The RF Grounding

First, we need to construct our RF (radio frequency) grounding. Without this grounding, the current can't flow through the primary winding of the transformer. Once the grounding is finished and we have made the transformer, we can do the first tests of our system.
The grounding is a 2,5 meter (8 feet) long copper water tube, at least 20 mm (0.8 inch) in diameter, found in your local DIY store (use blank copper tubes!). If you have the materials and the money, you may use a longer tube with a larger diameter. Select a location where rain can easily penetrate the ground. Try avoiding areas with concrete or large plants or trees, as those absorb a major part of the water and you'll be left with dry soil that doesn't conduct enough for our antenna system. You could make the surface descending a bit towards the grounding to guide rainwater towards it.
The tube is driven 2,5 meter deep in the soil. Don't try hitting the tube in the ground with a hammer (and bending it eventually). There's a far easier way to do this with the help of hydro-power! Simply take a piece of plastic tube with one end attached (witch a standard connector) to your garden hose, and the other end pushed over the copper tube and tightened with a clamping ring. Open the water tap and push the water spraying end of the copper tube in the ground. With the help of the water, the tube will go downwards with very little force. Oh, and wear boots or slippers, it gets pretty wet around you!
I managed to drive my copper tubes the full 2,5 meters into the ground within a mere 2 minutes! I encountered a clay layer but with some poking, it got through without any problem. You'll be amazed how fast this goes! Use grounding wire (flat woven copper car battery cable) or several twisted thick copper wires to connect the copper tubes to the antenna system. Connect the ground wire with a special electrical grounding clamp to the copper tube or twist it several turns around the tube and solder it with a big soldering iron or gas burner firmly to the tube. Seal off the connection with adhesive and/or heat-shrink to make the connection weather resistant.
IMPORTANT SECURITY NOTE: NEVER use the AC ground, found on the 220V outlets at home as RF grounding. Apart from being stupidly dangerous, the electric installation's grounding is the worst ever RF grounding. If you don't have a garden or suitable soil to drive the copper tubes into, you might consider burying copper wire radials horizontally in the top soil or laying them on the surface. These copper wires should run underneath the antenna wire and act as a virtual earth. Check the Internet for more info on RF radials.

The Transformer

The primary function of the 9:1 transformer (this type is also called Unun or unbalanced to unbalanced) is to bring down the very high impedance, typical for end-fed longwire antennas, to a lower impedance that is suitable for most receivers. An interesting property of this type of transformer is that the primary winding is directly connected to the ground, preventing the buildup of static on the antenna.
You could buy these Unun transformer but these quickly cost more than 30 Euros or $35 and most of them - sadly - don't have a separate ground connection. For receiving purposes only, you can make them yourself for less than 5 euro. The most expensive part will probably be its housing. I used a professional box, but you can just as well use a pillbox or a short piece of PVC water tube with two stops. Just make sure that the container is waterproof. There are plenty of DIY Unun construction ideas on the Internet.
Making you own transformer sounds scarier than it actually is. First, you need to find a suitable toroid ferrite core. For receiving purposes only, the core material, size and windings are far less critical. You can find such toroid cores (suitable to make HF transformers) in good electronic shops or on the Internet. If you really, really, can't get hold of a toroid ferrite core, you could recover the ferrite rod from an old portable radio. This will also work pretty well as transformer, but you'll have to experiment a bit with the windings. However, toroids are better transformers and they are immune to external electromagnetic interference because of their circular shape.
Here in Europe, Conrad sells the 26 mm toroid core part # 500671 for a few Euros. In contrast to the image on their website, they are well coated (in blue) and of good quality. I used exactly these and, as you can see in my SWL log below, they do an excellent job! You can use 0.5 or 1.0 mm enameled copper wire (the latter stays better in place but it gets a bit tight inside the core). Never use blank copper wire because without isolation you'll shortcircuit the windings! Before starting to wind, measure the circumference of one turn around the core and multiply that by 24. Add some 20 cm (8 inch) extra to connect the transformer.

We need 24 turns for the primary (large) winding, divided over three times 8 windings. Start winding the wire tight around the core and divide the 8 turns over the whole circumference of the core (see A). Bend the wire well around the corners to keep the wire against the core. Pass the starting point of the wire and continue to wind with the long piece of wire a second series of 8 turns, just next to the previous turns and finally wind a third series of 8 turns, again next to the previous windings (the result should look like B). The secondary (small) winding has only 8 turns. You start at the opposite side of the core and wind the 8 turns nicely next to the existing windings around the circumference of the whole core (see C) until you arrive back at the opposite side.
Note that some people wind such quadfilar toroids with four separate wires at once and then solder the separate parts of the wirings together. For such small toroids, I find it easier and faster to use a single wire for each winding. A good advice: start with a wire that is long enough!
Finished? Congratulations, you just made a quadfilar 9:1 transformer! Not that hard. Make sure to mark the primary and secondary windings so that you don't mix up the connections! Now that your first donut received its stripes, and before you put it in its housing, you might already want to do some quick testing. Solder one wire of the primary (larger) winding, one of the secondary (smaller) winding, and two test wires all together (scrape off the enamel before soldering). One of the test wires goes to the ground and one is soldered to the sleeve of a 3,5 mm stereo jack. The free wire of the primary winding goes to the antenna and the free wire of the secondary winding is soldered to the tip of a 3,5 mm stereo jack.
String up the long wire, put the jack into the receiver's external antenna socket and start testing all HF bands. Normally, 24 and 8 turns on the toroid should tune the whole band pretty well. If really necessary, adjust the number of turns (in that case, you'll need to rewind the toroid completely) with a few more windings to emphasize lower frequencies or a few less windings for higher frequencies. Do keep the same 3 to 1 radio (this provides the 9:1 transformation).
Finally, if you're happy with the result, unsolder the wires and put the toroid core in a watertight box. Solder the toroid wires to the connectors (solder grease makes the job easier): solder one side of the primary winding, one side of the secondary winding and the ground (chassis) of a BNC connector all together to the grounding bolt. The remaining wire of the primary winding goes to the antenna bolt, and the remaining wire of the secondary winding is soldered to the bus connection of the BNC connector.

Antenna Construction

The antenna is 21,5 meters (70.5 feet) of thin copper wire (a steel wire can also be used but copper has better electrical properties). This can be normal electrical copper wire (1 or 2 mm) or copperweld antenna wire (which is stronger than normal copper wire and doesn't stretch as much). You can use insulated wire, which also protects the wire against the sun and pollution. Its length is ideal for the 20 meters ham DX band (14.2 MHz) and a compromise that enables good reception on the lower and higher shortwave frequencies. If you use black insulated wire, you will have a very stealthy antenna. Such wires are virtually invisible. Antenna masts or trees that blend in the landscape are a plus (my wife loves gardens and dislikes antennas, but she never complained...so far).The antenna is attached to two insulators which are attached to nylon tension cords (3 to 4 mm). On one side of the antenna, the cord runs through a pulley downwards where a weight keeps the antenna wire straight (dangling copper wires eventually break). Select a weight that only prevents the wire from moving too much but doesn't stretches the wire until breaking point. On the other side, the cord is attached directly to the mast and the insulated antenna wire travels vertically down the mast to the 9:1 transformer. Never place the transformer at the top of the mast (like many do with a 9:1 balun for end-fed antennas), since you need a good - short - grounding. If you'd place it on top of the mast, the long grounding wire will capture additional interference since it acts as a second pole for the antenna. Also, don't try replacing the vertical part of the wire with a coax of which the shielding is grounded, in some kind of attempt to move the active part of the wire to the top of the mast. It "looks" like a good idea but unfortunately, the low impedance coax will act like a short-circuit to the very high impedance of the wire antenna and seriously attenuate the signal.

Insulator and antenna wire on top of the mast. The wire runs vertically down to the transformer.

Place one mast near the house and one mast as far away as possible from the house. The antenna should be place at least 5 meters above the ground (sloping the antenna wire only a few degrees - not to ground level - makes it more omnidirectial). You can use one or two masts or a big tree (big because those swing less in the wind) but never tie the wire directly between two fixed points without any system to relief tension (pulleys, spring...). When mast or tree are moved by the wind, or the wind catches the antenna wire, the copper wire will break rather soon than later.
You can buy insulators or homebuilt them yourself. The common white plastic 5 mm thick cutting boards, used in the kitchen, are great for this purpose. You can make insulators, like the one on the photo above, by sawing (or with a drill with circular cutting blade) two rounds, about 30 mm diameter, and two rounded rectangles. Next, you drill holes into the little rounds and the rectangles, place the rounds between the rectangles and fix them together with two bolts. I also drilled two little holes at the side of the insulator to attach straps that support the wire that goes down.

Building a good Antenna System

SECURITY AND LEGAL WARNINGS Outside antenna systems are considered electrical installations that must comply with safety regulations that may vary depending on the area where you live. Enquire at your local government, fire department and home insurance broker about the regulations regarding construction of outside antennas, proper grounding and connection of radio equipment to the mains. You could be held responsible, legally and financially, for any damage that is caused by your installation (lightning strike, fire, injuries) when you fail to comply with local regulations. The antenna systems, presented on this page are for receiving purposes only with a portable receiver that is either battery operated or connected to the electrical mains by an adaptor with galvanic isolated transformer without ground plug (not the electronic adaptor type).

Good reception is only possible when you have both a good radio and a good antenna system. Even the best receiver is useless without a good antenna system. We should point out the essential difference between "antenna" and "antenna system": an antenna captures radio waves and an antenna system is the comprehensive installation that brings the radio waves in good condition to your radio.
Now, there's often some misunderstanding about antennas. If you have an antenna that has the correct length, you can never make it receive more or better. What you can do is to place it in the ideal position to capture signals, and you can reduce the noise level so that the signal is more readable. The signal-to-noise ratio is what makes the signal readable. Even very weak signals are more readable than strong signals if they carry less noise: you simply turn up the volume. If you experience too much noise, turning up the volume will turn up the noise equally, even on strong signals. The good news is that anyone with basic soldering experience can homebuilt a good antenna system that provides excellent reception for less than 100 Euros or $120. You don't need to be familiar with electronics or radio technology.
IMPORTANT! The antenna systems, describes on this page, are only suitable for receiving purposes and should never be used to transmit. The toroids are not suitable to dissipate the power and the impedance of the system is not adapted to the transceiver output.
Below the circuit diagram of a commonly used long-wire antenna system: the wire antenna is connected to a 9:1 transformer, also called UNUN (Unbalanced to Unbalanced) that is grounded to a 2,5 meter (8 feet) long copper tube, driven in the ground. The 9:1 transformer brings down the very high impedance of the end-fed wire antenna to an impedance that is suitable for both coax and receiver. The feedline transports the signal to a wall connection box. From there, a coax brings the signal to the external antenna jack. The transformer ground, and optionally receiver ground, are connected to the grounding rod with the shortest possible wires, all near the entry of the coax into the house.

Inside the house, the coax that comes from the transformer is connected to the connection box with a BNC chassis connector which in turn is connected to a second BNC chassis connector at the front of the box. The easiest way to connect the external antenna jack to the inside coax cable is to use a small box with on one side a BNC chassis connector that is soldered to the wires that go to the antenna jack. Make sure that the coax ground (shielding) is connected to the sleeve of the jack and the core wire of the coax is connected to the tip of the jack.
WARNING: this is how the external antenna connection works on my Sangean ATS 909X and on some other brands. However, other radios might have another antenna socket wiring setup! Inform yourself about how to connect the external antenna to your radio! I'm not liable for any damage, caused by an incorrectly connected antenna.
Never accidentally insert the external antenna jack into some other (audio) jack. They look the same and are mechanically the same, but I don't know what it could do to your radio, since the transformer output virtually short-circuits LF and DC signals. I accidentally inserted the antenna jack into the headphone socket of my 909X a few times (stupid me) without any damage. Nevertheless, be careful not to do so. You might attach a flashy warning label to the cable, next to the jack, as our brain is conditioned to put such jacks always into an audio socket.
If your receiver has a separate grounding connection (often with butterfly nut), you can connect that ground to the ground connection of the wall connection box. It is strongly advised to use one single grounding point and to connect each of the separate parts of the antenna system, each with its own heavy gauge or flat cable grounding wire, to that single grounding point, and to keep these wires as short as possible.

BERITA DARI JERMAN

20 Tahun SMS - Ketika Pesan Teks Dikirim Melalui Ponsel

Satu inovasi besar di awal tahun 1990an: pesan singkat lewat ponsel. Saat ini, di seluruh dunia, jutaan SMS dikirim setiap harinya. Namun keberadaan SMS terancam teknologi baru.

“Datang terlambat. Harus selesaikan sesuatu” – teks pendek yang menjadi ciri khas SMS. Dan kalimat ini biasanya juga masih diperpendek dengan menyingkat setiap kata. Selama 20 tahun terakhir, penulisan SMS berkembang menjadi satu kultus penulisan singkatan. Terdapat banyak situs internet yang khusus menyediakan daftar ratusan singkatan kata penulisan SMS.
Pesan harus ditulis sependek dan sesingkat mungkin: itulah SMS. Jumlah standar penulisan adalah 160 karakter. Sepertinya ini hanya kebetulan saja, namun sebenarnya pembatasan ini memang direncanakan oleh para penemu SMS. Sejak pertengahan tahun 1980an telah dikembangkan konsep SMS, yang menjadi model adalah kartu pos dan pesan teleks. Dan ketika diteliti, ternyata hampir semua pesan yang dikirim lewat kedua media ini tidak lebih dari 160 karakter – sehingga diputuskan untuk membatasi jumlah karakter dalam penulisan SMS.

Pada tahun 2011 46 miliar SMS terkirim di seluruh dunia

“Selamat Natal” – Ibu Pesan Pendek
Saat SMS pertama dikirim pada tanggal 3 Desember 1992 tidak banyak yang mengetahuinya. Ini tidak mengherankan karena teknologi transmisi pesan teks ini belum berkembang. Dan ponsel pertama, yang ada saat itu seharga 1.500 Euro, tidak bisa mengirim dan menerima SMS. Oleh karenanya SMS pertama ini tidak dikirim melalu ponsel, melainkan komputer. “Merry Christmas“ demikian pesan yang ditulis para teknisi Vodafone Inggris, yang pertama berkesempatan menguji layanan SMS.
Raup Keuntungan lewat SMS
Bahwa SMS dapat menjadi tambang emas bagi para penyedia layanan ponsel tidak diramalkan pada awalnya. Baru kemudian, secara bertahap, perusahaan penyedia layanan ponsel mendapat ide untuk mengenakan biaya pengiriman SMS, dikatakan Rafaela Möhl, juru bicara teltarif, satu layanan online di Jerman.

Rafaela Möhl

Sejalan dengan booming industri ponsel sejak pertengahan tahun 1990an, terjadi perubahan besar dalam perkembangan SMS. Jumlah pesan pendek yang dikirim meningkat dengan drastis: Di Jerman saja, pada tahun 1996 dikirim sekitar 100 juta SMS. Bundesnetzagentur, badan yang mengurusi pasar listrik, gas, telekomunikasi, pos dan kereta api, memperkirakan, pada tahun 2011 terkirim 46 miliar SMS. Satu bisnis raksasa: dengan biaya sekitar 1.200 Rupiah per SMS, keuntungan besar diraup para operator ponsel.
Saingan dari Internet
Masa keemasan SMS lambat-laun berakhir. Dengan semakin menjamurnya smartphone atau ponsel pintar, tumbuh pula cara-cara baru untuk mengirim pesan. Para penyedia jasa layanan ponsel sudah menyadarinya, dikatakan Urs Mannsmann, editor majalah komputer c't. “SMS telah mencapai puncaknya. Sekarang akan digantikan oleh layanan internet.”

WhatsApp menggeser SMS

Dan para operator jaringan internet menanggapi perkembangan ini dengan menyediakan tarif tetap internet, termasuk untuk jasa pengiriman SMS. “Ini menyebabkan, jumlah pengiriman SMS stagnan, namun para operator internet telah meraih keuntungan.“ Operator interne5 yang dimaksud Mannsmann adalah terutama aplikasi messenger bagi smartphone, WhatsApp.
Dengan aplikasi ini, para pengguna dapat mengirim pesan melalui internet tanpa dikenakan biaya. Kelebihan yang dimiliki Whatsapp adalah, jumlah teks tidak dibatasi serta dapat mengirim foto dan video. Namun kekurangannya adalah, baik pengirim maupun penerima harus terlebih dahulu mengunduh aplikasi ini. Dan ponsel konvensional, yang tidak dapat mengirim data melalui internet, tidak dapat memanfaatkan aplikasi Whatsapp. Aplikasi ini kini tengah berjaya: setiap harinya, lebih dari 10 miliar pesan dikirim melalui Whatsapp.

Urs Mannsmann

Joyn – Upaya Operator Ponsel untuk Bersaing
Aplikasi Whatsapp tidak hanya mengancam model bisnis SMS yang dimiliki operator selular. Dalam “satu gebrakan“ aplikasi ini juga turut menyingkirkan “saudara tiri“ SMS, yaitu layanan pesan multimedia MMS. Agar tidak sepenungnya tersingkirkan oleh aplikasi seperti Whatsapp, para operator ponsel kini memperkenalkan satu program messenger baru bernama Joyn. Program ini antara lain dapat mengirim pesan pendek, file, suara dan percakapan video. Biaya yang dikenakan untuk layanan ini sama seperti biaya SMS, MMS dan percakapan telefon, tergantung pada tarif penyedia layanan ponsel.
Namun Rafaela Möhl dari teltarif meragukan bahwa operator ponsel akan mampu bersaing. ”Saat ini bisa saya katakan, sangat sulit bagi operator ponsel. Whatsapp telah jauh di depan. Joyn harus menawarkan kelebihan yang besar. Tapi saat ini, saya tidak melihatnya.“

Surat dari Jerman

Dear friends and fans of DW,

We want to thank you for helping make 2012 such a successful year for DW. You were there when we relaunched our TV lineups and website www.dw.de in February. Many of you also took the time to write us and provide us with suggestions on how to make dw.de even better.

We were really impressed by how many of you took advantage of our new interactive fan site My DW. People showed us how important DW is in their part of the world by submitting their own personal DW logos this past spring. And this has continued with a new wave of user-generated content that has been added to our website. Thanks for all your help!

We invite you to join us again in 2013 as we explore the world with reliable information, detailed analysis and exciting discussions. And we hope that your journey will provide new insights.

Happy holidays and the best for 2013, Your DW Customer Service Team T +49.228.429-4000 mydw@dw.de www.dw.de

Programa Radio Jepang 21-23 Des 2012

21 Desember (Jumat)	Ayo Masak Makanan Jepang: "Zoni - Sup Mochi Jepang" (Kiri) Sup Zoni (Kanan) Bahan-bahan Zoni adalah sup yang biasanya disajikan sebagai makanan tahun baru di Jepang. Umumnya sup ini menggunakan mochi, namun bahan-bahan lainnya bisa sangat beragam tergantung kawasan dan juga setiap rumah tangga. Kami akan perkenalkan cara memasak salah satu jenis sup Zoni yang dibuat dengan bahan-bahan sederhana.
22 Desember (Sabtu)	Balajar Bahasa Jepang Edisi Khusus: Menjawab Pertanyaan Pendengar (Kiri) Atsushi Mori, supervisor acara Belajar Bahasa Jepang(Kanan) Penyiar Hiromi Ohnuma Dalam edisi khusus Belajar Bahasa Jepang ini kami akan menjawab pertanyaan dari para pendengar di berbagai negara. Akan juga disertakan petunjuk cara pengucapan yang dilakukan oleh seorang penyiar NHK.
23 Desember (Minggu)	Halo dari Tokyo Setiap hari Minggu, kami membacakan surat, menjawab pertanyaan serta memutarkan lagu-lagu permintaan pendengar.

Sayembara Berhadiah Periode 74 Shafar 1434 H

Radio Kerajaan Arab Saudi Seksi Bahasa Indonesia (RASSBI)
Pertanyaan:
1.  Hadits merupakan sumber hukum Islam kedua setelah al-Qur’an, terutama hadits-hadits shaheh. Tulis sebuah kitab yang paling terkenal dan paling banyak memuat hadits-hadits shaheh!
2. Tuliskan berapa kapasitas areal thawaf setelah selesainya perluasan?
3. Tuliskan nama-nama kota terbesar di masing-masing benua di seluruh dunia lengkap dengan data-data dan fakta-faktanya.
Panduan Jawaban :

1. Kitab Shahih Bukhari dan Shahih Muslim
2. Kapasitas 130 ribu orang per jam

Yang terpilih sebagai pemenang sayembara edisi 73 (Muharram 1434 H) berdasarkan pilihan para dewan juri adalah : Hindun – Magelang dan Sarifuddin Dalimunte – Tapanuli Selatan.
Kirimkan jawaban Anda melalui salah satu alamat berikut ini:

• Radio Kerajaan Arab Saudi Seksi bahasa Indonesia
• Jeddah 21161 Saudi Arabia
• Email: in@saudiradio.net.sa atau rassbi2706@hotmail.com

Jawaban harus sudah diterima redaksi paling lambat tanggal 28 bulan Hijriah. Tersedia hadiah masing-masing sebesar 500 Riyal untuk 2 orang pemenang.
Patut diperhatikan untuk memperlancar pengiriman hadiah bagi para pemenang:
1.   Karena hadiah bagi para pemenang akan dikirim melalui Western Union, maka nama yang disertakan dalam sayembara harus sesuai dengan nama yang tercantum dalam KTP atau Kartu Izin Tinggal bagi WNI yang tinggal di Arab Saudi atau luar Indonesia.
2.  Sertakan foto copy KTP yang masih berlaku atau Kartu Izin Tinggal. Peserta yang tidak menyertakan foto copy KTP tidak akan diikutkan dalam pengundian pemenang oleh para dewan juri.
3.  Cantumkan alamat yang jelas dan lengkap.
4.  Sebagai alternatif pengiriman hadiah, peserta sayembara juga dapat menyertakan nomor rekening Bank, sehingga jika layanan Western Union belum menjangkau wilayah pemenang, RASSBI akan memilih alternatif mengirimkan hadiah melalui transfer ke rekening pemenang.
4.  Sertakan pula nomor HP untuk pemberitahuan pengiriman uang.
5.  Untuk meningkatkan mutu siaran RASSBI, kirimkan laporan hasil penerimaan siaran dan disertai opini, saran dan komentar mengenai acara-acara yang disiarkan RASSBI.

CRI: Memilih 10 Berita Populer Asia Tenggara

Sebagaimana tahun-tahun sebelumnya, China Radio International seluruh seksi bahasa Asia Tenggara menyelenggarakan pemilihan berita populer sepanjang tahun. Tahun ini CRI kembali mengajak pendengar dan pengguna internet bersama-sama meninjau ulang seluruh tahun 2012 dan ambil bagian dalam pemilihan “10 Berita Utama Asia Tenggara 2012″. Dalam menggelar acara ini, CRI bekerjasama dengan partner dari kawasan ini, seperti Harian Qiandao Ribao, Radio Elshinta, Sinar Harapan, Radio Televisyen Malaysia, Utusan, Indonesian Shangbao, Kantor Berita Vietnam, Laos National Radio , Laos National Television Station, National Radio of Cambodian, Surat Kabar Pasaxon, Viantiane Times, Vietnam National Ditigal Television Station, Vietnam Quang Ninh Broadcasting Station, Voice of Vietnam, dan  Cularadio.

Kegiatan kali ini mengadakan seleksi penghargaan untuk “partisipasi pengguna internet”, Anda berkemungkinan mempunyai kesempatan memenangkan suvenir indah dari CRI. Peraturan kegiatan sangat sederhana, yaitu pengakses internet dapat memforward pilihannya di setiap situs web CRI dalam bahasa negara-negara Asia Tenggara antara tanggal 10 dan 31 Desember 2012.
Mohon untuk mengkonfirmasi keakuratan alamat email Anda yang dikirim dalam penyertaan ini, agar dapat ambil bagian dalam undian pemenang hadiah CRI. Dan mohon ditinggalkan alamat Anda yang tepat untuk dapat menerima suvenir indah dari CRI apabila Anda memenangkan suvenir. Selamat memilih dan terima kasih atas partisipasi Anda.
Nominasi 10 Berita Utama Asia Tenggara 2012

1. Pemimpin partai oposisi Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi terpilih sebagai anggota Parlemen.

2. Tersangka utama Tragedi Sungai Mekong di Laos.

3. ASEAN+3 memperbesar skala mekanisme Inisiatif Chiang Mai.

4. Menteri Pertahanan AS mengadakan kunjungan perdana ke Teluk Cam Ranh pasca Perang Vietnam.

5. Kasus Pulau Huangyan antara Tiongkok dan Filipina mereda.

6. AS dan Myanmar memulihkan hubungan diplomatik tingkat duta besar.

7. Pertemuan Menteri Luar Negeri ASEAN untuk pertama kalinya gagal menelurkan pernyataan bersama.

8. Kamboja dan Thailand menarik sebagian tentara dari daerah perbatasan yang dipersengketakan.

9. Program penggabungan sistem transaksi ASEAN Exchanges diresmikan.

10. Pemerintah Filipina sepakati kerangka perdamaian dengan kekuatan separatis terbesar.

11. Mantan Raja Kamboja Norodom Sihanouk meninggal.

12. Laos Diterima sebagai Anggota WTO.

13. Proyek pembangunan Bendungan Xaignabouli Laos dimulai.

14. ASEAN memulai perundingan hubungan kemitraan ekonomi komprehensif regional (RCEP).

15. Parlemen Vietnam amendemen UU Pemberantasan Korupsi.

10 Berita Utama dari Radio Elshinta
(1) Andi Mallarangeng Mengundurkan Diri Sebagai Menpora
(2) WHO Nyatakan Hepatitis Sebagai Masalah Kesehatan di Asia
(3) Ekspor China Meningkat 9,9%
(4) RI Minta Peran Aktif China Ciptakan Perdamaian di Suriah
(5) SBY Kecewa ASEAN Gagal Sepakat Soal Laut China Selatan
(6) China dan Rusia Tolak Pergantian Rezim di Suriah
(7) Perimbangan Kekuatan Ekonomi Dunia
(8) Jepang Tuntut China Lindungi Warganya
(9) Jembatan Jutaan Dollar di China Ambruk
(10) Kopassus TNI dan China Gelar Latihan Bersama
Informasi selengkapnya kunjungi website CRI DISINI

Tentang SWL

About SWL

SWL or shortwave listening is the reception of public broadcast or amateur radio ham stations in the frequency range 1.8 to 30 MHz (160m to 10m band), also called SW (shortwave) or HF (High Frequency) bands. The combination of receiver, antennas and propagation make SWL an exciting and often technical challenging hobby.This page explains how you can receive shortwave international broadcast, ham and utility stations with a good digital shortwave receiver in the price category of 200 Euro or $250, how to considerably improve its reception by constructing an external wire antenna, how to eliminated noise by properly feeding the antenna to your receiver, and how, when and at what frequency to capture the many stations. With only little technical skills you can build the complete antenna system for less than 100 Euros or $120. Once you master the basics of SWL, you will enter the exciting world of radio signals that travel around the earth. You will receive the most exotic broadcast stations, capture conversations between radio amateurs from all over the world and get to know the ideal time and conditions to catch the most remote stations. It is up to you how difficult or expensive you want to make SWL. You could compare it with fishing: catching a powerful 300.000 Watts broadcast station is pretty easy, even when it is located at the other end of the world. Catching smaller stations or amateur radio ham stations, transmitting with a mere 50 Watts, located thousands of kilometers away, can be a true challenge.

My Sangean ATS 909X Shortwave Receiver (click to enlarge)

Most SWL's also log the stations they received. This way, they can easily analyze when and at what frequencies they can search for a particular station or radio signals from a particular country. Each new station or country is another trophy for their SWL log. Many SWL's also send signal reports, called SQL cards, to the stations they captured. By reporting the quality and readability of the signal at their location, they help the ham radio amateurs or broadcast stations to assess the quality and performance of their equipment and antennas.
Radio amateurs and some broadcast stations respond to these SQL cards by sending their own QSL card to confirm the signal report. These SQL cards come in all kinds of own designs and colors, but all carry a standard formatted signal report (RST or SINPO). SWL's and ham amateurs often collect SQL cards from all over the world. Amateur radio organizations offer free world-wide SQL postal service to their ham or SWL members. You might consider joining a local amateur radio organization. I'm a registered SWL myself (ONL11714 at UBA Belgian Amateur Radio Society) and whenever I get the change and time, I love to surf the radio waves!
For many ham radio amateurs, listening to shortwave stations was their first acquaintance with amateur radio and a first step towards their ham license. Indeed, SWL is an ideal introduction into ham radio because you get familiar with the ham bands, radio propagation and procedures. However, there are just as many SWL's who never become radio amateur but continue to enjoy discovering the world through radio waves all their live. On the other end, many radio amateurs continue to SWL once in a while, all their live, to sharpen their receiving skills or test new antenna designs.

Selecting a Receiver

There are many shortwave receivers on the market. Unfortunately, many of them are not suitable. Don't buy those 50 Euros or 60 dollar analogue or digital world receivers that promise you the world. They don't! If you're lucky, you will capture a few strong shortwave broadcast stations and some medium or long wave stations. That's it. So, what are the requirements for a decent shortwave radio?
You need a digital tuned shortwave receiver with full coverage of the HF shortwave bands from 1.8 to 30 MHz. Full coverage means that you must be able to tune anywhere in the whole frequency range (many shortwave radio's only tune broadcast bands and skips utility and amateur bands). If you intend to SWL on ham stations, it is essential that, apart from AM, you have SSB (single side band - both LSB and USB). You should be able to set the frequency manually, both from its keyboard and from a rotating tuning dial that includes a fine tuning function. Without SSB and fine tuning it is impossible to capture ham stations, since they do not use the normal AM signal. Its memory - the more the better - should store frequency, fine tuning and mode (AM, LSB, USB). A gain control, to amplify weak signals or attenuate over-modulation or heavy interference, and DSP (Digital Signal Processing) are definitely recommended and sync detection would be really nice.
Finally, your receiver must absolutely carry an external antenna connection (without, you cannot connect a balanced line or transformer). The laws of physics regarding radio waves and antennas are simple: you need large antennas for shortwave (much larger than your FM radio needs to capture music stations) and without external connection your antenna options are very limited. Don't despair, it's easy to construct simple wire antennas that greatly improve reception! We will explain all of this later on. There are several excellent shortwave receiver on the market for a reasonable price from manufacturers like Sony, Sangean, Grundig or Degen. Of course, you could also buy professional receivers from companies like Icom, Elecraft, Yaesu or Kenwood, but this will quickly bring you in the +1.000 price category. It's not my goal to promote one specific radio or brand and it's up to you to select one.
For SWL, I personally use the Sangean ATS 909X which is an excellent and well build radio with all required features. Its reception sensitivity is superior in his price category (I paid 199 Euros) when hooked up to an external antenna. Now, on some Internet forums you'll find people saying the 909X is great, and others saying it is deaf on shortwave?! Well, my SWL logs and videos show that the 909X is far from deaf, but again, don't believe you will receive remote weak ham stations with your whip antenna, whatever brand of radio you buy. Apart from being a great shortwave radio, the 909X provides superb FM reception and sound quality (with RDS/RDBS/PS/PTY/CT), LW and MW bands and plenty external connections (antenna, aux in, rec line out with remote, headphone) and an external power supply with good EMI suppression . The batteries are automatically charged inside the radio. If you have questions about the 909X you can contact me through my web mail.

The Antenna

Most good portable shortwave receivers come with an external antenna. Such antennas are usually a reel with a wire of some 6 meters (20 feet), connected with a 3.5 mm jack to the receiver. This short external antenna will already improve reception considerably and will enable you to capture many broadcast stations and ham stations. However, don't expect miracles with a whip or a short external antenna inside buildings.
If you really want to improve reception on the HF bands, you can easily make you own so-called end-fed longwire (random-wire) antenna. Take a 21,5 meters (70 feet) long thin (0.5 or 1.0 mm) enameled copper wire or any isolated flexible electrical wire and solder it to the tip connection of a 3.5 mm jack. If your receiver has no such external antenna jack (it really should) or you don't have the proper jack, you can connect the wire to the whip antenna with, for instance, an alligator clip. The difference will be remarkable!
Unfortunately, such antennas, directly connected to the receiver, will also increase the reception of noise, especially when used indoors. Buildings are infested with interference signals from TV, computer, light dimmers and many other electrical devices and the electrical wiring acts as a perfect antenna to spread that interference (and the neighbor's interference, thank you) all across your and other buildings. Simply use the whip antenna on your receiver, walk around the house and hold the antenna near working electronic devices. You will understand what we're talking about.
Nevertheless, this simple 21 meters long wire will already make a huge difference. If you don't have the free space to place a large fixed antenna, this is the best option for you. Please note that such simple antenna wires, permanently fixed in open air, can suffer from a buildup of static. Connecting a static charged wire could damage the receiver. It's good practice to connect the jack of such wire antennas a short moment to a grounding or a large metal object to bleed any static before connecting it to your receiver. Prudence is a good habit.
At the bottom of this page you'll find a video of my 909X receiving 40 meter band ham stations with such an antenna, only 2 meters (6 feet) above the ground! Not bad at all, but if you happen to have a nice garden, keep on reading and make yourself happy with a good antenna.

Australia semakin dianggap penting keberadaan Indonesia

Banyak yang lupa atau bahkan tidak tahu bahwa dari sisi ekonomi , Indonesia lebih maju dari Australia. Hal ini ditegaskan oleh Joe Coman mantan Kepala Siaran Radio Australia Bahasa Indonesia yang kini bekerja di Departemen Luar Negeri dan Perdagangan Australia.

Joe Coman, pernah menjadi pimpinan Radio Australia Siaran Bahasa Indonesia saat dikenal dengan RASI dan mengudara dari Sabang sampai Merauke melalui gelombang pendek.

Oleh rekan-rekan di Tim Indonesia, ia dijuluki dengan sebutan Bung Joko agar terkesan lebih Indonesia. Sepak terjangnya Bung Joko diawali dengan bekerja dengan bekerja di Radio Nederland, Hilversum dan kemudian ke Meulborne, Canberra hingga akhirnya mendapat jabatan penting berkaitan kebijakan di Departemen Luar Negeri dan Perdagangan Australia.

Kepada Radio Australia, Bung Joko menuturkan kembali seluk beluk bagaimana ia fasih berbahasa Indonesia. Kebetulan saat itu saya tentara, jadi belajar bahasa Indonesia.”Saat itu juga Australia takut dengan Indonesia jadi harus menghadapi Indonesia tidak hanya dengan senapan tetapi juga dengan bahasa” , kata Joe.

Joe bergabung dengan RASI tahun 1970 dan sempat bertugas di Jakarta selama 2 tahun.” Pada tahun 1980 an peerintah Indonesia tidak lagi mengundang wartawan Australia untuk menetap di Indonesia sehingga kantor kami ditutup”, ujarnya. Selama Orde Baru pengawasan terhadap industri media dibawah pimpinan Presiden Soeharto sangat ketat. Sebenarnya betapa pentingnya berita yang jujur saat itu, karenanya warga Indonesia mengira siaran dari Radio Australia tidak berpihak, dapat diandalkan, bisa dipercaya dan bukan milik pemerintah Indonesia.”

Hubungan Australia dan Indonesia

Berbicara soal masa depan hubungan Indonesia dan Australia sebagai negara tetangga terdekat, menurut Joe sulit untuk menentukan apa yang harus dilakukan untuk mempererat hubungan, “jumlah bantuan pemerintah Australia ke Indonesia adalah yang paling besar, hubungan antar diplomat cukup bagus anta pemerintah, kunjungan pejabat pemerintahan, bahkan hingga tingkat pemimpin juga sering dilakukan “

“Meski demikian, Indonesia masih tetap dianggap penting oleh Australia karena kemajuan luar biasa yang telah dicapai Indonesia. Seringkali kita lupa Indonesia lebih maju dari Australiadari segi pertumbuhan ekonomi, Indonesia meningkat hingga 77 % sehingga Indonesia menjadi penting bagi Australia” ( sumber : RASI )  

MAU DIAPAKAN SINYAL INI ?

Bermula dari rangkaian Temu Pendengar bersama pendengar, pecinta Radio Taiwan International, salah satu stasiun yang masih tetap mengudara di tengah maraknya penutupan stasiun radio khususnya di jalur short wave ( gelombang pendek ) akhir-akhir ini.

Rencana Temu Pendengar selanjutnya direncanakan di dua kota Jakarta pada hari Sabtu, 10 Nopember 2012 dan Yogyakarta pada hari Minggu , 11 Nopember 2012. Promosi cukup gencar dilakukan, baik melalui Buletin RTISI, edaran khusus maupun media online, sudah tentu juga siaran langsung. Medium terakhir ini memang sudah menjadi tempat menyalurkan kegemaran saya di waktu senggang, sekian tahun ke belakang.

Terlintas dalam pikiran saya, pertanyaan apakah semua media itu sudah cukup menjembatani niat mulia stasiun RTI bagi kelanggengan hubungan dengan para pendengar dan pecintanya ?  Saya tidak mengatakan bahwa usaha RTI belum maksimal, tetapi rasanya masih ada cara lain yang bisa saya lakukan. Masalahnya tinggal pada rencana apa yang ada pada saya dan seberapa efektif sarana.

Saya sebarkan edaran resmi RTI yang dikirim dengan jasa pos melalui aplikasi perpesanan mobile WhatsApp www.whatsapp.com ke beberapa teman sehobi yang namanya ada dalam daftar kontak. Tidak semua penerima pesan merespon, mungkin karena tulisan dalam file gambar tidak terbaca, dan atau memang tidak tertarik dengan maksud edaran. Melalui siaran Temu Udara RTI pada hari Minggu 21 Oktober dan 28 Oktober 2012 bung Tony Thamsir memberitahukan hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan Temu Pendengar. Mau diapakan sinyal ini ? , pikir saya bagai pemegang bola yang harus melemparkan bola ke pemain kawan atau menembakkan langsung ke sasaran dalam satu game. 

Maka dengan aplikasi yang sama, kepada teman pemberi respon di atas saya kirim pesan berikutnya, yaitu file audio siaran tersebut. Rasanya cukup efektif karena kebetulan teman itu tidak mendengar masing-masing siaran pada waktunya, walaupun saya sudah mendaftarkan diri untuk hadir di salah satu kota tempat pertemuan.

Rutinitas yang biasanya berakhir pada penerimaan kartu/surat verifikasi dari stasiun radio, kali ini berujung pada silaturahmi antar pendengar shortwave.

Semoga Temu Pendengar RTISI berjalan dengan baik dan membawa hasil memuaskan. Forever Shortwave !!  ( Kiriman Bpk Tony Ashar )