New Summer 2015 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Now Available at Amazon

Teak Publishing is proud to announce the publication of their 9th e-book on Amazon.com -- Summer 2015 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide.

So why should you listen to shortwave radio? Quite simply shortwave radio is your window to the world.

The best source of global information continues to be shortwave radio. Throughout the world, shortwave remains the most readily available and affordable means of communication and information. It lets you listen to voices from around the world. You'll also learn about the lives and concerns of people from all walks of life, from soldiers, to farmers, to retired scholars. Shortwave radio provides nearly instantaneous coverage of news and events from around the world.

Shortwave listening, or SWLing, is the hobby of listening to shortwave radio broadcasts located on frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz, also known as HF or the High Frequencies bands.

If you live in the U.S., you can easily listen to shortwave broadcast stations from countries like North/South Korea, Iran, Australia, Cuba, China, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Japan, England, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United States and many other counties if you have a shortwave receiver, and you know when and where to listen!

That when and where to listen is covered comprehensively in the pages of a new edition of the International Shortwave Broadcast Guide.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Summer 2015 edition), by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH, is that all important information resource you need to tap into the worldwide shortwave broadcast radio spectrum. It is a 24-hour station/frequency guide to “all” the known stations currently broadcasting on shortwave radio at time of publication. This unique shortwave resource is the “only” publication in the world that offers a by-hour schedule that includes all language services, frequencies and world target areas for each broadcast station. There are new chapters that cover basic shortwave radio listening and Who’s Who in the Shortwave Radio Spectrum. Also extensive work has been done to improve the readability of this edition on the various Kindle platforms.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Summer 2015 edition) is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X8BIF0K. The price for this latest edition is still US$4.99. 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 an expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide formerly printed in the pages of Monitoring Times magazine for over 20 years. This one of a kind e-book is now being published twice a year to correspond with station seasonal time and frequency changes.

If you enjoy listening or monitoring HF shortwave stations, and you miss the monthly English frequency listings formerly published in the late Monitoring Times magazine, and multilingual station listing in the old MTXpress electronic magazine, this valuable tool will now be your new guide to listening to the world.

Frequency updates between editions will be posted on her Shortwave Central blog at: http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/.

And, the good news is that 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 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 view the complete Teak Publishing book catalog online at http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/. Click on the Teak Publishing radio hobby e-book link at the top of the blog page. 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 and many more interested in listening to a global view of news and events as they happen. 

If you are an amateur radio operator or shortwave radio enthusiasts, and want to hear what is happening outside the ham bands on that transceiver or portable shortwave radio in your shack, then this new e-book from Teak Publishing is a must in your radio reference library.

Here are a few of the public comments from radio hobbyists who purchased the first three editions of this Amazon e-book.

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 SWL.

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 nowhere 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.

Shortwave Is Not Quite Dead by James Tedford (Bothell, WA United States)
It was barely breathing as of late, but there is still a lot you can hear on shortwave radio. You need more than a little dedication, and a better-than-adequate radio to hear what remains on the HF bands, but if you have those, you will be rewarded with a lot of interesting audio programming. This book is a good guide to what is currently available over the international airwaves.

Five Stars by Frank S.
Excellent for the price. Glad I found this.

Five Stars by Kindle Customer

Came on time. packaged right, looks as shown and works as advertised.

Number Stations: The Creepiest, Unexplained Things on the Airwaves

Story by Mark Newton on the Movieplot website about our HF numbers station. As usual some of it is incorrect. For instance:

"What do the 'The Lincolnshire Poacher,' 'The Buzzer,' 'Cherry Ripe,' 'Wop Wop,' 'Three Day Mystery' and 'The Workshop' all have in common?

"Well, if you immediately know the answer to that question, you're either a shortwave radio enthusiast or a spy.

"All of these are the nicknames of some of the dozens of bizarre number stations which appear from time-to-time on shortwave radio frequencies. No one officially knows where they come from because no one officially takes responsibility for the often strange, repetitive and, admittedly, creepy broadcasts.

Well some of the numbers broadcasts from the past have been IDed positively as spy numbers station thanks to several public trials of spies and court transcripts. Some of the numbers have also been tied up with known military activity (e.g. Russian Air Defense, Russian and Chinese military, etc). One series of numbers was identified as a message conduit to U.S. Drug agents in Latin and South America.

"Due to official denial that number stations even exist, no one has actually come forward to explain their use. Despite this, a number of assumptions can be made."

Again as I mentioned above, not quite true. But admittedly some still transmitting today are still unknown for who uses them and what they are used for.

You can click here for the complete story.

Can Your Solve the Mystery of UVB-76?

Happy New Year to all my readers, and friends. Let's start the New Year out right with an HF radio mystery.

Can you solve the mystery of UVB-76??? Check it our at http://qrznow.com/can-solve-mystery-uvb-76-4-625-khz/

From the Wikipedia article on The Buzzer:

"UVB-76, also known as The Buzzer, is the nickname given by radio listeners to a shortwave radio station that broadcasts on the frequency 4625 kHz. It broadcasts a short, monotonous About this sound buzz tone, repeating at a rate of approximately 25 tones per minute, for 24 hours per day. On very rare occasions, the buzzer signal is interrupted and a voice transmission in Russian takes place. The first reports were made of a station on this frequency in 1982. Its origins have been traced to Russia, and although several theories with varying degrees of plausibility exist, its actual purpose has never been officially confirmed and remains a source of speculation.

"The station is commonly referred to as the Buzzer among English-speaking radio listeners, while Russian listeners refer to it as жужжалка (žužžalka) – "the buzzer". Its official name is not known, although some of the voice transmissions have revealed names which may be call signs or another form of identification. Up until September 2010, the station identified itself as UVB-76 (Cyrillic: УВБ-76), and it is still often referred to by that name. In September 2010, the station moved to another location, and it has used the identification MDZhB (Cyrillic: МДЖБ, phonetic spelling "Mikhail Dmitri Zhenya Boris") from then onwards. It has been suggested that the correct identification until September 2010 was actually UZB-76 (Cyrillic: УЗБ-76), and that the Cyrillic letter Ze (З) had been misheard as the letter Ve (В). However, it is still referred to as "UVB-76" by most people. Although the station, by and large, has used these two codes at the beginning of most voice transmissions, a few voice messages have used other identification codes. This makes it uncertain whether the names are actually the call sign of the station, or some other identifying code.

"The station transmits using AM with a suppressed lower sideband (R3E), but it has also used full double-sideband AM (A3E). The signal consists of a buzzing sound that lasts 1.2 seconds, pausing for 1–1.3 seconds, and repeating 21–34 times per minute. Until November 2010, the buzz tones lasted approximately 0.8 seconds each. One minute before the hour, the repeating tone was previously replaced by a continuous, uninterrupted alternating tone, which continued for one minute until the short repeating buzz resumed, although this no longer occurs since June 2010.

"The Buzzer has apparently been broadcasting since at least 1982 as a repeating two-second pip, changing to a buzzer in early 1990. It briefly changed to a higher tone of longer duration (approximately 20 tones per minute) on January 16, 2003, but it has since reverted to the previous tone pattern."


See additional Wikipedia material at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76.

There is a great Daily Mail article featuring an interview with UDXF luminary Ary Boender by clicking here.

Teak Publishing Releases New Winter 2014-2015 Shortwave Guide - Available Now at Amazon

So why should you listen to shortwave radio? Quite simply shortwave radio is your window to the world.

The best source of global information continues to be shortwave radio. Throughout the world, shortwave remains the most readily available and affordable means of communication and information. It lets you listen to voices from around the world. You'll also learn about the lives and concerns of people from all walks of life, from soldiers, to farmers, to retired scholars. Shortwave radio provides nearly instantaneous coverage of news and events from around the world.

Shortwave listening, or SWLing, is the hobby of listening to shortwave radio broadcasts located on frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz, also known as HF or the High Frequencies bands.

If you live in the U.S., you can easily listen to shortwave broadcast stations from countries like North/South Korea, Iran, Australia, Cuba, China, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Japan, England, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United States and many other counties if you have a shortwave receiver, and you know when and where to listen!

That when and where to listen is covered comprehensively in the pages of a new edition of the International Shortwave Broadcast Guide.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Winter 2014-2015 edition), by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH, is that all important information resource you need to tap into the worldwide shortwave broadcast radio spectrum. It is a 24-hour station/frequency guide to “all” the known stations currently broadcasting on shortwave radio at time of publication. This unique shortwave resource is the “only” publication in the world that offers a by-hour schedule that includes all language services, frequencies and world target areas for each broadcast station. There are new chapters that cover basic shortwave radio listening and Who’s Who in the Shortwave Radio Spectrum. Also extensive work has been done to improve the readability of this edition on the various Kindle platforms.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Winter 2014-2015 edition) is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QU8LC6M. The price for this latest edition is still US$4.99. 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 an expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide formerly printed in the pages of Monitoring Times magazine for over 20 years. This one of a kind e-book is now being published twice a year to correspond with station seasonal time and frequency changes.

If you enjoy listening or monitoring HF shortwave stations, and you miss the monthly English frequency listings formerly published in the late Monitoring Times magazine, and multilingual station listing in the old MTXpress electronic magazine, this valuable tool will now be your new guide to listening to the world.

Frequency updates between editions will be posted on her Shortwave Central blog at: http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/.

And, the good news is that you do not even 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 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 view the complete Teak Publishing book catalog online at http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/. Click on the Teak Publishing radio hobby e-book link at the top of the blog page. 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 and many more interested in listening to a global view of news and events as they happen. 

If you are an amateur radio operator or shortwave radio enthusiasts, and want to hear what is happening outside the ham bands on that transceiver or portable shortwave radio in your shack, then this new e-book from Teak Publishing is a must in your radio reference library.

Here are a few of the public comments from radio hobbyists who purchased the first two editions of this Amazon e-book.

Five Stars By  Frank S. Excellent for the price. Glad I found this.

 

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 nowhere 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.

Shortwave Is Not Quite Dead By James Tedford (Bothell, WA United States). It was barely breathing as of late, but there is still a lot you can hear on shortwave radio. You need more than a little dedication, and a better-than-adequate radio to hear what remains on the HF bands, but if you have those, you will be rewarded with a lot of interesting audio programming. This book is a good guide to what is currently available over the international airwaves.

Five Stars By  Kindle Customer
Came on time. Packaged right. Looks as shown. Works as advertised.

 

A Note to European DX’ers About K1N Navassa – in English, Deutsch, Russian, Spanish, French, Greek, Italian

Interesting article by Ralph Fedor K0IR and Glenn Johnson W0GJ, for European DX’ers in exclusive to DxCoffee.

http://www.dxcoffee.com/eng/2014/12/06/a-note-to-european-dxers-about-k1n-navassa-in-english-deutsch-spanish-french-greek-italian/

The end of January will be historic and I hope to make at least one contact (like I did for Amsterdam Island) and be among the lucky to add a new one to the totals.

Father-Son Team Claim ARRL Triple Play Award

It probably doesn't happen often, but a father-son pair of amateur radio operators were both awarded the ARRL Triple Play Award within a 24 hour period of each other.

The Triple Play WAS (Worked All States) Award is available to all amateurs worldwide who must use Logbook of the World (LoTW) to confirm QSOs (contacts) with each of the 50 states on voice, CW, and digital modes.

My son Loyd Van Horn (W4LVH) and me - Larry Van Horn (N5FPW) were awarded our ARRL Triple Play awards on Monday and Tuesday of this week within 24 hours of each other. I'm sure those that logged into the LOTW website on Tuesday did a double take to see the father-son team at the top and bottom of the Triple Play Awardee list.

Both father and son agree it was a lot of fun to work toward the Triple Play Award. I would like to personally thank each and every one of the hams listed below for helping me achieve this amateur radio milestone. Without their patience on-the-air and diligence to upload to LOTW, I would probably still be scratching around the bands for contacts. Bravo Zulu to one and all and thank you.

 

US State	CW	Phone	Digital
Alabama (AL)	W4SHL	ND4Q	KE4UNA
Alaska (AK)	KL7RA	KL7RA	AL9A
Arizona (AZ)	KB7Q	N6KZ	K6LL
Arkansas (AR)	K5PXP	WB0RUR	AE5PW
California (CA)	AK7V	W6UX/P	AD6WL
Colorado (CO)	K0RV	W0EEA	NA0CW
Connecticut (CT)	NN1N	K2D	W1AN
Delaware (DE)	W3PP	K2E	WA3QHJ
Florida (FL)	K4LM	K4SN	AI4FR
Georgia (GA)	AA4CF	W6IZT	N4PHT
Hawaii (HI)	KH6LC	KH7X	KH6MB
Idaho (ID)	W1AW/7	W7MEM	N7UVH
Illinois (IL)	N2BJ	N2BJ	N2BJ
Indiana (IN)	AJ9C	W9IMS	K9WX
Iowa (IA)	W0AK	KC0CF	AI1P
Kansas (KS)	AB0S	K0UAS	W0BH
Kentucky (KY)	KY4KY	K4FT	K4UOL
Louisiana (LA)	KZ5D	W5EA	WB5TEQ
Maine (ME)	K1ESE	K1DG	W1SSF
Maryland (MD)	N3QE	N3COB	W3LL
Massachusetts (MA)	K1BG	K5ZD	N1BAA
Michigan (MI)	NE8J	N8OC	W8JWN
Minnesota (MN)	W0EF	K0SIX	K0IR
Mississippi (MS)	K5GDX	W1AW/5	W8DM
Missouri (MO)	W1AW/0	N0AZZ	WB8EJN
Montana (MT)	W1AW/7	N9RV	KE1HA
Nebraska (NE)	W0KT	N0AIE	K0IDT
Nevada (NV)	W1AW/7	K7XC	K7SFN
New Hampshire (NH)	K1RO	AE1P	KA2KON
New Jersey (NJ)	KE2D	NJ2BB	K2BB
New Mexico (NM)	W5MPZ	W1AW/5	K5AM
New York (NY)	NW2K	KA2LIM	KC2QFR
North Carolina (NC)	W4DXA	W4NH	WJ2D
North Dakota (ND)	N7IV	KD4POJ	NT0V
Ohio (OH)	N8BC	W8WBB	N8MNI
Oklahoma (OK)	K5CM	AF5Q	KF5S
Oregon (OR)	W7OTV	KK7PR	W7YES
Pennsylvania (PA)	K3MJW	K3YTL	AA3B
Rhode Island (RI)	W1OP	K2C	W1GSH
South Carolina (SC)	W4LVH	W4LVH	K4TGK
South Dakota (SD)	W0OJY	KD0S	K7RE
Tennessee (TN)	N4NA	K3JAE	AC4M
Texas (TX)	K5MXG	K5TDA	K5PBR
Utah (UT)	NY6C	K7ULS	AC7JW
Vermont (VT)	AB1NJ	W1NVT	W1/E74OF
Virginia (VA)	K4CQ	K4KDJ	W4KRN
Washington (WA)	W6AEA	KW7Y	W7MRC
West Virginia (WV)	W8WVA	W8WVA	KU1T
Wisconsin (WI)	W9AV	K9MU	K9OM
Wyoming (WY)	KO7X	KB7CSW	KO7X

You can get more info on this award on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/triple-play

Antares AJ-26 main engine failed earlier this year during Stennis testing

I find it very interesting that the engine that exploded during last night's Antares launch has had a checkered past including an explosion on one of the engine test stands back in May of this year at the NASA Stennis facility in Mississippi.

According to the story written by Chris Bergin at NASA spaceflight.com on May 22, 2014, "One of the AJ-26 engines set to launch with a future Antares rocket has failed during testing at the Stennis Space Center on Thursday. Sources claim the engine “exploded” on a Stand located in the E Complex at the famous rocket facility. The failure is currently under evaluation, although it may delay the next Antares launch that is tasked with lofting the ORB-2 Cygnus to the International Space Station (ISS)."
What makes this story even more interesting is that the Antares launch vehicle’s main engine is the Aerojet produced AJ-26 – a rebuilt version of Soviet NK-33, originally intended for the massive N-1 launch vehicle.

The tanking for the Antares was contracted to the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau from the Ukraine. Yuzhnoye has extensive knowledge in producing kerosene rocket bodies as the producer of the Zenit launch vehicle.

You can read the complete story at http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/05/antares-aj-26-engine-fails-stennis-testing/

Urgent: It's On -- KP1 Navassa Island in January

 

Watch the Project website at http://kp1-5.com/new/index.htm for more details.

 

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has notified the KP1-5 Project that they will be the team to activate Navassa Island (KP1) in January 2015.

 

The DXpedition will be a maximum of fourteen days. The exact dates in January will be determined by USFWS mission requirements and weather windows.

Our experienced team of fifteen is complete and is ready for the challenge. The weeks ahead will be extremely busy as the team has less than 90 days before the DXpedition comes on the air.

 

January is the month of minimum bird nesting activity and this is the primary reason USFWS is asking that the operation be completed during that month. However, the weather is unpredictable in January and because Navassa is surrounded by cliffs, this may preclude a safe landing by boat.  For safety reasons and in order to maximize our time on the Island and on the air, a helicopter operation is planned. Navassa is over 100 miles (160 km) from the nearest helicopter staging point and as many as ten round trips will be required at the beginning and end of the operation. Obviously, this means that there will be a significant cost for activating this #1 ranked DXCC entity.

 

In the next few weeks, we be working with USFWS and as details firm up, we will issue periodic press releases. Check our webpage, the KP1-5 Project for more details of the operation and how you may financially support this DXpedition.

 

The KP1-5 Project team has committed to fund 50% of the total costs. We are hopeful the DX community will fund the remainder.

 

- for The KP1-5 Project,

 

Bob Allphin, K4UEE, President
Glenn Johnson, WØGJ, Vice-president
Mike Thomas, NA5U, Secretary

Update: It is almost that time of year again - CQ WW DX Contest time!

It is almost time for the CQ WW SSB DX Contest which kicks off on Saturday, October 25 at 0000 UTC and runs until Sunday, October 26 at 2359 UTC.

I fully plan to be in the contest this year looking for new countries to add to my DXCC totals. Might even work a state or two I need to finish off the ARRL Triple Play award I have been working on.

I also plan to have a presence during the CQ WW CW DX contest that starts on

Saturday, November 29 at 0000 UTC and concludes on Sunday, November 30 at 2359 UTC. I hope to finish out the countries I need for an ARRL CW DXCC award.

 

These are two of my favorite contest and are a lot of fun to participate in at any level. Several years ago I won 1st place in my category, but since I am on a country hunt, I won't be submitting a contest log for these two amateur radio contest.

 

Complete details can be found on the CQ World-Wide Contest website at http://www.cqww.com/.

Late Breaking News from the ARRL Contest Newsletter:-

CQ Communications has reconsidered its initial policy on stations operating in Crimea for the CQ World Wide contest. Logs will be accepted and counted for the country indicated by the call sign of the station. This aligns CQ policy with DXCC policy. See the CQ website for complete details.

 

On a related topic, found this that was posted to the ARRL website on 17 Oct 2014:--

CQ Will Not Accept Logs from Stations in Crimea Using Russian-Issued Call Signs

CQ has announced that it will no longer accept logs for any CQ-sponsored contest from stations in Crimea operating with Russian-issued call signs. CQ Magazine said that “after considerable deliberation,” it has decided to follow the lead of the US government and the United Nations and will consider the embattled Crimea region to be a part of Ukraine, “until such time as the political situation there is resolved.” In addition, contacts made by others with Crimean stations using Russian-Issued call signs will be removed from contestants’ logs without penalty. “No contact or multiplier credits will be given,” the CQ announcement said.

“We fully realize that our action may very well disenfranchise several Crimean contesters who use Russian prefixes instead of Ukrainian prefixes,” CQ said. “As regrettable as that may be, our action is consistent with international law, as well as with our own rules.”

CQ sponsors several major international operating events, including the CQ World Wide SSB and CW contests. The first contest to be affected by the new policy would be the CQ World Wide SSB Contest, which takes place this year over the October 25-26 weekend.
 

 

ARRL DXCC Desk Manager Bill Moore NC1L injured in accident

I was stunned this weekend to learn the news that a longtime friend Bill Moore, head of the DXCC Desk at the ARRL in Newington CT, was seriously injured in a car accident two weeks ago.




The following news is from K5FUV, Bill Kennamer. 

"DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L, was seriously injured in an automobile accident about two weeks ago.  His neck was broken, leaving him paralyzed from his upper body down, with limited movement of his arms.  Recovery will be difficult and slow, and is not expected to be total.  Bill would like to hear from his friends.  He is currently in the Mount Sinai Rehab Hospital in Hartford, but cards and well wishes should be sent to 92 Reservoir Rd, Newington, CT 06111”.

From Bernie, W3UR/1 Hartford, CT

"Friday K5FUV, Bill Kennamer, and Bernie McClenny, W3UR/1 visited Bill at the rehab hospital.  We spent a few minutes with NC1L, Bill, who was extremely glad to see us.  I gave him one of the ARRL Centennial Convention coins and told him how successful the event was going.  He was very happy to hear the news and the greetings from his friends.  Bill’s sister-in-law Gina was there in the hospital and asked us to tell Bill’s friends that he would love to hear from them.  So if possible let’s all show Bill our love and concern for our dear friend by sending him our QSL with good wishes. I know Bill and the family would greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time."

Bill Moore

92 Reservoir Road
Newington, CT 06111

 

New Summer 2014 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Now Available

“War Revives Shortwave Radio's Appeal: Communications: Many consumers, eager for news from the Persian Gulf are snapping up machines that fell out of fashion long ago.” – Los Angeles Times 1991

That LA Times headline above says it all about the appeal even today of a radio hobby that is over 80 years old – Shortwave Radio Listening.

 

So why should you listen to shortwave radio? The best source of global information continues to be shortwave radio. Throughout the world, shortwave remains the most readily available and affordable means of communication and information. It lets you listen to voices from around the world. You'll also learn about the lives and concerns of people from all walks of life, from soldiers, to farmers, to retired scholars. It provides coverage nearly instantaneous of news and events from around the world.

 

If you live in the U.S., you can easily listen to shortwave broadcast stations from countries like North/South Korea, Iran, Australia, Cuba, China, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Japan, England, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United States and many other counties if you have a good shortwave receiver, and you know when and where to listen!

 

The Summer 2014 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH, is that all important information resource you need to tap into the worldwide shortwave broadcast radio spectrum. It is a 24-hour station/frequency guide to all the stations currently broadcasting on shortwave radio. This unique shortwave resource is the only publication that offers a by-hour schedule that includes all language services, frequencies and world target areas for each broadcast station.

 

This new e-publication edition is an expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide formerly printed in the pages of Monitoring Times magazine for over the last 20 years. This one of a kind electronic e-book is now being published twice a year to correspond with station seasonal time and frequency changes.

 

If you enjoy listening or monitoring HF shortwave stations, and you miss the monthly English frequency listings formerly published in the late Monitoring Times magazine, and multilingual station listing in the old MTXpress electronic magazine, this valuable tool will now be your new guide to listening to the world.

 

Here are a few of the public comments from radio hobbyists who purchased the first edition (Winter 2013-2014) of this book.

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 nowhere 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.

 

Frequency updates between editions will be posted on her Shortwave Central blog at: http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/.

 

And, the good news is that you do not even 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 by checking out this link to the Amazon website at http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

 

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Summer 2014 edition is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K6YKNFM. The price for this latest edition is still US$4.99. 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 e-Book from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

 

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 view the complete Teak Publishing book catalog online at http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/. Click on the Teak Publishing radio hobby e-book link at the top of the blog page.

 

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 and many more interested in listening to a global view of news and events as they happen. 

 

If you are an amateur radio operator or shortwave radio enthusiasts, and want to hear what is happening outside the ham bands on that transceiver or portable shortwave radio in your shack, then this new e-book from Teak Publishing is a must in your radio reference library.