The SWLing Post

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ian, who shared the following response to our post regarding the best shortwave receiver for you boat or yacht: An icom M802 package can be had for less that $3k… but the installation may run up anywhere up to $5k hence the OP’s ~$8k cost and request for alternatives. […]

From the Isle of Music, February 9-15: This week, a Cuban dance party (no interviews) 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, 9400 KHz, from Sofia, Bulgaria […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following guest post: An Initial Review of the Belka-DSP Shortwave Receiver by Dan Robinson A few weeks ago, during daily online excursions, I ran across the Belka-DSP receiver. This is not really a new receiver. Demonstrations have appeared on You Tube going back […]

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 stories […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Woods, who recently contributed information about Radio Arcángel San Gabriel’s special January broadcasts and added: The next southernly-most radio station that is available on the Internet would probably be FM 89.5 Radio Navarino from Puerto Williams, Chile. They’re at www.radionavarino.cl. Thanks for sharing this, Tracy! I’ve been listening […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who writes: I see this receiver as a remarkable break through. Using audio processor to emulate modes from IQ is very, very clever. This is perhaps the article of the year!: (Source: Circuit Salad) […]This is a revised version of my FV-1 based SDR. I replaced the CS2100 clk generator […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who recently shared his observations about low self-discharge batteries with me. He has kindly allowed me to post his message here on the SWLing Post. Troy notes: I’ve lauded Tenergy rechargeable NiMH batteries and I wanted to share something with you. I have a box of Mighty […]

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 stories […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Brian Penney, who writes: I saw your post about the availability of the Perseus SDR. They are still available brand new through HRO. I ordered one in the fall of 2019. HRO said they were getting them new from SSB-Electronic GmbH in Germany. Click here to view at HRO. […]

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 Hirst, who writes: One of my favourite YouTube channels has just published a video talking about number stations. There’s nothing there that seasoned SWLing.com readers don’t already know of course: Thanks for sharing this, Mark! I just subscribed to Curious Droid!

EUROPE: This weekend Encore – Classical Music on Radio Tumbril will be broadcast again at the NEW TIME in Europe of 11:00 UTC on SATURDAY on 6070 kHz by Channel 292. There is much less interference from adjacent channels at this time. There are two repeats – 19:00 UTC Friday on 6070 kHz and 09:00 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: The Washington Post via Davud Iurescia, LW4DAF) […]“Lying two and a half miles below the ocean surface, the RMS Titanic is the subject of the most documented maritime tragedy in history,” British Transport and Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani said in a statement. “This momentous agreement with the United States to preserve the wreck means […]

From the Isle of Music, February 2-8: This week our guest is Dayramir González, who led the opening Gala concert at Jazz Plaza in Havana this year. We talk to him before the rehearsal for that concert, and we will listen to some of his wonderful recordings. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Ladd with SDRplay, who shares the following PDF primer on decoding NAVTEX with an RSP series SDR. Click here to download “Basics to decoding NAVTEX using an RSP and SDRuno” (PDF). Thanks for sharing this excellent guide, Mike. Without a doubt, SDRplay has some of the best documentation and primers in […]

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’sRadio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories […]

(Source: FCC via Paul Evans) For Immediate Release FCC AUTHORIZES FULL COMMERCIAL DEPLOYMENT IN 3.5 GHZ BAND, ADVANCING AMERICAN 5G LEADERSHIP WASHINGTON, January 27, 2020—Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai today announced that the agency has certified four Spectrum Access System (SAS) Administrators, paving the way for full commercial operations in the 3.5 GHz band. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl, who notes that LRA36 (Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel) has published the following new email address to be used for reception reports: tranalra36@radionacional.gov.ar Thanks for sharing this Harald as I have not had luck with the former email address. I’ll re-submit my last report!

(Source: The Patriot Ledger) WHAT IS IT? Located off Hatherly Road, the Scituate Proving Grounds was used as an ammunition dump and a testing facility for artillery during World War I. During World War II, it served a different purpose, beaming radio broadcasts to occupied Europe as the transmitter site for shortwave station WRUL. The […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who notes that an eBay vendor in Italy is selling new inventory of the benchmark Microtelecom Perseus SDR. The price is 883.66 Euro or roughly $975 US. I have gotten a lot of inquiries about the Perseus over the past few years since it’s more difficult to […]

(Source: ERDavis.com) This project, like the one before it, started as an offshoot of another project that I’ll finish… someday… I start one project, which brings up questions I need to answer in other projects, so I start those projects, which lead to more questions… and before I know it I have a tangled mess that’ll […]

(Source: Washington Post via Ulis K3LU) If you tune a shortwave radio to 2.5, 5, 10 or 15 MHz, you can hear a little part of radio history — and the output of some of the most accurate time devices on Earth. Depending on where you are in the United States, those frequencies will bring […]

Yesterday, Radio New Zealand celebrated 30 years of service to the Pacific. Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Jason Walker and Peter Marks for sharing the following story and audio from Radio New Zealand: On 24 January 1990, Radio New Zealand International beamed into the Pacific, on a new 100 kilowatt transmitter. New Zealand has […]

(Source: The White House) On Friday, January 24, 2020, the President signed into law: H.R. 583, the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act” or the “PIRATE Act,” which authorizes enhanced penalties for pirate radio broadcasters and requires the Federal Communications Commission to increase enforcement activities; and H.R. 2476, the “Securing American Nonprofit Organizations Against […]

This weekend Encore – Classical Music on Radio Tumbril will be broadcast again at the NEW TIME in Europe of 11:00 UTC on SATURDAY on 6070 kHz. This is instead of the Sunday broadcast at 15:00 UTC. There is much less interference from adjacent channels at this time. For now – the 6070 kHz repeat will […]

One of the most amazing things about hosting and curating a massive collection of shortwave radio recordings is listening to each recording as they’re published on the site. I created the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA) in 2012 as a dedicated space to post and share off-air recordings with the world. Listening to SRAA recordings and […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) Issue 27 of Hackspace magazine features the Scottish Consulate Amateur Radio Club MS0SCZ, the free magazine PDF is now available for download The Scottish Consulate ARC is part of the 57North Hacklab in Aberdeen, the article by Tom Jones MM6IRQ is on pages 28-31. Also featured in the magazine: • Interview with Mitch Altman […]

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’sRadio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan, who shares this editorial from Radio World that features edited comments filed with the FCC by the DRM Consortium. The following unedited letter was taken directly from the FCC comments database: (Source: FCC Filing [PDF]) In your document (FCC19-123) you rightly highlight the great advantage of AM broadcasts, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Zack Schindler, who writes: Oh this brings back memories. I bought a lot of stuff from Radio West. Here is their catalog from 1983. Had them install a Collins mechanical filter in my Kenwood R-1000. Click here to download Radio West Catalog 5 (PDF). Thanks for sharing this bit […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and supporter, Mario Filippi (N2HUN), who writes: Hope you are doing well, am really enjoying the SWLing Post, it’s my daily version of the New York Times for the radio hobbyist. I realize that this is not SW related but did you know there is an unusual aircraft scanner […]

SWLing Post contributor, Robert Gulley (K4PKM–formerly AK3Q) recently posted two excellent articles on his website about the “care and feeding” of electronic equipment. Here’s the description from Robert’s blog, All Things Radio: Just a quick note to let you know there are two new articles published in the Reviews and How-Tos section dealing with simple […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy, who writes: “The Last Radio Station,” an article about maritime radio station, KPH, is up on TechCrunch ( https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/18/the-last-radio-station/ ). KPH is silent on maritime frequencies, but through the hard work of volunteers continues operation 24/7 with a 3-30MHz KiwiSDR receiver (http://198.40.45.23:8073/) and various activities throughout […]

Patrick Lindecker, author of MULTIPSK, has announced an update to the software with the addition of DMR decoding (not to be confused with DRM, the subject of several recent posts – alphabet soup!!). Here is a portion of the announcement: New release of MULTIPSK (4.42) The new release of MultiPSK (4.42) is on my Web […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy, who writes: [Regarding the reception of DRM via smart phone,] I happened to find this KTWR Guam post about decoding DRM30 with a smart phone, app, and an RTL-SDR: Convert Smart Phone to DRM 30 HF receiver! We are pleased to report successful use of an […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who writes: “These are the new 2020 QSL Cards from Radio Prague International. The theme of this year is “Transmitters” (Antennas):” (Source: Radio Prague) The three letters – QSL – constitute one of the codes originally developed in the days of the telegraph. All codes consisted […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adid, who writes: Check this little gadget for android phones or tablets https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32976847250.html If they have the FM app installed than this will come handy. One needs to select speaker and not earphone as expected. It works fine here. (I don’t know if Apple phones have an FM module) […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who notes: Users of these two propagation prediction programs will find that they don’t work beyond Dec 2019 because the SSN look-up files didn’t go any further. I noticed this 2-3 years ago and added to the end of the files required. I entered guesses for solar activity values, but […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares this story by Hans Johnson at Radio World: Can an App Solve the DRM Receiver Problem? (Radio World) The Digital Radio Mondiale standard for digital broadcasting in long, medium, and shortwave bands offers the possibility to transmit audio, text and pictures. A few broadcasters use […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald (DL1AX), who shares the following message from the Southgate ARC: Southgate News is now on ShortWaveRadio We now have a regular Sunday morning news broadcast on ShortWaveRadio.de So tune in every Sunday at 10am UTC on 3975 and 6160 kHz. The programme is repeated at 14:00 UTC on […]

This weekend Encore – Classical Music on Radio Tumbril will be broadcast again at the NEW TIME in Europe of 11:00 UTC on SATURDAY on 6070 kHz. This is instead of the Sunday broadcast at 15:00 UTC. There is much less interference from adjacent channels at this time – indeed we have had several reception reports […]

I just received a newsletter from C.Crane noting that they’re having an “Orphan” sale today (17 January 2020). “Orphans” are C.Crane returns and open box items that have been tested and evaluated by C.Crane. Orphans are sold at a discount and carry a full 60 day warranty. I’ve purchased a number of Orphan items in […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following video demonstration of the BELKA-DSP receiver by Fenu Duarte: Click here to view on YouTube. Thanks for sharing this, Dan. I must admit, it seems the BELKA-DSP has some excellent receiver characteristics. I like the backlit display and the rugged, simple form-factor. It […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed, who writes: Here’s some new news about low-cost DRM receiver advancement, and links to an audio presentation explaining the route from proof of concept to development of a low-cost prototype DRM receiver by Cambridge Development. SWLing Post readers might find it interesting: (Source: DRM Consortium) 16 Jan Low-cost […]

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’sRadio Waves, a collection of […]

Many of you have been asking me about the pricing and availability of the Tecsun PL-990 and H-501 receivers. Both radios were released late last year (2019) in China, but the final export version–and first full production run–has not yet hit the market. I reached out to Anon-Co to see what updates, if any, we […]

Today, the ARRL released their new electronic magazine for ham radio newcomers: On The Air. The ARRL describes On The Air‘s mission: “On the Air magazine is the newest ARRL member benefit to help new licensees and beginner-to-intermediate radio communicators navigate the world of amateur radio. Delivered six times a year, the magazine will present […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carel Kuijer, who shares the following images of the new Tecsun PL-990: Thanks for sharing these, Carel! FYI: I have not heard a solid update yet on pricing/availability of the Tecsun PL-990 and Tecsun H-501. Carel did note that the price in China is 1150 CNY, thus about 150 […]

(Source Radio.info via Michael Bird) Nearly 80 community radio stations are broadcasting in fire affected areas of Australia. With around 450 stations in the sector, community broadcasters are represented in most larger towns in Australia. Many of them are staffed by small handfuls of volunteers who keep the station on air in normal circumstances, but […]