Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who writes:
Hi Thomas, thought that you and your readers would enjoy my recent “find.” I came across an old copy of the “Messenger”, which was a magazine put out monthly by the Canadian International DX Club.
While looking for the current garbage bill I was shuffling through my file of bills and receipts, and lo and behold I came across one copy……how it ever got in there I have no idea. Anyway it sparked a lot of nostalgia and remember how excited I used to be when a new copy arrived in the mail.
I knew that I had more, but had no idea where as I tend to not throw things away, especially anything associated with electronics or cars. After a day or so of brainstorming I had an idea of where they might be, and lo and behold there they were.
They mostly date from the mid-90’s right before the internet basically killed off “zines” like this. Oh well.. progress marches on.
Anyway, I hope that people can enjoy the pictures and maybe have some insight or memories of the club and/or the guy who ran it. I believe that his name was Sheldon.
Take care,
Luke Perry
Wow–what a treasure trove you unearthed there, Luke! I could spend hours looking through those copies!
Join the CIDX!
I have good news for you: The Canadian International DX Club (CIDX) is very much alive and well! Check out the cover of the the August ’23 issue of the Messenger above.
Here’s an article I posted about the CIDX in the past and how much I enjoy the Messenger. And yes, Sheldon Harvey is still at the helm along with some other amazing, devoted volunteers. I’m a member and I’d encourage everyone else to become one, too. It’s one of the best deals in the world of radio.
The Messenger is now in digital format only, but I actually prefer it this way since I’ve so little room to store printed material these days.
We’re happy to announce the first release of our new RTL-SDR Blog V4 dongle which is based on the R828D tuner chip. The pricing is US$39.95 for the V4 dongle with antenna set, and US$29.95 for the dongle only, including free shipping to most countries.
Currently we are only shipping this model from our warehouse in China and the initial production batch is small and so we are limited in stock. However, now that we have confirmed that production of the first small batch of V4 has gone very well, we will be ramping up production, and stocking Amazon USA within 1-2 months as well.
The V4 comes with several improvements and changes that are listed below.
Improved HF Reception. Now uses a built in upconverter instead of using a direct sampling circuit. This means no more Nyquist folding of signals around 14.4 MHz, improved sensitivity, and adjustable gain on HF.
Improved filtering. The V4 makes use of the R828D tuner chip, which has three inputs. We triplex the SMA input into three bands, HF, VHF and UHF. This provides some isolation between the three bands, meaning out of band interference from strong broadcast stations is less likely to cause desensitization or imaging.
Improved Filtering x2. In addition to the triplexing, we are also making use of the open drain pin on the R828D, which allows us to add simple notch filters for common interference bands such as broadcast AM, broadcast FM and the DAB bands. These only attenuate by a few dB, but may still help.
Improved phase noise on strong signals. Due to an improved power supply design, phase noise from power supply noise has been significantly reduced.
Less heat. Due to the improved power supply design the V4 uses slightly less current and generates slightly less heat compared to the V3.
Cheaper price! The price of the R860 chip which is used in the V3 and most other RTL-SDR brands increased significantly at the beginning of 2023 which is part of the reason as to why RTL-SDR dongles have been increasing in price recently. For the V4 we are making use of an existing stockpile of R828D chips which are now priced cheaper than new productions of the R860. In a time when high inflation keeps pushing prices up this is incredibly welcome.
There are some other minor changes including a new bias tee LED and a small cutout hole in the enclosure so it’s easy to tell when the bias tee is on.
Of course the same innovations that we brought in with the V3 are still implemented such as the sleek conductive black metal enclosure which works as a shield and doubles as a heatsink, a thermal pad to sink heat away from the PCB, 1PPM TCXO, SMA connector, USB noise choking and improved ESD protection.
August 15 marks 70 years since the start of KBS WORLD Radio. For the past 70 years, KBS WORLD Radio grew and evolved with the development of Korean history, through the Korean War, the democratization of Korea and the rapid economic growth that South Korea has seen.
And to celebrate our 70th anniversary, we have prepared a special #InDepthNewsAnalysis with three public media experts to look back on the past 70 years of KBS WORLD Radio, to discuss the role of public international media and also how the next 70 years to come.
Engineer Ron Schadt says people have become way too reliant on cell phones
An interesting story from CBS News about the fires in Maui. If you read through it, nothing worked. Sirens didn’t work, cell phones were sketchy or not working at all, no electricity, etc. etc. If you read through the entire story, near the end is one line: “Emergency management had to resort to radio to communicate with the victims of the fires.”
Well, well, interesting that what we have been saying all along is really true, the oldest form of contacting people is still the most reliable and unfortunately, because people are so attached to their stupid phones, radio has to be “resorted to.” This little section of this article needs to get to these senators and congressmen who are on this AM in every car movement. [Continue reading…]
Radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation — or AM — has been used commercially for greater than 100 years. Its heyday generally ranged for decades from the 1930s through the 1970s as its programming content transitioned from dramas and comedies to popular music to talk programs, with the latest news mixed into each format. Advancements in technology has arguably rendered AM radio virtually obsolete. Why save AM radio from extinction?
Save AM Radio? Why?!?
The waning popularity of terrestrial AM radio technology is not so much the reason as to its potential extinction. Rather, the reason is due to the technology of electric vehicles — and because rental car companies such as Hertz have been increasing the number of electric vehicles in their fleets, the days of listening to AM radio in rental vehicles may be numbered.
The electric motors which power the drive wheels in order to propel electric vehicles also tend to generate electromagnetic interference with the reception of AM broadcast radio directly through the receiver. That interference can result in annoyances which range from buzzing, distortion, and fading of the signal itself to static and sounds of crackling instead of clear reception. Streaming audio of programs from AM radio stations — as well as the reception of FM stations — remain unaffected.
Always seeking to save time and money, eight of 20 of the leading carmakers in the world have removed AM broadcast radio from their electric vehicles; and manufacturers of electric vehicles are considering eliminating the option of tuning in to AM radio in their vehicles. Engineers have not found an easy way to eliminate the aforementioned interference without adding excessive weight to the car or increasing the cost of the vehicle…. [Continue reading…]
Preserving Broadcast History (NAB)
Join NAB and the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) on Wednesday, August 23 at 2 p.m. ET for the first of a two-part series to learn the importance of documenting and preserving broadcast history for future generations.
Part One: The “Preserving Broadcast History” webinar will provide guidance for broadcasters on how to catalog your station’s history, best practices for creating an inventory and where to store this data and information. A Q-and-A will follow the webinar.
Featuring:
Jack Goodman, co-chair, LABF
April Carty-Sipp, executive vice president, Industry Affairs, NAB
Laura Schnitker, Ph.D., C.A., curator, Mass Media and Culture, University of Maryland’s Special Collections and University Archives
Mike Henry, reference specialist, University of Maryland’s Special Collections and University Archives
Costa Rica is one of the most visited countries in Latin America. I only visited there once, for three weeks in May-June 1990 when the country was just beginning to become a major international eco-tourism destination. Visitors were few and prices very affordable. Except for a short trip to the Monteverde cloud forest, we spent all our time in the central valley, staying in San José and nearby Heredia. Rather than nature, our visit focused on cultural and historical sites … and a lot of radio stations.
Since the 19th century, Costa Rica has been one of the most literate and educated countries in Latin America. That quality is reflected in its radio broadcasting industry, which has always been very professional. Curiously that’s even reflected in station verifications. Almost every Costa Rican shortwave station that I’ve verified had a professionally printed QSL card.
Despite being one of the smallest countries in Latin America, Costa Rica had a lot of shortwave radio stations. I have fifteen in my logbooks and some of the most famous ones were already off the air when I started DXing. Unfortunately, shortwave broadcasting from Costa Rica ended almost twenty years ago so there’s no more to be had. It is still possible to log Costa Rica on medium wave but it’s not as easy as it once was. When I started DXing in the early 1970s, stations in the San José were spaced twenty-five kilohertz apart. That meant that every other station, such as Radio Sonora on 675 kHz and Radio Columbia on 725 kHz, was on a split frequency that fell between the normally assigned 10 kHz channels. I logged nine Tico stations on medium wave while DXing from Pennsylvania in 1972-1981 and only one of those, Radio Reloj on 700 kHz, was on an even channel. Those split channels were eliminated in the 1980s so logging Costa Rica on medium wave is no longer a slam-dunk.
I visited a lot of radio stations and took a lot of photos on my one long-ago trip to Costa Rica. I’m going to focus on just five shortwave broadcasters in this first look at Costa Rica. The others will be featured in two or three future columns.
In the 1970s the first Costa Rican station most shortwave DXers heard was Faro del Caribe, or Lighthouse of the Caribbean. This religious station used two kilowatts on 9645 and 6175 kHz and got out surprisingly well as long as there wasn’t a more powerful international broadcaster also using the same frequency. In the late 1970s they added 5055 kHz in the sixty-meter band.
When I visited in 1990 the antennas were located right next to the studio building. The site was outside the city of San José when the station was founded but gradually a residential area built up around it.
Engineer checking one of Faro Del Caribe’s shortwave transmitters.
Fortieth Anniversary pennant from 1988. When Faro del Caribe began broadcasting on February 23, 1948, it was the first Evangelical Protestant radio station in Central America.
For DXers, Radio Reloj was one of Costa Rica’s best known radio voices for several decades. The station was founded as Radio Cristal by Roger Barahona in 1945. The shortwave frequency of 6006 kHz was added in the early 1950s. In 1958 the station was renamed to Radio Reloj when the format changed to focus on news and community announcements with very frequent time checks. (Radio Reloj means Radio Clock.) Roger’s brothers Isaac and Francisco had joined the broadcasting company and Radio Reloj was assigned the callsign TIHB for Hermanos Barahona (Barahona Brothers). Continue reading →
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who shares the following announcement:
Dear radio friends, we are coming back after a brief hiatus August 20 as a monthly on the third Sunday of each month on WBCQ The Planet 7490 kHz on the shortwave bands from 6pm-7pm ET (currently 2200-2300 UTC). This is a time share with our other program, From The Isle of Music (on the first Sunday of each month) and Julio Cesar Pereira’s Ginga Brasil! (on the second and fourth Sunday). When there is a fifth Sunday it will be Doug’s Comedy Favorites.
We will have two special guests on the 20th. Storms will be with us from India in the first half hour to present his new South Indian devotional music-jazz-fusion album by The Indica Project, Aum. Irina Sarbu will be with us from Romania in the second half hour to present her new jazz album At the End of July.
If you can’t catch us with your shortwave radio (some parts of Europe may have interference from other stations), we are not available on demand, but you CAN catch a livestream DURING THE BROADCAST ONLY at wbcq.com or use a web sdr (we do honor reception reports using web sdrs if you listen to the whole show and let us know which one, we also respond to correspondence if you listened on line).
Hi to all of the SWLing community, Fastradioburst23 here with news about Imaginary Stations on the shortwaves this Sunday 20th August 2023. The first show will be beamed to Europe via the services of Shortwave Gold in Germany at 2000 utc on 6160 khz and will feature another transmission of WREN, this time it’s music of a Renaissance style, so turn back the hands of time to ye days of olde and tune in. You will get more out of the broadcast if you have a lute, recorder or a harpsichord handy.
Then later at 2200 hrs UTC on 9395 kHzvia WRMI we bring you the debut of WTBR, your only official tea and biscuits radio show. There will an assortment of plain and fancy tunes and all the tea you can drink so make yourself (a tea) cosy and enjoy a nice relaxing time via the shortwaves. Even the Ionosphere will enjoy a little tea break to recharge its batteries.
For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here. Here’s the trailer for the show.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who shares the following guest post. Click here to check out all of the posts in this Audio Plugin series:
Audio Plugins For Radios, Part 3 – VST Technical Setup
by TomL
Processing legacy audio still has a place in an increasingly digital world for the time being. The first article on this topic was strictly using the speaker jack output from an old Kenwood transceiver using a simple Behringer UCA-202 RCA-to-USB converter. However, my main receive radio is the SDR based AirSpy HF+. Either type of radio should work with the apps discussed below as long as the audio gets to your Windows computer unmolested. There are VST apps for Mac and Linux, too.
VST apps: VST3/VST2/DLL files
Also mentioned was how to install VST Host and the VST apps run inside it. A simple reminder is that VST Host does not really install. It just resides in any one Directory/Folder you want and you create a shortcut to run VSTHOST.EXE. All the .XML files and profiles will be stored there.
I like tinkering with many apps but you may prefer things a lot simpler. I use 64-bit versions when possible, like VST3 and x64 DLL files. Because of the myriad settings involved, I will just list the apps in order of processing with brief comments. The second icon on the top of each app opens up its control panel and the bottom left icon will Bypass the app as if it is not in the audio chain. The top-left icon Links to the Preceding app in the audio chain. Most controls inside the apps let you double-click on that control to reset to a default.
The general functional order of these apps is:
Limiting/Compressing volume – dealing with shortwave signal volume spikes plus judiciously squeezing high & low volumes for a more even sound.
High Pass & Low Pass Filters – limit the frequency range apps will need to work on.
De-noising – the biggest challenge in shortwave is to reduce static and local noise without damaging the wanted audio.
EQ adjustments – frequency tweaks.
De-essing – getting rid of screechy “sss”, “shhh”, and “squeak” noises as well as fading distortion, perhaps the second hardest thing to do.
Then a final Drive/Gain control to feed into the Windows mixer.
Special Effects apps, like adding stereo, or reverb, etc.
I would suggest not to spend any money until you get to use apps from each of these broad categories to understand how they work. It is very easy to destroy the audio with a couple of offending settings. If you need help with understanding how plugins work, there are plenty of YouTube videos available. One channel I like is “In The Mix” from a Scottish music production engineer, Michael Wynne (over 1 million subs!). He gives simple to understand instruction videos (especially EQ and Compressors), among other topics.
Welcome to the world of Audio Production. Here are some plugins (most are FREE!):
Reaper ReaComp – A Compressor which I am using to limit volume spikes in the <300 Hz range.
Kotelnikov – A great dynamic Compressor that helps compress volume peaks in both Peak and RMS (average) levels. Useful for highly variable signals and highly recommended.
Reaper ReaFir – A dynamic processor, the Subtract feature is a special “negative EQ” which only reduces specified frequency “Points”. It is also used as a brick filter for low & high frequency limits.
Klevgrand Brusfri Denoiser – In Swedish, “brusfri” means “noise free”, and is a Denoiser app that functions similarly to Audacity’s Noise Reduction feature but works in real time. I move to a blank frequency on the same shortwave band, have Brusfri “Learn” for about 5 seconds, and it starts working.
Bertom Denoiser Pro – A good Denoiser app but on noisy shortwave it can have digital artifacts that get very loud. I use it sparingly immediately after Brusfri.
Bitsonic Sound Recovery – This app beings midrange more forward and can brighten up dull audio. However, it can lead to increased sibilances, accentuated fading distortion, and “boxy” sounding voices.
TDR Nova – A clean sounding parametric EQ; my settings are a work-in-progress for best settings. I am experimenting with having the Wideband setting do most of the work with a slight expansion of the audio coming from the SDR. Also used as a better Gain control for Bitsonic.
Modern Exciter – Set to MIN for shortwave, this app can enhance the extreme low and extreme high frequencies without increasing noise.
LOADES – A DeEsser from Analog Obsession, controls sibilance and squeaks (beware of wonky controls!).
Klevgrand Brusfri Denoiser & Bertom Denoiser Pro run a second time. More Denoising is needed after the processing done by Bitsound, TDR Nova, and Modern Exciter.
Klevgrand FreeAmp – A simple Drive and Gain control that was free when I purchased Brusfri. It makes sure audio is driven correctly into Voicemeeter AUX Input.
Voxengo Stereo Touch – Allows adding “stereo” to a mono signal. Various Presets are available, from narrow (Voice or Guitar) to wide soundspaces (Stage, Surround, and Wide). Very interesting!
Here are three VST Host processed .MP3 files from an IQ recording of Radio Amazonia using 5.3 kHz & 7kHz filters in SDR Console 3.2 (Noise Reduction 4 was used but only 1dB Reduction). The third one is using the Stereo Touch app using just the lowest setting (Voice). I like it! 🙂 :
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who writes:
