* Canada: The low powered CFRX is back on the air again with 1 kW on 6070 kHz. This shortwave station was off the air for two years, while new equipment was obtained and installed. After it was re-activated, electronic problems occurred and the transmitter was shipped back to New York for refurbishing. It has since been re-delivered to Toronto and re-installed at the mediumwave location. The signal nowadays is quite weak in the United States due to a beam orientation for listeners in Canada. Signal fade in can be heard best around sunrise.
* South Pacific: In both New Zealand and Australia, low power FM & AM stations continue to multiply. David Ricquish in the New Zealand DX Times states that there are 430 LPFM stations actively on the air throughout New Zealand. In Australia, the Christian organization, Vision FM, is licensed for more than 400 low power AM stations.
* QSL Cards: In recent time, several QSL cards have brought very high prices on Ebay. A QSL card issued on Pitcairn Island for the amateur radio station that was in use for a short while with the relay of broadcast programming back to the United States in 1938 sold for $402. This card was printed with the two callsigns PITC and VR6A, and the letter Y was added in red ink, thus making the amateur callsign into VR6AY. Two QSL cards acknowledging the amateur station AC4NC in Tibet in 1940 sold for very high prices. One was bought at $3,800 and another at $3,000.
* China: And while we are talking about high prices, the New Zealand DX Times reports a very high price for postage on a QSL card back in the middle of last century. The card was from station XPRA and the postage was marked at $2,300,000.00. This exorbitant figure is of course in Chinese dollars, as they were at the time, and it reflects the impact of runaway inflation.
* North American Radio Magazines: Three radio magazines have undergone changes in recent time. Radio World for the professional is now re-designed in a more modern style, though the total number of pages is diminished.
WorldRadio for the amateur was bought by CQ Publications, which includes Popular Communications, and it is has been modernized, but is available only on the internet. (cq-amateur-radio.com)
Listening In from the Ontario DX Association is now no longer in print. However, the various columns and regular radio information is still available, via the internet. (odxa.on.ca)
* Dominican Republic: The 1 kW shortwave station, Radio Amanecer HIAJ in Santo Domingo is back on the air again and has been heard in many areas of the United States and Europe. Their operating channel is 6025 kHz and their beam orientation is approximately west.
* England: The American radio magazine, Popular Communications, reports that a woman in England has been taken to court for the non-payment of music fees. She has been operating a small radio station that broadcasts classical music into the horse barn to soothe restless horses.
* USA: In somewhat recent times, several shortwave stations in the United States have been closed, and new ones are opening. Here is a summary of these significant events:-
Stations closed
WHRI Indianapolis Indiana; 2 transmitters @ 100 kW moved to WHRA Greenbush, Maine & WHRI Cypress Creek, South Carolina
KAIJ Dallas Texas; facility demolished a while back
KTBN Salt Lake City Utah; 1 @ 100 kW removed and installed at Caribbean Beacon, Anguilla
KWHR Naalehu Hawaii; 1 transmitter at 100 kW transferred to T8WH Palau, South Pacific
WBOH Newport, North Carolina; removed from service, Oct 31, ailing 50 kW transmitter
WMLK Bethel Pennsylvania; 50 kW, currently off the air due to equipment damage
WJIE Upton Kentucky; all four transmitters still in place, but inactive
WWBS Macon Georgia; closed at death of owner some time ago, and apparently abandoned
WHRA Greenbush Maine; closed recently & dismantled, frequencies transferred to WHRI
New shortwave stations
KNLS Anchor Point, Alaska; additional 100 kW transmitter installed
Leap of Faith Radio, Lebanon Tennessee; may be already testing on air
WJHR Milton, Florida; It is planned that this station will operate only in the SSB mode, Single Side Band, and the project seems to be a transfer of a Construction Permit for an earlier shortwave station that was planned for Pensacola in Florida. We should also note that the projected callsign, WJHR, is already in use for two stations elsewhere, on AM & FM.
KIMF Pino New Mexico; seems to have been deleted before it was constructed
KTMI Albany & Lebanon, Oregon; They stated that they were ready to begin operations, but apparently they have been deleted.
(NWS 40 via Adrian Peterson AWR)
