The SWLing Post

My buddy, Jeff McMahon, has just published a review of the Sangean DT-160 on his blog, the Herculodge. It’s well-worth reading if you’re considering a DT-160. Overall, Jeff believes the DT-160 is a keeper and he’s very pleased with FM performance. He notes one major annoyance: “The toggle tuning wheel on the radio’s right side. […]

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. I hope you enjoy Part 1 below: I’ve always been a hard-core shortwave radio listener. I like the tactile experience of […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Tomasz Pabich (SP7Q), who has created the following Instructable describing how to build a cardboard stand for the Elecraft KX3. Click here to view on Instructables. I love how practical and affordable this project is. The stand would be simple to disassemble and take to the field in a go-bag […]

Our August 2 (August 1 in the Americas on WBCQ) program includes more of María Felicia Pérez, director of Coro Exaudi, winner of the Choral Music category in Cubadisco 2016, and we will have a special extended segment with César López, whose Habana Ensemble is one of the most important and exciting Jazz combos in […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Eric (WD8RIF) for passing along the following news via WDTN and DARA (the Dayton Amateur Radio Association). (Source: WDTN) TROTWOOD, Ohio (WDTN) – The iconic venue brought sports, concerts, entertainment and special interest shows to the Miami Valley for 60 years is closing their doors due to not being able […]

After publishing a post referencing the new Sangean DT-160 AM/FM radio, a number of readers noticed that Sangean has also produced a clear-cased version of the DT-160: model number DT-160CL. This version, no doubt, was designed for sale in prison commissaries and is probably seen as a replacement for the venerable Sony SRF-39FP (which has been discontinued). The SRF-39FP […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ron, who shares his impressions of the new Sangean DT-160: The DT-160 just came in and here are a few impressions: 1.) The heft and feel of this set is superb…it has that solid feel the earlier DT-200X doesn’t. It is markedly smaller,too and the buttons have a firm solid feel the earlier […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ron, who shares a link to Jay Allen’s review of the new Sangean DT-160 and notes: https://radiojayallen.com/sangean-dt-160-amfm-mini-portable/ 100 hours on two AA’s. Selling like hotcakes on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2agELDo With Sony no longer making Walkmen,this is worth a look. Sangean has finally “perfected” their mini portable. Thanks, Ron! This is […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mehdi Asgari, who writes with news from his amateur radio club (EP2C): We had a one-day [amateur radio] program on July 16, 2016. Our club organized an activity from 5:00 AM local time to 8:30 PM (local time) in Karaj’s heights (50 km of Tehran). We had a vertical […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Edward Ganshirt, who writes: This is a “mystery brand” radio that I picked up at a swapfest for a buck, I never heard of a Star-Lite Town & Country FM-820 by the HOKUYO MUSEN KOGYO CO in Japan. This portable behemoth is not “lite”, It is heavy (13 pounds). The […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Marla, who writes: Perhaps you already know that the Crane CCRadio-SW has been discontinued. I spoke with their customer service today and learned that they can no longer get parts, so the SW is not repairable. Neither Crane nor Amazon has any. Thank you, Marla! I was not aware of […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, William Lee, who shares this item from the BBC: (Source: BBC News) For the first time, the BBC has given detailed access to the plans it drew up in the Cold War for a Wartime Broadcasting System to operate in the event of nuclear war. Paul Reynolds, a former BBC […]

Saturday, I published a post referencing Cold War Clandestine Radio from Greece with links to Richard Cummings’ excellent website Cold War Radio Vignettes. My post was written some time earlier and scheduled to publish Saturday while I was traveling. Unfortunately, the Cold War Radio Vignettes articles I had linked to were removed prior to Saturday. I contacted Richard […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Neil Bernstein, who writes: I travel quite a bit for my job and I want your opinion and your readers’ opinions on whether it is more important to have the NOAA weather radio stations or shortwave radio (with or without SSB), in a compact travel emergency radio. At this point I’m […]

UPDATE: The links to Cold War Radio Radio Vignettes below became inactive just prior to publication. Richard Cummings has kindly assembled the texts I referenced and made a PDF booklet available for SWLing Post readers. Click here to download. Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Kim Elliott who (some time ago) shared a link to a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Clint Gouveia, who writes: As the designated driver, I found myself waiting for friends at the Beyonce concert at Wembley Stadium last Sunday [July 3rd], Not wishing to miss an opportunity and taking advantage of 8 stories of elevation (top floor of the car park!) I spent about 3 hours […]

Conditions haven’t been so great lately and combine that with just being a bit tired and worn out means I haven’t DX’ed as much as I’d like. But I have spent a little time at the radio dials and when I do, I usually pull out a few good logs, so here we go: 3325 […]

The July 26 (July 25 in the Americas on WBCQ) edition of From the Isle of Music includes more of María Felicia Pérez, director of Coro Exaudi, winner of the Choral Music category in Cubadisco 2016, and we will feature some Cuban Rock by Miel con Limón, winner of the Rock category in Cubadisco this […]

I’ve been offline and off-grid this week and have accumulated quite the backlog of email. One news item that caught the attention of a large number of readers (thanks to all for the tips–!) was North Korean spy numbers. I’m very curious if any readers have logged and recorded this station–if so, please comment and consider […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed, who writes: You might consider reporting on The SWLing Post that there will be several talks at the The Eleventh HOPE conference this Fri/Sat/Sun that might interest your readers, including: Tuning in to New York City’s Pirates of the Air David Goren Pirate radio in New York City […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Daniel Hawkins, who writes: One of my favorite Radio New Zealand International programs is Sunday Night with Grant Walker. This program is heard on RNZ in New Zealand from 8:06-10:00 p.m. and is run at the same time on RNZI. Sunday Night features hit oldies and one interview. Each program […]

Here’s a great example of a QSL report from Pirate Station X-FM Stereo Shortwave monitored Halloween 2015. Not only is it a beautiful card, Redhat (the Deejay) also included the playlist as a .txt attachment. As I recall he also made live announcements of who had left reception reports/comments on the HF Underground forum as […]

I recently stumbled upon the Active Antenna Amplifier (model AAA-1C) by LZ1AQ. At 87.00 EUR, it’s a pretty affordable and flexible solution for those who would like to design or use a loop antenna. According to the website, it packs a lot of features: 4 remotely switched modes (Loop A, Loop B, crossed parallel loops A&B […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) Whaddon: Secret life of village that helped crack WW2 code On May 9, 2016, Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society members operated GB1SOE to establish contact with French special event station TM75SOE using WWII equipment This was to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first transmission sent back to Whaddon Hall, Buckinghamshire, by […]

The July 19 (July 18 in the Americas on WBCQ) edition of From the Isle of Music includes more of María Felicia Pérez, Director of Coro Exaudi, winner of the Choral Music category in Cubadisco 2016, and our very special guest is El Noro, winner of the Popular Dance Music – New Artists category in Cubadisco 2016. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who writes: Thomas, if I were to read this on your blog, I would not have believed the following. I live in Virginia nearly equidistant from RIC/Richmond Int’l AP (east of Richmond) and PHF AP (in Newport News). I had a 1:40 P.M. doctor’s appt. [July 12] and […]

I thought this little tidbit or two of information might be useful to those DX’ers seeking a QSL from DZRP Radyo Pilipinas. DZRP broadcast in English and Filipino on several frequencies, as seen here: http://shortwaveschedule.com/index.php?station=1089 I found two email addresses listed for them, dzrp_pbs@yahoo.com and pbsinfo.ph@gmail.com which I’ve sent reception reports too, but I can’t say either […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary Wise (W4EEY), who writes: YouTube recommended a video titled, “Short Wave”. Of course I had to watch. It looks like it might be student film. It recounts the 1973 Military Coup in Chile with a ham radio operator reporting from Santiago. Takes me back to my college days. Worth […]

Sometimes good fortune drops in our lap at the least expected moment, but we have to act quickly to take advantage of it! This was the case with the receiver above; I spotted it on Ebay just moments after the seller posted a Buy-It-Now auction. Had I been planning to buy a D2935? No, but I immediately […]

Chile is one of the most seismically-active countries in the world. The ONEMI (Oficina Nacional de Emergencia del Ministerio del Interior)–Chile’s emergency management office–recently added a a new tool to Earthquake kits Chilean families keep at hand. It’s a foldable, flat-packed, solar-powered cardboard FM radio called the ONEMI Radio. It has a very simple design […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey, who writes: A few weeks ago this amazing album was released which is totally jammed packed full of shortwave weirdness wrapped into a synth concept work. […]Here is some info about the album… Növö returns with 5th album: ‘The Shortwaves’ – recommended to Metroland, Kraftwerk, Duet Emmo and […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Eric (WD8RIF) and Mike (K8RAT) who remind me that TX Factor episode 11 is online: “In this special edition, we follow the progress of a Devon School in their attempt to be one of the ten lucky UK schools to link up with Tim Peake aboard the International Space Station.” Click […]

It is with sadness we pass along this message from Jonathan Marks concerning Lou Josephs: I am afraid Lou passed away Sunday morning. But his wife Susan would like to pass on the thanks to those people who sent him best wishes via SWLing.com and shared memories with him. He heard them and perked up. […]

Update: Please read Brian’s update regarding frequencies. SWLing Post contributor, Brian D. Smith, writes: “Thought I’d forward you this information on the annual “Night of Nights” event on July 12 (U.S. local time)/July 13 UTC, which provides an opportunity for shortwave QSLs – assuming the listener understands Morse code! I’m sure you’re familiar with this one-night-a-year […]

Several weeks ago, an SWLing Post reader (sorry–I’m missing your name in my notes!) sent me the following YouTube video. The video is essentially a review of the Pioneer RT-707 reel-to-reel tape deck. The reviewer is using a “mystery” tape of shortwave radio broadcasts in the deck. You’ll recognize a number of broadcasters in his […]

The following article originally appeared in the June 2016 issue of The Spectrum Monitor Magazine. Last year, I was approached by die-hard shortwave radio listener Fred Studenberg, who had an idea that at first seemed outmoded, but soon had me intrigued: he wanted to design and build a car radio. Well, a car shortwave radio. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Martin Kraft, who shares the following: Here’s something for the history buffs, an online searchable archive of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcasts to the USSR from 1953-1995: http://www.radioworld.com/article/radio-liberty-munich-period-russian-broadcasts-available/278953 This is brilliant, Martin! I just started searching through the recordings at the Open Society Archives–an impressive collection. Thanks again!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Patrick Canler who writes to us from France and shares the following guest post which he translated into English: The number of receivers on the market is quite large, and all are sold to be the “best”. I have thought it useful to compare materials using them in the shack as […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jordan Heyburn, who writes: Radio Northern Ireland is going to be broadcasting to Asia and we hope that the propagation gods will be on our side and take us to Australia and New Zealand. Radio Northern Ireland will be broadcasting via the Shortwave Service in Armenia on Saturday 9th July […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jonathan Marks, who writes: May be you can help spread the word? Lou is very seriously ill, but would appreciate hearing from SWL’s who remember him. http://criticaldistance.blogspot.nl/2016/07/lou-josephs-media-visionary-and-great.html Very sorry to hear that Lou is in such bad health. Thanks for letting us know, Jonathan. SWLing Post readers, if you […]

(Source: The Guardian) The BBC is cutting almost 100 jobs from its monitoring service as part of a drive to save £4m from the unit’s £13.2m budget by April next year. The restructure will include the closure of its base in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afganistan, though it will retain an operation in Kabul, and two new […]

From the Isle of Music……. The July 12 (July 11 in the Americas on WBCQ) program includes special guest María Felicia Pérez, director of Coro Exaudi, winner of the Choral Music category in Cubadisco 2016. We’ll also play some Popular Dance Music by TImbalive, nominated in the Dance Music – New Talents category and some […]

My good buddy, Gary Wise (W4EEY), visited the Friedrichshafen ham radio convention this year. Gary will give a slideshow presentation to our local ham radio club meeting, but most likely, I’ll miss the presentation due to travel. Gary has kindly offered to share a number of his photos and videos here on the SWLing Post. His photos […]

I’ve just learned that Greg Shoom, a good friend in the SWLing Post community and a contributor to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, has passed away. Greg was most recently in the process of digitizing a number of off-air tape recordings he had made in the 70s and 80s and started adding them to the archive. Indeed, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who shares a link to his excellent review of the Icom IC-7300: Click here to read Dave’s review. I can tell Dave has put a lot of time and thought in this evaluation of the IC-7300–it’s a worthy read, especially if you’re considering an IC-7300 yourself. Overall, […]