The SWLing Post

Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here. Firstly thanks to all our listeners over the past few months for your interest in our shows. It's great to hear that you're liking our programmes and ta for your suggestions for forthcoming episodes. This week on the shortwave dial we have Radio Ace (3) featuring more [...]

The postman delivers a new radio for test. So I unbox it, punch the ON button, start SCAN on AM MW band. Scan works (yea!) but passes by really strong local stations. Sacred poop, I think, this thing is deaf as the proverbial post. Is there some sort of space weather thing going on? I [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Meara who shares this story on the SolderSmoke Podcast and notes, With more to follow..." From the Last Whole Earth Catalog (1971) - Short Waves - Part 1 http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke249.mp3 Having recently returned from San Francisco, it seemed somehow appropriate for me to take a look into the [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Balazs Kovacs, who writes: Hi Thomas, I started re-watching one of the sci-fi TV series I watched when I was a kid the seaQuest DSV (1993), it's interesting how many current topics were in it 30 years ago (environment pollution, artificial meat, VR, AI, drones, etc) and the trivia [...]

Many thanks to a number of readers who have noted that All The Light We Cannot See is now on Netflix. You may recall, we're quite big fans of the book which has a strong radio theme. Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jake Brodsky who notes: Heads up: Netflix is serializing a story that [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: Hey Thomas, just got a broadcast (Nov 5, 2023) on 21640 kHz, from 15h30 to 16h00 UTC here in Rio de Janeiro. A potpourri of pop rock songs and then a female voice says this is the end, have a nice day'. Both Carlos and [...]

Good day all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 12th November 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz, we have a special Peruvian Edition of Skybird Radio International. Expect some wonderful [...]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Pete and Dennis Dura for the following tips: Now Is the Time to Save AM in Cars Using Digital [...]

Earlier this week we posted a note from John who only recently took a deep dive into the world of Radiofax transmissions, inspired by Carlos Latuffs recent posts. I mentioned to John that he'll hone his skills the more he captures these Radiofax transmissions. John just sent the following update: Thanks, Thomas! Indeed you are [...]

Many thanks toSWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his B-23 (version 1.0) season guide to music on shortwave. Alan provides this amazing resource as a free PDF download: Click here to download Music on Shortwave B-23 v1.0 (PDF) As always, thank you for sharing your excellent guide, Alan! This dedicated page will always have [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Johnson, who writes: Well, based on this post from Carlos Latuff-QSL: Australian Radiofax Received in Brazil-I got interested in HF weather fax decoding. I asked how to do it and got an answer but did not find a linked post that would help. So as usual a wikipedia [...]

This QSL card just came today from a broadcast on Halloween, station Undercover Radio. There were a number of broadcasts that night, but this was by far the most unusual that I heard! Robert Gulley, K4PKM, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Robert also blogsat All [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Frans Goddijn, who writes: Dear Thomas, Recently I watched the film Golda" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14454876/) There are quite a few RACAl receivers in the film and I will send you a few screen snapshots! Best regards, Frans Thank you for sharing these screen shots, Frans! What a gorgeous radio!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: For the first time, I received in Porto Alegre a noisy radiofax from the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia: Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) map. Frequency of 20469 kHz USB, 08h45 UTC. My request for a QSL card was kindly answered (attached along the radiofax [...]

Good day all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 5th November 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz, we have Radio Ace (2) featuring the further Adventures of Flash Frisbone. [...]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Andrea Borgnino, Paul, and Dennis Dura for the following tips: BBC World Service announces Emergency Radio Service for Gaza [...]

Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates. Spend some time on the HF bands tonight and you'll easily tune in to numerous stations. Expect pirates to emerge like The Great Pumpkin! Here are two things you'll want to do this Halloween weekend: HF Underground Follow real-time pirate radio spots [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following item from Spaceweather.com: 20 YEARS LATER, THE HALLOWEEN STORMS Imagine waking up to this headline: Half of Earth's Satellites Lost!" Impossible? It actually happened during the Great Halloween Storms of 2003. Turn back the clock 20 years. Solar Cycle 23 was winding down, [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and Soldersmoke host, Bill Meara, who shares the following from the Soldersmoke blog: Mattia Zamana's Amazing Direct Conversion Receiver Thanks to Ed KC8SBV for sending me this awesome video. It looks like Mattia built this receiver way back in 1995. The tuning indicator is very cool, and I had [...]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura and Wayne Davis for the following tips: SWL Contest With Nice Prizes Open Worldwide: November 1th - [...]

A big hi to all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. We have two different shows of KBIN, the first on Sunday 29th October 2023 at 2100 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz. A few hours later via the transmitters of WRMI on Monday [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares a link to the movie The Earth Dies Screaming-a sci-fi/horror film from 1964. Dennis notes that a Zenith Transoceanic Saves The Day: Click here to view on YouTube. Please note: This movie was was live on the day of posting this article. Quite often, movies [...]

Dear SWLing Post readers: I have a favor to ask. You might remember our friend Wlod (US7IGN) has not only written a book about living in Kiev during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but was also the subject of an amazing, award-winning audio documentary by Cicely Fell. Both Wlod and Cicely are dear friends and [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill (W8LV), who writes: The TWO shortwave radios from The Killing Fields (1984) ! First Prop: This Shortwave radio is from the movie The Killing Fields (1984) It appears at (about) 1:04:30 in the movie. I saw this movie on The Big Screen" when it came out.. And I [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: Hello Thomas, I'm sad to know that the New Zealand meteorological agency MetService, has retired radiofax in July 1st, and is focusing on modern solutions" of sending synoptic charts to vessels. In 2021 I received several radiofax charts from MetService in Porto Alegre. https://about.metservice.com/our-company/national-weather-services/retirement-of-radiofax This [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following guest post: A Most Unusual Sony Radio By Bill Hemphill WD9EQD Over the years, I have owned many of the various Sony shortwave radios. From analog to digital, I would buy the latest and sell my current radio. For the past few [...]

A big hi to all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 22nd October 2023 at 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz, we have Radio Ace featuring the Adventures of Flash Frisbone. If you love radio, [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: I made some adjustments and now I receive better quality radiofaxes. Since I started receiving radiofaxes in 2021, I had forgotten a fundamental detail. To tune 1.9kHz lower than the advertised frequency. For example, the frequency of Kyodo News is 16971 kHz. I therefore tune [...]

Marine Broadcast List Updated By Don Moore I just updated my by-time listing of scheduled marine broadcasts in the MF 1600-3400 kHz range. This is primarily based on the by-location listings at the DX Info Centre website. Of special interest at the moment is Iqaluit Coast Guard Radio in Canada which uses six different transmitter [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes: Netflix has released The Club, a historical drama from Turkey, and the opening scene shows a classic old radio. Can anyone identify it? Here's another: Update: and one more! Please comment if you can ID these! Thanks, Dan!

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura, Mark Koskinen, Stuart Smolkin, and Ron Chester for the following tips: AM Digital WWFD Concludes Its Test [...]

I've been away for almost a week and a number of readers have written in to express their condolences after only recently learning that a legend in our radio world, Larry Van Horn, passed away in August after a short period of illness. I remember meeting Larry once when I stopped in unannounced at The [...]

Many thanks toSWLing Postcontributor and noted political cartoonist,Carlos Latuff, who shareshis radio log art of a recent RHC broadcast. Carlos' goal is to vividly illustrate the broadcaster's message in his own unique artistic style and is not a reflection of his own beliefs or those of theSWLing Post. His objective is for his artwork to [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter, who shares the following announcement: Woofferton Transmitting Station UK - 80th Anniversary - October 17, 2023 To mark this anniversary Encompass Digital Media at WOF will be running a special programme on HF : Tuesday 17th October 2023 from 1330 - 1430 UTC/GMT Sender 95 Marconi (BD272 [...]

It's time to have some fun for a couple of hours chasing MW DX along the grey line. Please note: an important change has been made to the rules: you can choose either Civil Twilight at sunrise or Civil Twilight at sunset . . . but not both. Here are the rules: Frequency range is [...]

by Jock Elliott, KB2GOM On the very helpful advice of 13dka, who noted that this should be optional - the grayline happens twice a day, with the morning grayline favoring westerly propagation paths and the evening grayline the east," participants in the challenge can now choose either the grey line in the morning as the [...]

Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 15th October 2023 at 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz, we have the third episode of Skybird Radio International bringing you music and culture from all over the [...]

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM You never know what you will encounter while simply tuning around" on the HF frequencies. Just a few days ago around 2 pm local time, I happened upon the Maritime Mobile Service Network. Net control was being swapped from one ham to another, and it soon became clear that the hams [...]

Many thanks to SWling Post contributor, Nick Hall-Patch, who shares the following announcement: How DXers can contribute to ionospheric research during the 14 October 2023 solar eclipse There will be an annular solar eclipse on 14 October, 2023 when, at totality, the size of the Moon's disk will appear slightly smaller than the size of [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and supporter, Bob Raymond with DXtreme who shares the following product announcement: Product Announcement DXtreme Monitor Log 14TM DXtreme SoftwareTM has released a new version of its popular logging program for radio and TV monitoring enthusiasts: DXtreme Monitor Log 14. Its familiar, uncluttered, industry-standard Windows(R) interface lets listeners and [...]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Andrea Borgnino, Dennis Dura, ______ for the following tips: Eclipses do odd things to radio waves. An army of [...]

Let's have some fun for a couple of hours chasing MW DX along the grey line. Here are the rules: Frequency range is the medium wave band: 520-1710 kHz From one hour before Civil Twilight your local time on Saturday, October 14, to one hour after Civil Twilight at your location. Any radio with any [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,Don Moore-notedauthor, traveler, and DXer-for the latest installment of hisPhoto Album guest post series: Don Moore's Photo Album: Loja, Ecuador by Don Moore A few months ago I did a two-part feature on my favorite small Latin American city, Cuenca, Ecuador. This time let's journey to a nearby smaller city [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bruce, who writes: This appeared in Episode 4 of the 1st Season of Good Omens. No sign of a brand name on the front, unless it's in the lower left corner which is covered. It has a shortwave band. Does anyone recognize it? - Bruce If you recognize this [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom Ally, who writes: I am not sure if you saw this in your email yet, but you can now pre-order the WRTH 2024 at https://wrth.info/preorder-wrth-2024/ During checkout, apply the code earlybirdto unlock a 5% discount. Remember: Shipping is free! Thanks for the tip, Tom!

Hi SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations broadcasts. On Sunday 8th October 2023 at 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz we have KPET beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold. This show will be a tribute to beloved pets everywhere from collie dogs, guinea pigs and [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes: At about the 15 minute mark in the classic movie, Twelve O'Clock High, about B-17 bomber groups in England during WWII, this scene shows a commander and his assistant listening to Lord Haw Haw from Nazi Germany on a small console radio. Anyone recognize it? [...]

Many thanks toSWLing Postcontributor and noted political cartoonist,Carlos Latuff, who shareshis radio log art of a recent NOAA forecast. Carlos writes: Recently I have been receiving NOAA's Pacific high seas forecast via 12579 kHz USB. According to the NOAA schedule these SITOR-B transmissions come from the USCG base in Guam (NRV). But I'm not sure [...]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura and Ulis (K3LU) for the following tips: Discovery Dish Pre-launch: A Lightweight Dish And Feed For L-band [...]