Shortwaves for Freedom Project (Ukraine / Radio Free Europe rebroadcast project)

[corq]

This is project to rebroadcast/relay Radio Free Europe to censorship-impacted areas in Eastern Europe:

With Moscow silencing foreign media in Russia, threatening to send reporters to jail and censoring all war information, objective outside information is critically needed not only for Russia, but also for Ukraine and surrounding countries. 

Such content, produced by the U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is being disseminated on the internet and on TV. But these Russian, Ukrainian and English language programs are not being distributed through the simplest technology that skirts censorship and internet shutdowns  -- shortwave radio.

The parent agency of VOA and RFE/RL, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, has decided not to air such transmissions (unlike the BBC). As these programs are in the public domain, we plan to air them live and on tape delay by purchasing air time on commercial shortwave stations in the United States and Europe. These powerful transmitters (with hundreds of thousands of watts and large antenna systems) can easily reach Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe where millions and millions of people still have shortwave radios. These potential listeners   will be alerted through social media as to what frequencies and times to listen for these critical programs.

At this stage, organizers have started a fundraiser to buy airtime to get the content closer to Ukraine and Russia and affected regions, in response to Moscow's censorship and crackdown on dissenting opposition views and media organizations.

However, for other interested parties who have means to re-broadcast to the region, I am assured "All VOA and RFE audio/video streams are considered in the public domain" and that radio enthusiasts with means to disseminate RFE broadcasts near Russia / Belarus and affected regions would be encouraged to participate.

For those interested in donating, more information is available here: https://fundrazr.com/61xi2e?ref=ab_6B5fU6_ab_5dr1kVXCscG5dr1kVXCscG

More information regarding this project is expected to be announced Monday, March 7th.

[corq]

As of today, $4,280 raised - Thank you to all who have participated so far! Here's an update on where the transmissions are being heard, as of 10 hours ago:

Thanks to WRMI, our one-hour test transmission in Russian (from Radio Svoboda -- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) is on the air right now on 7780 kHz. (A clip below of the first minute or so with the station ID in English followed by the Russian programming as heard on the U.S. East Coast).

We are already getting solid reception reports from as far away as Poland so presumably it also being received in Russia, as well as the surrounding countries where Russian is widely understood. 

We hope to start the daily transmissions in Russian soon, in addition to the VOA English program dedicated to Ukraine news which we began airing Monday.

Thank you again everyone for your contributions. Without you this would not be happening tonight!

There's a running blog for transmission updates if you'd like to follow along:

https://fundrazr.com/radiowaves?ref=ab_6B5fU6_ab_5dr1kVXCscG5dr1kVXCscG

[NJQA]

It is looking likely that Russia will isolate their Internet from the outside world.
https://fortune.com/2022/03/07/russia-runet-disconnect-ukraine-dns-chernenko-letter/


The USAGM thinks the internet is the way to go.
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/597411-grassroots-effort-uses-shortwave-radio-to-broadcast-voa-in-ukraine-russia

Even if USAGM can’t restore some of the government transmitter sites quickly to bring VOA back to SW, there are something like 15 licensed SWBC stations, commercial and religious, in the US and it’s territories.  I’d bet that some of them would be tickled pink to sell airtime to USAGM.

[Erik Mattson]

Was great to hear the BBC World Service grilling Russian Duma member Maria Butina (sp?) over her BS. Think I'll head to that donation site.

[East Troy Don]

The decision by the U.S. Agency for Global Media is indefensible.  You would think that an agency of a country whose government is purportedly the lead proponent of  Freedom of Speech would know better.

"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help"
                                                    - Ronald Regan -

[corq]

Update, GOAL MET!

https://fundrazr.com/radiowaves?ref=ab_6B5fU6_ab_6B5n05

Thank you to all who contributed, spread the word, or reported reception to the project. Shortwave is kind of a lesser-known hobby in the digital age, but this proves our hobby and knowledge can have real impact.

An excerpt of the announcement per the project sponsor:

"You did it! We have reached our funding goal thanks to many modest and a few very generous contributions. We will keep it going as we add transmission facilities, times and languages until we're no longer needed or we exhaust funding...

...Also, VOA itself mentions our project in an article about digital circumvention tools being used after Russia invaded Ukraine: https://www.voanews.com/a/vpn-use-spikes-as-russians-seek-out-facts-on-ukraine-war/6482178.html"

This is project to rebroadcast/relay Radio Free Europe to censorship-impacted areas in Eastern Europe:

With Moscow silencing foreign media in Russia, threatening to send reporters to jail and censoring all war information, objective outside information is critically needed not only for Russia, but also for Ukraine and surrounding countries. 

Such content, produced by the U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is being disseminated on the internet and on TV. But these Russian, Ukrainian and English language programs are not being distributed through the simplest technology that skirts censorship and internet shutdowns  -- shortwave radio.

The parent agency of VOA and RFE/RL, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, has decided not to air such transmissions (unlike the BBC). As these programs are in the public domain, we plan to air them live and on tape delay by purchasing air time on commercial shortwave stations in the United States and Europe. These powerful transmitters (with hundreds of thousands of watts and large antenna systems) can easily reach Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe where millions and millions of people still have shortwave radios. These potential listeners   will be alerted through social media as to what frequencies and times to listen for these critical programs.

At this stage, organizers have started a fundraiser to buy airtime to get the content closer to Ukraine and Russia and affected regions, in response to Moscow's censorship and crackdown on dissenting opposition views and media organizations.

However, for other interested parties who have means to re-broadcast to the region, I am assured "All VOA and RFE audio/video streams are considered in the public domain" and that radio enthusiasts with means to disseminate RFE broadcasts near Russia / Belarus and affected regions would be encouraged to participate.

For those interested in donating, more information is available here: https://fundrazr.com/61xi2e?ref=ab_6B5fU6_ab_5dr1kVXCscG5dr1kVXCscG

More information regarding this project is expected to be announced Monday, March 7th.

Thank you all!