The SWLing Post

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN), who writes: Maybe this is old news but in the 1959 film “On the Beach” which was from the book by Nevil Shute, there is a Zenith transoceanic shortwave radio in this clip from the film. It is inside the lighthouse and appears just about five […]

While most of us across the planet are sheltering at home due to the C-19 pandemic, we have a little extra time to catch up on reading. I subscribe to (and write features for) a number of radio publications, but the best bargain on the planet must be The Spectrum Monitor Magazine (TSM). Issues of […]

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 daily deals site, Woot, is selling a five pack of BaoFeng UV-5R HTs, each with charging cradle, earpiece and programming cable for $94.99 US. Not a bad deal as you can outfit you whole ham family for a mere $19 per radio! Woot clearance deals like this one last only one day. At time […]

Regular Broadcast times of Encore are: 10:00 – 11:00 UTC Saturday 6070 kHz Channel 292 to Europe – Now Simulcast on 7440 kHz Repeated: 01:00 – 02:00 UTC Sunday 5850 kHz, simulcast on 5010 kHz WRMI to the US, Canada and Central America. 08:00 – 09:00 UTC Sunday 7440 kHz Channel 292 to Europe 02:00 – 03:00 UTC Monday 9455 kHz WRMI to the […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor (and certified mad scientist), Emilio Ruiz, who writes: Recently I was given a broken Grundig G8 Traveler II. This radio had an accident–the case, speaker, tuning knob, and volume controls were all broken or damaged. I discovered that the tuning and volume controls are not potentiometers, they are a […]

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 reader, Alfred, who writes: I purchased a Realistic DX150 radio when it was first introduced. I used it for many years and then stored it away for some time. A few years ago I decided to use it again. After the bandspread control was repaired at a local radio shop, […]

(Source: Pete Madtone) This Sunday coming 26th April 2020, DJ Frederick’s Free Radio Skybird will be broadcasting another show in its weekly spring run at 1100 UTC (1200 UK) on 6070 kHz via Channel 292. This week’s episode features Justin Patrick Moore’s Radiophonic Laboratory and One Deck Pete’s “Radio connects us all” mix featuring Patrick McGoohan, Sasskia, Mokka and Camille Murray. We’ve also the debut of Shane Quentin from the excellent Garden of Earthly Delights radio show who’s bringing […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Valery Titievsky, who writes: Good news from Jeff, KB6IBB. I’ve waited a long time for this news and it has finally happened! Jeff has published a new release of his “KB6IBB SWL Logger” now for Mac OS. It is available as a free download here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/kb6ibbswllogger/ Excellent news! Thank […]

From the Isle of Music, April 26-May 2: In honor of International Jazz Day we will feature excellent new and recent Cuban jazz from Cuba, the US and Spain with some special guests including Emilio Martini and Alexey León. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bruce (VE3EAR), who shares the following: I live in the village of Saltford, ON, Canada, near the eastern shore of Lake Huron. It’s a quiet location signal wise, and I’m lucky that I have enough property to erect some big antennas. My two favourites are a 1200 foot long […]

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: BBC News) The founder of Radio Caroline – the first pirate radio station off the UK – Ronan O’Rahilly has died aged 79. His death was announced by the current Radio Caroline, which still exists off the Essex coast. The station was founded in 1964 to compete with the BBC and launched the careers […]

A few days ago, we posted an a short article showing how Oscar hacked a VGA cable to make a binocular ferrite core for his homebrew NCPL/Youloop antenna. Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Grayhat, who explored this clever hack a little further: Hi Thomas, Having some time in my hands Sunday afternoon I decided […]

We recently posted a tutorial on building a simple Noise-Cancelling Passive Loop (NCPL) antenna. This prompted SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, to share his excellent article on building a Passive, Resonant, Transformer-Coupled Loop (PRTCL) Antenna: A Passive, Resonant, Transformer-Coupled Loop Antenna for Shortwave By Bob Colegrove Over the years I have resisted the level-of-effort necessary […]

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, Jim Salmon, who writes: With some extra time on my hands at the moment I’ve been able to forward one of my projects & start producing a monthly programme – ‘Radio Emma Toc World Service’. This is tied in with my website – www.emmatoc.com – & is to raise […]

Regular Broadcast times of Encore are: 10:00 – 11:00 UTC Saturday 6070 kHz Channel 292 to Europe Repeated: 01:00 – 02:00 UTC Sunday 5850 kHz and 5010 kHz WRMI to the US, Canada and Central America. 08:00 – 09:00 UTC Sunday 7440 kHz Channel 292 to Europe 02:00 – 03:00 UTC Monday 9455 kHz WRMI to the US and Canada 13:00 – 14:00 UTC […]

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: ARRL News) Facing a growing demand for amateur radio exam sessions in a time of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, sponsors of some Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams have risen to the challenge and are developing systems to remotely proctor test sessions. “Many of our VEs and VE Teams have been working on remotely proctored […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following: Antonio Fernandez, who is in Spain, posted this on the Extreme page. Very interesting R-2000 mods: Major modifications are adjustable RF GAIN (using the former TONE control), BFO Pitch control (former AM Squelch, FM Squelch is retained) and DSP Audio filtering for SSB […]

(Source: National Press Club Press Release) WASHINGTON, April 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The National Press Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute stand with Voice of America and its director, Amanda Bennett, against unsupported criticism by the White House of its coronavirus coverage. Bennett is a highly respected journalist who has been a staunch advocate of the independence […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl, who shares the following announcement from Ham Radio Friedrichshafen: Radio silence due to coronavirus COVID-19: Ham Radio not taking place as planned 15.04.2020 Friedrichshafen – Due to current developments in regard to the spread of coronavirus COVID-19, Messe Friedrichshafen has been forced to make a very difficult […]

My wife has an amazing ability: when she’s deep into research, writing, editing, or creating something, she has a laser-focus like none other: she can tune out the world around her to the point that it’s honestly hard to get her attention. She can work in almost any environment, and tune out (nearly!) all distractions. […]

Many thanks to Oscar (EA3IBC) who shares this simple hack. I’ve gotten quite a few emails from Post readers telling me that the only thing holding them back from building a NCPL antenna is the BN-73-302 binocular ferrite core needed for the 1:1 Balun. While so much of the world is sheltering at home due […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed, who writes: The April 14, 2020 edition of the BBC World Service program ‘Digital Planet’ includes a story about the status of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) broadcasts on shortwave. The segment had no breaking news, but SWLing Post readers might enjoy hearing an updated explanation on BBC of […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following note: One of the benefits of the Covid-19 pandemic, as if there are any real benefits of a pandemic, is serendipitous programming on SW. I speak in particular of the ERT Proto Programma now airing on the Voice of Greece. As noted today […]

From the Isle of Music, April 19-25: April is Jazz Appreciation Month! This week we feature the music of Janio Abreu including a new release, Juntos Otra Vez, a collaboration with Victor Goines. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including […]

I’m honored to have been interviewed by Frank Howell (K4FMH) for the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast. The interview was posted as a podcast this weekend. If you’re not familiar, the ICQ podcast is posted every fortnight and runs about 1.5-2.5 hours or so depending on news items and features. Here’s the description of […]

Recently, I published a step-by-step guide on building a Noise-Cancelling Passive Loop (NCPL) antenna. Evidently, this antenna project really resonated with readers! [See what I did there? If so, my apologies!] I think this passive loop antenna project has been so appealing because (1.) most of us around the world are sheltering at home due […]

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 Lane, who writes: Hi Thomas, I have been reading the SWLing Post for a few years now but hadn’t contacted yourself since I announced my re kindled interest in SW and radio in general when I purchased a Sony ICF2001D a couple of years ago. Well since then […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Scott Gamble, who shares the following science fiction short film called “Voskhod” by DUST. The synopsis: After repairing his HAM radio using parts found in the forest, a recluse radio operator receives a distress call from a stranded Soviet cosmonaut in orbit. I thoroughly enjoyed this short film. We […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Wilbur, who shared the following message on Twitter: NASA has posted the Real Time audio of the Apollo 13 Mission on the 50 Anniversary of the launch. Lift off is just after 2:00 PM EST today! (Saturday April 11) https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/ WOW! Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed, who writes: [While] watching some original episodes of The Twilight Zone on Netflix, I discovered the March 10, 1961 episode entitled “Static”. I think you’d especially appreciate it. If you haven’t seen it, do check it out–it’s about a radio time machine! There’re a couple of radios featured […]

Over the past four weeks, I’ve gotten a number of emails from first-time readers of the SWLing Post who’ve landed here because they’re searching for a new radio. While not all these readers are necessarily interested in shortwave, what they are interested in is a good, solid battery-powered radio to receive local news on AM […]

WRMI will broadcast Encore on Thursdays at 20:00 UTC to Europe on 15770 kHz Propagation is already very good and should improve as the days get longer. Regular Broadcast times of Encore are: 10:00 – 11:00 UTC Saturday 6070 kHz Channel 292 to Europe Repeated: 01:00 – 02:00 UTC Sunday 5850 kHz and 5010 kHz WRMI to the US, Canada and […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following video from Fernando Duarte, comparing the Malahit-DSP and the new Afedri LAN-IQ: Click here to view on YouTube.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Grayhat, who has recently been on a mission to create a low-cost SDR setup while sheltering at home due to Covid-19 restrictions. While exploring antennas he sent the following inquiry: I recently found some information about the so-called Tilted Terminated Folded Dipole (T2FD) antenna which was apparently developed for […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following video from Fernando Duarte highlighting the new Alfredi LAN-IQ SDR: I can’t wait to check out Fenu’s full review of the LAN-IQ when it is posted on his excellent website. The screen seems to be very responsive and layout well thought through. 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 […]

(Source: Radio World via Mike Terry) Russia has resumed Digital Radio Mondiale broadcasts on shortwave. The country originally aired the Voice of Russia via DRM a few years ago. The new service is tentatively called Radio Purga (“Radio Blizzard”). The target area is the Chukotka region of the Russian Far East. Analog shortwave transmissions once […]

This morning, I uploaded a recording of 2001 shortwave pirate The Purple Nucleus of Creation to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA). The recording was submitted by Adam C. Smith, a regular over at the SRAA. Adam’s six minute off-air recording was made on October 27, 2001 at 0009UTC on 6,928 kHz USB with Adam’s […]

Solar Minimum is DEEP and appears to be continuing. Observer Franky Dubois from Belgium – who posts for the Solar Section of A.L.P.O. – Assoc. of Lunar & Planetary Observers (http://alpo-astronomy.org/) has fully observed three complete Solar Cycles over the past 38-years and he’s graphed the Sunsport R Number – defined as R = K […]

From the Isle of Music, April 12-18: Rebroadcast April is Jazz Appreciation Month! This week, our special guest is William Roblejo. We will chat about his new album Capitalia and listen to some of that and his previous album Dreaming. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area […]

I just received word from a trusted friend who is a radio industry insider working with both manufacturers and retailers around the world. He said that in the month of March, 2020, radio sales increased “dramatically.” I’m not at all surprised, in fact, because the number of email inquiries I’ve received from first time SWLing […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, crvee8, who shares a link to the K-180WLA, a new active mag loop antenna. Based on the product description, the K-180WLA sounds a lot like a typical magnetic loop antenna (and resembles the popular MLA-30), but what makes it unique is the fact that it can be recharged via […]

I’ve gotten an number of inquiries from SWLing Post readers asking for a step-by-step guide to building the passive loop antenna I’ve mentioned in a number of previous posts. This antenna is the homebrew version of the commercially-available Airspy Youloop. It works a treat. And, yes, folks…it’s fun to build. There are a number of […]

Many thanks to the Southgate ARC for sharing this brilliant story. Kudos to the Amateur Radio Association of Nebraska for their ingenuity in time of need: KSNB TV News reports on an Amateur Radio group that is pitching in to make face shields for healthcare workers The news story says: With a national shortage of […]