Author Archives: Thomas

Inside the Post: A new perk for Patreon Patrons

Quite often, I’m privy to information that has yet to be refined into a public post here on the SWLing Post. In the past, I’ve simply kept the new information and/or evolving posts to myself.

But as a small perk for supporting the SWLing Post via Patreon, I’ve decided to share this informal information privately through Patreon’s website.

If you’d like to be privy to the background processes and that go into the making of the SWLing Post, you can enjoy them (or ignore them!) here, simply by supporting us through Patreon. What I’ll share is raw, random, and unedited information in the form of progress reports, tips, and even partial reviews. These logs and notes happen when they happen, depending on my time availability, and are off-the-cuff and ever-evolving.

This private “behind-the-scenes” access to the SWLing Post is available to Patreon Patrons at any pledge level.

As I’ve mentioned before, if you don’t have the means to give through Patreon, no worries, friend: we’re always here for you free of charge at the SWLing Post. If you would, however, like to support the SWLing Post through Patreon with a monthly contribution, we welcome you as a Patron.  Your support helps keep the site going, and means I can do more of what I enjoy most––sharing my love of all things radio with you.

Thank you !
Become a Patron!

For more information about supporting the Post, click here.

WRTH 2018 available to order

(Source: WRTH Facebook group via Sean Gilbert)

It’s here!!

WRTH 2018 has been published and is available to order from www.wrth.com or your usual supplier.

Orders direct to our website will usually be dispatched the same day, or the first business day after (if ordering at the weekend or after business hours).
Other publications or internet resources may give you the broadcast schedules – but that is about it.

We give you the schedules and so much more. We have full contact details for each station; Station Identifications, as used on air; opening and closing melodies; transmitter details; verification methods and more. Add to that reviews of receivers, antennas and radio related accessories; articles from around the world capturing some of the little known services as well as the big, international broadcasters. Visit the website for the full story, sample pages and details of other products we offer.

Click here to visit WRTH online.

C. Crane SoftSpeaker Pillow Speaker Deals

Credit: C. Crane (PillowSpeaker2™)

Through 11:59 P.M. on 12/13/17, C. Crane is offering 50% off their popular SoftSpeaker & SoftSpeaker2.  These are “pillow speakers” with soft, washable covers – great for listening while drifting off to sleep.

For the SoftSpeaker, use this promotional code: PS17

For the SoftSpeaker2, use this promotional code: SSV17

I must admit, I don’t own either but I’ve often thought about purchasing version 2 because it has in-line volume control.  This would be a great time to try them!

Troy Riedel, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Check out Troy’s YouTube Channel by clicking here.

Pete reports new developments with the uBITX transceiver

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pete Eaton (WB9FLW), who writes:

Last March, Ashhar Farhan (VU2ESE) the designer of the very popular BITX20 and BITX40 series of mono-band HF Transceivers announced a new low cost rig called the uBITX (micro BITX) a full blown 80-10m 10 Watt SSB/CW Transceiver. Now comes word that after many months of very hard development work by Ashhar this much anticipated Rig will soon be available.

For those not familiar with the project this is *not* a kit, rather like its sibling (the BITX40) it consists of two assembled and tested Circuit Boards. The RF board measures 5.5 x 6 inches and a second small plug in daughter card that takes care of the digital portion of the design including the 2X16 LCD, Arduino Nano, and Si5351 which are used in the VFO.

Add a cabinet, knobs, and connectors and you have a full blown HF Rig! An added plus is that except for the Gerber PCB files everything else (including the firmware) is Open Sourced!

The original description can be found here:

http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/ubitx/ubitx.html

Farhan has just released the Firmware, Schematics, and Wiring Diagram for the production version on GitHub

Arduino Sketch:

https://github.com/afarhan/ubitx

RF Board Schematic:

https://github.com/afarhan/ubitx/blob/e481ea2a2457fc4e7be7a6a4bc9a0fba12bf2cde/ubitxv3.pdf

Digital (Raduino) Board Schematic:

http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/ubitx/raduino.pdf

Wiring Diagram:

https://github.com/afarhan/ubitx/blob/e481ea2a2457fc4e7be7a6a4bc9a0fba12bf2cde/ubitx_wiring.png

Farhan has a social conscience as well giving several local ladies much needed employment for final assembly and checkout of the Rigs.

There are still a few final tweaks being done to the design so pricing is still to be determined. But if it’s offered at a similar price point as his earlier Transceivers it should sell like hotcakes!

For the latest info check out the BITX User Group at:

https://groups.io/g/BITX20

Wow!  Amazing project!  Thanks for the tip and updates, Pete!

From the Post Archives: Radio Free Whatever–A Pearl Harbor Tribute

President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy”–the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by air.

This morning, I was reminded of an off-air recording I made in 2013 of the pirate radio station, Radio Free Whatever. Please enjoy this bit of history from the Post archive:


960px-USS_SHAW_exploding_Pearl_Harbor_Nara_80-G-16871_2

USS Shaw exploding in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941

For your listening pleasure: one hour, seven minutes of the pirate radio station, Radio Free Whatever.

I recorded this broadcast on December 15 2013, starting around 2:40 UTC, on 6,925 kHz AM. This broadcast was a tribute to WWII and Pearl Harbor and contains news clips and music from the same time period. I believe my recording begins about five or so minutes into their broadcast.

Simply click here to download an MP3 of the recording, or listen via the embedded player below: