Monthly Archives: November 2018

From the Isle of Music, December 2-8
This week, our special guest is Ricardo Oropesa, Artistic Director of Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro, which was awarded a Premio de Honor at Cubadisco 2018 for its 90 years of existence. This is the group that first took the Son from Cuba around the world. Plenty of great music and some interesting history along the way.
The broadcasts take place:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) 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 0100-0200 UTC (New UTC) on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US). This has been audible in parts of NW, Central and Southern Europe with an excellent skip to Italy recently.
3 & 4. Our usual broadcasts on Channel 292 will not be heard this week due to maintenance at the transmitter.

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, December 2, 2018
Episode 90, Hawaii True & False, presents some genuine music from Hawaii and some parodies.
1.Sunday 2300-2330 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
2. Our usual broadcast on Channel 292 will not be heard this week due to maintenance at the transmitter.
Also recommended:
Marion’s Attic, a unique program produced and hosted by Marion Webster featuring early 20th Century records, Edison cylinders etc played on the original equipment, comes on immediately before UBMP on Sundays from 2200-2300 UTC on WBCQ 7490 Khz.

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Catching coastal shortwaves with the CC Skywave SSB

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After Thanksgiving Day (here in the States) my family took a little camping trip on the coast of North Carolina. We spent a few nights near Holden Beach and Oak Island–some of my favorite parts of the NC coast.

Weather was splendid on Sunday, so we took a long walk on the beach and, of course, I packed a portable radio–this time, the CC Skywave SSB.

The Skywave SSB is a pricey portable, but it has certainly become my choice travel radio as it covers so many radio bands (AM/MW, FM, SW, AIR and WX). It’s also incredibly portable and can hang with the best in terms of sensitivity and selectivity.

I didn’t check propagations conditions on Sunday, but there were signals booming in from everywhere. I took a few short sample videos:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Being away from sources of radio interference and standing next to (and occasionally in—!) the Atlantic Ocean certainly helped a great deal with reception.

I had planned to put my Elecraft KX2 on the air while here, but simply didn’t have the time to fit it in with family activities.

Post readers: Do you have any radio vacations on the horizon?

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Cyber Monday Sale on the Google Home Mini $25

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Freitas, who adds the following note to our post about the Echo Dot Cyber Monday sale:

It is also worth noting that the Google Home Mini (a similar product) is also having the same sale. You can snag one for about $25 on most retailers. If you’re invested in the Google ecosystem, then it is definitely worth checking out.

Click here to checkout the Google Home Mini.

Wow–this is a great deal as well. Keep in mind, though, that the Alexa Shortwave Signals skill will not work with Google Home products at present–it only works with Amazon products with the Alexa system.

I’m very tempted to grab a Google Home Mini and see how effectively it works as a WiFi radio. Like the Amazon Echo system, it uses TuneIn as an aggregator.

Thanks for the tip, Chris!

Update: I did purchase the Google Home Mini, but found the price a bit cheaper through BestBuy since they include free shipping.

Click here to check out the Google Home Mini at Best Buy.

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C. Crane Cyber Monday Sale: 10% off all products

Cyber Monday deals on the Echo Dot $19.99 – $24.00

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

Hi Thomas. Last week you mentioned using the Echo Dot with Mark’s Shortwave Signals Alexa skill. At the time the best price was $29.95 for a refurbished unit. Today [Cyber Monday] Amazon is selling the Dot for $19.95. Just snagged one. First thing I’ll install is Mark’s Signals app!

Thanks, Christian, that’s a great price! Turns out, Amazon is also featuring a number of their Alexa-enabled products in the Cyber Monday sale. The 3rd generation Echo Dot (the latest) is also deeply discounted at $24.00.

Keep in mind, the Echo Dot also makes for an excellent WiFi radio as it uses the TuneIn aggregator. Simply ask Alexa to play the station you wish to hear. When paired with a good Bluetooth speaker, the audio is fantastic.

See links below:

Echo Dot 2nd Generation $19.99. (affiliate link)

Echo Dot 3rd Generation $24.00. (affiliate link)

Thanks for the tip, Christian!

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Talking shortwave and spectrum on the Radio Survivor podcast

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Last week, I had the honor of speaking with Eric Klein and Jennifer Waits on the excellent Radio Survivor podcast. It’s rare that in one show I get to spread so much shortwave radio love–thanks for making that happen Radio Survivor:

Perhaps you are like me and you have wished that you could go back in time and spin a radio dial and just listen to and browse the full radio spectrum from another time and place. Our guest on the show, Radio Anthropologist Thomas Witherspoon, is building a website for just such a thing. It’s called the Radio Spectrum Archive and it is not magic, it uses a piece of technology called a software defined radio that makes recording a full spectrum of Shortwave, AM and even FM radio (if you have the computing power to handle the load) a very real possibility. Thomas Witherspoon is also the primary contributor to The Shortwave Listening Post (www.swling.com) so we are going to learn a few things about the wonder that is shortwave radio on planet earth.