VRT Withdraws Slur Against Radio Amateurs

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Belgium's Flemish broadcaster VRT falsely said radio amateurs were likely responsible for the transmission of fictional traffic information to vehicle dashboard screens

“The burglars are most likely radio amateurs. These are people who have equipment with which they can pick up on an FM frequency. You listen to national channels via different masts that are scattered in Flanders. A radio amateur can then actually connect to a local transmission tower, and in that way forward the false traffic information. That can be seen on the dashboard for a maximum of 15 minutes, until your car is no longer connected to the transmission tower.”
— VRT Niews published the story on 13th August 2019, (Google translation)

This was false story was clearly damaging to the reputation of radio amateurs and Belgium's national amateur radio society, the UBA, was quick to respond, contacting VRT and issuing a press release. VRT have since corrected their story.

It is not the first time that local traffic information has been disrupted in Belgium. At the beginning of March, drivers between Brussels and Ghent were also given false traffic information.

UBA report on the matter (Google English) - https://tinyurl.com/BelgiumUBA

Corrected VRT Niews Story - https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/08/13/valse-verkeersinfo-hacking/

Radio Spectrum Management Traces an Activated Unregistered Personal Locator Beacon

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Radio Spectrum Management Traces an Activated Unregistered Personal Locator Beacon

Recently, the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) in New Zealand asked RSM for help locating an unregistered Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)*. The PLB was successfully located due to the capability of the RSM compliance team.

The beacon was thought to be obscured from the sky, as satellite passes were occurring without detection. The RCC gave the PLB fix a tolerance of +/- 6 nautical miles (10.8 kilometres). Aircraft were not hearing the homing signal on 121.5 MHz (that the PLB also transmits on) – despite being close to an airport.

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The Internet’s Impact on International Radio

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Many broadcasters saved money by moving from high-power shortwave transmissions to the web. But at what cost?

During the height of the Cold War (1947–1991), the shortwave radio bands were alive with international state-run broadcasters; transmitting their respective views in multiple languages to listeners around the globe.

In the seeming peace that followed, many governments no longer saw the sense in spending millions on multi-megawatt transmitters and vast antenna farms to keep broadcasting their messages globally.

Article by James Careless - https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/the-internets-impact-on-international-radio