The Grundig Edition (Eton) Field BT
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who notes:
The Eton Field BT’s price has been reduced to $110.49 since last Monday on Amazon.
Click here to view on Amazon.com (affiliate link).
Click here to read Troy’s recent comparison of the Field BT to the Tecsun S-8800.
Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates. Halloween falls on Tuesday, October 31st, however you should start listening for activity this weekend as the pirates emerge like The Great Pumpkin!
Here are three things you’ll want to do this weekend and on Halloween night:
Check out Andrew Yoder’s pirate radio blog ,the Hobby Broadcasting blog.
Andrew is the author of the Pirate Radio Annual and a guru on shortwave pirate radio. Andrew has already logged some Halloween stations this weekend.
Follow real-time pirate radio spots and loggings on the HF Underground discussion forum. Chris Smolinski at HFU typically posts post-Halloween pirate stats on the SWLing Post as well–always a fascinating overview.
Listen for pirate radio stations today and throughout the weekend! Turn on your radio anytime today, but especially around twilight and tune between 6,920 – 6,980 kHz. Pirates broadcast on both AM and SSB; you’re bound to hear a few. If you’re brand new to pirate radio listening, you might read my pirate radio primer by clicking here. I will be listening until late in the evening.
Happy Halloween to all!
Speaking of pirates, don’t forget: the 2017 Global HF Pirate Radio Weekend is next weekend (Nov 3-5)!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rolf Snijder, who writes:
I have made the same modification to the Tecsun PL-680, that was done [by many on the] PL-660 earlier.
The PL-680 is now a great radio; I think now one of the best! I do not own a PL-660, so I cannot compare.
Overview of modification.
For disable soft mute you can see the 2 joints and you must scratch a path on the print near the switch. (same on a PL-660)
Closeup of joint #1 (click to enlarge)
Closeup of joint #2 (click to enlarge)
With the tone switch [on the left side panel of radio] you can turn the muting on and off. On FM I need to set it on for better results, but on LW MW and SW always off!
Frequency adjust is with the pot: adj1391 in the right corner. (for the 1 kHz off freq)
Click to enlarge.
Hope I can help someone with this on your great site.
Greetings,
Rolf Snijder
Netherlands
Many thanks for sharing this PL-680 mod, Rolf! This seems like a simple enough project and one that can be undone if you aren’t pleased with the results.
Post readers: Please comment if you’ve made this modification to your PL-680 or PL-660 or if you have other successful modifications to share!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Paul Walker who notes that, according to their latest schedule, Deutsche Welle has dropped English language shortwave services. Paul shared the following links:
Current shortwave schedule:
http://www.dw.com/downloads/41133929/b17webkw.pdfLinked from this page:
http://www.dw.com/en/dw-radio-programs/a-1777509English only gets one hour a day on satellite
http://www.dw.com/downloads/41133930/b17websat.pdf
(Source: Vancouver Sun via William Lee)
Victor Jaeggle loved radios.
“He had a big, shortwave radio he kept by his bedside,” said his daughter, Susan. “This thing would buzz all night. He’d have headphones on, listening to San Francisco, the British news. He was just a radio junkie.”
Jaeggle wasn’t just a radio listener, he was a radio collector. He bought his first cabinet radio from an auction as a pre-teen, and over the decades amassed a huge collection.
“He spent many hours torturing his family with the screeches, whines and whistles of accurate restoration in an ever-shrinking house full of radios,” Susan recounts, with a laugh.
“(The basement) was chock-a-block with radios,” said his ex-wife, Anne. “You kind of wandered down this narrow pathway to get from the bottom of the stairs to the laundry room.”
Jaeggle died on Dec. 8, 2014, at age 72. Almost three years later, his family has put his radios and gramophones up for sale Oct. 28 at Able Auctions in Abbotsford.
Sam Garandza of Able has never sold anything quite like it.
“This is the biggest collection I’ve ever sold,” said Garandza. “I think I had 70 radios in one consignment, but this has to be 400 or 500 radios. (There are so many) we are selling some in group lots, so we might end up with 200 to 250 lots.”[…]
Continue reading at the Vancouver Sun…
Many thanks for the tip, William! Thankfully, I live too far away from this auction to attend, else I’d be tempted by these beauties!
(Source: WAFF)
A Guntersville man is being slapped with a $15,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission. They say he’s been operating an illegal radio station.
Some people in the neighborhood say they were aware of Michael Dudley’s radio operation. Others say they weren’t, but many people say it’s a pretty stiff penalty.
The FCC shut down the makeshift radio station running from Dudley’s home. In documents from the FCC, Dudley was confronted twice last year for sending music through the airwaves on 103.9 FM without a license. The first time was a warning. The second prompted the fine.[…]
(Source: Contributor Sam Matheny via the NAB Blog)
In recent months, the Southeast U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have been pummeled by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. The wildfires in California have been equally devastating. These storms and fires have wreaked havoc on communications networks and challenged public safety officials’ ability to get lifeline information to affected residents.
At a time when many Americans have come to rely on their smartphones, massive cellular outages were suffered from Texas to Florida on an even greater scale than in Superstorm Sandy five years ago, and California has also suffered major outages in key locations. In Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, it may take weeks and even months to fully restore cellular service because of the damage to the electric grid. This has been a painful reminder of the need for a redundant and pervasive communications infrastructure, especially in times of disaster and emergency.
Radio, television, cellular, satellite, and other communications networks all have a role to play in a crisis. In the wake of these storms, a passionate discussion about activating FM radio in smartphones – and, specifically, Apple’s iPhone – has emerged. This discussion was started by those most impacted by Irma when the South Florida Sun-Sentinel editorialized on the issue and Senator Bill Nelson of Florida called for activating FM chips in smartphones. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai also issued a public statement calling for Apple to activate FM chips to promote public safety and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also weighed in with her support.
There has been a good bit of technical back and forth since these calls to “light up the chip,” and this is my effort to try and set the record straight.
Here is the BLUF – Bottom Line Up Front
Apple has built and offered a wonderful FM app in their iPod Nano for many years. They know how to make FM work, and work well, in their mobile devices. Apple even wrote its own Nano app that allows the user to pause live radio and buffer up to 15 minutes of content.
However, Apple has specifically chosen not to offer this functionality in their iPhone. Indeed, Apple has disabled FM chips despite the capability being available on the communications module within the iPhone. This means other app developers cannot offer FM apps either.
Apple CEO Tim Cook hails from Mobile, Alabama and attended Auburn University. Mobile has been impacted by at least 10 different hurricanes since 1969 and that was prior to Nate, which brought a nearly six-foot storm surge and flooding, so I have to believe Mr. Cook has a personal appreciation for the damage these storms can inflict. We invite him and Apple to reconsider activating FM radio in iPhones, and we stand ready to work together to enable this important service.[…]