The National Radio Club requested that I read and record my tribute to Radio Netherlands Worldwide for their audio service intended to benefit their visually-impaired readers. The broadcast is divided into sides A and B (of a cassette tape).
My narration begins about midway through side B.
Click to download:
WBCQ The Planet is broadcasting a 1974 Grateful Dead concert on August 25th and 26th.
Broadcast schedule:
(Photo: Radio Philately)
The owner of Radio Filatelia (Radio Philately) sent a link to his impressive online gallery of radio and broadcast related stamps.
It is a comprehensive collection which he intends to add to over time.
You can see the main listing of countries on this page: http://radiofilateliadx.
SWLing Post reader, Jeffrey Fritz, sent me the following message and has kindly allowed me to share it with other readers. I’mthoroughly inspired!
Bottoms up! Considering how old this receiver is, the chassis bottom (still with the original power cord) really is clean. This is how the bottom of the chassis looked when I removed the receiver from its metal cabinet.
As a teenager in the 1960s I spent a considerable amount of time SWLing on a Hallicrafters SX-110 communications receiver. I collected QSL cards from all over the world and loved being an SWL.
The SX-110 was purchased on 9 September 1961 from Gem Electronics in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. My parents bought it for me, probably after a great deal of whining and cajoling on my part. Although much of my gear has long since been sent to some landfill by my parents, like my precious Lionel trains, I would not allow them to trash the SX-110.
The top of the chassis, however, is not as clean. Some elbow grease will clearly be required.
The radio has been sitting in one basement or another, unused for the better part of 30 years.
Yesterday I decided to try bringing the radio back to life. Restoring this kind old receiver was a labor of love. The receiver was carefully looked over and tested with a VOM for bad components and the top of the chassis cleaned as best I could. The bottom was pristine. I just needed to clean out a few cobwebs and replace the power cord.
All eight tubes. Note the three original Hallicrafters tubes with the orange labeling.
After being cleaned up and several components tested, the SX-110 was slowly brought back to life on a Variac. I started at 10 volts AC and slowly increased the voltage every ten minutes by another ten volts. When I got to about 90 VAC, I could hear static and distorted audio coming out of the speaker. It was a good sign that the radio would come back to full operation once I reached the normal 110 VAC input–and that is exactly what occurred.
I am happy to report that, with a little patience and love (and a good cleaning) –and with three of the original Hallicrafters tubes still in place, my trusty old Hallicrafters SX-110 shortwave receiver is happily working today. I have it connected to its original Hallicrafters R-47 3.3 ohm speaker.
The top chassis is cleaned as much as possible. Not perfect, but a little cleaner than before. We now have about 110 volts applied through the Variac. No smoke but we do have lights!
Yesterday evening I listened to Radio Taiwan, Radio China International, Radio Havana Cuba, The Voice of Turkey and The Voice of Russia. The audio quality was rather decent without a hint of AC hum. The radio is probably due for a good alignment. I am running the radio on the Variac set at 110 volts AC and will probably keep it on the Variac because the AC voltages today in the U.S. are significantly higher than they were in 1961.
Even the XYL thinks that the radio sounds terrific! What better recommendation can there be for this old, vintage receiver?
73, Jeffrey Fritz, WB1AAL
The restored SX-110 sitting on the bookshelf in the shack. No one would mistake this for a new receiver, but it works just fine.
PS–Jeffrey also mentioned to me: “If you look closely at the chassis stamp photo of the SX-110, you can see a stamp that reads ‘199117 C.’ This is the manufacture date of the receiver. The fourth digit is the year, and the fifth and sixth digits are the week of the year. So, 199117 is the 17th week of 1961 or the week of 23 April 1961.”
Very interesting. Now I need to examine a few of my own Hallicrafters receivers…
Close up of the inspection stamps. Do modern rig manufacturers take time to do this now?
Radio New Zealand’s Bryan Crump, host of Nights, interviewed RCI Action Committee spokesperson, Wojtek Gwiazda today. It’s an excellent and insightful interview.
Thank you, Mike, for the tip!
You can download the audio from the show here, or simply use the embedded player below:
From RNZ:
Wojtek Gwiazda is host and producer of Masala Canada at Radio Canada International, and spokesperson of the RCI Action Committee. Wojtek is still fighting to try and retain the ability to broadcast in shortwave with the very recent shut-down of the shortwave transmitters of Radio Canada International.
I just found out that Dan Lewis, from RNI’s Mailbag show, created a site to share and preserve his programs that aired over the years on WWCR, WBCQ, WRNO, and NYC area microbroadcasters such as Stereo 9 FM.
The first archived show is from December 23rd, 1990 and aired on WWCR.
Dan’s site can be found at: http://danlewisradioguy.blogspot.com/
As he says, “Give a listen if you dare.”
While playing with the Bonito 1102S RadioJet the other day, I received a strong signal from Radio Kuwait. I thought I’d record the music they were playing, as the fidely was impressive for a signal traveling nearly 7000 miles.
Instead of recording the actual audio of the broadcast with the RadioJet’s AF recorder, I decided to use the IF recorder, which saves and records 24 kHz of actual spectrum. This is an excellent way to record while leaving it unattended. Later, when you review the material, you can refine and shape your recording of an individual broadcast. Then, if an adjacent signal or some other condition requires you to adjust filters, you can do so just as you would when recording a live broadcast.
Though the file sizes are marginally larger than those the AF recorder produces, it’s not a hard drive-eater like broad spectrum recordings on an SDR.
One more (very cool) RadioJet feature: while making an IF recording, the RadioJet embeds UTC time code in the recording. This way, should you make a recording and forget to note the time you begin it, the time code shows up in the display. The Perseus also does this, and I think it’s a brilliant addition.
If you want to hear the 30+ minute recording I made of Radio Kuwait, simply listen to the file embedded below, or click here to download the mp3: