Two international radio listeners plead guilty, and other shortwave in the news.

"A former State Department official and his wife have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from their roles in a 30-year conspiracy to provide classified U.S. national defense information to the Republic of Cuba. ... During the time frame in which Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers were serving as clandestine agents for Cuba, the CuIS [Cuban Intelligence Service] often communicated with its clandestine agents in the United States by broadcasting encrypted radio messages from Cuba on shortwave radio frequencies. Clandestine agents in the United States monitoring the frequency on shortwave radio could decode the messages using a decryption program provided by CuIS. Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers communicated with CuIS by this method. The shortwave radio they used to receive clandestine communications was purchased with money provided by CuIS. The shortwave radio was later recovered by the FBI." FBI/Department of Justice press release, 20 November 2009.
     "How did bandleaders in New York keep up with what was going on in Cuba? RS: I remember Tito Rodriguez had a Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder hooked up to a shortwave radio, and he picked up on everything being played in Havana that night. So the next night, by the time the band played, he'd know everything that was hot coming out of Cuba [laughs]." Saxophonist-arranger Ray Santos interviewed by Marc Myers, All About Jazz, 22 November 2009.
     When the BBC Film An Anarchist's Story: The Life of Ethel Macdonald was released in 2006 it came as a bolt from the blue, bringing to light two events, both greatly hidden from history. The first was the experience of the Spanish Revolution of 1936, the second the involvement of a hitherto obscure political activist in that revolution. In a reversal of the usual pattern, journalist Chris Dolan's book has now appeared based upon the research he and others undertook for the screenplay. ... It was from Barcelona that Ethel sent her reports on the Spanish political situation to not only the revolutionary press but the Bellshill Speaker and the Evening Times. And it was from a Barcelona studio that she spoke to the world via short wave Barcelona Radio, station of the CNT. Dolan refers to Ethel's international audience, which stretched to the United States, and offers extracts from her speeches. Her frustration with the lack of action on the part of the international working class in solidarity with their Spanish brothers and sisters comes across strongly. The high profile which her broadcasts attracted brought Ethel not only to the attention of the listening world but political enemies in Spain itself." Review by Declan McCormick, Infoshop News, 18 November 2009.
     "Thanks to the latest Hollywood film Pirate Radio, Steve Young, who used to work the Kelowna airwaves back on CKOV 630 AM in the 1970s, is reliving one of the most fascinating times of his life. ... 'In 1965, I went to England to retrace my roots but had no concept of getting a job on a pirate station,' Young says. 'But a friend of mine from Calgary came to England and looked me up; he was going to get a job on one of the pirate stations. Weeks later he phoned me and told me about Radio Caroline. He gave me the name of production director Tom Lodge, and a week later I was hired.' Young was living his dream on the ship, as this thrilling vocation was something he always aspired to – even as a young child. 'I used to listen to all these shortwave stations from faraway places as a kid and tried to get a sense of the world beyond what we had on the prairies. I’d say to myself, "This is so exciting, this is what it’s all about." I’d lie there with my head back… it took you away from your existing life and took you to all these great places,' he says." Mark Stone, Kelowna.com (BC), 20 November 2009.
     "DXing.com subtitles itself 'The Web Resource for Radio Hobbyists.' It is a service of Universal Radio Inc., a radio reseller in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Consider yourself forewarned but the site is quite nonpromotional. Reflecting the minimalist aspect of shortwave and DXing, the main page is lacking in contemporary design panache. However subpages can offer many pictures of receivers/radios, old and new." Radio World, 19 November 2009.
     American Radio Relay League "Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, once termed the battle of Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) in Manassas, Virginia as the 'Third Battle of Bull Run.' While the war against harmful interference to Amateur Radio via BPL is not yet over, the battle in Manassas might soon be coming to an end. In a Special Meeting on Monday, November 16 of the Manassas City Council, the Council voted 'To allow the [City of Manassas] Utility Commission to make a recommendation to the [Manassas] City Manager as part of the FY 2011 Budget regarding the decision to continue offering Internet service; additionally, staff was instructed to discontinue all marketing and advertising of Internet service.' This motion passed 4-2. ... According to ARRL Lab Manager and BPL expert Ed Hare, W1RFI, the only way that BPL can avoid causing harmful interference to licensed radio services 'is to have sufficient filtering of the BPL signal on locally used spectrum. State-of-the-art BPL equipment can achieve 35 dB of filtering easily. This level of suppression of BPL noise has been shown to be a good general solution to avoid widespread interference problems. In residential areas, it is common to find people using Amateur Radio, Citizens Band and international shortwave broadcast spectrum.'" ARRL, 19 November 2009. Posted: 24 Nov 2009 Permalink Print