SWL Winterfest 2009


	Winter SWL Festival 2009

SWL Winterfest 2009

Time left until the 2010 Winter SWL Festival:
332 Days, 00 Hours, 48 Minutes, 54 Seconds.

By Gary A McAvin

The annual convention is the largest gathering of listeners to the radio spectrum — longwave, mediumwave, shortwave (broadcast, utilities, pirates), VHF/UHF, FM, scanners, television and satellites — in the United States, perhaps the world. About 200 persons from around the world attend each year. It is a nice way to break out of the doldrums of the northern hemisphere winter. Broadcaster representatives, clubs, and vendors attend. The gathering is sponsored by NASWA (North American Shortwave Association).

This year marks the 22^nd Anniversary of the SWL Fest. Can it be that soon that time has passed from the conception of this informative event?

Wow! Does Time Ever Fly!

We have all aged; sort of; since our involvement in DXing, TXing, or any area of radio broadcasting in general. From humble origins and approximately 40 people in attendance, this event has grown in size and value.

One of the things I look forward to is seeing the amicable hosts; John Figliozzi and Richard Cuff. Their friendly dispositions and helpful attitude further the purpose of the SWL Fest and; that is to have some fun but; learn something while you’re at it! And again this year they did not disappoint, these are gentlemen in every sense of the word. Thank you for being such gracious hosts.

International Broadcast TV/Radio Reception. (Tracy Wood, K7UO)-- Have you ever wondered what happened to your favorite shortwave broadcaster? Many have moved to the Clarke Belt and now broadcast digitally over satellites to both small- and big-dish
alike. Learn how to receive domestic/international broadcasters that migrated to MPEG-DVB satellite format. Dramatically falling hardware prices, small footprint Ku-band dishes, and plentiful ?Free-to-Air? offerings let you enter this DXing realm for less money than many shortwave radios. The presenter will offer valuable lessons learned from a recent home purchase in HOA-filled Virginia. He will give valuable examples of restrictive covenants, handling local planners, and friendly federal laws (SHVIA, OTARD) that help the satellite TV/radio convert.

Tracy Wood (K7UO) gave an excellent presentation on installing satellites for your personal use concerning radio DXing and receiving satellite TV broadcasts. Tracy covered the process from the best places to install the satellite dish on your property, the laws concerning the installation of Sat dishes and the caveats one might experience overall. There are several transmitting satellites that you can receive signals from and many of these programs are from other countries such as South America. And...the best of all...is the fact that after completing the Sat dish installation and the initial costs associated with that...the reception is free!!! And that is one of the main purpose of a project like this is to receive programming from assorted resources that is not controlled by subscription and or cost. Great presentation Tracy!

Time is always an enemy when there is so much to see and do. Again the presentations were so good, and you just can’t attend them all.

The display area was not quite filled this year, and that was something the economy probably has affected. However, it is always good to see people coming from all over to present some tools (toys) for our mental moments and entertainment. These products are useful and state of the art technology is displayed for our perusal.

We want to compliment our hosts and all that were involved in making SWL Fest 2009 a success. Thanks guys! Hope to see you again next year!