious programme guide in Romanian online.
on 5140 kHz. It plays 1920s and 1930s fox- cal borders. The two other broadcasts THIS IS GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ IN AN a mixed bag of fairly boring music.” station Radio Eli on 1035kHz broadcast- www.antenasatelor.ro/grila-emisiuni.html
trot, jazz and schlager music. Station an- scheduled for Europe are at 1830 UTC on EXTRA TRANSMISSION USING THE This was probably Radio Harmony, a new ing late at night in Russian. Reception is not Tony Stickells received Radio Caroline on
nouncements are made through a synthe- 9785kHz and 2200 UTC on 9830kHz. ALEXANDERSON 200KW ALTERNATOR free radio station. It plays a wide range of very good though. 5820kHz and was surprised to hear it on a
sised female voice. From Hanoi, The Voice of Vietnam broad- ON VLF 17.2KHZ. TODAY WE CELEBRATE music including easy listening, oldies, chan- http://radioeli.ru short wave frequency, since the station now
casts in Cambodian, Chinese, English, THE RADIO STATION AS PART OF THE son and opera (Fig. 4). Listening on the short waves at 0700 UTC, has a medium wave licence. This broad-
Summer Schedules French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, DAY OF INDUSTRIAL CULTURE HERITAGE. Email: harmonyqrz@gmail.com Graham heard Saudi Arabia in the 19m band, cast of Caroline will have been a pirate relay,
Four
Let’s have look at some of the English lan- Lao, Russian, Spanish, Thai and, of course, WE DO NOT REQUEST QSL REPORTS ON Graham Smith noted that WRMI is still us- the Voice of Turkey in Turkish in the 22m rather than the ‘official’ station because they
guage schedules for the stations men-
tioned above. You can start the day early
Vietnamese (Fig. 1). Its English to Europe
broadcasts air from 1600 to 1630 UTC on
THIS TRANSMISSION.WE ALSO PLAN
TO TRANSMIT ON ALEXANDERSON DAY
ing 7780kHz in the A18 season. He heard
a programme in Italian at 2300 UTC, then
band, China Radio International in Chinese
in the 25m band and an unidentified station
wouldn’t want to endanger the recently-won
November
licence after all those decades of trying.
2018 £3.99 www.radioenthusiast.co.uk
with TRT The Voice of Turkey’s hour-long 7220, 7280 and 9730kHz and from 1900 to JULY 1ST I I 1ST AT 09.00 I I T 9RTT UTC = Radio Slovakia International in Slovak at broadcasting hits from the 1960s in the 49m On 5895kHz, Tony received a test trans-
broadcast to Europe, Asia and the Americas
at 0300 UTC, on 6165 and 9515kHz. The
station maintains its lunchtime slot, a rarity
1930 UTC on 7280 and 9730kHz. These are
also aimed at the Middle East and Africa.
English to North America is on from 0000
SIGNED MS WORLD HERITAGE GRIMETON
RADIO STATION AND THE ALEXANDER
ASSOCIATION = AR DE SAQ SAQ SAQ VA VA”.
0000 UTC and English at 0030UTC. Graham
also heard right-wing conspiracy theorist
Alex Jones, aired by WWCR from Nashville,
(‘Europe’) band.
The Romanian station Antena Satelor
has changed its slogan to Noi între ai noștri
noștri,
mission in English of LKB/LLE on SSB, from
Bergen in Norway.
Other logs of note included a clandestine
How Wireless Caught Dr Crippen
for many short wave stations these days.
An hour at 1230 UTC (on 15450kHz) is a
to 0030 UTC and 0100 to 0130 UTC on
7315kHz. The Voice of Vietnam beams its
A page on Bob’s website illustrates how
to receive the transmission, even if you don’t
on 4840kHz at 0200 UTC.
www.infowars.com
which translates as ‘Ourselves amongst our
own’. The station can be heard broadcasting
broadcast to North Korea on 5917.5kHz.
This was the Voice of Freedom from South
The role of the ‘electric constable’ in the transatlantic chase
reviews in
welcome opportunity to pause and hear English service broadcasts across Asia from have a radio (convert an old PC into a VLF He noticed that Bretagne 5 on 1593kHz Romanian folk music through the night on Korea, which wasn’t being jammed and
Four
www.radioenthusiast.co.uk etc or something like that www.radioenthusiast. www.radioenthusiast.co.uk etc or something like that www.radioenthusiast.
2 May 2018 RadioUser RadioUser May 2018 3
66-67 reviews in
this issue
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November 2018 £3.99 www.radioenthusiast.co.uk SOFTWARE-DEFINED
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How Wireless Caught Dr Crippen
SUerB7S
Entering the Nyquist Zones
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Moonrak SCR erEGPA-RX

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News
What’s New
Have you got something new to tell our readers about? If so, then drop a line to wiessala@hotmail.com
Kenwood TS890
Kenwood’s new TS890 is now available in very
limited quantities. The receive performance
figures look impressive but perhaps you’re
doubtful whether the improvement over mid-
range rigs can actually be detected outside a
lab. David (G3ZPF) had the first TS890 off the
production line, via Martin Lynch, and has put
together an overview of the TS890 which may
answer that question for you. He has posted it as
a .pdf file on his website:
https://tinyurl.com/ycag6xlq
News A-Z
RAJAR Q3/18: The quarterly Data Release
Infographic by RAJAR is out. RAJAR stands
for Radio Joint Audience Research. This
is the official body in charge of measuring
radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned
by the BBC and the Radiocentre on behalf of
the commercial sector. The figures make for
fascinating reading – as ever.
https://www.rajar.co.uk/
https://tinyurl.com/yasqncqu
RAOTA OTNEWS (OLD TIMER NEWS): Ian

Brothwell G4EAN 9H3YI wrote to say that
RAOTA is a national organisation, and the
OTN magazine is its main point of contact
with members. The most recent issue of its
Remote Control Software newsletter (Issue 128), known colloquially
as OTN128, will soon be published. You may
not know that you do not have to have been
for the IC-R30 licensed for 25+ years in order to be eligible
to join RAOTA. In fact, anyone interested
Ian Lockyer (Marketing Manager of Icom UK Ltd.) has news of an interesting new product. He in amateur radio can join RAOTA as an
wrote: “After recently being demonstrated at the Tokyo Hamfair, we are pleased to announce Associate member as soon as they come
that the new RS-R30I (for iOS)/RS-R30A (for Android) remote control software for the IC-R30 into the hobby. Anyone who has been active
Communications Receiver is now available to download for FREE from the App Store and in the hobby for at least 25 years would be
Google Play. The RS-R30I and the RS-R30A enable you to wirelessly connect to the IC-R30 and eligible to join as a Full member. The only
remotely control VFO operation, memory channels, a variety of scans and the voice recording difference between Associate and Full
functions. Using the optional VS-3, Bluetooth headset, the VS-3 and iOS™/Android™ device can members is that Full members have voting
be wirelessly connected to the IC-R30 at the same time. You can control the IC-R30 from the rights. An Associate member is welcome to
connected device while listening to the received audio on the VS-3 optional Bluetooth headset.” transfer to Full membership whenever they
A brochure and instruction manual about this new software can be downloaded here: reach the 25-year mark.
https://tinyurl.com/y8mkoeu5 https://tinyurl.com/yb4w4vct
https://tinyurl.com/ybz6ud94 www.RAOTA.org
Enter our competitions at www.radioenthusiast.co.uk/competitions

News What’s new in the world of radio
Have you got something new to tell our readers about? If so, then drop a line to wiessala@hotmail.com
At the recent RSGB Convention, SDRplay

demonstrated how easy it is to put their
New from CCW
wideband RSP1A SDR receiver into a pi-top Chris Moulding, of Cross Country Wireless, HF Active Loop aerial. CCW was recently
computer. The Pi-top is a modular laptop that has news about two new products from the asked by a local SWL if they could make
gives you the tools to complete DIY projects CCW stable: the CCW Receiver Front End an indoor version of their HF Active Loop
and bring inventions to life. It’s the perfect Protection Unit now comes in two versions, aerial. They built a one-off for him with
tool to help enthusiasts learn to code, create for HF and VHF. The devices are particularly a revised antenna amplifier. Since CCW
new devices, and learn. suitable for multi-station contest groups, posted some photos on the CCW Forum,
The project, which was a collaboration where receiver damage may occur from the company has been persuaded by the
between SDRplay and RS Components, set high power stations operating in the same response to start making indoor loops as a
out to create a highly portable and self- frequency band. They are also suitable for new product. The aerial covers from 20 kHz
contained Raspberry Pi/Linux platform SDR receiver owners wanting to run receiv- to 70 MHz, with additional coverage up to
– perfect for exploring the radio spectrum ers 24/7 unattended, as the protection unit 148 MHz.
and new radio architectures. The latter is will divert electrostatic charges and near [RadioUser will carry a review of this aerial
possible, due to the recent availability of lightning surges to ground. in one of the forthcoming issues – Ed.].
GNU radio source blocks created by Frank The second new CCW product is an Indoor www.crosscountrywireless.net
Werner-Krippendorf (HB9FXQ). At the
convention, GNU Radio’s Heather Lomond
and Derek Kozel ran a GNU training class at
which Andy from SDRplay demonstrated a
GNU radio FM receiver. The class aimed at
people who want to create their own SDR
News A-Z BBC Radio 4 news host Eddie Mair to
privately-owned Virgin Radio and LBC
respectively, signal that the BBC is losing
applications and go beyond just installing AUDIO CONTENT FUND FOR RADIO its status as the United Kingdom’s top
‘standard’ SDR software and hardware. All INDIES: This is an innovative idea: The radio platform. Thomas Falconer, a radio
RSP radios are supported, including the Audio Content Fund comprises of £1m industry researcher at IBISWorld, a market
phase-coherent dual tuner RSPduo, for a year, from the Government, for radio research firm with offices around the globe,
which noise-cancelling and other diversity stations of scale to broadcast great public attributes the BBC’s declining status to
applications are being written by the GNU service programmes from a variety of changes within the UK’s radio industry;
radio community. production companies. Commercial radio both outside of and within the public
GNU Radio is a free & open-source software gets to commission quality programmes broadcaster. According to Falconer, BBC
development toolkit that provides signal that they want to have on their networks but Radio’s greatest undoing has been the
processing blocks to implement software can’t afford to do day-to-day. Production UK’s transition to digital radio and the new
radios. It can be used with readily-available companies get an outlet for public service content options the medium is offering UK
low-cost external RF hardware to create ideas that isn’t the BBC. This means more listeners.
software-defined radios, or without hardware commissions for them (and new income), (Source: Radioworld)
in a simulation-like environment. It is widely but it also means some competition for the https://tinyurl.com/ya5k2lq7
used in hobbyist, academic and commercial BBC for these ideas.
environments to support both wireless (Source: J. Cridland/ Matt Deegan/ DCMS) INRICO SUPPORT GROUP: An Inrico T199
communications research and real-world http://www.audiocontentfund.org.uk/ Facebook Support Group is now available
radio systems. Both the Pi-Top Computer kit https://tinyurl.com/y8cgmzuh for users of this Network Radio with no
and the SDRplay RSP1A are available from RS screen. Search “Inrico T199” or at the URL
Components. BBC LOSES PRIDE OF PLACE: The below.
https://www.sdrplay.com defections of top-rated BBC Two radio (Source: Dave G0PDL)
www.pi-top.com morning show host Chris Evans and https://tinyurl.com/ybmagbf6
For the latest news and product reviews, visit www.radioenthusiast.co.uk

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Power Supplies Explained Test Equipment

The Full Licence Manual for the Radio Amateur
A power supply is something that is often overlooked by radio By Phillip Lawson, G4FCL
amateurs, as for many it is simply the box that provides stable DC
Syllabus
voltage. A modern 2019 powerEdition
supply is though - for much exams from August
more, combining This book is aimed 2019 at theonwards
radio amateur, listener and electronic enthusiast
theory that dates back to the nineteenth century incorporating the who wants to make a variety of measurements without necessarily
latest techniques
This book in digital
is the third control, in
course-book with
theaRSGBwealthseries
of electronics spending ainfortune
for those interested obtainingon expensive
an amateur test radio
equipment.
licence. It isIna line
very with
practical
the
practice
progressivein between.
three-tier Power
UK Supplies ExplainedThe
licence structure setsFull to explainManual completes the natural progression from Intermediate most
out Licence book, designed to help you develop care and skill in making the and
what that box is doing, through to designing your own bespoke common and important measurements, quickly, safely and affordably.
power supply.
In this new fifth edition of Test Equipment for the Radio Amateur Amateur, the reader
Fully revised
Beginners areto reflect
wary thechallenging
of the changes introduced
mixture of in Syllabus
digital, 2019 the
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find,Licence Manual
for the first time, contains
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move to theand
magnetics finalcontrol
stage loops,
of amateur
with radio
cooling,licensing.
EMC and Written
safetyto match
to to thethe very
Full latest
licence syllabus on
information theconstruction
book is broken projects,down into logical
equipment and
sections.with
contend Licence conditions
as well. Power are covered
Supplies in detail seeks
Explained as are to operating
detail techniques
measurements. andThe amateur
sectionsradio safety. As and
on commercial youhome-brew
would expect, there
equipment
are sections
how circuits arecovering
chosen technical
for the matters
applicationsuch andashow
circuits, semi-conductors
circuits are have beenand more. The
separated Transmitter
for clarity, new items and Receiver
added and some are covered
dated itemsin
detail along with the material required for understanding the Software Defined Radio section
designed including their inductors and transformers. Calculations removed. Timeless reference data has been retained; some items of of the syllabus. Feeders, Antennas
andoutlined
are Propagation all getway
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their own, can
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useElectromagnetic
them as a technical Compatibility
theory have andbeenMeasurements,
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Licence
basis for Manual
their own is designs.
the ideal companion to a formal training course.those The book
who wish is also a useful
to deepen reference
their source
understanding and many
of these areas.amateurs
This book
is designed to give an overview of how each item of test equipment
Chapters include descriptions of ‘linear’ supplies and a wide works, what it can be used for and even how much it might cost. Many
rangeFull Licence Manual types
of ‘switched-mode’ is for from
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specific and is the on
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the latest off-line high-efficiency topologies. Examples are based and receivers, are described in detail. Matters such as the effect of the
around typical radio amateur requirements and are versions of test equipment on the circuit to be measured are especially considered,
commercial products that the author has successfully designed. so that the measurement results may be interpreted correctly. A large
There are also chapters on magnetics theory, control loops, section of the Test Equipment for the Radio Amateur is devoted to home
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Getting Started in The Voices – Spying Radio Caroline: Auntie’s War

Amateur Radio and Radio Warfare The Pirate Years A curated collection of articles
gleaned from the BBC archives
If you want to know something during the Cold War Revised since its first publication
in 2003, this title details a history
in this 422 page hardback book.
about the hobby, or are newly Based on the series of RadCom Reviewed as “a good read”.
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Started in Amateur Radio provides and fort-based radio stations and
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the answers. new pictures.
60 Antennas You 50 projects for Wartime Point to Point

Will Want to Build Radio Amateurs Broadcasting This volume looks back at a time
Drawn together from a wide array During the wartime years, the BBC when short wave technology was
Setting out a huge array of de- exploited for international com-
signs, from the simple to the more of projects that the RSGB has was the sole radio broadcaster in
published, you will find projects as Britain, boosting morale through munications, after the use of VLF
complex, that the home construc- long-distance communications
tor can attempt, and will want to diverse as antennas, simple test programmes. Reviewed as “a
equipment to 70cm handhelds fascinating read”. and before the arrival of cable.
build. Many are novel, some are There are 15 pages listing all radio
classic but we are certain that you and much more! There is a project
services and stations referred to.
will find plenty to build. for everyone in this book!
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Airband News
A Polikarpov Po-2.
Capacity-Crunches, Near-
Misses & Wildlife Protection
David Smith reports on ever-increasing air traffic levels, rising numbers of
‘airprox’ incidents and more drone problems in Scotland, before outlining
ATC operations at East Midlands Airport
David Smith ter of all air trafic in Europe but contribut- symptoms of the same phenomenon in the
dj.daviator@btinternet.com ed just 2.6% to total delays, with the aver- UK, particularly in the airspace over Essex.
age delay per-light less than a third of the Trafic levels at both Luton and Stansted
ccording to NATS, this sum- Europe-wide level. airports have grown by 30% over the past
A mer’s skies were the busiest

on record: Just over 736,800
commercial aircraft lew in UK
airspace from June to August
2018. This was 5,683 more than the previous
record set last year. It marked six consecu-
tive years of growth since trafic levels fell af-
https://www.nats.aero
NATS sees the UK’s airspace as a piece of
critical national infrastructure, placing it in
the same category as the nation’s roads and
railways. It plans to raise awareness of this
through its Sky by Numbers campaign, high-
lighting how airspace underpins many areas
four years, and demand outstrips capacity
during peak times of the day.
Near-Misses
The number of air proximity reports (‘air-
proxes’) – often referred to as ‘near-misses’
– rose by 58%, from 172 in 2013, to 272 last
ter the global inancial crisis. of people’s lives. year. The most serious incidents, classed
NATS’ record-breaking summer was mir- NATS further stresses that more far-reach- as ‘Category A Airproxes’, rose by more than
rored by high trafic levels across Europe, ing changes will be needed for the ways in 100%, from 22 in 2013, to 45 in 2017.
but with markedly better delay performance which UK airspace is designed and managed, The increase comes amid both a rise in air
in the UK. Overall, for the year to the end of in order to stave off the ‘capacity-crunch’ now trafic generally and as a consequence of a
August, NATS handled just under a quar- in evidence over Europe. There are already stronger uptake of the use of drones. In 2017,

Airband News
ATC Profiles 9: East Midlands Airport

there were 93 near-misses involving drones.
In 2013, the number was zero. By contrast, ICAO Code: EGNX IATA Code: EMA
half of all Category-A near-misses in 2017
involved drones. Frequencies (MHz) Hours of Operation
East Midlands Approach/Radar 134.175
The CAA stated that ‘incident-clusters’ East Midlands Radar 120.125 As directed by ATC
around greater London and the Home East Midlands Tower 124.000
Counties were a symptom of more crowd- East Midlands Ground 121.900 As directed by ATC
East Midlands Fire 121.600 (non-ATC) Fire vehicles attending aircraft on the ground
ed skies. However, other incident-clusters
- such as those over East Anglia, Yorkshire ATIS
East Midlands Information 122.675 H24
and Lincolnshire - took place in largely emp-
ty skies. Hundreds of more than 2,000 inci- Navaids ILS CAT III on Runway 27
dents investigated by the UK Airprox Board CAT I on Runway 09
NDB EMW 393.000kHz
in the past decade, involved military aircraft, NDB EME 353.500kHz
including helicopters, gliders, drones and
Runways 09 2893m x 45m
even parachutists. 27 2893m x 45m
https://www.airproxboard.org.uk/home
Fighters at Suffolk’s RAF Lakenheath have Holds PIGOT, ROKUP, EMW, EME
been involved in nearly 30 airprox incidents. Notes (A-Z)
Recent examples include two F-15s coming CAT II/IIIb Operations
within 500ft of a civilian King Air B350 air- Runway 27, subject to the serviceability of the facility, is suitable for Category II/IIIb operations by operators
whose minima have been accepted by the CAA. During Category II/IIIb operations, special ATC procedures (Low
craft over Marham in Norfolk, and an F-15 Visibility Procedures) will be applied. Pilots will be informed by ATIS broadcast or by RT when these procedures
passing close to a police drone at about are in operation.
500mph on the edge of Dartmoor. Entry/Exit Lanes
However, Colonel Don Yates – who (un- To permit aircraft to operate to and from East Midlands Aerodrome in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC)
til July this year) was responsible for two but not under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), the following entry/exit lanes have been established for use: (1) A lane
(3nm wide) known as the LONG EATON Lane, with centre-line on the M1 Motorway, and extending from the point
squadrons of F-15s at Lakenheath – claimed where the Motorway crosses the northern boundary of the Control Zone (Junction 25), southwards to a point at
that he felt that some airproxes were not as which it crosses the extended centreline of Runway 09/27. (2) A lane (3nm wide) known as the SHEPSHED Lane,
with its centre-line the M1 Motorway, and extending from the point where the Motorway crosses the southern
close as was thought. He said that even well- boundary of the Control Zone (Motorway Junction 23), northwards to a point at which it crosses the extended
trained civilian pilots tended to underesti- centreline of Runway 09/27.
mate the full size of an F-15 ighter and said,
Frequency Monitoring Code (FMC)
“So when we see, in reports, people saying Pilots operating in the vicinity of – but intending to remain outside of – East Midlands controlled airspace,
this aircraft was 300ft or 500ft away, in actu- should select SSR code 4572. Pilots of aircraft displaying the code are not expected to contact ATC under normal
circumstances, but they remain responsible for their own navigation, separation and terrain clearance. They are
ality, we ind it was actually a mile or a mile- expected to remain clear of controlled airspace. When squawking 4572, pilots should be aware that East Midlands
and-a-half away”. Approach may make ‘blind transmissions’, in order to ascertain a particular aircraft’s intentions/route. When a
https://www.lakenheath.af.mil/ pilot ceases to maintain a listening watch, code 4572 should be deselected.
Handling Agents
Drone Operators Disturbing Advantage Flight Support Ltd. (General & Executive Aviation): 131.665MHz; Aviation Solutions (Cargo only) and
Scottish Wildlife DHL Aviation (Cargo only): 131.625MHz; Donington Aviation (General & Executive Aviation with Hangarage),
Menzies Aviation Group (Passengers only), Signature Flight Support (General & Executive Aviation): 122.35MHz;
The number of cases in Scotland involving Swissport (Passengers and Cargo): 131.435MHz.
drone interference with animals in nature
Helicopter Operations
reserves has increased, causing police and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR): Following an IFR approach to Runway 09/27, ground- or air- taxi to parking areas,
wildlife experts to become increasingly con- as instructed by ATC. Helicopters that can ground-taxi, will normally follow the taxiway to their assigned parking
area. Depart as for Visual Flight Rules (VFR) departures or, alternatively, proceed via the taxiway system for a
cerned for the welfare of protected animals.
departure on Runway 09/27, as directed by ATC.
While nature reserve managers and wildlife Visual Flight Rules (VFR): Helicopters are to approach the aerodrome from the north or the south, remaining well
specialists are encouraging outsiders to clear of the approach and take-off areas of Runway 09/27, not below 500ft QFE*, or at such other height/altitude
as may be assigned by ATC.
watch and enjoy the environment and ani-
mals in the sanctuaries, mounting numbers VFR and Special VFR Flights
of injuries caused to the creatures by drones Pilots inbound to East Midlands under VFR will be instructed to report at one of the Visual Reference Points (VRP)
listed below, where they will either be given a route to follow or will be identiied by radar and directed into the
are leading Scottish lawmakers to impose approach sequence: Bottesford, Church Broughton, Melton Mowbray, Markield, Measham, and Trowell.
ines on, or even arrest, individuals caught
[*N.B.: QFE is pressure measured by an altimeter, which is adjusted to ground level (it gives a height of ‘0’ when
disturbing the peace. the aeroplane is on the ground). QNH is pressure measured by an altimeter, which is adjusted to sea level (it gives
Andy Turner, wildlife crime oficer with the ield-elevation when the aeroplane is on the ground). See also the (online) RadioUser List of Acronyms – Ed.].
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said, “Apart
from the disturbance of seals, there have
been anecdotal reports of drones being used Fines for harassing wildlife in the na- this important news item.
to ilm seabird colonies and raptors. While the ture reserves can cost careless ‘droners’ My featured aircraft photograph this
footage from drones in these circumstances up to £5,000. Alternatively, severe infrac- month is of a Polikarpov Po-2. When I last
can be very spectacular, the operator must be tions can earn individuals up to a six- saw it it was lying upside down, ‘ma-
mindful of the effect on wildlife. Drones that month jail sentence. chine-gunning’ the crowd with very realistic
ly in too quickly cause birds to panic and dive https://www.nature.scot sound effects. I wonder what the CAA would
headirst into the sea.” Thanks go to Phil Dodd for alerting me to have thought of this?!

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Feature
Radio and the ‘Air Traffic

Control’ of the Solent
John Periam returns to RadioUser with another fascinating article on
maritime communications. This time, he looks at the indispensable role of
radio communications for the work of the Southampton/Solent pilot crews.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEOFFREY LEE
John Periam
periam.photojournalist@btopenworld.com
n this article, I would like to em-
I phasise the important part that

radio communications play in
marine pilotage.
Let us begin with Ryan Hall:
Ryan is the Pilotage Service Manager
for Associated British Ports (ABP)
Southampton and looks after the Pilotage
function in the Solent. There is a team of
47 pilots, along with 20 pilot cutter launch
crew, whose responsibility it is to get the pi-
lots onto the ship – all working on a 24-hour
watch system. There are four Halmatic
Nelson 48/50 pilot cutters, equipped
with 2 D-13 Volvo engines, and based at
Gosport ABP (Fig. 1).
When I met him, Ryan said, “Out of our pi-
lots, two-thirds are qualiied as ‘First Class’
and are able to take the largest ships into
port. They can include container vessels
(some with 2,000 containers on board) Fig.1: Coxswain Marine Oficer Paul Tomlinson at the helm of ABP Hampstead, leaving Gosport home
and the latest cruise liners with up to 5,000 base, and with Portsmouth’s Emirates Spinnaker Tower in the background.
passengers and 400 meters in size. The
other third is able to take smaller ships and pleasure craft.” (Fig. 2). that safety at sea is what this job is all
into port whilst undergoing training for Ryan went on to say: “Constant commu- about. For example, we have regular ferry
the larger ones. nication is provided to the pilots, who will be trips to and from the Isle of Wight. These
“My role is to support the Harbour Master given navigational advice prior to boarding contain vehicles and passengers, and
Phil Buckley in seeing that all ships are a vessel. The Harbour Master Patrol Launch crossings are made at all times, including in
brought safely into the port. We conduct is there to head off any vessel that may inclement weather. Controlling the Solent,
about 9,500 pilot ship movements a year hinder operations. so that all shipping can move properly, is
unless they are guided by Southampton “We like to work with the region’s ish- what this work is all about”.
Vessel Trafic Services (VTS), which man- ing communities, and we are aware that In addition to the people mentioned
ages about 130,000 movements a year they have a living to make. Fishermen know above, there is also a Hydrographic Team.
from their operations control room based that we have direct communication links It is involved in monitoring the depth of the
at Ocean Gate.” and work closely with the Maritime and water in the relevant shipping channels.
Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Royal There are navigation aids, so the berthing
Operations Control National Life Boat Institution (RNLI). Having oficers can make sure the ship comes
The operations control room is looked af- the National Maritime Communications alongside safely. Time can be of the
ter by Mike Toogood, the Harbour Control Centre at Fareham is a real bonus to us, and essence when it comes to unloading a ship
Manager, and his team. Mike explains: we work well together.” with its cargo or cruise passengers.
“In layman’s terms, they are the ‘Air Trafic Most cruise ships arrive at around 4
Control of the Solent’, tracking the move- From Safety to Hydrography am, and there are more than 500 of these,
ment of all ships, including ishing vessels Ryan continued, “I cannot stress enough bringing in two million passengers a year.
FREE P&P for all UK orders purchased at www.radioenthusiast.co.uk/store

Feature
Fig. 2: Watch Manager Martin Thomas in the VTS

operations room, leading his team of Matthew
Dann (L) and Raymund Abosejo.
Fig. 3: Coxswain Marine Oficer Lee Williams
and 2nd Coxswain Matt Dillingham using the
radar to check the busy shipping lanes and to
get a heading and distance to the ship they are
transferring the pilots to.
Fig. 4: Coxswain Marine Oficer Lee Williams
keeps the pilot cutter tight against the Autumn,
an oil/chemical tanker, as 2nd Coxswain Matt
Dillingham secures the rope ladder for the pilot
transfer to ABP Hampstead.
Southampton is also the UK’s number

one port for export. About 900,000 cars
a year are handled by the port, and many
arrive by train each day. Over one million
containers also come to the port.
In Ryan’s words, “Our pilots’ working
schedules are increasing, and ships are
getting bigger. The latest container ship
is 400m long and has a beam of 50m.
Technology is on the increase, and our
in-house training grows likewise. We
are involved in the training of new pilots
all the time; two more have started
with us this week.”
Preparing to be a Pilot
How does one become a Ships Pilot? Ryan 2
explains, “You have to have been a Ship’s

Captain and hold a Master’s Certiicate.
You require a strong background in ship-
handling, which is doing the actual hard
work of bringing a ship alongside or take
her off a berth. Each pilot does about
230 moves a year.
“There is a 13-week ‘express-training’
period. During this time, they go in and
out every single day, visiting all types of
shipping. Candidates are examined and
become a ‘Class Two Pilot’, working with 3 4
ships up to 10m, such as small tankers.

They do this progressively, for ive and a “With cruise ships, they often board well Stubbs. Once on board, a full safety brieing
half years, until they become a ‘Class One before and are in place ready for the job as was given, and Sea Safe Integrated life
Unrestricted Pilot’.” They would not be doing most cruise ship berth in the early morning. I jackets were provided, prior to heading out
this, if they did not enjoy piloting ships – it is will update them during the day – depending about 10m from Gosport to the boarding
a chosen vocation! on how busy the Solent is that day – with areas of East Nab and West Nab, where the
Chic Stewart is the Pilot Desk Operator sometimes three boardings per day. We also larger ships wait.
for Southampton. His job is to look after have to take into consideration the weather To navigate and communicate the crew
rostering for all 47 pilots, which are on a and the size of the ship, when planning and pilots have 2 Furuno, multi-screen,
roster of an average of 10 a day. Chris said, each boarding.” Navnet Radar plotters, one (Port) Thrane
“They work a 24-hour roster, from 08.30 in & Thrane (now Cobham) Sailor 6222 VHF
the morning. I will contact them and give Communications DSC radio, one (Starboard) Thrane & Thrane
them their job, depending on the size of the Equipment and Routines VHF radio, one Furuno FA150 Universal AIS
ship. The pilots are asked to call in the night The crew for the day of our visit consisted Transponder and one Furuno FI-50 multi-
before their duty, at approximately 21.00h, to of Coxswain Marine Oficers Paul depth display (Fig. 3).
get an idea of what is involved, e.g. incoming Tomlinson and Lee Williams, along with Collecting and delivering the pilots takes
or outgoing ship. 2nd Coxswain Matt Dillingham and Matt considerable skill and knowledge. Even for
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Feature
experienced operators, it can at times be

very daunting to be alongside some of the
larger vessels and travelling at between
8-12 knots in all weather conditions.
A set communications routine takes
place, with an initial radio call from the
ship conirming that they are ready. The
Coxswain manoeuvres the boat from
the smoother waters of being astern to
whichever side the gangway or rope ladders
are. Embarking or disembarking is always
carried out at the bow of the pilot cutter, so
the Coxswain is fully visible with the ship
and crew (Fig. 4).
Once alongside, the 2nd Coxswain leaves
the cabin and attaches himself to the side
rail, so s/he can pass from stern to the bow
safely. When the cutter is in position s/he
checks that the rope ladder is secure, giving
the ‘thumbs up’ for the pilot to transfer from
the ship (Fig. 5).
Size and Safety

Chris Hoyle is an Unrestricted First-
Class Pilot, specialising in bulk container
shipping. He clariied: “Our main district
is approximately 30nm long, using the
main channels out to 4nm south of the
Nab Tower. The role of the pilot is to take
charge of the navigational conduct of the
ship. When I say that, I mean its course and
speed. I like to see us as a ‘safety-valve’.
We can take away the commercial pressure
from port users, the Harbour Master, oil
reinery, ships Captains and ships’ owners.
Chris went on to say, “Handling ships in
conined spaces – whether they are large
container ships, tankers or cruise ships –
you have to take the same view as taking
a small ship up a river. It is relative to the
available space, passage planning, and tidal Fig. 5: ABP pilot Simon Lockwood climbing the ladders to the RRS James Cook, a British Royal Research
calculations; within that, we have to ind the Ship operated by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
opportunity for the ship to get in earlier or
later before the water runs out.” speed of 10 knots, you are doing a mile 19 wooden steps of the ladder I would have
On the day we were there, the container every 6 minutes. We risk-asses the ship’s to climb before going up the gangway to join
ship Chris and Neil Dunn were bringing into movements and have guidelines for towage, the ship was a little daunting. Thankfully,
Southampton dock, was the CMA GMA- windage, speeds and other requirements, the sea was calm. Had it been a heavy
OGM-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with 2,100 sticking to the relevant collision regulations sea state, the cutter and ship would have
containers on board. When she made her of international law as much as possible. needed to be on the same wave, allowing
maiden call in March 2018, she was the The largest container ships are about ease of access for the pilots. There is no
largest container ship yet to visit the Port 200,000 tons at more than 15m draught, with technology at hand to help.
of Southampton. a cargo worth a billion dollars or more. If you Nine loors later via lift, followed by two
Rope ladder boarding is still required, went to bed worrying about that, you would more sets of stairs, one arrives on the
and, when on the ship’s bridge, you can see get no sleep!” said Chris with a broad smile. bridge. This is where the formal ‘conduct’
for miles. By contrast, you can’t see a short (navigational intentions, speed, tugs and
distance because the view is blocked by Precision Manoeuvres berthing of the ship) handover takes place,
containers and the length of the ship. and Communications so the ship can commence its journey
Chris warned, “If you can’t see the ship’s Photographer Geoff Lee was invited to from the Nab Tower, and they can berth
bridge, we can’t see you, therefore, it’s board the container ship by its Captain at Southampton Container Terminal. The
important to make sure we know of your Christophe Garzon-Rigby. Geoff said, “It’s pilots use portable pilot units (PPU) with
intention early, rather than not at all. At a an experience I will remember. Seeing the professional piloting/navigation Safe

Feature
Fig. 6: ABP pilot Neil Dunn checking the ship’s progress, using his Portable Pilot Unit (PPU) against the ship’s navigation equipment.
Pilot software, and passing by Ryde (Isle procedure, and both parties are well aware 16. All movements are announced on
of Wight), they are joined by a tug and the of these formalities. At the end of the day, Channel 12, as they happen. This keeps
Harbour Master’s patrol boat (SP) (Fig. 6). it is our duty to see that the ship – whatever everybody aware of what is happening. We
Pilot Chris Hoyle noticed 30 sailing its size – enters and leaves the relevant port have remote sites for VHF and have 25W
yachts a few thousand metres away safely and on time.” transmitters at our base station.”
and asked for the ship’s horn to be The role of the ship’s pilot, linked to its ABP Notify is in charge of all the booking
sounded twice. This was followed by the relevant port authority, is the same around of ships into Southampton Port. This is an
Southampton Patrol (callsign SP) boat, to the world, and regular communications are internet portal, which allows the required
escort the last few yachts to safety (Fig. 7). kept between all parties. information on vessel movements to be
We were amazed at the skill of all on This involves sharing information re- submitted electronically directly to the VTS
board when it came to entering the dock, sponsibly in these important maritime Data Centre. The information from many
ready for berthing (Fig. 8). Geoff reported: roles. Southampton is the second larg- individual communications is used by ABP
“Several 90-degree turns were required, and est commercial port in the UK. It is still infor trafic management, berth allocation
Neil Dunn instructed the Captain as to what creasing in size and is facing the challenge and regulatory purposes.
was required, using his local knowledge of taking on larger ships working from its Steve Hornbeckle is the watch manager
of these waters. Looking ahead, all was port in the future. for Southampton VTS (Solent VTS). He
calm, and a tug, attached to the stern, was explained, “I am authorised to direct ships
in direct communication with the pilots on VHF Channels, Hotlines and and tell them where to go and what to do.
maritime VHF radio Channels 71 or 74. Phone a Friend We share hotlines to our neighbouring
He further advised: “There is little room Mike Toogood is the Harbour Control (VTS) Harbour Authorities to collaborate on our
for error as the ship nears the berth, with Manager (Fig. 9). He is responsible for the approach. The role is to ensure maritime
another vessel less than 20m away. Chris day-to-day running of the VTS operations safety throughout our area of jurisdiction. To
instructs the ship to stop engines as the tug room at Southampton Port. There are achieve that, we manage trafic movements,
at the rear stops the ship. Once stationary, ive watch managers and VTS operators in accordance with relevant bylaws […].
it is joined by two more tugs, both with as direct reports. Together, they are “We are the irst responders to any
a Bollard pull of 80 tonnes, for the inal monitoring all the trafic around the VTS incidents, including for the MCA – our irst
manoeuvres […]. area (including jet skis). external communication. The VTS and
“Communication is what it is all about. Mike said, “The ABS Port of Southampton watch managers are all trained according to
The process is slow. Experience is what it uses VHF maritime radio channels. the International Association of Lighthouse
is all about, as, at times neither the pilot nor Our primary one is Channel 12, which is Authorities Standard V103. Operators go to
the tugs can see each other. This is normal monitored all the time, as well as Channel one of two training colleges in South Shields

Feature
Fig. 7: ABP pilot Chris Hoyle instructs the crew to sound the horn as there are sailing yachts ahead; Captain Christophe Garzon-Rigby, of CMA GMA-OGM-
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, watches through binoculars.
and Blackpool. Courses can vary between “There is one current problem: Channel
two and eight weeks, depending on the 12 is used by the French ports as well, and,
trainees’ nautical experience. because of the power of the VHF base
“Each team consists of two operators stations, we get interference in the summer
and a watch manager. At any one time, we months. This can cause issues with our
have one on the radar, one on admin and the operating procedures. To overcome this,
watch manager planning it. We even have a we have introduced new attenuation on
‘phone-a-friend‘ facility, where needed. My the receivers of VHF radios to minimise
satisfaction is the routine stuff, and, to date that interference. These new alternate
this year, we have had 57,000 movements channels for port operations will help us
excluding recreational users. This is already resolve this matter. 8
showing an increase on last year.” “At the end of the day, when at sea, I’d
advise to forget the mobile and invest in
Digital Radio handheld VHF radio. If you haven’t got the
In connection with communications means for communication to the right
procedures, Steve continued: “All inter-ship people, they are not going to know that you
communications are done on Channel 12, have concerns for your own safety.”
and this can be between cutters, tugs and Our thanks go to all the team at
private vessels. Mike was a Radio Oficer Southampton, for their kindness and
Cadet in 1978 for Union Castle, so he has a generosity in allowing us a rare opportunity
wealth of experience, and he has witnessed to see just what goes on behind the scenes.
many changes in radio communications
equipment. The equipment may have Editor’s Web Resources
changed but proven procedures have Associated British Ports (ABP)
remained to this day. Mike has also worked http://www.abports.co.uk
with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency IALA
at Dover and at Southampton, relating to http://www.iala-aism.org 9
installing of new equipment. Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) Fig. 8: After several hours, the CMA GMA-OGM-
“There is only so far, we can go now https://tinyurl.com/qjuxuuv Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is inally near its berth
with digital radio. Spectrum allocation for Natural Environment Research Council (SCT 5).
marine band radio is being re-arranged at https://nerc.ukri.org Fig. 9: Ryan Hall, Pilotage Services Manager
the moment, with the possibility of new Royal National Life Boat Institution (RNLI) (L) and Mike Toogood, Harbour Control (VTS)
channels being introduced for Port Services. https://rnli.org Manager (R).

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DXTV Special
A Change in the
BBC Weather! (Part 2)
KEVIN HEWITT.
Keith Hamer
Keith405625.kh1@gmail.com
Garry Smith
garry405625.gs@gmail.com
Keith Hamer & Garry Smith continue

the story of how the BBC Weather
Forecast has changed over time,
introducing both the key technical
developments and the prominent
personalities driving the changes.
In Part One (RadioUser, November 2018:

20/1) we delved into the wider history of
BBC radio and television weather forecasts
and outlined some details of the advanced
technologies in use today.
In Part Two, we are looking at some more
aspects of the development of BBC weath-
er prediction, such as the emerging satellite
technologies, the structure and delivery of
severe weather warnings, and a number of
technical and spectrum-related issues.
Satellite Weather Forecasts

Examining ‘live’ pictures from a weather
satellite such as NOAA 19 (which transmits
images on 137.10MHz) can be an addi-
tional resource, as well as a hobby in itself
(Fig. 1). NOAA stands for the US National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
https://www.noaa.gov
In this context, Kevin Hewitt (Chatham)
comments that strong signals from pagers
on 138.00MHz can be a nuisance. For this
reason, Kevin uses a special UK version of
the R2ZX receiver with additional iltering.
http://www.geo-web.org.uk/hard.php
It should be noted that the NOAA satel-
lites only pass overhead at certain times
of the day, broadcasting Automatic Picture
Transmission (APT) signals. Each satellite
has a different FM frequency.
There are currently three satellites
in operation; NOAA 15 (137.62MHz),
NOAA 18 (137.9125MHz) and NOAA
19 (137.10MHz).
[The APT transmission format is likely
to be used until 2023, after which time, an-
alogue APT is slated to be replaced by the
fully-digital Low-Rate Picture Transmission
(LRPT) mode with 72,000 or 80,000 bps in
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) – Ed.]
Fig.1: An image from the NOAA 19 weather satellite.

DXTV Special
KEITH HAMER+GARRY SMITH BBC ARCHIVE COLLECTION
MeteoGroup
Despite the Met Ofice losing their £3m
contract with the BBC, the Corporation will
still be able to ‘claw back’, as it were, some
of their lost revenue, by charging the new
provider for supplying weather data.
The replacement company, MeteoGroup,
was expected to take over supplying mete-
orological data for television, radio, online
and app services in spring 2017.
However, the BBC had to hurriedly ex-
tend the Met Ofice contract because
MeteoGroup, according to the BBC, “failed
to be ready in time”.
A later start date for MeteoGroup was
thus set for March 2018 but (to use a
phrase often used by weather forecast-
ers when they make a mistake and try to
blame the atmospheric conditions) “the Fig. 2: After 95 years of service, the BBC replaced Met Ofice forecasts, in favour of MeteoGroup
weather was ahead of itself”. The new-look predictions. The new-look graphics irst appeared at 1.30pm on February 6th, 2018.
forecasts eventually took to the airwaves
on BBC-1 at 1.30pm on Tuesday, February Strangely, the original BBC colour ments. Accordingly, the tender was is-
6th, 2018 (Fig. 2). scheme was green way back in 1969! The sued by the BBC.
Unfortunately, the graphics were not to long-standing national weather forecasts Several organisations initially showed
everyone’s taste. By the end of the week, the on ITV, which are still produced by the Met an interest including Metra (a commercial
BBC had received complaints that the new, Ofice, look remarkably similar to the ‘new, arm of the New Zealand Meteorological
fresh, green look for the UK was harder to improved’ BBC graphics. It seems that Ofice) and Meteo. The latter was original-
discern than the previous bleak, desert-style MeteoGroup is following the same perverse ly launched by a Dutch weather presenter
colour scheme. The country had changed notion that viewers lack intelligence be- back in 1986, although the company is now
shape too. Some viewers complained that cause the values of ‘low’ and ‘high’ pressure based in London.
they preferred the old portrayal of Scotland systems are still not indicated. There are currently 14 BBC national
which previously appeared to be ‘squashed’, Although MeteoGroup has taken over weather presenters (plus a host of pre-
compared to the rest of the UK. from the Met Ofice as the ‘new’ provider on senters in all BBC Regions). It appears that
The new graphics show the British Isles the BBC, the weather forecasts have been most of the familiar faces will still be ap-
looking ‘normal’, as one would expect to see freely available for some time as an ‘app’ for pearing as usual.
on a map. Viewers also complained that the tablets and smartphones. Many might not know that present-
names of towns and cities were too large. ers are, irst and foremost, employed and
Strangely enough, no-one has yet Tendered Weather paid by the Ministry of Defence (MoD),
complained about the lack of high- and The huge upheaval has, apparently, all been courtesy of the taxpayers. However, they
low-pressure values on the chart. brought about by the EU Directive on Public receive an additional, undisclosed, pay-
Service Contracts (Ref.: 2004/18/EC). ment for delivering forecasts supplied by
Severe Weather Warnings https://tinyurl.com/ya8pj98c MeteoGroup, on behalf of the BBC (namely,
Although MeteoGroup has now taken over As a result, the BBC is now obliged licence-fee payers).
the service, the BBC will continue to show to put all its contracts for weather ser-
all national severe weather warnings, as vices out to tender. Sailing By
agreed with the Met Ofice, based at their The tender documents were published Despite the potential squalls between the
£80m headquarters near Exeter airport. some time ago on the EU Tender Electronic BBC, the Met Ofice and MeteoGroup, it
According to the BBC, MeteoGroup will Documents (TED) website, although few seems that the time-honoured Shipping
provide a new and improved service. It was people would have spotted the changes. Forecast, at 00:48 every night on Radio
anticipated that the graphics used for the The global General Agreement on 4, will continue to be supplied by the
on-screen weather charts would change, Trade in Services (GATS) also forced Met Ofice, on behalf of the Maritime &
and the BBC has often been quoted as say- the issue regarding tendering and pay- Coastguard Agency as normal, at least
ing, “we will provide audiences with the best
MW/HF Frequencies (MHz) Daytime: Distance in Nautical Miles Night: Distance in Nautical Miles
possible service”.
Perhaps, it makes one muse on what the 2 200 500
BBC thought that the Met Ofice had been 4 400 800
providing for the past 95 years? 6 600 1,200
In reality, the graphics don’t look at all
8 800 1,600
new, apart from land masses being shown
12 1,200 2,400
in green, instead of the previous, bizarre,
‘sandy-desert’ colour scheme. Table 1: Approximate Propagation Distances for MW and HF Transmissions.

DXTV Special
KEITH HAMER+GARRY SMITH BBC ARCHIVE COLLECTION
for the moment.

https://tinyurl.com/qjuxuuv
Therefore, lovers of the Shipping Forecast
theme tune, Sailing By, composed by
Ronald Binge (born in the authors’ home-
town of Derby) can relax, irrespective of the
fact that the weather might be Hurricane
Force 12 in North Utsire or just Violent Storm
11 in South-East Iceland.
https://tinyurl.com/zvlqc3o
This theme tune has been played almost
every evening since the late Sixties. For
much of that time, one of the most popular
BBC weathermen has been Michael Fish.
Michael hung up his isobars and sun sym-
bols on September 6th, 2004 (Fig. 3).
For many mariners, the most popular
type of radio communication is SSB (Single
Side Band). The range of SSB signals is Fig. 3: Michael Fish, made his inal, hurricane-free, forecast on September 6th, 2004.
easily up to several thousand miles; calls
are free, giving sailors the opportunity to re- www.icomuk.co.uk general rule, signals during the daytime
ceive the latest weather bulletins from cer- High-Frequency (HF) radio operates travel roughly 100nm (nautical miles)
tain coastguard stations. in the 3 to 30 MHz spectrum, which lies per MHz. The chart (Table 1) indicates
Many marine SSB transceivers (such between medium wave (MW) and VHF some typical distances for MW and
as the Icom M801E and M802 models) radio. HF radio waves can be refracted HF transmissions.
offer the digital selective calling (DSC) within the Ionosphere, resulting in mariners One nautical mile is equivalent to
mode. This permits the sending and re- being able to communicate about weather 1.851605km or 1.15078 statute miles.
ceiving of distress calls and also keeping conditions over hundreds, or even [see the further reading suggestions
in contact with other sailors if there is any thousands, of miles. in Part 1 of this article, in RadioUser,
stormy weather ahead. Under normal conditions, and as a November 2018: 21 – Ed.].
Feedback & Corrections

Corrections & Clarifications My apologies for the errors – GW. amaze me! For a start, the technical quali-
RadioUser, September 2018: page 4 ty has been vastly improved. Secondly, the
(Contents Page): Frank Fleming wrote to the editor, just after content now is so rewarding. The estab-
The information for the on-sale date for the Newark National Hamfest. Frank wrote: lished contributors are on new missions,
the October 2018 issue of RadioUser was “Hi Georg, you have done it! This maga- that they are obviously inding rewarding. So
incorrect. The information in the left- zine now shines brightly – from eye-catch- many new contributors, who are greatly ex-
hand column of page 4 should have read: ing glossy cover with great photos to the panding our knowledge, yourself included!
27th September 2018. Thanks to Derek best range of emerging radio columns that Thank you for your article about the Inspire
Bemister, for bringing this to my attention. are well presented within. Do take a bow, project this month. I have a couple of ques-
you deserve it. Well done. One can see tions. Firstly, apologies if this something
RadioUser, November 2018: pages that anyone only slightly interested in any- that I should be able to work out the answer
36/7 (SDR Column): thing radio related knows this is the one to, but why is it necessary to have the three
The ‘pull-quotes’ on pages 36/7 mag to buy monthly, as an introduction to different receivers? Do they possess dif-
were incomplete; the one on p. 36 a now exciting new hobby. Best Regards, ferent facilities, or is it just so that you can
should have read: Frank Fleming.” tune them to different radio emissions?
‘So far, we have discovered that having Many warm thanks, Frank, for your ex- Following on from that, which of the three is
a higher ADC sample rate means that the tremely lattering e-mail, I am very the best receiver to buy as a irst receiver?
receiver can display a wider bandwidth of happy you are enjoying the new-style The second question is regarding isolation
the received .’ RadioUser – GW. of the receiver from man-made interference.
Moreover, the quote on page 37 ought to If a receiver was placed in a remote loca-
have been: ‘Obviously, it is very important Feedback tion, such as a hole at the top of the garden,
that you stop the ADC from sampling the Phil Dodd wrote in to say: “Hello Georg, the
alias frequencies above the First Nyquist .’ excellence of each edition never ceases to Continued on page 55

Maritime Matters
Maritime Safety Nets

and Unmanned Ships
Robert Connolly surveys maritime safety and environmental technologies,
looks at Australian maritime comms and copes with the recent storms.
ROBERT CONNOLLY
Robert Connolly international English and 490kHz for lo-

gi7ivx@btinternet.com cal language broadcasts. MSI broad-
casts, transmitted in a similar fashion to
T
he development and use of mari- MF NAVTEX, are also available on several
time electronic navigation and HF frequencies.
communications are constant- On top of this, satellite communications
ly undergoing improvement. systems have been developed for shipping,
Over the last few years, we have delivering, not only up-to-date MSI informa-
seen the introduction of Class A Automatic tion but also a platform for the provision of
Identiication System (AIS) for commer- internet and mobile phone communications
cial shipping over 300 Gross Registered for passengers and crew.
Tonnes (GRT) and for all passenger- Passengers on cruise ships and ferries
carrying vessels. often complain that onboard internet ac-
Furthermore, a lower-speciication Class cess is slow, compared to the speeds avail-
B AIS system was developed for use by able on land. However, many are forgetting
smaller vessels, for example, ishing ves- that they do not have a ibre-optic phone ca-
sels and leisure craft. These technologies ble trailing behind the vessel.
greatly added to the safety of vessels on Certainly, there is much ongoing devel-
the water, compared to just having radar. opment, to increase the speed of satellite
This is because much more information on communication; but, in my personal opin-
vessels that may create a navigation haz- ion, speeds will not become the same as
ard is now displayed using AIS. Details in- land-based, high-speed, internet and will
clude the vessel’s name, size, course and not be as fast as the new mobile 5G speeds
speed, making it much easier to avoid a po- that are being developed and are due to be
tential collision, particularly in busy waters rolled out on land during 2020.
close to ports. This is due to the nature of satellite com-
AIS was further improved to dis- munications using uplinks and downlinks to
play navigation aids and potential haz- a satellite in space. Fig.1: My Datong AD370 Outdoor Active Aerial,
ards to vessels. Another major development a few years offset from the main mast.
In addition, some of these technologies ago was the introduction of the use of elec-
provide real-time data on weather and tidal tronic charts for navigation, consigning the Another current change in the maritime
state at some ports. days of calculating manual position plots to industry is the use of ships that do not need
We have also witnessed the comprehen- the maritime history books. any onboard crew. Some successful trials
sive implementation of Digital Selective These developments have upgraded mar- have already been carried out in this area.
Calling (DSC) on MF, HF and VHF marine itime safety, and, it seems safe to say, other Most of you are probably aware that, for a
bands. One of its main functions is to quick- advances will appear in years to come. number of years, the technology required to
ly transmit a distress message at the push ly an aircraft without a crew has been avail-
of a button, providing data, not only the Vessels, Cleaner and Unmanned able and is being used to control Unmanned
distress vessel’s name, callsign, position The maritime industry is currently develop- Aerial Vehicles (UAV).
(when linked to GPS navigation), but also on ing cleaner fuel systems to reduce atmos- Recently, a UAV even lew successfully
the nature of the distress situation. pheric pollution from their engine exhaust across the Atlantic Ocean. Now, the plan is
From a mariner’s point of view, this is a gases. It does so by applying a variety to have unmanned vessels on the high seas,
much quicker way to send an emergency of methods, from itting exhaust scrub- on the basis that, without the requirement
signal, especially when a vessel is on ire or bers, or using alternative fuels that cause for crew accommodation, there would be
rapidly sinking. less pollution, to the deployment of elec- more cargo space available, hence poten-
For quite a few years, there have also tric or wind power. tial greater proits for shipping companies,
been NAVTEX Maritime Safety Information In some cases, a combination of meth- while at the same time lowering the cost of
(MSI) transmissions, using 518kHz for ods is being used. goods for the consumer.

Maritime Matters
Obviously, control of such ships would

be maintained from shore-based location,
For a number of years, aircraft have been capable
by means of satellite communications be- of flying automatically, but this has never been
tween the controller and the ships being
controlled. I suspect that this would not
attempted on a commercial passenger aircraft, due
only include data communications used for to the lack of confidence in such automation
steering the vessel but also extend to live
video feeds from the vessel coupled with
AIS information, transmitted to avoid pos- cargo coasting vessels, using ports that do sending distress alerts and of receiving
sible collisions. not require pilotage, may be safely possi- weather forecasts plus marine safety infor-
For a number of years, aircraft have been ble in the next few years, but I cannot fore- mation. In addition, the equipment is cheap-
capable of lying automatically, but this has see such technology being used for larger er than ‘normal’ marine VHF radios.
never been attempted on a commercial ocean-going vessels in the near future. The standard working range on 27MHz is
passenger aircraft, due to the lack of con- Just like in the case of future driverless indicated as being ten to 15nm.
idence in such automation. Fare-paying vehicles, there is still a long way to go be- Table 1 details the frequencies available
passengers would have serious concerns fore ship automation is proven to be safe. for maritime use in Australia.
regarding something going wrong and no- Having said that, some small-scale trials These coastal rescue stations form
body there to intervene. I also think that have been successful, but these have al- part of the Australian Volunteer Marine
this would apply to passenger ships if there ways been carried out with a crew onboard, Rescue (VMR) coastal radio network and
were an attempt to control them remotely. ready to take over if something went wrong. similar services.
For that reason, I think automatic control Whatever happens, I do foresee an in- Much of their role would seem to be sim-
would be conined to cargo vessels. crease in the use of both terrestrial and ilar to the UK Coastwatch Organisation,
However, there are also some other prob- satellite marine communications in the with their primary function of logging vessel
lems to resolve. Currently, ships are carry- coming years, especially in the area of movement, providing weather and safety
ing engineering staff to look after the en- data transmissions. message reports, and receiving distress
gines. When a fault occurs, maintenance and emergency transmissions.
crew can normally repair it using replace- Maritime CB - Down Under The VMR stations Down Under also
ment parts, or they can make a new part in The majority of countries worldwide rely provide maritime rescue, using their own
their workshop if required. on marine radio communications – either state-of-the-art craft. In addition to the
I cannot help wondering how an engine through DSC or by voice – for small craft, 27MHz Channels 86 and 88 distress and
failure of an automatically controlled ship, to call for assistance when they ind them- calling channels, the VMR service also
located in the middle of the ocean, would be selves in dificulties. monitors ‘normal’ VHF marine transmis-
dealt with if there were no crew onboard. Interestingly, Australia not only uses sions on Channels 16 (156.800MHz) and
Another question concerns the use of pi- normal MF/HF and VHF marine commu- 70 (156.525MHz) DSC, along with ei-
lotage. Many ports require the use of a pilot nications but also an extension of their ther Channel 80 (157.025/161.625MHz),
for vessels to safely enter and exit ports. 27MHz Citizens Band radio, reserved 81 (157.075/161.675MHz), or 82
Pilots are located at or close to ports so for maritime use. (157.125/161.725MHz).
would they also have to use virtual reality? The 27MHz Service is not monitored by In Australia, marine VHF Channels 80, 81
[see also our main feature on the Solent larger ships, as it is designed for recreation- & 82 are repeater channels, used for pass-
Pilots, by John Periam, in this issue – Ed.]. al craft users. However, most Australian ing on information on ship movements and
coastal volunteer rescue stations mon- on the safety of vessels and persons.
Security and Communications itor transmissions on Channels 86 and A number of VMR stations also monitor
In this context, the biggest ‘headache’ of all 88 in that band. some selected HF frequencies and have
is the question of how to ensure the total This is a low-cost, license free, option, a transmit facility on 2154kHz. Moreover,
security of the system, in order to prevent compared to traditional marine VHF radio. It some stations possess a VHF DSC facility.
a major disaster involving environmen- has the further beneit that no formal quali- Each Australian VMR station is allocated
tal and/or human lives, by persons with ications are required to use this band, mak- a Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI)
ill intentions. ing it popular with recreational users. number for VHF DSC calls. From time to
While satellite communications can be The 27MHz transceivers are capable of time, when monitoring DSC MF/HF trafic,
used for controlling speed and course,
there is a risk of, whatever secure system Station MF / HF Frequencies Monitored
is used, being compromised by either a
Adelaide West Beach 2032, 2182, 2524, 4125, 6215, 6227, 8291
foreign power or other persons with crim-
Adelaide North Haven 2182, 2524, 4483
inal intentions.
Many maritime authorities already Edithburgh 2032, 2182, 2524, 4125, 6215, 6227, 8291
have worries regarding the possibili- VMTR Port Lincoln 2524
ty of GPS navigation being interfered Seaton 2182, 2524, 4125, 6215, 8291
with, either intentionally or unintentional- VMT Tumby Bay 2524
ly; this is something I have mentioned in Wallaroo Base 2032, 2182, 2524, 4125, 4535, 6215, 6227, 8291
previous columns.
I think that automatic control of small Table 1: VMR Frequencies for Maritime Use in Australia.

Maritime Matters
KEVIN HEWITT
Fig. 2: The submarine HMS Talent in Gibraltar.
some of these MMSI numbers appeared in

HF DSC test acknowledgement signals.
Unfortunately, Storm Ali also damaged my main
I carried out extensive research into MF/HF receiving aerial, a Datong AD370 outdoor
these several years ago and established
that these stations are not equipped with
active aerial, blowing a piece of debris from a
HF DSC transmitters. It would, therefore, neighbour’s shed roof
seem that the Australian Maritime Rescue
Co-ordination Centre in Melbourne, which is
responsible for HF and HF DSC communi- Force 8 Gale blowing. a piece of debris from a neighbour’s
cations, retain these MMSI numbers in their On arrival, the lifeboat crew conirmed shed roof. This piece seems to have
‘auto-DSC’ (test acknowledgement) data- that there was nobody on the yacht. It was hit the upper-element mounting post,
base. As long as that MMSI number is valid, then tasked to go the aid of another yacht which comes through the plastic case
the test acknowledgement is transmitted several miles away, which was found to of the head unit.
using that VMR MMSI. be drifting. Unfortunately, by the time the My photograph (Fig. 1) shows the
https://tinyurl.com/ycaa4kdm lifeboat reached the vessel, there was Datong AD370, offset from the main mast.
In the UK, we sometimes see MF DSC nothing the crew could do, as the vessel I suspect the weather has also allowed
test acknowledgements coming from was on the rocks, on an ebbing tide. It also rainwater to penetrate the case, as we had
Coastguard stations, which were closed had nobody on board. heavy rain during the storm. The active
several years ago. This is for the same rea- The crew commenced its return to the aerial carries power from the DC power
son: The correct MMSI number for a closed station, only to receive a third tasking from supply up to the coax feed cable, and to a
station remains logged in the database. a yacht in dificulties. The lifeboat crew circuit inside the head unit.
established a tow line and successfully As a result, my general coverage receiver
The Impact of Storm Ali towed the yacht to the safety of a nearby is currently as ‘deaf’ as the proverbial ‘door
September saw the arrival of Storm Ali in marina. On leaving the relatively sheltered post’. Until I drop the aerial array, I will not
the British Isles. Some parts of Ireland were waters of Strangford Lough to return know if the AD370 is repairable.
hit hard, with winds of up to 90mph, as to the station, the lifeboat crew once Meanwhile, I have purchased a new mini-
recorded a few miles from here. again faced mountainous seas and the whip active aerial to either replace it or, if I
Close to my location, the RNLI all-weather Coxswain decided to stop in a coastal can repair the AD370, supplement it.
lifeboat at Newcastle, Co. Down, was ishing port for an hour to allow conditions I would like to have the new mini-whip
launched at the height of the storm, to go to improve. The lifeboat and its battered ready to attach to the mast in one operation
to Newtownards Sailing Club in Strangford crew returned to station after seven when it is down.
Lough, to attend a weather-beaten yacht, gruelling hours at sea. Finally, my thanks to Kev Hewitt for this
which was believed to have somebody Unfortunately, Storm Ali also damaged month’s picture, in Fig. 2. It shows the sub-
on board. The sea passage to Strangford my main MF/HF receiving aerial, a Datong marine HMS Talent in Gibraltar.
Lough was described as challenging, with a AD370 outdoor active aerial, blowing Until the next time, Fair Winds.

NDB DXing
Beacons and Aerials

Robert Connolly range of up to 200km. to as channel markers and cluster beacons.
gi7ivx@btinternet.com Their identiication signal consists of a Like ishnet beacons, they can be heard
combination of letters and numbers: Two on a number of MF and HF frequencies. It
In our final NDB DXing outing for this letters and one number for Class 3a; two is believed that they are operated by the
year, Robert Connolly investigates letters and two number for Class 4a; one Russian Military, mainly the Navy, and that
Fishnet, Channel Marker and Cluster number and three letters for Class 4b; two the letters refer to their various bases. Their
Beacons, evaluates Mini-Whip aerials, letters and three numbers for Class 5a; and exact function is not known, and it is prob-
prepares for winter DXing and offers one number and four letters for Class 5b. able that they are being used to ensure no-
his usual list of loggings. The ident is transmitted three times over body else can use those frequencies, leav-
the period of one minute, followed by a si- ing them clear for when the Russian Military
Generally, the non-directional beacons I re- lence period of three minutes, and then the wishes to send operational signals.
fer to in this column are those used by avia- cycle begins again. Although their oficial They are possibly also used as propaga-
tion. There are also the few remaining ma- range is 200km, they can often be received tion beacons to allow Russian naval ves-
rine NDBs, along with former marine NDBs over much greater distances. sels to select the optimal frequency for
that are now used to transmit DGPS signals. While I am not aware of any oficial operational communications, given their
However, there are also some other registry for these beacons, some ama- current location and prevailing propaga-
non-directional beacons, which monitors teur loggings may be found at the fol- tion conditions.
come across from time to time. These may lowing websites: Channel markers only transmit one letter
be heard on MF and HF frequencies. These www.qsl.net/n2sln/driftnetbeacons.htm constantly, while cluster beacons will trans-
are used by ishing industries in many parts https://tinyurl.com/yctk2evf mit several letters constantly and all within
of the world and are referred to as ‘Driftnet https://tinyurl.com/y7ktx5uw a few Hz of each other.
Beacons’, although the use of driftnets is Given the fact that these beacons are Table 1 details the suspected locations
now restricted. used in a maritime environment, it is not of the letters used by channel marker bea-
Nevertheless, these transmitters are still possible to establish their location, or, for cons and of frequencies in use by cluster
used by long-line ishing vessels and may that matter, their country of operation. beacon stations.
also be referred to as ‘ishnet beacons’. Countries that use them include North and
It is thanks to reader Kevin, who recently South America (Atlantic, Arctic and Paciic Mini-Whip Aerials
emailed me regarding these, that I remem- waters), Asia, Australia and New Zealand. September’s Storm Ali hit hard here, and
bered that this was an area I had not looked I am also led to believe that some are used I am considering replacing my damaged
at for some considerable time. by Norway and Russia in the Arctic region. Datong AD 370 active aerial with a mini-
These lines may run for many kilometres Many of these beacons operate continu- whip alternative (see my report in this
and can have secondary lines branching ously when deployed, but there are some month’s Maritime Matters).
off them using thousands of baited hooks. that only operate when activated by a So, what exactly is a mini-whip active aer-
They are deployed by the ishing vessel Selcall transmission from the vessel, using ial? Most current mini-whips are based on
and left for a period of time before the ves- the buoy. Their general speciication and a design by Roelof Bakker PA0RDT, for low-
sel returns to haul the line back on board service range is the same as the others, but frequency reception in a city environment
with the catch. they are itted with a Selcall receiver that and for use in small gardens.
Driftnet beacons are radio beacons de- operates on either 2331.5 or 1902.5 kHz. In Following tests using an active whip aeri-
ployed in the sea by commercial isher- addition, the battery of the beacon will last al, designed by G4COL, it became clear that,
men using these long lines. The beacons for up to ten times longer. at LF, an active whip is a capacitance, cou-
enable them to easily locate their lines for Amateur DXers know that locating an pled to the electric ield, and that the whip
retrieval, and they operate in just the same MF/HF transmitter and aerial on saltwater length could be reduced from 100 to 30
fashion as a normal marine NDB. The trans- increases its receivable range by up to ten cm without loss of performance; the shape
mitter unit is a compact, waterproof, and times, possibly even more during darkness; becomes irrelevant, if the required capaci-
battery powered, device of just under a me- hence the reason why these are received by tance is available.
tre in height, with a 0.2m aerial deployed amateurs from long distances away. In practice, the ‘whip’ in question can be,
at one end of the long line and loating on for instance, a small piece of copper-clad,
top of the water. Channel Markers and printed, circuit board. A small die-cast alu-
The normal battery life is around 500 Cluster Beacons minium box can also be used, with the buff-
hours, and the image in Fig. 1 shows an ex- There are other types of beacon, commonly er ampliier mounted inside.
ample of a ishnet beacon. receivable in various parts of the world, in- Many tests were performed, in order to
Fishnet beacons operate on frequen- cluding in the British Isles and Continental ind the optimum dimension for what be-
cies between 1.6 and 28.5MHz, although Europe. These normally take the form of came the PA0RDT-Mini-Whip.
operation between 1.6 and 4 MHz is most transmitting a single letter, and some will To prevent receiver overload, the maxi-
common. Their transmission mode is A1A occasionally break into fairly high-speed mum output has been set to about - 20dBm.
(Morse code) with a power of either 4 or Morse code transmissions. The buffer ampliier has been optimised for
10W. This provides a practical working The two main types of these are referred good strong-signal-handling performance.

NDB DXing
MILT JENSEN
but a short length of 40mm plastic pipe

itted with end-caps will provide a suit-
able outdoor case.
I used a small plastic project box for the
interface and a slightly larger waterproof
project box for the aerial unit. It should be
noted that mini-whip active aerials should
be used outside and mounted as high as
possible, and as far away as possible from
potential sources of interference.
Winter DX Season
We are now into the main winter DX sea-
son, so it will be interesting to see what
propagation conditions will be like over
the coming months.
Rob Evans e-mailed me at the end of
Fig.1: A ‘Fishnet’ Beacon. September to let me know that he had re-
ROBERT CONNOLLY ceived 372 kHz OZN Prins Christian Sund
from Greenland and also 274 kHz SAL from
Cape Verde at 0500 UTC. Reception of
these is always a reliable indicator of the
fact that the main NDB DX season is start-
ing to get underway.
I received a report from a DXer in the
Czech Republic who recently received
the following remnants from marine NDB
chains located in the Black Sea, conirm-
ing that they are still active: SW - Mys
Khersonesskiy and EYa Mys Yevpatoriyskiy
Light (note Ya is a Russian special Morse
character .-.-), both from Ukraine on 309.5
kHz. Received on 312.5 kHz: DB Doobskiy,
Black Sea Russia and AT - Mys Aytodorskiy
Ukraine. There is a third NDB believed
to be still active in this chain, TR Mys
Fig. 2: The IP 33 Mini-Whip active aerial and its interface unit. Tarkhankutskiy.
To stand a chance of hearing these NDBs
Unfortunately, these days, my eyesight The aerial board measures 110x30mm you have to listen to the frequency carefully
is not the best for close-soldering work, es- and is supplied with a 40 x 10mm pow- for at least six minutes. These marine bea-
pecially with surface- mount components. er interface board that connects the aerial con chains normally have six NDBs on the
Therefore, I decided I would purchase one to the receiver. The 12V DC power is con- same frequency, with each allocated one
that had the circuitry already built-up, leav- ducted from this board to the mini-whip minute, during which interval it would trans-
ing me to do minimal work to complete board, via the coaxial cable. Complete as- mit three times, followed by a long tone, and
the connections and secure them in a sembly instructions can be downloaded then by a single identiication transmission
suitable casing. from this website: at the end of the allocated period.
There are a number of ready-made mi- https://tinyurl.com/assembledMiniWhip Time slots for these beacons on
ni-whip aerials available for sale on eBay, The UK seller (Mike) is at this URL: 309.5kHz are as follows: EYa slot 1, TR slot
with most seeming to come from Russia or radioelectronics@outlook.com 5 ,and SW slot 6. On 312,5kHz, it is AT using
Ukraine. For various reasons, I preferred to General speciications for the IP33 Mini- slot 1 and DB slot 4.
purchase from either the UK or Europe. Whip are as follows: frequency range: Until next time, good DX.
I came across a UK-based supplier who 10kHz-30MHz; power: 12-15V at 38 mA;
sells the IP 33 Mini-Whip Active Aerial, which second order output intercept point: > + DXERS FOR THIS MONTH’S LOG TABLE:
may be purchased as a kit, with all the com- 74dBm.; third order output intercept point: NDB reception this period during day-
ponents to be soldered onto the circuit > + 33dBm; dimensions: length: 110mm, di- light (*).A: Rob Evans, South Wales, Icom
boards. You can also opt for the assembled ameter: 33mm. The feed line is 50-100Ω co- IC-R8600 with a long wire aerial.B: Andy
version, with the inal exterior connections axial cable, up to 100m. Thomsett, Southwest England. Airspy
(power supply, two SMA sockets for coaxial These speciications are very similar HF+ or SDRplay RSPduo and a PA0RDT
cable ,and a female BNC connector) to be to the original PA0RDT mini-whip, and my Mini-Whip.C: Robert Connolly, Co. Down,
carried out for just a few pounds more. I twenty-year-old Datong AD370 active ae- Northern Ireland. NRD 525, Datong AD370
opted for the assembled version (Fig. 2). rial. It does not come with an enclosure, active aerial, Timewave DSP+9.

NDB DXing
CHANNEL MARKERS CLUSTER BEACONS
A Astrakhan, Russia, C Moscow, Russia, D Sevastopol, Ukraine, F Vladivostok, Russia, K Petropav- D 3593.7, 4557.7, 5153.7, 7038.7, 8494.7, 10871.7, 13527.7, 16331.7, 20047.7; P 3593.8, 4557.8,
lovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, L Tirana, Albania (inactive), M Magadan, Russia, P Kaliningrad, Russia, 5153.8, 7038.8, 8494.8, 10871.8, 13527.8, 16331.8, 20047.8; S 3593.9, 4557.9, 5153.9, 7038.9,
R Izhevsk (Ustinov), Russia, S Severomorsk, Russia, V Khiva, Uzbekistan. 8494.9, 10871.9, 13527.9, 16331.9, 20047.9; C 3594.0, 4558.0, 5154.0, 7039.0, 8495.0, 10872.0,
13528.0, 16332.0, 20048.0; A 3595.1, 4558.1, 5154.1, 7039.1, 8495.1, 10872.1, 16332.1;
F 7039.2; K 5154.3, 7039.3, 8495.3; M 5154.4, 7039.4, 8495.4, 10872.4, 13528.4, 16332.4.
Table 1: Suspected locations of the letters used by Channel Marker Beacons and of the frequencies used by Cluster Beacons.
FREQ C/S LOCATION COUNTRY DXer FREQ C/S LOCATION COUNTRY DXer
274.0 SAL Ilha Do Sal Cape Verde A, C 378.0 KLY Killiney Republic of Ireland B, C*
277.0 CHT Chiltern England A 380.0 CBL Campbelltown Scotland C*
316.0 OE Dublin Republic of Ireland B, C* 380.0 FIL Horta Azores B
318.0 BE Bordeaux - Mérignac France B 380.0 RQ Quimper - Pluguffan France B
318.0 BPL Blackpool England C* 380.0 VNV Villanueva Spain B
319.0 VAR Varhaug Norway B, C 382.0 LAR Arruda Portugal B, C
321.0 ABY Albert - Bray France B 382.0 SBG Salzburg Austria B
321.0 STM Scilly Isles England B, C 383.0 ALD Alderney Channel Islands A, B
322.0 RL La Rochelle France C 384.0 SLG Sligo Republic of Ireland B, C*
323.0 WPL Welshpool Wales A 385.0 WL Walney Island England C*
325.0 AST Asturias Spain B, C 386.0 BZ Brize Norton England B
326.0 LM Le Man - Arnage France B 387.0 AV Asturias Spain B
327.0 LNZ Linz Austria B 387.0 BGP Brest - Guipavas France A, B
327.0 MVC Merville - Calonne France B 387.0 CML Clonmel Republic of Ireland B, C*
328.0 CL Carlisle England B, C* 388.5 CDF Cardiff Wales A, B
328.0 HIG San Sebastian Spain B 389.0 CP Lisbon Portugal B, C
328.5 EGT Londonderry N. Ireland B, C* 389.0 PX Périgueux France B
331.0 GLW Glasgow Scotland C* 390.0 DR Dinard France B
331.0 GST Gloucester England B, A 390.0 SO Santiago Spain B
331.5 TLF Toulouse - Francazal France B 393.0 BD Bordeaux - Mérignac France B
332.0 OY Aldergrove N. Ireland C* 394.0 DND Dundee Scotland B, C*
333.5 VOG Voghera Italy B 394.0 NV Nevers - Fourchambault France B
334.0 GMN Gormanstown Republic of Ireland B, C* 395.0 B Bilbao Spain B
334.0 KER Kerry - Farranfore Republic of Ireland B 395.0 FOY Foynes Rep. of Ireland B, C*
335.0 TON Torralba de Aragón Spain B 395.0 LAY Islay Scotland C*
335.0 WCO Westcott England B 397.0 OP Dublin Rep. of Ireland C*
337.0 EX Exeter England A, B 397.0 BLB Blois - Le Breuil France B
337.0 MY Myggenaes Faeroes B, C 397.0 FV Fuerteventura Canary Islands B
337.0 WTN Warton England C* 397.0 ZR Béziers - Vias France B
338.0 FNY Doncaster England C* 398.0 MT St-Nazaire - Montoir France B
338.0 GU Brest - Guipavas France B, A 398.0 OK Connaught Rep. of Ireland C*
338.0 PST Porto Santo Madeira B 399.0 NGY New Galloway Scotland B, C*
339.0 BIA Bournemouth England B 400.0 AG Agen France B
339.0 OL Shannon Republic of Ireland B 401.0 COA La Coruña Spain C
340.0 HAW Hawarden Wales B, C* 401.0 LA Laval France B
341.0 EDN Edinburgh Scotland B, C 402.5 LBA Leeds England B
342.0 VA Vannes France B 404.0 AGO Angoulême France B
342.0 VLD Valladolid Spain C 404.0 CNE Caen - Carpiquet France B
342.5 NWI Norwich England B 404.0 LRD Lleida Spain B
343.0 YVL Yeovil England B 406.0 BHX Birmingham England B
345.0 CSD Daouarat Morocco B 406.5 BOT Bottrop Germany B
345.0 LN Lannion France B 409.0 SG Såtenäs Sweden B
346.0 LHO Le Havre France B, C 410.0 C La Coruña Spain C
347.0 NQY Newquay England C* 410.0 ETN Étain France B
347.5 TD Teesside England C 412.0 GRN Gerona Spain B
349.5 LPL Liverpool England C* 413.5 DLS Berlin - Lubars Germany B
350.0 FU Hamburg Germany B 414.0 BRI Bristol England A, B
351.0 OV Visby Sweden B, C 414.0 HD Sandnessjøen - Hestad Norway B
352.0 ENS Ennis Republic of Ireland C 415.0 TOE Toulouse France B, C
352.0 NT Newcastle England C 416.0 POZ Požarevac Serbia B
352.0 WOD Woodley England B 416.0 SA Santander Spain B
353.0 KIL Kiel Germany B 417.0 AH Ängelholm Sweden B
355.0 PIK Prestwick Scotland B, C* 417.0 CVT Madrid - Cuarto Vientos Spain B
356.0 SGO Sagunto Spain B 417.0 SNO Santiago Spain B, C
356.0 WBA Wolverhampton England B, C* 418.5 MT Offshore Installation North Sea - UK B
357.0 LP Cholet France B 419.0 EMT Épinal France C
358.0 BRS Biscarosse France B 420.0 HB Belfast City N. Ireland B, C*
358.0 LT Le Touquet France B, C 421.0 BUR Burnham England A
359.0 LOR Lorient France B, C 421.0 GE Madrid Spain B, C
359.0 RWY Ronaldsway Isle of Man C* 422.0 PAM Pamplona Spain B
360.5 MAK Makel Belgium B 423.0 TS Toulouse - Blagnac France B
361.0 CFN Carickinn Republic of Ireland B, C 424.0 PHG Phalsbourg - Bourscheid France B
363.0 PI Poitiers France A, B 424.0 PIS Pisarovina Croatia B
364.0 KNK Connaught Republic of Ireland C* 425.0 EVR Évora Portugal B
364.0 PU Pau France B 426.0 CTS Castets France B
365.0 VR Gran Canaria Canaries A 426.0 SH Shobden England A
366.0 UTH Uthaug Norway B 427.0 RY Royan France B
367.5 OX Oxford England A, B 428.0 BST Lanvéoc France B, C
368.0 WTD Waterford Ireland A, B, C* 428.0 CTX Châteauroux France B
368.5 WHI Whitegate England B, C* 430.0 SN Saint-Yan France B
369.0 GL Nantes - Atlantique France B 431.0 SAY Stornoway Scotland B
371.0 STR Sintra Portugal C 432.0 PK Pardubice Czech Republic B
372.0 ODR Odderøya Norway C 433.0 VON Vigo Portugal B
372.0 OZN Prins Christian Sund Greenland A, B, C 433.0 VNS Castor Platform Spain (offshore) B
373.0 MP Cherbourg - Maupertuis France A 433.5 HEN Henton England A, B
374.0 BGC Bergerac - Roumanie France B 468.0 FTZ Fritzlar Germany B
376.0 BJA Beja Portugal B 488.0 ILM Illesheim Germany B
Table 2: NDB Loggings (Part Four – December 2018).

Digital Radio
Radio in a 5G World
Kevin Ryan considers the future of digital radio, installs the welle.io app on
an Android tablet, offers highlights from IBC 2018, reports from Norway and
Gibraltar, and has news on DRM+ and DAB changes.
KEVIN RYAN
Kevin Ryan
kevin@kpr-web.co.uk
here are many stories circulat-
T ing at the moment, in connec-

tion with the perceived, urgent,
need for digital radio, especially
DAB+, to create a long-term fu-
ture for the technology.
In the UK, we would probably like to have
DAB+ irst, before thinking about the next
leap in technology.
The broadcasters want to reach every-
body, if possible, and national stations are
obligated to do this by the Government.
Meanwhile, the younger generation is in-
creasingly unaware of radio. The very Fig.1: The PILOT project concept.
youngest members of my family don’t re-
ally know what a ‘radio’ is, as their world is ogy appeared in more countries. That per- need 765 DAB+ transmitters to provide
all video-based. ceived crisis didn’t happen back then, but 99.5% of geographical coverage, and that
Most radio listeners are drifting to pod- the risk is back in the shape of 5G and its 4G would need nearly one million mobile
casts and smart speakers, and they use much greater data download capacity. cells to achieve the same thing.
their mobiles for almost everything. I am I noted during a BBC Five Live interview Another interesting aspect of mobile
not surprised at this; stations like BBC with Marc Allera, the Chief Executive of EE, is that, at peak times, there may not be
Radio Five Live rarely mention digital radio that neither he nor the BBC presenters men- enough capacity to deliver everything that
and are more likely to suggest listening via tioned radio. They referred to the fact that a people want, and that bandwidth might be
the radio app, podcast or a smart speaker. full HD ilm could be downloaded in under ‘throttled back’, thus impacting streaming.
Many mobiles include an FM radio, but how 40 seconds, using 5G, compared to over Furthermore, in a 5G mobile environ-
many have a DAB radio? I have only come seven minutes on 4G. ment, many users would be passing from
across one, a few years ago. There is a difference between deliver- one microcell to another very quickly.
ing sound over a broadcast network and This is a headache in terms of seamless
5G on the Horizon via mobile. The latter is an extension of the access (no audio dropouts) to your fa-
There is speculation – from broadcasters internet and you are streaming a radio pro- vourite radio show.
mainly – as to whether the latest mobile te- gramme, either live or as a podcast, using
lephony technology called 5G (‘ifth-genera- up mobile bandwidth that has to be paid A Future Role for DAB?
tion’) will make DAB+ and other digital radio for, by either the broadcaster or by you and Nearly all these comparisons are produced
systems obsolete. me – in some cases by both parties. Radio by the DAB community, after proving – to
The UK mobile telephone operator EE broadcasts, by contrast, are thought of as themselves at least – that mobile can never
started the irst 5G trial, in Canary Wharf in ‘free’, even though they are paid for by the replace broadcasting. By contrast, I nearly
London, in early October, and more of them consumer, either through a licence fee or always conclude that the future will be a
will follow in the big cities. These are mainly through what we buy. ‘hybrid’ one, where DAB+ and 5G can, and
engineering tests of the 3.4GHz spectrum, In my opinion, broadcast networks will will, complement each other.
and of devices like new consumer hand- continue, because they are much cheaper Many now say that radio, in general, is
sets. The network itself will not be widely to run than a mobile network – by a factor losing its identity and becoming a ‘podcast-
available until 2022. of about 10:1. DAB+, for example, covers factory’, for want of a better analogy. Radio
Why the panic on the part of the broad- a wide area with a handful of transmitters, is now also in danger of being pushed out
casters? These alarm bells are not new, and whereas 5G would require hundreds (some of the car dashboard, it seems, where many
a similar critical (and negative) analysis estimate thousands) more to achieve people do most of their radio listening.
was published periodically by the DAB com- the same coverage. There are ideas on how to make digi-
munity during 2010-2014 when 4G technol- One author estimated that Norway will tal radio more interesting and relevant,

Digital Radio
KEVIN RYAN
and I covered one of these developments

(Project Orpheus) in this magazine before
(RadioUser, August 2018: 52-55).
IBC 2018 Highlights

Many new product announcements were
made during the International Broadcasting
Conference (IBC), and, as always, I was on
the lookout for new digital receivers.
https://show.ibc.org
One thing that caught my eye was the un-
veiling of a prototype for a voice-controlled,
hybrid, radio. The radio combines broad-
cast and IP-radio (streaming) technolo-
gy. Those radios already exist today, and
they offer voice-command technology, by
means of which users can choose which
source to use. This means that the listener
requests a station, and the computer de- Fig. 2: Rock Radio, the first additional DAB station for Gibraltar in nine years.
cides on the source. KEVIN RYAN
There is a pertinent info sheet on the EBU the age of the internet and streaming. Like
technical website; the prototype combines many senior radio igures, he sees the fu-
Alexa voice control with a Frontier Smart ture, once again, as a ‘hybrid’ of DAB+ and
Technologies DAB/FM module. internet streaming.
The PILOT-funded project (Fig. 1) will de-
velop the software that makes them work Rocking Gibraltar
together, and the group will release the code A new station called Rock Radio (Fig. 2)
to manufacturers for use in their receivers. started in Gibraltar on October 1st, both on Fig. 3: Cork in Ireland has a small-scale, trial, DAB
www.nabpilot.org DAB+ and FM. Curious to know what was multiplex.
https://tinyurl.com/y8m78w95 happening in this distant part of the UK, the KEVIN RYAN
WorldDAB agency produced an interesting

News from Norway story. It stated that, “Two DAB+ ensembles
It is hard to believe that, one year ago, operate on Blocks 12B and 12C, and the new
Norway was in the process of switch- radio networks went on-air on 31 December
ing off most of its FM transmitters. Jon 2012, allowing Gibraltar to switch off ana-
Branaes, Head of Radio for the national logue television.
broadcaster NRK, in a frank interview with “There are currently no plans to switch
RadioWorld, said that the switchover pro- off FM radio in Gibraltar. The incumbent na-
cess is not yet over. tional broadcaster is transmitting four radio
There was a mixed reaction from radio stations, which are re-transmissions of the
listeners, with many happy to have the ex- same content that is currently being trans-
tra choice provided by the increase to 15 mitted on the FM network”. Fig. 4: DABPlayer records audio in .mp4 format.
NRK channels, and from lobbyists who still The digital broadcasting network, com-
want to oppose DAB. Facts are being selec- prising of two digital television multiplexes there was no obligation to have DAB+ in-
tively used by different groups, both inside and two digital radio multiplexes, became stalled. Perhaps this was an example of
and outside Norway, to support, or argue operational in December 2012, allowing forward-planning. In Southern Europe in
against, a switchover to digital. Gibraltar to meet its obligation to cease an- general, there is no central push for the pro-
In contrast to this, it is clear from inde- alogue TV transmissions. motion of digital radio.
pendent media research that radio listen- There were two (Band III) TV transmit- In Gibraltar, only 8% of the population
ing had declined on analogue by mid-2017 ters in operation, but they were not on the tune in via digital receivers.
and started to recover again the following same frequencies as the new DAB+ trans- www.rockradio.gi
spring, after the digital switchover. Has dig- mitters, which makes the above WorldDAB https://www.gbc.gi/radio/listen-live
ital re-invigorated radio listening or would news item a bit odd. The TV switchover
it have happened anyway? It is dificult to could have gone ahead without installing Ireland Multiplexes
know, but it is possible that the move to dig- DAB+ transmitters. A third, small-scale, DAB multiplex came
ital forced people to use DAB and discover The DAB+ transmitters are located on on air on channel 11A in August in Cork,
the additional channels. the Upper Rock at Signal Hill, and each dig- the second largest city. It has a trial licence
Jon Branaes is adamant that FM was ital radio multiplex can carry four distinct for one year (Fig. 3). There are two other
not the future because it provided limited programmes. At the moment, they trans- multiplexes in Dublin, transmitting from
content, not forgetting that DAB can indeed mit two on each multiplex; all four of them the Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) headquar-
carry more stations but is also limited, in carry the same audio. So far as I know, ters in Donnybrook.

Digital Radio
KEVIN RYAN
There is speculation
that RTÉ may
close down DAB
as a cost-saving
measure
So far, just two religious broadcasters
are using the Cork multiplex. The pow-
er is 300W, and the predicted coverage
area is comparable to that of the RTÉ
10kW multiplex.
www.eirdab.com
There is speculation that RTÉ may close
down DAB as a cost-saving measure. The
RTÉ 2018-2022 Strategy doesn’t conirm
this, but it states that DAB will not be ex-
panded beyond the current level, without
the involvement of the Government and the
commercial sector. Fig. 5: The welle.io display is a little ‘squeezed’ in landscape mode, even on a 10in tablet.
RTÉ prefers the continuation of FM, in ad- KEVIN RYAN
dition to more streaming and podcasting. If if your device supports OTG, but they only
the small-scale DAB trials are successful, I check the software.
think that the commercial stations, many of The speciication for the Acer tablet
whom are quite small, might be attracted to listed the side-micro-USB port as sup-
that option as a means of going digital. porting OTG, Slave-USB-connection and
https://tinyurl.com/y8c7mkou Power-over-USB. The top USB port only
has OTG support.
Welle.io on Android I plugged the cable and the SDR into the
Regular readers will already know about the side-micro-USB port that I use to charge the
welle.io software app for DAB reception. tablet, but that didn’t work. Subsequently,
They will also be aware that I had problems I moved the OTG cable to the top USB con-
with its stability on Windows 7. It works nection, and it powered the SDR; this was
much better on Windows 10, but you may almost the reverse of how I interpreted
not know that there is a version for Android the speciication.
that works with RTL-SDR devices. If you only have one micro-USB, or if none
The Google Play store lists the basic re- of your USB ports works, try an OTG cable
quirements for your devices: “Welle.io uses with micro-USB- power to drive the SDR.
the rtl-sdr driver from https://play.google. They are not expensive, but they can take a
com/store/apps/details?id=marto.rtl_tcp_ while to get to you from China.
andro. Additionally, you need an rtl-sdr USB I used the NooElec NESDR mini 2,
dongle, which has to be connected to your which I had problems with during my irst
phone via an USB-OTG cable. test of welle.io.
“This app is very computation- intensive. On Android, welle.io worked very well
You need at least a 4-core CPU with 1.3 GHz and was stable; however, my tablet has Fig. 6: One of the three welle.io screens in expert
for using this app. Please note that welle.io just enough processing power to run the mode.
is under heavy development.” app and nothing else. If you plan to use
My Acer Iconia Tab 10 has four cores any other app while running welle.io, you data streams, as is the case with Capital
and a 1.5 GHz CPU. I downloaded the rtl-sdr will get audio-breakups. It also took the London and Heart London.
driver, which remains dormant until a hard- app a short while (less than a minute) Stations in Germany put the images into
ware device is plugged in. to settle down when I changed the sta- a part of the main DAB data stream (MSC
You may not have come across a USB- tion. After that, it was stable and decoded or Main Service Channel); this is called
OTG cable before. USB On-The-Go (OTG) is both DAB and DAB+. Programme Associated Data or PAD.
a standard for USB connections. It allows a
device to read data from a USB connection Slide Shows Stability
without a PC. These cables are available The Google Play store indicates that the Welle.io on Android was very stable, and it
on the internet, and I recommend that you welle.io app should decode slide shows ran for a couple of hours on my tablet with-
search for one compatible with your tablet. (Fig. 4). However, apparently, this is not the out any reports of low signal. Nevertheless,
There are apps on the Play store that check case when these are carried as separate low signals did happen occasionally.

Digital Radio
DRM CONSORTIUM
Another DRM Receiver

A new low-cost, all-band, DRM receiver
from Germany was unveiled at IBC 2018.
I saw a grainy picture of the receiver, but I
could not make out much detail (Fig. 7).
The logo looked familiar; it belongs to
Starwaves, a company that made a couple
of prototypes from 2005 to 2007, covering
both DAB and DRM. Like most DRM receiv-
ers, they were only manufactured in small
numbers. Their website is live, but it is a
decade or more out of date and thus cur-
rently of historical value only.
www.starwaves.de
B18 Schedules
The new shortwave and DRM broadcast
schedules came into effect at the end
of October. I always read them with
mixed feelings to see whether digital
broadcasts have increased, or whether
one or the other of its major supporters
Fig. 7: It has been many years since Starwaves released a DRM receiver. has abandoned them completely. It would
KEVIN RYAN be a major blow if either the BBC World
Service or Radio Romania International
decreased their output.
We can only hope that All India Radio
and Radio Kuwait will address their
transmitter problems and erratic schedules.
US broadcasters keep hinting that they
are keen to start digital services, but only
WINB took any action with their strange,
hybrid, service.
As I warned before, the DRM section
produced by the HFCC is partly pure iction,
since it includes countries that do register
a service year on year but have stopped
shortwave broadcasting several years ago.
http://www.hfcc.org/data/b18/index.phtml
Year-End Updates
As this is the last edition this year I want
Fig. 8: This tablet-based receiver is eagerly awaited, especially by DRM enthusiasts. to wrap up some of the news items from
2018. I found a webpage on the Arqiva
The SDR was connected to a DAB an- tion. Errors became more frequent as bat- (transmitter operator) website, and it
tenna in my loft. tery capacity dropped to below 20%. contained details of transmitter locations
In expert-mode, there is a display of some It may be that the tablet was switching of an additional 19 transmitters. According
technical parameters, along with a spec- non-essential bits off and was using CPU to a press release, the project was ahead
trum. In landscape mode (Fig. 5), it is a bit time to do this. of schedule, as of the end of September
compressed in the middle. And in portrait 2018. It will increase UK population
mode, you are able to scroll between the DRM+ coverage to 83%. The areas I wasn’t sure of
three panes (Fig. 6), but you will need to be Three countries are going to use DRM+ for are Swindon, Daventry, and the Ridge Hill
careful not to select another station. any move to digital in Band II. Russia will transmitter site in Herefordshire.
My test station was the BBC World use it in Band I as well. All India Radio (AIR), https://tinyurl.com/y84j4k7t
Service, and there was an occasion- the national broadcaster, wants to use it,
al ‘audio-warble’, due to decoding errors. but the standard hasn’t been approved by KiwiSDR and Dream
However, the app recovered quickly, unlike the regulator. South Africa recommends its When using the KiwiSDR remote receiver
what happened during my Windows 7 tests. use in Band II, impressed by the way a DRM network to decode DRM with the DReaM
The expert-mode display revealed FIC multiplex can slot into the spaces between DRM software, I have previously suggested
errors. The FIC (Fast Information Channel) existing FM stations. DAB+ is the choice using the I/Q Pos Split mode for the
carries the multiplex coniguration informa- for Band III there. channel setting. I have since found that the

Digital Radio
I/Q Pos Zero option works well on many very hard to get DReaM to lock onto it. The equally between DRM and an unknown
stations. My mini-tutorial on KiwiSDR and centre frequency (so far as that applies data signal, and this will require a bespoke
DReaM can be found in the October issue to DRM) was probably 823.5kHz. The receiver. DRM has an EWS mode of its
(RadioUser, October 2018: 30-33). signal was very strong, and it was possibly own. I can only speculate as to the other
overloading the SDR. data that would need to be sent alongside
AIR DRM weather and other emergency messages.
Medium wave stations broadcasting in the The 4770kHz Signal
DRM mode used the xHE-AAC decoder. The unidentiied DRM signal on this Titus II
This is not supported by DreaM. Lately, the frequency is most likely a transmitter run This all-mode receiver (Fig. 8) for digital
New Delhi station, using pure DRM, went by the Swiss Government. It might be used broadcasts was due for general release
back to using HE-AAC, and I can now get as an Emergency Warning System (EWS) about the time that I was writing this
the occasional burst of audio. The signal- for people in the remote mountains. column. I am going to stick my neck out
to-noise ratio (SNR) is terrible and the audio I base this on a conversation Jeff and predict that this will not happen, which
only ‘locks-on’ for a couple of seconds at Whyte of WRMI had with an Ampegon is a shame. I haven’t seen or heard an
a time. The other Delhi station on 828kHz engineer at the High-Frequency update in many months, and I guess the
(simulcasting the analogue programme Coordination Convention (HFCC) manufacturers are having problems adding
on 819kHz) has not changed to AAC. conference in Bratislava. an HDRadio decoder to their SDR.
Once a day, between 1000 and 1100 UTC, www.hfcc.org
it changes to pure DRM, which should It aired on the Wavescan media Summary
be on the analogue frequency. There programme, which was carried by Adventist DAB is looking to secure its long-term
is a video of the reception on a Gospell World Radio (AWR) during its English future by merging with mobile, streaming
receiver on YouTube. broadcasts on shortwave on Sundays. and voice control technologies. If this
https://tinyurl.com/y8w2adqw However, the programme failed to works, digital radio will exist in its own right,
Using the Delhi SDR, I found that the DRM mention the ‘small problem’ of the lack of and as a part of the new, connected world.
bandwidth was wider than normal. The IQ receivers. This signal is reported to be like I think it is a clever way to go. It will take
ilter in the KiwiSDR must be stopping some the one carried on WINB on 15670kHz. years, if not decades, to deliver this vision,
of the signal, to the extent that I found it Here, the 10kHz bandwidth is shared but radio enthusiasts can live with that.
NO BUYERS PREMIUM NO BUYERS PREMIUM NO BUYERS PREMIUM
Radio
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Digital Scanners
Moonraker have worked with Whistler to customise a UK band plan
for the scanners! This ensures the radios cover UK bands in the
Handheld correct steps and the correct mode. When a user does a service
scan it will search in the correct steps for the selected band ensuring
EZI-33XLT (right) The most popular handie. maximum received stations. The radios will receive both amateur and
Frequency range: 78-174/406-512MHz commercial DMR transmissions, as (apart from the frequency) they are
................................................. our price just £59.95 fundamentally the same mode. The radio is supplied with software and
UBC-75XLT Nice new design. Frequency range: 25-512MHz users can select mode when writing memories or select auto and it will
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TRX-1 25-1300MHz Digital Handheld Scanner (left) ............... £419.95
UBC-125XLT Good value. Frequency coverage 25-88/108- TRX-2 25-1300MHz Digital Base Scanner (right) .................... £479.95
174/225-512/806-960MHz.................our price just £119.95
UBC-3600XLT (right) 25-1300MHz VHF/UHF Digital

Analog Range
scanner ....................................................... £425.00 WS1025 Analog Desktop Scanner WS1040 25-1300 MHz Digital Trunking & Analog Handheld
This 200-channel scanner lets you listen Scanner
Base to FM radio bands and can be categorised The WS1040 scans most common trunked radio system
into 10 separate memory banks. Also, it signalling formats, including Motorola, EDACS, LTR and
UBC-355 (left) Bargain desktop. offers the convenience of one-touch P25 trunked radio networks. Talk group and individual
Frequency coverage 25-87/108- searches of marine, air call monitoring is supported. When monitoring P25
174/406-512/806-960MHz................... our price just £79.95 and ham. Frequency digital systems, the exclusive Automatic Adaptive Digital
UBC-360CLT Good base station. coverage 29-512MHz Tracking instantly adapts the digital decoder to the digital
Frequency coverage 25-87/108- (with gaps - see web for modulation format of the transmitted signal, then analyses
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......................our price just £99.95 subtle changes caused by multipath or fading
fading.........£279.95
WS1010 25-512MHz Analog WS1065 25-1300MHz Analog Base Scanner

Handheld Scanner The Whistler WS1065 employs cutting edge technology
This 200-channel scanner lets to bring a high level of performance and innovative
you listen to FM radio bands features. This model clearly raises the bar in the area of
and can be categorized into 10 advanced trunking scanners. Frequency
separate memory banks. Also, coverage is extensive, including: 25-54,
it offers the convenience of 108-17, 137-174, 216-512, 764-776,
one-touch searches of marine, 795-805, 849-869, 896-960 and 1240-
air and ham ............. £79.95 1300 MHz................................£279.95
AR-DV10 100kHz–1300MHz
Handheld receiver £995.00
• 100kHz-1300MHz analogue &
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• 10 Digital Modes :
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TETRA,P25(Phase
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SDRplay DUO 1kHz-2000MHz dual tuner receiver £239.95 1+2),DMR,Mototrbo,dPMR, NXDN,
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The SDRplay RSPduo is a dual-tuner wideband full D-STAR,Alinco,Yaesu
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featured 14-bit SDR which covers the entire RF spectrum • Automatic detection of digital
from 1kHz to 2GHz giving 10MHz of spectrum visibility. • 100kHz-1300MHz modes during scan & search modes.
Combined with the power of readily available SDR receiver wideband reception. • Memory scan. • IPX5 water resistant
software (including ‘SDRuno’ supplied by SDRplay) you • Multi-mode a demodulation. • NR, notch, digi-data display. • Micro SD card slot for recording,
can simultaneously monitor two completely separate • All mode analog reception. • Clock, calendar (sleep timer, backup and firmware updates. AVAILABLE
2MHz bands of spectrum anywhere between 1kHz and • Built in SD card reader (audio alarm, timer recording, reception • Lithium-ion battery, charger, belt clip FROM STOCK
2GHz. The RSPduo provides three software selectable firmware updates). logging on SD) • Memory data management software. NOW
antenna inputs, and clocking features ideally suited to
industrial, scientific and educational applications. All
it needs is a PC and an antenna to provide excellent
communications receiver functionality. A documented
API allows developers to create new demodulators or
applications around the platform.
Handheld
IC-R8600
The IC-R6 has 100 channel per second Professional
scanning speed, 1300 memory channels,
15 hours of continuous receive capability,
Communications
optional drop-in charger stand and Receiver
voice control squelch. All these features
combined with a high degree of usability
means that the IC-R6 will be equally at The IC-R8600 is a super wideband communication receiver that covers the radio spectrum from 10 kHz to 3 GHz. It also has
home with any casual listener of broadcast the capability to decode selected digital communication signals including, D-STAR, NXDN, dPMR and P25. The IC-R8600
stations or the serious scanning enthusiast incorporates the latest software demodulation technology incorporated on Icom’s latest HF Amateur radios, providing superior
seeking a pocket sized quality receiver. performance and intuitive operation. With the optional remote control software for a Windows PC, received audio and spectrum
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SDR Receivers
AirSpy Mini High Performance SDR Receiver £119.99
AIRSPY Mini builds on top of the successful Airspy R2
architecture to offer an affordable high performance
alternative to RTL-SDR and other TV dongles for the VHF
AirSpy Mini
High Performance and UHF bands
SDR Receiver
AIRSPY R2 High Performance SDR Receiver.. £209.99
Airspy R2 is an advanced open-source software defined
radio receiver with adequate dynamic range, capable of
sampling 10MHz of spectrum anywhere between 24MHz
and 1.8GHz – and even beyond with extensions. It is the
only high performance wide band receiver solution in the
market that’s yet affordable.
AIRSPY Spyverter R2 ................................£59.99

SpyVerter R2 is a high performance HF front-end
FlightAware has revolutionized the world of USB SDR ADS-B designed to extend the coverage of the Airspy receiver
Receivers with the FlightAware Pro Stick and Pro Stick Plus, high- series to the HF down to virtually DC. It is based on an
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a built-in RF amp for maximum ADS-B/MLAT performance. The High Performance entire HF Spectrum to the VHF band between 120 MHz
SDR Receiver
first of its kind, FlightAware’s Pro Stick is compatible with PiAware and 180 MHz
or any other device that supports USB RTLSDR receivers, and is
less expensive than any other RTLSDR USB receiver in the world. AIRSPY HF Plus High Performance SDR Receiver
The Pro Stick Plus adds a built-in 1090 MHz bandpass filter ......................................................... £229.99
for increased performance and range of reception in areas with The Software Defined Radio revolution brought great
moderate RF noise as is typically experienced in most urban areas. flexibility in VHF and UHF reception. Today Airspy offer
AIRSPY HF Plus the best wide band receivers which address these needs.
Flightaware Prostick Plus........................................................£29.99 High Performance
Flightaware Prostick ................................................................£25.00 SDR Receiver Airspy also provide a high performance extension for
FlightAware ADSB weak-signal wide band reception on HF – something
1090MHz Band-pass SMA Filter ..............................................£16.99 other competing solutions fail to address efficiently
Boni-Whip Active Antenna GigActiv GA3005 Ultra Wideband Active Antenna

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Uniden creates another first with the SDS100 True I/Q Scanner, the first
scanner to incorporate Software Defined Radio technology to provide
incredible digital performance in even the most challenging RF environments.
The SDS100’s digital performance is better than any other scanner in both
simulcast and weak-signal environments. The SDS100 is also the first scanner
that allows you to decide what to display, where, and in what colour. Custom
fields put the information important to you right where you need it. And, one
more first, the SDS100 meets JIS4 (IPX4) standards for water resistance.
Key Features: Frequency Coverage: 25-512 MHz 758-824 MHz 849-

869 MHz 894-960 MHz 1240-1300 MHz • Customizable Colour
Display • Trunktracker X • APCO P25 Phase I and II • Motorola,
EDACS, and LTR Trunking • MotoTRBO Capacity + and Connect
+ • DMR Tier III • Hytera XPT • Single-Channel DMR • NXDN
4800 and 9600 • EDACS ProVoice • Location-Based Scanning
Moonraker DVB-W9 LCD Mini TV • Close Call™ RF Capture with Do Not Disturb • 8 GB microSD
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Fantastic portable 12/24/240V mini LCD portable TV. Watch all the FREE TO AIR
channels available through the DVB-T2 tuner including radio stations. Internal battery Code Decoding • S.A.M.E. Weather Alert • Enhanced
means you can take camping, fishing, picnics in the park or basically anywhere of your Dynamic Memory • Pre-emptive Trunking Priority
choice, Charging is easy with a 12/24 auto switching power supply for your car cigarette • Fully Customizable Scanning with your own Favou-
lighter socket or your trucks 24v one and if at home simply plug into the mains. You rites Lists • Backlit Keypad • Channel Volume Offset
can use the display to show photos or use the USB port for connecting to your portable • PC Programming and Control • USB Connec-
music player and you can add external speakers or headphones of your choice. tivity and Charging • Weekly Database Updates
Season’s greetings from all at Moonraker

Software-Defined Radio
The Icom IC-7610

SDR Transceiver
A New Toy for Christmas! Andrew Barron conveys his impressions of the
new Icom IC-7610 SDR transceiver, from the point of view of an SDR user.
Andrew Barron Other useful functions for SW listening, are the

andrew.barron@broadspectrum.com two completely independent (and identical)
have been using software-deined ra- receivers, each with its own panadapter display
I dios for a few years now, and I really

didn’t need another amateur radio
transceiver. But I found the offer of a
‘mint’, near-new, Icom IC-7610 trans-
ceiver irresistible and so, I bought myself an
early Christmas present (Fig. 1).
The IC-7610 was introduced to the world
or ‘CQ Contest’, a built-in RTTY and PSK
decoder, and preset messages for the CW,
RTTY and PSK modes.
The radio also includes an automatic an-
tenna tuner. Because the radio is a direct-
in 25 Hz steps.
Other useful functions for SW listening,
are the two completely independent (and
identical) receivers, each with its own pana-
dapter display. There is storage capacity
in May 2017 and became available for pur- sampling SDR, the received audio sounds for up to 99 memory channels, a program-
chase late last year. The radio sits in the great, and it has excellent noise reduction mable scanner, and the ability to record the
middle of the Icom range. It is a quarter of and noise blanking ilters. signals you hear, onto either an SD card
the price of the lagship IC-7851 transceiver, You even get an automatic notch ilter. or a USB stick.
but nearly three times the price of the fan- You can also take a screenshot of the dis-
tastically popular IC-7300 SDR. The IC-7610 as a Receiver play, which might be handy if you want to e-
I like my new radio a lot. But there are The radio offers a general-coverage re- mail someone an image of a signal you are
also some oddities and a couple of disap- ceiver, which can tune from 30kHz to 60 seeing on the panadapter (Fig. 2).
pointments. Concentrating on the posi- MHz. There are CW, SSB, RTTY, PSK, AM, I was a little surprised that the eleven
tives, this transceiver has almost all of the and FM modes. For each mode, the FILTER band buttons could not be used to directly
features that you could ask for in a ham ra- button can cycle through three predeined enter a frequency, but you can do that eas-
dio transceiver. ilter bandwidths. You can adjust each AM ily, via the touchscreen.
It has a large, high-deinition, spectrum ilter from 200Hz to 10 kHz. The FM band- There are three different metering op-
scope and waterfall display, touchscreen widths are not adjustable, but you have a tions. You can have large conventional look-
controls, physical controls, two completely choice of 15, 10, and 7 kHz. This should ing ‘panel’ meters or a space-saving choice
independent receivers, voice memories for suit most requirements. Each CW and SSB
sending prerecorded messages like ‘CQ’ ilter is adjustable from 50Hz to 3.6kHz, Fig. 1: The author’s early Christmas present...
ANDREW BARRON

Software-Defined Radio
ANDREW BARRON
of an ‘edge-read’ meter or a ‘bar’ meter.

The meters change format to accommo-
date other things on the screen, such as a
larger panadapter display, twin panadapt-
er displays, or one of the many sub-menu
screens. For receiving purposes, there is an
‘S meter,’ but there is no option to display
the received signal strength in dBm.
The two receivers are sensitive, and
they have excellent performance igures.
Other reviewers have measured an MDS
(minimum discernable signal) sensitiv-
ity of around -134 dBm on CW in a 500Hz
bandwidth and an RMDR (reciprocal mix-
ing dynamic range) of 114dB at a test tone
spacing of 2kHz.
The combined lab results place the IC-
7610 at number ive on my list of top 20 re-
ceivers and number six on my list of the top
20 transceivers. It sits at 15th position on Fig. 2: The AM Broadcast Band.
the Sherwood Engineering table, which lists ANDREW BARRON
receivers in order of their narrowly-spaced

3rd order dynamic range performance.
Diversity Reception
The radio supports a sort of ‘diversity
reception’ function. You can lock the tuning
of the Main VFO and the Sub VFO together
and assign each receiver to a different
antenna. This lets you listen to the signals
received from both antennas at the same
time. If you are using headphones you can
split the audio so that the Main receiver
is heard on the left and the Sub receiver
is heard on the right. Unfortunately,
you cannot use that capability with the
radio’s internal speaker or with the rear
panel speaker jacks.
While useful, this option is not ‘real’
diversity reception, as implemented in
radios like the ANAN-800DLE, which has Fig. 3: SSB on the 20m Amateur Band. Note the small spectrum display amplitude.
the added ability to change the phase
relationship between the two received them to key the transmitter when using any the twelve frequency zones allows three
signals. Changing the phase relationship of the voice modes. ixed ‘edges’ (panadapter bandwidths). For
means that you can ‘align’ the signals so Recording the macros is a breeze. They example, on the 20m amateur band, the
that they emphasize a wanted signal, at can be triggered from the touchscreen or irst option displays the whole band from
the expense of noise and interference. from the function keys on an external USB 14.000 to 14.350MHz. The second option
Alternatively, it can be used to perform keyboard or an external keypad plugged displays the CW and digital part of the
noise cancellation on an unwanted into a jack on the back of the radio. band, 14.000 to 14.100MHz, and the third
interference signal, thus improving the The internal RTTY decoder is excellent option displays the SSB band segment from
signal to noise ratio of the wanted signal. and the twin peak ilter, specially designed 14.100 to 14.350MHz.
for RTTY, is very effective. I worked a few You can set whatever band edges
Excellent Performance stations in the CQWW RTTY contest, using you like, up to the maximum panadapter
The radio is very nice to operate, and it the RTTY message macros for sending, bandwidth of 1MHz (Fig. 3).
has excellent performance all round. The and the internal decoder, and it worked
receiver is especially good. I do like the very well. A log can record all of the text Points to Consider
squelch function. You don’t have to listen displayed on the screen. The IC-7610 is an awesome radio. It is a joy
to the noise, but you won’t miss a signal There are separate sets of message to use, and there are many features that I
when it arrives. macros for the CW, PSK, and RTTY modes. like immensely. I have a few minor niggles
Moreover, I love the voice keyer. You can My absolute favourite feature is the and a couple of disappointments, such as
record up to eight voice memories and use ‘ixed’ panadapter display mode. Each of the lack of proper mouse implementation.

Software Defined Radio
ANDREW BARRON
The radio can display

two clocks. One is
showing local time and
the other one UTC or
another time zone
On the IC-7610, you are only able to use the
computer mouse within the spectrum and
waterfall display area.
The other point I noted is that, although
you can change the span of the panadapter
display, you can’t change the gain. The dis-
play is fixed at 10dB per division and it can’t
be changed or stretched (Fig. 4).
Furthermore, previous reviewers and
commentators have criticized the logic be-
hind the placement of some function but- Fig. 4: Listening to 20m SSB and the AM Broadcast Band at the same time.
tons on the transceiver (CLEAR, TIMER,
QUICK), and I agree with them. been nice if the radio had a speaker for each amateur radio market, I am sure that a
The radio can display two clocks. One is receiver. This splitting of the two receivers new shortwave receiver based on the
showing local time and the other one UTC into left and right audio channels is imple- same platform would be appreciated by
or another time zone. For some reason, the mented on the headphone jack, but unfortu- those that don’t need the capability of the
second (UTC) clock is only displayed when nately not on the rear speaker jacks. IC-R8600 receiver.
you have the large meter display active.
Despite the display area still being avail- Conclusions Technical references:
able, it disappears when the small bar type Overall, I like the IC-7610 transceiver very Sherwood Engineering:
meters are in use. much. I can put up with the minor oddities www.sherweng.com/table.html
You can view the display on an external and disappointments although I really hope Adam Farson AB4OJ.
monitor. It looks big, but the resulting reso- that Icom improves computer mouse oper- https://tinyurl.com/y76qw2f3
lution is not as good as an SDR application ation in a future firmware release.
like PowerSDR. It can’t be that hard to make the mouse [Andrew Barron’s recent books include ‘SDR:
My final niggle is the way that the audio work like a finger pointing at the touch- Software Defined Radio’, and ‘AMSATS and
from the two receivers is managed. The ra- screen, and most of the required functional- HAMSATS: Amateur Radio and Other Small
dio only has one internal speaker, but it has ity is already there. Satellites’, available from the RadioUser
two independent receivers. It would have Although this radio is aimed at the website – Ed.].
D NE
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Network Radio explained

ISSN 1748-8117
Learn about this fascinating new branch of the hobby

Network Radio
Short Wave Listening

Days – All Over Again?
CHRIS ROLINSON
Chris Rolinson
g7ddn@g7ddn.com
Chris Rolinson transcends the ‘real-

radio-or-not’ debate, fondly recollects
the National Hamfest, enjoys a recent
presentation on network radios and
reports on emergency communications
in North Carolina.
For some time now, there has been a

debate about whether or not NR is ‘real
radio’ (however that is deined –
and too often it isn’t!). That
notwithstanding, within the user
community, it seems the debate has now
moved on. Stations seem to be more
relaxed about the ‘real radio’ issue because,
frankly, they are enjoying using the system.
Therefore, it does not seem quite so
important whether or not the RF in the
system is a particular ‘kind’ of RF, or what
the means of the signal arriving at its
destination is. What appears to be counting
for more is that the system works and
that it is a great part of the hobby we are
all involved in.
However, the debate for some outside the
system seems to have changed: Network
radio (NR) has been (at least partially) Fig.1: Andrew Clark had a stall full of network radios at the 2018 National Hamfest.
accepted by some radio hobbyists. They
are seeing the possibilities of NR, as a kind traditional sense, though you can work In addition to this, even if 1.2GHz was
of ‘stepping-stone’ towards an amateur worldwide on it. awash with activity, would that save it?
licence, and even as some kind of ‘last Especially if the military and government
resort’ for hobbyists who cannot erect An Example came knocking at the door? When military
antennas, for whatever reason. Currently, the one amateur radio band and government want something, they
Sadly, the hidden implication remains arguably most under threat is 1.2GHz. In usually get it!
that amateur radio is somehow more IARU Region 1, FAA radar expansion is
‘important’ than other kinds of radio. Some proposed; and in Region 2, the Galileo GPS And a Lesson from History
NR enthusiasts are now, it appears, being system is the issue. The whole history of amateur radio
accused of ‘taking people away from So, what are radio amateurs doing is one of governments ‘giving’ hams
amateur radio’ and ‘suggesting that network about this? Are they organising a mass frequencies (HF, VHF, UHF, Microwave),
radio is going to replace amateur radio’. ‘occupation’ of users on 23cm? Are they that they either don’t want or consider
However, in my experience, the reverse crowd-funding transceivers and antennas useless – until the experiments, which
is happening. I see Facebook (FB) posts to donate to all hams (with free antenna many radio users perform, show otherwise
everywhere with people saying NR has erection services, of course) so they can – and then the authorities want their
actually rekindled their interest in what was all go QRV on 23cm to make it the most- frequencies back again!
a fading hobby for them. occupied band in history? I can still remember 934MHz being
Personally, I have never suggested that ‘Use-it-or-lose-it’ is often the battle cry allocated for UK CB – as recently as 1981
NR lives anywhere other than alongside of these folk, yet all we seem to hear is this – because it was thought to be so much
other strands of the radio hobby. It is very slogan. Nothing actually gets done. ‘line-of-sight’ as to be unusable by anyone,
useless for contesting and propagation Furthermore, operators do not appear to be except hobbyists.
studies and is not a DX mode in the on 23cm, any more than the rest of us. Licensed hams are actually very

Network Radio
CHRIS ROLINSON
fortunate to still have the slivers of the

spectrum they have – and yes, they
are worth ighting for, if you want to
try to keep them.
One Place at a Time

But what many ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ proponents
forget, is that transmitting hobbyists can
usually only be in one (or maybe two)
places at a time. If I am chatting on 23cm
(‘defending it against ‘the enemy’), I cannot
be talking on Top Band at the same time –
well, not easily anyway!
Add in another band or two (even with
automated digital modes (digimodes) –
and it all gets rather ‘silly’.
My suggestion to all who are worried
that NR will take people away from ‘real
radio’, is to offer operators who use NR a
better reason to want to leave it behind.
NR users have access to world-wide high-
quality audio conversation, in effect via
an interconnected set of commercial
cell repeaters.
I wonder if an amateur radio network can Fig. 2: A happy gaggle of network radio users at the 10th Anniversary Newark Rally.
ever attempt to rival this. CHRIS ROLINSON
National Hamfest in Newark at the end

Different, that’s All! of September was the irst event with a
The bottom line is that network radio and large network radios presence. Overall,
amateur radio are just different; it seems there were three main areas of interest,
pointless trying to compare them. An apple equipment, meetings and magazines!
is an apple, an orange is an orange. They Most of the larger dealers were selling NR
are both fruit and both edible, but they taste equipment, and there was a dedicated NR
completely differently; and some people stall, courtesy of G6 Global and Andrew
like one but not the other. Clark (Fig. 1).
With network radio, the main difference is Andrew seemed somewhat ahead of the
the manner in which the signal arrives at its game, as he was selling not only the ‘usual
destination – but arrive it nonetheless does! suspects’, including the recently released
Boxchip radios but also some commercial
Transmitting to the Network offerings running Android, such as the new
In a recent on-the-air debate on the network Hytera PNC370 (Fig. 3).
radios event channel, Mitch from Alabama, Have a look at the website at this URL:
a retired professional in both Telecoms www.network-radios.co.uk
and IT for large corporations, nailed it for The PNC370 is beautifully crafted and
me. I am reproducing his exact words, as made for the professional market; as such,
spoken, here: “What we are seeing is the it doesn’t have access to the Google Play
inevitable evolution of communications. Store and does not offer a touchscreen.
Over the past 10 to 15 years, the telephone For most users, therefore, it’s not a good
industry has pretty much converted radio to start with. However, the audio Fig. 3: The New Hytera PNC370.
everything to IP. Well, now it’s time for the quality is superb, and, once you have side- ROY G1IKF
radio industry to convert to IP, and it is loaded Zello and set it up, it works great.
happening right in front of you. If you know what you are doing, or are
“We can call it whatever you like, but we’re interested in experimentation, it could be
now transmitting to the network, as opposed just the radio for you.
to transmitting into space. I do think we’re There were two gatherings of NR users
going to need to transmit into space still, at the Hamfest, at 11 am on both days. At
but for most things, people are going to be those times, you could see the ‘real radio’
using the network…” users moving out of the way, as a wave of
NR users gathered near the RadioUser stall!
Newark 2018 National Hamfest The editor came to greet us, as many who Fig. 4: The ‘Talking-T-320’, at 30,000 ft
It seems a while now, but the 2018 recognised each other’s voices met each (RadioUser, October 2018: 56-59).

Network Radio
JON M0JMM
it provided me with a rather ‘cool’ photo

of itself, being used to keeping in touch
with others at 30,000ft, using the aircraft’s
Wi-Fi (Fig. 4).
It still is in the lead for the Most-Travelled
T-320 Award, it seems to me.
More T-320 News

I am indebted to Mike Higlett G6WTM
for perusing the FCC teardown of
the T-320 and coming up with some
useful information for us about
aerial arrangements.
Mike said, “You can see that the Wi-Fi and
1. It has an external antenna - you get far
Bluetooth antennas are common because
better coverage.
they are both low power 2.4GHz services.
2. It stands up on a lat surface - have you tried
The GNSS antenna (GPS) is internal but
putting a smartphone on its edge? It falls over.
importantly, is facing skywards. The main
antenna is marked as ‘2G/3G/4G’, but, down 3. It has a PTT button - it’s more like using the
by the side of the battery, is a DRX antenna, system as ‘real radio’.
which, I knew, was part of the 4G (LTE) 4. The loudspeaker is much louder than
system, but I didn’t know exactly how. on most phones.
“I’ve been doing some research, and I 5. It has a longer battery life - there has to be an
believe that DRX is a secondary, low-power, up-side to that tiny screen.
Fig. 5: G4VXE vs. CARA – who won... 4G receive antenna that has two uses: First, 6. The battery is usually removable and replace-
when doing high bandwidth data downloads, able - much better for the environment.
other for the irst time (Fig. 2). The oddest it works in parallel with the main receiver 7. There are more physical programmable but-
thing about this was that it wasn’t dificult to help achieve that; and second, when in tons than a phone, so it’s more customisable.
to tell who was who, once people opened standby, the main 4G transceiver shuts 8. It its better in the hand than a phone – it
their mouths! It was simply identical to down, and the lower current- drain DRX stays feels like a hand-held transmitter.
the audio quality on the NR system! I was listening to the cell to see if it’s still there, 10. It’s more dificult (and less expensive!) to
caught out, more than once, by recognising thus saving power. drop and break – therefore, a better investment!
a voice and then turning around, to meet “Occasionally, the transceiver comes on, 11. You will have a dedicated device for
them for the irst time ‘in the lesh’. in order to conirm to the cell that you are your PTT apps, rather than having to share
PW and RadioUser were well represented, still present. This explains why, when the rig them with a phone.
by both editors, Don and Georg, and by is in standby, you can take the aerial off, and 12. You end up with a spare phone too.
Rob Mc Donnell and Katherine Brown from the 4G signal appears not to change – the
Warners. However, I should probably not DRX receiver is doing the work in standby.” Table 1: Twelve Reasons to Want a Network Radio...
mention the fact that the October edition I tried this out for myself – Mike is, of
of RadioUser completely sold out on course, correct. If you force the radio into
the irst day! 2G- or 3G-only and remove the antenna, 1. As much as 7% of the UK landmass is cur-
NR enthusiasts were still talking about the signal drops. But on 4G it is variable – rently not covered by any operator.
the Hamfest for days after the event. sometimes it does, at other times it doesn’t! 2. And 30% cannot get voice & data from all
Clearly, it had made quite an impression on four main operators.
those that attended. It was particularly nice Something for Christmas? 3. Improving mobile coverage is one of Ofcom’s
to see so many ladies too. I know a lot of you will be hoping that Santa top priorities.
[it was a pleasure to meet NR users brings you the network radio you have been 4. In 2019, there will be an auction for spectrum
and learn more about the technology and coveting this Christmas, and that partners in the 700MHz band, which could provide ex-
ongoing debates. The November issue everywhere will have been getting ‘hints’! cellent coverage.
of RadioUser had a brief ‘photo-essay’, It would be completely wrong of me 5. Stipulations may be placed on this auc-
covering the event – Ed.] to wade into this to try to persuade your tion. to ensure more coverage of areas cur-
friends and family, of course. But I thought rently not served.
Contacts at 30,000 Feet it might help if I put together a little guide to 6. Roaming & infrastructure-sharing between
I will confess to a moment of swooning why a network radio is so much more than operators are also being considered.
at the Hamfest meet-up, as I inally got ‘just a phone’ – and why you simply have to 7. The law could change to allow mobile oper-
face-to-face with the now infamous have one this Christmas! ators more compulsory purchase rights and
‘talking Inrico T-320’, featured in October’s Table 1 lists my Twelve Network Radio other ‘perks’, in order to help reduce the cost of
column of RadioUser. Days of Christmas – 12 solid reasons why building and operating masts.
Fresh from its holiday in Scotland, it you might conceivably want one. Do let me
was ‘telling’ me that it had taken its owner, know what you get for Christmas please Table 2: Further Options for Improving Mobile
Roy G1IKF, to Cyprus recently. Thankfully, and why you went for it! Coverage

Network Radio
If you force the radio COURTESY OF VERIZON
into 2G- or 3G-only and

remove the antenna, the
signal drops. But on 4G
it is variable
A Visit to Cheltenham
One very wet Thursday evening in
September, I thought I would take a
trip to the Cheltenham Amateur Radio
Association. My friend (and fellow RU
columnist) Tim Kirby G4VXE was giving
a talk on network radio to the members
there, and I wanted to support him. As
in any radio club, the debate about NR
continues - we were expecting a lively time,
to say the least.
Tim did his usual, excellent, job of being
very fair and explaining the pros and cons
(Fig. 5) but wrote to me later: “On Friday, I
was pleased to ind that several people had Fig. 6: ‘Cells on Stilts’, in Wilmington, NC.
signed up to the new Cheltenham Amateur
radio Zello channel. I put out a call and too for short coverage windows in dificult
had several conversations with members terrain. In addition to this, some indoor cell MANUFACTURERS & BRANDS
using Zello on their phones. They’ve had a sites (called ‘eFemtos’) were deployed to Anysecu
fun-illed ield day this weekend and have Emergency Command Centres. http://www.szanysecu.com
Boxchip
enjoyed using NR for keeping in touch All in all, the US cell operator seemed to
https://boxchiptt.com
across several tents and caravans, as well be well prepared to keep coverage levels Inrico
as with folks at home. high in emergencies. http://www.inrico.cn
“The Chairman later told me that they’d Naturally, Zello was the number one Radio Tone
also used it as a ‘Comms and Engineering’ downloaded app. Many NR enthusiasts https://radio-tone.com
channel for arranging skeds. They’re worldwide were glued to the channels that Talkpod
delighted with it! Another club member sprang up over the Carolinas, listening in http://talkpod.cn/en/
is thinking about buying a T-320 to speak to the emergency trafic in real time as the
FACEBOOK GROUPS
to friends in VK who have foundation Hurricane passed overhead. It was like
Network Radios
licences and aren’t permitted to use DMR. short wave listening days all over again! https://tinyurl.com/ya449mlt
I’m actually surprised the response has IRN Users
been so positive!” More NR coverage on the way? https://tinyurl.com/y8t78fg8
Me too, Tim. Is there - perchance - a Ofcom has recently published an DigiComm Café
change in the air, I wonder? interesting advisory document https://tinyurl.com/ya8pcbwp
on the subject of improving cell
Hurricane Florence coverage across the UK: ASSOCIATIONS
Network Radios
A criticism frequently levelled at network https://tinyurl.com/ydx8l7km
https://networkradios.weebly.com
radios is their inability to function during an Some of the facts I discovered, IRN & The Guild
emergency. You might change your mind when reading this document are https://theguildglobal.org
when you read that US cell phone operator summarised in Table 2.
Verizon reported that, following Hurricane Table 3 shows some of a (growing) TRADERS
Florence, which battered the East Coast in number of internet-based resources and Duarte Braga
September, it used a combination of trucks, contacts in the area of network radio. https://network-radios.com
planes, boats and drones to ensure that Please let me know of any additional URLs G6 Global
https://www.network-radios.co.uk
the coverage remained at 99% during the you might come across.
Martin Lynch & Son
aftermath – and they succeeded! https://www.hamradio.co.uk
Some cell stations, like the one in Happy Festive Season Moonraker
Wilmington, North Carolina (Fig. 6), are built Have a wonderful Christmas and New https://www.moonraker.eu
on stilts, so that lood water cannot affect Year. I look forward to catching up with Sussex Ications
them; COWs (Mobile ‘Cells on Wheels’) were you in January. https://sussexications.fwscheckout.com
employed to keep coverage levels high and Keep your news coming, by writing to the
‘Flying COWs’ (mobile drones) are available e-mail address at the top of the column. Table 3: Key Web Resources on Network Radio (G7DDN).

Scanning Scene
Apollo Survival Radio,

Scanning Solutions & Festivals
TIM KIRBY
Tim Kirby
tim@g4vxe.com
Tim Kirby meets Charlie Brown in

London, introduces the DropBoxer for
WTR Browser feature, assesses satel-
lite prediction tools and appreciates
the wider range of signals resolvable
with the current scanner models.
As I was listening to a conversation on one

of the Zello Network Radio channels recent-
ly, I heard someone mention that they were
quite close to one of the major airports, that
they spent some time listening to the civil-
ian airband frequency of 121.500MHz, and
that they had never heard anything.
I relected quietly that this was, perhaps,
a good thing! However, someone else com-
mented that they sometimes heard test
calls on the channel.
This reminded me of a recent lunchtime
conversation I had when I was walking
around the Science Museum in London. I
had decided to go and have a look at the
Space Gallery, which I had not visited in
some years. I felt the need to go – as you
do – and stand by some of the hardware,
which had travelled to the Moon and back.
This is an inspiring thought, to me at least, if
ever there was one.
After I had enjoyed looking at Charlie
Brown, the Apollo 10 command module
(Fig. 1), I went on to examine the Apollo
Lunar Module exhibit. In one of the cabinets,
which surround the display, I spotted a very
interesting-looking device called the Apollo
Survival Radio (Fig. 2). Fig.1: Charlie Brown, the Apollo 10 Command Module, on display at the Science Museum in London.
I began to wonder in what kind of situa-
tions and scenarios it might have been an- once ‘splashdown’ had occurred. The radi- ous metal objects.
ticipated to be used. os featured voice-operation, but also had The Apollo Survival Radio used a frequen-
I posted a picture on Twitter; this generat- a ‘beacon’, which consisted of the trans- cy of 243MHz, which is the military air dis-
ed numerous interesting responses, includ- mission of a tone. tress frequency (twice the civilian distress
ing one from Patrick Stoddard in Phoenix, In tests, the range of the radio was found frequency of 121.5MHz).
Arizona. Patrick included a link to the Apollo to be around 195nm miles for the bea- This, of course, is useful from an anten-
Experience Report – Development and Use con and 120nm for voice operation, with na-design point of view.
of Specialized Radio Equipment for Apollo the other end of the link on an aircraft ly-
Recovery Operations. The document makes ing at 25,000ft. Scanning from Difficult
extremely interesting reading: The Apollo Experience Report also details Locations
https://tinyurl.com/ycgp2dup some of the challenges encountered in the Many thanks go to Martin Rolls, who kind-
Among other subjects, the paper cov- design of the equipment, including battery ly e-mailed me. Martin lives in a lat in an
ers the Apollo Survival Radio and a sim- life (the requirement was speciied as 24 urban area with only an outside balcony
ilar radio for the swimmers who would hours) and maintaining a low VSWR when and inds many signals weak. He wonders
go out on the Apollo recovery missions, the radio was in close proximity to vari- what advice I, or other readers, might have,

Scanning Scene
for getting the most out of the hobby in The other option, for when your home lo- To make things even easier, Wayne has
such a situation. cation is a dreadful RF spot, is to take your provided a video, so you can see the new
Martin says that drilling holes through the portable scanning receiver to a more fa- features in action.
window frame would not be permitted. vourable location. In good weather, it is al- To learn more about DropBoxer
This is a challenge indeed; in most urban ways pleasant to carry a receiver up a hill or and the WTR Browser program in gen-
locations, noise levels have risen hugely to a location of interest, such as a harbour, eral, take a look in the WTR Browser
over the last 20 years. Apart from noise, the shopping mall, sports stadium or airport. Group on Facebook.
second challenge, of course, is ‘screening’ Sadly, there are no ‘magic solutions’ to
by other buildings, including the one you the problems of noise and poor location, Listening Post
are in. Of course, there is often little you can but there are always some possibilities for Kevin Hewitt from Gibraltar had an interest-
do about this. improvement, which will allow you to enjoy ing time during the Gibraltar Calling Music
However, perhaps this is something that and expand the hobby. Festival, held at the Victoria Stadium on
you can make the best of: In good weath- Thank you, Martin, for a great question, September 21st and 22nd (Fig. 3).
er, a window can be opened to allow a coax which I think will apply to very many people. Kevin used his Alinco DJ-X3 from two
through, from a magnetically mounted whip If you have any experience in scanning locations, Princess Caroline Battery on the
(or scanner-type wideband aerial) on some from a dificult location that you would like Rock, and a multi-storey car park oppo-
sort of metal surface for a ground plane – a to share with readers, please drop me a line site the stadium.
tin tray will often sufice! – it would be great to hear from you. Kevin found around 65 active frequen-
In cooler weather, of course, having the cies, the majority of which were used by
window open will not be acceptable or WTR Browser and DropBoxer media directors to facilitate communi-
pleasant. In one property that I rented, there Wayne Richards’ WTR Browser frequen- cation with camera operators and sound
was a cat lap, and, at that time, I did not cy database has got some interesting engineers. In addition to this, wireless
have a cat, so I was able to press that into new functionality for those people who microphones were used on stage and
action for getting cables in and out. want to use the program from a mo- could be heard.
Sometimes, airbricks might afford some bile device. This is courtesy of a feature The local radio station, Radio Gibraltar,
possibilities for passing cables through the called the DropBoxer. had a number of engineering frequen-
wall. Some lat dwellers are lucky enough to This functionality allows you to search cies in operation.
have access to the roof; good relations with on your mobile device and get the results https://www.gbc.gi/radio/listen-live
the building management can help here. back from WTR Browser, running on your The band from 441 to 457MHz was par-
When none of those things is possible, machine at home. ticularly busy, including PMR frequencies
why not try cutting a dipole for the frequen- The results will upload to your Dropbox around 446MHz. Kevin was interested to
cy of interest – maybe air band or marine – account (you will need to set up one if you hear prompting for the Scouting for Girls set
and try taping it on the inside of the window. don’t have one). You can then view them on on 444.437MHz. There was also a lot of ac-
Of course, listening on air band, or under- your smartphone or tablet. You can alter tivity from 821MHz up to around 885MHz,
taking VHF/UHF, satellite reception is often the ilter and search by all the methods you and a couple of frequencies were used at
a good possibility from most locations, as would use if you were at home. around 911 and 912MHz.
you can normally see some sky. When you irst set it up, WTR Browser will Very interesting Kevin. I am sure it was
If you tape a dipole to the inside of a win- create some iles in your Dropbox account. fascinating to get a sense of what goes on
dow, you can try varying its orientation; ver- One of them is help.txt. behind the scenes at a major event like this.
tical or horizontal, or even somewhere in be- There will also be some other iles, What’s striking to me is the very wide range
tween. This may help you ‘null-out’ some of which deine the various ilters that WTR of frequencies that are in use from around
the local noise. Browser can use. 150MHz all the way up to 912MHz.
During the time I have been interested in You run WTR Browser on your machine at This is quite a lot of spectrum for you to
radio, I learned that any antenna you have is home, with DropBoxer open and running. On scan. Therefore, those tools on scanners,
better than the one you don’t have! What do your mobile device, you open the Dropbox which provide an indication of active fre-
I mean by that? application and choose the folder used quencies, will be very useful, indeed.
Really, it’s just a case of you don’t need to by WTR Browser. During one of the recent Slow Scan TV
have the perfect antenna. Try and put some- Use the search.txt ile to enter the fre- (SSTV) transmission periods from the
thing together, and, hopefully, you will hear quency you want information about. Save International Space Station (ISS), Bob
something. You will certainly hear more and escape out of it. Wait for a few sec- Houlston attempted to decode some pic-
than you would if you had no antenna at all. onds, and you will shortly see a ile called re-
If the antenna works well, great – if it is sults.txt appear in the folder.
not so good, then this can all be a part of the This will contain the details of the fre- If you tape a dipole to
experimentation involved in trying some- quency that you searched for. It will also
thing different to improve your results. provide information about the licence hold-
the inside of a window,
A possible beneit of scanning from an er, licence date, frequency and location, just you can try varying its
urban location is that there may be many as it would in WTR Browser.
more signals available to you in the UHF Wayne Richards, the author of the pro-
orientation; vertical
spectrum, both analogue and digital. These gram, says that, when you irst read this, it or horizontal, or even
include ShopWatch channels, buses, rail- sounds complicated. However, it really is
way stations and so on. not, and it works very smoothly.
somewhere in between

Scanning Scene
TIM KIRBY
tures. Bob wrote, “I find SatPC32 by Erich

Eichmann, DK1TB to be a most useful pro-
gram to predict satellite passes. The basic
version is free at:
www.dk1tb.de
“I used it to help me detect SSTV from
the ISS, using a 2m radio and an aerial in
the loft. I piped the audio from the rig into
the PC, using the free RX-SSTV software to
decode the image.
“I have a precautionary (but not essential)
1:1 600Ω audio isolating transformer from
RX to PC. They’re £5 for two from eBay.”
Bob is right: The SatPC32 software is ex-
cellent, and, should you wish to use it on a
regular basis, you can register it. This obvi-
ates the need to enter your latitude and lon-
gitude each time you start up the program.
Among the other satellite prediction
programs, you might want to try, there
is also GPredict. This works across
platforms such as Raspberry Pi. With
the latter, you can have a nice big screen
in your shack displaying the position of
various satellites. It works well too, on a
Windows (or Linux) PC.
Howard Parker, of the Radio-Radio
Facebook Group, posted an interesting
video recently, of a reception event that
puzzled him: He used his handheld
Yupiteru scanner and had picked up what
he thought were Spanish-sounding voices
around 261.795MHz.
I soon realised that these were the
signals from the Brazilian pirate operators
using one of the MILCOM satellites. What
I was unaware of, however, was that the
signals could be received on a simple
handheld scanner. I had rather hoped that
they might be heard with such a system, but
most people reporting reception of these
signals have been using a pair of crossed
dipoles or even a small Yagi.
You will probably hear mostly foreign Fig. 2: The Apollo Survival Radio.
KEVIN HEWITT
languages on these channels, but I gather
there is some English-speaking activity too. TRX-1 digital scanner, in conjunction with
Thanks, Howard for your interesting report! the excellent WTR Browser software.
That’s really brilliant news, and I think will Karl said that he was amazed by the
constitute an interesting challenge for me – diversity of things to listen to, including the
perhaps for you too! local Air Ambulance.
Can we hear signals from satellites on Having dipped his toe in the water, Karl is
simple handheld equipment? If you have considering buying a base station scanner
read the column last month, (RadioUser, like the AOR DV-1, in order to increase the
December 2018: 66-68), you might range of signals he can listen to.
remember that Paul Beaumont kindly Thanks for the email Karl; please keep
included details of some of the frequencies, me posted on your activities and results.
which might be worth listening on. That’s all for this month. Thanks to those
Please let me know if you have any of you who have emailed. Please keep your
success in listening to these frequencies. news, thoughts and questions coming; I will
Karl Hobson contacted me and said do my best to have some answers. Fig. 3: The stage is set at the Gibraltar Calling
that he was enjoying using a Whistler Happy scanning! Music Festival.

Comms from Europe
Midland Dual Mike, CB Talk

and Transceiver Updates
PICTURES: SIMON PARKER
Simon Parker
13at777@gmail.com
Simon Parker takes a look at the

Midland Dual Mike and has news about
CB and PMR446 related events, new
equipment and international activities.
It will almost be ‘jingle-bells-time’ when this

issue of RadioUser hits the shelves, but this
column was written in mid-September, with
29 degrees outside.
This month’s coverage of CB and
PMR446 radio matters is dominated by
Midland and its exciting new product, the
‘Dual Mike’ microphone (Figs. 1 and 2).
This device works both as a CB micro-
phone on your radio, and as a Bluetooth
microphone for an associated application, Fig.1: The Midland Dual Mike Microphone.
called CB Talk (Fig. 2).
It appears that, at this moment in time, the internet and with the microphone itself.
the uptake of this app has been very signii- However, this is just half of the package.
cant. There were 55,000 users worldwide, You can receive trafic reports, and an in-
as of October 2018. novative ‘radar-map’ functionality (Fig. 2)
I also have some more information on the shows you who exactly is nearby and is us-
President McKinley CB transceiver (Fig. 3). ing the application at the same time.
However, this product, although innovative, The microphone comes with DSP (Digital
might not yet make it to market this year. Signal Processing). Importantly, it has an
Moreover, I can offer one of the irst integrated 3W speaker.
photographs of the President Walker Early reports are that it delivers very Fig. 2: The ‘Radar’ feature in the CBTalk app.
II transceiver. It will look not dissimi- good audio quality in the hand, as it were.
lar to the President Richard model when The idea behind the Dual Mike/ CB Talk Midland has gone out on a limb with this
that is released. app system is that you are connected to development, and, indeed, some are nerv-
The wait for the McKinley model may your transceiver, irrespective of whether ous and think that this is another system to
well be longer than we thought. A deal- you have the 4-pin or 6-pin version. On the ‘take people away’ from CB radio. In many
er has told me that it is already delayed! front of the microphone, there is a button, ways, this appears to mirror the current de-
However, we have heard about this kind of and you can use this it over the air, to speak bate over whether or not network radio is,
postponement of a model before. I hope with people in CB mode. in fact, ‘real’ radio.
that enthusiasts can have it in their stock- If you are connected to your smart- [See also Chris Rolinson’s column on
ings by Christmas. It is true, the prevailing phone (Android or iOS) with Bluetooth, Network Radio in this issue – Ed.]
propagation conditions for CB radio might you can press the button on the front and I have been lucky enough to be one of
be poor, but it is a McKinley, and I think the connect via the application. Hence the the irst users of the application. Having
look of it is really nice. name ‘Dual Mike’. tried it out, I have found that I could easily
Midland has big plans for the further connect and have chats with fellow enthu-
Midland Dual Mike development of this system, and the com- siasts. I tried it on iOS and found that all my
Midland has released the ‘Dual Mike’, and I pany wants to integrate more and more op- communications were remarkably clear
am including a recent photo of it in this ar- tions in the future. and very easy to bring about.
ticle (Fig. 1). However, it seems the unit is already be- As CB Radio has ‘Bands’ (like EU, PL, UK,
https://www.midlandeurope.com ing widely used, via the VOIP application. DE), and CBTalk has ‘Rooms’ (GB01, DE01
The CB Talk app is like a mixture of Zello The microphone itself has a micro-USB and I01, for example). You can search for
and Echolink in some ways: It allows you port for charging. users in the various ‘rooms’, and you can
to hold conversations over the internet. It is also possible to update the irm- ind their usernames and locations.
Interestingly, there are also ‘travel reports’ ware on the microphone via the CB If you work on Android, it asks for your
by those who have been using this app via Talk application. permission as to your location, the making

Comms from Europe
President Richard, and it looks as if the

President Walker II transceiver is on the
near horizon too.
Maybe, a new Anytone CB transceiver will
arrive in the next months. At the moment,
the irm seems very busy with projects for
Yaesu, CRT, President, Avanti, and a number
of other makers. Perhaps, their own brand
has taken a backseat, while other projects
Fig. 3: The President McKinley have been prioritised.
CB Transceiver. News from CRT France is that the CRT
Xenon transceiver will get an update in the
future, to allow UK channels on the HF-mode
(which many of us will call ‘export-mode’).
This will come as either a new version of
the transceiver or via an update carried
out by a dealer.
https://president-electronics.com
https://www.crtfrance.com/en
Czech PMR and CB Events

During recent events, I made a couple of
contacts on 446MHz; these were 40 and
56km away, respectively. Both stations,
in my opinion, were running either Yaesu
Fig. 4: The President Walker II CB Transceiver. equipment, or something equivalent, as
the signals were incredibly strong; in some
and receiving of calls and your contact list, transceiver (Fig. 3), both in online fora cases, they were actually distorting a chan-
so there are obvious privacy issues, as op- and enthusiasts’ blogs. This, of course, nel either side!
posed to ‘traditional’ CB. makes it dificult to ind exact informa- CB activity has increased a little too, and
The CB Talk application uses GPS. tion at the moment. the gods of Sporadic-E did shine on me, it
Since you need to register it over a phone, It seems that the absolute earliest seems. This enabled me to establish con-
it looks at your contacts and at any of the you can expect to see this transceiver is tacts with a station in Palermo in Italy. I also
users of the application who are in your from December 2018. received a station in Croatia, but it drifted
phone book and are using the application; The thinking is that – with the Christmas out before I could get in touch. Last but
these are added to your list of contacts on Holiday not too far away – the release not least, I was in contact with stations in
the application. might be more likely to happen at the start Greece and France.
The application has many more options, of 2019. It depends on the samples and Overall, however, the solar cycle is dis-
and even more are in the pipeline, so give test units from Uniden. advantageous to CB radio at the moment,
it a go. It is easy to use, does not take up What is different this time, is that the ra- and Sporadic-E conditions are less and less
much room and can be deleted if you do dio is designed in Balaruc (France). There helpful right now.
not need it any more. have been some changes in Uniden’s com- In fact, over the last three weeks, I have
As of the time of writing, CBTalk has pany strategy, and the transceiver is now heard just four voices on the radio, and two
beneited from a series of updates on both engineered at their French HQ. of them were from Budapest. Having said
Android and IOS. It’s more stable, and there It is well known that 2018 is the 40th an- that, however, consider the 87 people who
are more ‘Rooms’. Moreover, the maps and niversary year of the President brand. are now merrily using the CBTalk applica-
‘radar’ option are now working even more That notwithstanding, aiming at twelve tion, and are chatting away from all four cor-
accurately, and the connection- and dis- new products over twelve months has ners of Italy, as I am writing this.
connection- times are better. been a massive target. This is bound to There is life in the hobby yet.
In addition to this, there is the ‘mike-gain have an impact on timing and release As always, I would like to thank you for the
feature’, and the volume of the application dates. Between December 2018 and kindness of your messages, which now in-
within the menu is much better and more February 2019, at the latest, would be my cludes those received on Facebook, email,
sharply deined. best guess, for now. Zello and, of course, by letter. Although it
The Midland Dual Mike is available may take me a few days to reply, please
through the UK importers Nevada Radio News Roundup bear with me; reply, I always will. The col-
and their dealers At the time of writing, it appears that the umn is yours, and what you write to me will
https://www.nevadaradio.co.uk President Walker II (Fig. 4) will be one of always be an important part of it.
the next transceivers to be released, and I Have a safe month and see you soon.
President McKinley SSB have learned that some early sample mod- Best Wishes Simon.
Lots of contradictory messages current- els have already arrived in France. [Thanks to Mike Devereux, MD of Nevada, for
ly abound on the President McKinley SSB Moreover, there is the 10m (USA-bound) the provision of additional information – Ed.].

International Radio Scene
Listeners Spoilt
Chrissy Brand
chrissyLB@hotmail.co.uk
ind it exciting and rewarding to
I move with the times and, with the

world of broadcast radio ever chang-
ing, I’m delighted to be able to ex-
pand my previous, long-standing,
LM&S Broadcast Matters column.
Along with the usual news and logs,
International Radio Scene will detail radio
for Choice
Chrissy Brand takes her LM&S Broadcast Matters
websites of interest, so far covered in my
column into new realms, expanding it to include
bi-monthly Radio Websites column. It will expert hints and tips for listening to all forms of
also report on other aspects of the broad-
cast bands, from alternative radio to FM,
international radio, irrespective of the frequency
digital and online stations around the world. band and mode of transmission.
I hope you will enjoy reading it, at least as
much as I’m going to enjoy compiling it! CHRISSY BRAND
We start with some good news from

Chris Williams of Manx Radio. The Isle
of Man station extended the contract for
Radio Caroline North to use their 1368kHz
transmitter on the penultimate weekends
of each month, for the rest of this year and
throughout 2019.
This is helpful for those who still prefer to
tune to Caroline on medium wave but who
cannot hear the transmission from the sta-
tion’s own 648kHz frequency in Essex.
Readers’ Reports
Graham Smith noted that Romanian sta-
tion Radio Antena Satelor (‘Radio Villages’
Antenna’) changed its slogan to ‘Noi între
ai noștri’ (‘We among ours’). The station
can be heard broadcasting Romanian folk
music through the night on 153kHz long
wave, from 2100 UTC.
Over 700,000 people listen to the sta-
tion daily, which makes it the ifth-most-lis-
tened-to station in the country. Its content Fig. 1: Radio Romania’s 2018 QSL series featured the historic town of Albu Iulia.
is aimed primarily at the rural population,
although, clearly, many ‘urban’ Romanians grammes. The twelfth, and inal, QSL card However, Scott Caldwell sent a timely re-
tune in as well. Programmes include Good in this year’s series comes out in December minder of the brilliant Shortwave Schedule
Morning Farmers, Farmer in Romania, Salt in and depicts the Union Hall in the town of website. This is a, “database-conversion to
Dishes, and 4x4 Cart. Alba Iulia (Fig. 1). allow easy browsing of Aoki’s excellent Bi
I’m so intrigued that I’ll now tune in on It was the 90th anniversary of Romanian Newsletter and shortwave transmission da-
long wave for more than the lovely music. Radio on November 1st, an event marked tabase; it helps you to ind, quickly and eas-
The station also broadcasts on medium in the station’s Annual Listeners’ Day ily, the broadcast schedules for any short
wave, on 531kHz (14kW), 603kHz (400kW), Broadcast on November 4th. There is also wave radio transmission.”
630kHz (400kW), and 1314kHz (50kW). a contest to celebrate this momentous www.shortwaveschedule.com
Staying in Romania, Lionel Clyne wrote milestone. However, the closing date is Lionel also noted Bible Voice BCN / Radio
of that exemplar of short wave, Radio November 30th – so you had best be quick Dardasha 7 at 1909 UTC broadcasting in
Romania International, “My own person- if you wish to enter. English from Kostinbrod in Bulgaria. Radio
al experience of Radio Romania is that it Details are online: Dardasha is the Arabic language service
provides almost flawless broadcasts with https://tinyurl.com/ycbpognc of Bible Voice and airs a weekly medita-
its 300kW transmitters through most of tion. He also heard a rambling sermon by
the HF range and throughout the day and Schedules, Loggings, Futures Brother Stair of The Overcomer Ministry, on
evening hours.” The B18 short wave schedules came into 9400kHz, and with a perfect, all-ive, SINPO.
I am impressed with the quality of the place from the last Sunday in October, and This was a recording as Stair kept refer-
signal and the variety of entertaining pro- I will include some of those next month. ring to the Jewish Passover that was up-

DAVE KENNY
2
Fig. 2: Sunset at Aihkiniemi, where DXers’ aerials run along the lake bed. Fig. 3: Statue outside Radiotelevizija Sloveniija in Ljubljana.
SLOVENIAN RADIO
coming, and which usually coincides with that, “There was a particularly bad day on
Easter. Lionel heard another recording of the short waves around August 26th, as I
Brother Stair on 11600kHz at 1529 UTC, al- could see from the Solar-Terrestrial Activity
though reception was very poor. He wrote, “I website. I was listening in the middle of
thought that Brother Stair had been put away the night to China Radio International on
by the Feds and his station shut down? His 6020kHz, and the signal was weak. When
speech appeared to be a manic, dialogue even CRI is weak, you know something is
suggesting that Trump was the Archangel wrong. Actually, there have been some more
Gabriel, Obama the Devil.” bad days since then.”
Although he was, indeed, arrested last www.solen.info/solar
December, and the Overcomer Ministry Norwegian radio stations Metro Radio
broadcasts went off the air, soon after and Radio Rox refused to stop broad-
Stair’s arrest last December, he was eventu- casting on FM after the digital switcho-
ally freed and has purchased airtime again ver last December. Station owners Metro-
for several months. gruppen were helped out by a public
More palatable, perhaps, was Helliniki campaign to raise funds for the €7,000 ine
Radiophonia, broadcasting its usu- that was imposed.
al, delightful, mix of Greek music on An article in RadioWorld in June offered
9420kHz at 1900 UTC. some background to both sides of the
Graham Smith also noted that, when the Norway FM debate on switching off FM
Italian station on 657kHz goes off the air and moving to DAB. It will be interesting
each night-time, other stations on that fre- to see how this experiment ends. I would
quency can be heard. He sometimes hears have thought that any prudent government
Israel and also BBC Radio Wales. would, perhaps, wait before announcing
Graham questioned whether anyone lis- plans to follow suit.
tens to China Radio International’s exten- Switzerland sings to a different tune and
sive service in Chinese. He wrote, “I have is the next country scheduled to switch
been studying Chinese for ive years now, over, starting in 2020.
but I can only understand about 30% of CRI https://tinyurl.com/yame5spj
in Chinese. I wonder what their audience
igures are like?” It is hard to measure such DXpeditions
igures accurately, but CRI is broadcasting We will be hard-pressed to improve on the 3
in 65 languages. The reality will probably be catches made when DXing in the remote
hundreds of millions. north of Finnish Lapland. northern Finland. I got some nice new catch-
Meanwhile, the BBC announced a lis- DXer Mika Makelainen was at Aihkiniemi es, especially from Australia, Japan and the
tenership increase of ten million, after in September for the irst DXpedition of the Philippines. Here’s my report of what was
its language expansion this year, to 279 season. There have been other trips since heard up in Lapland, and what else I did over
million listeners. then. He wrote, “Once again, I have spent an there - mostly ixing antennas and shooting
On another subject, Graham mentioned intensive week of AM DXing in Aihkiniemi in the landscape in fall colours” .

Short Wave Logs

UTC kHz Station and Location Language SINPO Initials
0739 13635 TRT Voice of Turkey Turkish 44444 SC
0815 9460 TRT Voice of Turkey, Emirler Turkish 55455 LC
1201 15110 Radio Kuwait Arabic 55555 GS
1202 15130 Radio Romania International Arabic 35544 GS
1259 17705 All India Radio, Bagaluru Chinese 54333 LC
1324 13830 Radio Free Asia, Dushanbe-Yyagiyul Tibetan 43444 LC
1438 15140 Radio Sultanate of Oman, Thumrait English 45444 LC
1521 12005 Radio Farda, Woofferton Persian 45444 LC
1550 15580 Voice of America, Botswana English 33333 OR, SC
1605 7220 Voice of Vietnam, Hanoi English 25333 TS
1610 11925 CNR 1 Chinese 33333 SC
1622 13710 BSKSA, Saudi Arabia Arabic 54444 SC
1703 11810 Radio Romania International English 54444 SC
1733 11885 Channel Africa English 43333 SC
1805 5920 HCJB Germany German 33333 SC
1817 11810 BBC WS, Ascension Island English 35333 TS
1819 9400 End Times Coming Radio, Kostinbrod English 45333 LC
1826 9400 Extra Catholics for Christ Radio, Bulgaria English 43333 SC
1850 9570 KNLS, Madagascar Russian 44233 LC
1904 9420 Helliniki Radiophonia, Avlis Greek 54555 LC, OR
1917 9920 Radio Thailand, Udon Thani English 45333 LC, OR
1922 9500 Radio Romania International, Galbeni Romanian 55455 LC
2011 9705 Vatican Radio, Santa Maria English 45555 TS
2015 9790 Radio France International, Issoudun French 45555 TS
2038 9620 TRT The Voice of Turkey, Emirler English 25223 OR, TS
2039 11815 Radio Brazil Central, Goiania Portuguese 32333 TS
2040 9819 Rádio 9 de Julho, São Paulo Portuguese 25232 TS
2205 9330 WBCQ The Planet, Monticello, Maine English 25222 TS
2208 11810 KBS World Radio, Kimjae English 35333 TS
2210 9790 Radio Romania International, Galbeni English 35333 OR, TS
The image in Fig. 2 is a great example. European stations tend to dominate the two large grey buildings of Radiotelevizija
https://tinyurl.com/yb7q4y9y same frequencies. Our extensive antenna Slovenija on Kolovorska ulica. Neither the
I was at Aihkiniemi in August 2017 (Fig. farm is not very helpful since European sta- radio nor the television buildings are open
2). There is a well-equipped DX cabin in a tions are in the same direction. Don’t count to the public, although there is a small dis-
wonderful setting (RadioUser, November on getting many African stations, except play of vintage television equipment in the
2017: 42-46 and 62-64). If you’d like to expe- in the case of solar storms. Your best shot foyer of one. Outside the building is a stat-
rience this, there were (at the time of writ- to catch sub-Saharan African stations is to ue of a boy with a lute (Fig. 3), which is the
ing) a few vacant weeks during the winter watch for Ethiopian stations signing off after network’s logo.
season. All 13 of the Beverage antennas in 2100 UTC; Nigerian, Mozambican and oth- When staying at nearby Lake Bled, I
use – each one km long – are working well. ers signing off around 2200–2300 UTC and tuned to Radio Slovenija International
If you are wondering what to expect DX- stations from Sudan and Ethiopia signing on (89.0MHz), which played a wide range
wise, once you have made the long train around 0300 UTC.” of pop and dance music, including some
or car journey north, then the DXing Info https://tinyurl.com/6rcq2sd Slovenian acts.
website reveals all, “From November to There were also station identiications
February, the irst stations from the Far East Slovenian Radio in French and English and regular trafic
can appear as early as 0900–1000 UTC, and Surprisingly, some people still get the na- reports in English. Radio Slovenija 1 Prvi
Asian stations can be enjoyed until around tions of Slovenia and Slovakia muddled (91.8MHz) carries news, features and mu-
1400–1700 UTC, when stations from the up. I visited these countries in the sum- sic. Radio Slovenija 2 Val 202 (98.9MHz)
Middle East and Europe gradually take over mer and can happily report that they both is for pop, rock and other music, along
the AM band. Be alert for local breaks, such have a decent variety of FM stations. I with features on lifestyle and sport. Radio
as NHK2 station identiications at closing wrote about a visit to Radio Slovakia’s Slovenija 3 ARS (102.0MHz) concentrates
time (at 1600 UTC or before). Indian stations HQ in Bratislava last month (RadioUser, on classical music, arts and drama.
can be best identiied around sign-off time at November 2018: 48-51). There is also a sizeable Hungarian-
1740 UTC or after 0023 UTC sign-on. Approximately 450kms away, in the speaking minority in the country, and
“Sub-Saharan AM stations are notori- Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, and walking Muravideki Magyar Radio on 558kHz medi-
ously dificult catches because Central south from the railway station, I spotted the um wave, along with FM frequencies, caters

SLOVENIAN RADIO
LOG CONTRIBUTORS: GS = Graham Smith, Bury St

Edmunds, Suffolk. Sony ICF-SW600 and a telescopic
antenna. LC = Lionel Clyne, Faversham, Kent. Lowe
HF-150, random wire or homemade loop. OR = Owen
Rutherford, London. Lowe HF-150 and a Wellbrook
loop. SC = Scott Caldwell, Warrington, Cheshire.
Sangean ATS909, Eton E1/DX10 and a Wellbrook ALA
1530 loop. TS = Tony Stickells, Wrexham. SDRplay
RSP2, AOR AR7030 and a 500ft long wire.
for many of them.

www.rtvslo.si
www.rtvslo.si/radiosi
https://tinyurl.com/ybn2wpjb
I really enjoyed the sights and sounds
of the country’s second city, Maribor (the
European Capital of Culture in 2012). I saw
a couple of large billboard hoardings adver-
tising local stations HitRadio Center and
Rock Radio. These were on the wall of the
Urban Garden cafe, a comfortable cafe with
the best coffee in town, with retro seating
and even a tepee to chill out in on a hot day.
Radio City’s adverts had a fabulous nod
to the past too, with a large graphic globe as
part of the station logo, by the River Drava
(Fig. 4). It’s a commercial station broad-
casting on three FM frequencies and online.
www.radiocity.si
Meanwhile, Radio Pohorje on 101.3MHz
(named after the nearby mountain range),
operates from a studio in an ordinary build-
ing on the main street (Fig. 5).
Radio Maribor is the local Radiotelevizija
Slovenija station, while Radio Slovenija
International can be heard in Slovene,
English and German in the city. You can vis- Fig. 4: Radio City is big in Slovenia’s second city of Maribor.
it the website and, in Google Chrome, as SLOVENIAN RADIO
well as other browsers, click the Translate row, then please contact him by email. The
button. This is a simple way of reading collection currently consists of bound vol-
all kinds of news and features, as well as umes of the original series from its start
gathering more information on radio lis- to June 8th, 1957; Airmail volumes of
tening, although translations can often be Numbers 1 to 303 (June 9th, 1957 to March
quite inaccurate. 31st, 1963); loose copies from August
www.rtvslo.si/radiomaribor 1972 to August 1976, and December 1976;
and bound volumes from February 1984
London Calling to December 1987.
Steve Arnold contacted me, regarding the enquiries@radiotimesarchive.co.uk
former BBC World Service programme www.radiotimesarchive.com
guide London Calling. He was the initial re- While on the subject of radio’s ‘gold-
searcher on the BBC Genome project and is en past’, Bob Houlston found some useful
now a consultant on it. Steve is on a quest reading material on classic vintage radio Fig. 5: Radio Pohorje, a humdrum building for a
to locate, digitise and summarise London receivers. You may even be tempted to station named after a mountain range.
Calling. Surprisingly, there isn’t already an put in a bid or two, or to add them to your
archive. He hopes to add relevant articles Christmas list: “Tucked away in a quiet cor- try source, that is ebay.co.uk and others like
to his own Radio Times Archive website, ner of eBay is a delightful account of early USA ebay.com and Australia ebay.com.au.
but an extensive archive would probably communication receivers, the likes of which Try searching for ‘communications receiv-
only be viable if hosted by the BBC, due to I’ve never seen before. When buying sec- er’ to discover HF broadcast and amateur
copyright issues. ond-hand, I seek out what was quality in its radio equipment.”
If you have any copies that he could bor- day. If using eBay, consider your home coun- tinyurl.com/top5rx

Aerials Now!
Aerial Analysers
Keith Rawlings has more details on aerial analysers, looking at the
development and uses of these devices. He also appreciates some of the
professional receiving equipment on display at a recent Duxford air show.
Keith Rawlings
Keith.g4miu@gmail.com
H
ello and welcome to this
month’s Aerials Now column.
A Happy New Year to you all.
I ended last month’s col-
umn mentioning aerial an-
alysers, and I thought that I would fol-
low up this month by starting to describe
what an analyser actually is and what can
be done with it.
In reality, anything that can be used to
take or read measurements relating to
an aerial could be called an analyser. A
Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) meter, as used
with transmitters, is an analyser. It ena-
bles a user to analyse the SWR on a sys- Fig.1: My Cambridge Kits Noise-Bridge.
tem. At the other end of the price scale,
an expensive vector network analyser The drawback was that, with an ama-
(VNA) could also be used to do the same teur-band-only transceiver, if the point of
(plus a lot more). resonance was outside of the band cov-
My example of an SWR meter may not be erage of the receiver, the user was none
of much use to the majority of RadioUser the wiser as to whether the aerial was too
readers, as we tend to concentrate on re- long or too short.
ceiving, and a VNA may not be practical! Furthermore, the scale was not supreme-
In the middle, there are a vast number of ly accurate. However, it was possible to ‘cal-
analysers available to suit the pockets of ibrate’ the analyser against a known resist- Fig. 2: The Palomar R-X Noise Bridge.
most enthusiasts who wish to get the best ance across the ‘unknown’ terminal.
out of their systems. The analyser was cheap, and – after the Cambridge Kits model did with the re-
I purchased a decent HF receiver – I sistance reading, it also had a second con-
Cambridge Kits was able to make a lot more meaningful trol, which read reactance. Now the cover-
My irst ‘analyser’ (after an SWR meter) was measurements. I note that a kit is age of the receiver being used no longer
bought back around 1980 and it was a sim- still available: mattered (within reason) because the reac-
ple noise bridge, which was then sold in kit https://tinyurl.com/ycz9nec3 tance control could tell me if the aerial was
form by Cambridge Kits (Fig. 1). This basic too long, too short or just right.
unit enabled me to measure resonance and Palomar and Further This is because it is capable of measur-
radiation resistance, from the short wave An improvement on the Cambridge ing the exact impedance of an antenna and
bands well into the VHF region. Kits noise bridge was one by Palomar both the resistive and reactive components
An aerial was connected to one port Engineers from the USA. It was called the of the system (Fig. 2).
and a receiver, used as the ‘detector’, to R-X Noise Bridge. This was a lot more ex- Both of these analysers work by means
the second port. pensive than my previous model, especial- of a wideband noise generator and what is
The unit was switched on, and a wide ly when I experienced my irst encounter called an RF impedance bridge. The ‘known’
range of noise, generated by the analyser, with Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise, for leg of the bridge has a calibrated variable
could be heard on a receiver. The resistance their pound of lesh (otherwise called VAT resistor and a calibrated variable capaci-
control was adjusted until a null in the noise and Import Duty). tor which are on the front panel (Fig. 2). The
could be perceived. However, despite the cost, I found this ‘unknown’ part of the bridge connects to the
At this point, resonance was indicated, unit a lot more useful. Not only did it pro- aerial being measured.
and the value read off of the scale. duce a dip in the noise, in the same way as The output is fed to a receiver that acts

Aerials Now!
ALL PICTURES: KEITH RAWLINGS
Fig. 3: The DG5MK FA-VA5 Analyser. Fig. 4: A Reacher transportable communications hub.
as the ‘detector’ and is tuned to the meas-

urement frequency, where a high level of
white noise will be heard
The circuit is tuned until a null in noise
is detected in the receiver, the impedanc-
es are now matched because the circuit
is in balance.
The user then simply reads off the
values from the scale to obtain resist-
ance and reactance.
The devices more recognised now as true
analysers are the likes of the MFJ259/269,
those made by RigExpert, Sark and a
number of others.
These are far more sophisticated than
the very basic noise bridges and require no
receiver as a monitor.
They are standalone devices and have ei-
ther inbuilt LCD displays, which graphically Fig. 5: A vehicle-mounted Falcon data network and telecoms unit.
demonstrate their readings or, in the case
of the MFJ259/269, readings are taken
from two analogue meters and a digital LCD
feds, can be measured.
Transmission lines (for example, coaxial
Analysers such as the
display. Many have the option to output cable) BALUNS and tuned circuits can also MFJ269, cannot measure
data to a computer.
A reasonably new model on the market is
be analysed, and you can even use one
to tune your ATU!
the sign of reactance,
the DG5MK FA-VA5. It is supplied in semi-kit Analysers such as the MFJ269, cannot whereas the Palomar R-X
form and measures from 10kHz to 600MHz
with readings displayed on a graphical dis-
measure the sign of reactance, whereas the
simple Palomar R-X Noise Bridge can. The
Noise Bridge can
play. Its output can be fed into a PC, and, reading is taken from either the ‘Xc’ or ‘XL’
using free software, the VA-5 can be turned part of the scale.
into a sophisticated single port network an- adjusted in turn, for the ‘deepest’ null in
alyser (Fig. 3). Noise Bridge noise on the receiver. The reactance con-
If an R-X noise bridge is used for adjusting trol should be reading on the XL side, as it
In Use a dipole it can be connected to a receiver will be too long.
What can be done with an analys- that was tuned to the desired operating fre- Next, carefully trim a few millime-
er depends on the model and the fa- quency. The aerial would then be connect- tres off of the dipole and take a fur-
cilities built in. ed to the ‘unknown’ port. ther measurement.
Even with the simple ‘noise bridges’ de- If we take a dipole and assume it has Repeat this until the null is equal to X=0.
scribed earlier, aerials such as dipoles, trap been cut longer than required, both the re- Remember, if an antenna reads ‘-Xc’
dipoles, verticals, beams, and even end- sistance and reactance controls would be (capacitive reactance), it is too short;

Aerials Now!
Fig. 6: The Mantis portable data terminal system. Fig. 7: A Tac-Sat portable UHF SATCOM Yagi aerial.
if it reads ‘+Xl’ (inductive reactance), this problem with feeders as they allow you V is usually about
it is too long. to calibrate out the cable. You still have to
The feed point resistance can be read off get to the feed point to make a calibration at .66 for most coaxial
of the R scale (50Ω). that point, but readings can then be done at cables, although foam
The disadvantage here is that the the receiver end of the cable.
readings need to be taken at the actual feed dielectric cables are
point of the aerial. On a dipole, this may well Traps around .80
not be practical. Parallel-tuned circuits, such as traps for
The reason for this is that the bridge will trap dipoles (a capacitor in parallel with an
read what it can ‘see’, and the readings at inductor) can be measured. This is done
the end of a run of the feeder may well be by inserting a link of one or two turns of ed to the VA5, for its continuous cov-
different from those at the feed point. wire through the circuit and connecting it erage to 600MHz.
This is due to resistance and reactance to the unknown terminal on the bridge. Set The MFJ displays its measurements, in
on the feed-line. both the ‘X’ and ‘R’ controls to zero, tune the digital form, on an LCD display. In addition
However, if an electrical half-wavelength receiver until you get a null and read off the to this, it shows SWR and impedance on
of the feed line is used (or a multiple of frequency on the receiver. This is then the two analogue meters.
a half-wave), the reading seen at the end resonant frequency of the trap. This analyser has given me great service
of the line will be the same as those at https://tinyurl.com/ycchk47j and still does. It has been up on the roof
the feed-point. of a hangar and even been about 75ft up
Of course, this is valid for only one Microprocessor-Controlled Units in the air with me, while I adjusted a VHF
frequency, and measurements must be Later commercial analysers are usually mi- telemetry aerial.
taken at this frequency. croprocessor controlled. There is a great This is not something I made a habit of,
Needless to say, an electrical half- advantage here because the chips are as, fortunately, most of the other aerials we
wave on a coaxial line can be found able to undertake a lot of number-crunch- used to do were no more than ladder-height,
using the bridge! ing and also drive some form of display on the side of small buildings or on the
For those interested, a half-wave line can to give a graphical output in a completely sides of plinths.
be found by the following formula: stand-alone unit.
Length L in feet =492/f V Take the older MFJ269 ( mainly because MR100
F = Frequency I have one). It can measure SWR, imped- As mentioned earlier, last month I sug-
V = Velocity Factor of the line. ance, reactance, resistance, resonant fre- gested that I use a ‘standard’ analyser for
V is usually about .66 for most coaxial quency and bandwidth and it can further be the column that would enable readers to
cables, although foam dielectric cables used as a rough frequency counter and as become familiar with analysers, would
are around .80. a signal source. be suitable for HF use, and would not
Measuring a ground-mounted vertical, The downside of the MFJ269 is that it break the bank.
on the other hand, may be easier, as the only covers 1.8-170 (actually 184) MHz I had in mind the MR100, which can be
feed-point will be accessible. Sophisticated and 415-470MHz. found on eBay for around £40-50 (although,
analysers such as the VA5 can get around This was part of the reason I upgrad- at this price, they may attract VAT).

Aerials Now!
The speciications are: 1-60MHz fre- all of HM forces when required, and it has
quency coverage, SWR measurement been regularly deployed on all recent battle-
1-9.999; impedance 5-2000Ω; and RF grounds (Fig. 4).
Output of 2V pp. A vehicle-mounted Falcon data net-
It has many measurement features that work and telecoms hub could also CAPACITOR: a device used to store an elec-
are comparable to the MFJ269, but it can be seen (Fig. 5). tric charge, consisting of one or more pairs of
also be connected to a PC, which obviously It is used to send and receive voice and conductors separated by an insulator.
increases its versatility. Users may also ind data information from sources such as IMPEDANCE: The effective resistance of an
its ability to measure the value of capaci- landlines, satellite terminals and commer- electric circuit or component to alternating
tors and inductors useful for aerial projects. cial internet connections. current, arising from the combined effects of
Next month and thereafter I will describe A number of other devices, such as ohmic resistance and reactance.
in more detail some of the techniques de- Mantis portable data terminal system (Fig. INDUCTOR: A passive two-terminal electrical
scribed here; in the meantime, here are 6) and a Tac-Sat portable UHF SATCOM component that stores energy in a magnetic
ield when electric current lows through it.
some links to be getting on with. Yagi aerial, covering the range from 240 to
REACTANCE: The non-resistive component
https://tinyurl.com/y8htlvrm 318MHz (Fig. 7) were also on display. of impedance in an AC circuit, arising from
https://tinyurl.com/y97d5b2c Using Right Hand Circular Polarisation the effect of inductance or capacitance or
(RHCP), Tac-Sat can be deployed quick- both and causing the current to be out of
Royal Air Force @ 100 ly, operate in winds up to 80mph, han- phase with the electromotive force causing it.
At a recent Duxford air show, I noticed that dle 200W on CW and offer between 10 RESISTANCE: The electrical resistance of
3 (FC) Sqn of 90 Signals Unit, RAF Leeming and 15dB of gain. an object is a measure of its opposition to the
had a display, demonstrating some of their This is all very different from the equip- low of electric current.
equipment. 90 SU’s mission is, and I quote ment used back in 1918! RESONANT FREQUENCY: An aerial is a form
‘To support airpower through the delivery My thanks to the staff of 3 Sqn 90 SU, for of tuned circuit which consists of inductance
and capacitance, and as a result, it has a res-
of assured information and communication the time taken to explain the equipment to
onant frequency. This is the frequency where
services.’ 3 FC’s task is to ‘Provide Force me on what was a very wet morning! the capacitive and inductive reactance’s can-
Elements at Readiness to allow 90 Signals Well, this is all for this month. As al- cel each other out. At this point the antenna
Unit to meet its Mission’. ways, I will reply to readers’ questions appears purely resistive; the resistance is a
There were a number of items on display through this column. combination of the loss resistance and the
such as a Reacher transportable commu- Table 1 is a glossary of the main electron- radiation resistance.
nications hub. Reacher is capable of sup- ics terms used throughout this article.
plying tactical satellite communications to Until next month: Good Listening! Table 1: Glossary of Electronics Terms.
Feedback & Corrections

Continued from page 22 I found that the Sistel Explorer was great ble and/ or little FM transmitter, but the
for outside, especially in isolated locations jury is still out on that. I have a UK Radio
would that location be able to reveal much (Svalbard, Norway, Scotland, Southern Astronomy Association (UKRAA) VLF Loop
more than placing the receiver close to a do- Germany). The NASA Inspire VLF-3 mod- Antenna, and also a BAZ Power-Ferrite
mestic residence? Indeed, is placing the re- el is more of an educational ‘project’ I use LFM/S1-N from BAZ Spezialantennen in
ceiver remotely the ideal way to operate it? for our youngsters at school here, where Germany. The latter is a much quieter
I suppose that the danger with getting too I volunteer sometimes. If you can ‘home- listen inside, the former I am using with
rural is the dreaded “electric fence equip- brew’, get that one, it’s nice, chunky and Spectrum Lab and my PC/ soundcard as
ment?” I hope that you will bring us further very sensitive. The one advantage the a VLF setup. And, last but not least, I will
information about these LF devices!” Elettroficina has is a rechargeable bat- do more on VLF in the future, in the mean-
tery inside, the other two, you need to open time, check out Renato Romero’s excellent
Thank you very much, Phil, your praise is up to change the battery. If you don’t do website. Renato’s book on Radio Nature is
humbling, indeed. I am very happy you kits, the Elettroficina is the better choice the seminal text
like the new-format RadioUser. In reply to in my view. I got mine from eBay, there is http://www.vlf.it/
your questions, it is not necessary to have a seller in Italy under that name, he builds
three distinct receivers. It just so happened them occasionally. Last but not least, yes, I will occasionally
that I acquired those three over time. The You’re right, the more remote the bet- write about VLF matters, such as receivers,
Elettroficina model has since been super- ter, try up a hill, deinitely far away from relevant associations and technical mat-
seded (04 to 05). I have sent you a pho- power lines and fences. I found that ar- ters. See the short piece about Grimeton
to of the new model I now have (ELF-VLF eas in the UK that are also Dark-Sky Areas, SAQ in this issue, for example (page 42).
PIC-RX05 Receiver, 1-10kHz). It is on the for hobby astronomers, work well. I have I hope that you will continue to enjoy
slightly ‘hefty’ side, so I have it on a tripod. also tried a garden shed with a long ca- RadioUser and stay in touch – GW.

Utility DXing
HFGCS: A Worldwide
Force on Short Wave
In this month’s instalment, Nils Schiffhauer introduces us to the US
High-Frequency Global Communications Network (HFGCN), which works
continuously from 13 locations around the world.
Nils Schiffhauer, DK8OK

dk8ok@gmx.net
telecommunications specialist works at
Offut Air Force Base, Nebraska, one of the
The network dates
13 locations of HFGCS, the High Frequency back to the mid-1970s
S
ome people, especially
in North America, often
Global Communications System: “When
satellites go out, HF is always around,” he
and has always kept
perceive the USA as the only said, and, “More users are coming on board pace with technology.
‘superpower’ that remains. with our system, people are starting to
While, in regard to the use of realize what it can do and it’s a technology
HF, this may well be true, there are other that isn’t going to go away.” hardware and software.
countries, which are, at least, on par with Dave and his colleagues are working In the wake of the ongoing repercussions
the USA. Nevertheless, the world-spanning for the most far-lung HF systems, of ‘9/11’, Andrews Air Force Base
High-Frequency Global Communications spanning the globe from Hawaii to Guam, (Maryland) and Grand Forks Air Force
(HFGCS) network, which originated in the and from Alaska to Diego Garcia (See Base (North Dakota) jointly, and remotely,
US Air Force, is one of the leading global HF below and Fig. 1). control the whole network. “The impact of
networks. You can tune in very easily. The network dates back to the mid-1970s this mission has really amazed me”, claimed
and has always kept pace with technology. Technical Sergeant Chenika Baker, who
Renovating a Forty-Year-Old From 2015 to 2021, the US Department of works for the HFGCS.
Network Defense, responsible for the maintenance Chenika and her colleagues are
America’s security is counting on of this network, is to spend nearly US$100 responsible for a wide range of HFGCS
people like Dave Clingerman. The million for the necessary upgrades of both tasks, the wider context of which is
Station/Location Call [basic] Frequencies kHz [basic net, e.g. GUA] NIPRnet, e.g. GUANPR]
3137 4721 5708 6721 9025 11226 13215 15043 18003 23337 3068 4745 5684 8965
Joint Base Andrews, ADW 07:00 07:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 12:00 12:00 13:00 15:00 ./. 07:00 07:00 07:00 09:00
Maryland, USA 19:00 17:00 16:00 19:00
U.S. Air Force Ascension HAW ./. ./. ./. 03:00 01:00 23:00 16:00 07:00 08:00 10:00 ./. ./. ./. 01:00
Auxiliary Air Filed, Wideawake, 16:00 15:00
Ascension Island
Beale Air Force Base, Califor- MCC ./. ./. 09:00 10:00 14:00 14:00 15:00 15:00 ./. ./. ./. ./. 09:00 14:00
nia, USA [ex: McClellan AFB]
Royal Air Force Croughton, CRO 24h 10:00 ./. 11:00 ./. ./. ./. ./. ./. ./. 24h 10:00 11:00 ./.
United Kingdom 13:00 13:00
Naval Support Facility, Diego JDG ./. ./. 15:00 15:00 14:00 15:00 13:00 13:00 12:00 09:00 ./. ./. 15:00 14:00
Garcia, Indian Ocean [Chagos
Islands/BIOT]
Joint Base Elmendorf- AED ./. ./. 08:00 08:00 09:00 ./. ./. ./. ./. ./. ./. ./. 08:00 09:00
Richardson, Alaska, USA 16:00 16:00 16:00
Naval Computer & GUA ./. 15:00 15:00 15:00 12:00 07:00 09:00 08:00 ./. ./. ./. 15:00 15:00 12:00
Telecommunications Area 09:00
Master Station West Paciic,
Guam, Mariana Islands
Naval Computer & Telecom- HIK ./. 07:00 ./. 07:00 08:00 11:00 16:00 16:00 06:00 ./. ./. 07:00 06:00 08:00
munications Area Master 15:00 14:00 16:00 14:00
Station, Hickam Air Force Base,
Hawaii, USA
U.S. Air Force Isabella, Puerto JNR 06:00 07:00 07:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 ./. 06:00 07:00 07:00 09:00
Rico, USA [ex: Salinas] 22:00 20:00 19:00 17:00 16:00 15:00 22:00 19:00
Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal PLA 06:00 06:00 24h 24h 24h 08:00 08:00 09:00 12:00 12:00 06:00 06:00 24h 24h
22:00 16:00 16:00 15:00 22:00
Offut Air Force Base, Nebraska, OFF ./. 08:00 08:00 08:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 14:00 ./. ./. ./. 08:00 08:00 11:00
USA 20:00 19:00 18:00 16:00 20:00 18:00
Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy ICZ 04:00 24h 24h 24h 24h 06:00 07:00 07:00 09:00 ./. 04:00 24h 24h 24h
16:00 15:00 13:00 14:00 16:00
Yokota Air Base, Japan JTY ./. ./. ./. 08:00 07:00 ./. ./. ./. 08:00 ./. ./. ./. ./. 07:00
14:00 13:00 13:00
Reception of nearly all stations of the HFGCS network is easy: These are the channels, stations and nets, which are known and have been monitored.

Utility DXing
PICTURES: NILS SCHIFFHAUER
Fig. 2: An ALE signal consists of eight tones,

spaced at 250Hz, around a centre frequency of
1625Hz, within the audio passband.
Fig. 1: These 13 HFGCS stations can be received regularly in ALE digital mode. Most of them also
transmit regular radio checks in voice mode.
outlined in Table 1. predominantly undertaken by Longwave Inc.

Each ground station can be accessed
EAMs: Duck and Cover! by the typical air- or sea-borne transceiver
The near-worldwide coverage and added and even by a man pack, such as the Harris
value of this network are ensured by Falcon-II, with up to 20W HF output.
the three different functions of the local Automatic Link Establishment (ALE)
stations – one for transmitting, one for routinely establishes contact with the
receiving and one for direction inding. HFGCS station offering the best overall
Transmitting power is 4kW, the aerials propagation conditions. Fig. 3: This Current Frequency Diagram displays the
used range from non-directional antennas The image in Fig. 2 shows the structure of sequence of the 8ms-long tones of an ALE signal.
to pinpoint-accuracy logarithmic-periodic this 8-FSK signal.
radiators. The transmitters and receivers The screenshot in Fig. 3 displays the encrypted. After the connection with ALE
are the usual suspects from Harris and sequence of tones of 8ms in length. (‘handshaking’), classiied data communi-
Rockwell-Collins. The antenna work is All conidential information is, of course, cations are sent, principally in MIL-STD-188-
SIPRnet, e.g. GUASPR] Voice [“Guam”]

11199 13242 17973 20631 3113 5702 6715 8968 11181 17976 27870 4724 6712 6739 8992 11175 13200 15016
12:00 12:00 15:00 13:00 07:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 12:00 15:00 ./. 07:00 ./. 08:00 09:00 12:00 12:00 13:00
17:00 19:00 19:00 17:00 16:00
23:00 16:00 08:00 09:00 ./. ./. 03:00 01:00 23:00 08:00 ./. ./. ./. 03:00 01:00 23:00 16:00 07:00
15:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
14:00 15:00 ./. ./. ./. 09:00 10:00 14:00 14:00 ./. ./. ./. ./. 10:00 14:00 14:00 15:00 15:00
./. ./. ./. ./. 24h 11:00 11:00 ./. ./. ./. ./. 10:00 11:00 ./. ./. ./. ./. ./.
13:00
15:00 13:00 12:00 10:00 ./. 15:00 15:00 14:00 15:00 12:00 ./. ./. ./. 15:00 14:00 15:00 13:00 13:00
./. ./. ./. ./. ./. 08:00 08:00 09:00 ./. ./. ./. ./. ./. 08:00 09:00 ./. ./. ./.
16:00 16:00 16:00 16:00
07:00 09:00 ./. ./. ./. 15:00 15:00 12:00 07:00 ./. ./. 15:00 ./. 15:00 12:00 07:00 09:00 08:00
09:00 09:00 09:00
11:00 16:00 06:00 18:00 ./. 06:00 07:00 08:00 11:00 18:00 ./. 07:00 ./. 07:00 08:00 11:00 16:00 16:00
16:00 15:00 14:00 16:00 15:00 14:00 16:00
10:00 10:00 ./. ./. 06:00 07:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 ./. ./. 07:00 ./. X X X X X
17:00 16:00 22:00 20:00 19:00 17:00
08:00 08:00 12:00 12:00 06:00 24h 24h 24h 08:00 12:00 ./. 06:00 ./. 24h 24h 08:00 08:00 09:00
16:00 16:00 16:00 22:00 16:00 16:00 15:00
12:00 14:00 ./. ./. ./. 08:00 08:00 11:00 12:00 ./. ./. 08:00 ./. 08:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 14:00
16:00 20:00 19:00 18:00 16:00 19:00 18:00 16:00
06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 04:00 24h 24h 24h 06:00 09:00 ./. 24h ./. 24h 24h 06:00 07:00 07:00
15:00 13:00 16:00 15:00 15:00 13:00 14:00
./. ./. 08:00 08:00 ./. ./. 08:00 07:00 ./. 08:00 ./. ./. ./. 08:00 07:00 ./. ./. ./.
14:00 13:00 14:00 13:00

Utility DXing
110B. This is a noise-like PSK mode with

2.4kHz bandwidth and KG84-encryption.
At times, you will
All that we will hear as listeners is ALE, also hear Emergency
i.e. the regular soundings, every 30 and 60
minutes, from each ground station. There
Action Voice Messages
will also be some radio checks in ALE, a few (EAM) or Sky King
voice transmissions (‘test-count’) and users
calling in ALE.
broadcasts
At times, you will also hear Emergency
Action Voice Messages (EAM) or Sky the possibility to run many instances of the
King broadcasts. program at the same time.
Some of the coded communications have http://f6cte.free.fr/index_anglais.htm
been claimed to carry the orders to start a (See also: Once is never Enough:
nuclear assault: Multi-channel DXing; RadioUser, June
“Duck and cover!”, as “Bert, the Turtle” sug- 2018: 30 – Ed.).
gests in this ilm from 1951.
https://tinyurl.com/yc27b7f5 Sounding, Calling, Reporting
and More
Let the Receiver Collect the DX Here are some examples of transmissions.
The table on pages 56 and 57 lists First the usual ALE sounding, as received
Fig. 4: With the SDR set to 13215kHz for reception of nearly all stations of the with MultiPSK on the basic net on 4721kHz,
recording, JDG (Diego Garcia) was received at HFGCS network is quite easy. Table 2 lists including some preliminary time-stamps:
17:44 UTC on 19th June (top). At the bottom, all channels, stations and nets, which are
MultiPSK decoded this signal from 09:18 UTC known and have been monitored. <18:31:29> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from
onwards in August 2018. I used the PropMan program, by GUA] (his BER=25 + SINAD=02)
Rockwell-Collins, to calculate the best <18:46:56> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from JTY]
times for reception in the London area (his BER=11 + SINAD=01)
• United States Air Force (USAF) Global supports a
wide range of users, by providing air-ground-air, ship- for mid-December 2018, estimating on a <18:47:21> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from
to-shore, broadcast, and ALE. It offers these services conservative basis. CRO] (his BER=30 + SINAD=07)
to various customers of the Department of Defence, Where applicable (JTY, MCC and HIK), <18:49:07> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from ICZ]
including the US Navy.
the table combines the potential reception (his BER=29 + SINAD=07)
• Mystic Star: This system provides HF
communications for the President, Vice-President, via both short and long path dissemination. <19:10:59> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from
cabinet members, and other senior government and Under good conditions – and with the use of HAW] (his BER=17 + SINAD=01).
military officials, while aboard Special Air Mission a quality antenna – you will ind that you can
(SAM) aircraft. easily extend the given reception windows – Here is an example each of the
• SITFAA: This is a Spanish/English/Portuguese
language network supporting North, Central, and
both in time and frequency. SIPR and the NIPR-net, on 8968 and
South American Air Force users in 18 countries If you begin with an analogue receiver, 17937kHz respectively:
on the American continent. It supplies voice just park it on 6721 or 9025kHz in USB, with
and data HF links. 3kHz bandwidth or so, double-click one of <17:42:56>[Sounding THIS WAS] [from
• DCS HF Entry: This framework provides HF
your ALE software decoders and let it go. JDGSPR] (his BER=20 + SINAD=02)
communications services for tactical units in areas
of the world where DCS connectivity is unavailable After two or three hours, check your <17:52:11> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from
or insufficient. results. If there are none, check the CROSPR] (his BER=30 + SINAD=11)
• Global Humanitarian/NATO Mission support. calibration of your receiver. ALE doesn’t like <18:35:17> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from
• Space Command.
deviations of more than, say ±50Hz. JTYSPR] (his BER=28 + SINAD=03)
• Access to secure (SIPRNET) and non-secure
(NIPRNET) networks. (See: The ABC of ALE, in RadioUser, <10:06:14> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from
August 2018: 38 – NS/ Ed.). HAWNPR] (his BER=30 + SINAD=06)
Table 1: Professional Context of the High-Frequency If it is all working, aim at some <10:11:56> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from
Global Communications System. more challenging locations like Diego GUANPR] (his BER=30 + SINAD=02)
Garcia or Guam, and try the even more <10:16:48> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from
ambitious spots like Alaska, Hawaii and AEDNPR] (his BER=11 + SINAD=01).
Crowd-Sourced Intelligence Agency (‘EAM-Watch’):
http://eam.watch/ Japan (Fig. 4.).
GlobalSecurity.org: If you own an SDR, you are enabled to At other times, stations may call each other
https://tinyurl.com/ybgjqotu perform multi-channel DXing and decoding. directly in ALE, as they do here, on 4721kHz:
Military Analysis Network:
This can be achieved within the HF
https://tinyurl.com/y8wrqwuw
Numbers Stations: bandwidth of an SDR, wherein you place the <20:57:13> [Call] [from CRO] [to HAW] (his
https://www.numbers-stations.com required number of up to 24 demodulators, BER=30 + SINAD=07)
military/usa/hfgcs/RadioReference.com (Article): feeding different instances of your decoder <21:45:16> [Call] [from HAW] [to CRO] (his
https://tinyurl.com/87w67j3
software, by means of different virtual BER=26 + SINAD=02)
UDXF.nl:
http://www.udxf.nl/USAF-HFGCS.pdf audio cables (VACs).
For the latter, I strongly recommend Occasionally, there is a radio-check (in
Table 2: Some Selected HFGCS Resources. MultiPSK. It is sensitive, reliable and offers ALE) between two stations (in the example

Utility DXing
below, this is Guam calling an unidentiied produced on location, as is suggested ALE is a very robust
USAF aircraft ‘222222’; the latter then by the range of very different speakers,
replies) or a short, coded, text in AMD procedures, modulation-depths system. MultiPSK (and
(Automatic Message Display). In this
case, Lajes was calling Croughton, both of
and bandwidths.
A typical voice test count sample is below
Sorcerer) will decode
them on 6721kHz: (Example 1), from a female voice from MCC. many signals, which
<18:11:58> [Call] [from GUA] [to 222222] (his
However, the military can also count, at
least up to ive (Example 2); this was a male
may be too fait to hear
BER=24 + SINAD=03) voice, via Lajes.
<18:12:11> [Call] [from 222222] [to Both examples were heard on 15016kHz: This may be due to multi-path propagation,
GUA] [my BER= 0 + SINAD=19] (his Example 1: This is West Coast with a test to which this particular path seems prone.
BER=26 + SINAD=03) count: one, two three; three two one. If an ALE signal on one of the HFGCS
<18:12:20> [Call] [from GUA] [to West Coast test count - out. subnets refuses to be decoded, just try it
222222] [my BER= 0 + SINAD=19] (his Example 2: This is Lajes with a test again, several times, working from your
BER=27 + SINAD=04 count: one, two three, four, ive; ive, recording. If you are still being left without a
<18:12:33> [Sounding THIS WAS] [from four, three two one. result, shift the frequency by some 10Hz.
222222] (his BER=20 + SINAD=02). Lajes test count - out. In nearly all cases, the limit is not in the
You will read and hear other messages decoder, but in the monitor’s ears.
<20:14:23> [Call] [from PLA] [to CRO] (his and callsigns too, and you may even There is much information (and
BER=21 + SINAD=02) hear both ‘open’ or ‘coded’ data or voice misinformation) about this network
<20:14:26> [Call] [from CRO] [to communications with camoulage callsigns, prevailing on the internet. In researching for
PLA] [my BER= 4 + SINAD=14] (his like Lamp Cord or Baggage Car. this article, I have primarily relied on up-to-
BER=30 + SINAD=06) ALE is a very robust system. MultiPSK date information from oficial sources (DoD,
<20:15:05> CCCCD8,3623502NNNN[AMD] (and Sorcerer) will decode many signals, suppliers), my own monitoring in 2018 and
[from CRO] (his BER=30 + SINAD=07) which may be far too faint to hear. There are two highly recommended papers from the
<20:16:09> [Call] [from PLA] [to CRO] (his very few errors in decoding. listener community:
BER=18 + SINAD=03). However, if you read ‘FAA’, when using www.udxf.nl/USAF-HFGCS.pdf
Any voice-test counts are obviously MultiPSK, this is a rare misprint for ‘MCC’. https://tinyurl.com/8kchdfg
SAQ Grimeton for United Nations Day 2018

Georg Wiessala ALEXANDERSON 100 KW ALTERNATOR loud and clear in Lancashire. The equip-
wiessala@hotmail.com ON VLF 17.2 kHz = THE ATLANTIC ment I used was the SDRPlay RSPduo, the
TELEGRAPH LINE WAS OPENED IN 1866 UKRAA VLF loop, a BAZ LFM/S1-N VLF ae-
The editor catches the UN Day II II II II 1866 BETWEEN IRELAND AND rial (15-70kHz) and a PC. You can receive
Message sent by the World Heritage NEW FOUNDLAND THUS CONNECTING these signals by using a (48kHz or more
Radio Station SAQ Grimeton on 24 THE TWO CONTINENTS. TODAY WE PAY sampling-rate) soundcard and your PC. It
October 2018. TRIBUTE TO COMMUNICATION BETWEEN was important to be mindful of the wider
PEOPLE, IN A WORK FOR BUILDING PEACE. context of this transmission and to cele-
The SAQ World Heritage site radio station = NB IME WE NEITHER REQUEST QSL brate UN Day, in the spirit of anti-national-
in Grimeton, Sweden was on the air REPORTS ON THIS TRANSMISSION NOR ism, isolationism and the indispensable
again, with a very special transmission, WILL RESPOND WITH QSL = CARDS = multilateral international cooperation, so
on 17.2kHz on 24th October 2018. This SIGNED OS WORLD HERITAGE GRIMETON often sadly lacking in the contemporary
was United Nations Day 2018, and the RADIO STATION AND THE ALEK II II II world. The next SAQ Grimeton transmission
transmitter started up at 16.30 UTC. Here II ALEXANDER = GRIMETON VETERAN on 17.2 kHz is planned for Christmas 2018.
is the message of 24th October 2018, RADIOS VAENNER ASSOCIATION = AR QRU We are listening….
recalling the time of the laying of the DE SAQ ST II II SAQ SAQ SAQ VA
transatlantic cable: 17:06 UTC END https://tinyurl.com/y894k657
http://alexander.n.se
WEDNESDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2018 Many monitors and ARCs received the http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1134
SAQ Sweden RST 337 signal globally and were in touch with the https://tinyurl.com/y7axhrrn
16:43 UTC TUNE UP STARTED: Grimeton site’s Amateur Radio station www.g4pvb.eu5.net/saq.htm
||: VVV VVV VVV DE SAQ SAQ SAQ :|| SK6SAQ. A live video stream on the website
17:00 UTC MESSAGE STARTED: of the Swedish Alexanderson Society (See also: SAQ Grimeton: A Rare Catch,
CQ CQ CQ DE SAQ SAQ SAQ = normally accompanies the transmissions. RadioUser, June 2018: 33; Warm thanks
THIS IS GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ In the UK, RadioUser magazine was on to Bob Houlston for the extra information
IN A TRANSMISSION USING THE call, and the editor received the message about the message sent – Ed.).

Emerging Issues in Radio
Drive to Digital, DAB

Demise and DiscovR
Chrissy Brand demonstrates that radio and audio events really can help
radio professionals ensure that listeners receive excellent technical and
content quality, as well as wider programme choice.
ALL PICTURES: CHRISSY BRAND
Chrissy Brand
chrissyLB@hotmail.co.uk
A
key element in ensuring that
most industries can evolve and
progress is the regular organi-
sation of their associated trade
shows, exhibitions, workshops
and conferences. These are usually highly
enjoyable, and the radio industry has more
than its fair share of such occasions.
For participants, far from being there on
a ‘jolly’, these events provide vital chances
to network, view new products and be in-
spired by innovative new ideas. Whether
it’s a sound engineer, a station director or
the on-air talent, conferences and exhibi-
tions enable radio and audio professionals
to refresh their ideas, seek out collabora-
tive partnerships and renew acquaintanc-
es. They can return to base, inspired by the Fig. 1: Host Gethin Jones, of Hits Radio, makes a point.
challenges, discussions and exciting pos-
sibilities ahead. year’s theme being The Future of Radio. DAB digital radio. He shed light on the fact
As for me, I choose to attend as many ra- Speakers came from government, broad- that there is now simply more programme
dio and audio events as possible, and my cast, the automotive, retail and manufac- content available than before. That is true,
enthusiasm is always reignited by the de- turing industries, and they reviewed digital in as much as the reason I bought my irst
velopments I report on in RadioUser. radio progress to date, while also assess- DAB radio (a secondhand Pure Evoke in
Radio listeners and podcast consum- ing the way forward for digital radio, across 2001), was that I had been persuaded by
ers are also catered for at certain events. multiple platforms in the home, cars the lure of hearing BBC World Service and
Although they might not be able to attend and on the move. the then new station BBC 7 (Now: BBC Four
some of the trade shows and conferences, The event was hosted by Gethin Jones, a Extra), 24 hours a day.
the growth of literary and podcast festi- one-time Blue Peter presenter and currently By 2004, most of us were streaming
vals does give the public a chance to meet working on Hits Radio (Fig. 1). pretty much whichever radio stations we
and interact with a range of broadcasters, The irst session saw Miranda Sawyer in wanted – from anywhere in the world. DAB
authors and podcasters, from mainstream conversation with Ford Ennals. Miranda is digital radio had soon become just one of
names to more esoteric, lesser-known au- the audio critic for The Guardian and The many ways to consume radio, rather than
dio broadcasters. Observer. She explained how hard it was to the leading option or the sole way forward,
persuade her employer to change her job ti- as some had hoped.
Drive to Digital tle, evolving from ‘radio’ to ‘audio’. She, quite Indeed, the advent of a more accessi-
Against this background, I attended the accurately in my view, stated that radio is in ble internet – followed, over the past dec-
annual Drive to Digital conference on the middle of a revolution, one that is a lot ade, by instant wi-i and smartphones –
September 25th. It was, somewhat incon- slower than the television revolution but is may well make DAB radio redundant. This
gruously, once again held at the British nonetheless still a revolution. is a fact not lost on the UK’s digital radio
Museum in London. Moreover, Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital stations, who are using social media and
There was certainly more looking ahead Radio UK, considered the fact that people in streaming alongside their DAB output.
than relecting on the past though, with this the UK now listen to more stations, owing to For manufacturers and suppliers in the

CHRISSY BRAND
Fig. 2: Miranda Sawyer (R) chairing a session with Will Harding, Tom Wrathmell and Travis Baxter.
DAB industry, this is probably a case of she wasn’t there in person or perhaps it was Will Harding, Chief Strategy Oficer at
evolve quickly or perish. That could explain that her message was largely devoid of con- Global, when he said that, “IP will not re-
why many are still pushing the UK gov- tent. One thing she did emphasise though, place broadcasting, it’s part of the solution.
ernment to announce a date to switch off was that a future FM switch-off timetable DAB will be with us for the foreseeable fu-
FM (or, as some people call it, switch over, would not be easy to plan; the government ture and beyond.”
which sounds more palatable to a public would work with the BBC, Arqiva, car manu- Concern about ‘today’s youth market’
who will need much convincing). facturers and others. She reported that she was also addressed when Travis Baxter,
A switch from FM could, of course, mean was hoping to announce shortly how this a consultant at Bauer Media opined that,
a need for more DAB radios in the home would all progress. “Lots of young people listen to radio but
and in cars. There are many adapters, sell- Moreover, Tom Wrathmell, the BBC Head not for as long as they did in the past. Are
ing well and providing (analogue) car radios of Radio Strategy, spoke about the BBC we delivering the editorial content required
with DAB capability. Sounds app, which will replace the BBC iP- by young people?”
Personally, I feel that 5G, or another fu- layer. The beta version was tested by many Absolute Radio recently celebrated its
ture internet provision, might eventually users over the summer, and their feed- tenth birthday. The station was ground-
render all conventional radio receivers, FM, back has led to tweaks and improvements, breaking, in that it launched a stream of
AM or DAB, redundant. Today’s youth, if including retaining some features of the digital stations, each of which plays music
they want to hear a radio station at all, listen iPlayer. The need for BBC Sounds is a re- from different decades. Absolute Radio
through a smartphone or tablet, not a box in sponse to the changing expectations of the content director Paul Sylvester gave an
the corner of the room. wider BBC audience. Tom sees a digital- overview of Project Banana. This is an in-
Margot James, a UK Minister of State for only future for BBC radio, but he is not sure novative concept; it allows The Dave Berry
Digital and the Creative Industries, had pre- when, and he accepts the present hybrid de- Breakfast Show to play a variety of different
recorded a video message. When it was livery solution. music, and targeted adverts, in live parallel
over, this was met with silence by the 300 In the same panel session (Fig. 2), a streams, or “decade-speciic music tease
people in the room. Perhaps it was because slightly different view was expressed by links” as Absolute terms them (Fig. 3).

Personally, a highlight for me was hear-

ing about Pure’s DiscovR product, which
is a portable Alexa (Fig. 4). It’s on my
Christmas list.
Podcast Festivals
In September and October, podcast fes-
tivals were held in Dublin, London and
Manchester. These are similar to attending
a literary festival, or a live recording of a ra-
dio or television show. It’s a sure sign that
audiences have reached a critical mass
when a festival is held to celebrate and
showcase material. These podcast festi-
vals were deinitely aimed at the public.
Mainstream comedians Richard Herring
(Leicester Square Theatre podcast) and
Russell Kane (Boys Don’t Cry podcast) took
part in the week-long Manchester Podcast
Festival, which was held in a number of ven-
ues around the city.
www.manchesterpodcastfestival.com
Probably less well known to RadioUser
readers is Secret Dinosaur Cult, which is a
new podcast from Soie Hagen and Jodie
Mitchell. The podcast festival website de-
scribed the duo and their podcast as, “A 3
wonderfully funny and intelligent queer co-

median and drag king… Intimacy, feminism, https://communityradioawards.org.uk
daddy issues, mixed with fun jingles, come- This year’s International Broadcasting
dy and, of course, dinosaurs.” Convention (IBC 2018) proclaimed that it
The idea arose from an earlier, success- was the world’s most inluential media, en-
ful, podcast called Made of Human, which tertainment and technology show. It was
quickly became better known as MohPod. held in Amsterdam, and I will endeavour to
www.secretdinosaurcult.com attend one year.
www.madeofhumanpodcast.com There was much in the programme that
Another podcast performed at the would have been of interest to RadioUser
Manchester festival was BBC Radio 4 co- readers. I particularly liked the sound of
median Deborah Frances-White’s The Guilty The Future Zone. This gathers many of the,
Feminist. Deborah cover topics that, “all “latest ideas, innovations and concept-tech-
21st-century feminists agree on” while, “con- nologies from international industry and
fessing their insecurities, hypocrisies and academia, and showcases them in a single, 4
fears that underlie their lofty principles.” The specially-curated, display area, within the Fig. 3: Absolute Radio’s Paul Sylvester on Project
podcast has been a huge success. It has IBC Exhibition. For IBC2018, the focus was Banana. Fig. 4: Discover DiscovR, a portable
been downloaded more than ten million on showing how new technologies grow Alexa speaker from Pure.
times since its inception in 2016. from irst inception, progress, R&D, and vali-
http://guiltyfeminist.com dation, to mature, ground-breaking, applica-
tions, and product standards of the future.” Radio Events
Radio Event Highlights https://show.ibc.org FUTUREBOOK LIVE 2018,
Several other industry events took place Meanwhile, the Next Radio conference London, November 30th
throughout September. They included covered audio, content, marketing and tech- THE BOOKSELLER’S
CRAS 18, the Community Radio Awards, nology. It took place in London, and you can AUDIOBOOK CONFERENCE
held at Shefield Hallam University. Irish view all of the sessions online. They are https://tinyurl.com/ybg7m5yt
language station Raidió Fáilte from Belfast short and sweet with nothing too taxing. EUROPEAN RADIO SHOW AND DIGITAL
was named Station of the Year. Julie For instance, John Carroll asked, “who lis- AUDIO SHOW 2019
Donaldson of Zetland Radio won the acco- tens to radio anyway?” Paris, January 24th to 26th
lade for Female Presenter of the Year, while Katherine Boyle and Iain Lee spoke www.european-show.radio
the award for Entertainment Show of the about their talkRADIO show The Late Night BBC LOCAL RADIO GILLARD AWARDS
Year went to Wycombe Sound’s The Rob Alternative, and Sharon Taylor explained Derby, January 24th
L’Esperance Jukebox. Details of all the win- how to get rich from podcasts. https://tinyurl.com/yaxdn6q
ners (there were ifty in all) are online: https://next.radio

Review
Fig.1: The bhi Dual In-Line Noise Eliminating Module, working with my Sangean ATS-909X Portable Receiver.
Clint Gouveia
clint.gouveia@btinternet.com
s a kid back in the 1980s, The bhi Dual

A I would listen to the world
on my analogue Amstrad
communications receiver
from my bedroom or in the
garden. I remember copying All India
Radio in the evenings and Radio Australia
in the mornings, whilst getting ready for
In-Line Module
Clint Gouveia has the bhi Dual In-Line Noise
school, with stonking great signals, just
on the telescopic antenna. Those were
Reduction Unit on his test bench, looking at the
the days; I don’t remember local QRM ever capabilities and performance of this compact
being a problem. unit, principally from the point of view of a short
Fast forward 30 years, and for many of
us, it’s a nightmare. Our modern way of wave listener and occasional DXer.
life, so much of which is deined by noise-
producing technology. This ranges from
Wi-Fi adapters and digital TVs, to PLTs that be as high as -90dBs. That really does not antennas, galvanic isolators – anything, in
bounce the noise-loor up and down by 10 make for good listening. fact, that will help mitigate the omnipresent
dBs or even more. The cheap solution to improving signal- ‘electro-smog’.
I only have to take a look at the HF to-noise was described in my previous
spectrum on one of my SDRs and that article (RadioUser, October 2018: 10- A New Way to Mitigate Noise
‘1980s noise loor’ of -130dBs is now 13): Get outdoors with a decent portable! When asked to test the bhi Dual In-Line
-110dBs on a good day and, perhaps, very Otherwise, like me, you’re probably stuck module, I jumped at the chance. Here,
exceptionally, -115dBs. On a bad day, it can in the shack, employing magnetic loop potentially, was another weapon in my

Review
One important point ALL PICTURES: CLINT GOUVEIA
readers should be aware

of: The bhi module was
designed primarily to
improve noisy speech
signals, rather than
music or data
arsenal, ready to engage in the constant
ight against local QRM and one, what
is more, that didn’t involve sitting in a
quiet wood at 2 am!
The unit is essentially a box containing
some DSP wizardry that takes the output
from your radio (or another audio device),
via the headphone, extension speaker or
line-out socket and processes-out any
noise present, to improve audio clarity. With Fig. 2: The bhi Dual In-Line Module linked to a Bose SoundLink Mini2 Speaker.
dual channels, it is possible to combine two
input signals and/or employ two output
channels for monitoring one input source.
The bhi module can also handle mono
or stereo signals; bhi claim that their
DSP algorithms deliver superior noise
suppression with fewer artefacts and thus
clearer processed speech, even when
signals are weak.
One important point readers should be
aware of: The bhi module was designed
primarily to improve noisy speech signals,
rather than music or data. However, as
you will see, at lower levels I was able to
obtain some very good results at lower
iltering levels.
First Impressions and Setup

The Dual In-Line module arrived with
the necessary audio cables (standard
3.5mm jacks) and a fused DC power
lead, but no power supply. I decided to Fig. 3: The bhi Dual In-Line Module and a Kenwood TS2000 Transceiver.
drive it via a home-brew 12V battery pack
to completely isolate the unit from any channels and a three-way switch to turn the I switched everything on and turned up
potential mains noise. unit on/off and engage/disengage the DSP the audio input until both channel input
The device itself is well constructed, iltering. A radial multi-position switch is overload LEDs illuminated. Following the
made from high impact polystyrene, the utilised to select the DSP iltering level, from instructions, I wound the control anti-
quality of which is more akin to a consumer a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 8. clockwise – less than a quarter of a turn –
electronics product than a construction I decided to use my Sangean ATS-909X until both LEDs went out.
kit. The printing on the front panel is also portable receiver for initial testing (Fig. 1). Then, by turning up the Line-out level, I
of good quality and is better than some This radio has a line-out socket and is could hear audio on the speaker.
consumer electronics I have owned. one of the best portables on the market in Thus, I was ready to test the unit.
The controls are well laid out: a single terms of audio idelity, thus providing an
potentiometer for adjusting the audio input excellent comparison and measure of the On Long and Medium Wave
level from either an audio or line-in source performance of the Dual In-Line Module. I tuned the Sangean ATS-909x to 153kHz,
and two regulators for the output: one each For monitoring the processed output audio, Radio Antenna Satelor, right at the bottom
for the audio output and line-out output. I used my Bose SoundLink Mini 2 speaker in of the LW band. Their familiar Romanian
There are three switches on the front all tests (Fig. 2). folk music could just be heard above the
panel. A two-way switch to alternate Having connected the Sangean ATS-909x noise from our plasma TV in the living
between separate/ combined input and speaker to the Dual In-Line module, room, and from our neighbour’s PLT

Review
Fig. 4: A Winning Combination…
adapter. An excellent irst target then! compared to Antenna Satelor, seemed to Hard-core DXers, or
Toggling the DSP iltering to ‘on’, I clicked allow for greater DSP intervention (set at
through the ilter levels and found that at a 4) before the audio idelity became too pro- ham operators for that
setting of 3 the audio from Romania was cessed. As a result, there was a signiicant matter, cannot expect
now largely noise-free. An excellent result. improvement in the overall quality of the
Interestingly, however, by selecting the next audio, making the station much easier to this device to process
level of iltering, the resultant audio im- spend time listening to, than with just the ra- out the noise on very
mediately became rather mufled and arti- dio output alone.
icial-sounding. I thought it worthwhile to subsequently weak signals
The cut-off point for the iltering is there- tune to a much more ‘dificult’ target:
fore rather sharp. Attaching my Wellbrook ALA1530 mag-
In this case, the Dual In-Line Module was netic loop to a Sony ICF-2001D, I tuned to always at either the 2 or 3 setting.
either working appropriately to improve sig- 1560kHz WFME Family Radio in New York Above the 3 setting, I found the audio in
nal-to-noise, but with one more click of the who were playing their usual style of music. all cases to be over-processed; no further
ilter level switch, the signal has been com- With this very weak signal, the quality of the improvement in signal-to-noise audio was
pletely over processed. audio idelity could not be improved with apparent. The primary effect of this device
No matter though, it worked very well on the DSP iltering, and the clearest audio was on the ham bands was, therefore, to make
this S7 signal. without any DSP intervention. the audio more easily discernible. However,
I tried the same test on MW, starting with I wasn’t able to copy a signal with non-dis-
Spirit Radio from County Monoghan, Ireland Shortwave SSB cernible audio, intervene with DSP iltering,
on 549kHz, which has been reaching my The device was subsequently tested for and ultimately reproduce audio that could
shack at S9 +20 since early October. Again, its performance on HF, using a Kenwood be understood.
the presence of local QRM could be heard TS2000 transceiver (Fig. 3) coupled to a
as the usual ‘buzzing’, which increases the 104-foot G5RV antenna via an MFJ-948 Shortwave Broadcast
noise-loor to around -100dBs, and, above ATU. Various SSB amateur radio signals on Tuning the 19m broadcast band, I copied
that, the PLT adapter switching on and off. 40 and 20m, with strengths varying from S0 the VOA relay from Botswana on 15260
The Dual In-Line really shone in this in- to S9+20, were copied; interestingly, I found kHz, using the SDR Play RSPDUO SDR and
stance. The stronger signal from Spirit that irrespective of signal strength in SSB a Wellbrook ALA1530 magnetic loop an-
Radio, with superior signal-to-noise as mode, the optimum DSP iltering level was tenna, indoors. Their signal was strong

Review
(around S9 +20). However, despite the in- would be expected, only marginally given I have no doubt whatsoever that those of
door antenna, the presence of noise was this was a very weak signal. us who spend many hours trying to enjoy
not what I would regard as particularly in- This is not an uncommon scenario for broadcast content, but who suffer from om-
trusive, and again, the optimum DSP ilter- those seeking hard-core DX. Any SDR de- nipresent electro-smog, would beneit from
ing was achieved at a setting of 2. vice employing signal conditioning, noise this device (Fig. 4).
Those of us who use SDRs will be used suppression, noise blanking and so forth, Similarly, amateur radio operators would
to audio idelity from a computer that often results in unavoidable processing of the certainly beneit from the noise suppres-
leaves much to be desired. The audio from modulation with very weak signals and the sion this device offers, delivering clear-
the Bose SoundLink Mini 2 with the DSP best results are usually obtained by turning er audio on SSB, which is much easi-
iltering was superb, by comparison to the off the AGC and all noise suppression. er to understand.
tinny speakers built into my laptop. Nevertheless, I was still impressed with My only word of caution would be simply
Further testing on the broadcast band the bhi unit; even marginal improvements in that, hard-core DXers, or ham operators for
conirmed that weak DX signals were either the discernibility of modulation/audio can that matter, cannot expect this device to
dificult or impossible to improve with DSP prove very useful in identifying a signal that process out the noise on very weak signals
iltering. A typical example is the daylight is too weak for the content to be enjoyed and effectively ‘uncover’ audio from what
signal from North Korea on 12015kHz with by the listener. was otherwise indiscernible.
a signal of S3 at 16:27. Modulation was
weak and thus audio idelity poor; the SNR Conclusions [Many thanks to Graham Somerville
was too low for the SDRuno software to cal- The bhi Dual In-Line Noise Eliminating MD of bhi Ltd., for the loan of the review
culate, so you get the picture. Module is very effective in cleaning up the unit – Ed./ CG].
I couldn’t improve the audio idelity with audio on MW, LW and HF AM signals, par-
the Dual In-Line when the Voice of Korea ticularly if those signals are at around S5 bhi Ltd.
played their usual operatic style of music. and higher. Whilst the unit was designed 22 Woolven Close
The clearest audio was always heard with- primarily to remove noise from speech sig- Burgess Hill
out the DSP engaged. However, when the nals, I obtained decent results from strong- West Sussex
announcer took over, the discernibility of er signals playing music. Don’t expect this RH15 9RR
the speech could be improved, although, as for weak signals, however. https://www.bhi-ltd.com
Win the bhi Dual In-Line

Module worth £199
Thanks to our friends at bhi Ltd., we are able to offer the review unit
of the Dual In-Line Module as a competition prize. The winner will be
picked at random from the correct entries and will win the bhi Dual
In-Line Module. To enter, just answer the simple question below over
on our website: www.radioenthusiast.co.uk/competitions/
Question
How many output sockets does
the bhi Dual In-Line Module offer?
Answers
a] 1 b] 2 c] 3
Entry is only via our website. Entries close midnight on

4 January 2019. To enter, you must answer the question
correctly. The winner will be notified by e-mail on or
after 31 January 2019. Warners Group Publications Plc
standard competition terms apply, to view visit: warners.
gr.compterms. For information on how your personal data
is processed, secured and your rights, our Privacy Policy
can be viewed here – warners.gr.privacy and is available in
hard copy upon request. The winner will also be announced
in the March 2019 issue of RU and on our email newsletter. COMPETITION

Enjoy a noise free Christmas...
..with a bhi DSP noise cancelling product!
bhi
ParaPro EQ20 Audio DSP Range
- 20W audio power ampliier with parametric
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- Fine tune your audio
- Optional bhi DSP
Noise Cancelling and
Bluetooth connectivity
- 4 versions available:
EQ20, EQ20-DSP
NES10-2 MK3 EQ20-B, EQ20B-DSP
Ampliied DSP speaker: - Can be used with your
- Rotary ilter select switch bhi Dual In-Line, NEIM1031
- 8 DSP ilter levels 9 to 35dB & Compact In-line units
- 5W input & 2.7W audio out
- 3.5 mm mono headphone socket
Shape your receive audio to suit your ears!
- On/off audio bypass switch Compact In-Line
- 12 to 24VDC (500mA) Merry Christmas and
Simply plug in the audio Happy New year from
and connect the power!
all at bhi Ltd!
Dual In-Line Revive your
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with a bhi DSP Compact handheld mono/stereo
noise cancelling in-line DSP noise cancelling unit
- Easy to use rotary controls for
install module: all functions - New improved
NEDSP1061-KBD DSP noise cancelling - Use with mono
or stereo inputs - 8 ilter levels
low level audio 9 to 35dB - Ideal for portable use & DXing
module or the - Use with headphones or a small speaker
Mono/stereo DSP noise eliminating module -12V DC power or 2 x AA batteries
***Latest bhi DSP noise cancelling*** NEDSP1062-KBD - Over 40 hours battery life
- 8 Filter levels 8 to 40dB - 3.5mm Mono or stereo - Size: 121mm x 70mm x 33mm
inputs - Line level in/out - 7 watts mono speaker ampliied audio - Suitable for use with Elecraft K3 & KX3
output - Headphone socket - Easy to adjust and module!
setup - Ideal for DXing, club stations, special DESKTOP
event stations and ield day events - Supplied - 10W ampliied DSP
boxed with user manual and audio/power leads - noise cancelling
Suitable for use with many radios and receivers
base station speaker
including Elecraft K3, KX3 & FlexRadio products
- Rotary volume
and ilter level controls
DSPKR - 8 ilter levels 9 to 35dB
10W ampliied DSP noise - Speaker level and
cancelling speaker line level audio inputs
- Easy control of DSP ilter - 3.5mm Headphone socket
- 7 ilter levels - Size 200(H)x150(D)
- Sleep mode x160(W)mm, Weight 1.9 Kg
- Filter select & store - For use with most
function radios, receivers & SDR
- Separate volume control including Elecraft &
- Input overload LED FlexRadio
- Headphone socket
- Supplied with user manual
and fused DC power lead
bhi Ltd, 22 Woolven Close

Burgess Hill, RH15 9RR, UK Tel: 01444 870333 www.bhi-ltd.com EA&O
Off the Record
The Free Radio Column

Oscar is a tad nostalgic for ‘linear’ radio listening but also appreciates more
contemporary music consumption choices and genre music broadcasting,
before criticising restrictive scheduling and ‘audio-wallpapering’.
ERIC KOCH
Oscar the Engineer

oscartheengineer@yahoo.com
H
ello and welcome along to
my column. Irrespective of
whether you are a regular or
occasional reader, or are join-
ing me for the irst time, it is a
privilege to be able to share this time with
you, discussing a wide assortment of top-
ics relating to radio.
The basis of this section is that I will offer
you my observations and personal opinions
on anything, which has come to my atten-
tion or been on my mind. You are always
welcome to participate and interact, agree
or disagree. Please feel free to suggest top-
ics of your own, which I will respond to.
I have been a big fan of offshore and
land-based free radio stations since my
early childhood. I often experience feel-
ings of nostalgia but tend to avoid com-
pletely dwelling in the past. I enjoy liv-
ing in the present and looking forward to
building an even brighter future, through
the exchange of ideas and some applied
practical wisdom.
Over time, free radio has become less REM Island, a platform off the Dutch coast used as a pirate radio station in 1964 before being
clearly distinguishable as a speciic cat- dismantled by the Netherlands Marine Corps.
egory of radio broadcasting, so my work
here will relect that. I consider myself to be are the days when we used our analogue was called. The best ones would allow you
a humble, but enthusiastic, campaigner for Bakelite, rotary-dial, land-line, phones in the to sit in a booth and listen to the 45rpm vinyl
freedom of expression and minimalism of hallway to call ‘dial-a-disc’ and see which of discs, before deciding whether you wanted
regulation, both in terms of radio and gener- the pop songs from the top 20 Hit Parade to invest your hard-earned cash by purchas-
al everyday life. I also believe in striving for was playing that day, only to discover that it ing it. If you did, you would have that won-
quality and excellence in our radio broad- was not our favourite, and we would have to derful piece of musical artistry at your dis-
casting services, so I may often be quite try calling back the next day. posal on your Dansette gramophone record
outspoken about the examples of both Even in the days when the pop pirates or player whenever you wished.
good and bad practice, which I encounter Radio Luxembourg were playing mostly a
when listening around. ‘Fab 40’ format, we loved the overall listen- More Than Just Music
ing experience. However, the fact was that This nostalgic example throws into stark
Playing Your Favourites we probably only really liked a small handful relief that the world has changed mas-
Although I still enjoy listening to a wonder- of the songs that were in the charts at any sively over the years, and in ways which
ful piece of music as much as I ever did, I given moment in time, so we would have we could barely even envisage back then.
personally prefer to do this by calling up the to stay listening for a while, in order to hear Technology has transformed our lives; per-
speciic song I had in mind, or perhaps the the very ones, which would have us singing haps in a few ways to our detriment, one
genre of music I wanted to hear. I do this along at the tops of our voices. could argue but mostly to our advantage. I
via some sort of internet-based on-demand Back then, ‘linear’ listening on the radio believe many would agree with that.
streaming or downloading service. was the only option unless you wanted to The key point here is that the importance
There are all sorts of excellent provid- go into the town centre to The Sound of of radio as a delivery method for music has
ers, which facilitate such things now. Gone Music or whatever your local record store become diminished. This is part of the rea-

Off the Record
Criticism is a constructive ingredient, which can connection and communication. It’s not
good news for advertisers either if potential
assist in growth and improvement, so long as it is customers are not listening attentively.
offered in the right spirit Furthermore, if the music is to be included
as part of a station’s programme output,
there should be some relevance or
son why my personal listening habits have prepared to offer ‘blanket’, unconditional, signiicance to the selection.
migrated over, away from music formats, approval, just because of the name. I am Free radio stations have always been pio-
and towards speech and talk formats. In supportive, of course, of the overall project neers of specialist, genre-music, broadcast-
fact, when I look back, I recall that most of as a ‘lagship’ free radio venture, but I al- ing, and there is still a huge demand for the
my favourite shows and stations were the ways call things as I see them, in terms of latter. We even have new genres emerging,
ones, which involved a DJ or host having actions of individuals within Caroline or in from time to time. More often than not, it is
a bit more to say; often, there was humour any other radio station for that matter. the pirates, which provide the initial expo-
and other features, besides just music Criticism is a constructive ingredient, sure and bring new artists to wider promi-
tracks linked together by brief (and often which can assist in growth and nence and popularity.
meaningless) ‘liner-card’ style phrases. improvement, so long as it is offered in the In my experience though, it is never the
I do understand why there was a period right spirit. The recipient may feel some music alone, which sells itself. However,
when the ‘more-music-less-chat’ mindset initial discomfort, but, if they receive it in enticing it may be, the skill of those who
took hold and became popular. The estab- the right spirit, chances are they will beneit present it is a key factor. And sometimes,
lishment radio had starved many, and it from having done so. If we are talking about it is actually the spoken word which is
failed to deliver what listeners wanted at the people who host radio shows or who run the sweetest music of all to our ears, be-
time. Interestingly though, even on Laser, radio stations, the listeners will all beneit cause it can always be adapted to con-
which achieved incredible popularity with too if people wise up and stop making vey so much more.
its concept/ slogan of “never being more fundamental blunders.
than a minute away from another fantastic Winter Listening
song”, some of the most memorable DJ’s Music on The Radio We are approaching the end of another
were the ones like Charlie Wolf who had the Of course, I am not saying that music no calendar year and the season in which
‘gift of the gab’ and shared it with us. longer has any place on the radio at all. the days are short and the nights long,
It is almost a commonplace to state that It would be silly of me to suggest such a for a period of a few weeks. Bear in mind
the pirates broke the rules of broadcasting, thing. It’s just that radio needs to play to its the effects of this on radio propagation
setting their own rules, in the form of a fairly strengths as a media platform. This means in certain bands.
strict programme format. At the time – and not just being a system for knocking out For medium wave, this is good news
in the case of Laser – this did work as an a collection of gramophone recordings, in if you enjoy listening for signals via
overall strategy for the station; but still, the ‘shufle-mode’. That is just soulless. skywave through most hours of the day.
best of the bunch of the individual present- As I have explained in this column in re- It is, however, bad news if you like hearing
ers were those who broke the rules that had cent months, the great magic of radio lies in distant ground wave signals via a magnetic
been set by the initial rule-breakers, if you its unique ability to establish a deeply inti- loop antenna, for example.
follow my logic. mate connection between people. The popular (48m) pirate band and other
There is a lesson in there somewhere, This requires the person doing the broad- HF frequencies between 5.0 and 7.5MHz
and I believe it is that if you want talent to casting to understand this principle and to are usually likely to be open for short-skip
lower, you should, of course, avoid stiling have the talent to be able to transmit this sky wave propagation during daylight hours
and restricting people. essence of humanity across the airwaves. only, and not during the hours of darkness.
Some radio stations, especially the Long-skip is different, but usually less
Radio Caroline Criticism licensed ones, seem quite happy to use relevant for free radio listening in the UK.
There are many examples of this counter- repetitive playlists of bland selections The 76m band, around 3.9MHz, is well
productive straight-jacketing that I could of music as a major component of worth checking out, virtually anytime.
point to, even in the (supposedly) freedom- their output, in an attempt to create Signals here will diminish throughout the
loving world of pirate radio. Take Radio programming, which, perhaps, people day but may still be audible.
Caroline for example. will have on in the background as Expect a small upsurge in activity by the
In my opinion, it could be argued that ‘audio-wallpaper’. hobby free radio broadcasters over the
there have been periods in the station’s his- I reckon that any broadcaster worth holiday period as usual.
tory when, what you might call short-sight- their salt would be offended, or at least It is not unknown for there to be a few
ed individuals in charge at the time, thought disgruntled, to think that the audience was gems among them.
that it would be a good idea to repress not really paying attention at all to their This is the December 2018 issue, so let
presenters’ creativity, by imposing what work. I know I would feel that way. me take this opportunity to wish you all a
many would describe as restrictive for- This raises the question of whether very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
mat stipulations. the fault lies with the host or with those The next edition for January 2019 should
As a result, programme output sounded who provide the framework, in which be available shortly before the holidays and
dull and had listeners tuning elsewhere. a broadcaster is required to work – or, I will endeavour to return in that with more
I know it is often considered controver- perhaps, with both. to chat to you about. Thank you and best
sial to be critical of Caroline, but I am not Radio is supposed to be about wishes. Oscar.

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Trading
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FOR SALE FOR SALE
JRC NRD 535 HF-RX. VGC, GWO. Recently serviced CIRCULAR LOUDSPEAKER 7”, black, crackle,
by Castle Electronics. Manual. £385 inc p&p. Nevada matches Eddystone 640/740. Microwave modules
MS1000 Scanner RX. Good condition, working with Morse Talker MMS1, portable Morse Tutor, 2-20 wpm,
original manual. £60 inc p&p. instructins and diagram, working ok. Each item £50,
Tel: Rob 01273 834355 Mid Sussex carriage extra or collect.
Email: Carl G3XGK carl.langley@talktalk.net Suffolk
W21HY EQPLUS AUDIO PROCESSOR plus speech
compressor in good clean working order complete WANTED
with manual and cables. Sell for £170 ono. OLD HALF INCH FERRITE RODS. Must be half inch
Tel: Brian G3WCY 01276 500648 12.7mm in diameter and six inches long or over. Will
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ICOM IC-R20 Very good condition, no marks and
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To advertise
Tel Richard Macauley 07768 562976 Somerset in Radio User?
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Contact Kristina Green
Collection only. Two Kenwood TK8302 mobile radios,
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filter FL3 £55.00 Radio Shack DX394 HF Radio £80.00.
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Rallies & Events
Rallies & Events

Plan your rally visits with our comprehensive list of forthcoming events. RadioUser will be at events marked with an
asterisk – come along to our stand for great deals on subscriptions to Practical Wireless and RadioUser.
Please send in details of your events if you would like them to be mentioned here: wiessala@hotmail.com
23rd November 2018 (Friday) Sparkford Somerset BA22 7JN. This is

LANGDON HILLS ARC: The Meet- on the A303, north of Yeovil. There are
ing of the Langdon Hills ARC is at the 10 tables, and light refreshments will
Women’s Institute Hall, Samuel Road, be available. There will be adequate
Langdon Hills, Basildon SS16 6EX. Fu- off-road parking, and the event is wheel-
ture meetings are on the 2nd and 4th chair-friendly. Admission is £2. The rally
Friday of every month, from 8-10 pm. is open from 10am to 3pm.
stuartwhayter@btinternet.com wjh069@gmail.co.uk
November 25th (Sunday) December 29th to 30th

BISHOP AUCKLAND RADIO AM- (Saturday and Sunday)
ATEURS CLUB RALLY: The Bish- HAMFEST INDIA: Hamfest India takes
op Auckland Radio Amateurs Club place in conjunction with REVA Univer-
(BARAC) 2018 Rally will take place at sity, Bangalore. This is the largest gather-
Spennymoor Leisure Centre, 32 High ing and festival of amateur radio opera-
Street, Spennymoor, County Durham, tors in India.
DL16 6DB. There will be the usual ra- hamfestindia2018@gmail.com
dio, computer and electronics stalls, ham7388@gmail.com
bring-and-buy tables, catering, and bar www.hamfestindia2018.com
facilities. As you can imagine, there is
a lot to do for all the family within the Free parking. Ten minutes’ walk from Street, Reading RG1 4PS. The meeting February 24th (Sunday)
confines of the Leisure Centre, even Gateshead Interchange Metro and will take place from 2.30 to 5pm. RAINHAM RADIO RALLY: The Rainham
for those of the family not interested bus station. The venue is at the corner barraclough.mike@gmail.com Radio Rally 2019 is taking place, from
in radio. Doors are open at 10.30am of Whitehall Road and Coatsworth www.bdxc.org.uk/diary.html 10am until 4pm, at The Victory Academy,
(10.15am for disabled visitors) Admis- Road. The entrance to the Radio Club Magpie Hall Road, Chatham, Kent, ME4
sion is £2, under 14s go free of charge, Room is through the door at the side December 1st (Saturday) 5JB. Local and national brands and trad-
if accompanied by an adult. Telephone of the building next to the car park, SOUTH LANCASHIRE ARC WINTER ers, BRATS kitchen, BRATS interactive
John G4LRG on 01388 606 396 or Bri- with an entrance on Whitehall Road RALLY: The rally takes place at the Bick- zone for kids, BRATS junk, Talk-In station
an G7OCK on 01388 762 678 Public Transport. Go-Ahead routes 53 ershaw Village Community Club, Bicker- on 145.550MHz. Callsign GB4RRR. Entry
www.barac.org.uk and 54 nearest metro Gateshead. OS shaw Lane, Bickershaw, Wigan WN2 5TE. £2.50 for adults (kids go free).
X 425375 OS Y 562088 Lat (WGS84) Attractions include trade stands, a bring- rally-coordinator@brats-qth.org
November 26th (Monday) N54:57:10 (54.952798) Long (WGS84) and-buy, special interest groups, car
ANGEL OF THE NORTH ARC: The fi- W1:36:19 (-1.605327). Future meet- parking, disabled facilities, catering and March 3rd (Sunday)
nal meeting for November 2018, of the ings are every Monday from 7-9pm. a licensed bar. Admission is £2.50. Doors EXETER RADIO RALLY: The Exeter Ra-
Angel of the North ARC, in Partnership nancybone2001@yahoo.co.uk are open at 9am (traders – limited num- dio & Electronic Rally will be held at Amer-
with Tyneside Amateur Radio Society, www.anarc.net ber of pitches – venue opens 7.30am). ica Hall, De La Rue Way, Pinhoe, Exeter
takes place from 7-9 pm at Whitehall Jason G0IZR; Tel: 01942 735 828 EX4 8PW. The doors will open at 10.30am
Road Methodist Church Hall, Bensh- December 1st (Saturday) (10.15 for disabled visitors). Admission
am, Gateshead NE8 4LH. Foundation READING DX MEETING: The Reading December 28th (Friday) is £2.00 (under 16s free) Trade stands,
and Intermediate courses continue. International Radio Group will be meeting YEOVIL ARC RALLY: The Second Yeo- bring-and-buy (book-in is from 10.15am),
All welcome. We have to close the out- in Room 3 of the Reading International vil ARC Table Top Rally will take place in and catering.
side door so please ring both bells. Solidarity Centre (RISC), 35-39 London the Sparkford Village Hall, Church Road, g3zvi@yahoo.co.uk
In next month’s
onitoring
Utility MTim tions
Radio e Signal Sta
■ Radio and the Torrey Canyon Oil Tanker Disaster. e-Defineduipment
Softwarthe
Selecting
Right Eq
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■ Radio in History and Emerging Issues in Radio.

o.uk
■ The Indispensable RadioUser Annual Index for 2018. 8 £3.99
www.radio
enthusiast.c
CrisdisWar
October 201
n MisDur sile the
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Plus all your favourite regular features and columns Radiast Propaganda
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Radio around the World Comms from Europe

LM&S becomes International Radio Scene The Midland Dual Mike

December 2018 £3.99 www.radioenthusiast.co.uk

Radio on the Water

An SDR User’s View

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The Magic of Short Wave

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I all times of the year but, for me, sum-

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DXTV-Special Maritime Matters

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and X1-HF Aerials

Moonrak SCR erEGPA-RX

Radio I MFO Radio and Insurance

JUSTls this issue

and X1-HF Aeria ALSO

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6 RadioUser December 2018

RAOTA OTNEWS (OLD TIMER NEWS): Ian

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At the recent RSGB Convention, SDRplay

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Fri 28 Sept & Sat 29 Sept

Power Supplies Explained Test Equipment

RSGB SHOP Radio Society of Great Britain

Getting Started in The Voices – Spying Radio Caroline: Auntie’s War

60 Antennas You 50 projects for Wartime Point to Point

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Radio and the ‘Air Traffic

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experienced operators, it can at times be

Size and Safety

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