Yearly Archives: 2016

Video: Luke demonstrates the Panasonic RF-9000

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who recently purchased a Panasonic RF-9000 and writes:

Hello Thomas. I did a YouYube video demonstrating my ‘new’ Panasonic RF-9000 SW receiver.

I already submitted a review to the blog which you posted (thank you). There are a few videos out there of the RF-9000 but most are short and not that descriptive.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_saMACKRiVU

Click here to view on YouTube.

Keep up the good work on the site. It is something that I look at on a near daily basis.
thanks!

Thank you, Luke, for sharing your video! I’m glad you’re pleased with the RF-9000–it’s certainly a rare receiver that performs beautifully. Enjoy!

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Reserve your copy of the 2015-2016 Pirate Radio Annual

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom Ally, who shares the following announcement from Andrew Yoder’s Hobby Broadcasting blog:

The 2015-16 Pirate Radio Annual is now nearly finished and I’m taking advance orders for copies of the book. I’ve had the CD ready for a while now (although I need to start burning copies). I started laying out the PRA about a month ago, then realized last week that my column margins were too narrow, so I re-set it. Just finished the cover tonight and the files are going to the printer tomorrow. From there, the finished books should be ready in 4-6 weeks.

In case you are wondering what the Pirate Radio Annual is, it’s a paperback book with an 5.5″ x 8.5″ trim size. This is the 6th edition. Each are divided into two parts: the first is pirate radio “articles” and the second part of the book is a listing of entries on North American shortwave pirate stations that were reported in the past year (and also European pirates that were reported in a large portion of North America). The book contains images from dozens of stations + contact information, URLs of websites, etc. Because this year’s edition is running long, I cut back on the “articles” in this year’s edition . . . WGM: World’s Greatest Mistake and the updates for next two Global HF Pirate weekends.
This year’s edition is 230 pages (34 pages longer than the last edition) and contains an audio CD-R with sample tracks of audio from pirates from the past year. 92 different stations (up 20 from last year) are represented on the CD….although the recording is on a CD-R, it is an audio CD that can be played in standard CD players, computers, etc. BTW, after creating hundreds of these CDs, I heard from one reader that the CD wouldn’t fit properly in his slot-loading Mac computer. If you want to use it in one of these computers or device with a narrow slot, let me know and I can send your CD without a label.

If you want an advance copy, the price until August 7 is $16 + $3 shipping ($19) to the United States. I’m not yet sure if the extra 34 pages will affect the shipping cost to the rest of the world. I should probably wait until the copies arrive so that I can check the shipping cost/weight to Europe/Australia/Canada/etc., rather than guessing and posting an amount that’s totally inaccurate, so I appreciate your patience while I get it figured out.
Also, I found a less-expensive printer for this edition. When I was offering advance copies at the Winterfest, I thought it’d be more expensive than it wound up being. So, if you advance ordered at the Winterfest, I’ll be returning $1 with your copy.

You can either send a check or money order in US funds to:

Cabinet Communications
PO Box 109
Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214

or you can send the $ via PayPal to info /at/ hobbybroadcasting.com

I buy each issue of the Pirate Radio Annual, so I’ll order my copy ASAP. Thanks again for the tip, Tom!

What is the Pirate Radio Annual? Check out on of my reviews.

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From the Isle of Music for June 27/28

Colin’s Hammarlund HQ-120X restoration

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Many thanks to Colin Snow for sharing the following photos and commenting on his Hammarlund HQ-120X restoration. I originally noticed his photos in the Extreme Shortwave Listening group on Facebook and he kindly wrote up descriptions for each image to be published here on the SWLing Post:

Hammarlund HQ-120X restoration

by Colin Snow

Purchased on eBay March, 2016. Hammarlund HQ-120X (1939 restored) and PSC/10 speaker (1939 original). The radio was frist restored by KE7RD, the collector who owned this unit for years. This was a late production version. It has 6K7’s instead of 6S7’s (good). The O/P TRANS has been replaced and an SO-239 added. It was recapped and aligned both IF + RF and works well on all bands.”

I had the cabinet repainted locally at NRI Sandblasting and Coating with a black semi-gloss crinkle powder coat paint. I cleaned the chrome part of the handles with Quick Glo and stripped and painted the two shoulders with black gloss enamel.

I had the speaker enclosure stripped and painted at the same time as the cabinet with the same black semi-gloss crinkle powder coat.

The original 1939 speaker was a 10″ Jensen. It worked, but I wanted the best possible sound. This current production model Jensen fit exactly.

White lines for the knobs were done using white out. The lines are grooved so I just gobbed it on and wiped off the excess.

I had the faceplate rescreened by Adam’s Precision Screen Printing, Inc. San Leandro, CA. They created a film positive first, then a negative screen.

It was a perfect job. The color and sheen matched original. This should last longer because it is an epoxy ink that has been baked to harden.

The lettering came out clean. Even though they made a 1.5X negative they still had to create artwork for the fonts. The original letters were just etched into to aluminum. It looked like it was done by hand.

Funny how words change. We now say “megahertz”, not “megacycles.”

I refurbished the dial windows myself. They were easy to strip and I used a flat black enamel spray. The S-meter glass was dirty so I disassembled it and cleaned with Quick Glo.

Still works after all that!

Its final resting place is my office and looks pretty good next to an original Tiffany’s lamp. I have a second listening post.

Colin, I can see that you spared no expense to restore this Hammarlund HQ-120X and it has paid off–an absolutely gorgeous job! I love how its “final resting place” is in a part of your office that gives it an appropriate amount of space–a place to be admired and, more importantly, enjoyed. I bet the 120 sounds simply amazing!

Thanks again for sharing these photos and your commentary, Colin!

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TDF Group to use DRM 30 as shortwave communications system

Two hours of rock and roll music on shortwave tonight!

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Another two hour broadcast of rock n roll music–“The Classics Experience”–will happen tonight via the transmitters of Shortwave Service in Kall, Germany.

6005 kHz Friday June 24th 1800-2000
3985 kHz Saturday June 25th 0000-0200

Both broadcasts will have the MFSK32 text and picture as well. However, the picture will NOT decode properly and it isn’t a problem on your end. All it is is a rebroadcast of the WINB/WRMI, complete with WRMI/WINB mentions and no mentions of 3985/6005 kHz.

By the way, you can also expect my show on Laser Hot Hits in the 49 meter and 75 meter band sometime next month, airing on nearly a daily basis for a month or so.

QSL Information:

$2 is appreciated to cover costs

Paul B. Walker, Jr.
PO Box 353
Galena, Alaska 99741 USA

Paul Walker is located in Galena, Alaska and is a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Be sure to check out Paul’s YouTube channel and SoundCloud channel where everything he logs is recorded and posted. Click here to read his other contributions on the SWLing Post.

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RNZI to run single shortwave transmitter for analog and DRM

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rafman, who writes:

Heard sad news this morning while listening to [RNZI’s] 9700 broadcast. It makes their future dimmer [IMHO].

RNZI will be running on a single transmitter for both analog & DRM. So now you won’t be able to try DRM on 9890 while 9700 is on air.

Thanks for sharing the news, Rafman. Here’s the accompanying RNZ press release with details from Radio New Zealand:

Information for individual analogue short-wave listeners in the Pacific region.

RNZ International (RNZI) is retiring its 27-year-old analogue-only short-wave transmitter and moving to a one-transmitter operation.

From 1 July 2016 we will be using our newer digital/analogue transmitter and swapping between its digital short-wave and analogue short-wave modes throughout each day.

The digital short-wave mode delivers a signal to relaying Pacific stations, and the analogue short-wave mode reaches individual short-wave listeners.

RNZI has made the decision not to replace the old short-wave transmitter, but to instead maximize the flexibility of our newer short-wave transmitter by using either its analogue or digital mode to deliver to different audiences at different times of the day.

We are also focusing on broadening the options for delivering our signal to relaying radio stations. These stations broadcast our daily news and current affairs content over their own local stations – and allow us to reach a large local Pacific audience.

By working with partners like the BBC World Service (Pacific stream) and Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL) (which includes the former TVNZ satellite service) we’ve been extending our content delivery via satellite. We’ll be continuing to focus on this as a complimentary delivery to the DRM digital short-wave service.

RNZI’s online content and delivery, partnerships and use of our specialist content by individuals, media and organisations in the Pacific and worldwide, is also growing.

The move to a one-transmitter operation will result in a reduced service to current individual short-wave listeners in the region. RNZI will still broadcast in analogue short-wave for extensive periods of each day, but there won’t be a 24 hour service as there has been. This is likely to be most felt during breakfast hours when we will need to broadcast a digital signal for relaying stations, rather than an analogue one.

However, RNZI remains committed towards providing an analogue short-wave service for individual listeners across the Pacific. Our role in warning about, and covering, cyclones remains especially important. During cyclone season, RNZI has the flexibility to choose to broadcast entirely in analogue if we need to temporarily provide a fulltime service to individual listeners.

Over time we hope more individuals will be able to access our content online access the region. Online use of RNZI is growing quickly with Pacific visitors and others now increasingly accessing content on the RNZI site.

And in future years, as stations adopt other ways of receiving our signal, we may be able to devote more of our short-wave transmission capacity back into broadcasting in analogue.

With a mix of analogue short-wave, digital DRM short-wave, satellite, partnerships and online content delivery, we remain in a solid position to deliver our unique Pacific content to audiences in the region and beyond.

Our analogue and digital frequency schedule is available at www.rnzi.com along with with updated broadcast times.

Linden Clark
RNZI Manager
Radio New Zealand
[email protected]
[email protected]