2009 NASB/DRM USA Meeting Nashville, TN

NASB NEWSLETTER www.shortwave.org

December 2009

IN THIS ISSUE:

2009 NASB/DRM USA Meeting

Upcoming NASB/DRM USA Annual Meetings

Chicago Radio Convention

2009 EDXC Conference

HCJB Report

Trans World Radio Name Change

Catalog of Shortwave Receivers

African Broadcasters Gear Up for Future

Shortwave Demo of DrTV at IBC

DRM Receiver with Color Screen

New Thomson Antenna

Geneva EBU/DRM Conference

Medal for Mother Angelica of EWTN

Shortwave Radios Advantage Over Internet

Appraisal of RNW Performance 2004-2008

Shortwave Important for Those at Sea

KNLS Report

WHRA Report

Shortwave Radio in Darfur

Program about Shortwave Radio in Africa

NASB Shortwave Listener Survey

2009 NASB/DRM USA Meeting Nashville, TN

Report by Michael Murray for World DX Club, England

The annual NASB/DRM two-day meeting was held in May at the Holiday Inn, Nashville, Tennessee, hosted by World Christian Broadcasting and Radio Station WWCR.

The opening session started on the Thursday morning with remarks from the two host companies. This was followed by a report from John Stanley of HCJB, regarding the testing of three FEBC 100KW SW transmitters on Saipan, which Continental had converted to DRM transmissions.

The first seminar covered the latest developments in Digital Radio Mondiale, and was given by Adil Mina of Continental Electronics. He reported that there were plenty of DRM broadcasts, but once again the lack of receivers was holding back the project. India and Russia had now agreed to use DRM, and would provide inexpensive receivers in their own regions. DRM could now be found in the FM band, with a simulcast of AM & FM broadcasts. In addition a new DRM receiver would soon be sold through Universal Radio.

The next podium speaker was Mel Whitten, and his topic was WinDRM Amateur Radios DRM Evolution. He talked about the radios digital voice and image transfer modes derived from DRMs Dream receiver/transmitter software. In his talk he covered how these modes were developed.

A Profile of Ten-Tec, a Tennessee company that makes HF receivers for both radio Amateurs and shortwave listeners, was the next item on the agenda. Gary Barbour spoke about the history of the company and promoted a book written by Nancy William called Ten-Tec the first 40 years. 2008 was their 40th year.

The business part of the DRM concluded with a buffet lunch at a local restaurant, next door to the Ryman Auditorium, the original home of The Grand Ole Opry radio programme.

The afternoon was spent visiting the transmitter site of WWCR, which is situated just outside of Nashville. Housed at the transmitter site is a 50KW AM station, WNQM 1300, along with four 100 KW SW transmitters of WWCR. The SW station operates on ten frequencies, 24 hours a day with gospel broadcasting. This was followed by a brief visit to the offices of WCB, the World Christian Broadcasting organisation who operate transmitters, under the callsign KNLS in Alaska. A video was shown to the delegates of the station and the new work currently being undertaken in Madagascar. Both WWCR and WCB had hosted the buffet lunch.

Following the bus tour, most of the delegates went on to the Stoveworks restaurant for dinner, which is situated in nearby Franklin. The restaurant was in the historic setting of The Factory, which contained a number of small shops.

The second day, Friday, saw the start of the NASB Annual Meeting.

The opening item on the agenda was a three member Panel Discussion on the State of SW Listening and Broadcasting in Europe. Unfortunately at the last minute two of the panelists could not attend so Michael Murray of the World DX Club took the podium. In a revised talk Michael spoke about the changes that have happened, especially in Europe, since he started radio listening in the early 60s. He commented on the cutbacks from the major radio stations in Europe, who have either stopped broadcasting all together or have moved over to on-line broadcasting. He finished this part of his talk, as a traveler, asking the question which would you rather do. Holding a SW receiver in your hand or a Netbook computer? A computer is fine if you are in an area with wifi or a large battery capacity, but not very convenient if you are camping or on the beach! Michael also spoke about the upcoming EDXC Conference to be held in Dublin, Ireland in late August.

In the final part of the opening agenda item, Adrian Peterson of AWR, Adventist World Radio spoke about the changes in SW broadcasting from a broadcasters prospective.

The next part of the agenda was an interesting look at a single persons attempt at promoting a sports programme on shortwave. Bruce Baskin started with World Cricket Today, and had now moved onto World Baseball Today, where he covers that sport in North America, Asia and Europe. These broadcasts can be heard over WRMI on 9955 kHz each Sunday at 14.30 UTC.

Don Messer gave a report on Tests of Digital Radio Broadcasting (DRM) to Cover Alaska. The goal is to see if all of Alaska can receive DRM shortwave broadcasts throughout the state at anytime and any day. They had to get an FCC experimental license to conduct these tests. Some of the questions that had to be addressed included: What frequency bands should be used? How much power will be needed? The tests are being done in central Alaska. They are using 10 to 20 kHz channels with various error correction and constellation options. They are putting in place a receiver network of around 18 sites. Then, they will conduct field tests. They plan to report the results to the FCC after a 2-year interval. Three 100kW transmitters are being used.

Allan McGuirl of Galcom International who manufactures small solar radios was the next speaker. Galcom have produced over 750,000 fix tuned radios in AM, FM and SW mode, and can be found in over 100 countries. Of the 750,000 radios, over 118,000 are for SW use. The firm has also installed more than 60 low powered Christian radio stations in unreached areas of the world.

Charlie Jacobson gave the latest information on HCJB, Ecuador. Due to building of the new Quito airport, HCJB has been ordered to close down their transmitter site at Pifo. The latest time line shows that the site will close on April 1, 2010 at the latest. They will still use a 49 meter band outlet covering the Andean area and the head waters of the Amazon River Basin from their high powered AM site. Currently there are eight antennas standing, down from the original 31 at the stations peak.

After a coffee break, Charles Caudill, the President of World Christian Broadcasting spoke about their work in setting up a new transmitter site in Madagascar. Despite the recent change in the government of Madagascar, work has continued on the site at a great pace, with some modification to the work schedule. There have been a number of security problems and their store had been ransacked, with the loss of much equipment.

Tom King, President of Kintronics Labs of Bristol, Tennessee, gave the final lecture of the morning. Kintronics builds antennas, including the corner reflector for WRMI in Miami, Florida. They have also provided a 3-tower antenna for KICY, Nome, Alaska for programmes directed to Eastern Siberia, and a 250 KW 6 tower array, directed in three patterns to North Korea, China and Japan, on 1566 kHz on the island of Cheju off the southern coast of South Korea for FEBC.

The majority of the participants took lunch at a local restaurant, before returning to the Holiday Inn for the NASB Business meeting. During the meeting it was decided that the 2010 meeting would take place in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada hosted by Galcom International.

Agenda Announced for 2010 Annual Meeting in Hamilton, Ontario

NASB associate member Galcom International will host the 2010 NASB-DRM USA annual meetings on May 20 and 21 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This will be the first time that the NASB has held an annual meeting in Canada, or anywhere outside the U.S. for that matter. The meetings will be held at the Mohawk College Conference Center and will be open to listeners and broadcasters anyone interested in shortwave radio.

This year there is a registration fee, unlike recent years. However, it includes some meals and coffee breaks, transportation to the outside venues, and allows us to rent the conference center at Mohawk College, where there will be free wireless Internet service.

Meeting Agenda

On Thursday, May 20, meeting participants will go by bus to Crossroads Communications in the morning to participate in the taping of a syndicated television program and to talk about shortwave radio. A tour of the Crossroads facility will follow. Later, the bus will take everyone to Galcom for a tour of the factory where they build fix-tuned shortwave receivers and other broadcast and receiving equipment. There will be a barbecue lunch at the Galcom factory before returning to the Mohawk College Conference Center for the DRM USA meeting. At 4:30 pm, a bus will take meeting participants on an optional trip to world-famous Niagara Falls, including a private NASB dinner in that city. The bus will then return to Mohawk College.

On Friday, May 21, the NASB annual meeting will officially take place. Talks and presentations will focus on Canadian subjects. Members of the Ontario DX Association will tell about their very successful shortwave/DX club and about their role as QSL coordinator for the Toronto shortwave station CFRX. We have also invited representatives of the Canadian Broadcasting