May 2009
IN THIS ISSUE:
NASB/DRM USA
News from
NASB Membership
DRM
Consortium News
Miscellaneous Shortwave News
NASB/DRM USA
NASB/DRM USA
by David Creel, Far East Broadcasting Company
DRM USA
John Stanley
reported on the conversion of three Continental transmitters on Saipan to DRM.
They used an exciter designed and built by HCJB with help from Tim Mason. They had to make numerous adjustments in
order for everything to work properly.
After making these adjustments, they were able to achieve a signal to
noise ratio of 40 dB. They moved the
screen power supplies out of unit 2 (utility cabinet) into unit 4 (the power
enclosure) as recommended by Continental Electronics. All three screen supplies were moved, but
only 2 transmitters were completely modified to operate in DRM mode. They also modified the low-pass filters. Modification of the audio cards was
required. They couldn’t quite meet the
required spectral mask. They broadcast
only 20 kw on air; 50 kw into the dummy load.
The broadcasts occurred just prior to regular hours; replies were heard
from listeners in Germany , Japan , Sweden ,
and Russia Japan Saipan
station is now ready for special event broadcasts.
Adil Mina, VP
of Continental Electronics, gave a DRM report.
His PowerPoint presentation is available upon request. In general, transmitter manufacturers are
ready for DRM transmissions and have been for 10 years. The problem is in getting receivers to
market. We are now seeing a
breakthrough: India
and Russia India China is still interested in DRM, but India and Russia United States North America ,
so DRM and DRM+ may become the standard in other parts of the world. Simulcasting is possible, but is not usually
done on shortwave due to transmitter and bandwidth limitations. (The shortwave broadcast spectrum is quite
limited with lots of stations, so regulatory bodies such as the ITU have
mandated fairly narrow bandwidth allocations.)
Mel Whitten gave
a report entitled “WinDRM: Amateur
Radio’s DRM Evolution.” His amateur
radio call sign is K0PFX, and he can be reached at mel@melwhitten.com. He reported on three versions of DRM which
have been successfully used by ham radio operators: HamDream, WinDRM, and DRMDV.
Gary Barbour of
Ten-Tec next gave a presentation.
Ten-Tec was founded by Al Kahn (K4FW 1906-2005) and is located in Sevierville , Tennessee
John Wineman of
the HCJB Global Technology
Center
A Q&A
session was held with NASB Attorney Edward Bailey. Presently, the NASB board of directors
consists of 3 – 6 members. However, the
bylaws can be changed with a simple majority vote. There has been some discussion about adding a
seventh member. Voting members elect the
board, and the board elects the officers.
NASB is a non-profit corporation, but would not qualify as a 5013c which
can receive charitable contributions. It
is a trade organization (and thus tax exempt), but it is not able to receive
tax exempt contributions. Typically,
expenses like travel to the meetings can be deducted as a business expense.
Hanson
Professional Services, Inc. next gave a presentation. They are an engineering and architectural
firm which specializes in the design and construction of radio and television
facilities. They have a contract with
the US International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) for design, maintenance, and
repair of broadcast facilities. They
have also been involved in the following broadcast projects: IBB Kuwait; IBB
Tinian (with power plant); Sao Tome; Adventist World Radio (AWR) in Argenta,
Italy (never built); Djibouti MW; IBB Bangkok, Thailand; Greece; Algeria; IBB
MW and TV in Afghanistan; KGTF DTV (Channel 12 PBS) Guam; Univision in NY; and
a TV tower for NYC (shelved). They are
now planning a mast for the top of the new World Trade
Center
After lunch, we
had a tour of downtown Nashville , a tour of
WWCR, and a tour of World Christian Broadcasting’s studio site which provides
programming for KNLS in Alaska and for the
soon-to-open station in Madagascar
NASB ANNUAL MEETING – MAY 8
“The State of SW Listening and Broadcasting in Europe ”
was presented by Michael Murray, former Secretary General of the European DX
Council. First, a historical perspective
was given. Originally, shortwave radio
was the only source of news in Europe . There were no 24 hour news channels. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall
of the Soviet Union , BBC and others began to
cut back on SW in favor of using the Internet. Shortwave is still needed when
travelling since it is more convenient to carry a small shortwave set than it
is to carry a laptop computer. There are
still a number of stations broadcasting in English from around the world, but
not from Europe . There are now more choices of what to see and
hear. DX Clubs in Europe are slowly decreasing
in numbers.
Adrian Peterson,
a representative from AWR, next spoke.
They have formed a partnership with Radio Miami International for their
“Wavescan” DX program. Radio New Zealand
International and Radio Australia Indianapolis
office from many countries in Europe . They have recently seen an increase in
listener responses from South America . BBC closed out its English services to North America .
Radio Deutsche Welle from Germany Europe
seem to be favoring the newer services such as the Internet, iPods, cable TV,
etc. His opinion is that these decisions
are based more on economic limitations rather than listener preferences. There is still a lot of analog shortwave
broadcasting being done – especially from the US Iraq , Afghanistan ,
etc.) and countries which are developing and using shortwave to reach their own
people (Burma , Africa, Latin America , etc.).
Listeners are typically young professionals, married, financially
viable, and living in country (rural) areas.
Shortwave is still viable for a long period of time. Europe ’s use
of shortwave is diminishing (some prematurely), but these decisions have been
primarily based on economics. Some of
the European stations are now being used as relay stations for others including
gospel broadcasters. BBC, AWR, and
others are doing shortwave surveys.
There is still quite a potential audience in China Africa , etc.
“Sports on
Shortwave” was presented by Bruce Baskin who produces the program “World Baseball
Today” on WRMI. He observed that many
listeners find it exotic and exciting to hear sports from far-away
locations. Many listeners enjoy hearing
broadcasts of baseball, cricket, etc.
Don Messer gave
a report on “Tests of Digital Radio Broadcasting (DRM) to Cover Alaska.” The goal is to see if all of Alaska Alaska US
to the US
Allan McGuirl,
Jr. of Galcom International made a presentation on solar powered pre-tuned
receivers with emphasis on the shortwave model.
He also discussed Galcom’s soon-to-be released Cornerstone FM
transmitter and Galcom’s involvement in radio station installations around the
world. He also discussed Galcom’s
development of a new generation of receivers which will include an MP3 player
and possibly DRM capability.
Charlie
Jacobson discussed the status of HCJB’s operations in Ecuador Amazon River Basin Ecuador
Recent events surrounding
Madagascar World Voice (the African shortwave project of World Christian
Broadcasting) were next discussed by Charles Caudill. Madagascar Madagascar
Tom King of
Kintronic Labs in Bristol , Tennessee Nome ,
Alaska Cheju , Korea
-----
Sports on Shortwave
Text of presentation by Bruce Baskin at the 2009 NASB Annual Meeting
My name is Bruce
Baskin, and I produce a weekly 15-minute program called “World Baseball Today,” which is heard three times a week on Radio Miami
International. “World Baseball Today”
covers not only the Major Leagues, but also baseball in Latin America, Asia and
Europe …wherever the game is played. I’ve covered the World Series, the World Cup,
the Caribbean Series, the World Baseball Classic, the Asia Series, the Japan
Series, the Korea Series, the Taiwan Series, the European Cup, and just about
any kind of international baseball tournament there is. I’m considering covering the College World
Series in Omaha
Sports have been a
part of world band radio broadcasting for decades. Whether it’s been a cricket match broadcast
on a shortwave station in India, American sporting event carried on the Armed
Forces Radio Network or a sports update during a national newscast from
Australia, sports and world band radio have been connected for decades. I am not aware that there is any current
sports presence on shortwave radio in the United States
I started in radio
on a 10-watt high school station as a 16-year-old in 1976, and have been a disc
jockey, a newscaster, a commercial writer and producer, and a sportscaster over
the three decades since. As someone who
had wanted to be a radio announcer since early in grade school, I’ve been
fortunate to earn a paycheck at a job I’ve always dreamed of having, although
radio has been a lot different than I’d imagined it would be.
So, why shortwave
radio? What is it that has made me make
a partial break from a fairly conventional radio background and try my hand at
producing a weekly program on what can accurately be described as a “niche”
medium, especially since the internet is making it more difficult for
traditional media like radio to maintain their audience share?
One reason is that
I’ve always felt shortwave radio was something exotic, all the way back to when
I was a kid listening to my grandpa’s old shortwave radio in dad’s
garage…listening to stations from all over the world. Even though I didn’t understand much of what
I was hearing, it was exciting to think that you could be broadcasting a
program from a studio in The Netherlands or Moscow
with someone in the United
States
I dabbled in
producing shortwave programs in the late 1990’s, when I first became acquainted
with Radio Miami International and Jeff White, but neither of the two programs
I produced lasted more than a few weeks.
In March 2007, I decided to give shortwave another try, but this time I
took a new path.
By then, I had
become a fan of the English sport of cricket, a game often incorrectly compared
to baseball, something to me that’s as unfair as comparing apples to
oranges. It might surprise some of you
that cricket is watched and played by more people across the globe than
baseball, although cricket’s popularity is limited to mostly the United Kingdom
and its current or former colonies. The United States
Every four years,
there is an event called the Cricket World Cup that brings together the top
national teams from around the world together for a tournament. It is very popular among cricket fans, and in
2007, it was held in the West Indies . As kind of a lark, I decided to look into
producing daily one-minute Cricket World Cup updates on Radio Miami
International.
Jeff was amenable
to the idea, so for 50 consecutive days in March and April of 2007, I produced
a sixty-second feature with scores and highlights of World Cup matches along
with the next day’s schedule. To my
knowledge, it was the only daily shortwave coverage of the Cricket World Cup
from the hemisphere in which it was played.
After the World
Cup concluded, I converted the daily updates into a weekly World Cricket Today
program on WRMI. The program ran almost
15 minutes, carried original stories on cricket from around the world and
across the United States
However, after six
months, I determined to change my program from cricket to baseball. There was more than one reason for doing
this, but at the core it was because my true sports passion lies with baseball. In November of 2007, World Cricket Today
became World Baseball Today, and here we are today.
The nuts-and-bolts
of World Baseball Today are pretty simple, if somewhat time-consuming. The program has three separate segments: One on baseball in the Americas
Since each program
has 12 stories (four for each segment), the first order of business is to
gather material for the stories. This
involves searching specific websites for 1-2 hours in order to find the major
baseball news from the countries I cover.
I’ll gather my stories on a Thursday so as to keep the program content
relatively fresh.
Then, I’ll
generally spend 3-4 hours the next day sifting through the stories and writing
original copy for the program. As you
all know, radio is a world measured in seconds, and I have to make sure all the
elements of World Baseball Today come together in EXACTLY 15 minutes. As a result, writing the stories can be a
painstaking process not only because of time constraints, but also because I
have to determine the length and importance of each story, and be objective
about it…it’s not always easy.
The actual studio
production of World Baseball Today may be the least-complicated part of the
process. Fortunately, I’m able to use
the production studio at the commercial radio station I work for, so long as
it’s on my own time and I’m not preventing the station’s business from being
done. I usually go into the studio on a
Saturday, when the station is empty.
I’ve prerecorded much of the program elements already, such as the open
and close tracks, music beds used on each segment, and promos and public
service announcements to separate the segments from each other.
When I begin the
production process, I’m concentrating on recording straight voice tracks for
each segment, then dubbing in the music beds and adjusting the length of each
segment to make sure the finished program times out to 15 minutes. I’ll use a NexGen program for preproduction
before I record the final version of the program into Cool Edit or Adobe
Audition.
After that, I save
the finished product on a thumb drive, take it home and load it onto my
laptop. From there, I upload the program
onto WRMI’s server for broadcast Sunday morning, then upload it to my WBT
podcast website at Podbean, place the text of the stories on my World Baseball
Today blog, then finally send an email to free online subscribers letting them
know the new program is ready to read or listen to. In all, my Saturdays generally last about two
hours: One hour to record the radio program, the other for post-production.
In the future, I
hope to add MySpace and Facebook pages so I can build an audience for World
Baseball Today, but it will always be first and foremost a shortwave radio
program…everything else is ancillary.
I’m not comfortable doing sales, but I believe I am producing a sellable
product broadcast three times a week on
a 50,000-watt radio station in the USA’s ninth-largest market whose signal
easily reaches America’s southeastern states as well as Latin nations where
baseball is a mania. I believe there are
a lot of sales executives on radio who work with less. I’d love to find a good salesperson so I
could make enough sponsor dollars to underwrite the program’s cost, but World
Baseball Today isn’t about money.
I became involved
with world band radio for much the same reason that brings most of you here to
Nashville this week: There is a certain
magic to radio because it’s a medium that can take on a life of its own in the
minds of its audience, and there’s a certain magic to reaching across borders
and touching our audiences. You can’t
read radio…you can’t watch radio. You
have to LISTEN to radio, and then use your mind to assimilate what you’ve just
heard. That’s where the magic begins.
Thank you for letting me speak to you today, and thank
you for doing what you do to keep the magic of shortwave radio alive. I’m proud to be a small part of it.
-----
NASB Urges Development of Simple, Inexpensive DRM Receivers
At
its 2009 annual meeting in Nashville ,
Tennessee
The
NASB resolution applauded the efforts of the DRM Consortium and manufacturers
for introducing several models of
excellent receivers to the market, but it added “many of the currently
available receivers are priced beyond what the market can bear in Africa, Asia,
and other countries outside North America and Europe .”
Therefore, asserted the NASB, “there is an urgent need for the availability in
the marketplace of simple to operate, inexpensive DRM HF/MW capable receivers.”
Allan
McGuirl Jr. of Galcom International, a Canadian company that makes fix-tuned
shortwave receivers for many religious broadcasters, announced at the same
meeting that its engineers are working to develop a low-cost, no frills DRM
receiver, although no details are available yet.
Adil
Mina of Continental Electronics gave a general update on DRM and the receiver
situation at the joint meeting of the NASB and the DRM USA group. Technical consultant Dr. Donald Messer gave
the group an overview of the propagation experiments that he plans to undertake
with the Digital Aurora Radio Technologies regional DRM project in Alaska
In
other news from the NASB annual meeting, Brady Murray, Operations Director of
shortwave station WWCR in Nashville, was elected to the NASB Board of
Directors, replacing retiring board member Charles Caudill, president of World
Christian Broadcasting, which operates shortwave station KNLS in Alaska. WWCR and World Christian Broadcasting jointly
hosted the NASB meeting in Nashville
The
Association gave a special award for lifetime achievement in shortwave
broadcasting to George Woodard, former director of engineering for Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty and the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau.
Adrian
Peterson, International Relations Coordinator of Adventist World Radio,
announced that as of June 2009, AWR will be closing its production studios in Singapore Singapore ,
but as of June it will be transferred to the United
States under an agreement with WRMI in Miami
Two
Tennessee-based manufacturers of radio equipment gave presentations at the NASB
meeting. Gary Barbour of Ten-Tec talked
about his company's HF receivers; and Tom King, president of Kintronic Labs,
showed examples of shortwave and mediumwave antenna systems that Kintronic has
built for stations in various countries around the world.
During
their conference, NASB delegates visited the Nashville-area facilities of WWCR
and World Christian Broadcasting. They
heard about how the recent political developments in Madagascar Madagascar
Michael
Murray, former Secretary-General of the European DX Council, spoke about the
state of shortwave broadcasting and listening in Europe . Bruce Baskin, producer of a weekly program
called World Baseball Today on WRMI, talked about sports programming on
shortwave radio. Charles Jacobson of the
HCJB Global
Technology Center
in Indiana updated participants on the gradual
dismantlement of HCJB's legendary shortwave transmitter site in Pifo , Ecuador
Next
year's NASB and DRM USA
annual meetings will take place in Canada Hamilton , Ontario Miami
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SHORTWAVE BROADCASTERS DRM RECEIVER RESOLUTION
The
National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB) desiring to encourage
further development and adoption of digital broadcasting in HF bands finds the
following:
WHEREAS
NASB reaffirms its deep commitment to the importance of maintaining and
encouraging a vibrant HF broadcast industry, and,
WHEREAS
NASB applauds the efforts of the DRM consortium and manufacturers for continued
efforts to promote DRM, and,
WHEREAS
NASB applauds receiver manufacturers for introducing several models of
excellent receivers to the market, but
WHEREAS
many of the currently available receivers are priced beyond what the market can
bear in Africa, Asia, and other countries outside North America and Europe ,
NOW
THEREFORE, NASB resolves and recommends that
1.there is an urgent need for the
availability in the marketplace of simple to operate, inexpensive DRM HF/MW
capable receivers and
2.receiver manufacturers are hereby
encouraged to develop and produce as a high priority simple to operate,
inexpensive DRM receivers.
ADOPTED
THIS 8TH DAY OF MAY, 2009 AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN NASHVILLE , TN.
MINUTES OF NASB BUSINESS MEETING – MAY 8
by David Creel,
FEBC
The meeting was
called to order by Jeff White.
George W. Woodard
was recognized for his contributions.
Charles Caudill was
recognized for his contributions.
The previous
meeting’s minutes and treasurer’s report were approved.
Jeff White and Brady
Murray were elected to the NASB Board.
A PowerPoint
presentation on the HFCC/ASBU meeting in Tunisia
A PowerPoint
presentation on the next HFCC meeting to be held in Punta Cana was shown.
Allan McGuirl, Jr.
spoke on plans for the next NASB meeting to be held in Hamilton , Ontario Canadian
War Plane
Museum , Niagara
Falls , and the city of Toronto Toronto or Buffalo Buffalo
to Hamilton Toronto
A discussion was
held on where to meet in 2011:
1.
In Las Vegas
2.
In Nashville
3.
In Washington DC
4.
In Miami Florida , Bahamas
The possibility of
conducting a shortwave listener survey for North America
was discussed. Robert Fortner has been
contacted regarding this matter. He
suggested either: a publicized web-based
survey or a random telephone survey.
Depending on the option chosen, the cost could be as high as
$14,000.00. The idea of splitting this
cost with other organizations was discussed.
The idea of contacting another surveying organization, or considering a
less expensive approach, was discussed.
The matter was left up to the board for further consideration.
Adil Mina’s proposal
that the NASB strongly advocate for simple inexpensive DRM receivers was
discussed. The resolution was approved
and will be forwarded to the DRM Consortium for their consideration.
A proposal to make
the secretary/treasurer an automatic board member was discussed. This would require changing the by-laws to
allow 7 board members. Term limits would
then apply to the secretary/treasurer.
This proposal was tabled for now because of the term limits issue.
The meeting was
adjourned by Jeff White.
-----
Text
of Letter of Recommendation for George Woodard from Kevin Klose and Mike
Starling
The following is the text of the letter from Kevin Klose and Mike Starling of National Public Radio, dated April 7, 2009, recommending George Woodard for the achievement award which was presented by the NASB Board of Directors at the 2009 annual meeting in Nashville.
We write to commend to you and your Board of Directors the career in shortwave radio of George W. Woodard, an innovative electronics engineer and broadcast executive from the American heartland, whose life achievements range from theoretical and practical engineering advances of transmitter performance; to visionary leadership of the U.S. government’s international civilian radio services, one of the most important strategic broadcast systems in history.
George has devoted his life to serving humanity through the power of broadcast, with two complementary goals: a) improved efficiency and reliability for radio transmitters of many types; b) improved transmission strategies to reach peoples around the globe who are denied rights of self-government. Practical engineer and spirited idealist, George has made notable contributions to the electronics industry and to global democracy.
Drawn to radio as a kid, George matriculated at Texas Tech, won a prized job as an undergraduate teaching assistant, and earned a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1962.
Upon graduation, he joined Continental Electronics, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of advanced radio transmitters. In the period 1962-85, under the tutelage of legendary radio engineer J. O. Weldon, founder of Continental, George was an important designer in high power radio, radar, communications and broadcast transmitter projects. He was Project Development Engineer for 100kW and 250kW shortwave transmitters; Senior Design Engineer for 2MW medium wave transmitters (later deployed across theMiddle East ); and Principal Development Engineer in AM
stereo, responsible for much of the design of Continental’s AM stereo
exciter. George also was an independent consultant, and authored research
papers and presented them at international electronics conferences and in
scientific publications, including:
The following is the text of the letter from Kevin Klose and Mike Starling of National Public Radio, dated April 7, 2009, recommending George Woodard for the achievement award which was presented by the NASB Board of Directors at the 2009 annual meeting in Nashville.
We write to commend to you and your Board of Directors the career in shortwave radio of George W. Woodard, an innovative electronics engineer and broadcast executive from the American heartland, whose life achievements range from theoretical and practical engineering advances of transmitter performance; to visionary leadership of the U.S. government’s international civilian radio services, one of the most important strategic broadcast systems in history.
George has devoted his life to serving humanity through the power of broadcast, with two complementary goals: a) improved efficiency and reliability for radio transmitters of many types; b) improved transmission strategies to reach peoples around the globe who are denied rights of self-government. Practical engineer and spirited idealist, George has made notable contributions to the electronics industry and to global democracy.
Drawn to radio as a kid, George matriculated at Texas Tech, won a prized job as an undergraduate teaching assistant, and earned a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1962.
Upon graduation, he joined Continental Electronics, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of advanced radio transmitters. In the period 1962-85, under the tutelage of legendary radio engineer J. O. Weldon, founder of Continental, George was an important designer in high power radio, radar, communications and broadcast transmitter projects. He was Project Development Engineer for 100kW and 250kW shortwave transmitters; Senior Design Engineer for 2MW medium wave transmitters (later deployed across the
“Some
Transmitter Performance Criteria for AM Stereo,” presented at N.A.B.
conference, 1982;
“Theory,
Simulation, and Measurement of AM Broadcast Transmitter Operating Program
Efficiency,” presented at the I.R.E.E. conference, Sydney, Australia, 1982;
“Simulating Typical Program Modulation for Measurements of Operating Efficiency and Modulation Capability of AM Broadcast Transmitters,” The Radio and Electronic Engineer, Vol. 53, No. 9, pp 325-328, September 1983;
“Method and Apparatus for quasi-Analog Reconstructions of Amplitude and Frequency Varying Analog Input Signals,” U.S. Patent No. 4,724,420, (Patent to: G. W. Woodard; Assignee: Varian), US Patent Office, Feb. 9, 1988;
“The Importance of High Modulation Indices for Short-wave Broadcasting,” presented at National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (N.A.S.B.) conference, May 2000.
George’s chapter “AM Transmitters,” in the NAB Engineering Handbook (Editions 7-9) is among the best known industry-wide current narratives of the history and engineering principles of AM broadcast transmission.
His career in public service broadcasting began in 1985, when he became engineering vice president at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc., (RFE/RL) the private, non-profit radio service then based inMunich , Germany Asia , broadcasting to the peoples of the Soviet
bloc.
With the decades-long Cold War entering its final phase, George initiated significant consolidation and network upgrading projects to improve coverage, hold down operating costs, and prepare for the historic moment when the Soviet bloc’s jamming of Western radio services might cease, signaling the beginning of a hopeful new era of international cooperation.
Fittingly, on the night of Nov. 21, 1988, George received a call at home in Munich, that his network operators were reporting all Soviet and some East European jamming of RFE/RL transmissions had suddenly ceased: “The skies are clear, the jamming has ended.” A long, costly era of electronic conflict had ended. George turned the page.
Working with colleagues at the U.S. Government’s own external broadcast service, Voice of America, headquartered inWashington ,
DC , he began the complex effort to reshape U.S. U.S.
Once jamming ended in 1988, Radio Liberty’s Soviet listenership spiked to a weekly reach of nearly 35 million people, the largest audience to Western broadcasters, according to analysts at the time. This substantial listening continued through the next decade, and as the post-Soviet era took firmer hold in international relations, George knew he had completed his mission: inspired by the visions of freedom and self-government that had been transmitted to the closed lands of the Warsaw Pact via SW broadcasters of the Atlantic Alliance, much of Eastern Europe had successfully made the transition to multi-party, democratic self-rule. WhileRussia
would continue monopolistic political control, the peoples of the former USSR were learning about democracy every day via
the unjammed signals of U.S.
In 2000, Continental Electronics proudly announced the appointment of George as its new Director of Engineering. Declared the company’s CEO: "George is…internationally known and highly respected... (He)…brings a tremendous level of knowledge and leadership ability to our engineering staff." For the next three years, George led Continental Electronics' research and development programs, overseeing the design, production and implementation of all domestic and international customer installations.
Retired in 2003, he continues his active life in the broadcasting dialogue and research, as his articles and commentaries in Radio World attest. Writing in 2005, George advocated anew for AM bandwidth restriction to compensate for poor h-f response bandwidth in the majority of AM radio receivers. Forthright, direct, and challenging convention, he declared, “As long as analog AM exists, I think the discussion…is valid.”
Some months ago, George again added his own clear, forthright voice to an important discussion among broadcasters about the efficacy of SW in the Internet age. The issue at hand is the shift in strategy that emphasizes local placement on indigenous FM stations via satellite delivery and vigorous Internet streaming -- accompanied by large reductions in SW transmission. Pointing to numerous examples of local authorities in post-Soviet countries shutting down FM stations that carry Western broadcasts, George urged preservation of viable ‘stand-off’ transmission resources – shortwave stations. Calling on the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors to “enhance and expand” its shortwave capacity, George Woodard made a profoundly accurate statement: “TheU.S.
Now a resident ofMcKinney ,
TX
Very truly yours,
Kevin Klose
President Emeritus, National Public Radio (NPR); Former President, RFE/RL;
Former Director, U.S. International Broadcasting
Mike Starling
Chief Technical Officer & Director, National Public Radio (NPR) Labs
“Simulating Typical Program Modulation for Measurements of Operating Efficiency and Modulation Capability of AM Broadcast Transmitters,” The Radio and Electronic Engineer, Vol. 53, No. 9, pp 325-328, September 1983;
“Method and Apparatus for quasi-Analog Reconstructions of Amplitude and Frequency Varying Analog Input Signals,” U.S. Patent No. 4,724,420, (Patent to: G. W. Woodard; Assignee: Varian), US Patent Office, Feb. 9, 1988;
“The Importance of High Modulation Indices for Short-wave Broadcasting,” presented at National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (N.A.S.B.) conference, May 2000.
George’s chapter “AM Transmitters,” in the NAB Engineering Handbook (Editions 7-9) is among the best known industry-wide current narratives of the history and engineering principles of AM broadcast transmission.
His career in public service broadcasting began in 1985, when he became engineering vice president at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc., (RFE/RL) the private, non-profit radio service then based in
With the decades-long Cold War entering its final phase, George initiated significant consolidation and network upgrading projects to improve coverage, hold down operating costs, and prepare for the historic moment when the Soviet bloc’s jamming of Western radio services might cease, signaling the beginning of a hopeful new era of international cooperation.
Fittingly, on the night of Nov. 21, 1988, George received a call at home in Munich, that his network operators were reporting all Soviet and some East European jamming of RFE/RL transmissions had suddenly ceased: “The skies are clear, the jamming has ended.” A long, costly era of electronic conflict had ended. George turned the page.
Working with colleagues at the U.S. Government’s own external broadcast service, Voice of America, headquartered in
Once jamming ended in 1988, Radio Liberty’s Soviet listenership spiked to a weekly reach of nearly 35 million people, the largest audience to Western broadcasters, according to analysts at the time. This substantial listening continued through the next decade, and as the post-Soviet era took firmer hold in international relations, George knew he had completed his mission: inspired by the visions of freedom and self-government that had been transmitted to the closed lands of the Warsaw Pact via SW broadcasters of the Atlantic Alliance, much of Eastern Europe had successfully made the transition to multi-party, democratic self-rule. While
In 2000, Continental Electronics proudly announced the appointment of George as its new Director of Engineering. Declared the company’s CEO: "George is…internationally known and highly respected... (He)…brings a tremendous level of knowledge and leadership ability to our engineering staff." For the next three years, George led Continental Electronics' research and development programs, overseeing the design, production and implementation of all domestic and international customer installations.
Retired in 2003, he continues his active life in the broadcasting dialogue and research, as his articles and commentaries in Radio World attest. Writing in 2005, George advocated anew for AM bandwidth restriction to compensate for poor h-f response bandwidth in the majority of AM radio receivers. Forthright, direct, and challenging convention, he declared, “As long as analog AM exists, I think the discussion…is valid.”
Some months ago, George again added his own clear, forthright voice to an important discussion among broadcasters about the efficacy of SW in the Internet age. The issue at hand is the shift in strategy that emphasizes local placement on indigenous FM stations via satellite delivery and vigorous Internet streaming -- accompanied by large reductions in SW transmission. Pointing to numerous examples of local authorities in post-Soviet countries shutting down FM stations that carry Western broadcasts, George urged preservation of viable ‘stand-off’ transmission resources – shortwave stations. Calling on the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors to “enhance and expand” its shortwave capacity, George Woodard made a profoundly accurate statement: “The
Now a resident of
Very truly yours,
Kevin Klose
President Emeritus, National Public Radio (NPR); Former President, RFE/RL;
Former Director, U.S. International Broadcasting
Mike Starling
Chief Technical Officer & Director, National Public Radio (NPR) Labs
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NEWS FROM NASB MEMBERSHIP
"Wavescan" DX
Program to Continue from New Location
News Release from Adventist World Radio May 14, 2009
The final edition of AWR’s DX program "Wavescan" produced inSingapore United States
In the new arrangement, the scripts for Wavescan will be researched and written inIndianapolis , Indiana , and the
program will be assembled and produced in the Miami , Florida
At the end of May, AWR’sSingapore
office and studio will be transferred to nearby Batam Island , Indonesia
Many long-time listeners will remember that the original AWR DX program, Radio Monitors International, was produced in thePoona
(Pune), India
The new presentations of Wavescan will be very similar to the earlier editions as produced inSingapore Japan ,
Bangladesh , Philippines and Australia
Other radio entities are welcome to re-broadcast Wavescan, archive the programs on Internet websites, and reprint items and articles from the scripts and archive the scripts, with the usual attribution to AWR Wavescan and to Radio Miami International/WRMI.
As was announced in Wavescan earlier, the annual worldwide listener contest during the month of June will continue as planned. Listeners are invited to prepare a list and give details and photocopies of 5 QSLs from silent shortwave stations; to submit 3 reception reports on AWR transmissions; and, where possible, to submit 3 suitable radio cards to the “Wavescan” address in Indianapolis.
Adventist World Radio would like to express appreciation to AWR assistant program director Rhoen Catolico for his splendid work on the production of Wavescan during the past three years and to wish him every success with his endeavors as he returns to his homeland in thePhilippines
Jeff White is currently the president of NASB, the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters USA, in addition to his management responsibilities at WRMI.
Adrian Peterson is DX editor for Adventist World Radio and a Board Member for NASB, the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters USA. The address is:
Adventist World Radio
Box 29235
Indianapolis , Indiana 46229 USA
adrian@awr.org
News Release from Adventist World Radio May 14, 2009
The final edition of AWR’s DX program "Wavescan" produced in
In the new arrangement, the scripts for Wavescan will be researched and written in
At the end of May, AWR’s
Many long-time listeners will remember that the original AWR DX program, Radio Monitors International, was produced in the
The new presentations of Wavescan will be very similar to the earlier editions as produced in
Other radio entities are welcome to re-broadcast Wavescan, archive the programs on Internet websites, and reprint items and articles from the scripts and archive the scripts, with the usual attribution to AWR Wavescan and to Radio Miami International/WRMI.
As was announced in Wavescan earlier, the annual worldwide listener contest during the month of June will continue as planned. Listeners are invited to prepare a list and give details and photocopies of 5 QSLs from silent shortwave stations; to submit 3 reception reports on AWR transmissions; and, where possible, to submit 3 suitable radio cards to the “Wavescan” address in Indianapolis.
Adventist World Radio would like to express appreciation to AWR assistant program director Rhoen Catolico for his splendid work on the production of Wavescan during the past three years and to wish him every success with his endeavors as he returns to his homeland in the
Jeff White is currently the president of NASB, the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters USA, in addition to his management responsibilities at WRMI.
Adrian Peterson is DX editor for Adventist World Radio and a Board Member for NASB, the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters USA. The address is:
Adventist World Radio
adrian@awr.org
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Kintronic Labs Exhibit at 2009 NAB Show
NASB
associate member Kintronic Labs, Inc. had an exhibit at the 2009 National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las
Vegas
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Company
Profile from DRM Newsletter
Continental Electronics
Corporation
As a world-class designer and manufacturer of
High-Power Transmitters and Communications Equipment, Continental Electronics
Corporation (an NASB associate member) was started in 1946 to build very high
power transmitters for the Voice of America. Our customer list includes
short-wave (HF) and medium-wave (MF) broadcasters in over 100 countries, US
Navy, US Air Force, and many US US
Continental is a founding member of the DRM
Consortium, and has continuously supported and initiated DRM activities in the US as well as North and South
America . Continental’s state-of-the-art Short-wave
Transmitters are all available with DRM capability, and Continental supports
DRM broadcasters and their activities worldwide.
Our DRM solutions are not limited to the
new DRM-ready Transmitters that we manufacture, but include also the upgrade of
installed transmitters from different manufacturers with our Solid State
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DRM CONSORTIUM NEWS
Excerpts
from DRM Newsletter April 2009
DRM General Assembly in Erlangen , Germany
The
General Assembly of the DRM Consortium held in Erlangen , Germany India , Russia ,
China and Brazil
The
new DRM receiver called ‘Di-Wave 100’ has been developed by Uniwave Development
SAS. It has all the multimedia features offered by DRM technology including
identification by station name, programme information, Journaline, MOT
Slideshow and listening time shift. The receiver will be in mass production
from April 2009.
There
was a live DRM+ demo available for members to experience, first-hand, the
stunning 5.1 surround-sound quality of a DRM+ broadcast. The General Assembly
also adopted decisions on DRM+ communication, structure of members' and
supporters' fees and receiver profiles.
Asia-Pacific broadcasters keen to know more about
DRM
A
new survey undertaken amongst ABU members (courtesy of ABU and Horst Scholz,
DW) shows that there is very high interest and awareness of DRM amongst broadcasters
in this region. Almost two-thirds of respondents said they would like to obtain
assistance from the DRM Consortium. Half said they were planning to use DRM in
the HF bands, 35 per cent said they were planning to use DRM in LF/MF bands in
the next 10 years. In all, 58 per cent said they would use DRM if going for
digital in MF/LF. Most respondents would use it for national broadcasts and 35
per cent for international broadcasts.
In this survey, 65 per cent of the respondents were public service
broadcasters and 12 per cent were commercial. Nearly 40 per cent of the
respondents said that they have transmitting equipment capable of DRM broadcast
in HF/MF/LF bands.
More DRM broadcast to India
Voice
of Russia (VOR) started an experimental DRM shortwave transmission to India Irkutsk , south east Russia
More variety of content from Bulgarian National Radio
Bulgarian
National Radio is adding English, German, Russian and French to its regular
transmissions on its short wave DRM platform operated by Spaceline Ltd. Besides
its regular DRM test transmissions of the Horizontal programme in Bulgarian,
BNR is expanding the variety of content transmitted on a regular basis from the
Kostinbrod DRM transmitter in order to take advantage of DRM’s benefits and
reach new listeners.
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MISCELLANEOUS SHORTWAVE NEWS
2009 EDXC Conference Update
Tibor Szilagyi, Secretary General of the European DX Council, sends
this update on the organization's annual meeting in
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Software for Shortwave Listeners
and DXers
Bob Raymond of DXtreme Software
(e-mail bobraymond@dxtreme.com)
send the following item about his products for amateur operators and
shortwave listeners and Dxers:
“DXtreme Software produces
powerful and easy-to-use logging applications for radio enthusiasts such as amateur
radio operators, shortwave DXers, shortwave listeners, broadcast band DXers,
VLF Dxers; VHF, UHF, and TV Dxers. You
can find more information at http://www.dxtreme.com.”
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NASB Members:
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Adventist World Radio
Assemblies of Yahweh
EWTN Shortwave Radio
(WEWN)
Family Stations Inc.
Far East Broadcasting Co.
Fundamental Broadcasting
Network
La Voz de Restauracion
Broadcasting, Inc.
Le Sea Broadcasting Corp.
Radio
Trans World Radio
World Christian
Broadcasting
World Wide Christian Radio
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NASB
Associate Members:
Comet
Continental Electronics
Corporation
Galcom International
George Jacobs &
Associates
Hatfield and Dawson
Consulting Engineers
HCJB World Radio
IBB
Kintronic Labs, Inc.
TCI International, Inc.
TDF
TDP
Thomson Inc.
VT Communications
National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters
Ph: (863) 763-0281
Fax: (863) 763-8867 E-mail:
nasbmem@rocketmail.com
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