World Radio Tv Handbook 2009 [antikvár]

FEATURES MjinmniM Editorial NEW WAVES Welcome to the 63rd edition of WRTH. We have once again worked hard to produce the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to global broadcasting available in the world. We hope you will agree that, with the help of our large team of contributors, we have certainly succeeded in this noble objective. We are sad to say that one of our longest-serving contributors has decided that this will be the last edition to which he will contribute. Olle Aim's first contribution was the North American frequency list in the 1971 edition. He then, at the request of Mr Jens Frost, took over responsibility for National radio for USA, Canada, Alaksa and Hawaii. His remit widened in future editions to include the Soviet bloc and East and South-East Asia. We are indebted to him for his dedication and hard work in providing accurate and up-to-date information over the past 38 years. This year in the equipment reviews our attention has been focussed on two of the newer forms of receiver technology. We review two of the best SDRs we have yet seen, and also explore the world of internet radio and examine two high-grade wi-fi units. All were tested using new antennas from WinRadio and Wellbook. Following last year's examination of the Racal RA1792, which drew many appreciative comments, we take a brief look this year at one of its rarer predecessors, the RA1778. BAND REALLOCATION The World Radiocommunications Conference of 2003 (WRC-03) seems a long time ago but one of its conclusions is planned to be implemented in 2009. Broadcasting stations in Regions 1 and 2 will leave the 7100-7200kHz band from 29 March 2009, and these frequencies will be made available to radio amateurs. The broadcasting bands in Regions 1 and 3 will become 7200-7450kHz, bringing these regions more in line with the broadcasting band in Region 2 of 7300-7400kHz. This sensible move was no doubt timed to take place after the beginning of Cycle 24 when Increased sunspot activity would enable broadcasters to make use of the higher frequencies and make the transition easier to manage. Unfortunately, according to NASA and other authorities, those who count sunspots have announced that 2008 is now the quietest year of the Space Age. As of the end of September, the sun had had no visible sunspots on 200 days of the year. The last year with more blank days was in 1954, three years before the launch of the Sputnik satellite. We can only hope that increased solar activity soon comes to the aid of HF broadcasters and DXers alike. HF BROADCASTING Our views on the continuing need for HF broadcasting are well known. In this context we were alarmed to hear that the BBG was going against the wish of Congress and terminating the VGA Hindi service. With a large number of existing listeners it can be argued that shortwave is a more cost-effective medium than the internet. In any event, as George Woodward, one-time head of engineering at the IBB, so succinctly put it, "The US government can afford shortwave radio". WEB UPDATES We will be publishing updates to the BOB season in January 2009 and the full schedules for the A09 season in May 2009. We will also continue to provide updates to the National Radio section on the WRTHmonitor page on the site We were unfortunately not able to implement FMXtra on the WRTH website in 2008, but we hope to do so in the coming year once various technical problems have been overcome. We would welcome FM updates from readers. PRIZE DRAW RESULTS These winners were again drawn by members of the British DX Club. RESULTS OF THE WRTH 2008 PRIZE DRAW First prize: the Palstar MWS50P FIRST PRIZE D Gascoyne, UK RUNNERS-UP PRIZES (Copies of WRTH 2009) G Franceschini, Italy C Tiago, Australia V Vincenzo, Italy A Dean, UK R Harris, USA I hope you enjoy reading and using this edition of WRTH Nicholas Hardyman Publisher