Author Archives: Thomas

North Korea: Information Gathering in the World’s Most Restrictive Nation

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If you’ve been an SWLing Post reader for long, you’ll have “met” him virtually; if you’ve been in attendance the Winter SWL Fest recently, you’ll recognize him, may have heard him speak, and perhaps even have met him in person.  I’m speaking, of course, of my good friend, Post contributor, and fellow radio listener, Mark Fahey.

What you might not know about Mark, an intrepid Aussie and mediahound of remarkable facility and clarity, is that he has spent many years (and significant personal resources) compiling a fascinating and invaluable multi-media project in the form of an iBook he’s titled Behind The Curtain, which allows outsiders a frank view directly into North Korean propaganda.

What’s astounding is that this view is from within North Korea: Mark, having traveled to North Korea numerous times (until he made his research public, that is, thus limiting his re-entry), successfully rips back North Korea’s curtain of self-image to reveal, in all its stultified glory, the inner workings––and failings––of the”Hermit Kingdom.”

He’s now very near to publishing  Behind The Curtain, and he’s making available the iBook––as well as all of the media and research he’s curated––for free.

HOPE X

During the summer of 2014 Mark ventured to New York City to present his research at HOPE X (Hackers On Planet Earth). Yesterday, I rediscovered the video of Mark’s presentation at HOPE X on YouTube. If you’re interested in North Korea, propaganda, number stations, SDRs, and/or anthropology of any stripe, you’ll certainly enjoy this presentation, which is truly like no other:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Intrigued?  So am I!

Behind The Curtain doesn’t yet have a formal release date, but stay tuned to the Post for details about its availability, as well as any other presentations or projects on this (or any other subject!) by Mark.

Download Behind The Curtain from the Apple store by clicking here.

SDRplay releases SDRuno version 1.13

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SDRuno running the RSP2.

(Source: Jon Hudson, SDRplay)

SDRplay has just released SDRuno version 1.13 which adds the much requested ‘IF Out’ facility for Panadapter use. It also includes the following updates:

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed RSP2 IF AGC/gain slider display issues

Updates

  • Added IF Output mode for transceivers
  • Added 250 Hz to frequency step size list
  • Default page in the settings panels is now the left most page each time SDRuno is started
  • Added RSP2 IF GR/Gain value
  • Added Factory Reset in the Main Window OPT menu (1st Instance only)
  • Improved power function error handling
  • Added support for Sub Modes, Filter BW and Port Selction in the Memory Panel
  • Changed RDS window colour scheme to match other windows
  • Added new hotkeys ‘v’, ‘-‘ and ‘+’ which are for VFO, Out and In zoom buttons in the SP1 window
  • Hotkey ‘b’ now opens AND closes the memory panel
  • Changed the default sync Rig->VRX setting to true
  • API – RefClk o/p no longer stops when the master RSP2 stops streaming

To get this latest version, go to: http://www.sdrplay.com/downloads/

Buyer Beware: Insane RTL-SDR pricing

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$300 is an absurd price for this RTL-SDR package.

This morning, while browsing eBay, I noticed a high-production retailer selling an RTL-SDR package for $300 US! (To add insult to injury, this isn’t even the latest version of the RTL-SDR dongle!)

I post this warning message to those who are new to the world of the RTL-SDR.

You should never pay more than $30 US shipped for the latest version of the RTL-SDR dongle unless you’re buying custom enclosures, filtering, etc. In fact, the RTL-SDR package above retails for about $25 shipped via Amazon (though currently out of stock). The RTL-SDR stick alone retails for $20.95 shipped. You can find a number of models between $10-20 on Amazon and eBay.

The majority of eBay sellers list the RTL-SDR at the proper market price.

The allure of the RTL-SDR is its affordability–don’t fall for sellers on eBay, Amazon or elsewhere who list these at outrageous prices.  They’re simply trying to rip you off.

Resistance Radio: “The Man in the High Castle” promotion

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Over the past two years, I’ve enjoyed the Amazon.com series, “The Man In The High Castle“–a dystopian TV series which explores a world where WWII ended with a very different outcome.  This series is based on a 1962 book by Philip K. Dick.

As a promotion, Amazon recently created a virtual radio called “Resistance Radio” where the listener can pretend to be a part of this dystopia and tune in pirate broadcasts from the resistance movement.

It’s a fun virtual radio and the creators took some care in making it feel authentic. It’s reminiscent of a 1960s era Grundig or Telefunken.

The tuning knob, volume and memory push buttons all work. If you turn the receiver off for a while, it takes a few seconds for the audio to increase as the tubes warm up. It even has a red tuning indicator lamp. Between stations you’ll hear static, though it sounds a bit manufactured to us radio enthusiasts.

And, oh yeah, you’ll even numbers stations and Morse Code as you tune across the band.

Obviously, someone behind the virtual radio is a proper radio geek.

Someone needs to make a web-based virtual radio interface like this for TuneIn radio.

Update: SWLing Post contributor, David Cripe (NM0S) notes, “Utterly fascinating. If you access it on your cell phone, the interface is a pocket transistor radio!”

Click here to check out Resistance Radio (while it’s still online).

RRI Summer 2017 broadcast schedule

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), for sharing Radio Romania International’s 2017 summer shortwave radio schedule:

For full details about the various ways you  can listen to RRI, check out their website.

EDXC Conference: Finland 18-20 August 2017

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Image: Jan-Mikael Nurmela, Risto Vähäkainu, LEM DX-Pedition Blogs

(Source: Finnish DX Association)

The Finnish DX Association wishes you all good DX for 2017.

We also have the pleasure of inviting all DXers and shortwave listeners to join the jubileum European DX Conference to be held in Tampere, Finland on 18-20 August 2017. It is time to celebrate, as this year is Finland?s centennial and The European DX Council will have its 50th anniversary. The meeting will be organized by The Finnish DX Association (soon to be 60 years) and Tampereen DX-Kuuntelijat (local DX club celebrating its 50th anniversary).

We will follow our tradition of successful EDXC conferences held in Finland in 1971, 1987, 1992, 2002 and 2008. So it will be three days of lots of program, lots of events and lots of fun.

We plan to open the website of this conference during January. The website will be set to be a part of the FDXA website www.sdxl.fi and when the conference site is open, a link ?EDXC Conference 2017? will be found on the main page.

The conference will start on Friday afternoon 18th of August and end on Sunday afternoon 20th of August. This time of summer is not anymore high-season in Finland, so if you like, you should be able to book extra nights pretty easily and with reasonable prices.

Also a post-conference tour is planned. This would last a few days and the target would be Finnish Lapland including visits to the well-known LEM and AIH DX sites and also possibly including a visit to Nordkapp (the northernmost point of the European continent). If you are interested in joining this tour, please don?t make any flight bookings yet.

The conference organizing committee has been set. The committee chairman is Risto Vähäkainu. You are welcome to address your special questions to rv at sdxl dot org.

Hoping to see many many of you in Tampere next summer!

Risto Vähäkainu
FDXA

Links

Click here to read this post on the Finish DX Association website.