New International Call Sign Handbook 5th Edition Now Available on Amazon

Ask any radio monitor what information they consider important during any monitoring session, and usually two items will top their list: frequencies and call signs. If you can hear activity on a particular frequency, unless you can fully identify the participants transmitting on that frequency, you can’t fully appreciate or document the traffic you are hearing.

With millions of radio stations furnishing a variety of communication services throughout the world, it is necessary that their transmissions carry distinctive call signs or identifiers. Call signs have a four-fold purpose: They may identify the nationality of the station, the agency operating a particular station, the type of station, and the identity of each individual station being heard on the monitored frequency.

The need for station identifications/call signs can easily be illustrated here in the United States, which leads all other countries in the use of the radio spectrum, that now has some 85 different kinds of radio services operated by the government, military and civilians entities, providing air, sea, land and space communication services. There are hundreds of thousands of stations on the air and call signs and other forms of identification help the radio monitor sort through the various stations that are heard.

A call sign is defined as any combination of alphanumeric characters or phonetically pronounceable characters (trigraph), which identifies a communications facility, a command, an authority, an activity or unit. To aid the radio monitor in their listening endeavors, the International Call Sign Handbook series of books/e-books has been published.

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce their latest Kindle e-book -- the fifth edition of International Call Sign Handbook by Amazon Bestselling author Larry Van Horn, N5FPW. This e-book represents the most comprehensive collection of military and government station identifications ever published for the radio listening hobby. It is the result of year’s research, study and monitoring the HF/VHF/UHF radio spectrum, by the author. Many different radio monitoring disciplines have been used to compile the listings in this book. If you monitor the HF, VHF or UHF radio spectrum, there is something in this book for you.

The information presented in this book has also been gathered through personal 

correspondence, material published in the former Monitoring Times magazine, various radio publications, newsletters, public domain government and private internet web sites, but most have been gathered the old fashioned way via on-the-air monitoring. In addition, we have received generous support and contributions from many individuals in the radio hobby.

In addition to international and military/government tactical call signs, other types of identifiers such as Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) and Mode-S aircraft addresses have been included in this e-book. There is a chapter that had basic introductory material, as well as chapters devoted to call sign / words used by the Department of Defense including the US. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. There are sections that cover the various Military Auxiliary Radio Services and the U.S. Air Force Civil Air Patrol auxiliary service.

There is also a chapter that covers call signs and ALE identifiers for the U.S. Coast Guard service. Sections in that chapter include a Coast Guard aircraft fleet list, miscellaneous U.S. coast guard calls, and also their international call signs.

Another large chapter covers various U.S. Government call signs. Sections in this chapter include the U.S. Custom and Border Patrol COTHEN radio system and ALE address list, plus call signs from the following department and agencies - Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of State, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Federal Communications Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), General Services Administration (GSA), Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD), Miscellaneous Listings, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Communications System (NCS), and U.S. Marshal Service (USMS) service.

One of the larger chapters is devoted to an international / worldwide call signs list. We have a sampling of government and military call signs from 75 counties and international agencies.

The latest craze in aircraft military is decoding Mode-S/ICAO24 radio signals and is included in this book. Our list in this edition covers primarily government / military aircraft and introductory material on Mode-S monitoring.

The last chapter of this book contains a large list of resource information, useful in interpreting the individual entries listed in the book. Sections on U.S. Navy ship/squadron classifications; U.S. Coast Guard cutter designators; a massive list of abbreviations and acronyms that appear in the book; a comprehensive country abbreviation list; and the latest Table of Allocations of International Call signs from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) are included in the last chapter on the e-book.

The Teak Publishing 5^th International Call Sign Handbook is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQWYDPX. The price for this e-Book edition is US$7.49. This book is being released internationally. Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order the e-Book from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

You do not need to own a Kindle reader to read Amazon e-book publications. You can read any Kindle book with Amazon’s free reading apps. There are free Kindle reading apps for the Kindle Cloud Reader, Smartphones (iPhone, iTouch, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry); computer platforms (Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 and Mac); Tablets (iPad, Android and Windows 8), and, of course, all of the Kindle family of readers including the Kindle Fire series. A Kindle e-book allows you to buy your book once and read it anywhere. 

You can find additional details on these apps at this link on the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books, monitor the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/) and The Shortwave Central (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production.

Information on other publications by the author is available on the author’s page at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00G1QMO4C.

New Winter 2016-2017 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Now Available

Looking for a great holiday gift to give to your radio geek? Do you listen to shortwave radio broadcast? Do you like following international events as they happen, listening to music from other countries or like to learn about other cultures and history? 

In order to hear these types of radio programs and much more you need an accurate and updated guide to shortwave broadcast stations, times and frequencies for these broadcasts. And that important guide is now available for sale on all of the Amazon International websites.

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce the release of the Winter 2016-2017 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (ISWBG) electronic book by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH. This all important semi-annual information resource is your electronic guide to the world of shortwave radio listening.

Shortwave radio listeners are routinely entertained with unique perspectives to events, music, culture, history, and news from other countries that you won’t see or hear on your local or national broadcast channels. Shortwave radio broadcast aren’t restricted by country borders or oceans, and can propagate thousands of miles, reaching millions of listeners worldwide, in over 300 different languages and dialects. These worldwide transmissions are monitored on internationally assigned radio frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz.

There are even broadcasts from the dark side, transmitted from broadcasters known as clandestine or clanny stations. Clandestine broadcasters are wrapped in mystery and intrigue, and they usually exist to bring about some sort of political change to the country they are targeting. Programming may largely be half-truths or sometimes even outright lies, but it is essentially propaganda for their cause.

Listeners who live in the United States can easily hear shortwave broadcast stations from Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, North/South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and many other counties if you have an inexpensive shortwave radio receiver, and you know when and where to listen!

If you want to get in on the action, then this Amazon electronic book is your ticket the travel the world via radio. The ISWBG is our exclusive 24-hour station/frequency guide to “all” of the known longwave, selected mediumwave and shortwave radio stations currently broadcasting at time of publication. This unique radio hobby resource is the “only” radio hobby publication that has by-hour station schedules that include all language services, frequencies and world target areas.

New in this seventh edition of the ISWBG is an Introduction to News and Entertainment Programming on Shortwave Radio by Spectrum Monitor columnist Fred Waterer; a feature on Online Radio: The crossroads of old and new technology by former Monitoring Times columnist Loyd Van Horn W4LVH; and comprehensive radio listeners Crash Course on Shortwave Radio Propagation by Tomas Hood NW7US, contributing editor to CQ magazine and Spectrum Monitor columnist.

There is also an expanded special feature on Who’s Who in the shortwave radio spectrum by former Monitoring Times editor and feature writer Larry Van Horn N5FPW. This story covers services and frequencies outside the regular broadcast and amateur radio bands, and includes our new, exclusive Hot HF 1000+ non-broadcast frequency list. The final feature article in this edition is Getting Started in Shortwave Radio, a primer, by Spectrum Monitor managing editor Ken Reitz KS4ZR.

Also new in this edition is increased frequency and station coverage of longwave broadcasters, selected medium wave broadcast frequencies used by international broadcasters, and all known international standard time and frequency stations transmitting worldwide.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Winter 2016-2017 edition) is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N2RRXV2. The price for this latest edition is US$7.99. Since this book is being released internationally, Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order this electronic book (e-Book) from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

This new e-publication edition is a much expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide that was formerly published in the pages of the former Monitoring Times magazine for well over 20 years. This one of a kind e-book is published twice a year to correspond with shortwave station’s seasonal time and frequency changes.

Don’t own a Kindle reader from Amazon? Not a problem. You do not need to own a Kindle to read Amazon e-book publications. You can read any Kindle book with Amazon’s free reading apps on literally any electronic media platform.

The Kindle app is available for most major smartphones, tablets and computers. There is a Kindle app available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch; Android Phone; Android Tablet; PC; Windows 8; Mac Kindle Cloud Reader; Windows Phone; Samsung; BlackBerry 10; BlackBerry; amd WebOS. This means with a free Kindle reading apps, you can buy a Kindle book once, and read it on any device with the Kindle app installed*. You can also read that same Kindle book on a Kindle device if you own one.

You can find additional details on these apps by checking out this link to the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books, monitor the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/) and The Shortwave Central (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production. You can learn more about the author by going to her author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Gayle-Van-Horn/e/B0084MVQCM/.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide will have wide appeal to shortwave radio hobbyists, amateur radio operators, educators, foreign language students, news agencies, news buffs, or anyone interested in listening to a global view of news and major events as they happen.

Whether you are an amateur radio operator or shortwave radio enthusiasts, and want to get in on the action outside of the ham bands, then this new electronic book from Teak Publishing is a must in your radio reference library.

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Here are some of the public comments from radio hobbyists who purchased previous editions of the International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Amazon e-book.

VERY Useful Guide! By Dave in Ohio

Being rather new to the SW DXing, I needed a guide. Most of them were pretty pricey so I decided to give this one a try. When it arrived, I didn't have a lot of time to review it, just glanced at it and was a little upset. I had expected something with page after page of countries with their frequency listings, much like other guides I'd heard about. This one seemed to have a lot of articles about SWL and only in the back did I find frequency listings. But the next day I had about an hour to sit and review the book on my Kindle and I discovered how clever Ms. Van Horn had been in her formatting. I realized that the last thing I needed was just a list of frequencies. The gem of the book is the section that divides the day into UTC hours and what frequency in which country is likely to be on the air at that time. After all, what good does it do me to know that Radio Slobovia broadcasts on 1305 if I have no idea of when to listen for them? (The book also contains a long listing by frequency for identifying those broadcasts that you stumble upon.) I've looked around the articles towards the beginning of the book and the ones I've read are well written and interesting. I strongly recommend that the new readers of Ms. Van Horn's guide use the table of contents to skip around and become familiar with the format. Very useful book at a good price. Ms. Van Horn has herself a new fan ) 

Essential reference for SWLs By Hundedrek

Gayle knows international SW like few others. She used to write a monthly column and directory in the late, lamented Monitoring Times mag. A big reason why I I subbed to it for years. This guide continues the tradition. The Kindle version is more convenient to use. Now that so many international broadcasters are streaming their programming, Gayle's guide is even more valuable.

Gayle does us a great service by publishing this Shortwave Radio Guide By Tampa

A needed re hash of previous books. Gayle does us a great service by publishing this Shortwave Guide. Many on ships have stopped using short wave as they do not have radio distribution systems for the crews as Satellite takes over. Many ships have wired hanging out of portholes as a result and all kinds of antennas stuck around the ships creating hazards so they can listen to their home countries. CBC has shut down Radio Canada to save money OMG #Stupid. Clandestine Radio is on the Rise and this book lists and explains. That in itself is interesting. Should be of interest to any #SWL or #HamRadio people.

Shortwave LIVES!!!!!! By Walter C. Thurman

The Van Horns are shining stars in the Shortwave Radio and MilComms World.... this read is helpful for us DIE HARD shortwave listener's and Ham Radio folks alike. THANK FOR WHAT YOU GUYS DO!!!!! N0RDC

Great Useful (and highly affordable) Data For SWLs By Randy S.

Gayle's monthly Monitoring Times roundup of shortwave broadcast schedules was always tremendously useful. With the demise of the magazine itself it's nice to see that her massive database (and the years of work on it) aren't going to waste. And at the price (less than the cost of a monthly issue of the magazine) it makes for a fine bargain and is well worth it for shortwave-broadcast listeners with e-reader capability. The twice- yearly updates will keep the project relevant and useful.

Solid for HF listening! By Mr geocacher

Very useful for identifying what you hear on HF. Lot's of good tidbits for listening hints too.

Shortwave Broadcast Guide by Kindle Customer

Since Monitoring Times is no longer in publication, this guide is required for the dedicated shortwave listener. There is information provided that I have found no where else. It will be a welcome addition to any listener's equipment. Gayle Van Horn has been publishing this research for many years and the followers are numerous, from beginners to professionals. The author's work is accurate, concise and thorough. If you have a shortwave radio, you need this publication as much as a set of earphones. There is none better.

Very Good Source for Shortwave Stations Broadcast Schedules by Kenneth Windyka

I've got to admit up front that I don't have a strong interest in this part of the hobby. HOWEVER, Gayle Van Horn makes it easy to determine what one can hear on the short wave bands during a particular time period (in GMT time sorted format). I also like the internet reference available, so that one can listen to programs via the internet even if its' not possible via the shortwave radio.

NJ Shortwave listener hears International Frequencies with new guide help by Stanley E Rozewski, Jr.

This e-book is complete and accurate in presenting a low cost SW frequency guide and important must read topics for the new or experienced user. I liked the easy reading format, and understandable frequency guide. I will order the second edition next year.

This is my go-to-first reference by Mary C Larson

When I turn on the shortwave receiver and want to find out what's on and where to look, Van Horn's handy frequency guide is a smart place to begin. The format is not unlike the one Monitoring Times (R.I.P.) used each month. Presumably, updated ISBGs will be published twice per year, but you can check for the updates on her blog, (mt-shortwave.blogspot.com).

Good value by DrP

This is an excellent well-written book that is very affordable when compared to encyclopedic guides, e.g., the WRTH. Much the same information is included. The first part is a nice introduction to SW listening pitched to the beginner. Included is an informative section on purchasing a radio spanning low-end <$100 models up through the most advanced transceivers. The bulk of the book contains a list of world-wide SW broadcasters, organized by frequency band. This makes it ideal for browsing one band at a time, but much less so if you want to search for broadcasts from a particular country.

I like this one by Charles

I have only had a brief chance to scan through this book. From what I have seen of it I will enjoy getting in to it.

Excellent Shortwave Introduction and Program Guide by Don K3PRN

Excellent, very reasonable guide to shortwave radio. As a long time shortwave listener, the listing of all shortwave stations by UTC time is very useful to me. I had previously a shortwave website that listed only English broadcasts rather than an all station listing with the language that will be broadcast. I would highly recommend this e book for all new shortwave listeners and those that interested in a very portable listing of all stations by UTC. I only hope that this will be updated twice a year for many more years.

Good Product by Radio Freq 

Since Monitoring Times stopped publishing shortwave radio schedules, there has been a dearth of resources for radio-heads. This guide nicely fulfills gap. It is very comprehensive.

It is nice someone is dedicated to SWL by Robert K. Mallory 

Very concise and well organized. Not much to choose from these days, it is nice someone is dedicated to Shortwave Radio Listening