The SWLing Post

After two months in Canada and one month spent catching up on work, I’m pleased to make some time this weekend to activate PK01 (the Blue Ridge Parkway) for the ARRL National Parks On The Air (NPOTA). I’ll be joined by my good friend, Vlado (N3CZ) on August 28–we plan to set up at the Folk Art […]

(Source: University of Alaska Fairbanks via Andrea Borgnino) OPEN HOUSE AUGUST 27, 2016 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at HAARP, 11.3 mile Tok Cutoff Highway, Gakona, Alaska Facility tours, mobile planetarium, permafrost exhibit, science demos and talks, and BBQ. Free and suitable for all ages! ALSO: Science lecture Friday August 26, 7 p.m. at the […]

After publishing the post this morning regarding the AM mode addition to the Elecraft KX2, SWLing Post contributor Ivan Cholakov (NO2CW) created the following video comparing the KX2’s daytime shortwave reception with that of the Kenwood R-2000: Click here to view on YouTube.

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post readers (including, Eric, Dave, Jim and Greg) who shared the following message from Wayne (N6KR) on the Elecraft message boards: We added AM mode to the KX2 today, both transmit and receive. Its primary purpose is for SWL (short-wave listening), i.e. copying commercial AM stations. (Remember that […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Martin Kraft, who writes: Where’s the hidden den of pirate radio? The Caribbean? The South China Sea? Nope, according to RadioWorld, it’s the New York City metro area: http://www.radioworld.com/article/nybsa-76-pirates-stations-in-new-york-northern-nj/279213 NYSBA: 76 Pirate Stations in New York, Northern N.J. A number of pirate stations are operating throughout New York City […]

(Source: Paul Walker) The next broadcast of The Classics Experience with Paul Walker is going to be the biggest yet. It’ll all take place in late August with 2 hours of rock n roll music with maybe a few country songs thrown in for good measure. The show is ALL about the music and providing something different on […]

Our August 30 (August 29 in the Americas on WBCQ) program offers more of Caribe Nostrum, winner of Cubadisco 2016 in the Concert and Chamber Music category and one of the two Gran Premio winners. Guido López Gavilán, the Director, will join us to talk about the music. Our Jazz guest is Carlos Averhoff Jr., […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl (DL1ABJ), who shares more details about the new Titus 2 DRM receiver via the DRM Consortium Chairman, Ruxandra Obreja: NEW DRM RECEIVER UNVEILED at HFCC MEETING IN MIAMI, FLORIDA THIS WEEK! The HFCC meeting is being held 22-26 August in Miami and on this occasion there was a live […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary DeBock, who shares this summary of the July 2016 Rockwork 4 Ocean Cliff DXpedition: July 2016 Rockwork 4 Ocean Cliff DXpedition An International Team Gets Full “Exposure” to a Wild New DXing Venue By Gary DeBock, Puyallup, WA, USA Introduction In the previous century the outstanding receivers developed by […]

I had heard rumors that a new DRM receiver was in the works, but had not yet seen any specifications. DRMNA.info has just posted a few specs: The PantronX Titus II is actually a full SDR solution in a boombox case. Few details yet, but it is running Android, has a 100 kHz to 2 […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Brown (W1DAN) for the following guest post: A WRNO Worldwide Transmitter Site Visit by Dan Brown W1DAN The opportunity to visit a shortwave transmitter site does not come to me often. It did during the summer of 2009, so I jumped at the chance. Along with friend Bob […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey, who replies to Ivan’s preliminary review of the V3 RTL-SDR dongle: With Shortwave SDRs (the receiver dongle) now costing less than $20, the time has come for us to set up a global group of receivers that we can all log into at will! Have a look at […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan Cholakov (NO2CW), who shares the following video review of the new RTL-SDR dongle on the shortwave and mediumwave bands. Ivan notes: This is daytime reception comparison. Nighttime could be a different picture. [The RTL-SDR dongle] tunes and frequency is 100% on spot. Using SDR Sharp you have several AGC settings to play […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Al Quaglieri, who shares the following recording, QSL (above) and notes: Here’s a nice recording I made of the first 13 minutes of Radio Baghdad’s English broadcast one day around August 8, 1990. It begins with some music and then there’s a newscast. For a couple of months, I sent […]

Radio Verdad, Chiquimula, Guatemala is quite a regular catch at home, however, their modulation is nearly always weak as the carrier struggles to lift above the ubiquitous blanket of local QRM. Another issue with hearing this station is the digital utility signal just above 4055 kHz, thus requiring LSB reception to reject the adjacent noise. This particular recording of Radio Verdad was […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Francis, who left the following reply on our Battery Endurance Contest Results post: Dear Thomas, I have been using a Sony ICF-11 for 5-6 years now, still sold new at 50-70 euro. It’s analog and rather well featured: FM (stereo on earbuds), LW, AM, and 9 SW bands. It runs […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) A tour of Caversham Park before it closes – the home of BBC Monitoring – a historical BBC World Service department which has been monitoring some of the world’s most seismic events for 75 years Caversham Park became the BBC Monitoring Headquarters in 1941 and in light of recent news that, due […]

On August 4, 2016, the same day I received my new Sangean DT-160CL, I popped a fresh set of CVS Max Alkaline batteries into the DT-160CL as well as into my trusted Sony SRF-39FP. The mission? To see which radio could perform longest on a set of batteries. I set my stopwatch as I turned on both radios, […]

In reply to our recent post about Radio Atlantico del Sur, SWLing Post contributor, Jonathan Marks, adds: Radio South Atlantic was a short-lived clandestine radio station started by the UK Ministry of Defence with programmes aimed at Argentine troops on the Falkland islands. This programme was broadcast from a transmitter on Ascension Island which was […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who shares the following info about Icom’s announcements at the Tokyo Ham Fair: Well the cat is now really out of the bag now !! Icom announced 2 new RECEIVERS at the Tokyo 2016 JARL Ham Fair. We can almost say for certain that the new IC-R8600 […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Barraclough, who writes: Neil Ffrench Blake is a former BBC producer and journalist who launched and was Managing Director of Radio 210, first station Mike Read and Steve Wright worked at. He was also involved in psychological warfare radio stations broadcasting to Aden, Afghanistan and managed ones to […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Figliozzi, who writes: Sean at Universal Radio in Reynoldsburg, OH put me on to another terrific product that does the job fabulously and quite easily. It’s called MaxPro Ink/Adhesive Remover and is a citrus-based cleaner/solvent that won’t harm the radio’s plastic casing. You can get it on eBay […]

Hi there, I thought I would share my first reception of Radio Tawantinsuyo, from Cusco, Peru, recorded during the inaugural test of my 200 metre longwire antenna. Of course this particular reception could be coincidence, but a very welcome catch in any case. Once again, the Sony ICF-2001D performs very well with this large antenna, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Figliozzi, who shared a link the following radio program via the Shortwave Programs email list. John writes: Here’s an interesting segment heard recently on ABC Radio National’s and Radio Australia’s “Late Night Live”: Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World is a new biography of Guglielmo Marconi: Nobel […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Aaron Kuhn, who writes: [T]he newest v3 http://RTL-SDR.com RTL2832U USB receivers now have HF reception via Direct sampling over the SMA antenna connector directly out of the box with no hardware modding required. I think this might make it the cheapest, out-of-the-box HF SDR possible at this point. 9:1 […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Hawkins, who left the following comment in reply to our previous post about Radio Australia’s outage: This message found on the ABC/Radio Australia website this morning… The ABC is running a technical outage of the international shortwave service until Friday the 19th of August to test reception in […]

I just received the following message from ABC Reception Advice after inquiring about Radio Australia being off the air. I’m sure many of you also received the same message: Thank you for your recent correspondence with regards to the Radio Australia Broadcasts on Shortwave Radio in the SW Pacific. We are currently working with our […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Alex, who has just informed me that he’s updated his printer-friendly shortwave frequency charts for the summer broadcasting season. Alex mentions that he posted English in Europe on one A4 sheet, plus 5 A4 sheets running through the vast majority of stations that can now be heard in Europe. Note that […]

Ham Radio Outlet is currently offering the SDRplay RSP software defined receiver for $139.95 in a summer sale that is set to last until the end of August. If you’ve been considering the SDRplay RSP, this would be a great time to pull the trigger as I’ve never seen the price of the RSP below […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, John Cooper, who writes with the following request: Hello all SWLers and DXers: I have been interested and actively participating in the Shortwave hobby for almost four years now. I have not seen a DX Contest originating in the USA in those years although we have a lot of […]

I originally wrote this three-part WiFi radio primer and review series for the April, May and June issues of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Each part of this series will be posted with the tag: WiFi Radio Primer. You can read Part 1 by clicking here and Part 2 by clicking here–I hope you enjoy Part 3 below: We’ve finally […]

(Source: 38 North via Mike Barraclough) A little after midnight, early on the morning of July 15, as most of the Korean peninsula slept, were North Korean spies up late listening to the radio? This was the big question after a strange sequence of numbers was read out on a North Korean radio station. It […]

Good Afternoon everyone, Radio Northern Ireland will be broadcasting tonight 1900UTC on 6005khz via Shortwave Service in Germany, and then followed by 15770khz via WRMI at 2100 UTC and further more on 11580khz at 0130 UTC. Our show tonight is jam packed with talking and a few special shortwave articles as well! SSTV will […]

(Source: ARRL) Let the conspiracy theories resume! Alaska’s High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility will reopen in 2017. The sprawling facility now is under the ownership of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), and the UAF Geophysical Institute is preparing HAARP for a new sponsored research campaign that’s set to begin early next year, […]

I spent this morning doing a lot of work around our property. When it was time for a break, I turned on my trust Sony ICF-5500W and tuned to WTZQ: one of my favorite regional AM braodcasters. Though WTZQ is over 30 miles from my home, any good AM radio, like the ICF-5500W, can receive […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Nikolich (N9OVQ), who writes: Radio Australia has been off the air all week. My buddy Ron Howard in California contacted reception.advice@abc.net.au regarding this issue, and received this response: “Thank you for your recent correspondence with regards to the Radio Australia Broadcasts on Shortwave Radio in the SW Pacific. We are currently working […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, TomL, who notes: Not sure if you had anything posted for this but I stumbled on BHI having a summer sale until August 16. So, I went onto YouTube and listened to a number of user demos and chose to buy the Compact Inline model. So, I get 10% […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bruce Atchison, who recently shared his positive comments about the CC Skywave. Bruce writes:: This is a lot of radio for such a small size. The CC Skywave is a great travel companion because of its portability and price. Moreover, it’s rich with features. The receiver tunes in AM and […]

Hi there, great to hear this new station broadcasting from Somalia, during an early evening DX’pedition at my usual spot – a local Oxfordshire wood! Even better to hear it with just the telescopic antenna! The ICF-2001D is renown for being extremely well ‘tuned’ to it’s own telescopic and this has been demonstrated many times […]

(Source: VOA Radiogram via Richard Langley) WRMI, Radio Miami International, will showcase digital text and images via analog radio in a half-hour special broadcast to be transmitted nine times (at least), beginning Saturday, 13 August. The broadcast will mostly be in MFSK32 centered on 1500 Hz. There will also be segments in MFSK64, MFSK32 centered […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) New Scientist magazine reports the US Air Force is working on plans to improve HF radio propagation by releasing ionised gas in the upper atmosphere using a fleet of micro satellites As well as increasing the range of radio signals, the USAF says it wants to smooth out the effects of solar […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Rafael Rodríguez R., who writes with the following announcement from Bogotá, Colombia: [I would like to announce a] DX program, celebrating “International Day” from Ecos del Torbes (emblematic Venezuelan station) and also the 40th anniversary Club Diexistas de la Amistad and their program América en Antena (celebrating 26th anniversary). This will be […]

From The Isle of Music reports: Our August 16 (August 15 in the Americas on WBCQ) program marks the beginning of several weeks of Caribe Nostrum, winner of Cubadisco 2016 in the Concert and Chamber Music category and one of the two Gran Premio winners. Guido López Gavilán, the Director, will join us each week […]

A strong signal with a clear ID from Conakry, Guinea, heard in Oxford UK on 08/08/16 at 18:04 hrs UTC using my trusty Panasonic RF-B65 and a 50 metre longwire. No SYNC of course, but once again, the vintage Panasonic performs very well for this personal-first reception. I do have another recording of this station […]

Hello all, A few nights ago during great propagation in the Medium Wave band I had the opertunity to DX Radio Capital from Lima, Peru all the way to Northern Ireland. I was planning to sleep early but favourable conditions on MW prompted me to have a late night to chase DX. I have had […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who announces his next show: The next broadcast of The Classics Experience with Paul Walker is going to be the biggest yet. It’ll all take place in late August with 2 hours of rock n roll music with maybe a few country songs thrown in for good measure. The show […]