National Broadcaster in Spain to close its AM network on Medium Wave at the end of 2025

On the 18th of November 2025, the Spanish national broadcaster RTVE issued a press release stating that they will be closing their AM network on Medium Wave at the end of 2025.

The stations concerned at Radio Nacional and Radio 5.

Some key points from the press release...

1) RNE's AM broadcasts will end before December 31st of this year , and the public will be informed through a special campaign , highlighting the various alternative ways citizens can already listen to Radio Nacional and Radio 5 programming. Furthermore, regardless of the rollout of digital radio via DAB+ and its resulting increased coverage, FM coverage will be reinforced in specific areas that may be particularly affected by the AM switch-off.

2) Continuous decline in AM listenership, and currently only about 1% of the Spanish population listens to it. In 2013, RNE's medium wave broadcasts had 176,000 listeners. In the latest survey, RNE's medium wave audience was only 69,000, 58,000 of them on the former Radio 1 and only 11,000 on Radio 5 broadcasts.

3) In Europe, 26 countries have already switched off their Medium Wave broadcasts. In those countries where they haven't been switched off, the audience is very small, and in some, such as Italy, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia, their national public broadcasters have even ceased broadcasting.

4) The manufacture and availability of new medium-wave radio receivers has drastically decreased worldwide, resulting in a significant shortage that is making access to these broadcasts increasingly difficult. Furthermore, fewer and fewer new vehicles in Europe are equipped with medium-wave reception.

5) RNE's Medium Wave network has very high electricity consumption, resulting in a significant carbon footprint. Its energy and economic costs are considerably higher than those of FM and, of course, DAB+.

6) DAB+ will have an automatic alert service for the population in Spain. During the blackout on April 28, RTVE was able to keep the public informed at all times thanks to the preparedness of its radio and television broadcasting networks. That day, radio demonstrated its vital importance in emergency situations and was for a long time the only means by which citizens could receive up-to-date information . Radio Nacional was the most listened-to station . 

Terrestrial radio and television broadcasting exhibits high resilience, and in particular, DAB+ radio broadcasts in Spain will incorporate the ASA (Automatic Safety Alert) system. This pioneering system alerts the public to emergencies and disasters and will activate automatically on compatible receivers.

The ASA allows automatic security alerts to be delivered to the population through spoken messages, with announcers transmitting all relevant information in emergency situations and with additional text and image information on the receiver screens, making the alerts clear, understandable and reliable.

Analysis... In terms of broadcasting in western Europe in the Medium Wave band, this is a major development. As alluded to above, many of the broadcasters in Europe have stopped transmitting on Medium Wave (AM) and only countries like the UK and Spain have major networks.

To the best of my knowledge, the close down of this network in Spain means that approximately 170 AM transmitters will be turned off.

A few years ago, I did a scan of the Medium Wave band at night from my location in Ireland and the Spanish RNE network accounted for about 20% of the 150 or stations that I heard.

Now that the Spanish national broadcaster is closing down it's AM network, surely it's only a matter of time before the commercial stations shut theirs.

Links...

1) RTVE Press Release (in Spanish)

Notice: Upcoming HAARP ionospheric tests from Alaska - 17th to 22nd Nov 2025

The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is based in Alaska and it's a high-power, high frequency (HF) transmitter for studying the ionosphere.  The principal instrument is a phased array of 180 HF crossed-dipole antennas  capable of radiating 3.6 megawatts  into the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.  Transmit frequencies are selectable in the range of 2.7 to 10 MHz.

The research team have announced that they will be carrying out tests from the 17th to the 22nd of November 2025.

The press release is shown below and I've added a map to show location and distance.

Notice: Upcoming HAARP ionospheric tests from Alaska - 17th to 22nd Nov 2025

Date: November 14, 2025

To: Amateur Radio & Radio Astronomy Communities

From: HAARP Program Office

Subject: Notice of Transmission

The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) will be conducting a research campaign November 17-22 UTC, with operating times specified in the table below. 

Operating frequencies will vary, but all HAARP transmissions will be between 2.75 MHz and 10 MHz.  Actual transmit days and times are highly variable based on real-time ionospheric and/or geomagnetic conditions. All information is subject to change.

This campaign is being conducted in support of research proposals from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Aerospace Corporation, the University of Colorado-Denver, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the University of Florida, Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the University of Texas-San Antonio. 

This research is supported by the Subauroral Geophysical Observatory award (#2054361) from the National Science Foundation. Scientific goals of these experiments include studies on the effects of ionospheric conditions on high-frequency radio wave propagation and generation and propagation of extremely low frequency/very low frequency (ELF/VLF) waves. 

This campaign will also introduce a Rayleigh LIDAR system as a new diagnostic tool for measuring temperature and density at an altitude of 11-85 km. 

More information on the LIDAR is available here: https://www.gi.alaska.edu/news/new-lidar-advances-atmospheric-science-uaf-research-site

The table below contains some of the frequencies that are expected to be used for these experiments. Note that these are subject to change based on real-time conditions in the ionosphere. The included transmission notice supplement contains information on the frequencies HAARP is authorized to transmit. HAARP transmissions will only occur on our authorized frequencies. 

There are no specific data collection requests from funded investigators, but reception reports are appreciated and may be submitted to our online form at https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/form/reception-reports

For updates on ionospheric conditions in Gakona, please consult ionograms from the HAARP

Diagnostic Suite: https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/diagnostic-suite

Additional Resources for Reading Ionograms
Understanding HF Propagation and Reading Ionograms from Bootstrap Workbench:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTFKNCo3Cl8

Reading Your Ionogram-Keeping It Simple from John (VE6EY):
https://play.fallows.ca/wp/radio/shortwave-radio/reading-your-ionogram-keeping-it-simple/

The image above is an annotated ionogram from HAARP that describes features that may be of

interest. Note that f0F2 is calculated at the top left.

f0F2 is the critical frequency of the F2 layer of the Earth’s ionosphere. This is the frequency at
which radio signals stop refracting off the ionosphere and begin passing through to outer space.
For certain HAARP experiments that deal with interactions in the ionosphere, transmission
frequencies below f0F2 are desirable, while for other experiments (such as those involving high altitude satellites), staying above f0F2 is required.

Supplement to HAARP Notice of Transmission

General Information for HAARP Radio Enthusiasts:

ARRL membership drops 8.3% in 2024

Note that the chart starts at 120k to make the annual change clearer

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national society for radio amateurs in the USA and is one of the largest if not the largest such organisation in the world. They also produce the QST magazine which is one of the largest amateur radio magazines in the world.

ARRL Membership... On the 14th of November 2025, the ARRL finally released their report for 2024 and they reveal that they had 137,114 members at years end. As can be seen from the chart above, this is a drop of about 8.3%.

One of the biggest reasons for the large drop is probably the increase in membership fees introduced at the start of 2024... see previous post.

This price increase was somewhat controversial in that it meant that members who wanted a hard copy of the QST magazine had to pay extra for the first time.

Members who paid an annual membership saw their subscription fee rise 20% if they got the online version of QST. If they wanted the physical version sent to them by post then the subscription went up by 71%.

I think they were expecting a drop in membership because of the price increase but I'm not sure they expected it to be this big.

Note that the chart starts at 17 to make the annual change clearer

The large drop in membership also means that even fewer radio amateurs in the US are now members of the ARRL. The chart above shows that percentage of US radio amateurs who are members and it has dropped to 18.4%.

The * is there because the ARRL also has overseas members but it's safe to say that the vast majority of members are US citizens.

ARRL Finances... According to the report, the ARRL reported an income from operations of $458,000  in 2024 versus a deficit spending from operations of $1.4 million in 2023.

They report publication costs going from $2,071,780 in 2023 down to $1,648,324. Likewise, the 'shipping and forwarding' costs reduced from $1,329,088 to $678,273.

This seems to be largely due to members opting for the cheaper membership rate with the digital online version of QST.

Advertising... They also report that In 2024, the total advertising revenue across ARRL platforms dropped by 21% to $1.1 million. They explain this by way of a general contraction within the industry but 21% seems like a huge amount in one year.

In Conclusion... If you read through the report then it's obvious there is a lot of 'cherry picking' with selective stats. At the end of the day, the ARRL membership is down 8.3% for the year.

If we consider that many of the current members are likely to have availed of the cheaper 3-year membership offer in the past then some of those are likely not to renew and there will be a further drop in membership in 2025 and 2026.

One of the big problems that the ARRL had was their 'Life Membership' programme. This was really a case of short term gain in terms of income but a long term pain in terms of costs and liability.

By moving the Life Members to a digital version of QST, the ARRL have eliminated a lot if not all of that long term liability and cost in terms of printing and posting of the magazine. The distribution costs for a digital version of QST is the same regardless of whether there are 50,000 members or 250,000.

That cost saving however was a one off. From here on, they're going to be trying to balance their spending with a reducing membership and reduced income from advertising.

If the ARRL finances start to go the wrong way in the future, there may be no magic rabbit to pull out of the hat to fix it.

Links... 

1) ARRL 2024 Report

2) There seems to be some governance issues with the ARRL at present and Frank, K4FMH often covers this in his blog... https://k4fmh.com/

A very basic overview of Polar Modulation and the implications for Amateur Radio

In the last few months, there has been talk on the Amateur Radio media channels about something called 'Polar Modulation'. A lot of what is presented is quite technical so in this post, I'll give a very basic overview of what 'Polar Modulation' is and why it might be a game changer for Amateur Radio.

First of all and to make things clear, 'Polar Modulation' is NOT another mode like AM (Amplitude Modulation) or FM (Frequency Modulation). Polar Modulation refers to how a radio transmitter operates in a newer and more efficient method.

Linear Amplifiers... Let's look at how the final power amplifier in a typical amateur radio transceiver operates.

In a linear RF amplifier, the output signal should be an exact replica of what the input signal is but only larger.

Let's say the gain is 10dB which is a multiplication factor of ten. 2-watts in gives 20-watts out, 4-watts in gives 40-watts out and 10-watts in gives 100-watts out, you get the idea.

With modes like CW (morse code), the signal is just one single carrier frequency and the amplifier can be non-linear. With SSB (voice) and FT8 (data) modes, there are multiple frequencies involved and there is the potential for these frequencies to mix in the amplification stage resulting in a distorted signal and splatter across the band. To prevent this distortion, the output stage must be as linear as possible.

This linearity however comes at a cost and that is in terms of efficiency. A typical amateur radio transceiver with an output stage running Class AB might have an efficiency of about 55%.

In other words, to give an output of 100-watts on SSB, the output stage might require something like 190-watts of DC power from the power supply.

This means that roughly 90-watts of power in the form of heat needs to be dissipated in a large heatsink in the radio which in turn uses a cooling fan to reduce the temperature.

This inefficiency obviously doesn't scale well. As the output power goes up then more heat needs to be dissipated with larger heatsinks and cooling fans.

Polar Modulation... A radio using 'Polar Modulation' uses a completely different method to generate an output signal.

With a linear amplifier, the output transistors are partially on which generates a lot of heat. In contrast,  non-linear amplifiers using Polar Modulation generate less heat because the output transistors are used more like very fast switches.

These can be turned on and off hard at RF frequencies and are made to saturate resulting in a very low resistance when they're on which means a lot less heat is generated. Efficiencies in the region of 90% can be achieved.

To avoid the signal becoming distorted, the audio signal from the user is first digitised and is split up into amplitude and phase components. These signals are then used to modulate the power supply to the RF amplifier which then generates the SSB signal. This is no simple feat and requires quite an amount of processing power and complexity within the radio.

Polar Modulation Implementation... While Polar Modulation has been used in transmitters in the commercial world for some time, it's only recently that the technology is becoming available in the amateur radio market.

Flex Radio... Back in March of 2017, Tony Brock-Fisher, K1KP co-authored an article in QEX titled 'The Polar Explorer - You may never look at your “linear amplifer” the same way again.'

That article goes into a lot more detail about what Polar Modulation is and you can read the PDF document HERE

That project by K1KP eventually formed the basis of the new Aurora radio which was released by Flex Radio in 2025. This radio implements Polar Modulation in the transmitter and has a power output of 500-watts.

This is from the promo material for the Aurora from Flex Radio...

"This radio boasts 80% efficiency, thanks to its use of polar modulation and high-efficiency transmitter architecture. Legacy linear amps often run around 40-60%, so this design cuts waste heat by 70-80%.

What does 80% efficiency mean in practical terms? It means that out of every 100 watts of supply power drawn from the wall, about 80 watts go to your actual RF signal, and only 20 watts are lost as heat. That’s a major improvement over typical HF rigs and amps.

Polar modulation is a highly efficient signal transmission technique that separates a radio frequency (RF) signal into two fundamental components: amplitude (envelope) and phase (angle) components, allowing each to be amplified independently and more efficiently.  

Unlike legacy linear amplification methods, which require power-hungry and heat-intensive amplifiers to preserve signal integrity, polar modulation enables the use of switching-mode amplifiers (such as Class D, E, or F) that operate with significantly higher efficiency."

The new Flex Radio Aurora range is certainly at the upper end of the amateur radio market with prices ranging from $6200 - $9,600 in the US (€7000 - €10,500 in Europe and £6200 - £9600 in the UK).

The main thing here is not to get side lined on the issue of price but to take note that it is the first implementation of Polar Modulation by one of the big amateur radio manufacturers.

QRPLabs... Hans Summers, G0UPL of QRPLabs has implemented his own version of Polar Modulation called 'Envelope Elimination and Restoration (EER)' in his QMX product. 

This QRP radio with its 5-watt output power is certainly at the other end of the price spectrum in terms of cost with an assembled price of under $200. Info... https://qrp-labs.com/qmxp.html 

Video 1 - Hans gave a presentation of the QMX product at the RSGB convention in October of 2025. You can find the live stream link HERE

Look at the video from 4:29:27 to 5:13:30

Video 2 - This is another clip titled 'RSGB 2025 Convention polar modulation: Hans Summers G0UPL, Mike Walker VA3MW, Stewart Bryant G3YSX'. Link HERE

Implications of Polar Modulation for Amateur Radio??? 

1) Size - One obvious attraction is that the increased efficiency means that smaller heatsinks can be installed in a typical 100-watt amateur radio transceiver which means the radio could shrink in size. This is a potential cost saving for manufacturers.

2) Power - The alternative of course is that the size and heatsinks stay the same but the newer models can be made to operate at higher powers like 150-watts giving the radios featuring Polar Modulation a competitive edge over 100-watts radios not using the technology.

3) Shortage of parts - If in the future enough companies implement Polar Modulation in their transmitter designs then there will be less demand for the high power transistors used in the traditional RF linear amplifiers. If the demand drops too much then transistor manufacturers could stop making those type of devices. Is there a potential that all radio transmitters will end up migrating to the use of Polar Modulation because of a shortage of parts in the supply chain?

Downsides of Polar Modulation???

1) Complexity - While some radio amateurs may build their own radios with linear RF outputs, it's hard to imagine many would be able to design or implement their own version of radio using Polar Modulation. 

2) Dirty signals? - If a transmitter using Polar Modulation isn't designed properly, the transmitted signal may have high phase noise with increased power in the higher order intermodulation products.

This means wider signals, splattering across a band and causing interference to other users.

This can be mitigated by using fast digital signal processing techniques in the radio but what happens if some manufacturer tries to save costs and implements a poor design?

Imagine a radio using Polar Modulation running 100-watts on the HF bands with the quality and performance of a Boafeng UV5R handheld?

In conclusion... I've tried to give a brief and simplified overview of the current state of affairs as regards to Polar Modulation and where things are going.

This technology has the potential to be a game changer in that we may see over time a wholescale redesign of modern amateur radio transceivers.

Even if you're not that interested in what goes on inside of the radio, you should be aware of the potential pitfalls of this technology if not implemented properly.

Opening on the 40 MHz band between the UK and Australia - 8th Nov 2025

Even though we have passed the peak of the current sunspot cycle, conditions on the higher HF bands and the low VHF region are still very good.

On the 8th of November 2025, Paul G7PUV reports an opening from the UK to Australia on the 40 MHz (8m) band.

The map above from PSK Reporter shows the paths open for Paul using his G9PUV callsign. Paul reports that he managed to complete a contact with Joe, VK8VTX in the far north of Australia.

PSK Reporter didn't show the path so it's a reminder that while the website is a very useful tool, it may not give the full story.

This is the screenshot for the 8th of November 2025 for the 40 MHz band and it shows all the paths recorded.

Note that there may be a few paths in the map which are mistakes and are for other bands! However, you can see the 40 MHz from the north of Australia to Europe, the path north from ZS6WAB in South Africa to Europe and the paths from the Dominican Republic to Europe.

While the good conditions help, the one big change of late on the 40 MHz band is the permission given to radio amateurs in Spain and Italy to use the 8m band.

The list of the path shown in the map above are listed below...

VE2DX Electronics closing down - Nov 2025

Richard, VE2DX operates a small company in Canada which designs and sell products for the amateur radio market. These include a variety of interfaces for various radios as well as a number remote antenna switches.

The products were sold via DX Engineering in the United States, Martin Lynch & Sons in the UK as well to a individuals.

In September, VE2DX announced that unfortunately have to close due to the introduction of tariffs in the United States.

This is an excerpt from the statement issued...

 VE2DX ELECTRONICS DESIGN MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!

1- Shipping to the USA: Please be advised that we can not and will not ship anything to the USA as of September 19th, 2025, because the shipping companies in Canada will NOT take any shipment unless WE pay YOUR tariffs in advance.

These Tariffs are from US Customs, and there have been many administrative errors, such as the fact that our products are covered under USMCA and should not be subject to any tariffs AT ALL!

As a result, US Customs is requesting that transport companies pay in advance for US citizen tariffs. Consequently, these transport companies are charging our company tariff fees, making it almost impossible to collect the payments from our customers, many weeks or months after the fact.

Let's be very clear: we are not charging anyone any tariffs, nor is Canada. These tariffs are imposed by US Customs and are to be paid by the importer, not the Canadian exporter.

Bottom line, we will no longer be able to ship anything to the USA. We invite you to contact our US-based resellers if you need any products.

4- Are we going to close? Yes, 🙁 Many of you have been following and supporting us from the very beginning. No later than last week, I was in NH to discuss a potential US partner and initiate some manufacturing in the USA, but the numbers just aren't there. 🙁

I am very sorry to inform you that, as of November 2025, VE2DX Electronics Design Inc. will no longer exist.

We continually strive to develop innovative approaches and technologies that can assist our fellow ham operators at a fair price. As a result, it took us far too long to become profitable. This, combined with the August 2024 floods and US Customs tariffs, makes it impossible to develop further. As a result, we must consider selling or closing our beloved company. 

I want to thank everyone for their support over these GREAT six years.

De Richard G. Desaulniers Sr., VE2DX

Full statement... https://ve2dx.com/blogs%2Ftips/f/ve2dx-electronics-design-major-announcement

Video: Understanding 6 Meter Sporadic E Propagation by W3LPL

Frank Donovan, W3LPL gave a presentation recently to the Madison DX Club titled 'Understanding 6 Meter Sporadic E Propagation'. The talk which is about an hour in length covers Sporadic-E propagation with an emphasis on the 50 MHz (6m) band. 

The talk is given from a North American perspective but the distances discussed are applicable to stations in Europe as well.

The talk not only covers single hop Sporadic-E but multi-hop as well as shown in the image above.

Chordal hop propagation refers to where a single Sporadic-E cloud refracts the signal enough that it is able to propagate to the next Sporadic-E cloud instead of relying on a lossy ground bounce.

The talk includes some interesting slides which show the height of the Sporadic-E cloud changing with the time of day. This suggests that the longest single hop distances should occur in the early morning or early evening.

He also expands the discussion to cover Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) whereby stations in the USA can link via Sporadic-E to the TEP zone to the south and then onto to South America.

The same scenario would apply to stations in Europe trying to work South Africa and South America on 6m.

The presentation is shown above.

Improving conditions on 28 MHz at Equinox - Sept 2025

Over the last few days, the conditions on the 28 MHz (10m) band have really improved as we approach the equinox.

The map above shows the stations that I heard using the WSPR beacon mode on 28.1246 MHz on the 19th of September 2025. The key takeaway is the east-west path across the North Atlantic and especially to the west coast of North America. This requires a more northerly path and is a sure sign of good conditions.

It's worth noting that the number of people using WSPR is relatively small. If had used FT8 instead, the number of stations would be much higher.

Saturday the 20th of September showed a similar pattern. Note the long path all the way south to the DP0GVN, the German research station in Antarctica. The power output for DP0GVN is listed as 5-watts and I got 39 decodes over three days.

For Sunday the 21st of September, there was a small change. In addition to DP0GVN in the Antarctica again, I got once decode from the 0.2-watt signal from JW1WSP on Svalbard in the Arctic.

As well as the opening to the western side of North America, there was one decode from JF3HPN in Japan running 1-watt. Again, if this was on FT8 then the number of stations would likely be much greater.

If we look at the overall number of spots for the three days combined, there are some patterns...

For North America, most of the stations are in the region of 5000-6000kms. These are most likely double hop F2 signals and are 2500-3000km hops multiplied by two.

In Europe, there is a distinct lack of stations heard in the area I've marked with a brown line. To the east of this line, the signals are via one hop F2 layer propagation and in the region of 2400 to 3000kms.

To the west of the line, you can see all the stations that I heard via Sporadic-E propagation and most are in the region of 500-1500kms. Even in September, there are Sporadic-E openings that can support propagation on the 28 MHz (10m) band.

The 'skip zone' in Europe for the three days was the 1500km to 2400km gap... too close for F2 layer propagation and too far for Sporadic-E.

In conclusion... The chart above shows the progression of the current sunspot cycle. The Winter of 2025/2026 should be really good again on 28 MHz but you can see how things are going to change over the next few years.

As time progresses, conditions on the higher HF bands like 28 MHz will decline faster than on the lower bands like 14, 18 & 21 MHz. 

Make the most of the current conditions before you start the long wait for the next sunspot cycle.

The last print edition of the World Radio TV Handbook will be in 2026...

The World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) has been a valuable source of information for short wave listeners and DX-ing enthusiasts for about 80 years. 

Up to 2022, it used to be be published by a company in the UK and I had a post about this back in December of 2021.

It was subsequently taken over by a company in Germany and they published print copies in 2023, 2024 & 2025. They also introduced an E-book version in 2024 and an app version in 2025.

They have now announced that the last printed edition will be in 2026.

They wrote... "An Important Message to the WRTH Community

Dear Friends of WRTH,

As we approach the publication of the 80th edition of the World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH 2026), we find ourselves at both a moment of celebration and of change. For eight decades, WRTH has been a constant companion to radio listeners, broadcasters, and enthusiasts worldwide. We know that many of you treasure the annual arrival of the printed book, and it is with great care and reflection that we share the following news.

The Final Printed Edition

WRTH 2026 will be the last edition to appear in print. After this milestone 80th edition, WRTH will move entirely to digital formats—our regularly updated Web App and the twice-yearly E-book (Winter and Summer schedules). This is not a decision we have taken lightly. The printed WRTH has been part of the identity of our community, and we understand what it means to see it come to a close.

Example page inside the book showing frequency lists

Why This Change Is Necessary

Over the past years, the costs of producing WRTH in print have risen sharply. Printing, paper, tariffs, shipping, and logistics have all become increasingly expensive and difficult to manage. Despite our best efforts to absorb these pressures, continuing to publish in print on a yearly basis is no longer sustainable. In order for WRTH to survive as a publication, and continue serving the global broadcasting community, we must adapt.

Pre-Order Only: A Collector’s Edition

The WRTH 2026 printed book will be available exclusively through pre-order, with delivery scheduled for December 2025. There will be no launch stock or reprints. Once pre-orders close, the book will not be available again. This makes WRTH 2026 a true collector’s edition—our final tribute in print to 80 years of The World’s Most Comprehensive and Up-to-Date Guide to Broadcasting.

Pre-orders will open on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, and close on Friday, October 31, 2025.

Please watch our communication channels for the official announcement, and subscribe to our newsletter to always stay up-to-date: https://wrth.info/newsletter/ 

Looking Ahead with Digital

Moving forward, WRTH will be available in two formats:

The WRTH Web App, updated throughout the year with the most current data.

The WRTH E-book, released twice a year to cover Winter and Summer schedules.

We believe this transition will allow WRTH to remain relevant, accessible, and sustainable, while providing you with more up-to-date information than print has ever allowed.

Updated Pricing

To reflect the realities of production and to keep WRTH alive in its new form, prices for 2026 are as follows:

WRTH 2026 Printed Book: EUR 59,90 (excluding shipping)
WRTH 2026 Web App: EUR 47,90
WRTH 2026 E-book (Winter and Summer editions): EUR 47,90

Please note: Prices are set in EUR. Currency conversion applies at the point of purchase for all other currencies.

Shipping costs will remain similar to last year, varying by region, with WRTH continuing to subsidize rates in some areas.

A Word of Thanks

We know these changes may be difficult to accept, especially for those who have collected the printed WRTH for many years. Please know that this was not an easy decision for us to make. It comes from a deep responsibility: to ensure that WRTH not only celebrates its remarkable past but also secures its future.

We are grateful beyond words for your loyalty and support, and for the place you have given WRTH in your lives. As we turn this page together, we hope you will join us in celebrating the WRTH 2026—the final printed volume and a lasting collector’s item—and in embracing the new digital editions that will carry WRTH into the years ahead.

If you have any other questions, please visit our FAQs ( https://wrth.info/faqs/ ) for quick, clear answers and support.

With gratitude, The WRTH Team"

Obviously the cost of printing a large book for a diminishing number of people has become prohibitive.

The image below shows how the price of the printed edition has changed recently.

The 2026 edition will cost almost €60 before shipping which I'm sure some will find very expensive. The 2026 physical edition costs about 50% more than the 2023 edition.

On their website, they have the E-book editions for 2024 & 2025 listed as €29.90. The 2026 price is €47.90 and that covers a winter and summer edition.

The 2026 app version at €47.90 is only €10 cheaper than the printed book.

In summary... The WRTH contains a wealth of information about various radio and TV stations around the world. Most if not all of this information is available online but the advantage of the WRTH is that it's in one location.

For some, the price of the WRTH will be way too high. For other users, the price will be acceptable.

If you're interested in ordering the last print edition for 2026 then visit their website... https://wrth.info/

Ireland's first cubesat EIRSAT-1 comes to end of life...

Back on the 1st of December 2023, Ireland's first satellite called EIRSAT-1 was launched on a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Now 22-months later in early September 2025, it's mission comes to a close as it is expected to burn up on the 4th of September in the earths atmosphere.

At the time of writing, it's altitude is about 220kms which is well within the ionosphere and where it will start to experience significant drag from air molecules.

Update - Thurs 4th Sept 2025...

...

16:00 UTC... It seems that the last reception of EIRSAT-1 was by VE9EX as the satellite passed over Newfoundland at 15:20 UTC.

There were no reports as it passed over South America, back up over Indonesia and South-East Asia and back down again over Canada and the United States.

It may well have re-entered and burnt up on this orbit, roughly about 16:00 UTC.

Last few reception reports

14:09 UTC - Heard over Brazil...

12:24 UTC - Heard in the Netherlands by PA0SAT...

12:21 UTC - Final pass over Ireland...

Slán go fóill

11:30 UTC - From the control team at UCD Dublin...

Still receiving EIRSAT-1 loud and clear over UCD Dublin this morning at approx 160km altitude.  Thanks to the radio amateur community @SatNOGS @LibreSpace_Fnd for tracking and sharing reports in these final hours of the mission.

Thanks to Department of Enterprise and Enterprise Ireland for your  support. Minister Alan Dillon TD: “I am very proud that the mission was supported by my Department,  through our membership of ESA (European Space Agency). EIRSAT-1 demonstrates the value of membership of  ESA for a  small country, such as Ireland"

11:00 UTC - Change in height (2nd Sep ~230kms, 3rd Sep 220kms, 4th Sep 190kms). Latest projection is that EIRSAT-1 will burn up sometime between 11:09 to 19:09 UTC.

09:29 UTC - Heard over Belarus. Note the doppler shift on the signal as it slopes to the left.

08:00 UTC - The latest orbit tracking shows an altitude of about 185kms which is about 30kms lower than yesterday.

VU2JEK in India decoded this message around 06:30UTC

The term 'Slán go fóill' is a traditional Irish parting message which means 'Bye for now'.

***

During its mission, EIRSAT-1 carried three payloads / experiments. One was a Gamma-Ray Module (GMOD) to detect gamma ray bursts, one was the ENBIO module, a materials testing platform to test the performance of thermal management coatings in LEO for the first time and the final one was the the Wave Based Control (WBC) module, which tested and validated a novel control system for advanced satellite pointing in space.

The successful validation of its Wave-Based Control system was one of the more interesting ones. The software-led payload lets satellites fine-tune their orientation mid-orbit. This was developed at University College Dublin (UCD) and the system uses magnetorquers (tiny coils that push against Earth’s magnetic field) and a clever algorithm inspired by spinning tops. 

Once the satellite starts spinning, the gyroscopic stability lets the controller nudge it in any direction. The result is that pointing accuracy within a few degrees is achieved. Dr. David McKeown of UCD called it a “major milestone.”

Some satellites wish to use the very high communication bandwidths available by using lasers as opposed to microwave links and precise pointing is critical for such space space missions.

In conclusion... So ends the mission of EIRSAT-1. In international terms, it may seem like a minor project but the major accomplishment here was that a team at University College Dublin started from scratch and designed, built and operated a satellite.

They conducted some scientific experiments and showed that they could complete such a complex project.

It now allows the University to approach the European Space Agency for more projects in the future.

Markus Baseler, DL6YMM - Silent Key

It was recently announced that Markus Baseler, DL6YYM has passed away.

As well as being a very active QRP and CW operator, he also operated from numerous potable locations including Greenland.

He was also the maker of the high-quality BaMaTech TP II and TP III CW keys used by numerous CW operators worldwide.

BaMaTech have released the following statement...

"Dear customers and business partners,

Following the sudden and painful loss of our company owner, we are deeply saddened to announce that we will be permanently closing our business.

In his spirit, we are currently carrying out a clearance sale of the remaining inventory. The online shop remains available to you as usual. All existing orders are being reviewed as quickly as possible to determine whether they can still be fulfilled.

The limited special edition of the golden TPIII key – “Feel the Heat” – is expected to be available as planned starting in October. Pre-orders can be placed via bestellung@bamatech.de or through the shop in the coming days.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to you for your long-standing loyalty, your trust, and the many valuable encounters over the years.

Sincerely,

Your BaMaTech Team."

Website... https://www.bamatech.net/

Video: The rise and fall of Radio Shack - From $5 billion to bankruptcy

About 20 years ago, RadioShack had over 8000 stores in the USA and sold a multitude of radio and electronic parts and computers. 

In his most recent video, YouTuber Michael Girdley looks at the decline of the business.

Return of F2 layer propagation to the 28 MHz band - Aug 2025

For the last few weeks, I have been hearing nothing but European signals on the 28 MHz (10m) band. This is pretty normal as we're in the Summer Sporadic-E season in the northern hemisphere.

The 18th of August 2025 was a typical day with yet another Sporadic-E opening with signals in the range of 1000-2000 kms being heard at my location.

On the 19th of August, I noticed the distinct signal from the 5B4CY beacon on Cyprus on 28.219 MHz. This was a sure sign of F2 layer propagation with a much longer distance of about 3700kms.

I also noticed that I had heard F2 signals from Turkey and Russia on the 18th.

Date Time / (UTC) / DX call / Grid / Frequency / Distance in kms / Country

2025-08-18 / 08:04 TA4/G8SCU / KM56vo / 28.126044 / 3561 / Turkey
2025-08-18 / 09:42 / R7BF / KN96 / 28.126091 / 3430 / Russia
2025-08-18 / 10:00 / YM2XBL / KN41 / 28.126105 / 3033 / Turkey

There can often be confusion between what is a single hop signal coming off the F2 layer of the ionosphere and what is multi-hop Sporadic-E. With experience, you can make a call on which is which.

Hearing F2 layer signals like a beacon in Cyprus isn't anything exceptional but it is a sign that East-West F2 layer propagation is returning to the 28 MHz band.

Over the next few week, these long distance F2 signals will become more common. There should be plenty of openings from North America to Europe and North-South paths will much easier.

The above image from SolarHam shows the current trend in the 11-year sunspot cycle. We're dropping off the peak but conditions should still be good on 28 MHz once we get to October.

The maximum usable frequency may not reach as high as 50 MHz but there should be loads of activity on the lower frequencies like 28 MHz.

10m QRSS Challenge: - DL3PB in Germany - 12th August 2025

Since the start of 2024, I've been trying to see how many QRSS signals I could capture on the 28 MHz band. The QRSS signals are just below the WSPR frequency (28.1246 MHz) so both modes can be monitored at the same time.

On the 12th of Auguest 2025, I managed to get a screen capture of DL3PB in Germany as shown in the above image. On this occasion, Peter DL3PB was using the visual SlowHell visual mode instead of morse code but the callsign can be clearly seen.

You'll notice the small graphic before and after the callsign. At first I thought this was a bird but I later found out it's supposed to be a rat! 😄

Peter was running 1.5-watts into a vertical sleeve dipole.

It was surprisingly difficult to capture this signal. I knew Peter was sending QRSS signals occasionally on 28 MHz during the summer but I never saw anything. I hear CW beacons very often from Germany but why was capturing DL3PB so difficult? Was I checking at the correct time?

The issue is 'perception' versus 'reality'. I associate Germany with an easy distance on Sporadic-E so it's very easy for me to work and hear Germany on 28 MHz. Most of the signals I see on 28 MHz from Germany at a distance of about 1200-1600 kms.

However, Germany is a big country and DL3PB is in the far west. At 1030 kms, DL3PB is no further away than say some stations in the Netherlands.

A distance of 1000kms for Sporadic-E on 28 MHz isn't that rare but it's certainly more unusual than say 1500kms. This is a result of the signals at 1500kms being returned from the Sporadic-E layer at a shallower angle. The closer the station like say 1000kms, the higher the angle and the less likely it is.

So the combination of someone sending signals on an intermittent basis and the lower chance of shorter skip made a capture from DL3PB more difficult.

In summary... That brings the QRSS tally so far for 28 MHz up to 29-callsigns & 12 DXCC.

1) 8th Jan 2024: VE1VDM - DXCC #1
2) 10th Jan 2024: VA1VM
3) 15th Jan 2024: G0MBA - DXCC #2
4) 15th Jan 2024: G0PKT
5) 15th Jan 2024: AE0V - DXCC #3
6) 16th Jan 2024: RD4HU - DXCC #4
7) 16th Jan 2024: W1BW
8) 17th Jan 2024: OH5KUY - DXCC #5
9) 18th Jan 2024: TF3HZ - DXCC #6
10) 6th Feb 2024: VA3RYV
11) 16th Feb 2024: IK2JET - DXCC #7
12) 16th Feb 2024: N8NJ
13) 21st Feb 2024: PY3FF - DXCC #8
14) 26th Feb 2024: VE6NGK
15) 27th Feb 2024: NM5ER
16) 28th Feb 2024: VK4BAP - DXCC #9
17) 2nd Mar 2024: WA1EDJ
18) 5th Mar 2024: FR1GZ/B - DXCC #10
19) 30th Apr 2024: IK1WVQ
20) 8th May 2024: IW0HK/B
21) 14th May 2024: IZ1KXQ/B
22) 3rd Jun 2024: M0GBZ
23) 3rd Jun 2024: G0FTD
24) 17th Oct 2024: AA7US
25) 19th Oct 2024: DJ5CW - DXCC #11
26) 21st Oct 2024: KC2CHK
27) 16th Jul 2025: GB3PKT
28) 20th Jul 2025: ON4CDJ - DXCC #12
29) 12th Aug 2025: DL3PB