[HCDX] Article from our local weekly paper

["Graham Powell" <graham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following article is taken from today's local weekly paper for the Pontypridd and Valleys
area:-


Our Graham is tuned in!

A SHORTWAVE wireless enthusiast received signals from more than 100 countries on the 100th
anniversary of Guglielmo Marconi's historic trans-Atlantic transmission.
Graham Powell, originally from Rhydyfelin, is the webmaster for one of the UK's most respected
radio hobby websites, www.shortwave.org.uk
On December 12, 1901, Marconi was in Newfoundland, Canada, when he heard three short clicks,
Morse code for the letter "S".
The clicks were transmitted from his spark transmitter in Cornwall, making that the first-ever
radio signal to cross the Atlantic.
There is a big difference between the hobbies of Shortwave Listening and that of Amateur Radio.
There are only 158 countries using the shortwave band for transmitting, whereas for a radio
amateur the world is divided more widely for listening purposes.
Of these 158 countries, only 73 use shortwave frequencies for international broadcasting. The
remaining 85 only use the shortwave bands for semi-local use, making them extremely difficult to
receive.
"It is these semi-local stations that make the most interesting listening" said Mr Graham
Powell, who runs the 'Online DX Logbook' website.
"To hear the 100 countries in one day meant a full 24 hours of listening.  Each of the stations
had to be positively identified before they could be logged".
"I was treated to a very global experience - listening to beautiful Andean music from a station
in Peru; hearing the local funeral announcements in Kampala, Uganda; Quran readings from Dubai,
sports news from Australia; religious programming from Alaska and ballads from a station in
Antarctica".
"I ended up hearing a total of 112 positively identified countries on the day."
"Since the American action in Afghanistan, sales of Shortwave Radios have rocketed by 500% in
the US, with a large increase in sales here in the UK.
Likewise I find that the number of users who visit my website has risen from several hundred to
several thousand per week".
"It is one thing to watch what is happening on the television, but a lot of people in the US are
turning to the radio to hear what is being said in the other parts of the world".
"My website provides the times and frequencies of what people can hear on their shortwave
receivers".




73's
Graham Powell

--------------------------------------------------
Webmaster for The Online DX Logbook
and 21MHZ.COM. Full Details are available
at http://www.shortwave.org.uk
----------------------------------------------------


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