I’ve just received a confirmation from The Mighty KBC that The Giant Jukebox will be on the air this Sunday (June 19) from 08:00-10:00 UTC. This is a correction to the UTC time in our previous post..
If propagation isn’t favorable where you live, consider tuning to 6095 kHz on Sunday via the University Twente WebSDR.
[Correction: Julio’s version of the DE1103 is the first, non-DSP (current) version.]
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Julio Cesar Pereira, who comments with his mostly positive impression of the DSP version of the Degen DE1103 receiver:
I’ve got a DE1103 and haven’t noticed any AM bleeding on SWL so far. I sometimes stay at one of my family’s properties located at the center of a city with lots of stations. There I use the balcony on the 9th floor and I get a lot of spurious interference from FM stations, which is normal once you’re surrounded by buildings. However, I already tuned some images on SW. I used an old SW7600G to check it out and it didn’t get any.
I kind of started to dislike DSP, for it can be annoying to hear it engage and disengage when a signal constantly drops down and recovers. It is fantastic when a signal is strong and constant for it improves audio quality whether it is MW, SW or FM.
At one time, I even thought it would be perfect for the DE1103 to have this [DSP] feature, but you know what? I’m very happy with the way mine is right now. I find this receiver to have the best FM reception compared to the others of my little collection of tabletop and portable receivers, which includes scanners ICOM IC-R20 and R5, receivers PL-660, SW7600GR, ICF-2010, etc. The DE1103 is by far the most sensitive and selective one, it even beats my old Realistic DX-440.
As for SW, I like the combination of its very good AGC and very low floor, which allows me to do DXing with the RF attenuator on and does not have any annoying filter like the PL-660. I also enjoy its audio quality, especially on the headphones, for it is more natural, not processed like the PL-660’s or over-processed like the SW7600GR’s.
You can tell I’m a big fan of this little radio. It has its flaws, but I can live with them.
Thank you for sharing your experience with the DE1103 DSP, Julio!
Julio, I’m now very curious if your receiver is the “Version 2.0 Model” mentioned by this seller on eBay. [ Julio has now confirmed that it is not the DSP version.]
If you’ve read my DE1103 DSP review, you’ll note that I haven’t been the biggest fan of the new DSP version of the DE1103. I did review a very early model and wonder if Degen has tweaked the DE1103 DSP to provide better performance? Can any other readers comment?
I’ll search through the various models of the DE1103 on eBay and see if there are any specifics about the new 2.0 version in product descriptions. I’ll also attempt to contact sellers for details.
Please comment if you have any information.
Update: Several readers pointed out that the “Version 2.0” might simply be a way sellers are using to indicate that this is the DSP-based DE1103–rather than this being an improved version of the original DSP receiver I tested.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Thomas Ally, for noting that The Mighty KBC has announced that The Giant Jukebox will be back on this air this Sunday, June 19 at 10:00-12:00 CET (8:00-10:00 UTC) on 6095 kHz.
If propagation isn’t favorable where you live, tune to 6095 kHz via the University Twente WebSDR.
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Marty, who writes:
The long wave community is also facing cutbacks in service, this example being in Ireland: http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2016/06/03/saving-rte-252-long-wave/
The home page for subscribing to this eNewsletter is: http://www.radiosurvivor.com/
Also, some SWL Post readers might be interested in subscribing to Radio World International, which carries a wide range of general radio-related news: http://www.radioworld.com
Both Radio Survivor and Radio World Internetional are excellent sources for news about the radio world! Thank you, Marty, for mentioning them here.
Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: BBC)
(Source: Dan Ferguson via Mauno Ritola on the WRTH Facebook group)
Babcock has tests today, June 14, at 2130-2145, to Antarctica on 5985 (Woofferton), 6035 (Dhabayya), 7360 (Ascension), and 9720 (Woofferton).
I think we can assume three of these frequencies will be used for the annual mid-winter transmission to Antarctica on June 21 at 2130-2200.
I will attempt to receive the tests broadcasts today here in Québec; it will give me an indication if I stand a chance of reception next week.
I would appreciate any recordings of the test broadcast to add to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.
As Dan mentions above, next week, Tuesday, June 21, the BBC Antarctic Midwinter broadcast will take place once again. This is one of my favorite shortwave events of the year. Like last year, I hope we receive recordings of the on air event from across the globe!
(Source: Southgate ARC)
Spain’s national amateur radio society the URE has made annual compilations of its magazine Radioaficionados available for free download
PDFs of the magazine are available from 2001 to the end of 2015.
To download each year click on the Descargar buttons at
http://www.ure.es/component/docman/cat_view/110-revistas/156-.html?orderby=dmdate_publishedURE website in Google English
http://tinyurl.com/SpainURE
The Como Audio Solo
Alas, I find that I’m frequently blamed by SWLing Post readers who cite this blog as the reason they spend so much money on radios.
But for the record, I’d like you to know that such spending is actually a two-way street! A couple of days ago, Post contributor Robert Gulley sent me a link to a cool Kickstarter campaign for two new multi-format digital radios: the Solo and the Duet by Como Audio.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/819585793/solo-and-duetto-one-touch-music-streaming-with-hif
Having just completed an in-depth review of several WiFi radios for The Spectrum Monitor magazine, the good-looking Solo in its wood casing really caught my attention! (the Duet, meanwhile, is a two-speaker version of the same rig). At first glance, the Solo appears to be compatible with a much wider range of digital formats than many of its competitors, so naturally I’m eager to determine if this is so. Here’s a list:
It even has a “high-performance” FM tuner and is DAB+ compatible, especially great if you live in Europe.
It also sounds like they’ve spent time designing a proper acoustic chamber/chassis and are fueling a 3″ woofer and 3/4″ dome tweeter with a 2 X 30 watt RMS amplifier. This radio should pack some audio punch.
The Como Audio Duetto
The only obvious thing I see missing on the Como Audio WiFi radios is an internal battery.
Still, after watching the video and reviewing the specs, I backed the campaign to receive a walnut Kickstarter Edition Solo. If all goes well––and I never actually expect a campaign to produce and ship a product in the amount of time they expect––they may be shipping the radios as early as October.
The campaign has already met it’s goal of $50,000 and is now stretching for $100,000 with more incentives.
So, I didn’t really need another WiFi radio, but thanks to Robert’s email––yep, I bought one! Now the only question remains: can you actually make impulse purchases on Kickstarter? I think I just proved that you can.