RSID: <<2025-10-30T23:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>
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Welcome to program 424 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:
 

  1:43 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:54 MFSK32: High CO2 in atmosphere could affect ionosphere
  7:31 MFSK64: With uncertain funding, Radio Free Asia suspends
12:38 MFSK64: This week's images
28:34 MFSK32: Closing announcements

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From Kyushu University (Fukuoka, Japan)

As global warming worsens, so may space communications

Higher CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere increase the
strength of sporadic-E and lower the altitude at which it
occurs

Professor Huixin Liu, Faculty of Sciences
October 27, 2025

Researchers at Kyushu University have found that rising CO2
levels in our atmosphere could lead to future disruptions in
shortwave radio communications, including systems used for air
traffic control, maritime communication, and radio broadcasting.

While we know that increasing CO2 levels in our atmosphere causes
global warming at Earth's surface, something different is
happening in the ionosphere located 100 km above sea level. Up
there, it's cooling.

"This cooling doesn't mean it is all good. It decreases the air
density in the ionosphere and accelerates wind circulation,"
explains Professor Huixin Liu of Kyushu University's Faculty of
Science, who led the study published in Geophysical Research
Letters. "These changes affect the orbits and lifespan of
satellites and space debris and also disrupt radio communications
through localized small-scale plasma irregularities."

One such irregularity is known as 'sporadic-E' or 'Es,' a
phenomenon where a dense layer of metal ions forms at an altitude
of 90 to 120 km.

"As the name suggests, Es are sporadic and difficult to predict.
However, when they occur, they can disrupt HF and VHF radio
communications," continues Liu. "Our results revealed that, at
high CO2 levels, Es tend to become stronger, occur at lower
altitudes, and persist longer at night."

Using a whole-atmosphere model, Liu and her team developed
simulations of the upper atmosphere under two different CO2
concentrations: at normal concentrations of 315 ppm, and then at
667 ppm (the average atmospheric CO2 level in 2024 was 422.8
ppm). They then evaluated changes in vertical ion convergence
(VIC), which drives Es.

Their simulations revealed that, at higher atmospheric CO2
levels, VIC is enhanced globally at altitudes of 100-120 km; the
Es hotspots shift downward by approximately 5 km; and their
diurnal patterns change. Further investigation revealed that
these changes were caused by lower atmospheric density and wind
disturbances.

"These findings are the first of its kind to show how increasing
CO2 affects the occurrence of Es, revealing new insight into
cross-scale coupling processes between neutral air and ionosphere
plasma. In other words, they show how global climate-driven
changes can impact small-scale plasma phenomena in space,"
explains Liu. "Considering our findings, the telecommunications
industry will need to develop a long-term vision that accounts
for the impacts of global warming and climate change in their
future operations. Global warming affects not just the Earth but
extends well into space."

https://www.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/researches/view/358
 

Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 ...



RSID: <<2025-10-30T23:37Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500

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This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

Statement from Radio Free Asia:

RFA suspends remaining editorial operations amid funding
uncertainty

October 29, 2025

Protective measures taken with hope of rebuilding news
operations in future

WASHINGTON - With the government shutdown and delay in receiving
funding for the new fiscal year, effective Oct. 31, Radio Free
Asia (RFA) will halt all production of news content for the time
being. The move is part of a plan for the Congressionally-funded
private corporation to implement cost-saving measures that can
help sustain the organization should appropriated funding streams
resume. President and CEO Bay Fang issued the following
statement:

"Because of the fiscal reality and uncertainty about our
budgetary future, RFA has been forced to suspend all remaining
news content production - for the first time in its 29 years of
existence. In an effort to conserve limited resources on hand and
preserve the possibility of restarting operations should
consistent funding become available, RFA is taking further steps
to responsibly shrink its already reduced footprint.

"This means initiating a process of closing down overseas bureaus
and formally laying off furloughed staff and paying their
severance - many of whom have been on unpaid leave since March,
when the U.S. Agency for Global Media unlawfully terminated RFA's
Congressionally appropriated grant.

"However drastic these measures may seem, they position RFA, a
private corporation, for a future in which it would be possible
to scale up and resume providing accurate, uncensored news for
people living in some of the world's most closed places."

During its tenure, RFA's groundbreaking reporting on the Uyghur
genocide in Xinjiang, the CCP's cover-up of COVID-19 fatalities,
the unfolding crisis in Myanmar since the 2021coup, Chinese
hydropower projects in the Tibetan regions, and the journeys of
North Korean defectors has built a public record of transparency
in some of the world's most repressive places, holding autocrats
and elites accountable to their people and internationally. Other
measures to conserve resources on hand include ending leases of
overseas offices and bureaus in Dharamsala, Taipei, Seoul,
Istanbul, Bangkok, and Yangon.

In the last five years, RFA created new editorial units focused
on China's malign influence in the Indo-Pacific region and
globally, investigating PRC secret police stations in the United
States and Europe, election interference by the Chinese Communist
Party in Taiwan and other Asian countries, and PRC influence
operations in Pacific island countries. RFA's incisive brand of
journalism has made it and its journalists a constant target,
with its reporters facing pressure and threats since its
inaugural report in Mandarin was heard in China on Sept. 29,
1996. Authorities in China, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia have
detained family members, sources, reporters, and contributors.
Listeners in North Korea have been severely punished and
reportedly executed for accessing RFA's reports. Nevertheless,
RFA's journalistic operations have until now withstood government
intimidation and attacks.

In the months since the USAGM illegally terminated its
Congressionally appropriated grant to RFA, and despite layoffs
and furloughs that diminished editorial staff by more than 90%,
the private grantee has continued to fulfill its Congressional
mandate to provide accurate, timely news to people living in some
of the most closed media environments in Asia thanks to a
preliminary injunction issued by the United States Federal
District Court for the District of Columbia, which USAGM has
appealed. RFA has also continued to win awards for its reporting,
including two national Edward R. Murrow awards in August and a
Gracie Award in March. While many services, including RFA Uyghur
and Tibetan, have already gone dark, others have continued to
produce limited output, including RFA Burmese, Khmer, Korean,
Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese. But these will cease on October
31.

https://www.rfa.org/english/about/releases/2025/10/29/rfa-suspends-remaining-editorial-operations/

See also:
https://www.rfa.org/english/world/2025/10/29/rfa-signs-off-letter-from-executive-editor/
 

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This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

This week's images ...

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A mural in Howard Park, South Bend, Indiana. tinyurl.com/2ycp6p3f
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This 1400-year-old gingko tree in Xi'an, China, displays its
autumn golden color. tinyurl.com/2abqc38h ...

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Dyed sheets of cloth are spread across a field for drying near
Dhaka, Bangladesh. tinyurl.com/248s6efc ...

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Jinling's photo of a goat at the windmill tourist attraction near
Amsterdam. ...

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Autumn colors in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, October 29.
tinyurl.com/27wlrmgq ...

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Sunrise over the Potomac River near Brunswick, Maryland, October
24. tinyurl.com/2ynbfuu9 ...

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A man on a bicycle in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa
approaches, October 27. tinyurl.com/23xz3j57 ...

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The varied colors of an autumn sweetgum tree at the Dominion
Arboretum in Ottawa, Ontario. tinyurl.com/2bjqmd7l ...

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Our painting of the week is "Evening Twilight at Acapulco" (1956)
by Mexican artist Diego Rivera (1886-1957). tinyurl.com/24r8fpeq
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RSID: <<2025-10-30T23:58Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>


This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 ...


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Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

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I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave
Radiogram.
 

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