The SWLing Post

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Peter Wilson, who shares the following guest post and recordings from his listening post in Botswana: MWDX from Australia and the USA received in Botswana by Peter Wilson Hello Thomas. I moved my 16.2 metre random wire slightly farther away from the house, and installed a binocular balun and […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Fastburstradio23, who shares the flyer above for the next WSFR broadcasts on September 5th & 12th, 2021, at 1100 UTC on 9670 kHz!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jonathan Marks, who recommends this video tour of the Czech Radio Building from Radio Prague’s Facebook page. Jonathan notes: “[The video os very] nicely done. It compliments episode 4 of the video I made with Olrich Cip”: Many thanks for sharing this, Jonathan, and for documenting this important piece […]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting […]

From the Isle of Music, September 5-11: This week we our guest is Ilmar Gavilán, whose album Hermanos/Brothers with Aldo López Gavilán won the Instrumental category of Cubadisco this year. Lovers of modern concert music will especially enjoy this episode. 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gérard Koopal, who writes: Dear Thomas, Just received the following message from CRI’s German language service. They will stop their German language on shortwave from August 31, 2021. The only way to listen to their German presence will be via the Internet. Sorry that they made this decision since […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Robert Richmond, who shares the following series of videos about the new ATS-25 receiver (mentioned in this previous post) from Kevin O’Reilly’s YouTube channel. The ATS-25 – A First Look: ATS-25 First Power Up: ATS-25 Useful Features:

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes: A rare AEG 1800 receiver fetched over $5,000 in an auction on the Japan Buyee site, complete with its original metal cabinet. As collectors/users of premium receivers know, the 1800 was once described as the best HF radio ever made. And this particular unit contained […]

In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten a lot of questions from readers who are trying to decide if they should install a magnetic loop antenna or a simple wire antenna at their home. Obviously, most of the questions come from shortwave radio listeners, but some have come from ham radio operators as well. I […]

Many thanks to Jon Hudson who shared the following on the SDRplay Facebook page: In this new video, Mike Harwood compares 4 different active mag loop antenna at various frequencies up to 52MHz using two SDRplay RSPduos which allowed simultaneous spectrum snapshots of the 4 loops in action with real signals. These are loops from […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, for the following guest post: Additional Thoughts on the Malahit DSP-2 Potential for Noise Reduction Using Non-Whip Antennas Latest Firmware Changes by Dan Robinson After my last update on the Russia-made Malahit DSP-2, I thought it important to add something about the receiver, as it could well influence those who […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who has kindly allowed me to published some notes he recently shared among MW DXers about DXing in McGrath, Alaska, USA: During a Zoom hang out with a bunch of Pacific NW DXers, one of the things that come up was why my DXing in Alaska is […]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting […]

From the Isle of Music, August 29-September 4: This week we our guest is Janet Valdés, whose album ¡Ay Mama Inés! Llegó la Valdes was nominated in the Antología y Versiones category of Cubadisco. Our interview will be in English, and we will listen to some great music from that album as well as from […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Greg Hathaway, who writes: Hi there – I bought a Belka-DX recently and am really enjoying it! The stand from my Uniden Home Patrol 1 scanner works great with it. The stand is sold separately by Uniden for those who may be interested. Best, Greg Hathaway Thank you for […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ralf Bender, who notes: Hello Thomas, For all interested, extensive technical work is in progress at the DWD Pinneberg weather radio transmitter. Affected are NAVTEX, facsimile, rtty and voice transmissions. Complete shutdown: 16.08.2021 00:00 by 21.08.2021 24:00 UTC. Other scheduled shutdowns will occur during the day on the following […]

Hello, SWLing Post community! I just wanted to share a few quick notes this morning: 1.) New email subscription service up and running As we mentioned in previous posts, we are now using a new paid email subscription service (Aweber) for those who want to receive a daily digest of SWLing Post articles. It’s super […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, NT, who writes: Hi Thomas, A few months ago, a city in northern California gave away weather radios to help their community prepare for fire season. And last year a county in Georgia did the same thing in advance of extreme weather. With all the fires and severe weather […]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark, who recently shared his notes about the new CC Wifi 3 that only recently started shipping: Howdy Thomas, I received the CCWiFi3 [last week]. I was surprised at the small box compared to my CCWiFi2. After opening I found the inner box tightly fitted to the outer shipping […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey, who shared the following comment in reply to this recent post. Mark writes: A few years ago I traveled Beijing to Helsinki – a 3 week journey via the all stops SLOWWWWW trains via Ulan Bator & Moscow. I was only carrying a backpack so I took […]

There are a few hobbies and activities that always seem to tie radio enthusiasts together: topics like aviation, astronomy, trains, languages/travel, and the weather. The weather is a big one for amateur radio operators because it’s often one of the ice-breakers used while connecting with a fellow operator over the air. I suppose it’s for […]

From the Isle of Music, August 22-28: This week we listen to music from the Canción Contemporanea (Contemporary Song) category of Cubadisco 2020-2021. 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, for the following guest post: UPDATE NO 3: Malahit DSP-2 (August 18, 2021) A few weeks ago, I wrote about my experiences with the Russia-made Malahit DSP-2 receiver, and made a recommendation that potential purchasers of the receiver hold off until the design team in Russia made some changes. Weak […]

For those who don’t know, our friend and SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, is not only a devoted radio enthusiast, but also a prominent political cartoonist in Brazil and throughout the world. Recently, Carlos has been posting his shortwave logs on his Twitter feed and they’re pretty amazing. Carlos’ shortwave logs not only include comments […]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting […]

(Source: SDRplay via Facebook) Reminder – Sunday Aug 15th at 1700UTC, the SDRplay team will run a live webinar showing the new features of SDRuno V1.41 and answering your questions via YouTube chat. Here’s the link: Click here to view on YouTube.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Grayhat, who shares the following modification he made to a Noise-Cancelling Passive Loop antenna last year. He’s kindly allowed me to share his notes here, but apologized that at the time, he didn’t take photos of the project along the way and recycled many of the components into yet […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy, who writes: I just happened to stop by the ISS live stream and catch a very substantial aurora. Not what we want for good shortwave radio conditions, but a wonderful sight nevertheless. Astute observers will note the location of the ISS and the fact that it’s […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pedro Andrade, who writes: Hi Thomas! I’m a noob when it comes to DXing, I only got into the hobby late 2020, and I got to say: I’m hooked. So, sooner or later, I would hit your website/blog. For that, and the continued work in every aspect of the […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jock Elliott (KB2GOM), who shares the following guest post: I made a mistake, but it’s good news for CCrane Skywave SSB owners. Recently, I published a guest post for the SWLing Post in which I wrote enthusiastically about the ATS feature on the CCrane Skywave SSB. Everything I wrote […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Emilio, who writes: Hi Thomas I hope you are healthy. A few weeks ago, I got COVID-19; fortunately, I got the vaccine a few weeks ago, so my symptoms were minimal. Today only a little cough remains. In my isolation, I listened to a lot shortwave radio and watch […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Brian D. Smith (W9IND), who shares the following announcement: Last W9IMS Special Event of 2021 Brings a Final Chance to Qualify for a “Checkered Flag” certificate or QSL card If the month of May took you two-thirds of the way to the W9IMS Checkered Flag Award, the week ahead […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Fastburstradio23, who shares the flyer above for the next WSFR broadcast on August 15, 2021 at 2300 UTC on 9395 kHz!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Markku Koskinen, who shares the following announcement from NAV CANADA: NAVAID Modernization Program – Phase 6 National NAV CANADA, the country’s provider of civil air navigation services, conducted an aeronautical study that reviewed the requirement for Non-Directional Beacons (NDBs) and Very-High Frequency Omnidirectional Rangefinders (VORs). The study concluded that […]

From the Isle of Music, August 15-21: This week our guest X Alfonso helps us present his album Inside, winner of the Fusion and Graphic Design categories of Cubadisco 2020-2021. We also listen to additional nominees from that category. 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Konrad, who writes: Hello Thomas, I was checking AliExpress in search of Hanrongda HRD 747 (still nothing yet) and accidentally I’ve found something which might be interesting. For now there’s not much information about this device, but it seems that somebody produced a handheld equivalent of well known Si473X […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following quick reference sheet with all of the Tecsun PL-368’s hidden features: Click here to download Excel the spreadsheet. Thank you so much for creating and sharing this useful chart, Troy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adid, who writes: Hi Thomas, Yesterday I found this short animation: So I went to their website to look at this nice black and amber screen new model. https://xhdata.com.cn/ (strangely enough, they sell there Tecsun stuff also) I don’t plan on buying it any time soon as I don’t […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jonathan Marks, who shares the following article and notes in response to our previous post regarding WWII German broadcasts into Australia. Jonathan writes: [F]ound the attached on a German radio history site. Zeesen was well heard around the world, especially once the power was boosted to 50kW. Bearing in […]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes: The question is, will it go even higher than the two NRD-240s a few months ago? https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/j1000312853?conversionType=item_browsing_history As collectors of premium receivers know, the Japan Radio Corporation (JRC) NRD-630 is among the rarest of radios. NRD-630s are almost never seen on the used market and when […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ray Robinson, who writes: Hi, Thomas. I have recently been re-watching the Australian soap serial ‘The Sullivans’, which ran on Channel 9 from 1976-1983. I used to watch it on ITV in England, and also for awhile on the Tempo cable & satellite channel here in the States in […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who shares the following guest post: Summer DX – Sporadic E, FM band “Sporadic E” DXing is a specialty of some DXers. I have never dabbled in it being content with mediumwave or shortwave listening. However, it was truly fun to spontaneously hear this happen while driving on […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen, who recently mentioned that he’s on the hunt for quality 18650 Li-Ion cells. Like Mike, I’ve a number of shortwave portables that use 18650 cells, so I understand where he’s coming from: he’d like 18650 cells that are both safe and have a long life. Even though […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Edward, who shares the following announcement: WRMI to air second series of European free radio and low-power licensed stations WRMI will air a second series of Texas Radio Shortwave programs featuring European free-radio and low-power licensed stations during September, October, and November. The one-hour programs will be broadcast every […]

My friend, Maristella Feustle, recently shared this classic RCA “Radio Tours” map of North America. RCA printed this in 1934–during the Great Depression–when most people could not afford to travel. Their map encouraged families to use their radios to travel the world over the air and experience local culture & music. As Maristella pointed out, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jock Elliott (KB2GOM), who shares the following guest post: Really cool trick the CCrane Skywave SSB will do — the “radio butler”? To paraphrase Ratty from Wind in the Willows: ” “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about with […]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting […]