Anyone who listened regularly to the shortwaves back in the 1970s knew about Gilfer Associates of Park Ridge, New Jersey. They were a source of books, gadgets, and radios supporting the SWL habit. The company was run by Oliver P. (Perry) Ferrell and his wife, Jeanne. Perry was at one time the Editor of Popular Electronics Magazine.
I came across this recent blog post by Susan Ito, a former employee. It paints a nice picture of what is was like to work for the Ferrells as an after school employee.
Remember the Voice of America? It presented an American point of view to the world and helped the West to win the cold war in Europe. Well, VOA is still transmitting and is embracing modern technology to stay relevant.
Kim Andrew Elliot produces a weekly “VOA Radiogram”, which uses audio tones to send digital information that can penetrate jamming and get through adverse reception conditions. You don’t need anything too sophisticated to start playing with this technology, just a radio that can receive shortwave, a computer with a sound card input, a patch cord, and a free program called FLDIGI.
Much of the content is transmitted in MFSK32, which provides good results. Some transmissions include pictures as well as text. Some folks have even reported decoding content by holding their smartphone up to the radio speaker, although I have not tried this approach myself.
Give “VOA Radiogram” a listen this weekend. Here’s the schedule information:
Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 177, 20-21 August 2016, all in MFSK32 centered on 1500 Hz:
1:31 Program preview (now)
2:42 China launches hack-proof satellite*
8:32 Twitter closes terror-linked accounts*
13:59 Why is Washington’s subway system falling apart?*
26:40 Closing announcements
29:09 Flmsg surprise (with audio)
* with image
Please send reception reports to radiogram@voanews.com .
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC):
Sat 0930-1000 5745 kHz
Sat 1600-1630 17580 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.
In June I attended the Ham Radio 2016 show in Friedricshafen, Germany. I had the opportunity to purchase a nice, compact digital transceiver. The Hytera PD365 cost surprisingly less than it would in the USA. And, as a bonus, I could get the 19% Value Added Tax (VAT) refunded once I brought it home.
Sort of…
There are shops around the world that are setup to make the tax refund easy and will rebate it directly to your credit card. Not so with Difona Communications GmbH, but they were able to provide a tax refund form at the show. I had to get it stamped by customs upon leaving the European Union and then mail it back to the vendor in Germany. They paid the refund via international wire transfer.
Here is where the fun began. I received about $14 less than expected and set about trying to find out where the difference went. It was not easy. There is no transparency in such transactions. I had to call my bank more than a handful of times before I could get to someone knowledgeable enough to assist.
Early calls revealed that the funds came in as US dollars via the Automated Clearing House (ACH). The ACH received the funds from Fed Global. What is Fed Global? The Federal Reserve Bank. The Fed suffers from a complete lack of transparency and will not speak to the consumer at all. Kudos to those in Congress who want to audit the Fed. I’m with you.
Fees were deducted from the amount that the vendor paid to me. The vendor — Difona — indicated that this is what should be done at the time of the transfer. Difona did not disclose this to me when I sent them an inquiry asking for documentation on the transaction. Had this been disclosed, it would have saved me and others a lot of time spent on calls and emails to research the discrepancy.
Caveat emptor!
Hytera PD365 compact DMR radioStill, I purchased a good piece of merchandise at less than 2/3 of the USA cost. I learned that in the case of a VAT refund, it is better to deal with Global Blue particpating merchants. Otherwise, expect to pay an undocumented and substantial fee for a wire transfer and expect no documentation or transparency.
