The Media Network Vintage Vault 2026-2027

Radio Canada International has announced a possible deal with South Korea to relay programmes into China. Next edition of RN's booklist is out. Jeff White reports on Radio Clarin in the Dominican republic. The crystal for 9950 kHz has just arrived! Dr John Campbell explains why reception in the Pacific seems to be better. Indonesian stations are also disappearing from shortwave. Victor Goonetilleke has been observing test transmissions All India Radio Bangalore. We also hear about the rise of local radio in Finland from Kauto Houpio. Dr Kim Andrew Elliott reports on TV Marti which will be part of VOA. VOA Tibetan has also been announced as a new language. We conclude with a piece of direction-finding Asian Broadcasting Institute who tracked down a couple of clandestines beaming into North Korea.

The programme starts with an international radio film review. That includes the parody Top Secret. Paul Hunter of KVOH in Van Nuys, CA says that testing has started at his station. Radio Station Peace and Progress seems to have inherited staff from an Iranian clandestine. Andy Sennitt reports that some Florida stations like WQVA are asking US government for compensation. Radio Antilles is now on 5955 kHz. AWR Forli has suspended operations. INFODUTCH feature on the FIDO bulletin board. Dr.John Campbell explained how Prolog works. A new station BBC Essex is testing on mediumwave. Dynamic Carrier Control is being adopted by the BBC to save money on transmission power. Mark Warner has left the Voice of Peace. Late-night pornographic TV broadcasts may be coming from a mining site in Australia.

The programme starts with some of the furthest contacts made during the PA6FLD event the previous weekend from the Flevo transmitting site. The new facility is nearly ready for full operation. Hans Bakhuizen has written a computer program to help people tune in to the broadcasts. It is written BASICODE. Richard Ginbey reports changes from Angola in the African Media News. Lusaka is back on the air. Nic Newman reports from London on the development of community radio stations. The idea is to license some of the pirates. We review the World Radio TV Handbook for 1985. There may be more offshore stations in the North Sea shortly. Radio Time from Italy is being heard.

We may have passed the sunspot minimum as cycle 21 comes to an end. Charles Z. Wick head of the USIA reports that the Soviets have offered to stop jamming. The US wants mediumwave access is the Soviet Union. The soviets have also stopped jamming Radio Tirana and Radio Peking. Rudi Hill of Radio New Zealand International is annoyed that the country's external service only gets one page in a very expensive Royal Commission report. A Dutch group is trying to raise money for clandestine radio stations. Media for Resistance movements, including EPLF, Eritrea, as well as El Salvador, Philippines, and East Timor. Victor Goonetilleke reports a strange pre-echo on BBC transmissions at his location in Sri Lanka. Arthur Cushen visited us in the studio to discuss work on his new book called The World in My Ears. Trevor Brook of Surrey Electronics announces plans for his own shortwave radio station. We close with propagation news.

A travelogue to the 1988 Dayton Hamvention in Ohio. Some 30,000 ham radio enthusiasts head for the disused airfield on the outskirts of the city. Grove Enterprises showed off the SR-1000 prototype. Fred Osterman of Universal Radio explained his new book about shortwave receivers past and present. We also learned that the VOA is to mothball its transmitter site in Dixon, California. There are alarming reports of DOD laboratories in the US are doing tests with Electro-Magnetic Pulses. We also look at early experiments with Packet Radio with Ben Kobb.

This programme focuses on the mysterious world of spy number stations, a topic which frequently came up in the early Media Network programmes. One of the most interesting editions included an extensive interview with the author "Havana Moon" who we were able to contact on condition we didn't reveal his location or name. Some say he was William Godbey who died in 1996. That is supposed to be his photo. "Spy Numbers Transmissions" are a shortwave oddity which have been around for the last 70+ years. In 1989 they were commonly heard in English, German, Spanish and the Slavic languages and took the form of four and five-digit groups of numbers which were preceded by a three-digit "identifier" and a "group count" which corresponds to the number of number groups transmitted in the crypt. They are generally broadcast by a mechanical-sounding female announcer, although Morse code (CW) "cut number" transmissions are also frequently reported. The "who" and "why" aspects of these transmissions are, for the most part, unknown. Their mysterious nature has resulted in their common characterization as 'spy' transmissions. The spy theory has been enhanced over the years by the FCC's inconsistent position in response to numerous inquiries by the Shortwave Listening community. In regards the "where" - a number of sites have been identified in recent years, notably in Warrenton and Remington, VA and Miami, FL. In addition, with the aid of sophisticated (radio direction finding) equipment and the invaluable assistance of highly authoritative and professional resources, several new transmission sites have been positively identified, including sites in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba and Cozumel.

I remember recording this edition of the programme very late at night in the hotel room. I made the recordings on a UHER 4000 and spent about 3 hours cutting tape with a razor blade and splicing block. I recall that EDXC didn't get too much support from Radio France that year, so they resorted to holding it in a rather dodgy hotel. When I got back to my car, all four tyres had been spiked and we had to pay a local garage a small fortune to tow the car and repair things. The programme starts with progress on France's first direct broadcast satellite TDF-1. In the end, the whole project was eclipsed by the Astra satellite. We were at the very beginning of connecting a computer to control a shortwave radio. I spoke with the late Kjell Stroem of Yaesu who was clear that this was the future. Roger Ellis of Japan Radio Company said the 1985 turnover of the company was 450 million dollars. We spoke to Larry Magne in PA, USA who had published a series of test reviews. They had the RDI NRD-525 and an overview of how to judge specifications. Jeff White had news to report about Radio Discovery. George Wood of Radio Sweden explained about the DXers Guide to Computing and why they had to charge $3 for it. Andy Sennitt updates us on the WRTH 40th anniversary. He reports hearing the clandestine Radio Iran on 9400 kHz. Roland Paget the conference organiser said there were 170 participants. Mike Bird concludes with the propagation report.

This is an early Media Network in which John Campbell reports that Radio Liberation, the voice of Chilean Resistance, has been trying some guerrilla broadcasting by breaking into the audio of several sports networks during football matches. Radio Delmare in Belgium has become more audible. There was a promo for PA6PCJ, with a special ham radio station operating from the station building. I remember co-hosting some of the broadcasts on April 30th together with Grant Coburn. We review the Moscow Muffler, designed to improve reception when the Russian Over the Horizon station in Ukraine was active. We talk to Mike Lamb on a rather ropey line to Lynwood, WA to ask him how it works. There was a fascinating interview with David Harris who was technical director of Radio Botswana in Gabarone. In 1985, shortwave was the only viable way to serve such a huge country. VOA has also benefitted. David was quite critical of DXers who were sending in useless reports and therefore decided NOT to QSL foreign reports. The programme concludes with Richard Ginbey who reports Voice of the Gospel via Moyabi, Gabon. Stations are opening in Nigeria. Paris Calling Africa from RFI is expanding its English output. We concluded with an interview with Henri Remmers who claimed this new satellite programme called Holland on Satellite was reaching 6 Million viewers. This marketing exercise didn't last long, despite a contest to win a trip to the Netherlands. Feedback on this programme or the collection welcome to [email protected]

This is an early Media Network in which John Campbell reports that Radio Liberation, the voice of Chilean Resistance, has been trying some guerrilla broadcasting by breaking into the audio of several sports networks during football matches.  Radio Delmare in Belgium has become more audible. There was a promo for PA6PCJ, with a special ham radio station operating from the station building. I remember co-hosting some of the broadcasts on April 30th together with Grant Coburn. We review the Moscow Muffler, designed to improve reception when the Russian Over the Horizon station in Ukraine was active. We talk to Mike Lamb on a rather ropey line to Lynwood, WA to ask him how it works. There was a fascinating interview with David Harris who was technical director of Radio Botswana in Gabarone. In 1985, shortwave was the only viable way to serve such a huge country. VOA has also benefitted. David was quite critical of DXers who were sending in useless reports and therefore decided Not to QSL foreign reports. The programme concludes with Richard Ginbey who reports Voice of the Gospel via Moyabi, Gabon. Stations are opening in Nigeria. Paris Calling Africa from RFI is expanding its English output. We concluded with an interview with Henri Remmers who claimed this new satellite programme called Holland on Satellite was reaching 6 Million viewers. This marketing exercise didn’t last long, despite a contest to win a trip to the Netherlands.

As we enter Media Network's 19 years on the wireless, and 5 years on the Internet, it's time to share a few anecdotes on how the programme is made. Diana asked Jonathan whether production of Media Network was a full-time job, we solve the mystery when Radio Netherlands and Radio Sweden were swapped around, we remember PA6FLD in February 1985, how did Jonathan build on the heritage of DX Juke Box, How Victor Goonetilleke discovered a new station from Baghdad before the official monitoring stations and the philosophy behind the jingles. We also reviewed a new Worldspace Sanyo DSB-WS1000 after a visit to a mall in South Africa. We encountered some challenges with this radio. We concluded this was a rather expensive way to pick up the BBC Radio, Kaya FM. But the 4-inch satellite dish is not weather-proof. We predicted that Worldspace will be the next Iridium. Feedback on this programme or the collection welcome to [email protected]