You can now be a shortwave pirate using nothing but your (Linux-based) computer and monitor. Of course, your transmissions may not get much further than your kitchen.... (Oh, by the way, you can't talk, either....) Listen to the MP3 file for an idea of what you can do with this.

Posted 05:25 UTC

Shortwave dials up world's voices (Seattle Times): "In the basement of Bruce Portzer's home in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood, I watch him punch in the numbers on the digital shortwave radio. And just like that, the airwaves from Afghanistan are beaming back. I am listening, live, to U.S. propaganda broadcasts into that country from an Air Force EC-130 'Commando Solo' plane. You want immediacy, here it is, courtesy of the U.S. Special Forces carrying out PsyOps, which stands for 'psychological operations.'" Interestingly enough, this article even mentions the frequency, 8700 kHz, on which you can hear the broadcasts. Thanks to Martin Schoech for posting about this article on HCDX.

Posted 00:04 UTC

Lost and found sound; Philipsburg man makes classic radios and more play again (Centre Daily Times): "Bordas, 38, of Philipsburg likes nothing more than taking old tabletop Philco and RCA Victor sets and bringing them back to life. Several of the vintage models -- part of his collection of about 100 -- decorate his Front Street shop, Bordas TV Electronics, along with a pair of period jukeboxes.

"On one shelf sits his oldest example, a 1924 Atwater Kent 'breadbox.' Next to it is an elegant 1935 RCA 'tombstone' model, so named for its distinctive shape. Bordas restored it when he was 14, a Philipsburg kid enthralled with fixing his first grimy relic."

Posted 22:53 UTC

United Militia Patriot Bingo Radio proprietor Steve Anderson isn't likely to be on the air any time soon, according to this article in the Lexington Herald Leader: "Officials say Steve H. Anderson, 54, shot at police after a traffic stop for having non-working taillights on his pickup. No one was hurt and Anderson escaped by driving the truck off-road into the mountains off U.S. 25E just north of Middlesboro after a gunbattle with police, according to officers. Police discovered two pipe bombs in the truck early yesterday, prompting federal and state law enforcement officials, including the FBI and ATF, to surround Anderson's home near the Elrod community in rural Pulaski County. A search of the home is expected today."

I found these two quotes from the article particularly interesting:

"We pretty much disassociated with him completely," Patrick Perry of Murray, an assistant commander of the group, said yesterday. "He's a little too extreme for us."

"His views are pretty extreme," said Richard Stephens, a militia commander in Paducah. "He's a racist and a very paranoid fellow. Actually, I'm surprised he hasn't been killed yet." (Thanks Dexter Alexander for posting about this article to swprograms.)

Posted 11:28 UTC

Hearing Voices (U.S. News and World Report): "Shortwave radio is an old technology with new relevance since the September 11 terrorist attacks. John Figliozzi listened in from Clifton Park, N.Y., as the Voice of Iran first expressed sympathy-and then added an increasingly strident insistence that the United States shouldn't head up an international antiterrorist effort because of its anti-Islam, pro-Israel bias. He heard Pakistan's politicians and military leaders take Radio Pakistan's microphone to applaud President Pervez Musharraf's decision to help extract Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan."

Posted 01:15 UTC