The SWLing Post

(Source: Southgate ARC via Mike Terry) Dutch regulator removes broadcaster’s antenna It is reported the Dutch Radiocommunications Agency dismantled the antenna of a legally operating broadcast station It appears they thought Vechtdal NL in Ommen on 105.6 MHz was a pirate but the station, an associate of Vechtdal FM, was correctly licenced. The Agency says […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan Cholakov, who shares the following: [W]hile on a cruise ship 30 miles off the coast of Cuba (January 2017) I pointed a small active antenna towards the island and scanned for old fashioned analog TV. The results show analog TV is alive and well in Cuba! Multiple programs […]

(Source: Tom Taylor) Relays this Weekend Hamurger Lokal Radio via Shortwave Station Göhren, Germany with 1KW to Western Europe: 6190 KHz Every Saturday 07.00 to 11.00 UTC 7265 KHz Every Saturday 11.00 to 16.00 UTC 9485 KHz Every Sunday 10.00 to 13.00 UTC Contact email: redaktion@hamburger-lokalradio.de NEXT WEEK Radio City via: IRRS to Europe on […]

One of the things I now regret is that I didn’t make more recordings of radio stations from my listening days in the 1970s and 80s. I have very few audio examples of stations operating at that time. So disappointing! However….a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a recording I made in December 1973 of Radyo […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, William Lee, who shares the following story from the CBC: Hello, Finland, this is Vancouver calling: radio fans listen to CBC from 6,700 km away When people in other parts of the world tune in to CBC Radio in Vancouver, they usually do it through our app, or online […]

(Source: ?Victor Goonetilleke via the WRTH Facebook page) We have the DRM test in place for 9 – 13 Jan 2017. Please pass thisonto those you know who may be able to send in reports.Details are here below. DRM test broadcast form KTWR Guam Date 9 – 13 January 2017 Time UTC 1445 – 1515 Freq […]

Last night, my buddy Eric McFadden (WD8RIF) notified me that the International Space Station would be making a pass this morning and doing an ARISS contact with three schools in Belgium. It appears this pass will create an opportunity for some of us at least in eastern North America (and elsewhere) to listen to the […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who writes: Hi Thomas: As every year, Radio Prague has a new collection of QSL cards for its listeners. This year, this eight different QSL cards show Means of Public Transport in the Czech Republic. You can see them at: http://www.radio.cz/en//qsl/qsl-cards Thanks for the tip, David! […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Schreiber (KE7KRF), who shares the following guest post: Yet Another Internet Radio! by Richard Schreiber (KE7KRF) After deciding that an internet radio could be an important source of entertainment in our household, we formulated a few general guidelines: We opted not to use an aggregator but would pick and choose […]

The following information was first shared with me by SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl. As I looked for more details, I discovered the following note in the excellent CIDX Messenger: From Alan Roe of Teddington, UK, here is information on new transmissions targeting Antarctica: According to posting on “Shortwave Airtime” Facebook page: “Spaceline Ltd and Radio Nova […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Figliozzi, who writes: This [company] was mentioned in regard to the CES show out in Las Vegas: http://www.airsmartaudio.com/ It’s a Chinese company with a rather novel approach to the design of modern radios — AM/FM/Internet Bluetooth, along with the use of tube amplifiers in some models. The web […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Lennart Weirell, who shares the following: Some Radio St. Helena History The idea to put St. Helena on the shortwave map came up in conjunction with the preparations for the Nordic Championships in DX-ing in 1990 arranged by Stora Tuna DX-klubb. The two Swedish dx-ers Jan Tunér and John […]

Dennis Walter, of Bonito Radio in Germany, has just posted an excellent article on his blog regarding the importance of quality coaxial cable to fight local radio interference. Click here to read his post, “Why even good antennas need good Coax cable.”

Many thanks to Jon Hudson at SDRplay who has just informed me that SDR-Console V3 Preview supports the new SDRplay RSP2. SDRplay posted the following on their blog: Many thanks to Simon Brown for updating SDR-Console V3 Preview to fully support both the RSP1 and the RSP2- you can download the software from http://sdr-radio.com/v3_preview_downloads (be sure to click […]

Since I was a kid, I’ve always enjoyed listening to police, fire, public services/utilities, and aviation communications on scanners. Growing up, my father had a Regency Executive scanner in our living room, and he used it to listen to all of the local action before it was published in the newspaper the following morning. All […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Klaus Boecker, who follows up after our recent post showcasing his homebrew magnetic loop antenna. One of the cool things about Klaus’ antenna is that he can easily position it vertically (see above), or fold it over into a horizontal position (see below). While one would think Klaus would […]

Hi there, I recently posted an article regarding a couple of recent DX catches with the Sony ICF-SW77 receiver and went on to explain the background to a multi-receiver test I had started conducting, comparing it with its stablemate of the time the ICF-SW55 and, just for the hell of it, a more modern, yet […]

(Source: BBC via Mike Terry on the WRTH Facebook Page) Bulgaria’s public radio broadcaster has been banned from playing millions of contemporary songs because of a row over copyright payments. Since 1 January, state-funded Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) has been filling its airwaves with classical pieces, jazz and traditional folk music instead, the Novinite news […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike, who shares the following from the YouTube channel The Great War. This short video gives an excellent overview of communications methods and equipment used throughout World War I. I’ve included the video’s description below: Click here to view on YouTube. “If one thing was vital to the the […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Schreiber (KE7KRF), who shares the following: Here [above] is the QSL card I received in 2004 for the 1998 St Helena Day shortwave broadcast. There were, I recall, some staff changes and other issues that delayed many reports from being verified, but resubmitted everything in 2004 and they […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Giuseppe Morlè (IZ0GZW), who shares the following short recordings of Radio St. Helena day in 2006 and 2009. These recordings were made from his home on Ponza Island, Italy using the Yaesu FRG-7 and FRG-100 and a 30 meter length of wire antenna: Radio St. Helena – November 4, 2006 […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, London Shortwave, who shares this tweet from Northern Territory resident, Lisa Herbert. ABC ad re cutting #shortwave services telling peeps to include an EPIRB and sat phone to their emergency kit. pic.twitter.com/NrKQqNbQjK — Lisa Herbert (@MsLisaHerbert) December 28, 2016 Is the irony of this really lost on the ABC […]

From the Isle of Music, Week of January 9-15, 2017 A Jazzy show this week – Leonardo Pérez shares more of Una Mecanica Diferente, and we have two other special guests: pianist Alejandro Falcón and saxophonist Carlos Miyares, part of the new generation of Jazz stars in Cuba. Also, a tribute to the recently- departed […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Kadlec, who shares the following announcement about his Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide: After a long 14 months of work, I’m happy to present the completed Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide, a three-hour documentary broadcast exploring the Seoul AM band one frequency at a time, plus a look at […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares this story from the BBC News via Matthew M. Aid‘s blog: […]It was a cold Saturday morning in April 1988 when a van full of detectives arrived outside the North London home of Erwin van Haarlem. The self-employed art dealer, 44, lived alone in sleepy Friern […]

Many thanks SWLing Post contributor, Aaron Kuhn, who writes: [While passing by the TV at just the right time] I heard an interesting little 16 seconds of exchange in the Senate Russian Hacking hearings. The exchange take place between Lindsey Graham and James Clapper from 1:57:40 to 1:58:24: Click here to view on YouTube. In this short […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bob Heil (K9EID), who writes: You may be interested to know about the Saturday evening Theatre Organ shows on the 100KW of WTWW: “Theatre Organ from the Ozarks” each Saturday at 8PM CST (0200 UTC Sunday) on WTWW shortwave 5.085 MHz. Many readers might not know that Bob Heil is […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who writes: Just FYI. Yes, the Icom IC-7200 is “Back in Production” ” The Icom IC-7200 HF DSP Transceiver is back in production once again (at least for now). Unknown if any part / design changes had to be made to make this possible ? Let’s […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) Some inhabitants of French controlled Polynesia are unhappy at the switch over from Medium Wave AM to VHF FM broadcasting Radio New Zealand reports Radio Polynesie Premiere switched to an all FM service at the beginning of December, leaving pockets of inhabitants in valleys and on remote atolls without any local radio […]

We all read articles about the utility and the demise of AM (mediumwave) broadcasting. In this short article via the Huffington Post, Fred Lundgren (Founder and CEO of KCAA) discusses “What Happened To AM Radio (that’s NOT a question)”: On Christmas Eve morning, the electricity went off at our house and panic quickly spread among our […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN), who writes: Hi Thomas, These have been popping up on eBay, reasonable price, with face markings just like an old shortwave radio dial. Click here to view Zenith wall clock. Pretty nice gift for the SWL who has everything! Click here to view Sparton wall clock. […]

Many thanks to our friends at The Greek Radio who share this news: The medium wave broadcasting center of the Greek Radio in Pachi Megara is likely to go live again after three and a half years, since the procedures for the necessary maintenance and repairs have recently been initiated, with a high possibility that one […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pete (WB9FLW), who notes that Ashhar Farhan (VU2ESE) has upgraded the BITX40 Transceiver with a Arduino Nano/Si5351 VFO: http://www.hfsigs.com/ The BITX40 is an affordable, fully assembled QRP transceiver we’ve mentioned on the SWLing Post before–click here to read more. Thanks for the tip, Pete!

Many thanks to SWLing Post readers Al Quaglieri and Alan Tu for sharing the following story via app.com about the removal of the remnants of radio station WOO: BERKELEY TOWNSHIP — The mysterious poles have stood in the open marshland off Good Luck Point for nearly 80 years, but sometime in January these local landmarks will finally be […]

If you’ve been a shortwave listener for very long, you may remember the annual Radio St. Helena Day: one weekend a year when this small island broadcaster hit the shortwaves and accepted reports from across the globe. I never had the fortune of receiving their modest signal, but I surely tried! Since I’m fan of remotely […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Phil Brennan, who shares the following press release from ABC Friends. ABC Friends represents the community’s interest in independent national public broadcasting: MEDIA RELEASE 5/1/2017 NEW THREAT TO LIVES IN OUTBACK PLEA FOR URGENT MINISTERIAL ACTION An urgent call for ministerial action to protect short wave services in Northern […]

Some of you might remember the extensive tests I conducted last August, comparing this great portable receiver against the model it was introduced to replace – and arguably one of the best-ever portables – the Sony ICF-2001D/ICF-2010. I conducted a back-to-back series of comparison tests at the very quiet wood in Oxfordshire I use for my DX’peditions, […]

Post readers: I need your help! SWLing Post reader Andy Webster (G7UHN) is searching for an off-air recording of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica from the year 2009. Andy has a very personal connection to this particular broadcast because he was the wintering communications engineer at Rothera Research Station in 2009. One of his […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Avo Ohanian, who writes: I had read with interest a review on Amazon about a purchaser receiving a Sangean ATS-909X in black with the firmware listed as “P-01”. I can confirm that this is indeed the case and that I am curious as to whether there is more than just […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Klaus Boecker, who originally posted these images of his homebrew magnetic loop antenna on the Shortwave Radio Station Listening Facebook page. I love the design of his mag loop which easily allows for a vertical or horizontal orientation. Kaus has discovered, in certain cases, places the loop in a horizontal […]

Many thanks to several SWLing Post readers who shared this excellent radio documentary on the BBC World Service website: The Fifth Floor: Watching the World Caversham Park is the home of BBC Monitoring which for over 70 years has been the eyes and ears of the BBC, watching, translating and analysing the world’s media and […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Andrea Borgnino who shares this item from the National Catholic Register: [O]n December 31, 2016, after more than 80 years of operation, Vatican Radio is being absorbed into the new Secretariat for Communications. The move is part of Pope Francis’ reorganization of Curial offices, and is intended to make […]

Many thanks to Chris Smolinski who has, once again, crunched the numbers to give us a look at HF pirate radio activity in 2016. […]To gauge shortwave pirate radio activity in 2016, I analyzed the Shortwave Pirate loggings forum of the HF Underground (http://www.hfunderground.com). A computer script parsed the message thread titles, as well as […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl, who shares the following message sent by Anker Petersen of the The Danish Shortwave Club International (DSWCI): Dear DSWCI members. In a few hours the DSWCI exists no longer. But our webmaster Rolf Wernli has done a tremendous job between Christmas and New Year by changing our wellknown […]

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that we had crossed a small milestone here on the SWLing Post: as of this post, there are now 3,067 (!!!) published posts in our archives. I simply can’t believe we’ve surpassed 3,000 posts–especially knowing we only passed 2,000 posts September of 2015. People can say what they will […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Trevor, who shares this link to a blog post from Daniel Estevez describing the characteristics of HF OTH RADAR: Most amateur operators are familiar with over-the-horizon radars in the HF bands. They sometimes pop up in the Amateur bands, rendering several tens of kilohertzs unusable. Inspired by Balint Seeber’s talk in […]

Happy 2017! We begin the new year with some new and recent recordings we received during 2016, and our special guest is Leonardo Pérez, Director of Cuarteto de Cuerdas Amadeo Roldan, who will be sharing a little of Una Mecánica Diferente, which was nominated for a Cubadisco in Concert and Chamber Music in 2016, during […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary DeBock (N7EKX), who shares this video and notes the following on YouTube: This is the new 3.5 inch (89mm) “Baby FSL” antenna, designed to provide a powerful DXing gain boost for Ultralight radios (or any other portables) despite its very small size. It has 32 Russian surplus 140mm x […]

(Source: NPR) Here’s a timely reminder for all you would-be revelers out there: Be careful with your countdowns this New Year’s Eve. There will be a little extra time to bask in the glow of a retreating 2016 — or curse its name, as the case may be. Whatever your inclination may be, one thing […]