The Cyclists are coming...

DURING the past week, the route of the 2015 Tour of Britain was announced and two of the stages have a start or finish here in Cumbria. First is the start of stage three on Tuesday 8 September. The cyclists will start the stage in Cockermouth, travelling north along the coast from Maryport to Silloth-on-Solway, through the Solway Coast AONB [Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty] to Carlisle and then into Scotland, for the finish at Floors Castle, Kelso.

Stage five, as pictured above, takes place Thursday 10 September, starting in the Northumbrian town of Prudhoe, on to Hexham, where the route goes north to join the Military Road, following the line of Hadrian's Wall westwards, entering Cumbria to pass through Brampton before heading south to Cumrew, Plumpton and Dockray, then taking in Aira Force and Ullswater. The route then turns northeasterly to Penrith and Melmerby - The final part of the stage is the climb to Hartside.

Start planning your place on the route now!

News from the 19 Metre Band

THE 19 Metre Band is part of the Short Wave radio band and I listened to that particular spectrum of radio frequencies on the evening of Tuesday 10 March 2015. Follows is a list of what I heard that evening; As always, times in UTC (GMT) and frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Station names contain a link to their website.

• 2057 UTC, 15490 kHz : Radio Exterior de Espana, Spanish language football commentary, believed to be Real Madrid v Shalke in the Champions League. This broadcast was directed to the Middle East and Asia. Reception was moderate to poor. To 2113 UTC.
• 2119 UTC, 15580 kHz : Voice of America, Music - LOUD music - on Short Wave! Ariana Grande 'The Only One'. The family of Marvin Gaye are suing Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over the song 'Blurred Lines', which samples a Marvin Gaye song. Rihanna 'Don't Stop The Music'. Mark Ronson 'Uptown Funk'. Fergie 'LA Love'. The presenter is Larry London. One Direction 'Little Things'. This was the 'Border Crossings' / VOA1 programme, English to Africa via Greenville NC [North Carolina] USA (An IBB transmission site). Reception was good. To 2139 UTC.
• 2143 UTC, 15610 kHz : WEWN (EWTN) Radio, English speech from the show 'Kresta in the Afternoon', presented by Al Kresta, 'Brought to you from Catholic Business Pages .com'. The show closes prior to the top of the hour, IDs for EWTN and WEWN, broadcasting from Birmingham AL [Alabama] USA. Frequency announcement for this hour [2200 UTC]: 15610 kHz. 'EWTN Newslink' carries the latest news stories from the Vatican. For the next two hours, the show is 'Catholic Answers Live'. Reception is good. To 2200 UTC.
• 2209 UTC, 15770 kHz : Overcomer Ministry, speech carries over the airwaves from Okeechobee FL [Florida] USA (WRMI - World Radio Miami International transmitter), the broadcast is the voice of Brother Stair on the Overcomer Ministry, broadcasting from Okeechobee to Europe and America. Includes a break for music. Brother Stair talking about the Second World War, the Japanese attack on the American base Pearl Harbour. Break for music. Reception was fair. To 2221 UTC.

Good to hear America with so much content in a contracting Short Wave band! Enjoy.