The SWLing Post

From the Isle of Music, November 22-28: This week, we dive into a couple of recordings from our vinyl collection. 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) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, […]

I was recently asked to make a table comparing the basic features and specifications of the new Xiegu GSOC/G90 combo, and comparing it with the Icom IC-7300 and IC-705. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I plan to add to it as I test the GSOC. It doesn’t include some of the […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Rawdon, who writes: Hi Thomas I was browsing through AliExpress and came across a cloned version of the SDRplay RSP1A, the price being asked is slightly lower than the genuine version from SDRplay. I notified SDRplay of what I found. They pointed out that as it is a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy (VR2HF), who shares the following guest post: ARISS FM Repeater May Be Back on Early December and a Short Ham Satellite Summary by Dan Van Hoy (VR2HF) I’ve recently had a lot of fun learning about the current batch of ham satellites and operating through some […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed, who writes: Hi Thomas, SWLing Post readers who are fans of tube radios might enjoy reading about “The 11 Greatest Vacuum Tubes You’ve Never Heard Of” in this IEEE Spectrum article. While only a few of them have been used in radio and audio applications, they’re all weird […]

SWLing Post readers: I originally posted the following article on QRPer.com where I publish most of my ham radio field reports. It was the first full Parks On The Air activation with my recently re-acquired Elecraft KX1 transceiver and it was very memorable. I hope you enjoy: Yesterday [Saturday, November 14, 2020] my family decided […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paolo Viappiani (SWL I1-11437), who shares the following guest post: A recent resurgence of Internet scams involving quality radios by Paolo Viappiani (SWL I1-11437) After my previous post on this subject, I found on the Internet other very dangerous fraud attempts concerning high-quality radios offered at very convenient prices. […]

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, Edward Ganshirt, who shares the following guest post: Pamela’s radio A neighbor gave me this radio. It had a story. It is a Norelco B5X-88A/03 Table radio AM FM SW1 SW2. (You can see it takes up the whole kitchen table…that is why it is called a table radio). […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jack Dully, who notes that the Tecsun PL-990X is back in stock at Anon-Co. Click here to check out their ordering page. In addition, Tecsun Radios Australia is offering free shipping today (Friday 13, 2020). If you’ve been considering purchasing the PL-990 or PL-990x, I’d encourage you to check […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Brice Atchison, who shares the following announcement from the RAC: RAC Canada Winter Contest 2020: Contest Period: 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC December 19, 2020. New “Rookie” Subcategory and Sponsors for the RAC Contests https://www.rac.ca/rac-canada-winter-contest-2020/ For immediate release: In December each year, Radio Amateurs of Canada sponsors the RAC […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kanwar Sandhu, who shares the following announcement/rules for the Top 10 DX of the Year Contest: Top 10 DX of the Year Rules The date of the contest: From 1 December 2020, 00:00 UTC to 31 December 2020, 24:00 UTC – The contest is open for all shortwave listeners. […]

In many ways, I’m old school. While I love leveraging technology to make the most of my radio world, I also have a sincere appreciation for simple “analog world” solutions to my needs. I’m a notepad guy. When I moved to France to do undergraduate studies in the early 90s, I became reliant on small […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tim R, who writes: Dear Thomas, First of all thank you so much for the all of the energy you put into the SWLing Post. When crazy things are happening in the world it’s a very welcome sanctuary! Sending you some coffee money. I plan to become a ham […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his much anticipated B20 broadcast season guide to music on shortwave. Each time Alan releases a new guide, I print it and keep it and keep a copy in the shack–a valuable resource indeed! Click here to download a PDF copy of Alan Roe’s Music on […]

From the Isle of Music, November 15-21: This week, music from the nominees in the Nueva Trova category of Cubadisco 2019. 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) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on […]

Save the Date: A WBCQ Thanksgiving 0300-0400 UTC, November 27, 2020 (10pm-11pm EST November 26) 6160 and 7490 kHz Even in a year like this one, there is much for which we can be thankful, and in that spirit, WBCQ The Planet, courtesy of time donated by Allan and Angela Weiner, will present A WBCQ Thanksgiving Thursday, November […]

Check out this brilliant episode of Tech Minds How It’s Made which features SDRplay:

May thanks to SWLing Post reader, Aaron, who writes: Hello Thomas, We are moving to Panama full-time come January and I am a news junkie. The rural area we are moving to only has satellite internet which is very expensive and in not unlimited. Therefore I desperately need to figure out if I can short-wave […]

I recently re-acquired a Yaesu FT-817ND general coverage QRP transceiver. I wrote a post with some info about this radio and how it came into my possession over at QRPer.com, if you’re interested. My question here: Have any folks in the SWLing Post community ever used the FT-817 or FT-818 series transceivers for serious shortwave […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Roger, who writes: Hello Thomas, I thought you, along with some others in the SWLing community, might be interested in the musical renditions, or sonifications, that were released 9/22/2020 by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Center Universe of Sound website. https://chandra.si.edu/sound/index.html I found it utterly fascinating, and hope you do too. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, who writes: Last night I sent the link to the SWLing Droitwch item to a former colleague. He replied this morning, reply below, and includes a couple of useful links. I’m very sure the SWLing Post knows about MB21. Thinking that maybe the item on Crowbourgh will […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pawel Kita, who writes: Good morning Thomas. I bought a Tecsun PL-330 firmware 3303. Do you remember when I once reported a bug in one of the versions of the Tecsun PL-880 radio? This error was later named as “fine tuning TECSUN reversed bug” The same error occurs in the […]

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, Dave Porter, who writes: This picture [above] has just emerged, photographer unknown but most likely a rigger from the top of one of the 700′ masts there! This was taken at Droitwich sometime after colour photography came in (late 1960’s) and before 1986 when the four wire Tee was […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Matt Blaze (WB2SRI), who shares the following guest post: Matt’s Marathon MediumWave Matchup by Matt Blaze Here’s another simultaneous receiver comparison, this time of ten portable medium wave receivers plus the Icom IC-R9500 (as a “reference receiver”). Previously, I used the same antenna for all the comparisons, but since […]

(Source: KSEN via Facebook) LAST MINUTE UPDATE: DX TEST – KSEN-1150 Shelby, Montana will test BOTH Saturday Morning Nov 7 AND Sunday Morning Nov 8 12:01 AM – 1:00 AM MST (0701-0800 UTC) with 10,000 watts on daytime pattern. Test will consist of voice announcements, Morse Code ID’s, sweep tones, off-hook telephone sounders, etc. The […]

On Monday, I received the announcement about the new Raspberry Pi 400 via the Pi Hut. The Pi 400 is essentially a Raspberry Pi 4 built into a keyboard. Wonderful concept that very much takes me back to my first personal computer. Of course, in the spirit of all things Raspberry, the complete kit price […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Markku Koskinen, who shares the following: Just letting you know that Icom has released new firmware for the IC-R30 receiver. Please read carefully and follow all instructions: https://www.icomjapan.com/support/firmware_driver/ Changes from version 1.10: Fixed the problem of when the ANL of the band that is not used is ON, while […]

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 […]

Yesterday, I took delivery of the new Xiegu GSOC Touch Screen Controller which has kindly been sent to me by Radioddity on loan for a frank evaluation. [Thank you, Radioddity!] GSOC development has been closely watched by Xiegu owners since its announcement this summer. To be clear: the GSOC is not a transceiver, it’s a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl, who shares the following note from Channel 292: Maybe you already noticed on our homepage, that we try to start using our new beam on 9670 kHz, which will increase the radiated power to the target area by more than ten times. Tests transmissions start today; we […]

From the Isle of Music, November 8-14: This week, a dance party with music by Original de Manzanillo and Ritmo Oriental. 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) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Peter Wilson, who writes: Hello Thomas, I noticed you have included the SDR# AM Co-channel Canceller in your blog, I’ve made a video of the SDR# FM Co-channel Canceller in action. Es IQ files are from August 2020, received using an Airspy HF+ Discovery using SDR# 1732, near Lobatse, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Zack S, who writes in response to our note yesterday about the demise of the Reciva Internet radio station aggregator: I wrote to Grace Digital https://gracedigital.com/ today, 11/2/2020 asking about the Reciva shutdown and here is their reply; “Your presets will work until the URLS for the streams become outdated. Not […]

Well, not pocket change for most people, but I couldn’t pass up a clever headline! I want to alert SWLing Post readers to a lower cost option for the new BELKA-DX than the Mobimax source: the ecommerce web site of Alex Buevky (EU1ME) who designed the radio. In early February I bought the original BELKA […]

The following review of the TX-500 was first published in the October 2020 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Last year, a company out of Russia started dropping hints about a QRP transceiver they were developing called the Discovery TX-500. The prototype photos looked like nothing else on the market: it was unusually thin––only 30mm […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Drake, who notes that Reciva has announced that they are closing down effective January 31, 2021. Check out the banner on their website:This, of course, is not good news for anyone using a Reciva-based WiFi radio. Indeed, the WiFi radio landscape has become quite unstable in the past […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Steve Allen (KZ4TN), who shares the following guest post: A Simple Antenna Tuner for SWL Radios by Steve Allen, KZ4TN After reading 13DKA’s excellent review of the Belka-DSP on SWLing.com a few weeks ago I knew I had to have one! The size, features, and performance of the Belka-DX […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Georges Ringotte (F6DFZ), who writes: I received the Belka-DX a few days ago, and it appears to be an outstanding receiver considering its price, its size, and quality of construction. AGC and audio reproduction are way better than any Chinese SW receiver giving some superb receptions in CW, SSB […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes: As a tribute to Sean Connery, who passed away today, let’s see if your readers may identify this radio set found in Goldfinger from 1964: Please comment if you can ID this radio in Goldfinger! Thank you for sharing this, Carlos. Sean Connery was a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan (NO2CW), who shares the following short demo of the new SDR# Co-Channel interference canceller tool: That is simply amazing! Readers note: this powerful tool for DXing is a free upgrade for SDR# users! Click here to read more about the Co-Channel Canceller.

I’ll admit it: I like what I see here. Yaesu has announced their latest compact 160-6 M transceiver: the FTDX10. Based on the specifications, it looks like it borrows heavily from the FTDX101 series, which is a very good thing. At 5″, the color TFT display is larger than that of the IC-7300 & IC-705. […]

Chameleon Antenna recently sent me a prototype of their latest antenna: the CHA MPAS Lite. The MPAS Lite is a compact version of their MPAS 2.0 modular antenna system and designed to be even more portable. Chameleon Antenna is a specialist antenna manufacturer that makes military-grade, field portable antennas that are low-profile and stealthy. Chameleon […]

This news item expands on our previous post. (Source: Radio World) No Luck for DRM in the AM Digital Order Digital Radio Mondiale was hoping that the Federal Communications Commission would consider allowing its technology as an all-digital option for AM stations in the United States, along with HD Radio. But the FCC disappointed it. […]

I just discovered Rob Sherwood (NC0B) will be on Ham Talk Live tonight. Rob always has fascinating comments about receiver performance, so this should be a great episode. Here are details: Rob Sherwood, NC0B from Sherwood Engineering returns to Ham Talk Live! Thursday night to talk about the performance of several radios since his last […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ferrie, who writes: [Universal_HamRadio_Remote_HTML5] is an implementation of python server and html5 function to get a web-browsable interface to use your TRX in RX and TX. You can use basis and some advanced functions of your radio. You use your speaker and microphone of your computer to communication. This […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Matt Blaze, who writes: I did another head-to-head receiver comparison, this time of two MW BCB AM portables: The C.Crane Radio 2/e vs. the Potomac Instruments FIM-41 field intensity meter. The latter is not intended as a receiver, but rather a test instrument, but it turns out to be […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, Mike S, and a number of others who have contacted me regarding the FCC’s Authorization of All-Digital AM Radio. Below, you’ll find the FCC press release: For Immediate Release FCC AUTHORIZES ALL-DIGITAL AM RADIO Action Will Improve Listening Experience and Provide Consumers with Enhanced Services WASHINGTON, October […]

From the Isle of Music, November 1-7: Part 2 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 […]