The SWLing Post

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM The marketing email from CCrane intrigued me. The cable is KevlarTM reinforced for maximum durability" it said. The product in question was the CC Buds Solo In-Ear Single Earbud for Radio, Audio Books and Podcasts." Sadly, many of the headphones and earbuds that I have owned and liked had to be [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Patrizio Cardelli, who has discovered some interesting signals on the HF bands and is seeking information about them. A little background: Patrizio asked me about these signals a few weeks ago and based on a quick glance at the spectrum and waterfall images I assumed it was DRM (Digital [...]

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM As an oldster with a bit of hearing deficit, I am a big fan of anything that helps me to hear better when I am trying to tease out hard-to-hear signals, whether medium wave broadcast, shortwave broadcast, or single-sideband signals on the HF ham bands. Toward that end, headphones help a [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following video and notes: Receiving navtex, Radiofax and voice broadcasts in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil... Click here to view on YouTube. Wow, Carlos! What an amazing spot to play radio! Thank you for sharing!

Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here. This week via the ionosphere, the Imaginary Stations crew bring you WS10S featuring a celebration of the Ten inch single. This show will be beamed to Europe by Shortwave Gold on Sunday 3rd December 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then on 3975 kHzat [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following announcement from Radio Exterior de Espana (originally in Spanish): Temporary suspension of shortwave emission We inform you that the next few days December 4-5 Radio Exterior de Espana will be forced to suspend its shortwave broadcasts. The reason: a cut in the electricity [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following item from Spaceweather.com. MULTIPLE CMEs ARE COMING: At least three CMEs are heading for Earth following a series of magnetic filament eruptions (#1, #2 & #3) earlier this week. Their collective arrival could spark G2-class geomagnetic storms with mid-latitude auroras on Nov. 30th [...]

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM The other night, at 10 pm Eastern Time (0300 UTC), I was listening to Zoomer Radio from Toronto, Canada, on 740 kHz (medium wave) when a program called Theatre of the Mind" came on. This wonderful program airs Monday through Friday and presents Old Time Radio" programs from back in the [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jarno (PA3DMI), who writes: Hi Thomas, I found some radio's in the UK spy series The Undeclared War.' It's GCHQ the spy department in the UK. In episode 4 one of the leading characters makes a visit and look so many Yaesu, Eddystone, Heathkit and many more radio's. Bye [...]

Many thanks toSWLing Postcontributor,Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post: If Memory Serves Me Right, . . . By Bob Colegrove Memory features on portable radios have become increasingly popular in recent years. I would say the subject ranks up there with antennas and batteries in many discussion groups. Memory is really a matter [...]

Hat tip to the RTL-SDR Blog for this tip: Ham Radio Outlet in the USA is currently offering discounted SDRplay products for Black Friday. The discounts are as follows: RSPduo:$289.95$239.95 RSPdx:$249.95$189.95 RSP1A:$124.95$109.95 These are excellent prices for excellent receivers! If you don't own an RSP series SDR yet, now would be a good time to [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Meara who sharesthe following article from the SolderSmoke Podcast: Some Short-Wave Listener QSL Cards http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke249.mp3 I haven't received many, but I always like QSL cards from shortwave listeners. Someone out there is listening! The top one is from recent contact. It arrives from Hungary via the W2 QSL [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Robert Gulley, who shares the following video from the Ringway Manchester YouTube channel:

Many thanks toSWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his B-23 (version 2.0) season guide to music on shortwave. Alan provides this amazing resource as a free PDF download: Click here to download Music on Shortwave B-23 v2.0 (PDF) As always, thank you for sharing your excellent guide, Alan! This dedicated page will always have [...]

Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here. This week on the shortwave dial via the Imaginary Stations crew we have WS7S featuring a celebration of the humble seven inch single. This show will be beamed to Europe by Shortwave Gold on Sunday 26th November 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then [...]

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Since he was in grade school, Glenn Hauser has had the itch to receive broadcasts at long distance, and that interest, continuing throughout his lifetime, has led him to become one of the most respected authorities in the world of radio. SWLing: How did you get started in radio? GH: I [...]

AirSpy is running another Black Friday sale and offering 20% off of all of their excellent products. Click here to check out their product line and Black Friday pricing!

Many thanks to SWLing Post and Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following post: Midway Island Radio Terminal 1971 - digging up the past It was a brief military style" transmission on approximately 14.85 MHz shortwave, logged sometime during 1971. And I still had a recording of it! Recording: I wondered [...]

Many thanks toSWLing Postcontributor, Istvan Biliczky, who shares the following announcement: COMING SOON! The TOP DX RADIOCLUB invites you to the annual TOP 10 DX OF THE YEAR contest. From 1 December 2023. All details can be found on our website: www.topdx-radioclub.com/top10dx.html Best of luck and outstanding DX receptions to everyone. Thanks for sharing, Istvan! [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following announcement from Radio Romania International: Personality of the Year 2023 on RRI Time for RRI's annual survey of its listeners and Internet and social media users to find out the 2023 Personality of the Year. RRI is again holding itsannual survey of its [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes: Thomas, I've been deep down the k-drama rabbit hole for months now and I'm trying to familiarise myself with the Korean language at the same time. I've just started a new series called Taxi Driver' and this radio cassette player popped up in the first [...]

Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here. Firstly thanks to all our listeners over the past few months for your interest in our shows. It's great to hear that you're liking our programmes and ta for your suggestions for forthcoming episodes. This week on the shortwave dial we have Radio Ace (3) featuring more [...]

The postman delivers a new radio for test. So I unbox it, punch the ON button, start SCAN on AM MW band. Scan works (yea!) but passes by really strong local stations. Sacred poop, I think, this thing is deaf as the proverbial post. Is there some sort of space weather thing going on? I [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Meara who shares this story on the SolderSmoke Podcast and notes, With more to follow..." From the Last Whole Earth Catalog (1971) - Short Waves - Part 1 http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke249.mp3 Having recently returned from San Francisco, it seemed somehow appropriate for me to take a look into the [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Balazs Kovacs, who writes: Hi Thomas, I started re-watching one of the sci-fi TV series I watched when I was a kid the seaQuest DSV (1993), it's interesting how many current topics were in it 30 years ago (environment pollution, artificial meat, VR, AI, drones, etc) and the trivia [...]

Many thanks to a number of readers who have noted that All The Light We Cannot See is now on Netflix. You may recall, we're quite big fans of the book which has a strong radio theme. Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jake Brodsky who notes: Heads up: Netflix is serializing a story that [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: Hey Thomas, just got a broadcast (Nov 5, 2023) on 21640 kHz, from 15h30 to 16h00 UTC here in Rio de Janeiro. A potpourri of pop rock songs and then a female voice says this is the end, have a nice day'. Both Carlos and [...]

Good day all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 12th November 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz, we have a special Peruvian Edition of Skybird Radio International. Expect some wonderful [...]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Pete and Dennis Dura for the following tips: Now Is the Time to Save AM in Cars Using Digital [...]

Earlier this week we posted a note from John who only recently took a deep dive into the world of Radiofax transmissions, inspired by Carlos Latuffs recent posts. I mentioned to John that he'll hone his skills the more he captures these Radiofax transmissions. John just sent the following update: Thanks, Thomas! Indeed you are [...]

Many thanks toSWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his B-23 (version 1.0) season guide to music on shortwave. Alan provides this amazing resource as a free PDF download: Click here to download Music on Shortwave B-23 v1.0 (PDF) As always, thank you for sharing your excellent guide, Alan! This dedicated page will always have [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Johnson, who writes: Well, based on this post from Carlos Latuff-QSL: Australian Radiofax Received in Brazil-I got interested in HF weather fax decoding. I asked how to do it and got an answer but did not find a linked post that would help. So as usual a wikipedia [...]

This QSL card just came today from a broadcast on Halloween, station Undercover Radio. There were a number of broadcasts that night, but this was by far the most unusual that I heard! Robert Gulley, K4PKM, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Robert also blogsat All [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Frans Goddijn, who writes: Dear Thomas, Recently I watched the film Golda" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14454876/) There are quite a few RACAl receivers in the film and I will send you a few screen snapshots! Best regards, Frans Thank you for sharing these screen shots, Frans! What a gorgeous radio!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: For the first time, I received in Porto Alegre a noisy radiofax from the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia: Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) map. Frequency of 20469 kHz USB, 08h45 UTC. My request for a QSL card was kindly answered (attached along the radiofax [...]

Good day all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 5th November 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz, we have Radio Ace (2) featuring the further Adventures of Flash Frisbone. [...]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Andrea Borgnino, Paul, and Dennis Dura for the following tips: BBC World Service announces Emergency Radio Service for Gaza [...]

Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates. Spend some time on the HF bands tonight and you'll easily tune in to numerous stations. Expect pirates to emerge like The Great Pumpkin! Here are two things you'll want to do this Halloween weekend: HF Underground Follow real-time pirate radio spots [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following item from Spaceweather.com: 20 YEARS LATER, THE HALLOWEEN STORMS Imagine waking up to this headline: Half of Earth's Satellites Lost!" Impossible? It actually happened during the Great Halloween Storms of 2003. Turn back the clock 20 years. Solar Cycle 23 was winding down, [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and Soldersmoke host, Bill Meara, who shares the following from the Soldersmoke blog: Mattia Zamana's Amazing Direct Conversion Receiver Thanks to Ed KC8SBV for sending me this awesome video. It looks like Mattia built this receiver way back in 1995. The tuning indicator is very cool, and I had [...]

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to theSWLing Post's Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.Enjoy! Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura and Wayne Davis for the following tips: SWL Contest With Nice Prizes Open Worldwide: November 1th - [...]

A big hi to all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. We have two different shows of KBIN, the first on Sunday 29th October 2023 at 2100 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz. A few hours later via the transmitters of WRMI on Monday [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares a link to the movie The Earth Dies Screaming-a sci-fi/horror film from 1964. Dennis notes that a Zenith Transoceanic Saves The Day: Click here to view on YouTube. Please note: This movie was was live on the day of posting this article. Quite often, movies [...]

Dear SWLing Post readers: I have a favor to ask. You might remember our friend Wlod (US7IGN) has not only written a book about living in Kiev during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but was also the subject of an amazing, award-winning audio documentary by Cicely Fell. Both Wlod and Cicely are dear friends and [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill (W8LV), who writes: The TWO shortwave radios from The Killing Fields (1984) ! First Prop: This Shortwave radio is from the movie The Killing Fields (1984) It appears at (about) 1:04:30 in the movie. I saw this movie on The Big Screen" when it came out.. And I [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: Hello Thomas, I'm sad to know that the New Zealand meteorological agency MetService, has retired radiofax in July 1st, and is focusing on modern solutions" of sending synoptic charts to vessels. In 2021 I received several radiofax charts from MetService in Porto Alegre. https://about.metservice.com/our-company/national-weather-services/retirement-of-radiofax This [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following guest post: A Most Unusual Sony Radio By Bill Hemphill WD9EQD Over the years, I have owned many of the various Sony shortwave radios. From analog to digital, I would buy the latest and sell my current radio. For the past few [...]

A big hi to all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week's Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 22nd October 2023 at 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz, we have Radio Ace featuring the Adventures of Flash Frisbone. If you love radio, [...]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: I made some adjustments and now I receive better quality radiofaxes. Since I started receiving radiofaxes in 2021, I had forgotten a fundamental detail. To tune 1.9kHz lower than the advertised frequency. For example, the frequency of Kyodo News is 16971 kHz. I therefore tune [...]