Monthly Archives: May 2015

Improving audio fidelity with JBL C2PS monitor speakers

Last year at the W4DXCC conference in Sevierville, Tennessee, I spent some quality time with Bob Heil (K9EID). Bob is the mastermind behind Heil Sound as well as the host of HamNation, a show devoted to all aspects of amateur radio––yet this job description only scratches the surface of Bob’s fascinating career.

Bob Heil (K9EID, left) and yours truly (right) at the 2014 W4DXX conference in Sevierville, TN

One thing is for sure, however: there are few people in the radio industry who truly understand audio as profoundly as Bob Heil, so when he announced that he would host a forum at the W4DXCC to assist amateur radio operators in improving their received (and transmitted) audio, we were all ears, and signed right up.

Early in the forum, Bob described a set of self-powered and relatively affordable JBL monitor speakers that he highly recommended for amateur radio use. Everyone in the room noted the model number of the speakers, myself included. So imagine my dismay after the convention when I simply couldn’t find my notes…

Thankfully, my buddy Gary Wise (W8EEY) recently jogged my memory. Gary purchased a set of JBL monitors and matching wall-mount brackets from Amazon, and has them hooked up to his Flex Radio FLEX-6700 SDR. Gary tells me he’s very pleased with the set-up. Here are the links:

Bob also suggests adding a small mixer to system, something like this Behringer Xenyx 802 or the XENYX502 (both of which are on my current wishlist).

Bob invited me to speak on HamNation about shortwave radio. I may take him up on the offer…well, as soon as I overcome my videophobia, that is. At any rate, if you’ve not seen it, HamNation is certainly worth checking out. And in all things radio, Bob Heil’s is a name to know; click here to visit Heil Sound.

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Music discovery via shortwave radio

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A few days ago, SWLing Post reader LondonShortwave posted a playlist on his blog; it’s a great playlist of music he’s been exposed to via shortwave radio broadcasters over the years. I was quite inspired by this playlist (of all absolutely brilliant songs, by the way), not to mention, by the clever concept.

So this morning I jotted down a few artists and songs I’ve also discovered via shortwave radio. Here are a just a few I could find on YouTube:

Ariane Moffatt’s “Montreal,” via former CBC North Quebec Service:

Istanbul Oriental Ensemble’s “Burhan Öçal” via Voice of Greece:

Ania’s cover of “Strawberry Fields Forever” via the Polish Radio External Service:

Novika’s “I Depend on You” also via the Polish Radio External Service:

Shiny Toy Guns’ cover of “Major Tom” via the pirate radio station All Along The Watchtower Radio (note this video is actually a car commercial featuring the song by STG; a strange combo):

Boards of Canada album “Tomorrow’s Harvest” via the pirate radio station BOCHF:

Have you made any music discovery via shortwave radio? If so, please feel free to comment.

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WRTH A15 update

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(Source: WRTH Facebook group via Sean Gilbert)

***ANNOUNCEMENT***

WRTH has released their A15 International Radio & COTB schedules file. The A15 schedules file is available for free download (whilst donations are appreciated, they are by no means mandatory).

Use the following link, and click on “International Updates”:

www.wrth.com/_shop/?page_id=444

This file is in PDF format and you will need a PDF viewing program (such as the free Adobe Acrobat Reader) in order to open this file. The pdf id 2.3MB in size and contains 78 pages, consisting of: Summer (A season) 2015 LW/MW & SW schedules for International broadcasters and Clandestine & Other Targeted (COTB) Broadcasts; International DRM broadcasts; a ‘By Frequency’ listing of the broadcasters; Selected language broadcasts (English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese); and finally a list of sites used in the schedules, together with name, location, co-ordinates and type (LW/MW &/or SW).
Despite the doom and gloom surrounding shortwave and international broadcasting, please be assured there is still a lot to listen to, broadcast in many, many languages to all parts of the world. There are even new SW stations popping up from time to time. There are at least 6 new entries in this file, that have come on air since WRTH2015 was published. That has to be encouraging!

If you haven’t already got your copy of WRTH2015, you can still order on-line direct from our website or from Amazon.com (At last Amazon seems to have sorted out whatever issue they had, which caused unacceptable delays and annoyance for our valued readership). Using the A schedules together with the printed WRTH gives you powerful tools to help you get the most from your listening.

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