Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Istvan Biliczky, who shares the following announcement:
The largest SWL contest of the year is coming soon. Get your radios and antennas ready, make a contest plan, and find the lowest power and most distant stations!
You can find the contest rules and detailed description here:
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Fred Waterer for sharing this video from the YouTube channel “Today I Found Out” about the origins of the SOS distress signal:
How Did ‘SOS’ Become The Universal Distress Signal?
Three dots. Three dashes. Three dots. Even if you don’t know a single other letter of International Morse Code, chances are you immediately recognized the unmistakable rhythm of “SOS”. It is the universal distress signal, understood in nearly every country and language and appearing everywhere in pop culture including songs by artists as diverse as ABBA, Rihanna, and Great Big Sea. And with good reason: endlessly versatile, SOS can be tapped out on a telegraph key or spoken aloud over voice radio, flashed using a signal mirror or flashlight, written out in the snow or sand, or – if you happen to be held under duress – blinked out with your eyelids. But how did this seemingly random string of letters come to be the universal code for shit hitting the fan, and do the letters actually mean anything? Well, tune your radio transmitters, warm up your signalling fingers, and let’s find out, shall we?
Author: Gilles Messier
Host: Simon Whistler
Editor: Daven Hiskey
Producer: Samuel Avila
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Paul Jamet, who writes:
I read the article about Radio Europe transmitting to Western Europe on 6130 kHz.
Here are two recordings:
One made from my balcony with the XHDATA D-808 and a 3m wire antenna. Recording with my smartphone near the speaker. There’s fading after 1 minute.
Note that I live 410 km from Amsterdam as the crow flies:
The other with Twente’s web SDR; very good SINPO! 55555
The Kall Krekel transmitter, which broadcasts RSI programs from Slovakia with 1 kW, does not give such good results.
Best and 73
Paul JAMET
Thank you for sharing this, Paul! Both you and Bob have given me good reason to (at least attempt to) catch Radio Europe on the air!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his B-25 (version 1.0) season guide to music on shortwave. Alan provides this amazing resource as a free PDF download.
Click here to download Music on Shortwave B-25 v1.0 (PDF)
Alan has also created at-a-glance, single-page PDF programme grids for BBC World Service, CGTN Radio, Radio Romania International, Voice of Turkey, and Radio Taiwan International — all updated for the B-25 broadcast season and published last week. If you’d like to download these, visit Alan’s Box account here: http://tinyurl.com/shortwaveprograms
As always, thank you for sharing your excellent guide, Alan!
This dedicated page will always have the latest version of Alan’s guide available for download.
Noted by Bob Colegrove
In the Northern Hemisphere the nights continue to get longer as we approach the winter solstice; we gain an hour of early evening darkness on Sunday, November 2nd; the summer atmospheric disturbances are nearly gone; propagation is better. It’s time to set aside the activities of summer and once more dive underneath the headsets.
DXing is not the same thing as listening. For listening you position yourself in a nice recliner with the radio on a table beside you. You set the radio to ATS and scan the available fare. You select one of the more interesting results and, together with your favorite beverage, listen to the programming. DXing, on the other hand, requires well planned work and lots of patience. Critics might say it also requires some imagination; however, I have always tried to be honest with myself and ask if what I am hearing is truly QSLable.
Sir Oswald Davenport, intrepid DXer and Chairman,
National Association of Armchair Adventurers
Don’t get me wrong, I listen a lot, but I also DX. Living on the East Coast of NA, I often direct my antenna toward Asia and the Pacific hoping to hear Japan and New Zealand. However, more often than not, these have proven to be illusive. DXing is like fishing. Often, you pull up an old boot or find the bait is gone. Further, the sound quality of a true DX signal will have no appeal to an audiophile. It is intentionally weak and subject to fading.
So, you get your wins when you can. Last February I scanned the 49-meter band stopping at 6130 kHz to identify some faint pop/rock music. There were two possibilities, a Chinese station and Radio Europe. If you have never heard of Radio Europe, it is in Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands, and has a rather imposing name for a modest 1 kW station. It is targeted to Western Europe, and is listed in HFCC, B25. The station is identified periodically in English by a dramatic baritone male announcer. The recording was made at 0211 UTC on February 6, 2025. The announcement begins 9 seconds into the clip; Radio Europe is mentioned at 23 seconds.
The curious thing is Radio Europe is not necessarily well received at the U. of Twente SDR site just 100 miles away. Science notwithstanding, there is simply no accounting for propagation.
Well, Radio Europe is back this season as strong as I have heard it, and if you’re a NA East Coaster, you might give it a try from 2300 UTC on. I see it was reported in Florida in 2023. Using exalted carrier single sideband (ECSS) (SSB in simpler terms) seems to produce the best results. Despite low power and long distance, it’s occasional stations like Radio Europe that keep this DXer fishin’. For a clear sample, it streams here http://p.liveonlineradio.net/?p=radio-europe.
Good DXing ’25-’26.
Dexter D. Xer
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Ian Millett (N3CVA), who writes:
Thomas,
This was posted to the RNZ website at 2 pm NZ time November 1.
Image source: Screenshot of RNZI announcement
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/577507/rnz-pacific-cyclone-watch-service-activated
A photo of a shortwave radio in a news article on Radio New Zealand International’s online Pacific page (see screenshot above) caught my attention. It shows someone holding a Panasonic RF-3750 portable FM/MW/SW receiver from the 1990’s (like the one pictured below). The caption reads, “Many remote communities in Pacific island countries rely on shortwave radio.”
Photo Credit: Internet Archive Community Images Collection (IMG_20200605_201148.jpg).
The article, titled “RNZ Pacific Cyclone Watch Service activated” is about RNZ Pacific’s Cyclone Watch Service that operates during the South Pacific cyclone season which runs from November 1 through April 2026. RNZ Pacific will broadcast hourly updates from Meteorological services in the region once cyclone alerts are issues. The article reminds readers that when local power grids and broadcasters are down “our broadcasts may be the only updates that people in the Island nations and territories can receive.” It also lists the on-air frequencies for the RNZ Pacific Cyclone Watch Service for the 2025-2026 cyclone season.
I’m glad RNZI is still on shortwave and understands its role in providing these broadcasts of critical information to remote areas. I remember during the 1970s, listening to Pacific cyclone bulletins broadcast by Radio Australia and plotting them on my National Geographic maps. I grew up on an island at the southern end of the Caribbean archipelago and from June to November I was plotting the track of cyclones in my own region, with information from medium stations like Radio Antilles, Montserrat, and Trans World Radio, Bonaire, and of course WWV on shortwave.
Credit for this information goes to RNZI https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/listen
Fans of Radio Canada International’s SWL Digest will be delighted to hear that Ian McFarland has teamed up with Colin Newell for a new podcast episode, SWL Digest 2025. It’s a nostalgic nod to the classic RCI program and a welcome chance to hear Ian’s familiar voice once again!
Listen here: https://colinscafe.com/podcast/swl-digest-2025-episode-1/