Monthly Archives: January 2017

PantronX Titus II update

Many thanks to Mike at PantronX who has provided the following update on the Titus II portable SDR:

As you can imagine the response to Titus has almost been overwhelming! Pre-orders far exceeded our imagination and excitement from broadcasters has been very loud. DRM and digital broadcasting seems to be reinvigorated with Titus in 2017. I think we really broke the price barrier that most everyone has been dreaming of and provided the flexibility
that has held back the cause.

As posted on http://hfcc.org/delivery/receivers.phtml

‘Update on availability received from PantronX: “We have been overwhelmed with the response to Titus with orders and request – coupled with an early Chinese New Year that the pre-production date has slipped a bit. Please be patient as we work with our suppliers and add more functions.” ‘

We are doing all we can to push – Chinese New Year is a crazy time – the factories are shut down for 3 to 4 weeks and as you can imagine the stress prior to and the performance after.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks our http://titusradio.com/ website will undergo a much needed update. So much to do – but we are making good headway.

Thank you, Mike! I’ve had a number of readers asking about progress on the Titus II, so I appreciate the update!

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Arecibo: Legendary radio telescope hangs in the balance

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The Arecibo Radio Telescope, at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. At 1000 feet (305 m) across, it is the second largest dish antenna in the world. (Source: Wikipedia)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following story from Nature:

“Some of the observatories targeted in the review have found potential partners: New Mexico State University in Las Cruces is leading an effort to take over the Dunn Solar Telescope in Sunspot, New Mexico. Others remain in limbo, including the 100-metre radio telescope in Green Bank, West [Virgina], where university partners have offered limited help.”

Click here to read the full article on Nature’s website.

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From the Isle of Music, week of January 16-22

Tecsun PL-880: Richard shares winter DXing notes

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who lives in New Brunswick, Canada, and sent the following update earlier this month:

I often go outdoors to escape the RFI generated in and around the house, which can be even worse during the holidays with all the LED Christmas displays.

Trouble is, the snow is getting a bit deep for the trek to the back of the cleared part of my yard.

The attached photos show my setup on New Year’s Day to record Stephen Cooper’s DigiDX program over WRMI.

One thing about DXing and SWLing outside in the winter is that the knobs on the Tecsun PL-880 can become stiff to turn if it’s too cold and the battery doesn’t last as long as when it’s warm outside. Best approach is to go out with a fully charged battery, tune to a particular frequency and record the audio for later playback.

[…]I’ve also noted on a couple of occasions that the Tecsun will shut itself off after a few hours in really cold weather (around -20°C). And it’s not that the battery power is exhausted. I can turn it back on manually and it shows plenty of battery capacity remaining.

Thanks for sharing your notes, Richard! It certainly looks like a winter wonderland at your home. I like how you’ve made such a lightweight, portable station that protects the PL-880 from moisture.

Paul Walker also uses the PL-880 extensively in Galena, Alaska–in some very cold temps as well. Perhaps we can compare notes.

Post readers: What radios do you use outdoors in winter conditions? Please feel free to share your experiences!

By the way: I should offer my sincere apologies for sharing beautiful winter wonderland scenes while many of our dear readers in Australia are coping with a sweltering heatwave! 🙂 Perhaps we should also be sharing notes about high temp outdoor DXing!?

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Oops…Dutch regulator removes FM broadcaster’s antenna

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(Source: Southgate ARC via Mike Terry)

Dutch regulator removes broadcaster’s antenna

It is reported the Dutch Radiocommunications Agency dismantled the antenna of a legally operating broadcast station

It appears they thought Vechtdal NL in Ommen on 105.6 MHz was a pirate but the station, an associate of Vechtdal FM, was correctly licenced. The Agency says that something went wrong with the checking of licences.

The antenna was on the watchtower of the State Forestry Besthmenerberg Ommen near Nieuwleusen. It is unclear if the Radiocommunications Agency will pay compensation for the damage.

Radio.NL article
http://radio.nl/812498/legaal-radiostation-vechtdal-nl-door-at-uit-de-lucht-gehaald

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Video: Ivan surveys Cuban TV from a cruise ship

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan Cholakov, who shares the following:

[W]hile on a cruise ship 30 miles off the coast of Cuba (January 2017) I pointed a small active antenna towards the island and scanned for old fashioned analog TV.

The results show analog TV is alive and well in Cuba! Multiple programs on multiple channels.

From what I understand Cuba has selected the Chinese digital TV standard but using their own channel spacing so I am not aware of any receivers that can pick up Cuba’s digital TV transmissions.

I posted the YouTube video of my channel scan here:

Click here to view on YouTube.

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Shortwave Relays This Weekend

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(Source: Tom Taylor)

Relays this Weekend

Hamurger Lokal Radio via Shortwave Station Göhren, Germany with 1KW to Western Europe:
6190 KHz Every Saturday 07.00 to 11.00 UTC
7265 KHz Every Saturday 11.00 to 16.00 UTC
9485 KHz Every Sunday 10.00 to 13.00 UTC
Contact email: [email protected]

NEXT WEEK Radio City via:
IRRS to Europe on 7290 KHz (every 3rd Friday) between 19.00 to 20.00 UTC
IRRS to Europe on 9510 KHz (every Saturday) between 09.00 to 10.00 UTC
Challenger Radio to Northern Italy on 1368 KHz every Saturdays from 20.00 UTC onwards
Radio Merkurs on 1485 KHz Every Saturday between 20.00 onwards
Contact email: [email protected]
A comment: IRRS has been noted on a Sunday on 9880 kHz instead of 9510 kHz, in order to avaoid co-channel
interference from a domestic Chinese station. This may perhaps also apply to Saturday transmissions.

European Music Radio Transmissions via;
WBCQ to Central & North America on 7490 KHz on 14th January between 22.00 to 23.00 UTC
KBC to Western Europe on 6045 KHz on 15th January between 09.00 to 10.00 UTC
Shortwave Station Göhren on 9485 KHz on 15th January between 09.00 to 10.00 UTC
Channel 292 on 6070 KHz on 15th January between 14.00 to 15.00 UTC
Contact email: [email protected]

EMR Internet Repeats on 15th January 2017:
EMR will repeat this months Transmissions via two streams running at the following Times:16.00, 18.00, 20.00 UTC
http://nednl.net:8000/emr.m3u will be on 96 kbps /44 KHz stereo for normal listening
http://nednl.net:8000/emr24.m3u will be 24 kbps / 22 KHz mono will be especially for low bandwidth like mobile phones.
( at 17.00, 19.00 & 21.00 UTC are recordings from the 15th of January 1978 with AJ’s DX & Roger Tate’s mail box )

KBC via:
Media Broadcast to America on 6145 KHz Every Sunday between 00.00 to 01.00
Contact email: [email protected]

Hobart Radio via:
Channel 292 to Western Europe on 6070 KHz Sundays between 21.00 to 21.30 UTC
WRMI to Americas, Asia/Pacific on 9955 KHz Sunday between 03.30 to 04.00 UTC
WRMI to Americas, Asia/Pacific on 9955 KHz Tuesday between 22.30 to 23.00 UTC
WBCQ to North America on 5130 KHz Mondays 03.30 to 04.00 UTC
Contact email: [email protected]

For outside the listening area please try the Twente/Netherlands Web RX at http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

You can also hear many European free and alternative stations via the Internet at: http://laut.fm/jukebox

Radio Channel 292 Transmission schedules on 6070 KHz (on the air every day):
http://www.channel292.de/schedule-for-bookings/

Radio Mi Amigo Transmission schedules:
www.radiomiamigo.es/shortwave

Good Listening!
73s