Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ralf Bender, who shares the following update from Channel 292 after recent damage to their antenna farm:
Since 0910 UTC this morning we are back on air on all three frequencies; 9670 using the dipole, repair of the beam might last one to two weeks depending on the weather.
Thanks for the update, Ralf!
Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Mike Terry, Dave Zantow, and John Figliozzi for the following tips:
It wasn’t Cincinnati’s first radio station, but WLW-AM is still the biggest.
Cincinnati industrialist Powel Crosley, Jr. began broadcasting WLW-AM over a 20-watt station from his College Hill home on March 2, 1922 – which means that the station is entering its 100th year today.
WLW-AM wasn’t Cincinnati’s first commercial radio station, but it is the oldest surviving station from the 1920s. WMH was operated by the Precision Instrument Co. from Dec. 30, 1921, to January 1923. WMH was sold to Crosley and merged into WLW, says Randy Michaels, the former WLW-AM programmer and Jacor/Clear Channel executive who is the best radio historian I know.
In 1934, WLW-AM became “the Nation’s station” when President Franklin D. Roosevelt flipped a switch in the White House to activate the station’s unprecedented 500,000-watt experimental transmitter under its Tylersville Road tower. WLW-AM broadcast at “super power” around the clock for five years, through 1939, and continued the mega-wattage output midnight-2 a.m. until 1943. For years WLW-AM has boasted that the 50,000-watt signal reaches 38 states. (I’ve heard the station in New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Missouri.)
For 99 years, WLW-AM has broadcast some of the most popular personalities in town: Jim Scott, Gary Burbank, Bob Trumpy, Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall, Cris Collinsworth, Jim LaBarbara, Bill Cunningham, Mike McConnell and Dale Sommers. Before them came Ruth Lyons, Bob Braun, Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, newsman Peter Grant, sportscaster Red Barber and comedian Red Skelton.
Although WLW-AM likes to promote itself as “news radio,” it’s perhaps best known for carrying Reds and most Bengals games, plus University of Cincinnati football and basketball and Xavier basketball.[…]
The WWVB broadcast system is being upgraded with new equipment to improve the reliability of the signal. In order to install this equipment, beginning on March 9, 2021 the WWVB signal may be operated on a single antenna at approximately 30 kW radiated power for periods up to several days in duration, and may have occasional outages. Periods of reduced power operation lasting longer than 30 minutes will be logged on the WWVB Antenna Configuration and Power web page, and any outage longer than five minutes’ duration will be recorded on the WWVB Outage web page. Upgrades are expected to be complete by March 31, 2021.
Following a Freedom of Information request about the age of radio amateurs Ofcom said they do not hold Date-of-Birth information for many radio amateurs but released what information they do have
Ofcom say “We do not hold a full breakdown of the age of issued amateur radio licensees as date of birth is not a mandatory field for licence applications.”
In September 2000 the then communications regulator (RA) abolished the ban on people under 14-years-old holding a Full amateur licence, since that time a person’s date of birth has served little regulatory purpose.
The data Ofcom released showed they only had Date-of-Birth information for:
7,312 out of 28,845 Foundation licences
4,104 out of 12,127 Intermediate licences
44,944 out of 54,072 Full licencesAs of March 1, 2021 there was a total of 95,044 valid UK amateur radio licences.
Download the FoI reply and the available age data at
https://ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/214915/age-of-amateur-radio-licensees.pdfYou can submit a Freedom of Information request to Ofcom online at
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/new/ofcom
Unlocking the Airwaves: Revitalizing an Early Public and Educational Radio Collection is a comprehensive online collection of early educational public radio content from the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB). The forerunner of CPB and its arms, NPR and PBS, the NAEB developed and distributed educational radio programs and accompanying print materials to schools and communities across the United States. What’s more, the NAEB lobbied extensively to unlock the airwaves—to access precious frequency space—in order to bring the voices of poet Robert Frost, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and conservationist “Ranger Mac,” among many other individuals, into American homes and classrooms.
The NAEB’s history is the dramatic story of idealists who believed in the utopian possibilities of technology for education and social uplift and who faced considerable challenges in pursuit of those goals, including economic depression, world war, and the scarcity of the electromagnetic spectrum. It’s a story that has much to tell us about 20th century American culture, as well as the 21st century’s environment of online educational technology and podcasting that we live in today.
Despite its historic importance and contemporary relevance, most of the NAEB members’ programs were never heard again after their initial brief moments on the air. The archives for the radio programs and their related paper documentation have been split for over 25 years between two institutions: the University of Maryland and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Unlocking the Airwaves reunites the split collections, finally realizing the potential of the collections of the NAEB for exploration and and the broader public.
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ralf Bender, who shares the following notice from Channel 292:
A heavy storm that hit us Saturday afternoon, caused severe damage to our antennas.
Since Saturday, 1528 UTC we are off air.
We hope that we can repair some of the damages on Sunday, and to be back on air in the evening; but it is not sure if on one, two, all three frequencies and
if at all.We say thank you to all of you who have already sent donations to help us to pay for the damages, or have told us they will do.
Thank you very much for your support in hard times.
Thank you for the tip, Ralf.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow, who shares the following video from the Computer History Archives Project YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/BillR7xtTxc
Image by Jon Tyson
Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Ron, Valdo Karamitrov, Ronald Kenyon, and the Southgate ARC for the following tips:
When we think of technology our imagination usually takes us to images of the future. But for some, technology links us to the past – whether for nostalgia or for personal reasons
Following our recent feature on vintage technology, we asked you to share some of your collections with us – and people from around the world responded..
Rob Seaward, North Yorkshire, UK: 1949 Murphy A146 radio
I have a collection of older technology which I have collected throughout my life – including old cameras, calculators, hi-fis and radios. I had been interested in music from an early age, but it was really when my father purchased a Bang and Olufsen music centre that my interest in not only music, but style and function really took off.
To me, a lower middle-class grammar school kid living in Bradford, I suddenly had access to a world of real style and glamour.
My favourite piece must be the Murphy A146 console radio designed by Gordon Russell in 1949.
Its nickname is the “Batwing” because of the shape of the back panel. The sound is rich, slightly warm and typical of valve equipment. In its day, the radio cost the equivalent of an average monthly wage, it was built to last and the original valves are still working today.
However, as it pre-dates FM it is a little limited. I’ve had it restored and as part of the process we had a Bluetooth adapter installed which means I can now play my favourite digital music through this wonder from the 1940s – which really amazes people.[…]
Artificially constrained designs can be among the most challenging projects to build, and the most interesting to consider. The amateur radio world is no stranger to this, with homebrew radio designs that set some sort of line in the sand. Such designs usually end up being delightfully minimalist and deeply instructive of first principles, which is one reason we like them so much.
For a perfect example of this design philosophy, take a look at [VK3YE]’s twist on the classic “10-Minute Transmitter”. (Video, embedded below.)
The design dates back to at least the 1980s, when [G4RAW] laid down the challenge to whip up a working transmitter from junk bin parts and make a contact within 15 minutes — ten for the build and five for working the bands. [VK3YE] used the “oner” — one-transistor — design for his 10-minute transmitter, but invested some additional time into adding a low-pass filter to keep his signal clean, and a power amplifier to boost the output a bit.[…]
Since the advent of analog TVs, channel 37 has always been static. Here’s why.
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.
I’m endlessly fascinated by stories of the quirks that were built into the TV system where the well-laid plans of the system simply fell apart because it was asked to do too many things.
Nearly five years ago, I wrote about one of them, the tale of how radio broadcasters were able to shoehorn an additional FM station into the radio because of the proximity of TV’s channel 6 to the rest of the radio feed.
So when I was informed that there was another oddity kinda like this involving the TV lineups, I decided I had to take a dive in.
It’s a tale that centers around channel 37, which was a giant block of static in most parts of the world during the 20th century.
The reason for that was simple: it couldn’t fend off its scientific competition.
1952
The year that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission opened up the television system to use UHF, or ultra high frequency signals. The practical effect of this addition of bandwidth was that the total number of potential TV stations increased dramatically, from 108 to 2,051, overnight. The first UHF applications were granted on July 11, 1952, according to The History of UHF Television, a site dedicated to the higher-frequency television offerings.
The radio telescope that became a headache for the television industry
Within a 600-mile radius of the city of Danville, Illinois, population 31,246, are numerous major cities—among them Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Toronto, and Washington, DC.
Nearly the entire length of the Mississippi River fits into that radius. If Danville was located just a little farther to the east, the radius would also include Philadelphia and New York City. For all intents and purposes, a 600-mile radius from Eastern Illinois covers basically the entire East Coast except the state of Florida and the Northeast.[…]
Lou Ottens, inventor of the cassette tape and a CD pioneer died aged 94 at his home in Duizel in Brabant on Saturday, Dutch media report.
Ottens, who studied to be an engineer, started working for Philips in 1952. Eight years later he became head of the firm’s recently introduced product development department. Within a year he and his team had developed the first portable tape recorder of which over a million were sold. Two years later he revolutionised the old reel-to-reel tape system by inventing the cassette tape.
‘I got annoyed with the clunky, user-unfriendly reel to reel system, it’s that simple’, Ottens said later. The new carrier had to be small enough to fit into his jacket pocket, Ottens decided, and he had a wooden model made to determine the ideal size. In 1963 the first plastic encased cassette tape was presented at an electronics fair carrying the slogan ‘smaller than a pack of cigarettes!’ The tapes were quickly copied by the Japanese but in different formats!
Ottens managed to make a deal with Sony to use the mechanism patented by Philips to introduce a standard cassette which was then rolled out globally. Over 100 billion were sold worldwide. Ottens went on to develop the CD, which again became a Sony-Philips standard and which sold over 200 billion.
In 1986 Ottens retired but he was often asked if he was proud of his inventions, which allowed millions to have access to music. ‘I have no ‘pride dial’’ Ottens said in an interview, stressing that both inventions were team efforts. His biggest regret was that that Sony, not Philips, invented what he considered to be the ideal application for the cassette tape, the Walkman. ‘That still hurts,’ he said. Dubious about the recent revival of the cassette tape Ottens said ‘nothing could beat the sound of a CD.’
Read more at DutchNews.nl
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/03/dutch-inventor-of-the-audio-cassette-tape-dies-aged-94/?
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jack Dully, who writes:
I am just wondering what portable receivers are more susceptible to overloading with long dipoles, say 60-70 ft.
I regularly use such and I have never noticed anything unusual happening with a Sony ICF-7600GR, Grundig G3, or PL-880 to name a few. I just ordered a Tecsun 680. Perhaps many of the newer radios have better AGC thresholds or more robust front ends but I really don’t know for sure.
[Also] how exactly do you know if your receiver (portable OR not) is being overloaded by too big of an antenna (ie. dipole, inverted V and the like) and will it damage your receiver? Is there still a way of using a large antenna to capture more distant stations safely, especially with good quality portables?
Thank you for sharing this question, Jack, and my hope is that SWLing Post readers can chime in with details and advice in the comments section of this post.
These are deep topics, but I’ll try to answer a few of your questions…
First of all, you definitely can harm a portable radio by hooking it up to a large antenna. Many portables have no means of protecting themselves from ESD (Electrostatic Discharge). By hooking a portable up to a long wire antenna, you can expose it to ESD which will essentially deafen your radio until you’re able to repair it. Indeed, this reminds me of an article from our archives regarding a Tecsun PL-600 ESD repair. Some radios do have built-in ESD protection (like the PL-680), but I’m not entirely sure it would offer protection from a particularly strong ESD pulse.
Symptoms of overloading can vary. Sometimes overloading can sound like background splatter and even popping. Sometimes you’ll hear “images” of broadcasters across the bands; muffled audio of a blowtorch station. Another sign of overload is when your signal meter jumps at the same time your receiver goes deaf. It’s as if your radio is simply overwhelmed by strong signals and it can manifest itself in odd ways especially since the AGC usually falls apart.
Like you, I’ve found that my Sony ICF-7600GR seems to be able to handle large wire antennas with no discernible overload. Also, the Tecsun S-8800 (above) is well-equipped to handle larger external antennas and even sports a proper antenna port on the back. I know Sangean ATS-909X owners who only use their radio with an external wire antenna and have excellent results.
Some portable radios are very sensitive with the built-in whip antenna, but fall apart if attached to a long wire antenna.
In general, the cheaper the radio, the less likely it has a front end and filtering that can cope with overloading.
Please comment with your experience regarding overloading. Have you found some radio models better than others at coping with blowtorch stations, for example? What do you do to protect your receivers from electrostatic discharge when hooked up to large antennas? Please comment!
