The SWLing Post

As I’ve noted in the past, I love my Elecraft KX2 and routinely use it for SWLing. I just learned that Elecraft has published a new KX2 firmware update that even includes some minor tweaks for AM mode reception. A proper nod to the SWLs in the Elecraft community. From the release notes: AM Receive: […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl, who shares the following from Stig Hartvig Nielsen with World Music Radio. I’m testing a new audio feed for the 15805 kHz transmitter. Hopefully more stable than the previous one, which sometimes would run 24 hrs without a single drop out – at other times produce drop […]

From the Isle of Music, June 21-27: This week, a special conversation recorded in the home of César López in January with three members of the Cuban Sax Quintet including music from their album Saxofones Live Sessions, a winner of Cubadisco’s Grand Prize in 2019. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible […]

You might have noticed from recent posts, I’ve been on a bit of a POTA (Parks On The Air) kick lately. I’ve been enjoying taking the Xiegu G90 to the field and seeing just how well it performs under intensive use on battery power. So far, it has certainly proven itself to be a capable […]

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team. The BBC plays music requests and sends special messages to the small team of 40+ located at various Antarctic research stations. Each year, the thirty minute show is guaranteed to be quirky, nostalgic, and certainly a DX-worthy catch! After […]

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 the British DX Club who shares the following information about a BBC Midwinter Broadcast test being held later today: The annual 30-minute Midwinter broadcast to British Antarctic Survey staff in Antarctica is scheduled by BBC WS for Sunday 21st June. Ahead of this, two frequencies will be tested Sunday 14th June 2130-2145 […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alexander (DL4NO), who shares the following announcement from Markus (DL8RDS): This year’s Software Defined Radio Academy is taking place as an online conference. Because of the great number of contributions, we are spanning the conference over two days: Saturday June 27 and Sunday June 28 2020. We also decided […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following guest post: Benefits to Social Distancing I have discovered that there is a positive side effect of social distancing. With so many organizations using Zoom and other video methods for their meeting, the volume of great videos to watch has drastically increased, […]

Over the past few weeks, I have been building curated lists of ham radio transceivers. It all started when I needed to learn about multimode VHF/UHF transceivers for my EME project. As I got deeper into the process, I decided to make my master list of VHF/UHF multimode transceivers public. The goal with the list […]

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. 16:00 – 17:00 UTC Sunday 7440 kHz Channel 292 to Europe 21:00 – 22:00 UTC Sunday 3955 kHz Channel 292 to Europe 02:00 – […]

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 the crew at KiwiSDR.com who have made simple subdomain style forwarding links to open and explore popular KiwiSDR portals: Receiver list: rx.kiwisdr.com Map view: map.kiwisdr.com Signal-to-noise ratio based scores: snr.kiwisdr.com Thank you–this makes it so much easier to remember KiwiSDR portal addresses!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jim Meirose, who recently logged a mystery signal and is asking for our help to identify it. Jim notes that it sounds much like a time signal and can be found on 4,806 kHz. Jim lives in the north east US and is receiving the station each morning between […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his latest update to his A20 season guide to music on shortwave and notes: I attach an updated copy of my “Music Programmes on Shortwave” PDF file (version 4) for the current A-20 broadcast season which I hope you will find of interest. This will probably […]

From the Isle of Music, June 14-20: This week, a timba fiesta. Wil Campa helps us present his new album Nuevo Zapato, then El Noro helps us present his new album El Espejo. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including […]

Yesterday, I was in my hometown helping my parents with a few projects. Around noon, I realized that I had a good four hour window of free time–a true rarity these days! I had two fully-packed go bags in the car: one with my trusty Elecraft KX2, and one with my recently acquired Xiegu G90. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dziugas, who recently contacted me with the following question: Hello, I have a question – what is the legit distance to ask for a QSL card? As a Lithuanian, I have sent (and succeeded) with requests to Hungarian, Czech and Estonian stations. But would it be fine according to […]

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 following article first appeared in the January 2020 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. The AirSpy HF+ Discovery and a new era of portable DXing I admit it: I used to be a bit of an old-fashioned radio curmudgeon. One of those, “I like my radios with knobs and buttons” likely followed by, “…and no […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy (VR2HF), who writes: Like many, I enjoy listening to HF ATC traffic, all on USB, of course. I’ve been doing it since my teen years. Recently, I discovered ARINC posts live frequencies on their Webpage for both the Atlantic and Pacific. The pages will need to […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike, who writes: Hi Thomas, I just noticed that Amazon has an inventory of KiwiSDRs for sale. I’m planning to snag one even though I don’t plan to put it online (because my IPDSL connection is just too slow). I’ve always wanted one and let’s just say I’ll be […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl, who writes: The A20 WRTH Bargraph Frequency Guide is available now. http://www.wrth.com/_shop/?product=wrth-a20-bargraph-download I think it’s very helpful for the shortwave listener. Kind regards, stay safe and have a nice weekend. Many thanks, Harald, I agree: the WRTH Bargraph is an excellent, intuitive reference for checking broadcast schedules. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Walter Panella (IU2MEH), who writes: I have written a software that connects to a ham radio dx cluster and repeats the dx spot to its clients while adding spots based on list files. This to show markers on SDR Console or similar software to see broadcasting stations, for example, […]

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. 16:00 – 17:00 UTC Sunday 7440 kHz Channel 292 to Europe 21:00 – 22:00 UTC Sunday 3955 kHz Channel 292 to Europe 02:00 – […]

Earlier this week, I took delivery of a new Xiegu G90 general coverage QRP transceiver. I’m reviewing this portable rig for The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Although this Chinese manufacturer has been around for a few years, this was my first purchase of a Xiegu product. I’ve had the G90 on the air from home for a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Nils (DO6AN), who shares the gorgeous stamp (above) celebrating twenty years of radio in the DDR. Thank you, Nils!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, April TimeLady, who writes: This is a collection of Japanese SDR recordings I made over the month of May. Labelling may be “off” and I can’t find sources for some of the call letters of the stations I’ve heard; WRTH is only so useful, but it is still very useful anyway. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul, who shares a link to Letters of a Radio-Engineer to his Son by John Mills. The book, originally published in 1922, is in the public domain and shared/hosted on the Project Gutenberg website. It is a fascinating read. Mills does a rather amazing job explaining complex electronic principles […]

SWLing Post contributor, Pete Madtone just shared the Free Radio Skybird graphic above announcing their broadcasts on Sunday, June 7th, and repeated on Sunday, June 14th, 2020 at 1100 UTC on 6070 kHz (Channel292). Thanks for the heads-up, Pete!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ferrie, who recommends the SigDigger digital signal analyzer written by Gonzalo Carracedo (EA1IYR). According to the project’s Github page: SigDigger is a graphical, digital signal analyzer I wrote in Qt5 for Unix systems like GNU/Linux or MacOS. Unlike existing alternatives, SigDigger is not based on GNU Radio. Instead, it uses […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who shares this article from Hackaday that highlights a crystal radio built completely on a smart chip credit card by Billy Cheung. Hackaday notes: This is possible because the smart chip on many credit cards contains a diode. It’s then a simple matter of hooking up the […]

From the Isle of Music, June 7-13: This week, special guest Rodrigo García helps us present Ceda el Paso’s innovative new jazz fusion album Te estoy llamando. In the second half, we listen to part of a new tribute to Orquesta Aragon’s 80 years by Maraca, Orquesta Aragón and others. The broadcasts take place: 1. […]

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, Adi, who writes: i just finished watching this BBC piece: In the background are two “blurred” receivers, they are unrelated to the story as far as being told or shown. They look as top $$$$ type but what are they? Post Readers: Can you ID the commercial-grade rigs in […]

In January, András Retzler–owner of the SDR.hu KiwiSDR portal–started requiring registration and a ham radio license in order to access their extensive online database of SDRs. Today, we learned of the site’s closure. Here’s the message posted at SDR.hu: The SDR.hu project has been finished I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who […]

Yesterday, my family watched the successful launch of the NASA Demo-2 SpaceX Dragon via YouTube. As astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley communicated with Mission Control, we heard PTT confirmation beeps after each transmission. Those beeps, of course, reminded me of past NASA missions and those iconic confirmation tones we heard in audio from the […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marwan Baayoun, who writes in response to our recent post about radio regrets: For me, my biggest regret was when in November 2018 I sold my well-protected Sony ICF-SW77. I bought it brand new over the phone from Universal Radio. My ICF-SW77 was my side kick and went with […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Shawn Bliss (KB7WYO), who writes: Hi, Thomas! I love the blog and check in every day or two to get my SWL fix. I recently purchased a PL-310ET on your recommendation (and those of many other radio people) and absolutely love it. My previous porch radio was a well-worn […]

(Source: Jim Salmon) Radio Emma Toc World Service – Schedule Summary – June 2020 Ways to listen… Radio Emma Toc World Service – programme no. 2 – June 2020 You can listen online – www.emmatoc.com – visit the ‘World Service’ page. You can listen to our shortwave or FM broadcasts via our relay partners […]

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. 17:00 – 18:00 UTC Sunday 7440 kHz Channel 292 to Europe (Moved from 08:00 UTC) (Possibly moved again to 16:00 UTC) 21:00 […]

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 […]

Last week, I saw a fascinating post by Christoph Jahn on the SDRplay Facebook page. Christoph created a custom hotkey pad for use with SDRuno. The project is actually quite simple and his finished product looks amazing: The steps involve downloading “LuaMacros” a freeware macros utility that allows you to map macros to an external […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mangosman, who writes: There used to be magazines like Radio Electronics (USA), Practical Wireless (UK), Radio Television and Hobbies (Australia) and other magazines on electronics were sold in shops and on subscription for money which paid their writers. The internet has killed most of these magazines. There are still […]

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 […]

When the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B was introduced last year, I immediately purchased two of the 4GB models for my daughters. A the time, 4GB was the maximum amount of RAM available. Both of my daughters have been using their Pi 4’s with a Raspian distribution to learn Python, Linux Command Line and, of […]

Earlier today, I stumbled upon a very unique transceiver in Universal Radio archives: the Yaesu FT-70G. Here’s the description from Universal: The Yaesu FT-70G is a portable HF transceiver covering 2 to 30 MHz transmit. Receive is from 500 kHz to 30 MHz. Frequency selection is via BCD switches to 100 Hz. There is a clarifier […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom Lebryk, who shares the following guest post: YouLoop Picnic Table Report by Tom Lebryk So, I finally got around to testing my Airspy YouLoop after the long shipping delay from China. It is simple in concept and will not repeat what others have written about it in previous […]

From the Isle of Music, May 31-June 6: This week, we enjoy a Cuban dance party with four new releases from the Bis Music label. Special guest Ricardo Oropesa will be with us for part of the program. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Day, who recently shares the newspaper clipping above. I was not aware of this Cold War era kerosene lamp generator, but it’s an ingenious use of the thermoelectric effect for power generation. I found yet another another clipping online: Devices that work off of thermoelectric effect have been […]