If you’re an avid Radio World reader, you know that we love to highlight unique radio facilities, whether they be local or abroad. If you happen to love that sort of content, you’re in luck! Broadcasting since 1954, Trans World Radio, or TWR, is a Christian radio distributor that collaborates with U.S.-based radio stations to spread the gospel via local FMs, mediumwave or high-powered AMs and shortwave transmitters. According to its website, TWR’s programming is broadcast in 200-plus languages on air, online and on the ground in 190 countries. It is celebrating its 70th anniversary this month ..read more

In this letter to the editor, the author comments on Radio World’s ongoing, extensive coverage on shortwave radio. Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com. I am relieved to see the discussion of shortwave relevance is still relevant. In my contest blog (WQ6X.Blogspot.com), I have broached this topic several times. Searching the word “shortwave” in the blog, I come up with many entries, the first being “Does Shortwave Radio Have a Future?,” wherein I referenced the article in the Feb. 20, 2019, issue of RW on this topic. I was a big fan of WTWW on shortwave until the shut ..read more

In this letter to the editor, the author responds to Kim Andrew Elliott’s recent commentary “Why We Need ‘Shortwave 2.0.’” Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com. The shortwave debate continued in the recent article by ex-Voice of America executive Kim Andrew Elliot, who makes several very valuable points and also two debatable assumptions.  One is that shortwave broadcasting is “the ultimate internet circumvention tool,” which has a whiff of a subversive to it, suggesting a bit of a dangerous activity at the margins of the legitimate internet world.  Rad ..read more

Debate about the future of shortwave broadcasting focuses on the correct observation that shortwave listening is no longer a mainstream activity in most of the world.  The future of shortwave broadcasting — “Shortwave 2.0” — will not involve any revival of those large audiences. Instead, it will be an activity of communications enthusiasts and professionals. They would comprise a reserve corps able to relay information to larger populations in their countries when newer media are blocked or otherwise become unavailable. The beginning of the end of “Shortwave 1.0” was described in “Shortwa ..read more

One of the more unusual facilities featured in our recent Radio World ebook about interesting RF plants is at WBCQ. It uses what is believed to be the only rotatable shortwave antenna in North America.  The station operates from Monticello in northern Maine; it’s owned and operated by Allan and Angela Weiner, who also are licensees of WXME(AM) 780 kHz and WBCQ(FM) 94.7 MHz at the site. Installed in 2018, the AHR 4/4/0.5 antenna was manufactured by the former Ampegon AG and can transmit signals up to 500 kW. It is used to broadcast “World’s Last Chance,” a ministry that believes “the retur ..read more

Woofferton Transmitting Station celebrated its 80th anniversary on Tuesday, Oct. 17. Encompass Digital Media, the current owner/operator of the site, said Woofferton is the only remaining shortwave radio transmitter site in the United Kingdom. It carries news and information for the BBC and other international broadcasters. This Marconi BD272 transmitter was installed in 1963 and remains in working condition; it is the oldest at the site. Encompass held a party Tuesday with around 100 people. “Built by the BBC during the Second World War, Woofferton Transmitting Station, near Ludlow, made its ..read more

Numerous commenters have told the FCC that a proposal to “modernize” the shortwave band is a threat to amateur radio operators in the United States and possibly the end of ham radio as we know it. And hams are just one source of opposition to the idea.  The FCC inquiry was prompted by a request from the Shortwave Modernization Coalition for a rulemaking to amend the Part 90 rules.  SMC believes there is underutilized spectrum in the high-frequency bands. The coalition wants to use 20 kW transmitters for the transmission of time-sensitive data from fixed stations. It wants the FCC to ..read more

A request by the Shortwave Modernization Coalition (SMC) for the FCC to amend its rules to allow fixed, long-distance, non-voice communications above 2 MHz and below 25 MHz has drawn a lot of interest, with 800 comments from observers being filed in the last 30 days. The proposal has drawn concerns from advocates for amateur radio. However, the FCC decided not to extend the comment filing docket deadline, even after several groups requested it do so. Comments for RM-11953 were due July 31. Reply comments are welcome until Aug. 15.  The proposal has drawn concerns from advocates for amateu ..read more

An example of signal strength predictions from the technical study submitted by the SMC with its petition to the FCC. In this example the desired signal is being sent from Chicago to the east. The FCC is taking public comment on a proposal to revise the rules governing the frequencies above 2 MHz and below 25 MHz. The Shortwave Modernization Coalition thinks the 2-25 MHz band is underused and wants to use it for the long-distance transmission of time-sensitive data from fixed stations. The users would be companies working with certain kinds of financial transactions; the proposal would prohibi ..read more

In September the BBC World Service (BBCWS) announced significant service cuts and “around 382 post closures,” or job losses, as the once-powerful global shortwave radio broadcaster copes with its latest round of budget cuts. “High inflation, soaring costs and a cash-flat Licence Fee settlement have led to tough choices across the BBC, and the BBC’s international services need to make a saving of £28.5 million, as part of the wider £500 million of annual savings and reinvestment to make the BBC digital-led,” the organization wrote in a news release. “Digital-led” in this case translates to cutt ..read more