Christmas Eve DX 2010 and a Boxing Day Birthday

THE evening of Friday 24 December 2010 was spent listening to the Tropical and HF bands of my Short Wave radio, here are the broadcasts I heard, with links to the broadcasters webpages (Times in UTC/GMT; Frequencies in kHz):

• 1920 - 1936 UTC, 4005 kHz : Vatican Radio, German language to Europe. Europe & Mediterranean Schedule.
• 1948 - 1955 UTC, 4780 kHz : Radio Djibouti, Arabic language service. Radio Djibouti Frequencies (French language; may need to be translated).
• 2022 - 2036 UTC, 5960 kHz : China Radio International, English to Europe, Middle East and Africa via Albania. 'China Drive' programme. Shortwave Frequencies in Europe.
• 2057 - 2100 UTC, 6030 kHz : Radio Ukraine International, English to Europe. Programmes in the English language.
• 2107 - 2118 UTC, 6030 kHz : Radio Romania International, French language service. Schedule effective 31 October 2010.

THE Boxing Day Birthday is the 28th Birthday of Carlisle's finest, Miss Roxanne Pallett:

Happy Birthday Roxy, I hope you have had a great day!

Finally, The Ashes cricket series is under way. Give England a helping hand by voting 3-1 England on the ABC Grandstand Sport poll HERE. Show your support for England to win the Ashes in Australia!

That's the over... Enjoy Christmas and the New Year 2011!

Birthday Babes Christina and Vanessa

FIRST of all, a belated Happy Birthday to Vanessa Hudgens, pictured above, who celebrated her 22nd Birthday through the week. Here's hoping the Birthday celebrations took her mind off her recent separation from her boyfriend, Zac Efron. Keep smiling, Vanessa!

Birthday Babe for Today is Christina Aguilera, who became a true sex symbol with shots like this:

Happy Birthday to Christina Aguilera who celebrates her 30th Birthday today! Christina was in the UK last weekend to appear on popular ITV series 'The X Factor' , where she sang 'Beautiful' with eventual runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and to promote her new movie 'Burlesque', from where the image below was taken:I hope Vanessa enjoyed her Birthday and Christina has a great day!

Twenty-One! Taylor Swift is LOVE

Happy Birthday
Taylor Swift
21
Monday 13 December 2010

Celebrity Birthday, December 2010

Happy Birthday Britney, 29 today, 2 December 2010

It's another celebrity birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to pop princess and Hannah Montana actress Miley Cyrus, pictured left, who celebrates her 18th Birthday this coming Tuesday, 23 November 2010. Have a great day Miley!

Medium Wave DX Log - November 2010

The following are a list of broadcasters I heard on Medium Wave recently. All frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) and all broadcasts listed below include a link to their websites in the station name.

1458 kHz : BBC Radio Newcastle, Wrekenton transmitter, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2kW.

1485 kHz : BBC Radio Merseyside, Wallasey transmitter, Merseyside, 2kW. The Billy Butler Show. (Website includes Radio Merseyside Past & Present)

1494 kHz : France Info, Clermont-Ferrand transmitter, 20kW (also heard on 1557 kHz, Nice transmitter, 300 kW).

1503 kHz : BBC Radio Stoke, Sideway transmitter, Staffordshire, 1kW.

1512 kHz : TCR, Country music broadcaster, Republic of Ireland.

1521 kHz : Gold, Reigate/Crawley (Duxhurst) transmitter, 640 watts.

1530 kHz : Pulse 2, Vicars Lot transmitter, Huddersfield, 740 watts.

1539 kHz : Evangeliums-Rundfunk, Mainflingen transmitter, Germany, 120-700 kW.

That's yer lot for November 2010 on the wireless!

Tropical Band DX, October 2010

TUNING the lowest frequencies of the Short Wave band, the Tropical band, produced the following results on the evening of Wednesday, 13 October, 2010 (Times in UTC, frequencies in kHz) :

• 2110 - 2125 UTC, 3915 kHz : BBC World Service, English to East and South East Asia via Kranji, Singapore.
• 2125 - 2135 UTC, 3955 kHz : KBS World Radio, English to Europe via Skelton, Cumbria, UK (VT Group transmitting station).
• 2220 - 2235 UTC, 3985 kHz : Voice of Croatia, English to Europe and America. 'Croatia Today' with Chris Bushell (Website in Croatian).
• 2245 - 2305 UTC, 4005 kHz : Vatican Radio, English to Europe (Website is Europe 1st Programme schedule).

September Sunday Round-up, 12 Sept 2010

WELCOME to another RFTFT post. First, npower League 1, Saturday 11 September 2010:

Bournemouth 3 - Dagenham & Redbridge 0

Brighton 2 - MK Dons 0

Bristol Rovers 0 - Brentford 0

Charlton 1 - Notts County 0

Colchester 1 - Plymouth 1

Hartlepool 2 - Exeter 3

Leyton Orient 1 - Huddersfield 2

Peterborough 5 - Oldham 2

Rochdale 3 - Walsall 2

Sheffield Wednesday 0 - Carlisle United 1 (Curran)

Swindon 1 - Southampton 0

Yeovil 3 - Tranmere 1

Radio Round-up, August - September 2010

In a previous post (September 1st), I logged the Short Wave stations I heard Monday 30 August. I failed to include links to the websites on that post, so I shall post them here now :

China Radio International (English)

All India Radio (English index)

Radio Pakistan (Front door to English & Urdu services)

Medium Wave logs, Tuesday 7 September 2010, times in UTC, frequencies in kiloHertz :

• 1828 UTC, 1413 kHz : BBC Radio Gloucestershire via Bourton-on-the-water / Berkeley Heath transmitter. BBC Gloucestershire homepage
• 1857 UTC, 1413 kHz : Premier Christian Radio via East London / West London transmitter. Premier Christian Radio page
• 1921 UTC, 1422 kHz : Deutschlandfunk (DLF) via Heusweiler transmitter, Germany. DLF website
• 1957 UTC, 1440 kHz : RTL Radio Luxembourg via Marnach transmitter, Luxembourg, relaying China Radio International German - French services. RTL homepage
• 2022 UTC, 1458 kHz : Sunrise Radio via Brookman's Park transmitter, London. Sunrise Radio website
• 2022 UTC, 1458 kHz : Gold [Capital Gold Manchester] via Ashton Moss transmitter, Manchester. Gold website

Weblog of the week : Abby's Blog

Abby on board Wild Eyes :

Earlier this year, Abby Sunderland attempted to sail around the world. Unfortunately, Abby was unsuccessful in her attempt, but she did use wireless and satellite technology to link to the internet during her sailing, when she kept a blog, which she has continued to update now she is home. Visit Soloround, Abby's blog on Blogspot (Blogger), by clicking here.

That's it for the time being, have a good week!

Football results, Wallpaper of the week and a couple of notes

npower League One, matches played Saturday and Sunday, 4 and 5 September 2010 :

Brentford 1 - Sheffield Wednesday 0

Carlisle 0 - Swindon 0

Dagenham & Redbridge 2 - Leyton Orient 0

Exeter 1 - Charlton 0

Huddersfield 2 - Bournemouth 2

MK Dons 1 - Hartlepool 0

Notts County 4 - Yeovil 0

Oldham 1 - Bristol Rovers 1

Southampton 0 - Rochdale 2

Tranmere 1 - Peterborough 0

Walsall 0 - Colchester 1.

Plymouth v Brighton postponed.

Wallpaper of the week : Silloth, May 2010.

This is the Church on Criffel Street, Silloth, Cumbria, May 2010.

Finally, may I thank the hundreds of you who visited RFTFT at the latter end of the week - The hit counter almost went into meltdown and the referrers / recent hits list could not keep up; seems all the Turkish waiters love Kirstie Day!

I plan to browse the Medium Wave band one evening this week, so I hope to bring you the results here on RFTFT later in the week or at the weekend.

Have a good week!

Morecambe, May 2010

Kirstie Day @ Miss England 2010 - The Result

REPORTING FROM THE FOX TOWER brought you the result of the Miss Cumbria 2010 contest, which was won by Kirstie Day, pictured left. Kirstie, age 18, of Hayton, Carlisle, went on to represent Cumbria at the final of the Miss England 2010 contest, which was held this week in Birmingham.

Although Kirstie lost out on the title of Miss England - That went to 21-year-old Miss Nottingham, Jessica Linley - Kirstie was awarded the Miss Variety Club title, as she raised the most money for the Variety Club, the contest's chosen charity. Kirstie now holds the record for the highest total raised for the charity through the Miss England competition. Well done Kirstie!

This brings the Miss Cumbria - Miss England story full circle and to a close.

PICTURED RIGHT is Beyonce Knowles, once of the group Destiny's Child, now a popular solo artist and wife of Jay - Z. Beyonce celebrates her 29th Birthday on Saturday - Happy Birthday!

August Bank Holiday DX and a midweek wallpaper

MONDAY 30 AUGUST 2010 was a Bank Holiday (public holiday) in the UK, so I used the morning to listen to some of the highest frequencies on the Short Wave band and here are the results:

• 0925 UTC, 17490 kHz : China Radio International. English to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia via Kashi, China. 'Beijing Hour'.
• 1019 UTC, 17510 kHz : All India Radio - General Overseas Service to Asia and Australasia. Music of the SubContinent.
• 1030 UTC, 17540 kHz : China Radio International. Chinese language service.
• 1049 UTC, 17720 kHz : Radio Pakistan. Urdu / Tamil service up to 1100 UTC, followed by news in English for four minutes.

And that is what I heard on the Short Wave band.

Wallpaper of the Midweek

I have decided to publish the view of Morecambe sea front unhindered by football results. Enjoy.

Wallpapered football results of the week, August 2010

AS OPPOSED to the usual 'nice picture followed by football results' format favoured here on RFTFT, this week I (Martin Cowin, author) have decided to combine the two, which I hope you like. Firstly, the scene is Morecambe Sea Front, photograph taken May 2010, secondly, the football results are from npower League 1, matches played 27 - 28 August 2010.

Make Miss Cumbria Miss England 2010!

HELP MISS CUMBRIA Kirstie Day (pictured right) to raise money for Variety Club - The Children's Charity - and to win the title of Miss England! To vote for Kirstie - Winner of Miss Cumbria 2010, Finalist in Miss England 2010 - Text 55MissCumbria to 81118 or call 0901 293 7900 and press 55 when prompted. Votes cost £1 and 15p goes to The Variety Club Children's Charity. Voting lines close September 1 at 6pm. Kirstie is sponsored by The Edinburgh Woollen Mill. To view Kirstie's official profile on the Miss England website, click here. Good Luck Kirstie!

• DAB Digital Radio Channels List, August 2010

IN the ever-changing world of UK Digital Radio, here is the latest list of stations broadcasting on DAB :

• Absolute Radio Extra

Absolute Radio Extra provides live football commentary every Saturday and live music from concerts and festivals.

• Absolute 80s

Visit the Absolute 80s website, listen on DAB, Sky channel 0200, Virgin Media 951, Freesat 726.

• Absolute Radio

Visit the Absolute Radio website.

• Amazing Radio

Visit the amazingtunes website.

• BBC Asian Network

'Retro Selection' with Kanwal Qazi. Email retroselection@bbc.co.uk or visit the website.

• BBC Radio 6 Music

Visit the BBC 6 Music website.

• BBC Radio 1Xtra

'On DAB, TV and online' 'The Summer Sunday Rewind' with Ronnie Herel.

• BBC Radio 1
• BBC Radio 2

'Johnnie Walker's Sounds of the 70s'. Email walker@bbc.co.uk or visit the website.

• BBC Radio 3

'BBC Radio 3 Requests. Coming next - Choral Evensong'.

• BBC Radio 4
• BBC Radio 5 Live

Visit the 5 Live website.

• BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
• BBC Radio 7
• BBC World Service

'To comment on our programmes, call 0144 960 9000 or email overtoyou@bbc.co.uk'

• BFBS Radio

British Forces Broadcasting Service. Website, Text 07740 377377 (start message with UK and a space), Telephone 01494 848001. Also available on Sky 0211, Freesat 786.

• Classic FM

Visit the Classic FM website.

• Planet Rock

Visit the Planet Rock website.

• Premier Christian

Visit the Premier website.

• Smooth Radio UK

'Smooth Radio : Love Life, Love Music. Enjoy our London station while we get the national channel ready for its autumn launch.'

• talkSPORT

Visit the talkSPORT website. Call 08717 223344. Also available on Sky 0108, Freeview 723, Virgin 927 and HomeChoice 625.

• UCB UK Christian

Telephone 08456 300 400 or visit the website.

And that is the complete list as of 22 August 2010. The line - up will change again at some point, I have no doubt...

And Finally! A new feature - RFTFT Loves . . .

Zahia Dehar.

Teenage blonde French prostitute, anyone?

Wallpaper of the week, 21 August 2010

Daffodils at Helbeck, May 2010. Enjoy!

• npower League One results, 21 August 2010

Here are the results of the football matches played in npower League One today (Saturday) :

Carlisle 4 (Zoko, Berrett, Madine, Taiwo) - MK Dons 1

Charlton 1 - Oldham 1

Exeter 2 - Bristol Rovers 2

Notts County 1 - Dagenham & Redbridge 0

Peterborough 4 - Huddersfield 2

Rochdale 1 - Colchester 2

Sheffield Wednesday 1 - Brighton 0

Southampton 1 - Leyton Orient 1

Swindon 1 - Brentford 1

Tranmere 0 - Bournemouth 3

Walsall 2 - Plymouth 1

Yeovil 0 - Hartlepool 2.

Enjoy your weekend!

npower League One results, 14 August 2010

Bournemouth 5 - Peterborough 1

Brentford 1 - Walsall 2

Brighton 2 - Rochdale 2

Bristol Rovers 2 - Yeovil 1

Colchester 1 - Sheffield Wednesday 1

Hartlepool 2 - Swindon 2

Huddersfield 0 - Tranmere 0

Leyton Orient 1 - Charlton 3

Oldham 3 - Notts County 0

Plymouth 1 - Carlisle United 1 (Harte 68)

Dagenham & Redbridge v Exeter City and MK Dons v Southampton were both postponed.

The next fixtures for npower League One are to be played Saturday, 21 August, 2010.

Perseid Meteors, August 2010

I LIKED this image of the Perseid Meteors over Stonehenge, which featured on the homepage of MSN, Friday, 13 August, so I decided I would re-post it here for your enjoyment.

Carlisle United Football Club squad 2010/2011

THE CARLISLE UNITED squad is as follows :

1. Adam COLLIN
2. Frank SIMEK
3. Sean McDAID
4. Marc BRIDGE-WILKINSON
5. Danny LIVESEY
6. Peter MURPHY
7. Kevan HURST
8. Graham KAVANAGH
9. Jason PRICE
10. Matt ROBSON
11. Paul THIRLWELL
12. Tom TAIWO
13. Francois ZOKO
14. Ian HARTE
15. Craig CURRAN
16. Tony KANE
17. Richard OFFIONG
18. Andy COOK
19. Gary MADINE
20. Mark GILLESPIE
21. James BERRETT
22. Ryan BOWMAN
23. Tony CAIG
24. James CHESTER

Squad list as per Issue 2 of 'United Review', Official Matchday Review of Carlisle United Football Club. I hope to keep Reporting From The Fox Tower updated with results from Brunton Park and away during the npower League One season, so please keep checking back to RFTFT. C'mon Ye Blues!

The npower Football League 2010/2011 kick off!

THE FIRST WEEKEND of the npower Football League fixtures have been completed and here are the results:

• The npower Championship

Bristol City 0 - Millwall 3

Burnley 1 - Nottingham Forest 0

Cardiff City 1 - Sheffield United 1

Coventry City 2 - Portsmouth 0

Crystal Palace 3 - Leicester City 2

Hull City 2 - Swansea City 0

Leeds United 1 - Derby County 2

Middlesbrough 1 - Ipswich Town 3

Norwich City 2 - Watford 3

Preston North End 0 - Doncaster Rovers 2

Queen's Park Rangers 4 - Barnsley 0

Reading 1 - Scunthorpe United 2

• npower League One

Carlisle United 2 - Brentford 0 (Madine 22, Harte [pen] 45)

Charlton Athletic 1 - AFC Bournemouth 0

Exeter City 2 - Colchester United 2

Notts County 0 - Huddersfield Town 3

Peterborough United 3 - Bristol Rovers 0

Rochdale 0 - Hartlepool United 0

Sheffield Wednesday 2 - Dagenham & Redbridge 0

Southampton 0 - Plymouth Argyle 1

Swindon Town 1 - Brighton & Hove Albion 2

Tranmere Rovers 1 - Oldham Athletic 2

Walsall 1 - Milton Keynes Dons 2

Yeovil Town 2 - Leyton Orient 1

• npower League Two

Accrington Stanley 0 - Aldershot Town 0

Burton Albion 0 - Oxford United 0

Bury 0 - Port Vale 1

Chesterfield 2 - Barnet 1

Crewe Alexandra 0 - Hereford United 1

Gillingham 1 - Cheltenham 1

Rotherham United 2 - Lincoln City 1

Shrewsbury Town 3 - Bradford City 1

Southend United 1 - Stockport County 1

Stevenage 2 - Macclesfield Town 2

Torquay United 3 - Northampton Town 0

Wycombe Wanderers 2 - Morecambe 0.

That completes the results for the first weekend of the npower Football League. Don't ever expect results from the Premiershit, as no one is interested in that. Get down to your local club, support them and enjoy real football!

Taylor Swift, new track!

THE NEW SINGLE from Taylor Swift, "MINE", coming to radio and iTunes August 16 at 12:01am!

More details on Taylor Swift's Facebook page, which you can click through to here.

"Mine" is the first record to be released from Taylor Swift's forthcoming new album "Speak Now".

Looking forward to the new music!

Reflections of the Nashville floods, May 2010

I WAS NOT AWARE, until I read the Twitter feed of Taylor Swift, pictured above, of the flooding which took place in Nashville, TN, USA, in the early days of May 2010.

Pictures and articles were posted on the website of The Huffington Post, which demonstrate the scale of the flooding.

A small photo gallery is available on the website of international radio broadcaster WWCR, who went off air during the flooding due to damage caused to their aerials by the water.

Here's hoping Nashville is on the road to recovery. Thoughts are with you.

Summer 2010 Medium Wave DX Results

SUNDAY 25 JULY 2010 was spent with the Roberts R881, tuned to the Medium Wave band. Here are the results of what I heard throughout the day:

• 0956 UTC, 882 kHz : BBC Radio Wales, for South Wales via Washford, Somerset. Music : No Doubt 'Don't Speak'.
• 1018 UTC, 909 kHz : BBC Radio Five, for Northern England via Moorside Edge, West Yorkshire. Traffic & travel report. The top ten most talked about news stories of the week (The Vuvuzela, Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins, Lindsay Lohan).
• 1042 UTC, 936 kHz : Fresh Radio via Hawes, North Yorkshire. Music from A~ha, Dido, Ellie Goulding, Gwen Stefani.
• 1133 UTC, 1053 kHz : TalkSport via Droitwich, Worcester.
• 1148 UTC, 1071 kHz : TalkSport via Wrekenton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
• 1335 UTC, 1170 kHz : Magic 1170 via Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside. Music from The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, ad break.
• 1359 UTC, 1215 kHz : Absolute Radio, for Northern England via Moorside Edge, West Yorkshire. Music : Lenny Kravitz 'Fly Away', ad break, The Cardigans 'My Favourite Game', Florence & The Machine, Genesis 'That's All'.
• 1444 UTC, 1242 kHz : Absolute Radio via Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside. Music : The Clash 'London Calling', Sheryl Crow.
• 1515 UTC, 1341 kHz : BBC Radio Ulster via Lisnagarvey, Co Down, Northern Ireland.
• 1535 UTC, 1368 kHz : Manx Radio via Douglas, Isle of Man.
• 1557 UTC, 1413 kHz : Fresh Radio via Skipton or Richmond, North Yorkshire. Music : The Eagles 'Hotel California', Cher 'Believe'.

Not a bad list for daytime! Have a good week.

Taylor Swift 'Fearless' Wallpaper

Miss Cumbria 2010 - The Result!

THE RESULT of the Miss Cumbria 2010 competition is in. As you may be aware, Reporting From The Fox Tower lent its support to the campaign run by Abbie Steele. The Miss Cumbria 2010 final took place on Saturday 3 July, at the Stanwix Arts Theatre, Carlisle. Prior to the final, the competitors faced fundraising challenges and a public vote. Here are the results of Miss Cumbria 2010:

IN the public vote, Kirstie Day received over 800 votes, Abbie Steele received 259. In the fundraising challenges in aid of The Variety Club, Kirstie raised £5000, Abbie raised £560.

The winner of Miss Cumbria 2010 is Kirstie Day, age 18, of Carlisle, centre of picture, above. The Runner up, only one point behind Kirstie, was Abbie Steele, age 19, of Stainmore, centre left, black dress. Third was Sarah Goulding, age 20, of Cockermouth, whilst Claire Beeby, age 23, also Cockermouth, far left, green dress, was fourth.

Kirstie received not only the Miss Cumbria title, but also Most Popular Contestant (for the public vote) and Biggest Fundraiser.

So our Congratulations go to Kirstie, but also to Abbie, well done, so very proud of you!

(Click on the names highlighted above to see the Miss Cumbria gallery images. Main picture by Paul Fisher Photography)

A Belated Happy Birthday, Miss Lohan!

Only a couple of weeks late, but a belated Happy 24th Birthday to the Hollywood Hurricane, the actress who can start a riot in an empty house, Miss Lindsay Lohan. The picture above was taken during the evening of Friday 2 July, when Miss Lohan was out celebrating her Birthday with her entourage, with a can of Red Bull. Surely Lindsay has ingested enough stimulants of legal and illegal varieties, without adding a high energy drink to the mix? So, for your next Birthday, party like the Lohan ... !

The Beautiful Ballerina

LAST CALL for your votes for Abbie Steele, pictured above, for her campaign to become Miss Cumbria 2010. Voting closes Friday, 2 July 2010, at 11:59pm BST, so please, pick up your mobile phone and text Cumbria 05 Abbie S to 84205. I hope to bring the result of the Miss Cumbria competition to RFTFT, but for now, as always, Good Luck Abbie!

Listening and voting, June 2010

THIS blog is in two parts; the first part is the 'Listening', which is the list of broadcasts I heard on the Short Wave band, Saturday, 19 June 2010. The 'voting' is the second part, which I shall persuade you to take part in after I have posted my Short Wave logs, starting here!

• 0805 UTC, 11645 kHz : Radio Filia, Greece. Continuous music! Radio Filia website.

· 0832 UTC, 11670 kHz : BBC World Service, United Kingdom. English to Middle East via A'Seela, Oman. President Obama. BBC World Service website.

· 0847 UTC, 11785 kHz : China Radio International, China. Chinese speech, sports report. CRI in English online.

· 0922 UTC, 12020 kHz : RDP Internacional, Portugal. Portuguese speech, including telephone callers to the show and music. RDP English website.

· 1024 UTC, 13635 kHz : Voice of Turkey, Turkey. Arabic to Asia and Africa, 500 kW. Play/drama, followed by pop music. TRT World website.

· 1207 UTC, 13665 kHz : Radio Rossii, Russia. Sport bulletin! Website in Russian.

· 1225 UTC, 13700 kHz : Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, Holland (The Netherlands). Dutch to Europe. Live report from the FIFA World Cup, Durban, South Africa: Holland v Japan, half time.RNW Dutch website.

· 1247 UTC, 13720 kHz : Radio Exterior de Espana, Spain. Spanish to Europe. 'Diario de Europe' / 'Hispanorama'. REE website.

· 1307 UTC, 13760 kHz : Voice of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). English to Europe and America. Sixtieth anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea. (No website)

· 1327 UTC, 13790 kHz : China Radio International, China. English to Europe, Asia, Australasia, America via Urumchi, China. 'China Drive' followed by 'Media Scan'. (Please follow the CRI link above)

· 1405 UTC, 13800 kHz : Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iran. Arabic speech, male host, telephone callers, music. Worldservice website.

· 1425 UTC, 13845 kHz : WWCR-3, Nashville TN USA. English to Europe and America. University Network programme. WWCR.com

· And finally, 1536 UTC, 15825 kHz : WWCR-1, Nashville TN USA. English to Europe, Middle East and America. 'Showers of Blessings', followed by Brother Eugene Brown with 'Words of Hope'. 'Words of Hope' website.

Don't stop voting!

Part two of this post is, of course, further encouragement for you to vote for ABBIE STEELE, pictured right, in her campaign to become Miss Cumbria 2010. A quick recap of how you can vote for Abbie:

By telephone : Call 09016561528 and then key in 05 when asked;

By text : Cumbria 05 Abbie S (with capitals in the correct places) to 84205.

Voting lines are open till 2nd July for Miss Cumbria. All votes cost 60p plus standard network charge on mobile phones.

The official Miss Cumbria website, featuring Abbie in the photo gallery, voting details and votes cast so far, can be visited by clicking here.

Once again, Good Luck Abbie! x

Vote for Abbie!

ABBIE STEELE, pictured left, of Stainmore, Cumbria, has been chosen by the Miss Cumbria organisation to compete in the Final - Abbie needs your votes!

To make Abbie Miss Cumbria 2010, voting is by telephone and text. Voting lines are open until July 2, 2010.

To vote by telephone, call 09016561528 and then key in 05 when asked. To vote by text, send Cumbria 05 Abbie S [with capitals in the correct places] to 84205.

All votes cost 60p plus standard network charge on mobile phones.

Show your support for Abbie on Abbie's Miss Cumbria Campaign on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abbies-Miss-Cumbria-Campaign/124362190936005

Become friends with Abbie on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=699796809

Good Luck Abbie!

The author!

Carlisle United's biggest fans!

Domestic Football round-up, May 2010

THE domestic football season has come to a close in England and here are the results of who became champions, who was promoted, who won the play-off matches and who was relegated, with some notes as we go through.

First things first, the Premiership Champions are Chelsea FC, whilst the three teams relegated from the Premiership are Burnley, Hull and Portsmouth.

In the Championship, the Champions are Newcastle United, promoted are West Bromwich Albion and the winner of the play-off is Blackpool. Relegated are Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth Argyle and Peterborough United.

The League One Champions are Norwich City. Leeds United promoted in second place, whilst Millwall won the play-off final at Wembley Stadium. Carlisle United Football Club finished the League One season in fourteenth position. Relegated from League One are Gillingham, Wycombe Wanderers, Southend United and Stockport County.

The League Two Champions are Notts County, promoted are Bournemouth and Rochdale. Dagenham & Redbridge won the play-off final. Morecambe finished their season in fourth position. Relegated out of the Football League are Grimsby Town and Darlington.

The Blue Square Premier Champions are Stevenage FC (formerly Stevenage Borough). Oxford United are promoted, courtesy of winning the play-off final. Barrow won the FA Trophy at Wembley Stadium and finished their season in fifteenth position. Relegated from the Blue Square Premier are Forest Green Rovers, Ebbsfleet and Grays Athletic.

It is with regret that this season has come to a close with the loss of Chester City Football Club, who closed after having a history of over a century. An unofficial Chester Football Club website is available here.

Football does not end here for 2010, the FIFA World Cup will soon be upon us. Whoever your club is, wherever your country is, let us hope the tournament will be, as always, the best ever.

The Man In Black at his best.

The Morecambe mountain wallpaper

THE next time you visit Morecambe, Lancashire, look out for the mountain. Namely The Alps. Not quite. Wallpaper of the Week brings you an image which is part of a metal sculpture on the seafront of Morecambe, which illustrates the range of hills, fells and mountains which are visible in the distance. Do visit Morecambe and enjoy!

May 2010 Medium Wave DX and a view of Appleby

I spent the evening of Friday 14 May 2010 listening to the Medium Wave band. The meagre results are as follows:

• 810 kHz : BBC Radio Scotland via Westerglen, Scotland. Sport: Rugby Union. Ospreys v Glasgow.
• 837 kHz : France Info via Nancy, France. Discussion between two males and a female.
• 846 kHz : Radio North / Gospel 846 via either Caradonagh, Co Donegal or Galway, Republic of Ireland. Male host with music: Buddy Holly 'Heartbeat'.
• 855 kHz : Radio Nacional de Espana [RNE] 1 via Cotillas Tower, Murcia, Spain. Fast moving speech between male and female hosts with news and sport reports.

A nice spread of broadcasts from across Europe. Next, Wallpaper of the Week brings you a popular feature of Appleby in Westmorland railway station:

KEEPING in with the railway theme, may I tip my hat to those working overnight at Crosby Garrett on the Settle - Carlisle line. I believe it is Story Rail who are working there; I can see their lights on the line from my home in Brough!

Strong, secure, safe. Wallpaper election special.

CARLISLE changed hands last Friday morning from Labour to Conservative, joining Penrith and the Border as a representative seat of the new government. To celebrate, Wallpaper of the week brings you Carlisle Castle. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Mele!

MONDAY, the third of May, 2010, is not only the May Day Holiday in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, but is also the Birthday of Mele Koning, pictured left.

Mele (Emelie) is Swedish, grew up in and studied in Sweden, complimenting her school and college studies with becoming a model and a DJ, which has served Mele well, by securing modelling work in Europe and playing DJ sets in Europe and the United States of America.

Mele divides her time between Ostersund and Stockholm in Sweden and New York City and Los Angeles in the USA, as well as points between.

Mele is currently in the USA, following her first loves, those American boys - Isaac, Taylor and Zac - Hanson, who are touring the States with their new music.

Mele is keeping up to date with the tour and everything else on her web pages, which are as follows:

Twitter : http://twitter.com/allispretty

Tumblr : http://allispretty.tumblr.com/

Wordpress : http://allispretty.wordpress.com/

The official Hanson web is http://www.hanson.net/

Happy Birthday, Mele! Everyone else - Have a great Holiday weekend!

Wallpaper of the week, 1 May 2010

WALLPAPER of the week for the beginning of May features the crest of the city of Carlisle, situated on an external wall of Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery.

Wallpaper of the week, 25 April 2010

WALLPAPER of the week returns with an image of Carlisle Cathedral, which I hope you enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Maria!

THE CURRENT EDITION of The Westmorland Gazette, published Thursday, April 15, 2010, lists this coming Monday, April 18, as the twenty - third birthday of former Wimbledon tennis champion, Maria Sharapova, pictured left. Here's hoping Maria has an enjoyable day and best of luck for the 2010 tennis season!

Follow Maria online at her official website: http://www.mariasharapova.com and keep up to date with The Westmorland Gazette online at http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk

As mentioned above, hopefully Miss Sharapova will appear during the tennis season as part of the 2010 summer of sport, which will be covered here on Reporting From The Fox Tower. I intend to share with you my thoughts and reactions to the close of the domestic football season, the build-up and the results of the South Africa football World Cup and other events taking place during 2010, not just the summer. Better get revising the sporting calendar!

Apologies for the absence of Wallpaper of the Week recently, but it will return very soon. Until then, take care and be good!

Short Wave DX: April 2010

HERE is a list of what I heard on the Short Wave radio band, on the evening of Thursday 8 April 2010. All times in GMT / UTC, all frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Enjoy!

• 1849 UTC, 7520 kHz : Radio Tirana, Albania. English to Europe and America. Website.
• 1904 UTC, 7550 kHz : All India Radio, General Overseas Service. English to Europe and Africa. Website.
• 1925 UTC, 7570 kHz : Radio Thailand. News, Business news. English to Europe via Udon Thani, Thailand. Website.
• 20:00 UTC, 9490 kHz : Family Radio. "Send an email to international@familyradio.com to receive our card", Off air.
• 2018 UTC, 9645 kHz : Vatican Radio. "Visit us [online]".
• 2033 UTC, 11610 kHz : Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Hilversum, Holland. English to West Africa via Kigali, Rwanda. "Visit our website". 'Earth Beat' programme, 'Reloaded' programme. Radio Netherlands Worldwide is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Finally, may I bring back some memories of the much missed 'Long Wave Giant' Atlantic 252 - How many of you had, or still have, a sticker from them, as featured below?

FM DX Logs, Sunday 28 March 2010

Sunday 28 March 2010 was the day Carlisle United Football Club contested the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final, against Southampton FC, at Wembley Stadium. I travelled to the game on a bus and spent the day listening to my pocket FM radio in the early morning and evening, the broadcasts I heard are as follows (all times in British Summer Time) :

• 0635 BST : STRAY FM, Harrogate (97.2 MHz). Host: Paul Hartley, music from Black Eyed Peas 'Meet Me Half Way' and Billy Joel 'Uptown Girl'. Strayfm.com
• 0700 BST : BBC RADIO HUMBERSIDE, Hull (95.9 MHz). Host: Andy links to the news at 0700. bbc.co.uk for Humberside
• 0720 BST : BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD (104.1 MHz). 'Traffic and travel for South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire'. Sports news with Sarah Major. bbc.co.uk for Sheffield
• 0825 BST : HEART. Music from Gabrielle, ID, Take That. heart.co.uk
• 0830 BST : BBC RADIO LEICESTER (104.9 MHz). Host: Steven Butt, ID, news: Murder charge. bbc.co.uk for Leicester

Evening :

• 1950 BST : BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD (88.6 / 94.7 / 104.1 MHz). 'Eastern Air' Community broadcast.
• 1955 BST : BBC RADIO NOTTINGHAM (95.5 / 103.8 MHz). Community broadcast, text 07786 201038. bbc.co.uk for Nottingham
• 1958 - 20:00 BST : TRENT FM (96.2 / 96.5 MHz). Ad for John Rose Jewellers, music: Ke$ha 'Tik Tok'. trentfm.co.uk

I hope you find the above of interest, if you would like to interact, please use the comment facility below. Finally, may I take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Easter!

Wallpaper of the week, 21 March 2010

VIEW of the skyline from Buttermere, July 2009.

Wallpaper of the week, 16 March 2010

THIS week, Wallpaper of the week brings you a view of a Herdwick sheep, nibbling at the grass beside the rural road which winds its way alongside Buttermere,which you can see over the wall. This photograph was taken by myself, July 2009. Enjoy.

Medium Wave DX Logs, March 2010

Medium Wave:

• 756 kHz : BBC Radio Cumbria (1kW via Carlisle, Belinda Artingstoll Drivetime)
• 756 kHz : Deutschlandfunk (100 - 200kW via Germany)
• 765 kHz : BBC Essex (500 watts via Chelmsford, Sue Marchant show)
• 765 kHz : Option Musique (600kW via Sottens, Switzerland)
• 774 kHz : RNE [Radio Nacional de Espana] 1 (20 - 100kW via Spain)
• 783 kHz : MDR [Mittel Deutscher Rundfunk] Info (100kW via Leipzig, Germany)
• 792 kHz : France Info (300kW via Limoges, France)

That's yer lot for March, as far as my radio is concerned, short and sweet; BBC Essex did throw me at the time, as I was delighted to hear them this far north! Roll on Spring...

DX Logs, January and February 2010

Listening to Medium Wave and Short Wave in the early days of 2010 went like this:



January 2010:

• 675 kHz [Medium Wave] : NRK-1 via Rost, Norway.


• 675 kHz : Radio Maria Nederland & Vlaanderen via Lopik, Holland.


• 684 kHz : RNE [Radio Nacional de Espana] 1 via Seville, Spain.


• 693 kHz : Radio Rossii via Moscow, Russia.


• 693 kHz : BBC Radio Five Live via Stagshaw, Northumberland, UK.


• 711 kHz : France Info via Rennes, France.


• 738 kHz : RNE 1 via Barcelona, Spain.


• 747 kHz : NOS Radio 5 via Flevoland, Holland.


• 756 kHz : BBC Radio Cumbria via Carlisle, Cumbria, UK [The Richard Nankivell Late Show].

February 2010:

• 5010 kHz [Short Wave] : HIMI 5010 Radio Cristal International via Dominican Republic [Presumed].


• 5830 kHz : Radio Ukraine International [German Service].


• 6075 kHz : Deutsche Welle, Germany. German to Europe via Rampisham, UK.


• 6100 kHz : International Radio Serbia, English to Europe.


• 6200 kHz : Radio Bulgaria, English to Europe.


• 6240 kHz : Radio PMR [Pridnestrovye Moldovan Republic], English to Europe and America via Moldova.


• 7220 kHz : Radio Romania International, English to Europe, Asia and America.

Best Wishes until next time!

DAB Radio Update, January - February 2010

• Absolute Radio - www.absoluteradio.co.uk
• Amazing Radio - www.amazingtunes.com
• BBC Asian Network - www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork
• BBC Radio 1Xtra - Text: 88111, www.bbc.co.uk/1Xtra
• BBC Radio 6 Music
• BBC Radio 1 - www.bbc.co.uk/radio1
• BBC Radio 2
• BBC Radio 3 - www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
• BBC Radio 4
• BBC Radio 5 Live
• BBC Radio 5 Live SportsXtra
• BBC Radio 7
• BBC World Service
• BFBS Radio - UK Telephone: 01494 848001, UK Text: 07740 377377 (start message with UK followed by a space), www.bfbs-radio.com
• Classic FM - Postal address: Leicester Square, LONDON WC2H 7LA www.classicfm.com
• D1 Test 1 (Test transmission) - www.ukdigitalradio.com
• NME Radio UK
• Panjab Radio UK - Telephone: 020 8848 8877, www.panjabradio.co.uk
• Planet Rock - www.planetrock.com
• Premier Christian - www.premier.org.uk
• talkSPORT
• UCB UK Christian - Telephone: 08456 300 400, www.ucb.co.uk

List compiled Saturday 23 January 2010. The telephone numbers, text numbers and website addresses were noted from the scrolling display on the DAB radio.

Magnificent Mella.

http://twitter.com/mellameic

http://www.facebook.com/melissa.meic

Wallpaper of the Week, 9 January 2010.

THE first wallpaper for 'Twenty Ten' is this rather unusual road sign, spotted by my good self in May 2009, on the Sunbiggin Tarn Road. It was originally a rather mundane 'Beware of sheep' sign, which has been altered (not by me) to now display 'Beware of ... Rhino'!