Monthly Archives: July 2017

Mike spots the RCA AR-88 in series “Prime Suspect: Tennison”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen (K8RAT), who adds the following to our growing archive of radios in film. Mike writes:

Near the end of the current episode of “Prime Suspect: Tennison” [the radio operator mentions] he was listening on “the RCA 88”.

“Tennison” is set around the early ’70’s.

Great catch, Mike (and thanks to Eric WD8RIF for the screen cap).

According to the Crypto Museum:

The AR-88 was a valve-based shortwave general coverage communications receiver, developed and built by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in the early 1940s. Although the receiver was initially intended as the successor to the AR-77 amateur receiver, the outbreak of WWII made it evolve into a professional high-end military-grade receiver for which cost was no object.

The AR-88 is a 14-valve (tube) receiver, which covers a frequency range of 535 kHz to 32 MHz. Unlike the National HRO receiver, which had pluggable coil packs for each frequency band, the AR-88 uses a six-position band selector. A special version of the receiver, the AR-88LF, was suitable for LF and MF, covering 70 to 550 kHz (continuously) and 1.5 to 30 MHz (continuously).

Continue reading at the Crypto Museum online… 

The Crypto Museum photo of the AR-88 jogged my memory…

Last year, I visited the Musée de la Défense Aérienne at the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Bagotville (a museum I wholeheartedly recommend, by the way).

I snapped this shot of this display:

I’m sure I actually have a close up of this receiver somewhere. It also appears to be an RCA AR-88 based on dial and control configuration, though I certainly could be wrong.

Do any SWLing Post readers have an AR-88? Please comment!

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From the Isle of Music & Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, July 23-29

 

From the Isle of Music, July 23-29
This week, to celebrate the nomination of Abracadabra in the Fusion category of Cubadisco 2017, we are rebroadcasting our interview (with music) with Oriente López. We will also taste a little of Daniel Martin’s new album Distintos.
Four opportunities to listen on shortwave:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in all directions with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EDT in the US)
3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.
From the Isle of Music is not available for listening on demand but some broadcasts can be heard online during the time of the broadcast using Web SDRs or the WBCQ website (during their broadcast) if you are not receiving the radio signal.
Last week, there was fair to good reception of the signal on 9400 in Japan!

Episode 22 of Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, a musical variety program that features a little bit of everything from around the planet, will air on WBCQ the Planet, 7490 KHz, Thursday, July 27 from 2300-2330 UTC (7:00pm-7:30pm EDT in the Americas). This week some of our stops include Colombia, South Korea and Bosnia.  Lately the WBCQ signal has been punching well into Central Europe as well as the Americas. 

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The Tecsun PL-880: triple conversion architecture

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Larry Thompson, who writes:

There’s been some confusion on my part whether the Tecsun PL-880 is a dual conversion or triple conversion receiver. Amazon and eBay list the receiver as double conversion, whereas Universal Radio doesn’t mention either.

After scouring the Instruction Manual, I was pleased to learn that the PL-880 uses the Silicon Labs si4735 DSP microchip and has 4 Intermediate Frequencies.

1st IF: 55.845 MHz
2nd IF: 10.7 MHz
3rd IF: 45 kHz
4th IF: 128 kHz (exclusively for FM)

To me, that looks like a triple conversion architecture. The combination of the DSP microchip, and the triple conversion would explain why my Tecsun PL-880 is so much more sensitive and selective than my Sony ICF-SW8600GR.

My CountyCom GP-5/SSB emergency portable also has the same Silicon Labs DSP chip and it is almost as sensitive as the Tecsun PL-880, far more sensitive than the Sony. I’ve owned a Japan Radio JRC-525 and a Yaesu FT-900AT transceiver for many years, and the PL-880 digs out weak signals better than both those tabletop receivers, both dual conversion.

To quell the speculation, yesterday I contacted Anna at Anon-Co, the worldwide distributor for Tecsun radios. Her quick reply confirms my suspicions that the Tecsun PL-880 is indeed a triple conversion receiver. That would explain why it blows my Sony ICF-SW7600GR out of the water in senitivity and its ability to pull out weak stations.

Among all the other great attributes, this is an welcome discovery and one never mentioned in the specs by the various retailers of this receiver!

Thank you Larry, for shedding light on this–Anna would certainly know.

Your note makes me realize that I really should order a second, current production model PL-880. My PL-880 is from one of the first batches produced. I imagine I could benefit from some of the firmware tweaks that have been made to this receiver over time.  Perhaps it would even be a good time to compare the 1st generation with the current generation?

I just checked and Anon-Co is selling the PL-880 on eBay for $153.99 US shipped.

Have any SWing Post readers compared early and late model PL-880 units? Please comment.

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Ian’s 80th birthday celebration

Ian McFarland (Photo: Colin Newell at DXer.ca)

Earlier this month, Colin Newell asked SWLing Post readers for birthday wishes and memories to share with former Radio Canada International host, Ian McFarland.

Yesterday, I received the following message from Colin:

“For a guy who just turned 80, Ian McFarland looks and sounds amazing.

For the 50+ folks that sent their best wishes for this veteran of World Band Radio, thank you, thank you and thank you.”

Colin has posted photos over at DXer.ca.

You’re right, Colin…Ian looks great! Thanks everyone!

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Shortwave List: Cap’s shortwave schedule Android app now open to Beta testing

A few months ago, long-time SWLing Post contributor, Cap Tux, designed a simple shortwave schedule application for his Android phone. Though he never intended to make the app public, he shared it with me to test on my Moto G5 Plus.

Cap has recently decided that if others in the SWLing Post community would like to Beta test his app, they’re welcome to do so. He notes:

The app was created initially to meet my own requirements as at the time I was travelling a lot for my job and other apps I tried didn’t meet the requirements e.g. Broadcast stations only, filter by Station, Freq, Time, Language and more recently ‘Target Area’ which was added to the app very recently as I was initially using the AOKI list but found that EIBI was updated more frequently and tended to be more accurate.

I do miss some of the features and simplicity of the AOKI list as programming some of the code to respond to the amount of info in the EIBI list was challenging and there is still more that can be done. There is a bug on Android v4.4 (not my bug but the frameworks bug) which I have fixed in v1.1.10 which I can send through later.

I wrote this app as I needed a phone app for my portable radios (PL-660/PL-365) so I could search for shortwave stations using any combination of Station, Frequency, Language, Time (Specific, Real-time incl. day or Any!) or Target Area. The search can even take account of the day of broadcast so if it’s a Friday and the broadcast is only a Saturday, then it won’t show it.

Shortwave List Features:

  • Search the list using any combination of Station, Frequency, Time, Language, Time or Target Area
  • Only broadcast stations are included in the list
  • Scrollable list of stations based on search criteria
  • Get Station, Frequency, Times, Language, Target, Days on-air, Transmitter location and the Broadcasters country of origin of the selected broadcast by a tap on a station
  • Powerful search features with a simple interface
  • Search for specific broadcast times with any combination of Station, Frequency or Language, Target area with future or past times being searchable, although this lists all stations irrespective of the day (as you may want to know a time for a broadcast tomorrow, or yesterday)
  • Search for stations in real-time with any combination of Station, Frequency, Language or Target Area, so the app only lists broadcast stations on-air now (also takes the day into account, so, for example, a station listed as only on-air on a Friday will not show if today is a Saturday)
  • Search for stations transmitting at any time with any combination of Station, Frequency Language or Target Area

Future features in active development:

  • Update shortwave list from the internet

A few examples of use:

  • You hear a station in an unknown language, Select ‘ON AIR’ and enter the ‘Freq’, ‘SEARCH’ and the app will list the possible stations
  • You hear a station in English, select ‘ON AIR’ the ‘Language ‘ set to ‘English’ and enter the ‘Freq’, ‘SEARCH’ and the app will list the possible stations on that frequency right now
  • Want to know when a station is transmitting at a specific time? select the specific time by selecting the UTC time, set the Hour/Minute and enter the station name in the ‘Station’ box and ‘SEARCH’
  • You are listening to a SDR recording from last week and trying to identify a station, enter the ‘Freq’ and the specific UTC time (or ‘Language’ if known), ‘SEARCH’ and the app will list the possible stations
  • Want to tune into broadcasts right now in your language? no problem, just select ‘ON-AIR’ and select your ‘Language’ and ‘SEARCH’
  • List all broadcasts from a specific station, just enter the ‘Station’ name and click ‘SEARCH’
  • List all broadcasts on right now by selecting ‘ON-AIR’ and ‘SEARCH’

Phones that have been tested and will work (You will need Android v5.0.1 or above):

  • Samsung Galaxy S4/S7 (I think all the S series from S4 above should be fine as all have a good screen resolution)
  • Samsung Galaxy J3
  • Google Nexus 4
  • Moto G5 Plus

It should be noted that due to the number of low resolution display phones out there some will not be able to operate the app correctly at present due to the current layout of the components and recommend you use a phone with a decent screen resolution around 1080×1920. I plan to address the screen res issue soon.

What I need from Beta-testers who want to file bug reports:
Phone Make/Model:
Android version:
Shortwave List version in use:
Ease of use:
Speed/Performance:
What would you change/remove/add:
Any screen issues, layout problems or difficulty using a feature:

Please submit your feedback on my Twitter account: @swbcdx

Thank you, Cap!

Readers, please keep in mind that this application is not in the Google Play store because it’s in Beta. You’ll need to download the application to your phone, temporarily allow “Unknown Sources” (here’s a short tutorial), then install the app. It’s very important to only temporarily allow “Unknown Sources”–once this app is installed, please reinstate this security measure.

Please note: If you’re not comfortable downloading and installing an app that is not in the Google Play store, please simply wait for this app to hit the Google Play market possibly at some point in the future.

Click the following link to download the application file to install:

http://www.filedropper.com/shortwavelist-v119-no-permissions

This app requires no permissions. The trade-off is that updates to the schedules cannot be initiated without re-installing an updated app with new schedules embedded.

For what it’s worth, I really like this app! Very simple, effective and works offline.

Here are a few screenshots–I love how he’s kept the interface clean and simple:

Thanks again, Cap, for opening Beta testing to our community.

Please submit your feedback on Cap’s Twitter account: @swbcdx

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Elad FDM-DUO: now available in camouflage!

The Elad FDM-DUO (Photo: Dennis Walter)

Many thanks to Dennis Walter who shares the photo above from the 2017 Ham Radio Friedrichshafen convention.

I’ve always thought the FDM-DUO was a cool transceiver, but I must admit it looks even better in camouflage.

I did warn our buddy Clint (Oxford Shortwave) that he should stick with his stock black FDM-DUO. You see, he takes his FDM-DUO to the field…literally. Can you imagine how he’d feel losing his top-notch camouflaged DX rig in the rough? 🙂

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Valentino experiments with a ferrite sheet loop antenna

Valentino’s homebrew ferrite sheet antenna.

Many thanks to SWLing Post conttributor, Valentino Barbi (I4BBO) who writes detailing a novel approach to FSL antenna design.

Please note that I translated Valentino’s message from Italian to English via Google translate so please forgive any errors. Valentino writes:

FSL antenna radio enthusiasts typically use numerous ferrite bars with high cost, weight and scarcity,

Ukrainian ferrite bar producers have now finished stocks and have raised their prices.

Normally you use this site to build FSL antennas:
http://www.am-dx.com/antennas/FSL%20Antenna%20Design%20Optimization.htm.

I’ve been experimenting with a new antenna design for about 10 days comparing it with a classic FSL with 20 ferrite bars.

Listening to the audio signals are the same, only instrumentally the antenna FSL in ferrite film
Loses -2dB.

The construction is very simple in that the two ends overlap 5 mm.

I did this:

  • I took a sheet of A4 paper, I cut 5mm paper at one end.
  • I laid this sheet on a 10 cm (10 cm) diameter PVC tube.
  • The uncovered part of the tube is cut, now we will have exactly the exact diameter to fix the A4 sheet of ferrite with the overlap of 5 mm.

As for where to source a ferrite sheet, after much research I discovered this supplier almost by accident:

Click here to view the product page and ordering information.

In summary, the main advantages of this antenna design is weight, cost and availability of A4 sheet of ferrite.

Click here to follow Valentino’s antenna project on his website.

Fascinating, Valentino! Please feel free to share any further information about this FSL antenna as you experiment. It’s true that ferrite bars are becoming difficult to source. Sounds like this is an affordable alternative antenna design for ultralight DXing.

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