Over the last several weeks the staff of This Week in Amateur Radio and I, have determined that, in order to save on server space, and bandwidth of our files, some formats would need to be purged in order to meet our host provider's request. We have determined that the Windows Media (WMA), AAC/MP4, and ZIP files were not being requested enough to justify their continuing to be put on the web site.

By far, the MP3 format is the most popular, besting WMA by roughly 100 to 1 on average. This may be in part to the podcasts being in MP3, but it is the overall format of choice, and we have decided to run exclusively in that format, with RealAudio available on our static page for those on dialup/low bandwidth.

We will also be discontinuing the "low bandwidth" TWIAR International, since it is such a large download in itself, the higher quality file will be the sole download for that program starting soon.

Our 2 separate podcasts of TWIAR International at different sampling rates have been consolidated into a single rate at 192. This Week in Amateur Radio repeater version's podcast will remain unchanged. There are no plans at this time to create a podcast for the "Headline News" version.

We feel this will better streamline our programming overall and deliver you what you want with less confusion. We regret any inconveniences this may have caused.

We welcome your input on these changes and encourage ideas and suggestions. Please email me at w2xbs@twiar.org.

THIS WEEK IN AMATEUR RADIO HAS OPENINGS ON
OUR AIR STAFF FOR NEWS ANCHORS/READERS.

Due to some air staff migration, This Week in Amateur Radio
has immediate staff openings for persons interested in becoming
a volunteer news anchor/reader for North Americas Premier
Amateur Radio news magazine of the air. You need not be a ham
radio operator to apply. Previous broadcast experience is helpful.

If you have always wanted to be a radio newscaster, why not come
on board with This Week in Amateur Radio?

All you need is a desire to be on the air, a commitment to a once
every two or three week rotation with other anchors on a Friday
night/Saturday morning schedule, a PC, or Mac, equipped with a sound card
and a decent studio microphone.

You will need to be proficient in the use of sound recording and editing
souftware of your choice. Most of our anchors use Adobe Audition or
Cool Edit. However you may use SoundForge, WaveLab, Audacity, etc.

You also need have an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client know how to
transfer files from your computer to our server. A broadband
internet connection is a must have.

TWIAR can supply you with software if needed. (PC Only). So, if you always
wanted to be "on the air", you can do it with This Week in Amateur Radio!

Our programs are heard on WBCQ Shortwave (7.415mHz) via satellite,
amateur radio repeaters, podcast, and more!

Send an e-mail of interest to our Producer/Technical Director, George Bowen,
W2XBS today. E-mail: w2xbs@twiar.org. Please include your name (call sign if
any) location, and most important, a good daytime/evening telephone number
so we can contact you directly with details.

Hope to hear from you soon!

In recent years, several low power FM stations around the world have cleared our ham radio broadcast program, This Week in Amateur Radio International on their air.

This all started with our flagship low power FM station, WTND-LP in Macomb, Illinois. Since then, we have added others such as Robin Valley Community Radio in Omaha, Nebraska.


Our most recent addition, just sent us a QSL/Christmas Card and I thought I would share it with you here.

World FM is located in Tawa, New Zealand. Serving the cities of Tawa, Wellington, and Redwood. World FM is on 88.5 and on the internet at www.worldfm.co.nz. Happy Holidays World FM! We got your card! World FM carries both our broadcast and ham-radio programs.

If you operate a low power, or micro-power broadcast station and you carry This Week in Amateur Radio International, please let us know!

Every once in a while, I will ask Bill, N2FNH if he has listened to the latest edition of This Week in Amateur Radio International. Although I work on the editing and mastering of the program each week, I only get to hear it on the air occassionally since my job has me at work each Sunday afternoon when the program plays on WBCQ.

Bill is usually my sounding board for how the program is progressing, and thoughts on how we can improve.

We were having a QSO together during afternoon drive on the local W2SZ repeater located at RPI in Troy. Bill was telling me that he was having problems downloading the program from our main page at www.twiar.org and from this blog, with his portable wireless device, due to bloat. All that stuff on the right --->

For desktops and laptops, this is no problem. But there are those out there that take a minimalist approach to the internet. Bill uses a Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) for collecting podcasts, and web surfing on the road.

It was kind of funny, because at just about the same time, we both came up
with the idea of putting up a minimalist web page with just the TWIAR podcast links. I have been sitting on a second blogspot account for quite awhile now, so, I decided to do just that.

The TWIAR Labs has come up with just such a page. So now you can take your wireless device to a web page devoid of bloat and memory/time consuming html. Just the links to our International broadcast program (TWIARi) and the full version of the ham radio on the air service.

Hope this helps all those wireless device users out there. Visit the new page at www.kxkvi.blogspot.com.

By the way, does anyone remember where kxkvi is from?