Radio Waves: SV3ORA’s Channel, European Shortwave Advantages, Early Radio Astronomy, Pi-Pico SDR, USAGM Cancels Lease for Saipan Site, and Charged for Exporting Radio Gear to Russian

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura, Kostas, Pete Eaton, Rich Cuff, and Balázs Kovács for the following tips:

SV3ORA’s new YouTube Channel

Many thanks to Kostas (SV3ORA) who shares a link to his new YouTube channel which features some of his radio projects including information about the NR-1 Noise Blanker.

Click here to check it out on YouTube.

The Strategic Advantage of European-based Shortwave Stations (Nexus.org)

[Abstract] The evolution from traditional tube-based shortwave transmitters to modern systems with Carrier Controlled Modulation represents a significant leap in broadcasting technology. While the old tube transmitters laid the groundwork for global communication, modern advancements have greatly enhanced the efficiency, clarity, and reach of broadcasts. Technologies like CCM modulation, directional curtain array antennnas and modern digitally controlled transmitters are pivotal in today’s communication landscape, ensuring that broadcasters can deliver high-quality audio content across the digital divide and to interested targets more reliably and efficiently, especially across vast distances. This slow shift in technology not only preserves the integrity of the transmitted message but also optimizes the use of energy and bandwidth, setting the stage for further innovations in global broadcasting, energy conservation and sustainability.

Click here to read the full article.

Scientists Seeking Life on Mars Heard a Signal That Hinted at the Future (NY Times)

Please note: this article is behind a paywall and you will need a subscription to read. We include a link to this article in Radio Waves because of its relevance in radio history.

In 1924, a radio receiver built for the battlefields of World War I tested the idea that humans were not alone in the solar system, heralding a century of searches for extraterrestrial life.

At sunset on a late summer weekend in 1924, crowds flocked to curbside telescopes to behold the advanced alien civilization they believed to be present on the surface of Mars.
“See the wonders of Mars!” an uptown sidewalk astronomer shouted in New York City on Saturday, Aug. 23. “Now is your chance to view the snowcaps and the great canals that are causing so much talk among the scientists. You’ll never have such a chance again in your lifetime.”

During that weekend, Earth and Mars were separated by just 34 million miles, closer than at any other point in a century. Although this orbital alignment, called an opposition, occurs every 26 months, this one was particularly captivating to audiences across continents and inspired some of the first large-scale efforts to detect alien life. [Read this article at the NY Times…]

Pi-Pico Software Defined Radio

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pete Eaton, who writes:

“A Homebrew Shortwave Receiver can not get much simpler than this:”

Pi-Pico RX – Breadboard Version

A couple of years ago, I built a basic yet capable radio receiver using a Pi Pico, and while I originally designed a custom PCB for it, this time I’m building an even simpler and cheaper version that can be built on a breadboard using (mostly) through-hole components.

I wanted to build a very minimal (but useful) design that I could use as a platform for experiments, tweaks and upgrades.

If you are interested in the original design or want to find out more about the technical details you can find all the info here. Most of the technical details are the same, so I will focus on the new features and improvements here. [Click here to continue reading…]

USAGM Cancels Lease for Saipan Site (Radio World)

Move is in line with letting its Marianas shortwave transmitters go dark

The U.S. Agency for Global Media has informed the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ Department of Public Lands that it will terminate its long-term lease on Aguiguan Point.

Aguiguan Point is home to the Saipan portion of the Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station, which the agency confirmed last week was being shuttered. The shortwave site has been used since the mid-1990s to beam Voice of America and Radio Free Asia broadcasts across the Pacific.

According to a report in the Saipan Tribune, Department of Public Lands Secretary Teresita Santos confirmed that USAGM had informed the department it would not seek renewal of the lease, but no timeline for terminating the lease was provided. Santos was quoted as saying that once the lease is terminated, the department would issue a request for proposals for the site. [Continue reading…]

Hungarian National Arrested on Charges of Conspiring to Export U.S. Military-Grade Radios to Russian Government End Users (Department of Justice)

The Justice Department unsealed a criminal complaint charging Hungarian national Bence Horvath with violations of U.S. export controls targeting Russia, including by conspiring with others to illegally export U.S.-origin radio communications technology to Russian government end users without a license. Horvath is charged by complaint with one count of conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA). He was arrested on arrival at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California, on Aug. 23.

“As alleged, the defendant attempted to purchase military-grade radios for Russian entities using a multinational procurement chain to evade law enforcement,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Justice Department remains committed to disrupting and holding accountable criminal networks that continue to fuel Russian aggression abroad and threaten our collective security.”

“Targeting illicit global procurement networks that operate in the shadows to equip the Russian government is of the highest priority to BIS,” said Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). “As Horvath’s arrest demonstrates, it doesn’t matter where in the world you operate – when the United States believes your conduct violates our export laws, we take action.” [Continue reading…]

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Tecsun S2200X now available via Anon-Co

10 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Julian Stargardt, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

I thought SWLingers would like to know that the Tecsun S-2200X will be on sale from 27 August at Anon Co for US$372.00

See: https://www.anon-co.com/product/tecsun-s2200x-radio

That’s a lot of radio for a reasonable price.

The Anon site has a good description of the S2200X as well as its specifications and also has some cool photos showing the dual battery options of 4 x D cells and 2 x 18650 LiPo batteries.

All the best.

73
Julian

Thank you for the tip, Julian!

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Steffen shares some XHDATA D-220 tricks

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Steffen Schultz, who writes:

Hello Thomas,

As a regular reader of your blog, I was fascinated by the reports on the XHDATA D-220 [affiliate link] and ordered a black one. I was not disappointed. Of course it’s not a DXing machine, but finally we have a device wich reaches the reception quality of the old pocket radios again I used to carry around in my childhood. I still have a Philips D1220 from the 80s, which is even less sensitive than the XHDATA D-220.

This reminded me of my early radio days, when I would try to use the simplest methods to manipulate analog radios to do things that were not intended by the manufacturer. For example, by moving the band selector switch to an intermediate position, it was possible to get some radios to receive frequencies outside the intended range. Of course, I couldn’t resist and experimented with the D-220. It takes a bit of patience and sensitivity, but the radio really does hold some secrets.

Medium wave reception with the telescopic antenna

When I was listening to a weak station on medium wave and slowly moved the switch to short wave, the medium wave station got louder for a moment before the slide switch clicked into the correct position. In fact, the radio seems to switch to the telescopic antenna when you move the band selector a little toward short wave. A finger test on the antenna confirmed my suspicion. I also tried connecting a long wire, but that was counterproductive with all the men-made noise inside my house. Extended shortwave reception

A similar trick can be used to change the shortwave frequencies. If you slightly move the band selector from the shortwave position towards medium wave, the receiver switches to a different shortwave frequency range, covering between about 3000 and 7000 kHz. Now I was able to receive shortwave radio from Germany on 3975 kHz without any problems, and of course South Korea via England on 3955 kHz was no problem either.

I have not yet found out if the two FM bands can also be manipulated in this way, an intermediate position of the band selector seems to have no effect here. Perhaps one of the readers has discovered something?

73 and best regards
Steffen
Wittstock/Germany

Thank you for sharing these D-220 tips/hacks, Steffen!

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U Twente WebSDR: New Tablet/Phone Interface Option

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:

U. of Twenty Site for Phones and Tablets

by Bob Colegrove

I’m not sure if this is new. It may have been around for a while. Very recently, while accessing the WebSDR site at the University of Twente, it detected that I was on a tablet and offered redirection to an experimental version of their site: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/m.html.

Besides being an interesting site to surf radio stations, I use it regularly as a ‘spotter’ tool to see what’s on shortwave. Admittedly, it is more than 3,900 miles from my receiver, but I like to see how well my antennas are doing.

The experimental version was accessed using the Silk browser on a 7-inch Kindle Fire. It is slimmed down from the main version, and much easier to use with a phone or tablet, particularly the zoom in and out feature.

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art, recording of NHK, and Radiofax Meteorological Charts (August 24, 2024)

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a recent NHK broadcast and Japan Meteorological Agency Radiofax transmissions.

Carlos notes:

Here we go again with just another typhoon threatening Japan with powerful winds: Typhoon n°10 (Sham sham).

Click here to view on YouTube.

Japan Meteorological Agency charts received in August 24 via radiofax (16971 kHz):

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Nutty Idea XHDATA D-220 DX Contest Results

23 Replies

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

In the run-up to the Nutty Idea XHDATA D-200 DX Contest, I really thought that sorting through the data might take a while. Why? Because I heard from so many people who said they had bought the D-220, were pleasantly surprised at its performance, and thought the contest sounded like fun.

But it turned out not to be so . . . only two “official” entries were received, plus an email from a ham radio friend who participated.

So I thought I would like the participants speak for themselves.

Don

First setup. I used a trimmed printer label and pen on my D-220 to mark the SW bands and key frequencies – so marks on WWV, CHU, FT8 on 7, 10, 14, 18 and 21MHz (nice I could hear them all) and some marks of the key SWL bands. I spent Friday trying to do everything indoors on my second floor and Sat outdoors. Of course, waiting for station IDs became the big roadblock. I didn’t get a lot of time over the weekend with events so I did what I could.

Identified Stations:

WWV 10 and 15 MHz (680 mi)
CHU 7.9 and 14.9 MHz (850mi)
WRMI on 17.5-18MHz (1410 mi)
WWCR on ~5.9 MHz (700 mi)
WGN Chicago – 720 kHz (350 mi)
KBGG Des Moines – 1700 kHz (240 mi)
KCNZ Cedar Falls – 1650 kHz (180 mi)
??Radio Exterior de Espana?? – I think so but couldn’t be sure 16m band

Friday evening – all times local CDT in midwest:

41m band – 3 stations – 2 in Spanish, 1 in english (no IDs)
49m band – two religious stations and one hispanic (that was 2-3 kHz above the 2 english stations – no IDs)

Saturday – started a more systematic approach.

really tried hard to hear WWV on 20MHz scanning down a bit from 21MHz FT8 – nothing
pretty sure I got Radio Exterior de Espana – but not sure
hear loud stations in the 31, 25, 22 and 16m bands but only a couple of IDs – noted above
heard a ton of MW stations but only picked out a few with IDs – noted above

Here are some key observations:

1. As a simple portable, the D-220 is a nice, very lightweight travel companion. FM and MW are sufficient for listening to games or music. I would definitely take it on a bike trip or camping or even to a game.
2. Headphone plug on the side??? Why?? Not good for a pocket or case. Should be on the top.
3. Outdoor use is moderate to excellent – performance improves dramatically. MW at night seems very good as does SW. This really is an outdoor portable with just the whip!
4. SW noise level is very good. Much better than Retekess or others.
5. SW overloading from MW is bad in the city yet just touching the whip with a finger removes it completely (changing impedance, grounding and antenna characteristics) allowing for clean SW.
6. FM audio sounds good but bass is severely attenuated. Hooking up the headphone jack to a stereo demonstrates how much low frequencies are cut whereas other cheap portables have great lows.
7. Audio tuning bandwidth drowns out stations close to each other if one is more powerful – fine tuning isn’t an option.
8. Tuning is general takes patience and a very sensitive touch to change the frequency.
9. SW is doable outdoors – need some testing with antenna mods – but the whip would give you some of the big SW guns.

All-in-all I was generally pleased with the radio at its price point and portability.

*****

William, KR8L

MWBC = 5, DX = 130 miles (WSM)
FMBC = 10 , DX = 50 miles (WCIL)
SW SFTS = 3, DX = 900 miles (WWV)
SWBC = 6, DX = 8000 miles (RNZ)
Amateur (CW) = 4, DX = 1010 miles (K1YAN)
Amateur (AM) = 2, DX = 1110 miles (W7YO)

Fun! Heard a lot more but no ID due to language and time constraints.

*****

Lou, KD2UHG (via email)

I could not spent as much time as I would have liked scanning the waves. I was picking up more SW then I imagined possible. Most noteworthy was the Music Through The Decades. From Akron Ohio, and Radio Romania. I heard all of the usual Christian preachers. Brother S was booming from Florida.After receiving the 220, I also bought the 219.

*****

So, thank you Don, William and Lou for your participation and your comments.

I hope William’s observation sums it up for all of you: “Fun!”

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It’s shortwave rodeo time!

1 Reply

Hi it’s FastRadioBurst 23 here letting you know what Imaginary Stations will be bringing to you via the shortwaves this week. On Sunday 25th August 2024 at 0900/1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then at 2000 UTC on 6160 kHz and 3975 kHz they have WEST via Shortwave Gold. Don’t worry, there won’t be any quick on the draw competitions or mandatory poncho wearing but just some great western inspired tunes with whistling, twangy guitars, a bit of yodelling and some banjo picking. So next Sunday sit by the chuck waggon and put the shortwave radio on and strum along with your guitar to the sound of WEST.

Then via WRMI on Wednesday 28st August 2024 at 0200 UTC on 9395 kHz we’ll be bringing you yet another version of WEST for you campfire listening pleasure. So gather around the radio with all of your stablemates and enjoy a great old programme of way out western fun.