Monthly Archives: November 2019

Voice of Nigeria would like your reception reports

Photo source: 5N7Q

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl (DL1AX), who shares the following note posted on the 5N7Q DXpedition page:

UPDATE from Bodo, DF8DX.

5N7Q is QRT for now. Rene DL2JRM and Bodo DF8DX enjoyed this activity very much. We logged more than 20,000 QSOs in 9 days of operation. We were active from 10m to 160m in CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8.

While many friends appreciated getting some new band points, operating in FT8 and on the 60m band were first time ever activity.

Our QTH was in the broadcasting station of Voice Of Nigeria in Abuja. We were very grateful for this opportunity to use the broadcasting antennas that have 20dB gain into Europe, NA and SA. Asia was workable with our vertical dipoles or via long path. Unfortunately the giant rotatable antenna cannot be rotated at the moment but we hope that it is doable at the next activity. For low-bands we had some dipoles hanging from the 80m tall link tower. Our signal was good but we clearly had some RX trouble as the noise was very high. Complete log is uploaded to Clublog and Lotw as well. Please use OQRS to receive your paper QSL card via bureau or direct. There are still a lot of mails asking about QSOs that cant be found in the log. Please QRX, I will check all of them carefully but it takes some time. Our QSLs may be requested for free via bureau and Lotw is already uploaded, no waiting, no donation required for this service.

This activity would not have been possible without the effort and help by the staff from Voice Of Nigeria. All credit go to them. Please help us to help them. You may support future activities from here by keeping this wonderful transmitting station on air. Their current broadcasting schedule is: 0600-1100UTC on 7255kHz in AM (beaming to West Africa and SA) 1500-2100UTC on 11770kHz in AM (beaming to West Africa and NA) 1500-2100UTC on 15120kHz in DRM (beaming to EU). Please tune in and listen to Voice Of Nigeria.

Please send your listener reports to:

Head Of Engineering Engr. Jerimoth Canice Voice Of Nigeria Headquarter Oda Cres, Wuse 2 Abuja Nigeria [email protected]. Your listener reports are highly appreciated and help to keep transmitting from here.

Many thanks for sharing this, Harald! Readers, if you’ve logged VoN recently, please send them a reception report!

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Sangean DT-140 & SR-32: New Sangean AM/FM radios


Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Michael Schuster, who writes:

The Sangean SR-32 from the 2020 catalog.

Attached image [above] is extracted from a PDF of the 2020 catalog, it shows the
upcoming Sangean DT-140 and SR-32.

Wondering if the SR-32 (from the almost-defunct “slide rule” series) uses DSP-as-analog tuning like its larger sibling with speaker.

Thanks for the tip, Mike!  Yes, I’d be willing to bet that the SR-32 is DSP-based. I might have to check these out further.

It’s also nice to see that they also feature both the ATS-909x and ATS-405 shortwave portables in the 2020 catalog!

Click here to download the Sangean 2020 catalog (PDF).

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Encore – Classical Music on Shortwave Friday Saturday Sunday

This coming weekend Encore – Classical Music on Radio Tumbril will broadcasting on a third frequency again.
WWCR in Tennessee are transmitting the show at 01:00 UTC Sunday 1st December (Saturday evening 30th November local in US) on 6115 kHz.
Encore – Classical Music this weekend is – of course – being broadcast as usual by Channel 292 (Europe) on 6070 kHz at 15:00 UTC Sunday 1st December.
And by WBCQ on 7490 kHz at 01:00 UTC Monday 2nd December.
There is a repeat on 6070 kHz on Friday 6th December at 19:00 UTC.
Do let us know how well you can pick up Encore at your location by emailing to [email protected]. We try to reply to all emails and will send eQSL cards for full reports.
This week’s programme starts with the Much Ado about Nothing suite by Erich Korngold – with a madrigal by Bonnie Miksch performed by the excellent choral ensemble Siglo di Oro sandwiched in between. After that we have two versions of a movement from Arcadiana by Thomas Ades – one instrumental and the other choral – for comparison. Some electronic music from 1980s to follow then a couple of pieces by Rameau and finally a Beethoven piano sonata.
Both Channel 292 and WBCQ as well as WWCR can be pulled live off the internet if the reception is poor in your location. Easy to find their sites with a google search.
Thank you for spreading the word about Encore – Classical Music on Shortwave. And thank you to everyone for letting us know how well the signal is received where you live.
Brice Avery – Encore – Radio Tumbril.
Regular Broadcast times are:
15:00 – 16:00 UTC Sunday, and repeated 19:00 – 20:00 UTC Friday on 6070 kHz Channel 292 (Germany).
01:00 – 02:00 UTC Sunday on 6115 kHz WWCR (Tennessee).
01:00 – 02:00 UTC Monday on 7490 kHz WBCQ – (Maine).
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Radio Deal: Eton Elite Executive for $100 shipped

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Walrus, who notes that the Eton Elite Executive is currently $100 shipped and with free returns via Amazon.com.

Click here to check out this deal at Amazon (affiliate link supports the SWLing Post).

Check out all of our holiday sales tips by bookmarking the tag  Black Friday Radios 2019

Do you have a deal tip?  Please share them via email, or simply leave a comment!

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Thanksgiving: A great time for family, friends, food, and pirate radio!

Here in the States, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving today. It’s my favorite holiday because it’s all about giving thanks and spending time with friends. family, and eating some amazing food.

Another great thing about Thanksgiving is it also equates to a long extended weekend for many who have full-time careers. That includes, of course, shortwave radio pirates! Anytime there’s a holiday, pirates are more likely to hit the air.

Hang around the pirate radio watering holes (including 6,800 – 6,990 kHz) and you just might log a few new stations! Do you live outside North America? Try using a KiwiSDR in the US or Canada to hunt pirates. It’s believed that the majority of pirate radio stations are located in the Northeast, so you should choose a KiwiSDR location with that in mind. If you’re new to pirate radio listening, check out our tutorial.

Thank you…

Speaking of giving thanks, thank you dear readers for making the SWLing Post such a welcoming community to radio enthusiasts of all stripes. The SWLing Post is a true labor of love, and it’s an honor to serve it up to you!

I’d especially like to thank our Patrons, Producers, Executive Producers and Coffee Fund contributors. Your financial support helps keep this a dynamic radio space over the long haul!

You all make this a terrific place for everything radio!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Mark your calendars! Christmas on-air event to honor Radio Luxembourg

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alexander (DL4NO), who writes:

For a very long time Radio Luxembourg was *the* pop music radio in Europe, especially in Germany and GB. At a time when Germany only had its public radio system, the Radio Luxembourg was the one and only. But this is history.

At Christmas, several German shortwave broadcasters, organized by Radio DARC, will transmit on 6070 kHz in memoriam of Radio Luxembourg from Vienna. See the attached flyer [above]. BTW, radio amateurs play important roles: Head of Radio DARC is Rainer, DF2NU. Moderator of “Hit AM” is Christian, DO8CN. And for “Goldrausch 6070” Eckard, DD9NF, sits in front of the microphone.

I could imagine that quite some ham spirit was used in this project.

Excellent! Thank you for the heads-up, Alexander! I’ll post a reminder closer to Christmas.

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The Verge: “Who’s afraid of the PIRATE Act? Not Joan Martinez”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who shares this article from The Verge:

When she was growing up in East Flatbush among the Haitian diaspora, former pirate broadcaster Joan Martinez — no relation to the New York radio legend Angie Martinez, despite what Joan claimed to her friends as a youth — said that the sounds of pirate radio were the backdrop to her childhood. “Starting Friday night, all throughout the weekend, you would just hear all these like crazy DJs just talking and all this music,” Martinez says. Her parents’ apartment was the meeting spot for her whole family, a place where they’d reminisce about being in Haiti. They needed a place that felt like home. Martinez says that, as a kid, she never understood why the stations they listened to only broadcast on the weekends. As she got older, there were fewer of them — and then in 2010, she says, they started to come back online.

Martinez got into the scene as a broadcaster after her mother turned down an offer to be a DJ at a pirate station. “She was like, ‘No, I don’t want to. However, I do have a daughter that did study broadcasting in college,’” — Joan — “and then all of a sudden they were like, ‘We want her. Like, can we bring her in here?’” Martinez went. It was 2010. Her first job was as an anchor, where she talked through the news from the Caribbean and New York City. Then she filled in for a couple of high school girls who had their own show — and eventually took the spot over completely. It was a talk show she did with her friends for a year and a half, until Martinez decided to go back to school. (“It was a pretty live show. Sometimes things get a little raunchy, sometimes things get a little too crazy and it’s like, I don’t want to piss off my supervisor,” she says. Pirates have org charts and standards, too.)

After school, she went back, but not for very long; academia pulled her back in, and today, she’s in grad school, currently at work on her thesis. “I was doing pirate for a good five years and then when I got into grad school, since the coursework was becoming very time consuming, I had to kind of let that go,” Martinez says, adding that she’s mostly involved these days in an administrative, consulting way. “However, you know, I still keep my fingers in their pot.”[…]

Continue reading the full article at The Verge.

The Flat Bush area of Brooklyn, NY, is the cultural center of the FM Pirate Radio Scene. Check out David Goren’s Brookly Pirate Radio Soundmap to dive in deeper!

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