”SPOTLIGHT ON SWLING” 2015 is well and truly here as there have been changes here in my unit. Some renovation work has been carried out over January and hopefully I will be able now monitor in comfort. One country has returned to shortwave broadcasting after an outcry from disgruntled listeners forced the authorities to hastily reverse their decision. Radio Exterior Espana from Madrid came back on the 19th December. It has been relaying the domestic networks, mainly in the local evening hours with Spanish programming. I am also hearing whispers that Radio Australia could be also leaving shortwave and may have already pulled the plug. I am reliably informed that management has not renewed arrangements to utilise senders in the UAE, Singapore and Palau. FM relays throughout the Pacific were terminated last year as was Australia Television. Programming over RA now consists of relays from either Radio National or JJ. I have been receiving complaints from listeners overseas about the latter. Radio Australia did relay 2BL 702 during the Sydney siege. The BBC and the VOA along with DW have made plans to further reduce shortwave this year. Russia has already departed. As I have repeatedly remarked, the Chinese have significantly increased their HF output and they are audible practically around the clock with an extensive HF network within the PRC and also from Albania where they have installed powerful senders. Cuba also transmits some programming also on their behalf together with a low-powered sender in Mali. Conditions though have been very much on the decline. The sunspot cycle is rapidly going down with frequent blackouts. I note that propagation has dropped off on the higher frequencies. I do note a huge increase in OTHR activity. There is a substantial Russian facility with a distinctive sound and is between 20 and 50 kHz wide. It is facing Europe from a site in western Russia. Power is conservatively estimated to be in the hundreds of kilowatts. Other nations use different systems yet they are not as wide or as powerful as the Russians. The UK has had a base in Akotiri Cyprus for many decades and their system goes under the codename of Pluto. The French also have a set-up as do the Iranians. We have had a system for many decades known as Jindalee. It seems quite odd that broadcasters are leaving HF to OTHR systems. Recently I came across a broadcast from Iran in English on 21510 at 1050 UTC. Apparently it is directed to South Asia and said to be also on 17560. For some odd reason, Teheran commences all their broadcasts at either 20 or 50 minutes instead on the hour or half-hour. I personally found their English diction somewhat difficult to understand. Don’t forget if you have any news or comments, feel free to e-mail me at vk7rh@wia.org.au. 73 de vk7rh

Still about

I have neglected writing this blog for four months. I seem to write when I am mad about something or wish to vent my spleen. Thankfully I haven't mainly because I am too lazy. There is plenty to grumble about yet I just cannot get the motivation to actually compose something. I read very few blogs. One I regularly follow is Lisa King's. She writes sincerely from the heart about the dramatic changes in her family's life,following the death of her son Noah and the untimely and unexpected death of her husband , Aaron four months later. Then today I read a news article from a Fairfax website about the new phenomenon called "Mummy"bloggers. Apparently there are hundreds of women writing blogs about everyday happenings, building up a wide audience. Apparently marketing and advertising people have woken up to this and offering $$$ to bloggers to write glowing mentions of products. Yuck! These advertorials are a turnoff for me and avoid them. I believe that one or two celebrities were caught out endorsing a well-known holiday destination for cash and it transpires that neither has been there. Robin L. Harwood May 29th 0505 UTC Norwood Tasmania

I have been inspired reading Lisa King's blog. Life has been hard for their family,losing a son and then unexpectedly four months later losing Aaron to a massive heart attack. As I live right next door to the LDS church, I was able to witness the hundreds of people who attended the funeral service.

All of us have at some time asked the question, why? Life can be so unfair. I know I have. My ex-wife had an ongoing problem with manic depression,that claimed her life in the end. To this day, I have problems facing up to it and the failure of my marriage. Yes I am a Christian but still I have questions why. We all make choices that we later regret. We can't go back and alter them.
We should learn from our mistakes but human beings can be so stubborn at times. I am not perfect, no human being is. That is why God sent his only begotten Son into the World two millennia ago. As Scripture says.Php 4:13 Christ gives me the strength to face anything. ( Contemporary English version).

In Ephesians , Paul writes this :Eph 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
Eph 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
Eph 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Eph 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
Eph 3:19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (English Standard Version).

Always remember this promise from Romans.
Rom 8:28 We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose, because that was his plan.

Robin L. Harwood

0113 UTC February 6th 2012.

My first Blog for 2012!

I just realised it a very long time since I contributed an updated blog. My life has dramatically changed since then. 12 months ago I was caught in a bureaucratic tussle between two state government departments with neither preparing to budge. Fortunately it took the intervention of a third party to sort out the mess and now it is easier for me with several aids to assist my rapidly disappearing mobility. Walking now is a luxury as I now depend on a manual wheelchair just to get about my unit.

I am now an aged pensioner and also get assistance around the unit several times a week. My hearing difficulty is still present but the episodes are not as prolonged. When they occur, it leaves me almost totally deaf. It is very frustrating especially as I compile a monthly column on short-wave radio. Naturally I have become a grumpy individual at times as there is nothing I can really do about the changes in my body caused by ageing.

Robin L. Harwood
Norwood, Tasmania 7250
0310 UTC February 5 2012.

Two coinciding celebrations but how different.

It is coming up to Easter 2011 and Anzac Day. These important dates usually do not coincide but this year they do overlap. Easter is when Christians remember that Jesus Christ was executed by Crucifixtion by the Romans who were then occupying Israel/Palestine. It was at the behest of the Jewish High Priests and Sanhedrin. It was an extremely cruel sadistic execution. The Romans did not tolerate anybody upsetting the status quo..

What Christians believe that Jesus Christ rose three days after his death from the grave. It was this belief that changed the World religiously and eventually politically. Believers initially sufferred persecution and execution for three centuries before a Roman emperor was converted and decreed Christinaity would be the State religion replacing a pantheon of gods.

ANZAC Day is celebrated on April 25th in Australia and New Zealand and is the date when soldiers invaded the Gallipoli beachhead in European Turkey.
It was the first battle Australians fouught under their own banner and is regarded the birthplace of the Australian nation. Before they were six squuabbling British colonies who were initially reluctant to join as one nation. It is the de facto national day of Australia.

Christians celebrate a victory on Easter or Resurrection Sunday, when Christ arose from the dead. On Anzac Day we remember the sacrifices made at Gallipoli and rmember those who have died since in other conflicts even up to the present day. Gallipoli however was not a victory but a defeat due to bungles and incompetence of the military leadership then. The Allies were forced to retreat 9 months later. ANZAC Day was set aside
to remember all those who gave their lives for their country in all wars.

Robin 0600 April 21st 2011

Never fear I am still about.

I am still about but have not recently had the urge to write a Blog.
It has been so long and a lot has transpired. We have had natural
disastersin Queensland, Christchurch and Japan in the past three months
with a huge loss of life, especially in Japan. There is a preacher
in San Francisco who has made the bizarre prediction that
the World will end on the 21st of May at 1000 UTC. Well he has made
similiar prediction previously and it didn't come to pass.He has been spruiking that this is going to occur via radio
and in many languages. Wonder what he is going to say when
it doesn't happen? "I made a mathematical mistake".
Will it happen? I am cynical.

We have also seen the departure of David Bartlett as Premier to be
replaced by Lara Giddings. The fragile Labor-Green coalition still holds
but it will not last. There have been rumblings within the Greens
about the leadership and where it is headed. But is it enough to scuttle the Coalition?

Robin 0500 UTC March 23rd. 2011

I can hear once more

I can finally hear again. It was, as I suspected a blocked eustachian tube and a
simple but pricey nasal spray has restored my hearing. The trouble seems to be
related to hayfever and I guess I will need to continue using it till autumn.
It is so good being able to hear music and enjoy. I stupidly kept putting off
going to Dr. and this problem could have easily been avoided.

Robin 0455 UTC November 19th 2010