ARRL: GO LONG ON SHORTWAVE FOR ARRL FIELD DAY

[andre kesteloot]

GO LONG ON SHORTWAVE FOR ARRL FIELD DAY 

Have you ever dreamed about being able to broadcast with hundreds of
thousands of watts and talk about Amateur Radio to a worldwide audience?
Ted Randall, WB8PUM, of Lebanon, Tennessee, will be "Live from Field
Day" on 7.415 MHz on WBCQ -- a shortwave radio station -- from 2 PM EDT
to 5 PM EDT, then from 11 PM EDT to 2 AM EDT on Saturday, June 28
<http://www.wbcq.com/>. 

"This is a chance for all ARRL Field Day locations to call in and do a
special live 'remote' broadcast from your Field Day site," Randall said.
"This international broadcast has a potential audience of more than 200
million people." Randall, who will be "in the field" but connected to a
radio studio, said he will be prepared to take calls from any ARRL Field
Day location, "so line up your best chatterbox that likes to rag chew
and call in." 

The number to call during the broadcast times to get on-the-air -- or
any time during Field Day for information -- is 931-528-0133 (the phone
will not be answered prior to Field Day). "As far as we know," Randall
said, "nothing like this has ever been done before, so be sure and call
in and do your 'broadcast' from your ARRL Field Day site -- listeners
will love to hear from you." 

Shortwave broadcasting -- the common term for HF broadcasting -- is an
FCC-licensed radio service operating between 5.950-26.100 MHz. Shortwave
is an international broadcast service intended to be received by the
general public in other countries and remains the only medium capable of
direct communication from one country to listeners in another country
without governmental intervention. With more than 1.5 billion shortwave
receivers in use worldwide, the BBC estimates that at any given moment,
more than 183 million people listen to shortwave broadcasts each week.
Especially in developing countries, shortwave remains the dominant mass
communications medium.

"Just remember -- major networks and news services all monitor
shortwave," Randall said, "so you never know who will be listening to
you tell the world about Field Day and Amateur Radio."

More information concerning this event is available on the ARRL Web site
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/06/26/10185/?nc=1>.