Monthly Archives: June 2022

Introducing the new SWLing Post Message Board!

Friends, I’d like to share some good news with you!

The short version:

I’ve created an SWLing Post discussion board that anyone can join, free of charge, at SWLing.net.

My hope is that this will be a spot for community members to get quick answers to questions and connect with other like-minded operators.

Everyone is welcome and this board is already populated with a number of moderators who will make sure that all questions–no matter how simple–are welcome. Trolls and rude people will be weeded out.

I would encourage you to create an account and check it out: http://swling.net

The long version:

In the past, I’ve mentioned in posts that email from readers and subscribers (of both QRPer.com and the SWLing Post) has increased to a point that I can no longer keep up with them. It became very evident when I went camping in West Virginia last month and came back home to find no less than 60 messages in my inbox. These 60 messages were all ones needing some sort of reply or acknowledgement–they didn’t include notifications and SPAM.

I take pride in replying to each and every message I receive, but sadly I can no longer keep up with the volume. Sadly, I don’t have enough time especially with my busy family life.

In fact, I realized recently that replying to emails is actually taking a large bite out of the time I have to do content creation. I can’t let that happen, because that could quickly lead to burn-out. Both of my sites are pure labors of love and I enjoy them immensely. Continue reading →

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A little off-line, off-grid camping

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You might have noticed a lack of posts this weekend and that would be because I was completely off-grid and off-line, camping with two good friends in Pisgah National Forest.

It was brilliant, actually. I got to hang with friends I’ve known for over 30 years, test my new one person backpack tent (a.k.a. the “Bear Burrito”–the one on the right above), and of course I played a bit of radio.

Black bears are a fact of life here in the mountains of western North Carolina and we spotted three hanging out within 25 meters of our campsite.

By the way: the trick when camping with bears? Don’t put food in your tent, else that whole “bear burrito” thing becomes a reality.

I had a fabulous time putting my Elecraft KX1 “Ruby” on the air. I made perhaps 15 contacts in CW (Morse Code) with 3 watts of power.

One of the cool things about the KX1 is you can change the mode to SSB and actually tune through several shortwave broadcast bands (if you have the three or four band version of the KX1). Of course, I had to do a little SWLing.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m also a proper coffee snob and I firmly believe coffee tastes better when brewed outdoors. Yesterday morning, I brewed a pot of Rock Creek French Roast.

Off-grid, off-line camping recharges my internal batteries and it’s for this reason, I’ll be doing a lot more this year with my family.

It’s is also a brilliant way to experience an environment without any forms of radio interference (QRM or RFI). If you want to do some proper DXing, take your radio on some primitive camping experiences. It’ll remind you what life was like before switching power supplies ruled the world!

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Shortwave Coffee

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This morning, I was searching hundreds of half-finished articles I’ve accumulated on the SWLing Post over the years looking for a particular note. During my search, I stumbled upon the following post from September 2020 that I thought I published but had not. There’s no time like the present, right? Here you go:

A couple weeks ago, a package arrived at the post office and I noticed that the return address was from friend and SWLing Post contributor and Patron, Scott Gamble.

Scott knows me pretty darn well because, frankly, we’re a lot alike: we’re radio geeks and coffee snobs.

The confirmation was in the box. A Shortwave Coffee mug:

Turns out, Scott discovered Missouri-based coffee roaster, Shortwave Coffee. He shipped me one of their branded mugs and it has become a favorite here at SWLing Post HQ.

Next time I’m anywhere within driving distance of Shortwave Coffee, you’d better believe I’m stopping by for a cauppa!

Thank you, Scott!

Fast-forward to the present day and, as I type this, I’m sipping a nice Rock Creek French Roast in my Shortwave Coffee mug. Thanks again, Scott!

I should add that my buddy Troy Riedel also sent me a shortwave coffee mug–one he actually designed–nearly a decade ago. It lives in our travel trailer so I enjoy it during each of our family camping trips!

Here’s wishing everyone an amazing weekend filled with shortwave and coffee!

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X-Raydio on the radio

Paul receives a Funklust DRM QSL

Audio File:

KiwiSDR Screenshot:

The signal was picked up as far as New Zealand one told me. I think reception reports from all over the world would be very much appreciated …

Have a nice day. Best regards.

Paul JAMET
Radio Club du Perche

That’s brilliant, Paul. Thank you so much for sharing the recording and QSL info. Hopefully, they’ll continue to receive reports from across the globe. It might be fun, in fact, to see just how far one could DX this DRM broadcast via the KiwiSDR network. Frankly, good copy of Funklust’s 250W DRM signal in Portugal is pretty impressive!

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