Radio Waves: Sounding The Sky, KiwiSDR Browser Skywave, FEBC Philippines to End Shortwave Broadcasting, NASA’s Voyager 1 Closes in on Light-day, and Asheville Community Radio WPVM

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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 Richard Cuff, Jason Shultz, David Iurescia, Tracy Wood, and Carlos Latuff for the following tips:

During a once-in-centuries eclipse, CWRU radio club ran a cross-country experiment—and found a surprise overhead | CWRU Newsroom | Case Western Reserve University (CWRU Newsroom | Case Western Reserve University)

Study coauthored by students from high school to grad school finds the moon’s shadow took a different path overhead than on the ground

Minutes after totality swept past Cleveland on April 8, 2024, Laura Schwartz and Maris Usis leaned over a laptop on the roof of Case Western Reserve University’s Glennan Building. Data from receivers hundreds of miles away were streaming in.

Then a small change appeared in the recorded radio signal.

“It was very exciting,” recalled Usis (CWR ’24; GRS ’25, electrical engineering). “At the very least, it was an early indication that our experiment may have worked.”

Nearby, David Kazdan, MD, PhD (GRS ’92, biomedical engineering), watched the graphs take shape.

“It really was just a magic moment,” said Kazdan, an adjunct professor at the Case School of Engineering and faculty advisor to the Case Amateur Radio Club, W8EDU.

[Continue reading…]

Skywave, a free browser player for public KiwiSDRs with a live “strong signals now” scan (Skywavehf)

This tip was submitted by a developer promoting his AI-created app, and it caught my attention. It’s called skywave (http://skywavehf.com), a free web app that plays public KiwiSDR receivers right in your browser. Press “Listen” and it finds the receiver with the best reported signal-to-noise on your frequency, moving to the next one if a Kiwi is full or refuses the connection.

There’s a searchable list and a map that shades where it’s currently night, which is a nice touch for propagation, and about ten seconds after a receiver starts playing, skywave scans the medium wave and fourteen shortwave broadcast bands, listing the strongest signals it hears, labeled with station names from the EiBi schedule. You get a waterfall with a live spectrum trace and an S-meter, and the AM, SSB, and CW demodulation is done in the developer’s own code, with the Kiwi only sending raw I/Q.

Jason has also been considerate of the volunteers who run these receivers: skywave takes at most one listener slot per Kiwi, identifies itself as “skywavehf.com” in the user list, and there’s a page for owners explaining all of this, including how to opt out.

The developer built it with an AI coding assistant, something he’s upfront about, the code is public on GitHub, and as far as I can tell it’s free, runs no ads, and requires no account. Since these receivers are run by volunteers, do be a good guest and disconnect when you’re finished.

[Check it out here!]

FEBC Philippines to Conclude Shortwave Broadcasting in 2027 (Febc)

After decades of using shortwave radio to carry the Gospel across geographic boundaries, FEBC Philippines will conclude its shortwave broadcasting operations at its facilities in Iba, Zambales, and Bocaue, Bulacan, effective April 1, 2027.

The transition stems from a strategic decision by the FEBC International Executive Committee in March 2026, informed by collaborative research with InterSearch, an international partner of FEBC. The findings showed that global shortwave listenership continued to decline. After reviewing the results, all FEBC member fields unanimously agreed to phase out shortwave broadcasting.

[Continue reading…]

NASA’s Voyager 1 closes in on a light-day in interstellar space for a new distance record (AP News)

NASA’s Voyager 1 is about to become humanity’s first object to reach one light-day from Earth. That’s a mind-blowing distance of more than 16 billion miles. (AP Video/Shelby Lum)

This image, provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech and taken on April 27, 1977, shows one of the Voyagers in the 25-Foot Space Simulator thermal vacuum chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

[Continue reading…]

Asheville radio station preserves broadcasting history with museum (WLOS)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Radio Asheville 103.7 FM first hit the airwaves back in 2003. By 2014, they had suffered financial difficulties to the point where they were going to have to shut down.

That’s when Davyne Dial stepped in and convinced the station’s board to transfer the FCC license over to her.

Once she became the new general manager, the real work began. She had to learn on the job how to run an all-volunteer community radio station.

While navigating her new role as a radio broadcaster, Dial became interested in learning more about the history of radio and its role in our society.

[Continue reading…]

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RNEIxtra Emma O’Reilly Special: Sunday, November 15, 2026

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Many thanks to Roseanna at Radio Northern Europe International, who writes:

Hei alle sammen,
Hazy (aka Mamma) is bringing you a 1 hour special, featuring Irish singer-songwriter Emma O’Reilly, an unmissable indie creative, fusing folk, classical, pop and contemporary music elements. Emma streams regularly on Twitch, which is where Hazy found her.

Our programme dives into her EPs, PURGE and FRACTURES, to showcase Emma’s latest release Sailing Home. Her wide-ranging, unique and adventurous presence deserves the celebration of a wider audience. RNEI invites you to immerse yourself in what is exquisite artistry and talent.

We invite you to tune in to the show at 1900UTC (7pm Irish / UK time, 8pm Central European Time, 9pm Eastern European Time) on Sunday the 15th of November 2026.
You can see the coverage areas for our 2 frequencies, 1467 & 6195kHz, here:
https://rnei.org/2026/11/13/rneixtra-13-emma-oreilly-special/

Wishing you well,
Roseanna
Radio Northern Europe International
https://rnei.org

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Reach Beyond Australia (November 12, 2026)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.

Carlos notes:

On November 12th, the Japanese-language program on the Reach Beyond Australia radio brought the Japanese tradition of celebrating longevity.

“…Japanese people often find joy in longevity, don’t they?
As they accumulate years and reach a certain age,
they are truly given special names.
Of course, since it is said that we are an aging society,
there isn’t really an atmosphere where living a long life itself is celebrated much, but
even so, as a custom in Japan, for example,
the celebration of one’s 60th birthday is called Kanreki (60th birthday).
Kanreki.
Because it means “returning to the beginning,”
there is a feeling that one becomes a baby again, so
they wear a red chatchanko (traditional red vest) and put on a red hat, right?
Kanreki.
This is for 60 years old…”

Click here to view on YouTube.

XERF 1570, Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico – Then and Now

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by Dan Greenall

Decades ago, there were a number of high-powered AM radio stations operating from Mexico, just across the border from the southern United States. Here, they could bypass U.S. regulations, power limits, and censorship. Accordingly, these stations were nicknamed “border blasters.”

One of the better-known border blasters was radio station XERF in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila state, which was right across the river from Del Rio, Texas. They reportedly ran 250 kW of power and could be heard in many of the U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

To fund operations, XERF sold large blocks of nighttime airtime to American evangelists, faith healers, and mail-order merchants. On-air personalities included Wolfman Jack, who gained popularity playing rhythm-and-blues/rock-and-roll records unavailable on mainstream U.S. stations, and Paul Kallinger, who broadcast the overnight “graveyard” shift as “Your Good Neighbor Along the Way,” playing early country, hillbilly, and gospel music. Paul’s voice can be heard in the following brief recording from 1971:

Today, XERF is controlled by IMER (Instituto Mexicano de la Radio), the Mexican government’s public broadcaster, as it has been since 1986.

The station identifies as “La Poderosa” and serves the local border communities and Mexican migrants by broadcasting news, public information, and Regional Mexican music. Using a Kiwi SDR near Monterrey, Mexico, during my local evenings, I have observed that regular full station IDs are generally given in Spanish near the top of each hour. They include call letters, frequencies, and power used: 100,000 watts on AM (XERF) and 4000 watts on FM (XHRF). The attached recording of this was made on November 10, 2026, at 0103 UTC on 1570 kHz:

The Hidden Woodsmen 2026 Holiday Sale: Great Pouches for Field-Portable Shortwave Radios

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The Mlite-880 in the Hidden Woodsmen General Purpose Pouch

A quick note for SWLing Post readers: this article has been re-posted from our sister site, QRPer.com. Although the field kits I mention below are amateur radio kits, these pouches and packs could just as easily hold any number of portable shortwave radios. For scale, I’ve taken a couple of photos of my MLite-880 and Qodosen DX-286 with two of the pouches and inserted them below. If you spot one you like, simply measure your radio and compare it against the dimensions listed on the Hidden Woodsmen product page to confirm the fit.

by Thomas (K4SWL)

Our friends at The Hidden Woodsmen are having a sale on many of their pouches. They’re all made in the USA and are very high-quality.

The sale prices are an incredible value.

Click here to check out the sale.

I’m a big fan of several of these pouches and packs.

The Possible Pouch is on sale for $25 (normally $40). I use mine for a wide variety of field kits, including my Xiegu G106:

It easily holds an entire field kit, including my bare-bones throw line and weight. I love the super beefy zipper.

I also love the General Purpose Pouch, which is on sale for $20 (normally $35).

I’ve fit an entire field kit in it for both my TR-25 and, later, my QMX.

It’s small, but it holds a surprising amount of gear. You can read the field report where I used this with my TR-25 here.

The Stash Pack is also on sale for $15. An insane value, in my opinion.

I’ve purchased a few of these for my family, friends, and myself.

These are small waist packs, but they’ll easily hold a minimalist QRP field kit. The one above holds a small kit I built around the MTR-3B Currahee and TinyGawant antenna. Read about that here.

Of course, it easily holds an Elecraft KH1.

A few other items are on sale, too, and I have to assume the sale runs while supplies last.

As many of you know, I’m quite the pack geek, and I can’t stress enough what a value these items are. The Hidden Woodsmen is selling hand-crafted, made-in-the-USA gear for prices you’d find for cheaply made items on Amazon.

I’ve no affiliation with The Hidden Woodsmen, just a very happy customer.

The Haversack you see above isn’t on sale, but at $150 I feel it’s an excellent value. This pack has been my main EDC bag for the better part of the year. I even took it to the UK this summer; I love it so much.

This is a great opportunity to buy a high-quality product from a cottage-industry company for your holiday gifts.

Check out The Hidden Woodsmen products here.

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Radio 10 (November 9, 2026)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.

Carlos notes:

…”Foreign press focused Pope Leo XIV’s speeches on the government’s economy. Media outlets in the United States and Europe interpreted his public interventions as indirect criticism of the austerity program, especially for cuts in sensitive areas such as disability, education, and social assistance. They also highlighted his references to democratic coexistence, dialogue, and the careful use of words, in an apparent allusion to Javier Milei’s confrontational style. Furthermore, let us recall that before business leaders and unionists, the Pope questioned the drama of unemployment and recalled that the State must ensure access to the world of work”…

Click here to view on YouTube.