The SWLing Post

Earlier this week, I took delivery of the latest radio from C. Crane: the CCRadio-EP Pro. C. Crane sent me an early production model for evaluation. Since posting an announcement last November, several SWLing Post readers have contacted me and asked if I would take a look at this next iteration of the venerable CCRadio-EP. […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares the following article from The Sydney Morning Herald (my comments follow): Australians like AM radio, but it’s just about impossible to find a good quality digital radio with AM. Lots of digitals get FM, so why no AM? It’s because Australia is an unusual market for radios. […]

(Source: CNN Money via Cap Tux) Beijing has a new propaganda weapon: Voice of China China is creating a new giant broadcaster to ensure its voice is heard loud and clear around the world. Voice of China, as the new outlet will be known internationally, will be formed by combining three mammoth state-run national networks: […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who has recently posted his review of the AOR AR-DV1 digital voice receiver. As with many of Dave’s reviews, this evaluation takes a close look at HF and mediumwave performance which isn’t the AR-DV1’s strong suit. Dave notes: “[Though] not what the receiver was designed for, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes: A vintage radio appeared briefly in one of my local charity shops. A little Googling turned up this video (part 1 of 2) showing an example in operation: Click here to view Part 1 on YouTube. Click here to view Part 2 on YouTube. Wow–thanks […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, William Lee, who writes: Upcoming full release of the 2017-2018 film “A quiet place” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Quiet_Place_%28film%29 and https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/ It has some pictures in a local film-publicity magazine, one of which is Emily Blunt in front of a whole collection of old professional radios. See some images can be found here. […]

(Source: Radio World via Mike Hansgen) The author [Dr. Simon Keens] is head of sales and marketing for the Ampegon Group. TURGI, SWITZERLAND — There are many innovative ways the industry can use shortwave broadcasting to provide secure data transmission and high-speed communications. The modern world increasingly requires available real-time secure communications between centralized locations […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Colin Newell of DXer.ca who shares part one of his review of the CC Skywave SSB. Colin’s review is nothing short of glowing and he obviously has a first production unit that isn’t plagued with the DSP noises five of my review units had. As I stated in my […]

(Source: Riverhead Local via Mike Hansgen) A house on the bluffs at Camp DeWolfe in Wading River, covertly used as an FBI radio transmission station during World War II to gather military intelligence, has been added to the state and national registers of historic places. FBI radio operators impersonating German agents used the Wading River […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who shares information about the new flagship handheld scanner from Uniden: the SDS100. Here are the details from Uniden’s press release: SDS100 Coming Soon Uniden creates another first with the SDS100 True I/Q Scanner, the first scanner to incorporate Software Defined Radio technology to provide incredible […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen (K8RAT), who shares the following film by RKO Radio Pictures via YouTube. Click here to watch on YouTube. Here’s the film description: Made during WWII by RKO Radio Pictures, AIR WAVES gives a brief history of the radio, and shows the development of the technology as it progressed […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) David, AA6YQ, author of DXLab – ‘Better DXing Through (Free) Software’, posted the following: ‘Jupiter Research Foundation Amateur Radio Club (JRFARC) has integrated an HF transceiver with an autonomous ocean-going drone. Our mission is to deploy a ham radio station that roams the world’s oceans while providing an opportunity for amateur radio […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen, who shares the following documentary film about the evolution of broadcast radio. This film was actually created for a senior thesis presentation at St. Michael’s College. The film “includes interviews from BBC World Tonight & Joe Reilly (Former President NYS Broadcasters Assn), Empire Broadcasting The Jockey, Clear Channel, […]

(Source: The Telegraph via Mike Hansgen) BBC to keep broadcasting on FM For years fans of wireless radios have campaigned to stop the apparently inevitable march of progress as Britain prepares to switch off its crackling analogue signal and become totally digital. But now, the BBC will announce that it has shelved plans to force […]

At the Winter SWL Fest this year, we had an open forum hosted by Skip Arey and Dan Robinson called “Shortwave Memories” where SWLs were invited to speak about what shortwave radio has meant to them throughout their lives. I was a fantastic session chock full of nostalgia. I was asked to speak and started […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrew Yoder, who shares details about the upcoming Global HF Pirate Weekend: Next Global HF Weekend – March 30, 31, and April 1, 2018 It’s still a couple weeks away, so be sure to mark the next Global HF Pirate Weekend on your calendar. The idea behind the Global HF […]

(Source: NPR) The “substantial doubt” that iHeartMedia’s corporate leaders expressed around the company’s likelihood of surviving another year, mentioned in its quarterly financial report last November, has been put to rest. iHeartMedia, the country’s largest radio broadcaster with around 850 stations and a leading outdoor advertising company, is filing for bankruptcy after spending years trying […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul McDonough, who notes that CountyComm is once again offering $20 off the price of their GP5-SSB this weekend: Click here to view the sale at CountyComm. Click here to read out review of the GP5-SSB.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Balázs Kovács, who notes that he discovered, “some radio equipment in the latest episode of The Walking Dead series”: Can anyone ID the rigs above? Please comment! I’ll add this post to our ever growing archive of radios in film.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen (K8RAT), who shares the following “Modern Marvels” documentary on the history of radio: Click here to view on YouTube.

The past three weeks have been exceptionally busy. Not only did I log about 1,500 miles on a trip to DC and Philadelphia for a most excellent Winter SWL Fest, but the Winter Fest this year truly lived up to its name, and managed to carry on during a snowstorm and ensuing widespread power outage that […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following announcement from NHK WORLD: Expansion under a new brand – NHK WORLD-JAPAN Launches in April – NHK WORLD, the international broadcasting service of NHK, makes a fresh start as NHK WORLD-JAPAN in April. The new name is intended to establish wider global recognition […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares this announcement by Radio Romania International which contains their 2018 Summer Broadcast schedule effective March 25, 2018:

(Source: Radio World via Bill Patalon) GatesAir is suspending the sale of new AM transmitters. When a prominent radio engineer passed along word to Radio World that he’d sought a quote from the manufacturer on a new transmitter but was told the company had discontinued the model and was assessing its AM line, we sought […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom Adams (W9LBB), who left the following comment on our Tecsun PL-880 review: Just a note re. kudos to Anon-co re. customer support. I got a PL880 late last year, and LOVED it; so much so that I ordered a second one, the “special edition” version, both radios from Anon-co. […]

Check out this brilliant episode of the Radio Survivor podcast which features our Shortwaveologist friend, David Goren along with John Anderson of Brooklyn College: (Source: Radio Survivor) There are more unlicensed pirate radio stations in New York City than licensed stations. The borough of Brooklyn is a particular hotspot. Producer and journalist David Goren has […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Neil Goldstein, who shares the following guest post which originally appeared on his blog, Fofio: Radios I Have Known #2 The old, the new, and the Select-A-Tenna by Neil Goldstein After promising this series a year and a half ago, I finally have started digging through the collection, and will start […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen, who shares the following 1944 film via YouTube: Click here to view on YouTube.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who has discovered yet another radio in film: Spotted this in the 1961 sci-fi movie, ‘The Day the Earth Caught Fire‘. I’m guessing it’s an old military set. I believe it is indeed, Mark! Perhaps an intrepid SWLing Post reader can sort out the model number? Please […]

(Source: ABC Science via William Lee) Astronomers detect signal from the dawn of the universe, using simple antenna in WA outback They have picked up a radio signature produced just 180 million years after the Big Bang using a simple antenna in the West Australian outback. The ground breaking discovery, reported today in the journal Nature, […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen, who shares the following story from Forsythe County News (which could win Headline of the Year) and notes, “No One Is Safe! Build a bunker!”: University of Alabama searching for family of owner of radio struck by meteorite If anyone in Forsyth County knows the family of […]

(Source: Southgate ARC) Equinox ‘cracks’ forming in Earth’s magnetic field The vernal equinox is less than 10 days away. That means one thing: Cracks are opening in Earth’s magnetic field. The seasonal phenomenon is known as the “Russell-McPherron effect,” named after the researchers who first explained it more than 40 years ago. These “equinox cracks” […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Peter Wilson, for sharing the following guest post and DXpedition report: Sony ICF-M780SL MWDX on Gran Canaria by Peter Wilson I have spent the last two months in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. I travelled light and didn’t bring my radio/SDR collection with me. A portable […]

(Source: Wired via David Korchin) SOME RETIREES TAKE up fly fishing. Others pick up golf. But when Roland—or “F5ZV,” as he’s known on ham radio—left his job in Belfort, France a decade ago, he devoted his newfound leisure to a far more peculiar hobby: hunting radiosondes. The white plastic boxes contain instruments to measure things […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Charlie Liberto (W4MEC) for the following guest post: Vintage receiver frequency counter…sort of by Charlie Liberto (W4MEC) You probably know what a log book is, and maybe a logarithm, but do you know what a ‘Logging Scale’ was meant for? If you are a modern SWL’er, and have a […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, @experimradio, who notes: Experimental Radio Service license renewed 1 March 2018 for this HF station. Good luck extracting useful intelligence from this: https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=170747&x=. Copy of license: https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=205708&x=. Thank you for the tip! You’re right–vast portions of this documentation have been marked out.

(Source: Kuwait News Agency via Mike Hansgen) KUWAIT, March 8 (KUNA) — Minister of Information Mohammad Al-Jabri on Thursday opened a project updating shortwave transmitters from analogue to digital radio mondiale (DRM) broadcasting systems, at Kabd radio station. This is a new achievement for the ministry to be added to a series of vital projects […]

Earlier this year, we posted a note by Marc Goldstein who is in the process of dismantling the Radio Canada International Sackville, New Brunswick, transmitter building. Marc is tasked with selling some of the equipment that used to make this site hum. The First Nations group who now own the site are using the revenue from […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN), who writes: Here is a handy tip for those using small magnetic loops, like the Grundig AN-200. Using a simple Lazy Susan makes rotating the loop a lot easier as in the picture attached. It gives you a very smooth 360 degree rotation using a simple […]

(Source: Aljazeera via Mike Hansgen) Despite the legal challenges, Indigenous communities use radio to ‘keep their language and culture alive’. Sumpango, Guatemala – Sitting in a courtyard, wearing an indigenous huipil dress, Amanda Chiquito glows as she talks about the challenges and successes of working with the community radio station in Sumpango Sacatepequez, Guatemala. “There […]

(Source: Westword via Mike Hansgen) Will the FCC Sink Pirate Radio in Colorado? Word spread quickly about the mysterious unmarked black SUV parked at a highway exit just outside the town of Ward on January 24. In the self-sufficient mountain community perched at 9,500 feet, strangers always attract attention. But the strangers in the SUV […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rawad Hamwi, who writes: Recently, I’d acquired a vintage Sony ICF-SW11 from my grandparents and it was in a good shape. After removing its back cover, I did some housekeeping inside and took couple of photos: I know that this radio is somehow a basic shortwave receiver, lacking some features […]

Many thanks to Raoul with Jazz From The Left, who writes: My program, Jazz from the Left, continues on WRMI. With a slight schedule change. From Jeff White: “We now have Jazz from the Left on at 0000 UTC Wednesday on 7730 kHz, and at 0100 UTC Thursday on 5850, 9395 and 9455 kHz.” By […]

Last week, I attended the 31st annual Winter SWL Fest in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. This was the ninth year in a row I made the pilgrimage to join my radio friends and family–it was certainly a ‘Fest to be remembered! I made the trip by car, leaving Monday, February 26 and spent two nights in […]

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors, Richard Langley and Robert Gulley, who shares this news item from the BBC: Morse code shoes send toe tapping texts at MWC 2018 A pair of smart shoes has been created to let industrial workers keep in touch via toe-typed coded messages. The footwear was inspired by Morse code, […]

Some of you might have noticed error messages while trying to load the SWLing Post recently. After some server upgrades, the site started having a few issues. Our host is helping us sort through it now and we’ll hopefully have any problems resolved within a day or so. Sorry for the inconvenience–thanks for understanding! -Thomas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Smolinski, who shares the following guest post. Note that this post has also been published on Chris’ excellent blog, Radiohobbyist.org: Listening To Pirate Radio Stations from South America by Chris Smolinski Looking for a new DX challenge? In addition to shortwave pirate stations in the USA, and […]