The SWLing Post

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Darren Davies, who writes: Hello Thomas, I was gifted the Toshiba BCL receiver by an old work colleague. It’s an absolute beauty, in excellent condition and is unusual in that in comes with UK FM band and not the more popular Japanese one. It wipes the floor with newer […]

Hello Readers! This Saturday (10/24) there will be two special broadcasts of VORW Radio International targeting listeners in Europe and North America. They will be broadcast from WWCR in Nashville, Tennessee with a power of 100 kW each. Each broadcast will be 1 Hour in length and will feature music (1960s – Present) and commentary, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed, who writes: SWLing Post readers might be interested in learning that KTWR in Guam has announced new DRM transmission details including a new DXer’s Program named “Love Asia By Radio” which is scheduled to first air on October 25, 2020 on their 1026-1057UTC English DRM broadcast to India […]

(Source: Pete Madtone) DJ Frederick‘s Free Radio Skybird is back on the 49 Metre shortwave band again this Sunday October 25th (and repeated the week after) as part of the station’s tenth anniversary. The broadcast goes out at 1200 UTC on 6070 kHz via Channel 292. Expect the usual mixture of stuff with DJ Frederick, The Radiophonic Laboratory and Weed’s own One Deck Pete. Tune in! #shortwavesnotdead #freeradioskybird

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pete Madtone, who writes: I was coming home from my tai chi class in the local park yesterday and remembered this play that I watched a long time ago. Please tell me you don’t know it! [In] the credits at the end it has another radio connection: the UK […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes: [Found this Tecsun S2000 or Grundig 750] in the Canadian TV series Pure, which lasted 2 seasons, about Mennonites in Ontario involved in drug trafficking from Mexico. Thanks for the tip, Dan! I was not at all familiar with this series. We’ll put this in […]

From the Isle of Music, October 25-31: Part 1 of 2 parts: Special guest Zenovio Hernández Pavón, a prolific researcher, author, historian and radio producer in Holguín, helps us explore Holguín’s important and distinctive musical culture with several examples. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in […]

AirSpy’s Youssef Touil shares a video from YouTube author “PY3CRX&PY2PLL” which dramatically demonstrates the extent to which the Co-Channel Canceller tool can uncover a much weaker signal beneath a powerful one: Youssef commented on the video that It only needs some tweaking to the lock/offset to get a perfect decode. So, presumably the result could be […]

Many thanks to Mike Ladd at SDRplay who notes that he has posted his extensive SDRuno frequency banks on the SDRplay website. If you aren’t a frequent user of SDRuno’s memory banks, I would highly recommend loading Mike’s frequencies as a means of a little radio frequency discovery! Click here to download via the SDRplay […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Grayhat, who shares the following guest post: Setting up a Mini Whip antenna by Grayhat I’ve been fiddling with my “balcony antenna” experiment for quite a while now, and I settled with a Linear Loaded Dipole (LLD, also known as “Cobra”) which, in my case, due to self-imposed limitations […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Hoad, who shares the following: I took delivery of my Tecsun PL-990x yesterday from Anon. I thought this hidden features list might be of interest. Click here to download (PDF). Thank you for sharing this sheet, John! Well done!

After posting a recording of 630 AM WAIZ’s “Wacky Wake-Up Crew” last week, a few readers asked for another recording, so here you go! I made this recording yesterday morning (Monday, October 19, 2020) with the Icom IC-705 connected to my homebrew NCPL antenna: https://archive.org/download/20201019-104637/20201019_104637.mp3

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post readers who’ve noted that Sangean Europe has removed the ATS-909X2 from their website and stopped taking pre-orders. Dan Robinson received the following response from Sangean Europe after an inquiry: “The ATS-909X2 is postponed, so we cannot send a product yet. I’m sorry for the inconveniences.” No doubt, […]

In my earlier article, I introduced the Co-Channel Canceller, a unique feature in AirSpy’s SDR# program for the benefit of medium wave DXers. Now only a day later, software author and AirSpy founder Youssef Touil expands the toolset of Co-Channel Canceller with I.F. Offset and Channel Bandwidth controls. To download this latest release, click here to […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who shares the following: Today is the anniversary of the announcement of the first commercially available transistor radio, the Regency TR1, in 1954. It wasn’t very good, but it started something. You can tell something about the frequency allocations of the time by how the numbers are […]

It’s easy to take for granted the magical math that happens in Software Defined Radio. Occasionally though a breakthrough occurs which really grabs our attention, thanks to the hard work and bright minds of the designers behind the receivers and the software. On the software side, the first series of “wow” moments happened for me […]

Before I had even taken delivery of the new Icom IC-705 transceiver, a number of SWLing Post readers asked me to do a series of blind audio comparison tests like I’ve done in the past (click here for an example). Last week, I published a series of five audio tests/surveys and asked for your vote […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Matt Blaze, who shares the following comparison of the new Tecsun PL-990x and the original Sangean ATS-909X communications receivers. Like Matt’s recent comparison of the Tecsun PL-990x to the Icom IC-R9500, this review is in audio form and brilliantly narrated by Matt. I highly recommend listening with headphones or, at least, an audio device […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares two note-worthy links regarding the new Tecsun H-501. The first link is to a set of internal shots of the H-501 found on Radioafiction.com. Click here to view. The second link, Dan shares as a warning. Evidently there’s an inventory of the H-501s on NewEgg.com […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Steve (KZ4TN), who shared the following guest post originally on QRPer.com, but I’ve posted it here as well because I’m sure it’ll resonate with those of us who love building kits!: DC30B QRP Transceiver Project by Steve Allen, KZ4TN I wanted to build a lightweight backpackable transceiver I could […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jaap de Goede, who shares the following as an update to his Tecsun PL-330 review. Jack writes: I discovered several features that are not displayed on the keyboard both on the Internet and by fiddling with the radio. Maybe these features are in the Chinese manual but I simply […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kostas (SV3ORA), for sharing the following guest post which originally appeared on his radio website: How to install a mechanical SSB filter on the Yaesu FRG-7 by Kostas (SV3ORA) The Yaesu FRG-7 is a general coverage MW/SW receiver that uses the Wadley Loop system for stabilizing the frequency tuning. The receiver has […]

Test #5: Radio Exterior de España 9,690 kHz In this second test (click here for #1, here for #2, here for #3, and here for #4) we’ll listen to the Icom IC-705, and one other comparable radio, tuned to Radio Exterior de España on 9,690 kHz. I picked REE, in this case, because it is a […]

Test #4: Voice of Greece 9,420 kHz In this second test (click here for #1, here for #2, and here for #3) we’ll listen to the Icom IC-705, and one other comparable radio, tuned to the Voice of Greece on 9,420 kHz. I’ve done my best to match these radios in terms of audio and […]

Test #3: Shannon Volmet SSB In this third test (click here for #1 and here for #2)) we’ll listen to the Icom IC-705, and one other comparable radio, tuned to Shannon Volmet on 8,957 kHz. I’ve done my best to match these radios in terms of audio and receiver settings, but it’s certainly not perfect–these […]

Test #2: 40 meters CW In this second test (click here for #1) we’ll listen to the Icom IC-705, and one other comparable radio, tuned to a 40 meter CW station. Each recording is roughly the same length (2 minutes). I’ve done my best to match these radios in terms of audio and receiver settings, […]

I was recently contacted by Shortwave Radio Audio Archive subscriber, Geoff Gilham, who asked: “Do you know if any recordings of Edward Startz exist?” That’s a very good question, because unfortunately, we have no off-air recordings of Eddy Startz in the archive at present. Startz had a very long tenure at RNW retiring from the […]

I’ve been asked by a number of readers to do a blind audio/receiver test of the new Icom IC-705 transceiver. I’m happy to say I’ve started the process today. Instead of publishing one long survey with multiple types of recordings (AM, SSB, CW, etc.) as I’ve done in the past, I’ve decided to create a […]

Many thanks to Anna at Anon-Co who recently shared an interesting “hidden feature” of the Tecsun PL-990 which allows the user to toggle between the internal ferrite antenna and telescoping whip antenna while on either the mediumwave or logwave bands. Procedure: 1) Turn on the radio and then select either the MW or LW frequency […]

I’ve been watching some of the RSGB Convention programs this morning. There are a number of fascinating topics now and this afternoon (UK time). There are actually two simultaneous video streams with different topics each hour. I’ve embedded both below. Click here to check out the program. Stream 1 Stream 2

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Armin Sander, who shares a link to the Sangean Europe website where they’ve posted details about the upcoming Sangean ATS-909X2 (click here to read our previous post about this model). Sangean Europe has announced the price as €329.00 with two color options of “white” and “black.” The “black” model […]

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, David Korchin, who writes: Stumbled on this rig at an estate sale and laid out a cool $5.00 for her. She was mostly in pieces in a big plastic bag covered in a LOT of dust, and the battery compartment had seen better days. But I thought I could […]

So the SWLing Post has been online now for twelve years and during that time I’ve been accused of being a “radio enabler.” Of course, I’ve never counted just how many, but I’m guessing somewhere in the region of 115,900 times. Truth is, radio love is infectious. In the past, I’ve read reviews and articles […]

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, Mehdi, who writes Hey Thomas. I have seen some of your posts on identifying radios in movies. I just wanted to tell you that there are at least 2 HF tarnsceivers shown in the trailer of the upcoming film “Love and Monsters” : Kenwood TS-520S, Kenwood TS-130S Great catches, […]

From the Isle of Music, October 11-17: This week we enjoy some of Manuel Valera’s New Cuban Express albums including some of his latest big band release. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Aaron Kuhn, who notes that author Matt Zullo will give a free online presentation about his novel, The US Navy’s On-The-Roof Gang, Volume One tomorrow (Thursday October 8, 2020, at 16:00 UTC). Click here to register for this free event. Description: THE US NAVY’S ON-THE-ROOF GANG: VOLUME I – […]

I recently posted results from my listening endurance test with the new Icom IC-705 QRP general coverage transceiver. I’ve been on a mission to see just how long the supplied BP-272 Li-ion battery pack can hold up with a full charge in real-world conditions. Thursday, I took the IC-705 to the field and activated a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Roseanna, with Radio Northern Europe International who shares the following announcement: Radio Northern Europe International Show 9 announcement Hei all, It’s our pleasure to announce RNEI #9 to you! RNEI 9’s music features: An artist introduction to a brand new group from the Faeroe Islands with their first song announced by […]

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 […]

The shortwave radio listener part of me might actually be more excited about the Icom IC-705 than the ham radio operator part of me. The IC-705 has a number of features for ham radio operators who also enjoy broadcast listening. For example, it sports: a general coverage receiver, good performance specs, notch filtering (both manual […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kostas (SV3ORA), for sharing the following guest post which originally appeared on his radio website: How to build an automatic rig/antenna switching system by Kostas (SV3ORA) When I started collecting vintage rigs, I ended up in a line of rigs on my bench, that were sitting there, disconnected from […]

Yesterday, I received my new Icom IC-705 QRP transceiver (along with two FT-60R HTs) from Universal Radio. I got home pretty late yesterday afternoon so haven’t had a lot of time to put the IC-705 on the air. I did tune to the Voice of Greece and REE last night and, must say, was pretty […]

Apologies in advance, but I need to brag a bit… This weekend, both of my middle school-aged daughters passed their amateur radio exams with colors flying. Volunteers with the WCARS VEC were kind enough to meet us at a local park to conduct the test in a covered picnic area. At the test site I […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ward, who writes: Magnum PI episode #62 contains a ham radio that they refer to as shortwave. Higgens calls for help on [this radio] during a hurricane. The radio receives a gun shot at the end of the show. 73, Ward Thank you for sharing, Ward! So the screen […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dean Bianco, who has written a review of the FLEX-6400M SDR transceiver from the point of view of an SWL DXer. Dean’s review has been posted on Dave Zantow’s radio website. Click here to view!

From the Isle of Music, October 4-11: This week, special guest Eduardo Sandoval, one of Cuba’s best jazz trombonists, helps us present his two albums, one of which won a Cubadisco in 2016 and a new one, Más Trombón Que Nunca. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target […]

I’ve gotten a number of inquiries regarding my lab599 TX-500 review. It is featured in the current (October 2020) issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine: As you can see from the cover, there are a number of fascinating articles in this issue (click here for a list of all topics in this issue). You can […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Christoph Ratzer (OE2CRM), who is well aware that I’m a fan of LRA36, so sent me a tip Saturday (September 26, 2020) at 19:40 UTC that LRA36 was being received in Europe. I had been working a few POTA stations that afternoon, so simply tuned the IC-756 to 15476 […]