The first and only private and commercial shortwave station in Scandinavia

Getting started - 10 founding members: DX-listeners, radio-amateurs, CB-operators, Free Radio -operators, scanner listeners - 10 months for planning and preparations: collecting money, applying license, building (studio, transmitter, station, etc.) - First transmission on 25 meter band - First transmission on 48 meter band - First transmission on medium waves - 13 members at the moment (+ support members)

Broadcasting - SWR broadcasts every 1st Saturday of the month and some special occasions like X-mas - Every now and then SWR also sell airtime for other radio hobby groups - Frequencies on 25 mb: and kHz - Frequencies on 48 mb: 5980 and 6170 kHz -On medium waves 1602 kHz

Behind the station - The stations is operated by the association "Vaihtoehtoisen radiotoiminnan tukiyhdistys ry" (The support association for alternative broadcasting) - 13 members and 5-10 "supporting" members

Broadcasting on 48 meters 48 meters band is for "local" broadcasts. On 48 meters it is possible to receive our signal almost anywhere in Finland, but only during daylight hours. In the night time the signal "jumps" abroad.

Broadcasting on 25 meters 25 meters band is so called DX-band. On the 25 meters the signal is stronger in Central-Europe and Scandinavia than in Finland. Sometimes when solar activity and propagation is favourable, it might be possible to listen us also in USA and Canada.

Broadcasting on Medium waves Medium wave band is for "local" broadcasts. At the time of day light, signal is possible to hear almost anywhere in Finland. In the night time the signal "jumps" abroad and the others station on the same frequency cause interferences.

Transmitters 25 meter transmitter watts - Crystal controlled - Mos-Fet PA 48 meter transmitter watts - Crystal controlled - Mos-Fet PA Transmitters are ”homemade” and those fulfil all international official requirements

Latest transmitter updates ITT marine ST 1610R (right) -400 watts -500kHz – 30MHz -Tube PA with 4 x 4CX250 SRT SSA1000 (left) watts max -500kHz – 30MHz -Transistor PA -Liquid based cooling system

Antennas -Wideband cage dipole type antenna -frequency range kHz - Height 5 meter from ground - 3-element beam for 25m - Gain about 6 dB - Height 20 m from ground

Antennas - Quarter wavelength vertical antenna for medium waves (1602kHz) -Total height 45 m -A few kilometers wire on ground as ground plane

Studio Studio equipment: - Tascam mixer - MD player x 2 - CD player x 3 - DVD player - Turntable x 1 - Computer - 30 band EQ - Professional compressor-limiter - Professional microphones - Monitor amplifier + speakers - One minidisc as a reference recorder - Field strenght meter - "UFO detector“

The money comes from: - The members' own pockets (50%) - Commercials - Sell of the Airtime - SWR-products (T-shirts, stickers etc.) - IRC's & Green stamps from the listeners ;-)

And the money goes to: - Music copyright fees (50%) - License fees - Studio equipment - Maintenance of the transmitters, antennas and related equipment - Maintenance of the studio building

Members of the SWR team... Pena-setä Rariojaska Trevor Esa Rick

FrankV-V Madman Members of the SWR team... Peeveli

HäkäPasi Janne Members of the SWR team... Miki

Programs -More than 50% of the music is from Finland -No playlists or format, real FREE radio -Not only music, but also documentaries, comedy, draama, etc. (Tricky Trev Show, Lauantailuotain, Progressive rock and other strange things, World Radio Roulette, Radio News, Virrat tänään, Science corner…) -Most programs are in Finnish and English

Co-operations - Koskenkorvan radiohullut via SWR - Radio Hami (mainly technical co-operation) - Pirkanmaa Polytechnic: over 50 students have studied radiowork in SWR

Special broadcasts – Radiomaailma via SWR - Special broadcast by co-operation with Finnish DX-association (Suomen DX-liitto) - Studio on summer meeting place in Ylöjärvi

Support members and “visitors"

Listeners around the world Reception reports from: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, Czech, Austria, UK, Russia, USA, Canada, Norway, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Hungary... Verification cards to listeners

Happenings at the station

Future plans... - New Jingles - More broadcasting power - Good programs… - A lot of maintenance work

Recently completed projects: - New antenna mast for MW, the BIG one… - Some improvements in studio - Big transmitters under the testing - ……….

How to listen shortwaves... - Some kind of "world band" or "communication" receiver needed, because from the normal radio you don’t usually find any shortwave broadcasting bands - Sometimes if "space weather" is favorable, old tube or kitchen radio might be good enough. - External antenna is highly recommended: example 12 meter copper-wire outside from window -Time of day affect to reception very strongly More information from or (Suomen DX-liitto)

How to listen medium waves... - Turn on you receiver and switch it to AM(MW) mode and select 1602kHz. - Rotate your radio 360 deg to find best possible reception. -External antenna is highly recommended if there is a connector to external antenna in receiver (example meter copper-wire outside from window) - Time of day affect to reception very strongly - Cement and metal walls attenuate the signal More information from or (Suomen DX-liitto) Due to internal antenna, position of the receiver have a influence to quality of the reception.

What you can do with us and for us? -Have your own air time and program content using the SWR studios and equipment - If you have enough imagination and graphical skills you can help us by making QSL card designs for us. (QSL card = Verification card for our listeners) - Audio material like station announcement, full ID's or just a start and end effects to announcements.

SWR PL Virrat Phone number during the broadcasts: