The SWLing Post

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Paul, who writes: While putzing around with my new Tecsun PL-880 that I got while browsing at Universal Radio’s store in Columbus OH, I found what appears to be an adjustable noise reduction function. Firmware level: 8820 Mfg date: probably August 2016 (201608 from the serial number inside the […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who shares this recording from his home in Galena, Alaska. Paul notes: Radio Thailand (13745 kHz) English service to North America at 0000UTC on November 8th, 2016: Click here to view on YouTube. Not the strongest I ever hear them, but a good solid clean nearly noise […]

Hi there, subscribers to my YouTube channel Oxford Shortwave Log will be aware that I currently operate both of these wonderful vintage portables. I purchased the ICF-2001D only 18 months ago from eBay, based largely on its reputation as one of the best performing portables ever made. Previously I had been using my excellent ICF-SW55 as the […]

A guide by London Shortwave Radio interference is a major problem in big cities when it comes to indoor shortwave reception. One effective solution I have found is to head for the local park and engage in scanning the bands there. However, since my time for making such outdoor trips is limited, I would always […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Phil Brennan, who writes: Your readers might be interested in this article from today’s Guardian: Hoax radio transmission at Melbourne airport forces plane to abort landing Police are investigating 15 incidents of illegal radio transmissions with aircraft at Melbourne and Avalon airports, including hoax calls that forced at least […]

On November 15 (November 14 local date in the Americas), our special guest will be Cuban Jazz phenomenon Harold López-Nussa, who will share some of his wonderful new album El Viaje. We will also play some new Timba recordings and other excellent Cuban dance music. Then, the next two weeks, by popular demand, we […]

Many thanks to Nicholas Pospishil, who shares this photo and notes: “VOA Radiogram on 5745 kHz. No fancy equipment needed.” No kidding! Mobile phones and tablets now have more than enough horsepower to decode most VOA Radiograms. Nicholas uses the free AndFlmsg app for Android to decode. Note that AndFlmsg is not available in the Google Play store, you […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey, who shares the following: It’s been a fun weekend getting the first two remote modules for the Spectrum Project MK2 together. These modules tune into and then digitally preserve broadcasted human communication; music, discussion, culture for future generations to study and ponder. This initial version of the […]

(Source: Parliment.UK via Andy Sennitt on PCJ Media’s Facebook Page) Government should fund BBC Monitoring, not the licence fee payer 29 October 2016 It was a mistake to end Government funding for BBC Monitoring in 2013 and that change should be reversed, say MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Read the report summary Read the full […]

Many thanks to Jim Veatch (WA2EUJ) who shares the following: HobbyPCB is offering their RS-HFIQ 5W SDR on Kickstarter starting at $239. Check it out here: Thanks, Jim-I wish you success in this campaign (though it appears you’ve met your base goal and are now into stretch goals). While there are a fair amount of […]

(Source: DXtreme Press Release) Product Announcement: DXtreme Station Log 12 DXtreme Software™ has released a new version of its popular logging program for Amateur Radio operators: DXtreme Station Log 12™. New Features in DXtreme Station Log 12 Automatic LoTW Upload — Users can set Station Log 12 so it uploads each log entry to LoTW automatically […]

Hi there, here is part 2 of my reception videos taken in the tropical rainforest of Pará, Northern Brazil. As I mentioned in my previous post, I took a Tecsun PL-680 with me on the trip because I didn’t want to risk losing or trashing one of my precious vintage portables but also because of the […]

The shortwave bands are in a constant state of flux. And radio reception varies with the seasons. As a result, radio stations often need to alter their frequencies and times for best all-year-round reception at the listener’s location. There are two seasonal changeovers: the “A” transmission period coincides with the northern hemisphere summer (March to […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andy Yoder, who shares the following: I’m just writing with a reminder about the Global HF Pirate weekend is just starting. This is the revival of an idea from a few years ago: Stations broadcast on high frequencies in an effort to be heard across long distances and in […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Cooper, who writes: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN NASWA, Universal Radio, Inc. and CIDX, is sponsoring the North American Shortwave DX contest “The Final Countdown” which will start on 00:00 UTC hours on 7 January 2017. The contest is open to all North American SWLers and DXers. Contest forms for […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Jon Tabor, who writes: I’m new to SWL, but found your site a few months ago, and have been loving it ever since. I recently picked up, for about $11 off eBay, a cheap MW/SW/FM radio called the VITE VT-111, which appears to be a rebadged (updated?) Basbon DS-858, […]

Hi there, I was fortunate enough recently for my work to take me to a very remote area of tropical rainforest in Pará, Northern Brazil and of course, I travelled with a shortwave radio. In fact I take a portable with me everywhere – even to work – just in case. During this trip I […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Bornino, for sharing the following article from espressonline.it: Goodbye, Jesuits. Vatican Media Get a New Face and New Boss And this with a Jesuit pope, no less. Vatican Radio will stop broadcasting on shortwave. And “L’Osservatore Romano” will also be absorbed into a single “content hub.” Under the command […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mike Ladd who notes that HDSDR has just published a new 2.75 Beta release. Mike included the screenshot (above) which includes the following release notes: Click here for the HDSDR website and to download the new Beta release. Thanks for the tip, Mike!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, who writes: A day or two late, but I don’t know if you have this about CBC: (Source: Southgate ARC) Canada’s public broadcaster, the CBC, is 80 years old Modelled somewhat on the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation came into being on November 2, 1936. Surprisingly many […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, for sharing the following updated schedule from Radio Thailand World Service:

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, DanH, for sharing the latest schedule from RNZI:

For the B16 season, our transmission on WBCQ moves to 0100-0200 UTC Tuesdays (which means 8-9pm EST Mondays in the Americas). On Channel 292, we stay at 1900-2000 UTC Tuesdays, which will now be 2000-2100 CET. Next week: JoJazz is the most important competition for young Jazz musicians in Cuba. This week, we will dedicate our […]

I had hoped this Halloween weekend would bring out a lot of shortwave pirates and it surely did! At one point Monday evening, I noted no less than five pirate radio stations broadcasting simultaneously between 6910 – 7000 kHz. You can see the four SSB and one AM signal in the spectrum display above. Chris Smolinski, […]

Hi there, further to my previous post regarding the initial testing of the Medium Wave Circle-design 200 metre Beverage antenna at the woods in Oxford, UK, I am pleased to share further reception videos for both the medium wave and shortwave bands. For medium wave, I operated the FDM DUO via a laptop and the […]

The following review was originally published in the October 2016 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Anyone who knows me knows that since I was licensed nearly twenty years ago, I’ve been a fan of low-power (QRP) operations. There’s just something inexplicably fun in being able to talk to the other side of the world […]

Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates…so, here are two things you’ll want to do this Halloween (tonight): 1. Hobby Broadcasting Blog Check out Andrew Yoder’s pirate radio blog ,the Hobby Broadcasting blog. Andrew is the author of the Pirate Radio Annual and a guru on shortwave pirate radio. Andrew has already […]

The following review originally appeared in the SEptember 2016 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Over the past year, I’ve received a number of inquiries from readers who are considering purchasing a handheld wideband receiver. This is a market I’ve never truly explored because, to be honest, I’m partial to the HF part of the spectrum, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Steve T, for sharing the following news from Business Insider: KNL Networks, based in Oulu, Finland, has been in stealth mode during the past four years while developing a revolutionizing system that enables internet connection anywhere in the world – even in the middle of the Pacific Ocean – […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John (AE5X), who writes: Hi Thomas – I thought you might be interested to know that KE9NS has updated PowerSDR software for Flex 1500, 3000 and 5000 series radios with the following features: SWL BANDS: 14 standard Shortwave Listening bands, each with their own Bandstacking memories. SWL SPOTTER: SWL.CSV […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ron, who shares a link to Jay Allen’s review of the Sangean WR-50/WR-50P: The Sangean WR-50/WR-50P is a high performance table radio with excellent AM/FM reception and sound quality. […]It features standard AM/FM reception plus FM RBDS capability and has Bluetooth connectivity so you can stream audio from any […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan (K2DLS), who writes: There is a MARS communication exercise taking place this weekend. As part of the exercise, a MARS station on the east and west coasts will broadcast a bulletin which will be verified by a QSL. Please see the notice below: A HIGH POWER 60 METER […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan Cholakov (NO2CW), who writes: Thomas, not sure if this is something relevant but airlines now state it is OK to use an am/fm radio on board aircraft. Not much possibilities for AM unfortunately but on a recent flight from Ft Lauderdale to Dallas and Albuquerque I hooked up […]

(Source: Hobart Radio International on Facebook) We’re getting ready for the B16. Here is our new schedule. Changes include WRMI reductions and Ch292 commencement. We air for the first time on Channel 292 6070 Nov 5th.

JoJazz is the most important competition for young Jazz musicians in Cuba. This week and next, we will dedicate our entire program to it. Our November 1 (October 31 in the Americas on WBCQ) program offers music from past JoJazz winners and an interview with the competition’s founder, Alexis Vázquez. Two options for listening on […]

Those of you following the upcoming Titus II receiver will enjoy reading this interview with Mike of Pantronix. Here’s a short excerpt taken from DRMNA.info: [DRMNA] Can you tell us a little about the process taken to develop the new receiver? [Mike] We became aware of the need for a digital capable receiver by a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Vlado (N3CZ), for sharing the following story from the South African Radio League newsletter: Broadcasters, jammers wreak havoc on amateur radio frequencies The ARRL reports the battle in the amateur radio 7 MHz band continues between Radio Eritrea and Radio Ethiopia, which is said to be jamming the Eritrean […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who shares the following reply to TomL’s post More Anti-Noise Ideas: My VERY NOISY Sony CRT TV has gone to the great electronics recycling bin in the sky thank goodness. But I still have a MFJ-1026 here and need to use it when the neighborhood gets […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following: This is the English service broadcast for The Voice Of Korea to “Latin America” from Kujang, North Korea. Recorded 0430-0530UTC October 17, 2016 using a Tecsun PL-880, Wellbrook ALA1530LNP, EmTech ZM2 antenna tuner and DXEngineering HF Preamp. Listening location is Galena, Alaska. A […]

For the past six years or so, we’ve used Google Feedburner as an email distribution system on the SWLing Post. Feedburner is a bare-bones RSS-based system, but it’s worked quite well–allowing readers to sign up for individual Post emails or daily digests. It’s also free for both readers and for me. However, in the past two […]

In a previous guest post, SWLing Post contributor TomL, shared his “Evolving, Morphing, SW Listening Station” where he detailed the many ways he’s trying to fight heavy radio interference at his listening post. The following post is TomL’s update: More Anti-Noise Ideas (Continuing the hunt for better reception in a foul RFI environment) by TomL I […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bob Chandler (VE3SRE), who leaves the following reply to our WiFi Radio Primer: I have been streaming online radio using a PC for a number of years using a really simple programme for the GNU/Linux operating system called “Radio Tray“. Radio Tray is a tiny programme written in Python that […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, DanH, who shares the following feedback. Note that he sent this to me about two weeks ago, but my life has been so busy the past few weeks, I’m still catching up on email. Thanks to everyone for understanding! DanH writes: We all know how hard it is to […]

Many thanks to Pete (WB9FLW) who writes: Don’t know if you have seen this or not. VU2ESE of BITX20 Fame has just introduced the BITX40. This is a fully assembled and tested SSB Transceiver for $45 including shipping from India! http://www.hfsigs.com/ Wow! I may have to purchase one of these and try it out. I’m […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Armin Sander, who writes: Here is a link to a very interesting auction on eBay Germany: Click here to view on eBay. Only the price speaks for itself! (And now I need a good whisky!) 😉 No kidding, Armin! That is a hefty price–8,9999 EUR–even though this particular unit seems […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey, who shares the following reply to our Como Audio Solo review: I am a heavy user of internet radios and have a few scatted around the home, the one most frequently used is the Grace in the kitchen. What stations do people listen to? I listen to lots […]

Regular SWLing Post readers might remember that this past summer, I made an impulse purchase–and in doing so, backed a Kickstarter campaign for the new Como Audio Solo. But exactly why did I buy this small, self-contained digital music device–? Having just completed an in-depth review of several WiFi radios, I certainly didn’t need another. But […]

A feast of Cuban vocal music with Los Van Van for dessert… From beautiful harmonies to stunning a cappella imitations of instruments, Cuba’s best vocal groups are a delight. Our October 25 (October 24 in the Americas on WBCQ) program offers a few of them along with special guest Luz Divina Reyes, Director of Vocal […]