I am hoping
to produce this program on a weekly basis, although it may turn out to be a fortnightly event. The program's length will in future be dictated by submitted material; in other words, the fewer recordings you send in, the shorter the
program, and vice versa. In any case, the whole idea of this endeavor is to take advantage of the interactive nature of the online world and share YOUR loggings with the world. All you need is a computer, a sound card, a tape deck
and your radio.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Ultimately, "Shortwave Audio Online" will be only as good as you help make it. I know that most DX'ers keep cassette recorders running during their listening; the whole idea is to
share what's on those tapes with everyone else! Although it may seem a daunting process, recording an audio clip and sending it to "Shortwave Audio Online" is actually not very difficult. Don't be intimidated by the
quantity of data which follows; I have tried to cover all possible bases, and in all likelihood you will know most of it already.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS
This isn't the place to go into detailed discussions of how to get audio into
computer files. If you have questions in this regard, email them to me and I will try to point you to informative websites.
AUDIO CLIP CONTENT PREFERENCES
1. Although recordings of rare stations are exciting, "Shortwave
Audio Online" welcomes recorded loggings of any stations; remember, your "routine" logging may be DX to someone halfway around the globe. Loggings should be timely (i.e. less than 10 days old); recordings of old,
rare or defunct broadcasters are also welcome.
2. Shortwave broadcast loggings are preferred, although exceptional mediumwave logs are also welcome. Because of international laws regarding communication privacy, I cannot use
recordings of utility (maritime, aeronautical, military) loggings.
3. Keep total clip length to under 2 minutes. 4. Try to include an ID, an IS, a jingle, or national anthem wherever possible.
AUDIO CLIP TECHNICAL PREFERENCES
1. Please try to record from your receiver's direct audio out or headphone jack. If you must use a microphone, place it as close to the speaker as possible to minimize room noise.
2. Watch your recording levels, both to tape and to computer; I cannot filter out distortion caused by signal overload.
3. Don't use any notch or audio filtering; this includes outboard equalizers or JPS devices or the like. I will perform all filtering on my end.
This program is assembled on Cool Edit using .wav files. Therefore, whatever
you submit will eventually be converted into a .wav file. Although the conversion process from .au or .aiff to .wav is rather gentle, there is nearly always sonic degradation when changing .mp3 and .ra files into .wav files.
Therefore I ask that your audio clips conform to a minimum set of standards:
1. For .wav, .au or .aiff files, use a minimum sample rate of 11025, mono, either 8- or 16-bit.
2. For RealAudio 3 files, encode at 28.8 Mono, full response.
3. For RealAudio 5 files, encode at 32Kbps Music Mono.
4. For Real G2 files, encode Single Rate, 28K modem, Music.
5. For .mp3 files, encode at 16 kBit/s, 11025, mono.
SUBMITTING YOUR CLIPS
Each clip should be accompanied by email text describing the logging; include country, station, frequency, time, date, your location and some details of your equipment.
Attach your audio files to email using MIME extensions (the
default for almost all PC email; Mac owners note: BinHex attachments are problematic). This is simple using most email programs currently available. Don't be afraid to send me files up to 10Mb in size. Remember, uploading sizeable
files is takes a long time (exactly how long depends on your modem speed and connection), so you might want to either upload as a background function or do it overnight when the phone line and the computer are available for long,
uninterrupted stretches.
My email address is
