Tag Archives: Dashtoons

From the Archives: Yes, there is a shortwave…!

Note: Jeff Murray and I posted at Christmas in 2014–I thought it would be fun to dig it out of the archives once again.  Enjoy!


Virginia letter Dash

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no shortwave. Uncle DX Dash! says, “If you see it on the SWLing Post, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a shortwave?

Virginia E. Layer
330 Independence Ave., S.W.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a digital age. They do not believe what can’t be heard or seen on their smart phone. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by Google. They seek credit cards, not QSL cards.

Yes, Virginia, there is a shortwave. It exists as certainly as sound and circuits and tubes exist, and you know that these abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no shortwave! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no heterodynes, no band openings, no propagation to make tolerable this existence. It would be a world without London Calling.

Not believe in shortwave! You might as well not believe in the ionosphere. You might get your papa to hire men to listen to all of the wi-fi radios of the world, but even if you did not hear shortwave, what would that prove? The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see ground waves dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can casually conceive or imagine all the wonders there are heard and unheard in the listening world. For that, you must wear headphones.

No shortwave! Thank goodness! It lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, shortwave will continue to make glad the hearts of listeners.


Happy Holidays from your friends at Dashtoons and the SWLing Post!

With apologies to The New York Sun.  Our tongue-in-cheek editorial borrows from the timeless classic, “Is There a Santa Claus?” printed in the September 21, 1897, issue of The New York SunClick here to read the original

Spread the radio love

From the Archives: Yes, there is a shortwave…!

Note: Jeff Murray and I posted at Christmas in 2014–I thought it would be fun to dig it out of the archives once again.  Enjoy!


Virginia letter Dash

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no shortwave. Uncle DX Dash! says, “If you see it on the SWLing Post, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a shortwave?

Virginia E. Layer
330 Independence Ave., S.W.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a digital age. They do not believe what can’t be heard or seen on their smart phone. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by Google. They seek credit cards, not QSL cards.

Yes, Virginia, there is a shortwave. It exists as certainly as sound and circuits and tubes exist, and you know that these abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no shortwave! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no heterodynes, no band openings, no propagation to make tolerable this existence. It would be a world without London Calling.

Not believe in shortwave! You might as well not believe in the ionosphere. You might get your papa to hire men to listen to all of the wi-fi radios of the world, but even if you did not hear shortwave, what would that prove? The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see ground waves dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can casually conceive or imagine all the wonders there are heard and unheard in the listening world. For that, you must wear headphones.

No shortwave! Thank goodness! It lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, shortwave will continue to make glad the hearts of listeners.


Happy Holidays from your friends at Dashtoons and the SWLing Post!

With apologies to The New York Sun.  Our tongue-in-cheek editorial borrows from the timeless classic, “Is There a Santa Claus?” printed in the September 21, 1897, issue of The New York SunClick here to read the original

Spread the radio love

From the Archives: Yes, there is a shortwave…!

Note: Jeff Murray and I posted this last Christmas–I thought it would be fun to dig it out of the archives for this Christmas as well.  Enjoy!


Virginia letter Dash

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no shortwave. Uncle DX Dash! says, “If you see it on the SWLing Post, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a shortwave?

Virginia E. Layer
330 Independence Ave., S.W.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a digital age. They do not believe what can’t be heard or seen on their smart phone. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by Google. They seek credit cards, not QSL cards.

Yes, Virginia, there is a shortwave. It exists as certainly as sound and circuits and tubes exist, and you know that these abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no shortwave! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no heterodynes, no band openings, no propagation to make tolerable this existence. It would be a world without London Calling.

Not believe in shortwave! You might as well not believe in the ionosphere. You might get your papa to hire men to listen to all of the wi-fi radios of the world, but even if you did not hear shortwave, what would that prove? The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see ground waves dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can casually conceive or imagine all the wonders there are heard and unheard in the listening world. For that, you must wear headphones.

No shortwave! Thank goodness! It lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, shortwave will continue to make glad the hearts of listeners.


Happy Holidays from your friends at Dashtoons and the SWLing Post!

With apologies to The New York Sun.  Our tongue-in-cheek editorial borrows from the timeless classic, “Is There a Santa Claus?” printed in the September 21, 1897, issue of The New York SunClick here to read the original

Spread the radio love

Looking for SWLing Post gear? We’ve got you covered!

Over the years, readers have often encouraged me to create SWLing Post shortwave radio-themed products, which is to say, t-shirts, coffee mugs, and the like. But for some reason, I’ve never gotten around to it.

That is, until now…

SWLingPost-DXFiend-Vintage-Front

What finally motivated me to create these items is a friendship:  I’m fortunate to number among my friends the amazingly talented Jeff Murray (K1NSS) of Dashtoons.  It occurred to me that I might commission Jeff to design some shortwave radio-themed graphics that represent the broad spectrum of radio enthusiasts here on the SWLing Post. Jeff, ever enthusiastic where radio is concerned, was the perfect artist for the job–particularly since he and I see eye-to-eye on the beauty of both radio innovations and radio nostalgia.  And with Jeff’s quirky sense of humor to enliven his sharp, dapper graphics, the great results you see here were simply inevitable.

SWLingPost-DXFiend-SDR-Front

Of course, his pictures speak louder than my words.  As I’ve said, Jeff’s clearly a graphic artist par excellence, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that he really knows radio–inside and out.

SWLingPost-DXFiend-Vintage-Back

While he was at it, Jeff created an SWLing Post logo that will soon accompany a refreshed Post design I’ve had in the works…stay tuned for that as the new year approaches.

SWLing-Post-Women's-T-shirtIn the meantime, I thought I’d share a link to a simple CafePress webstore I’ve put together for our newly-minted swag.

Click here to view great SWLing Post gear.

So far we only have a few select items on offer, but I’ll soon be adding more. But we do have two great t-shirt and coffee mug designs available now:  the Radio Waterfall design features the SWLing Post logo superimposed over a blue SDR waterfall, with the words “DX FIEND” emblazoned beneath; the Radio Nostalgia design features the above vintage-style radio image, with”DX FIEND” beneath, and the “SECRET WORLD” image on the back. Take it from me, they look great.

Let me know if there’s something in the CafePress catalog you’d like to own featuring Jeff Murray’s terrific radio art, and I may be able to put it out there for you.

SWLingPost-Shirt-FrontOh, and by the way–a small percentage of your purchase (typically between $2.00-4.00US) goes towards keeping the SWLing Post online. The rest of the cost goes to CafePress’ product base price. True, I doubt we’ll ever sell enough to break even this way, but who cares…! After all, I do all this for fun, not profit.

Plus I confess to a little personal motivation: I really wanted a Jeff Murray-designed mug for my own cuppa joe!

The great thing about CafePress–although slightly pricey for some items–is that they offer great products, great customer service, and a no-questions-asked return policy. I like that.

large_mug_sdr_waterfall_mugsSo, if you take a leap of faith and purchase one of our items, please comment and let me know how you like it!

Side note: If you ever need amazing custom artwork for your QSL cards, your company, or your shack, I highly recommend Jeff Murray. He worked with me over the course of a week to nail down these incredible designs, and wowed me with his powerful creativity every step of the way.  It was worth every single penny and more, and an honor to work with him, which is why I hope to have him create even more artwork next year! Thanks, Jeff!

And thanks to our Post readers for your purchase!  Go ahead–join me in a hot cuppa!

Spread the radio love

Yes, there is a shortwave…!

Virginia letter Dash

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no shortwave. Uncle DX Dash! says, “If you see it on the SWLing Post, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a shortwave?

Virginia E. Layer
330 Independence Ave., S.W.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a digital age. They do not believe what can’t be heard or seen on their smart phone. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by Google. They seek credit cards, not QSL cards.

Yes, Virginia, there is a shortwave. It exists as certainly as sound and circuits and tubes exist, and you know that these abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no shortwave! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no heterodynes, no band openings, no propagation to make tolerable this existence. It would be a world without London Calling.

Not believe in shortwave! You might as well not believe in the ionosphere. You might get your papa to hire men to listen to all of the wi-fi radios of the world, but even if you did not hear shortwave, what would that prove? The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see ground waves dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can casually conceive or imagine all the wonders there are heard and unheard in the listening world. For that, you must wear headphones.

No shortwave! Thank goodness! It lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, shortwave will continue to make glad the hearts of listeners.


Happy Holidays from your friends at Dashtoons and the SWLing Post!

With apologies to The New York Sun.  Our tongue-in-cheek editorial borrows from the timeless classic, “Is There a Santa Claus?” printed in the September 21, 1897, issue of The New York SunClick here to read the original

Spread the radio love

“Less plug” and much “more play”–!

Aw, gee–you know you’ve made it the in the world when the talented and inimitable Jeff Murray (K1NSS) takes the Mickey out of you with his quirky vintage-style imagery.  This time, it was yours truly that got a dose of the Murray treatment…
K1NSS-meJeff, you inject this hobby with the requisite dose of whimsy. Thanks so much for “plugging” Ears To Our World!

Merry listening, friends! If you would like to support Ears To Our World with a tax-deductible donation, click here!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again–if you want to hire a talented artist for graphics or a unique QSL card, Jeff is clearly the guy to call upon.

Spread the radio love