Quick [video] introduction to shortwave radio listening

Peter Parker, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, today posted a video primer on Shortwave Radio Listening: Quick introduction to shortwave radio listening.

In his video, Peter explains the basics of the shortwave bands, how radio waves get from the transmitter to the receiver, and shows a few ideas for outside antennas. Peter also demonstrates what broadcasts sound like when received. As you’ll see, the audio is not like a local FM station.

In writing about shortwave listening, my thoughts generally have been about Christians receiving Christian broadcasts with out internet or local stations broadcasts. In a quick trip across the bands, I mentioned a programs featuring talk radio and music. There are other ways that shortwave broadcasting is used today, as it has been for many years. This article, while a bit technical, explains how pro-democracy groups are beaming broadcasts to Chine, to citizens that are generally not able to hear anything but China propaganda: How Dissidents Are Using Shortwave Radio to Broadcast News Into China.

Then there are the Pirates. Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license–Wikipedia. There are some famous, or infamous depending on one’s viewpoint, pirate stations. While the name pirate may sound sinister, not all are such.

“Pirate radio in the UK first became widespread in the early 1960s when pop music stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London started to broadcast on medium wave to the UK from offshore ships or disused sea forts. At the time, these stations were not illegal because they were broadcasting from international waters. The stations were set up by entrepreneurs and music enthusiasts to meet the growing demand for pop and rock music, which was not catered for by BBC Radio services.” Wikipedia.

BBC pretty much had a monopoly on radio in the UK then. And the Brits wanted to listen to Rock Music. I can’t imagine being in London and not even being able to listen to the Beatles. Stranger still, the British government required citizens to have a permit to receive broadcasts, even if those broadcasts were from the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). If that isn’t enough, the permits excluded listening to certain stations, such as the pirate radio stations.

That reminds me of the many WWII movies I’ve watched that included as scene in which Nazis confiscated radios. And if radio transmitters were found, well, the owners were murdered.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Are You Filled. . .

. . . With Sap and Green?

A Psalm (92). A Song for the Sabbath.

1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,

3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.

4 For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

5 How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!

6 The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this:

7 that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;

8 but you, O LORD, are on high forever.

9 For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.

10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over mea fresh oil.

11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.

14They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,

15 to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Questionable Broadcast Content

This evening I hung a wire indoors between two windows and wrapped one end around the antenna on my amateur radio hand-held radio–the one that also receives shortwave broadcasts.

I tuned around and found a lot of Spanish-language stations, a women interviewing another woman about Jazz with a Chinese element added, and then an Adventist Radio broadcast. I looked for some of the Christian broadcasts that I’d read about. Then I came to an announcer talking about tomorrow’s rally in Washington, D.C. I looked up the frequency that I’d tuned on shortwave station locator app on my android cell phone. It was from WWCQ, broadcasting from the State of Maine. This broadcast was on 7420 KHz (7.420MHz).

I’d heard a bit about this broadcaster; mostly that air time was reasonably priced and open to anyone who wants an hour on the air. The website for WWCQ posts its broadcast schedule. The program I’d tuned into turned out to be Jeffrey Daugherty’s UNidoctrinate Yourself. According to his website, which is subtitled “The Christian Whistleblower,” Mr. Daugherty is a former Christian minister of twenty years as well as a graduate of a Bible College. He also, according to the website, has over 100,000 hours of studying the Bible.

Mr. Daugherty’s experience and study “bring credibility to his stating that the bible keeps people locked in a Fear & Guilt Blood-Magick Mind Control Matrix. Mr. Daugherty will help “UNindoctrinate regarding Religion, ‘Scientific’ fallacies and the accepted Historical record–and to CREATE YOURSELF and live the life you’ll love through White Dianetics.”

Y’all see any red flags?

Pretty obvious, I’d say. But not everyone is so openly non-Christian. That’s exactly why Pastor Li (see previous article on JonahzSong Christian Fellowship is Booming; Zooming) said “there could be problems as believers became increasingly reliant on online materials that had been shared by sources from around the world. There had been cases in which believers “wrongly interpreted” certain concepts or became misled by cults that had elements of Christianity.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Making Waves; Warming Clouds

When I was a kid, my family headed to Fort Leavenworth where Dad was to attend the Command and General Staff College. Crossing the desert we went many miles with nothing but static on the AM radio in the station wagon. It’s not that way anymore. Any one with XM satellite radio can listen to a wide selection of music, talk radio, news, and the Family Radio (Christian broadcasting) channel from coast to coast without interruption.

There was a time in the States when cars had another band in addition to AM called MF, which is a shortwave band. That ceased in the early 1950s when, allegedly, politicians didn’t want Americans to easily be able to listen to broadcasts from Communist Russia. Unlike the AM and FM radios, shortwave radios are able to receive broadcasts from around the world.

As technology changed giving us the internet and satellite radio, many people thought that shortwave broadcasting would drop off through disuse. It hasn’t. What I’ve noticed is that over the past year, with folks staying at home, there’s been a renewed interest in shortwave reception.

One of the first shortwave broadcasts I listened to is HCJB. “1931–On Christmas Day, the HCJB Radio Station begins transmitting with 200 watts of power from a remodeled sheep barn north of Quito. The broadcast was a combination of Spanish and English, and the program christened the HCJB Radio Station “La Voz de los Andes”, and included the hymn “Grande es Tu fidelidad,” according to its website.

In addition to expanding it’s transmission of the Christian message, it provided small receivers to enable people to listen to the broadcasts. Today, HCJB has a global reach in many languages, assists other organizations in establishing broadcast stations, and trains broadcasters. Unfortunately, from what I was able to find, HCJB no longer has English-language broadcasts to North America. It does have one in Australia, which might be possible to receive as the sunspot cycle returns to its highs.

There are other stations with broadcasts in English, and that are located in the States. One is WWCR, broadcasting from Nashville, TN. An example of a program it broadcasts is Truth For Life with Pastor Alistair Begg of Parkside Church. That program is broadcast at 8 am CT on 15.835 MHz (That’s in the 19 meter shortwave band.)

What does it take to receive these shortwave broadcasts? Looking on Amazon, for instance, there are still a number of reasonably priced shortwave receivers available. The cheapest at around $50 probably won’t work well. For $149 and up to $200, there are some that may work well. Like most electronics the sky’s the limit as far as cost. While the higher end receivers are going to be better in receiving, they also have many “bells and whistles” added.

A quick introduction to using one of these receivers. While many have short antennas attached to them, similar to the old AM-FM radios we used to take to the beach, they won’t really work all that well. Like the days of rural living and trying to get a TV station from the big city, it takes an antenna outside the house to work best. It can be a simple wire connected to the receiver and strung outside through a window stretched to a tree, for instance.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Notes:

If interested in shortwave broadcast listing, called Shortwave Listening (SWL) there are a number of websites devoted to it. SWLing is but one of them.

Here’s a Wikipedia article: Shortwave Broadcasting in the United States, that may be of interest. I contains a listing of broadcasters, including some Christian.

With one of my hand-held amateur radios I was able to receive a few stations using the antenna on it. They were weak. I hope to find some time, perhaps use some saved during daylight savings time, and toss a wire out the window for a go at it. I do hope the HOA board doesn’t see it and complain.

I mentioned some ideas for local, small-church pastors to connect to their congregations apart from the internet. I’m working on that. Sorry.

Church in the Time of Covid

Church services, as well all know, have been disrupted for most of this year. While the internet certainly has offered a wonderful way for Bible teaching and preaching, it is not the only one. Additionally, watching or even listening to a church service via the internet is not available to all.

Pastor James, SlimJim, wrote about the need for equipping church members with the means to receive internet church here: Donate Electronic Device so At-Risk Members can have Church service online.

How have other churches reached their members apart from the internet? I’d like to hear about it. Please comment.

When Parkside Church began limited services at the end of August, it did so outside. Church was on the grass, with families physically distanced (don’t you like that term better than socially distanced? Courtesy of a Minnesota Epidemiologist.) Those who chose could simply park in the parking lot and listen. What, open windows and try to hear? No. On their car/truck radios.

Using a very low power FM transmitter is legal for use in the United States. Not all low-power transmitters on the AM and FM broadcast band that are sold on Amazon are actually legal, as they are not “Type Accepted” by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC regulates broadcasts over the air in America.

Parkside’s transmission of a Sunday evening service to the parking lot was probably stretching the distance for which these low-power transmitters are useful. Of course, that’s the idea. License-free broadcasting is designed for a very limited use, also limiting its interference capabilities.

Some American manufacturers claim their products reach much farther, even a couple miles. However, this is pretty misleading, as the specifications by the FCC are such that the transmitters are not capable of such range. In fact, they must produce only the most minimal received signal at even 200 feet. Parked in a car under 200 feet from the church, the service might be heard, if the transmitter is legal in the US.

So Parkside, for instance, isn’t going to be able to broadcast throughout its community using its FM transmitter.

Pastor James might be able use a transmitter like this to reach at-risk members of his congregation, but only if they park in front of the church. This is possible. However, during the Spring, in Michigan, just parking in a parking lot was “illegal,” and subject to law enforcement action.

So, any other ways to reach out without internet?

The FCC has opened up a pathway for community broadcast stations. The licensing fees aren’t cheap, but much cheaper than commercial broadcast licensing, which is hard to get and can cost in the millions of dollars. Unfortunately, these community broadcast licenses aren’t all that easy to obtain either. From what I’ve read, the application process and review by the FCC is difficult, usually requiring experienced legal teams. And then there is the FCC review process, making it more difficult.

Two long-standing ways to broadcast a sermon are “buying air time” on local radio and television stations. Radio is by far cheaper. In Susanville, CA, in 1985-86, Lassen County Christians made thirty-second public service announcements (PSA) to reach out Christian messages. Local churches aired their sermons on Sunday morning. And larger churches in more populated cities had their Sunday service broadcast on a local television station.

For the last twenty something years I’ve not watched TV over the air, having subscribed to either cable TV or Satellite TV. These days, my wife and moved entirely to internet use. Perhaps there are some Sunday church services that are viewable in your area. As for the local radio broadcast stations near me, there two FM stations that broadcast exclusively Christian content, one mostly music, while the other does broadcast syndicated content from the large ministries.

Would a local radio station broadcast a pastor’s Sunday service, like back in the days before internet? Might be worth asking. However, it’s not going to be cheap. It’s not going to be affordable to a small church pastor that just wants to make sure his people are able to at least hear the Sunday Word.

Any other ideas? Yes. Next time, L-RD willin’

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Christian Fellowship is Booming; Zooming

Last Easter, in China, “Pastor Chen broke the bread and held the wine as he gave his blessings, following the Good Friday Holy Communion tradition that has been celebrated by Christians around the world for centuries – except there was no one to distribute the bread and wine to.”

That was the lead in an article in South China Morning Post titled: Underground Christians in China use faith and tech to reach out to followers at Easter amid Covid-19 crisis.

“In China, church groups have turned to WeChat and Zoom for their services since late January after religious gatherings were banned as part of the strict social distancing rules imposed to contain the virus,” the article continued. “The internet has provided a space for Christian communities to grow their congregations in a country where the government has intensified religious persecution and imposed stricter rules for managing churches.”

One pastor has not “not acquired a license from the government to live-stream or release records of its services, such as a few big state-approved churches in Shanghai and Beijing have done. It therefore relies on sending its congregation internet links to streamed services from other official churches and Bible schools in China.”

The pastor “also said there could be problems as believers became increasingly reliant on online materials that had been shared by sources from around the world. There had been cases in which believers “wrongly interpreted” certain concepts or became misled by cults that had elements of Christianity. And it could be more challenging for some elderly churchgoers to rely on a mobile device for access to church life than it was for younger people, Li said.”

Zoom is not the only way churches are able to deliver sermons to their congregations. Both FaceBook and YouTube are, and have been used, to reach out through the internet.

In Cleveland, Pastor Alistair Begg of Parkside Church has seen an increasing number of people from through America and from other countries tune in to his Sunday services posted on YouTube. Yesterday’s morning service can be viewed on YouTube here: Abner–The King Maker.

For the last couple of years Holy Trinity Christian Church in Alpharetta, GA, USA, has posted its Wednesday Noon Bible Study online live on FaceBook.

Another Georgia church, Calvary Chapel of Alpharetta, posts its Sunday service on YouTube. Yesterday’s service is here: Appearances. Pastor Blake also uses Zoom, having held a “Mens Breakfast” on Sunday afternoon.

These three methods are examples of ways in which churches are able to fellowship online. Each seems to have its on set of advantages and disadvantages. Both FaceBook and YouTube have a section that allows those who “tune in” to make comments, or not, as they please. These two methods seem to be well suited to Sermons where a large number of people will watch. Zoom is more interactive. As I understand it, each participant is seen in a small window within the larger browser window. This seems very well suited to small discussion groups, such as Bible Studies and small-group fellowships.

There are other ways for Pastors to get their sermons to their members. And they don’t involve the internet. L-RD willin’ that will be my next post.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

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Is there a Moses in the House?

7 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” Exodus 32.

11 But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. Exodus 32.

Our Future

1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
3 The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad.

4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negeb!
5 Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalm 126

A Song of David; A Song for us

To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith A Psalm of David.
1 Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the LORD;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.

7 You, O LORD, will keep them;
you will guard usb from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

Psalm 12