Hello friends, In last week’s email, I wrote «It will be hot enough, soon enough.» Well, as I type this, it is 90°F/32°C in Arlington, Virginia. And we obstinately have not turned on our house’s air conditioning. The AC is… Leer más ›

Hello friends, An active sun has resulted in some recent disruptions to shortwave propagation. Generally Shortwave Radiogram has been lucky in sidestepping these events, so let’s hope this pattern holds up. And while solar activity can cause brief dropouts on… Leer más ›

Hello friends There are no transmissions of Shortwave Radiogram during the time of the solar eclipse on April 8. But that might be an interesting time to listen shortwave or even medium wave radio. The theory is that frequencies usually… Leer más ›

Hello friends, Spring is officially here, although today here in northern Virginia, the temperature did not rise above 50F/10C. And the wind made it seem cooler. Another recent feature of our local weather has been wildfires, mostly in the mountains… Leer más ›

Hello friends Program 344 will be another déjà vu edition of Shortwave Radiogram. Due to family activities in our house the program transmitted 1-6 March 2024 will be repeated 9-14 March. And to add to the confusion, because of North America’s… Leer más ›

This reminder: The Shortwave Radiogram transmission Fridays at 1300-1330 UTC has moved to Wednesdays 1330-1400 UTC. This is on 15770 kHz from WRMI Florida. The updated schedule is provided below. We were supposed to have one last broadcast last Friday… Leer más ›

The only mishap last week was Friday at 0030 UTC, the first broadcast of the weekend, which was the previous week’s show (program 338) rather than the scheduled program 339. If you missed program 339, this video by Scott in Toronto is… Leer más ›

If you are looking for some winter reading, check out my “Why we need Shortwave 2.0” in the January 17 Radio World. It includes discussion of our Shortwave Radiogram project, to which you all contribute. After a writing drought, I also had… Leer más ›

Hello friends I hope you enjoyed the holidays. Thank you for your patience during our repeated «Holiday Spectacular.» Perhaps the most interesting result was this multipath reception of the abstract Christmas tree, December 29 during the 1300-1330 UTC show, 15770… Leer más ›

Hello friends The holiday season generates many colorful photos to include in Shortwave Radiogram. Most of this week’s MFSK images will continue in that theme. While searching for seasonal images, some content sources were upfront about the fact that their… Leer más ›

If you have lately attempted to access Mark Hirst’s comprehensive archive of Shortwave Radiogram audio, and have been frustrated by a bad link, that link is now fixed. Mark’s archive is based on his reception in the UK. We thank Mark… Leer más ›

The next Shortwave Radiogram will be another EasyDRF special produced by Daz Man in Australia. EasyDRF is a Windows application program for sending files over radio using HamDRM format. EasyDRF is somewhat complex and less tolerant of difficult reception conditions than our… Leer más ›

Thank you for your patience during last weekend’s repeat broadcast, necessitated by some travel. Arabic text this weekend. The Israel Hamas war has resulted in a complete communications blackout (no internet or cell phones working) in Gaza. Residents of Gaza, and… Leer más ›

Last week our Friday 0530-0600 UTC broadcast on 7780 kHz was not transmitted (not that many people listen at this time). WRMI was transmitting, but the the show did not get into WRMI’s system, due to complications associated with WRMI’s… Leer más ›

Here in northern Virginia, Post Tropical Low Ophelia passed through September 24-25, bringing much needed rain and halfhearted wind gusts that did no damage. The worst disruptions were in low-lying areas near water, especially in North Carolina. And, today, remnants… Leer más ›

This weekend’s Shortwave Radiogram will include an item recalling the events of September 11, 2001 in Manhattan. On that day, I was a broadcaster at the Voice of America, producing and presenting the weekly show Communications World. My editor/boss told… Leer más ›

I hope those of you who were in the path of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Idalia did not suffer too many adverse effects. That system has moved out to the Atlantic off the North Carolina coast, and it might still be felt… Leer más ›

In last week’s email I mentioned that our transmission Tuesdays at 1430-1500 UTC on 9955 kHz from WRMI Florida has been bumped in favor of RAE Argentina al Mundo in French, which is Monday through Friday in that slot. However,… Leer más ›

Today, the temperature here in northern Virginia reached 97°F / 36°C – which is mild compared to hotter weather endured by some of our listeners. Of course, our downstairs air conditioner (heat pump) decided to break down. Two HVAC guys… Leer más ›

The slow browsing problem that I was lamenting last week has been resolved. I went into the Firefox settings and made various adjustments, applying the science (art?) of trial-and-error, and finally something worked. And so we move on to a… Leer más ›

As I type this, the Washington DC area is in a Code Red situation for the smoke and haze from the Canadian wildfires. Many of you in North America are in a similar situation. It does look hazy outside, but… Leer más ›

Today in the Middle Atlantic, the weather is delightful (but we could use some rain). Shortwave propagation has been less than delightful, with static crashes from offshore storms adding to the mix. I hope conditions improve in time for this… Leer más ›

This weekend on Shortwave Radiogram, we will experiment with three flavors ofMFSK: MFSK16 (60 wpm), MFSK32 (120 wpm) and MFSK64. We use MFSK32 and MFSK64 most weeks. MFSK16 is slow, but it is often successful in poor reception conditions. Bad… Leer más ›

I am sending this preview of program 304 (11-16 May 2023) a few days early to give you time to download, install, and practice decoding the EasyDRF we will be using. EasyDRF is a version of HamDRM which can be… Leer más ›

The big solar storm of April 23/24 certainly had an effect on the Monday 0800-0830 UTC broadcast, 5850 kHz from WRMI Florida. The signal here in northern Virginia was weak and unusable. Via SDRs in Canada and Minnesota, I heard… Leer más ›

This weekend is program 300 of Shortwave Radiogram. 🥳 This occasion will be mentioned during the broadcast, but no big celebration has been prepared. As usual, I finished this weekend’s show just in time for my first deadline (upload to… Leer más ›

In Europe and North America, the moving forward of clocks for summer time is now complete. Check the schedule below, and be sure your conversions from UTC to local time are correct. This weekend’s Shortwave Radiogram includes two images of… Leer más ›

In North America, the transition to “daylight savings time” is now complete. WINB maintains its schedule on Eastern Time in the USA, so Shortwave Radiogram will be one hour earlier by UTC. The WRMI frequencies used for Shortwave Radiogram stay… Leer más ›

I missed most of last weekend’s show (program 293) while in Florida for a family gathering. Thanks to Al @WD4AH_Al and Mitch @Plano26 for monitoring the @SWRadiogram Twitter during my absence. In a sure sign of spring, last night I… Leer más ›

Here in northern Virginia, our strange winter of higher than normal temperatures and no snow continues. Maybe we will get some winter before winter is over. All of the Shortwave Radiogram broadcasts were transmitted as scheduled last week – except… Leer más ›

Lately all of our broadcasts have been without mishap. The Saturday 2300-2330 UTC is, however, “interesting” because of the noise that has been co-channel the  past few weeks. It sounds more like jamming than data, but this does not rule… Leer más ›

Our transmission Friday (tonight) at 0530-0600 UTC on 7780 kHz does not draw much of an audience. This could be because of its inconvenient time. Or because the signal is not very good at anyplace that we know of. The… Leer más ›

I hope the year 2023 is starting well for you. Here in northern Virginia, we could use some rain, or snow, or anything wet. A  reminder about recent Shortwave Radiogram schedule adjustments: 1) The new Friday 0530-0600 UTC on 7780… Leer más ›

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and all the associated holidays. Yet another schedule change to report. During the past two weeks, listeners reported the absence of a signal on 9955 kHz during the Tuesday 1530-1600 UTC transmission. I checked the WRMI… Leer más ›

There are a couple of changes to the Shortwave Radiogram transmission schedule. Last Monday morning during the “red-eye” show at 0800-0830 UTC, I heard the usual Shortwave Radiogram on 5850 kHz, but there was some other content on 7780 kHz…. Leer más ›

Wishing listeners in the USA a Happy Thanksgiving, celebrated here on November 24th. Videos of last weekend’s Shortwave Radiogram (program 279)  are provided by Darau Blė in Lithuania and Scott in Ontario (both Friday 1300 UTC). The audio archive is maintained by Mark in the… Leer más ›

As I type this, Tropical Storm Nicole is passing over Florida. This storm is not as powerful as Ian, but no doubt Nicole’s rain and wind will have some impact on WRMI operations. At the moment (2108 UTC), I am… Leer más ›

Program 276 will be transmitted this weekend (20-25 October) and repeated the following weekend (27 October-1 November). While WRMI has made good progress restoring its antennas and feedlines since Hurricane Ian, key WRMI frequencies used for Shortwave Radiogram are still… Leer más ›

Due to damage from Hurricane Ian, none of the WRMI transmissions of Shortwave Radiogram was broadcast last weekend. Accordingly, we will repeat last week’s program 274 this weekend, on all the WRMI and WINB times and frequencies. As I type… Leer más ›

Summer has transitioned to Autumn – or vice versa in the Southern Hemisphere. The seasons changed abruptly here in Northern Hemisphere, when a cold front brought cooler temperatures and gust winds. Tomorrow (Friday) I will walk three blocks for a… Leer más ›

The Mighty KBC moves to its winter frequency of 5960 kHz this weekend: UTC Sunday 0000-0200 UTC, Saturday evening in the Americas. See KBC section farther down in this email  … September is here. Here in the Washington DC area,… Leer más ›

Apologies if you were tuned in Sunday, August 14, 2330 UTC, 7730 kHz, and heard other content instead of Shortwave Radiogram. It was a problem in the WRMI automation system that WRMI is still trying to determine. Listeners were also… Leer más ›

It has been a noisy week here at the Elliott house. I’m not referring to RF noise. The chimney company was here to drill out the terra-cotta liners dating to 1941, when our house was built. New insulating materials were… Leer más ›

Last weekend I attended the annual meeting of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB). Even though NASB is an organization of private U.S. shortwave stations, the meeting was held at the headquarters of Radio Free Asia, a U.S. government… Leer más ›

Our Russian text experiment last weekend was successful, with the MFSK32 decoding 100% via an SDR in Russia despite the distance from our WINB and WRMI transmitters. This weekend, we will try another language: Turkish. Turkey’s decision to block the Turkish-language online… Leer más ›

Greetings and good luck to radio amateurs in North America who will be participating in the ARRL Field Day event, June 25 and 26. Let’s hope both space weather and terrestrial weather cooperate for everyone taking part in Field Day…. Leer más ›

One or more of the WINB transmissions might begin with the text “Welcome to program 186 of Shortwave Radiogram.” The show actually is program 258.  This error will not appear in the WRMI transmissions. The repeat broadcast last weekend is… Leer más ›

This weekend, we in the northeast USA will get our first taste of hot weather. Temperatures will be in the mid-90s F, or about 35C. We will quickly find out if our air conditioning keeps the radios and PCs cool… Leer más ›