Radio Tirana International, winter schedule update

All times UTC
German
1530-1600  daily 3985eu (ex 2030-2100) relayed via SWS-Germany
Italian
1500-1530  mtwhf 3985eu (ex 2130-2200) relayed via SWS-Germany
(WRTH 04 Feb)

World Radio TV Handbook Review-2019

published in the January issue of Spectrum Monitor e-magazine

World Radio TV Handbook 2019 Review

Gayle Van Horn 

The annual release of the World Radio TV Handbook is always an anticipated event for worldwide radio listener’s, both the casual program listener, or an enthusiastic radio aficionado.

This year’s 73^rd edition, begins with an editorial and preview by Nicholas Hardyman, Publisher. If you are in the market for a software-defined radio, two receivers will undoubtedly pique your interest. The recent release of WinRadio Excalibur Sigma has been awarded by WRTH as the best and most capable SDR on the market or perhaps the world.

If a budget-friendly hobby is required, consider the SDRPlay RSPDuro.In a lower price class, it was reviewed as a remarkable receiver for its functionality and would represent an excellent choice. Equally impressive is the review of the Airspy HF +, awarded Best Value in an SDR. Additional reviews include the Reuter RDR51 ‘Pocket’ receiver, and XHData D-808, an ‘ultra-portable’ radio, for its low-cost and small size AM and FM portable. Scanner fans in the market for a high-grade wideband hand-held scanning receiver, will find the Icom IC-R30 review, informative and recommended as a good contender to consider.

The Features section begins with HF Curtain Arrays. Written by former BBC Senior Transmitter Engineer, Dave Porter G4OYX, featuring a behind the scenes look at the history and development of classic HF broadcast antennas.

Freelance writer and active radio enthusiast, Hans Johnson, explores two radio stations entitled Broadcasting for Peace. Both stations, Dandal Kura Radio International, and Radio Ndarason International, share their goal to bring programming to a troubled region seeking peace.

YLE foreign news journalist and radio hobbyist Mike Mäkeläläinen, travels to the Marshall Islands national broadcaster, Radio Marshall Islands. The writer shares the latest from V7AB and the station’s future. Though a small station, Radio Marshall Islands transmits a very powerful voice which reaches far beyond the Pacific region.

A major new development in 2018, was the TWR Bonaire inauguration, as the most powerful radio station in the Western Hemisphere. Known as ‘Shine 800,’ the faith-based station broadcast from a new 440 kW transmitter. TWR Broadcast Engineer Dave Pedrsen outlines this massive project in the TWR Bonaire feature.

Closing the features section, is the annual round-up of digital broadcasting. This year’s edition investigates the distinctive characteristics of analogue and digital transmission systems. Predictions are that medium wave and FM broadcasting will remain viable to a world audience.

Ulf-Peter Hoppe, adjunct professor of physics, updates the annual HF Broadcasting Reception Conditions Expected During 2019. His predictions are for a good year of reception on the HF broadcasting bands.

The National Radio section includes domestic radio stations broadcasting to a national listening audience on medium wave, shortwave, FM and DAB. Listings are grouped by country and include frequencies, transmitter information, power kW, contact and website information.

The International Radio list the same information for international broadcasters, airing to a world listening audience.

Clandestine and Other Target Broadcast, cover stations broadcasting politically motivated programming, or those targeted at zones of local or regional conflicts. A one-page listing of Religious Broadcasters Cross Reference Table closes this section.

The Frequency List, includes by-frequency listings of world medium wave stations. SW Stations of the World, is a by-frequency listing of stations, followed by International Broadcasts in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, in a 24-hour UTC format. DRM International Broadcast, are 24-hour UTC listings of worldwide stations airing on DRM. Closing this section is the National Television listing information in country order.

Lastly, this edition contains an extensive Reference section of country indexes and codes, world transmitting sites, radio clubs, organizations and institutes, selected Internet resources, WRTH abbreviations and symbols. Additional information; Transmitter Sites (Location and Decode Tables) for international transmitter sites, Domestic SW Transmitter Sites, and Standard Time & Frequency Transmissions, containing contact information and schedules for worldwide time and frequency stations.

The 73^rd edition of World Radio TV Handbook, is a wealth of vital information for any radio or television hobbyist. It remains the most comprehensive exemplary reference book, and a must-have for your listening post. I highly recommend this excellent publication.

World Radio TV Handbook 2019, is available from the WRTH website http://www.wrth.com/

Universal Radio https://www.universal-radio.com/

Amazon http://www.amazon.com   

Global Radio Guide (Winter 2018-2019) Now Available at Amazon

Press Release:                                                                                                   

Teak Publishing Company 

P.O. Box 297

Brasstown NC 28902

 For Immediate Release   4 December 2018

Global Radio Guide (Winter 2018-2019) Now Available at Amazon

Older ham radio operators and radio listeners might remember a time when shortwave radio stations broadcast a nearly constant drumbeat of political propaganda during the Cold War years. Shortwave radio stations such as Radio Moscow, the Voice of America, and the BBC, to name a few, played an important ideological role during that confrontation between the East and West.

Once again, Global Radio broadcasters have moved to the front lines as the world’s major superpowers enter a new Cold War. As tensions heat up in the world’s hotspots such as eastern Europe, the Ukraine and Baltic States, the Middle East, and East Asia, you can follow international events on the radio, but you need an accurate and comprehensive radio guide to hear it.

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce the release of that important radio reference – the Global Radio Guide (GRG), 11th edition (Winter 2018-2019) ‘electronic’ book, by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn W4GVH. The book was formerly known as the International Shortwave Broadcast Guide.

If you want to get in on the action, then this Amazon 'electronic' book is your ticket to travel the Global Radio bands. The heart of this publication is a 24-hour station/frequency guide with Winter 2018-2019 schedules for selected medium wave and all known longwave/shortwave radio stations.

This unique resource is the only radio publication that has by-hour schedules that includes all language services, frequencies and world target areas for over 500 broadcast stations. It has a listing of DX radio programs and Internet websites addresses for many of the stations listed in the book. There are also listings for standard time and frequency stations, and even a few intriguing spy numbers station listings.

New in the 11th edition of the GRG is a feature, The Battle of the Airwaves in Cuba by Gayle (W4GVH) and Larry (N5FPW) Van Horn. This comprehensive feature covers the historic as well as an ongoing war over the airwaves between the U.S. and Cuba. Included are listings of AM/FM/Shortwave broadcast stations in Cuba, US stations beaming to Cuba and an extensive listing of Cuban Internet broadcast audio feeds.

Other authors with feature articles in this edition include The Spectrum Monitor’s Fred Waterer, from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, with a feature on winter radio programming and shortwave broadcast authority Hans Johnson with an update on DRM broadcasting worldwide.

There is a fascinating feature by former VOA audience research analyst and producer of the Shortwave Radiogram, Dr. Kim Andrew Elliott, PhD. KD9XB, on how to monitor shortwave radiogram broadcasts. Veteran journalist (editor and writer for Popular Communications, WorldRadio Online, and CQ Amateur Radio magazines) Richard Fisher KI6SN, has penned a fascinating feature on hearing the World of Shortwave and Mediumwave Broadcast stations using Amazon Echo Dot devices.

Spectrum Monitor e-zine columnist and feature writer Larry Van Horn has a feature on Who’s Who in the Shortwave Radio Spectrum that will assist the reader in monitoring Global Radio activity outside the broadcast radio spectrum. This article also includes an updated Teak Publishing HF 1000+ non-broadcast frequency list.

The 11^th edition of the Global Radio Guide e-Book (electronic book only, no print edition available) is available worldwide from Amazon and their various international websites at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L3RYTPG.

The price for this latest edition is US$8.49. Since this book is being released internationally, Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order this e-Book from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. Customers in all other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website to purchase this e-Book.

You can read any Kindle e-Book with Amazon’s ‘free’ reading apps on literally any electronic media platform. You do not have to own a Kindle reader from Amazon to read this e-book. There are Kindle apps available for iOS, Android, Mac and PC platforms. You can find additional details on these apps by checking out this link to the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

Additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books can be found on the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Shortwave Central (http://mtshortwave.blogspot.com/),

The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), and The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/). You can learn more about the author by going to her author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/GayleVan-Horn/e/B0084MVQCM/.

Global Radio listeners are routinely entertained with unique perspectives to events, music, culture, history, and news from other countries that you won’t see or hear on your local or national broadcast channels. Global Radio broadcasts are not restricted by country borders or oceans and can travel thousands of miles, reaching millions of listeners worldwide, now in over 300 different languages and dialects. You do not need to own a shortwave radio to monitor many of these global radio broadcasts.

Listeners can easily hear shortwave broadcast stations from China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, North/South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and many other counties. If you have a shortwave radio receiver or Internet connection, and this unique radio resource, you will know when and where to listen to your favorite radio broadcast station.

The new Global Radio Guide e-book will have wide appeal to amateur radio operators, shortwave radio hobbyists, news agencies, news buffs, educators, foreign language students, expatriates, or anyone else interested in listening to a global view of world news and major events as they happen.