The SWLing Post

Ten years ago, I created a blog. I designed the SWLing Post as a simple site where I could share a few links and articles about my favorite topic: radio. And maybe educate a few new listeners about the hobby. Never would I have imagined that within a few years, the site would grow to […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marcus Keulertz, from Düsseldorf, Germany, who writes:. Here are some nice pics about my own special way practicing our beloved radio hobby. I was quite satisfied with my logs. I heard Radio Taiwan’s Mandarin broadcast and All India Radio National Service in vernacular languages. I did [all of this listening from] […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, William Lee, who shares the Radio Survivor’s Podcast #166: The FCC’s Effort To Decimate Community Media: The FCC has proposed to de-fund community media through an arcane rule that determines how contributions from cable companies to public-access, educational and government (PEG) stations are counted. Because it’s arcane, the effort […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post sponsor, Bob Raymond with DXtreme Software, for sharing the following press release: Product Announcement DXtreme Station Log 14 DXtreme SoftwareTM has released a new version of its popular logging program for Amateur Radio operators: DXtreme Station Log 14TM. New Features in DXtreme Station Log 14 DX Spot Checker Now Has Two […]

(Source: Canadian Beer News via Richard Cuff) GUELPH, ON – Wellington Brewery has announced details of a second annual set of bourbon barrel-aged imperial stouts that are due for release later this month. UVB-76 (11.9% abv) takes its name from a mysterious shortwave radio station that broadcasts a repeating buzz tone that is occasionally interrupted […]

Today, November 11, 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of the end of The First World War. The First World War–also known as World War I and the Great War–was a global war that originated in Europe and lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. It’s estimated that nine million combatants and seven million […]

Last week, we posted an article about weather radios and Aaron’s assessment of the Midland WR120. Shortly after publishing Aaron’s post, Nicholas Pospishil commented (on Facebook) that the US pharmacy chain Walgreens has the Midland WR120 on clearance. In fact, his local Walgreens priced the WR120 at $3.50–a phenomenally low price! I had to investigate […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who notes: This is the first NRD-301A seen on the used market in many years: Click here to view on eBay. Thanks, Dan! I would love to add an NRD-301A to my radio shack, but those commercial-grade receivers are simply outside my comfort zone in terms of […]

(Source: Wall Street Journal via Bob LaRose W6ACU Cars and AM radio go back a long way, but there’s a rough road ahead for the old travel buddies. The same types of electric-powered motors that propel Teslas past 150 mph and the Chevy Bolt as far as 238 miles on a charge, are a total […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Christian, who notes: The price of the Eton Mini has dropped again to a historic low of $24.15. I’ve been watching Grundig prices on Amazon and they’ve been moving around a lot. The lowest prices only seem to last a day or two. As we all know Amazon can change them […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John C, who writes: I wanted to inform your readers and you of a really cool SWDX contest that’s free of charge and lasts throughout the month of December. The attached website has all the contest rules. I participated last year and enjoyed it very much. They sent a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Justin Moore, who writes: This may be of interest to your readers in Switzerland (and nearby!). From Bruce Sterlin’s Beyond the Beyond blog at Wired: “From October 24, 2018 to January 27, 2019, Museum Tinguely will host a sonic journey giving access to works of radio art from the last […]

(Southgate ARC via Eric McFadden) The Hindu reports the news broadcasts from All India Radio are being used to teach students English To make learning English interesting and interactive for high school students, the district administration has undertaken a novel initiative. All 149 high schools, 11 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and 11 model schools in […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed, who writes: Hi Thomas, I recently watched the Netflix “Original Series” called “Dark” and a 9:54 into the first episode a 1970’s vintage shortwave receiver is shown being operated. I couldn’t figure out the make and model, but it may be a German radio as the sci-fi series […]

From the Isle of Music, November 11-17, 2018: This week, our special guest is Angel Yos, leader of La Mecánica Loca, whose album Vamo’ Hacerlo won the Popular Dance Music – Young Talents category in Cubadisco 2018. Put on your dancing shoes and enjoy! The transmissions take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Aaron Kuhn, who writes: “Weather radio? I’ll just use my cellphone for alerts.” If you’ve ever uttered or thought the above words – take heed. Late last week I awoke at around 12:30 AM to the sound of some incredibly strong winds outdoors. Glancing down at my completely muted […]

In April, I posted a review of C. Crane’s latest iteration of the much-loved EP series: the C. Crane CCRadio-EP Pro. Although the new Pro model had the makings of a great, simple DXer-grade receiver, the first production run was plagued with issues that, in the end, prevented me from recommending it to radio enthusiasts […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor (and SWL Festmeister–!) Richard Cuff, who writes: Announcing a radio-related event that might interest folks here: Registration now available for 32nd Annual Winter SWL Fest, to be held February 28th – March 2nd, 2019 at the Doubletree Suites Philadelphia West hotel in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Even though the Fest […]

The following article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine: Welcome back to the world of SDRs once again In September we began of our three-part Primer on Software-Defined Radios (SDRs). Part One (September) focused on the nomenclature and components of a functioning SDR system; Part Two (October) took a look at some affordable […]

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post contributors, including The Professor, Patrick Stenbacka, and Larry W, for sharing a link to this opinion piece in the New York Times by author Erin Aubry Kaplan: LOS ANGELES — Like many people who grew up in the 1970s, I came of age with AM radio. Everybody I knew […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) Build a Secret Radio Chat Device An article in Raspberry Pi magazine MagPi by PJ Evans of Milton Keynes shows how you can build a 433 MHz radio chat device to send wireless messages without needing WiFi “Sure, WiFi is all well and good, but is it the only option for wireless […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) FCC fines Amateur Radio licensee $25,000 for operating unlicensed FM station ARRL reports in an FCC Enforcement Bureau case going back to early 2015, a Paterson, New Jersey, Amateur Radio licensee has been penalized in the amount of $25,000 for allegedly continuing to operate an unlicensed FM radio station The FCC issued […]

(Source: Radio Romania International via David Iurescia) On November 1, Radio Romania celebrates 90 years since a first broadcast was aired in Romania. Since then, the institution has constantly coped with the challenges of a changing world. A decade after WWI, when all the territories with a predominantly Romanian speaking population that had been under the […]

From the Isle of Music, November 4-10, 2018: This week, our special guest is Alberto Lescay, leader of FORMAS, whose excellent Afro NuJazz album Escape won the Opera Prima (Best New Artist) category of Cubadisco 2018 and was also nominated in Jazz Fusion and Recording. This is an episode that you should not miss. The […]

Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates. Halloween falls on Wednesday, October 31st, and although this is the middle of the week, expect pirates to emerge like The Great Pumpkin! Here are three things you’ll want to do Halloween night: 1. Hobby Broadcasting Blog Check out Andrew Yoder’s pirate radio […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who writes with an update to our previous post regarding the Radio Exterior de España shortwave expansion: Listening to [Monday] night’s recording, I note that during the English program, they mentioned that the foreign language programs in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Sephardic (Ladino or Judeo-Spanish, I […]

Many thanks to Stephen Cass for the interview and excellent piece about the Radio Spectrum Archive in the IEEE Spectrum magazine: Building a Time Machine for Radio The Radio Spectrum Archive will let you listen to old broadcasts as if they were live Stephen Cass Thomas Witherspoon is building a time machine, of sorts. With it, you’ll be […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bruce Atchison (VE6XTC), who shares the following notes from a DXpedition over 30 years years ago. Bruce writes, “While going through some old blog posts, I found this one about a DXpedition I took in 1984.” HUNTING FOR RARE GAME. In past posts, I’ve mentioned my passion for radio. It […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who writes: While listening to my recording of yesterday’s Unique Radio broadcast over WINB, I noticed that the Radio Hobart International segment featured the second of a three-part interval signals special. Brought back many nice memories of long-gone shortwave stations. All three segments in studio quality can […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Lennart Weirell, who writes: The posting about Mark’s shortwave recording of Radio Tahiti brings back memories from the 80s. In 1982 I visited Tahiti with my family during a holiday from Malaysia, where I was working at that time, and could listen to Radio Tahiti locally. Back in Malaysia I […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Pettifor, who writes: One of the great things about DXing and SWLing is the variety of music one can hear. One of my favorite stations to listen to on shortwave for “exotic music” was Radio Tahiti, Papeete, French Polynesia, when they were still on shortwave. If my memory serves […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) Daring spies who broadcast from behind enemy lines An ITV News report says: Owning just one of them in World War Two carried the death penalty, but Ian Keyser, G3ROO has more than a dozen – ensuring a piece of secret history is brought out into the open. So what are they? They are, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Rich Cuff and Mike Hansgen who share the following Op Ed piece from the Sydney Morning Herald: Warning: put down any power tools and ensure you’re not operating heavy machinery before you read the next sentence. We’ve been outflanked! Of course, unless you’re completely benighted or under some sort […]

(Source: Southgate ARC via Eric McFadden) Channel292 tests The Amateur owned and run AM Short-wave broadcast station CHANNEL292 will be starting testing on their new 41 metre broadcast band frequency of 7440 kHz from this weekend onwards. Rainer Ebeling DB8QC who owns and operates the station from near Ingolstadt in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany would […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood (K7UO), who I just listened to REE’s 30-minute English broadcast for this Friday with Alison Hughes and Justin Coe…! (REE is relayed on Hispasat so audio quality is superb.) Big news! Engliish is coming back to shortwave starting 29 October along with the other foreign languages.. The […]

Tuesday night, I attended a local radio club meeting with buddy Vlado (N3CZ). Neither of us had ever attended this particular club, although we both knew a number of the members. What was the first thing I spotted when I entered the meeting room? A pristine Zenith Model R-7000-2 Trans-Oceanic! Talk about a good omen! Turns […]

(Source: ARRL News) Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has scheduled a slow-scan television (SSTV) event to begin on Saturday, October 27, at about 1000 UTC. NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Department will support the event. SCaN manages NASA’s three most important communications networks — The Space Network (SN), Near-Earth Network (NEN), […]

(Source: Vatican Radio via Mike Hansgen) Shortwave Frequency Changes for the English Africa Service starting on 28 October 2018 to March/April 2019 Daylight saving time in Rome We wish to inform listeners that with the end of Daylight Saving Time in Rome on Sunday 28th October, there will be changes in the time and broadcast […]

(Source: RadioWorld via Bill Patalon) On AM revitalization, Peter Tannenwald asks, Are we really “revitalizing” AM, or are we walking around in circles? Late on Friday, October 5, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) released a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in a five-year ongoing effort to “revitalize” the AM radio broadcast service. The new […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed (K4CWM), who notes that Radio Exterior de España have announced they’re expanding their shortwave broadcast schedule. Ed has kindly translated the press release into English (click here to read the original in Spanish): Radio Exterior de España to increase its short wave broadcast schedule Radio Exterior de España, the international […]

Yesterday, a friend asked about tips for finding local radio stations throughout the US. His goal was to identify stations that he could then load into his WiFi radio and stream from abroad. Of course there are always online radio station aggregators like TuneIn, but often you either need to know the station ID or […]

From the Isle of Music, October 28-November 3: No interviews this week, rather we feature music from Libre de Pecado by Beatriz Márquez, which won the Gran Premio, Cancionistica and Grabación categories of Cubadisco 2018 plus music from Liuba Maríá Hevia, who was awarded a Premio Especial Extraordinario in Cubadisco 2018. The transmissions take place: […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Cap Tux, who shared a link to the following video on YouTube. This short video is brilliant and will be the reference I use when people ask about the intersection of radio and amateur astronomy: Click here to view on YouTube. Amateur astronomer Scott Tilley made international headlines when […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pete (WB9FLW), who shares the following information regarding HobbyPCB’s much-anticipated portable transceiver which is now shipping. The price is a competitive $529.00. The following information comes from the HobbyPCB website: The IQ32 is 5W output, 80-10M Amateur Radio transceiver with powerful 32 bit processing providing high-end features at an […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bruce Atchison, who shares the following in response to our recent post about musician Holger Czukay: I love Holger Czukay’s music, especially with CAN. I especially love the song, “Animal Waves.” I also incorporated shortwave sounds in my own music. Here are video links to my YouTube page which […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Balázs Kovács, who writes: Jakob the Liar (1999) A radio receiver plays a main role here next to Robin Williams in a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland in the second world war. Here I added three additional photos about the radios from the last year when we visited the Kraków […]

Earlier this year, I posted a review of the CC Skywave SSB: C. Crane’s latest ultra-compact travel AM/FM/WX/AIR/shortwave radio. If you’ve been following this little radio, you might remember that early first production models had issues—indeed, all six production units I tested had issues–that prevented me from releasing my full review before the end of 2017. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Eric McFadden (WD8RIF) who shares the following story from The Planetary Society: Earlier this week, on October 10, radio amateurs all around the world worked together to get the Chinese Longjiang-2 spacecraft to take an image of the Earth and the far side of the Moon. Radio commands were […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Lilian Putina, who shares the following message from NHK World-Japan: Dear Listeners of NHK WORLD-JAPAN Radio services, Thank you very much for listening to NHK WORLD-JAPAN Radio services. We are writing to notify you that the NHK WORLD-JAPAN e-mail address (nhkworld@nhk.jp) will be unavailable from October 20. Replies to this […]

In the past few months, I’ve received a number of questions from our readers in the United States regarding the potential for radio prices to increase. Why could prices increase? Keeping in mind, I’m no expert in this field (seriously–!) I understand there are at least three factors that could influence prices: China As of […]