Yearly Archives: 2016

A really great signal from CBC Radio 1 Gander – the best I’ve ever heard on this or any other medium wave frequency, complete with a clear station ID and very much out of season so-to-speak. I can’t remember recording any Medium Wave transatlantic signal with an audio bandwidth filter of 7 kHz, which says everything about the relative strength of this signal; 2.5 to perhaps 4 kHz would be more typical. As the subscribers to my youtube channel Oxford Shortwave log will know, I dabble in Medium Wave DXing, however, it requires a lot of patience because conditions of good propagation can occur quite infrequently. This is where the band recording features incorporated into the Elad FDM-SW2 software (and similar software for other SDR receivers) come into their own, allowing you to record the entire medium wave band, for example, for later analysis. As for the Wellbrook ALA1530 active loop antenna, I can’t praise it highly enough, both in terms of combating QRM and overall performance as a function of compactness.

Recorded in Oxford UK using an Elad FDM DUO and Wellbrook ALA1530 active loop antenna (indoors) on 29/06/16 at 03:00 hrs UTC.

Clint Gouveia is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Clint actively publishes videos of his shortwave radio excursions on his YouTube channel: Oxford Shortwave Log. Clint is based in Oxfordshire, England.

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Back at the dial again…!

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Many of you might have noticed I’ve been absent on Facebook/Twitter , slower to correspond, and not posting quite as often this summer.

Yes, you guessed it: I’ve been on the road again.

Starting in mid-May, we made our annual pilgrimage to Dayton, Ohio, where we hosted an inside exhibit at the Hamvention, made some NPOTA activations, and visited the phenomenal National Museum of the USAF.

The LNR Precision LD-11 and QRP Ranger during a National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) activation in Ohio.

I then returned to the shack for one week, frantically finished a few projects, then hit the road again. Headed even farther north this time….Destination: Canada.

The Udvar-Hazy Center houses a number of large aircraft including the Concorde, the SR-71 and even the space shuttle Discovery.

The Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center houses a number of large aircraft including the Concorde, the SR-71 and even the space shuttle Discovery.

Stopped in the Washington, DC area for a few nights and spent the better part of one day at the Udvar-Hazy Center. The aviation geek in me was in the skies––wow, what an amazing place!

By June 5th, i was just outside Québec City in the town of Beaupré.

My station on Field Day operating as VE2CQ.

While in Québec, I participated in a Field Day event with the incroyable members of the Club Radio Amateur de Québec. I practiced my French, the club members treated me like one of their own––hosting an excellent lunch and dinner––and I even got a few hours on the air as VE2CQ.

Oh, and you might recall a post from June in which I shared photos from an aerial display in Québec City featuring the Snowbirds. It was our first time seeing them, and it was, as you might expect, just spectacular.

We spent the rest of June and part of July in Québec, then made our way to Prince Edward Island via New Brunswick and Nova Scotia where a rustic off-grid cabin awaited us.

The view from our off-grid cabin on PEI.

While the condo in Quebec had all of the radio interference one would expect, the off-grid cabin was blissfully quiet, free of radio interference. As you might imagine, I played a lot of radio…

I also sampled a lot of Island craft brews!

We spent several relaxed weeks in Prince Edward Island, then made our way back to the States.

I’ve only been home since last Wednesday, and found quite a pile-up in the work zone, so I’m busily catching up. However, I’m finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I should be current with correspondence by next week. Thanks for your patience, email friends!

And if you’re interested, just for fun, I plan to write a more detailed trip report later this summer or fall. I do have a few pics from side trips I’ll likely share in the meantime.

Yet again, we had a terrific adventure in Canada! But it’s sure good to be back home…and back at the dial.

Anyone else done a bit of traveling this season? Feel free to share & comment!

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RFE and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution (Part 1)

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Many thanks to Richard Cummings of the website, Cold War Radio Vignettes, who notes that he has posted a new article about Radio Free Europe and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution (Part 1).

The article spotlights Operation FOCUS, which was the combined balloon/leaflet and RFE broadcast endeavours 1954-56. Richard notes that Part 2 will be posted next week and will cover the controversial RFE broadcasts during the revolution.

Click here to read at the Cold War Radio Vignettes website.

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August 21 & 22: From The Radio Netherlands Archives Part 2

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(Source: PCJ Press Release)

August 21st and 22nd PCJ Radio International will present part 2 of From The Radio Netherlands Archives.

In the first program we played a mix bag of stuff. But in program two the focus will be on news and documentaries. You will hear Ginger Da Silva, Eric Beauchemin, Pete Myers and more.

There will be a special E-QSL issued for this program. PCJ Radio International’s partner stations will receive this program in two parts.

The program will be presented by Paulette MacQuarrie.

Europe: 0600 to 0800UTC – Frequency 7570kHz
August 21, 2016

North America: 0100 to 0300UTC – Frequency 7780kHz
August 22, 2016

For more information contact PCJ at [email protected]

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Radio World: The evolution of shortwave radio

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following article by James Careless in Radio World Magazine.

The article includes interviews with Andy Sennitt, Kim Andrew Elliott, Nigel Fry, and even yours truly. The following is a short excerpt taken from the introduction of the article:

(Source: Radio World)

OTTAWA, Ontario — With the advent of radio in the 20th century, the shortwave band (1710–30,000 kHz) soon became a hotbed of long-distance radio broadcasting. Used primarily by state-run international broadcasters, plus ham radio operators and ship-to-shore radio communications, the shortwave band was prized due to its astoundingly broad reach.

That reach was — and is still — made possible by the tendency of ground-based shortwave radio transmissions to bounce off the ionosphere and back to earth; allowing shortwave broadcasts to “hop” repeatedly, increasing a broadcast’s range while minimizing its decay.

[…]At the height of the Cold War, the shortwave bands were packed with content as the Voice of America and West Germany’s Deutsche Welle (Voice of Germany) traded ideological punches with Radio Moscow and East Germany’s Radio Berlin International. This is because analog shortwave radio broadcasting was the only way for both sides to make their political cases cross international borders: There was no satellite TV, let alone any internet.

Read the full, in-depth article on the Radio World website…

This article is well worth reading and one of the more in-depth pieces I’ve seen in a trade publication or news site recently.

I should add that I completely agree with James Careless’ conclusion:

“[T]he research that went into this article suggests that the shortwave band is sufficiently alive to be still evolving.”

The fact is, the shortwave landscape is not what used to be in the Cold War. Many of those big voices have left the scene and, in the process, left the door open to others.

The shortwaves are a dynamic communications space that continues to evolve.

That’s why I keep listening.

Want to read more about the future of shortwave radio? Click here to read Does Shortwave Radio Have a Future?

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Radio-Sky Spectrograph: Radio Astonomy with the SDRplay RSP

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The SDRplay RSP software defined radio

(Source: Amateur Radio Astronomy blog)

Thanks to the efforts of Nathan Towne, we now have the ability to use [the SDRplay RSP] with Radio-Sky Spectrograph (RSS).

[…]As with RTL Bridge, a intermediary program sits between RSS and the receiver. This program was written by Nathan Towne and is named SDRPlay2RSS, not too surprisingly. This is a dot NET program and if you are up to date on your dot NET run-time updates you should be fine. Installation is a no brainer as SDRPlay2RSS comes with the RSS 2.8.18 update. SDRPlay2RSS does not come with the current full install of RSS so you must do the Full install and then the Update.

Continue reading…

Click here to read our review of the SDRplay RSP.

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Breaking: 2017 Dayton Hamvention to be held at the Greene County Fairgrounds

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Scott Gamble (W5BSG), who writes:

I just saw this local news post about the venue for Hamvention 2017.

(Source: WDTN)

Image: Chris Smith / WDTN Photo

XENIA, Ohio (WDTN) – Days after Hara Arena announced it will close its doors, an announcement from Greene County officials revealed that Hamvention will be held at the Greene County Fairgrounds next year, according to our partners at the Xenia Gazette.

The event for ham-radio enthusiasts generated about $21 million last year and drew a crowd of more than 27,000 for Montgomery County. The proceeds for this year’s event will now go to Greene County.

[Continue reading at WDTN...]

And here is a link to the fairgrounds site for information about the location.

http://www.greenecountyfairgrounds.com/

Many thanks for the tip, Scott!

I just did a quick distance calculation on Google Maps and determined that the distance between HARA Arena and the new location is only about 35 minutes.

For some of us who regularly stay on the east side of Dayton, our commute may be even be a little shorter.

At first glance–and since I’ve never been to this facility, I can’t speak with any certainty–it looks like there’s very little in terms of indoor exhibitor area. I’ve pasted a screen grab from the Fairgrounds website showing a list of their buildings and dimensions:

I had done a little research the other day and came to the conclusion that Montgomery County and the City of Dayton had no truly suitable locations for the Hamvention.

Looking at the official Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau website, there’s simply nothing large enough to accommodate the Hamvention exhibitors and visitors . The biggest offering is the Dayton Convention Center, but it’s tiny compared to HARA Arena.

There’s also the Nutter Center, but it’s not designed as a convention space, so to speak.

Moving to Cincinnati, there is the Duke Energy Convention Center, which looks to be as modern as the facility in Friedrichshafen, Germany. It might hold the indoor part of the Hamvention, but doesn’t look big enough to handle the parking and a flea market.

I’m sure DARA has done their research and the Greene County Fairgrounds are the next best option. I hope vendors and exhibitors agree and attend next year.

I plan to attend the 2017 Hamvention and I’m hoping the new facility will please everyone. I imagine it’ll be no small task for DARA to relocate such a large event.

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