The SWLing Post

Besides making great receivers, one of the things I love about SDRplay is their focus on providing user documentation and tutorials. We’ve mentioned before that SDRplay’s Mike Ladd (KD2KOG) actively creates tutorial videos exploring a number of SDRplay topics. To date, he’s produced over 20 videos–! If you own an SDRplay product, I’d strongly recommend […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adid, who writes: I just watched first episode of Netflix’s “White Gold” when out of the blue I saw that rack. The rack has no significance in that scene (that dates to the 1980’s) may be because it was cut much shorter than in the original script. The Radio […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Doug Hunsinger, who notes that Universal Radio is now shipping the Sangean PR-D17. The PR-D17 has a unique design to make operation easier for those who are visually impaired. Per Universal Radio: It has high-contrast, large yellow rotary tuning and volume control knobs, preset buttons with raised symbols to […]

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post readers who sent a link to this piece from the BBC News: Computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing will feature on the new design of the Bank of England’s £50 note. He is celebrated for his code-cracking work that proved vital to the Allies in World War […]

I’ve always said that the key to success is to surround yourself with amazing people. I’ve been incredibly fortunate in this life to do that very thing–and certainly one of those amazing people is my friend, George Knudsen (W4GCK). You see, besides being a ham, devoted radio enthusiast, and all around good guy, fifty years […]

From the Isle of Music, July 21-27: This week, a Cuban dance party with some excellent charangas including Orquesta Estrellas de la Charanga, Enrique Álvarez, 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 […]

Today and tomorrow (July 15 and 16) Amazon.com carries on an annual tradition of offering deep discounts and flash sales for their Prime members–they call it Prime Day. In all honesty, I’m not the biggest fan of Amazon Prime Day because when I check out the deals–and some of them are pretty impressive–I end up […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed, who writes: I ran across this fascinating historical article about how the Associated Press and the New York Daily News each smuggled a covert shortwave radio transmitter into the 1935 courtroom trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was charged with kidnapping and murdering the young son of Charles […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul, who notes: This video is in Chinese, but at least we can see what’s inside the box: Click here to view on YouTube. Thanks for sharing, Paul. If you’ve ordered the MLA-30, please let us know your thoughts about the construction and performance!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who notes that after seeing a number of posts about radio cases, he thought he’d share a link to the case he uses for the C. Crane CC Skywave SSB. It’s the Hermitshell Travel Case and it fits both the CC Skywave SSB and original CC […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Magdiel Cruz, who shares a link to the new Degen DE1108. Perhaps “radio” doesn’t really describe this multimedia device, but it does feature shortwave, MW, LW, and FM reception along with the following features: Dual touch screens WiFi radio (at least, I believe it does based on the description) […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who writes: I started to watch season 3 of “Stranger Things”. In the first chapter, “Dustin” uses a “ham radio” rig to contact his new girlfriend and builts a strange Antenna in the top of a hill. She didn´t answer, but he listens a coded transmission […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who notes the following episode of “Father Knows Best” (link below) features shortwave radio. Dave also points out that the website streaming this episode can be somewhat slow to load, but is very watchable. Click here to view on Shout Factory TV. Thanks for the tip, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Robert Yowell, who writes: Thomas – while I was in Dayton last month (after Hamvention), I stopped in a Waffle House and noticed all the workers were wearing the same T-Shirt which had emblazoned on the back “Proudly Serving Ham Radio Operators”! I asked if the shirts were for […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) RTÉ on 252 Khz is now off air for a possible 10 weeks or so and in the UK we can hear signals from Algeria Chaine 3 even now in the middle of the day. Earlier this year the chair of Ireland’s Oireachtas Communications Hildegarde Naughton TD (Galway West and South Mayo) announced […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares a link to this 31″ Singer Eaton loop antenna found on eBay. The seller knows nothing about this antenna, but did provide some detailed photos of the connector and product information sticker: This loop obviously came from US government inventory based on the sticker. It […]

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post readers who have shared a link to the following article that follows the debate and discussion over an FCC proposal–RM-11831 (PDF)–to “Reduce Interference and Add Transparency to Digital Data Communications.” The IEEE article, written by Julianne Pepitone, covers both sides of the debate: Is Ham Radio a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marty, who writes: I have a question about loop antennas; specifically which type is “better,” passive magnetic loops or active electric loops? I know, “It depends.”–? I live in a ground-floor apartment, with a small porch, lots of RFI and restrictions against visible antennas. Also there are no trees […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) The ARRL reports earthquakes in California disrupted HF propagation on the west coast British Columbia radio amateur Alex Schwarz, VE7DXW, said that an Independence Day magnitude 6.4 earthquake in California’s Mojave Desert and multiple aftershocks negatively affected HF propagation on the US west coast. Schwarz, who maintains the “RF Seismograph” and has drawn […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl, who shares the following in response to our previous post about the closure of the Latin service from Finnish Radio. Harald notes: Here in Germany, Radio Bremen still has a monthly news bulletin in Latin: https://www.radiobremen.de/bremenzwei/rubriken/latein/latein114.htm If you’d like to hear a sample Latin podcast from Radio […]

Many thanks to Andy with SDRplay who notes: We are pleased to announce the release of v1.32 of SDRuno. The purpose of this release is primarily to add MRC Diversity functionality for the RSPduo, but it also contains other fixes and additions based on customer feedback. Diversity functionality is described on P.78 of the SDRuno […]

From the Isle of Music, July 14-20: This week, our guest is Harold López-Nussa, who will share his latest Jazz release with us. 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 […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Freitas, who writes: I wanted to let you know that Google has been doing a sale on some of their devices. The Google Home Mini is on sale for $25 right now. Also the Google Nest Hub, basically a tablet slab on a speaker, is also on sale […]

Many thanks to Dennis Walter with Bonito, who shares the following for anyone interested in the Megaloop FX or MegaDipol:: If anyone like to test the MegaLoop FX live on the air, you can do it here: http://emeraldsdr.ddns.net:8073/ The MegaDipol can be tested on the same location here: http://emeraldsdr.ddns.net:8074/ The location of both KiwiSDR receivers […]

(Source: LA Daily News) Radio: Is that an AM digital signal I hear? No, but it could be. by Richard Wagoner One possible version of AM radio’s future was posted on a Facebook group called “I Love AM Radio.” It came from group member Steve West and was a recording of WWFD/Frederick, MD as received […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Grayhat, who shares the following update to our post regarding the Lightsail 2: Some updates about the micro-satellite; first of all, sounds like it may be possible to receive the satellite CW beacon and FSK telemetry data using an SDR and a 70cm Yagi antenna, at least according to […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Zack Schindler (N8FNR), who writes: Back in the 1980’s I was tuning around and came across two guys talking back and forth in a non-ham portion of the HF spectrum. They were not using any callsigns which I found weird so I kept listening. It became obvious that one […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Christian, who writes: Although I fear I sound like a broken record, your readers should be aware that this is a good time to buy Eton Executive series radios. On Amazon the prices are edging lower everyday while supplies last. Obviously Eton is making way for their new Elite […]

Lately we’ve been getting some pretty dismal news about the upcoming solar cycles and the potential for a pretty dismal trend according to some researchers. We report this news on the SWLing Post because the sun and space weather play an important role in radio signal propagation and one’s ability to snag elusive DX. After […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood, who shares the following update regarding the potential closure of Radio México Internacional’s streaming service. Tracy notes: The Education Secretary came up with 19.3 million pesos to cover the shortfall. Article has timelines: https://www.elsoldemexico.com.mx/mexico/sociedad/austeridad-de-la-4t-pega-a-imer-despidos-renuncias-y-cierre-de-estaciones-3816328.html Thanks for the update, Tracy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul, who shares the following links and notes: No Strong Opposition to 144 – 146 MHz Reallocation Proposal at CEPT Meeting http://www.arrl.org/news/no-strong-opposition-to-144-146-mhz-reallocation-proposal-at-cept-meeting This appears to be pushed through by France at the behest of Thales, a large and diverse manufacturer of civilian and military tech that, among other things, […]

From the Isle of Music, July 7-13: This week, we listen to some of the International Prize winners of Cubadisco 2019. Some of the music is classical, and some of it is for dancing. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere […]

(Source: ARRL News) A juried research paper in Nature, “Oscillations of the baseline of solar magnetic field and solar irradiance on a millennial timescale,” suggests that a “grand solar minimum” — similar to the legendary “Maunder Minimum” — is approaching, starting as early as next year and lasting for three solar cycles. That would be bad news for HF […]

(Source: Southgate ARC and ARRL) The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 CubeSat, launched on June 25, will transmit Morse code from space. LightSail is a citizen-funded project to send a small spacecraft, propelled solely by sunlight, into Earth’s orbit. The innovative satellite is due to be deployed on July 2 from Prox-1, a Georgia Tech student-built spacecraft the […]

Encore – Classical Music this weekend is being broadcast as usual by Channel 292 (Europe) on 6070 kHz at 15:00 UTC Sunday 30th June. And by WBCQ on 7490 kHz at 00:00 – 01:00 UTC Monday 1st July There is a repeat on 6070 kHz on Friday 5th JULY at 19:00 UTC. This week’s show has […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Robert Yowell, who writes: I was visiting the US Air Force Museum [Friday] and walked through “Columbine III” which was the Lockheed Constellation used as Air Force One by President Eisenhower from 1954 until he left office. In the back of the cabin was a nice cozy area where […]

(Source: Radio World via Michael Bird) Russia will begin testing the Digital Radio Mondiale digital radio standard in the FM Band in July in St. Petersburg. Russian firms Digiton and Triada TV are working with Fraunhofer IIS, RFmondial, chipmaker NXP and others to carry out the pilot. The organizers will install a DRM-capable transmitter mid-July […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood, who writes: Radio México Internacional will disappear (again)…web stream to sadly go away. Tracy referenced this article (in Spanish) from El Sol de México. The following excerpt was translated to English via Google Translate: A grim picture was presented to employees and workers of the Mexican Institute […]

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post readers who have shared links to this petition for rulemaking–created by Michelle KU3N–to create a new 8-meter Amateur Radio allocation. I’ve included the author’s notice about this proposal and also a news item from the ARRL below. First, however, just a quick tip on filing comments via […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans (W4/VP9KF), who notes another affordable QRP transceiver on the market: the Omega +. According to the Omega + website, it appears there are three configurations/versions: 1 band – basic (up to 30 MHz) 2 bands (50 / 70 MHz) 10 bands (160/80/60/40/30/20/17/15/12/10m) Notes, Specifications and Features The […]

(Source: The Alexander Association via Mike Hansgen) Grimeton Radio / SAQ Transmission on June 30th, 2019. The annual transmission on “Alexanderson Day” with the Alexanderson alternator on VLF 17.2 kHz with the call SAQ will take place Sunday, June 30th, 2019. Two transmissions are scheduled as follows: Startup of tuning at 10:30 (08:30 UTC) with […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Nithin George, who shares this teaser trailer of an upcoming Malaysian film called “Maarconi Mathaai“: Click here to view on YouTube. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t understand the dialog in this trailer, but it certainly appears that Nithin is correct in saying that it’s a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ola, who shares a link to this inexpensive mag loop antenna on eBay. I have no clue if this antenna performs as well at all, but the price is certainly much lower than its competition at $47.99 US. It appears you’ll need to supply your own dielectric center support […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who writes: I have enjoyed listening to Scow Scan Radio SWL Program. I used a WebSDR to receive it. http://www.slowscanradio.com/ But it has been off the air for the past weeks due to some minor health issues. The program was interesting in that besides Slow Scan […]

From the Isle of Music, June 30–July 6: This week our special guest is Arlenys Rodríguez, who in addition to her own projects has performed with NG La Banda and collaborated with several other artists. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Vlad, who shares some images and a video of a new QRP transceiver in development: the Discovery TX-500 by a company called lab599. Specifications have not been published yet, but we have confirmed a few details from the manufacturer: 10 watts PEP HF plus 6 meters Weight 570 grams […]