Author Archives: Thomas

Luke considers the Panasonic RF-9000 an investment and solid performer

In response to our post about a Panasonic RF-9000 being offered on eBay for $20,000(!), SWLing Post reader, Luke, comments:

I actually just bought a RF-9000 from a Spanish Ebay seller. It might show up in the ‘completed auctions’, not sure. I made an offer of 2,000 Euros and he accepted. Of course I am like most of you who might have seen one in a magazine or book for over 20 years, but never dreamed of actually owning one.

My unit had a few imperfections like a couple of dings and the grille was not 100% with some slight discoloration but I cleaned it up nicely and got some Testors paint to fill in the dings. It came with the cover but with no documentation. Everything works perfectly and there are no dirty or inoperable switches or buttons. Even the lights all work which is a relief.

I can only really compare it to the Sony ICF-2010 and the Satellit 700, both of which I have owned at one time. I still have the Sony. The Panasonic is on a much different level as far as ease of use. And the tuning is super fast with absolutely no audio lag between channels if that is the right description. It is really smooth sailing all the way across the dial and you can go straight from FM into the LW band which is pretty cool.

Another nice feature is the band selection buttons actually have the corresponding frequencies also so there is no guesswork. The odd thing about the unit is that all of those cool buttons that you see pertain mainly to the clock and timer functions.

The shortwave side is fairly stripped down with just a 3-way bandwidth selector, a switch for a noise blanker, a RF gain knob, and a 4 position switch for USB, LSB, etc. That is pretty much it for tuning and knob twiddling and I would had preferred to have a few more knobs for antenna trim and other features to eek out faint signals. I guess I was expecting more I don’t know?

I personally find it to be the best radio I have ever used as far as audio and ease of use. I did some side by side tests against the ICF-2010 for sensitivity and it is about a wash. But for 1/10 the price the Sony wins all day long and you cant beat the sync detector! I find myself amazed that I would ever own a RF-9000 and consider it a great investment. I think this seller is dreaming if he thinks he can get that price for it though.

Thanks for sharing your review of the RF-9000! You certainly have a rare and classy receiver that actually performs–a keeper for sure. If I recall correctly, even the tuning knob feels perfectly weighted on the ‘9000.

Based on what these sell for, I don’t think you overpaid for your ‘9000–indeed, you got it at a bit of a discount.

Click here to search eBay for the Panasonic RF-9000.

Click here to view the RF-9000 at Universal Radio.

WRTH update to A16 schedule

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(Source: Sean Gilbert via WRTH on Facebook)

We are pleased to announce that the A16 International Radio and Clandestine/Target Broadcast schedules file is now available for download from our website.
The file is offered free of charge, but we do have a donations page if you wish to show support/thank for all the hard work and dedication our very small team puts in to get these files ready.

The schedules file is in PDF form, and requires a PDF reading program/app. The file contains International Radio and Clandestine/Target Radio broadcast schedules for 201 stations (yes, there really are still that many non-domestic stations broadcasting on LW/MW and SW). Also included are an International/Clandestine Radio frequency list, Selected language broadcasts, International DRM broadcasts and an International transmitter sites table.

We hope you find this a useful accompaniment to the printed WRTH, and as a standalone schedules file.

Happy listening and good DX from the WRTH editorial team.

Download from here.

BBC to “protect” World Service in strategic plan presented to Parliament

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Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, has made public the UK government’s plan for the future of the BBC, which among other things, will now include Ofcom regulation.

The BBC Trust will also be dissolved and the BBC will have a new unitary board comprised primarily of members independent of the government.

The plan includes major structural changes to the BBC–indeed, possibly some of the most sweeping changes in the corporation’s history. Most major UK/European news outlets will report on this today.

Of course, I was very curious where the BBC World Service would fall in terms of priority. Based on what I’ve read in the report, there will be a serious effort to “protect” the World Service. The following excerpt from the report outlines the plan:

(Source: A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction)

Prioritising funding and protecting the World Service

The decisions that the BBC makes in allocating funding between services will have important consequences for the overall distinctiveness of the BBC. In radio, budgets have a broad spread across the wide range of services.

This is not the case in television where BBC One receives a far greater concentration of funding (see box 19). While of course the BBC needs to invest in its flagship services, the BBC board will need to give careful consideration to its service-level funding decisions.

Matching investment to the strategic priorities for the BBC is generally a matter for the BBC board. But there is one area so critical to the public interest role of the BBC that it is appropriate for the Charter to be more directive. The World Service is one of the BBC’s most distinctive services.

It is hugely valued by audiences and a vital part of the UK’s ability to lead the world in terms of soft power and influence, with its reach and reputation helping to project UK’s cultural and democratic values to more than 246 million people worldwide.

The government will therefore ensure that the BBC protects licence fee
funding for the World Service at its current level of £254 million
per annum.

The BBC will also receive additional funding from the government for the World Service of £34 million in 2016/17 and £85 million a year in the three subsequent years, a significant proportion of which will be Official Development Assistance. As a provider of accurate, impartial and independent news the BBC World Service helps to strengthen democratic accountability and governance, and promote Britain and our values around the world.

The languages in which the World Service operates, and the objectives, priorities and targets of the World Service will continue to be agreed with the Foreign Secretary.

BBC World News is the prime means by which the BBC distributes its television news and current affairs programmes to international audiences. But it does not have the same reputation for quality as the World Service – which is renowned for its radio output. This is in part a question of funding: BBC Global News, the commercial subsidiary that operates the service, had revenues in 2014/15 of just £94 million, less than 10 per cent of the revenues of BBC Worldwide, and a staff of just 120. The BBC must ensure that all its prominent international services have a reputation for delivering high quality, distinctive output. The new unitary board should therefore consider what reforms are needed to improve the quality of BBC World News.

I’ve skimmed the full report and found no specific mention of shortwave radio broadcasting (no surprise). I’m certain the BBC will continue to broadcast over shortwave to strategic regions of the world in the short-term, but over time will certainly decrease offerings.

Click here to download the full report as a PDF.

Bob recalls working at Harris and putting the RF-505A on the air

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In response to our post mentioning the Harris RF-505A, SWLing Post contributor, Bob LaRose (W6ACU), writes:

I know the RF-505A very well. It was introduced in about 1969 while I worked at Harris in Rochester. I started working there as a Co-Op student while at RIT and then after I got my BSEE I joined them full time, initially as a Field Engineer but quickly found my way into Marketing and eventually Sales.

Right after the first version came out, the RF-505, I took one home to my parent’s house for a weekend and did some SWLing with it. It was very neat in one respect – it tuned ISB (Independent Side Band) and in those days there were a number of utility stations using ISB (separate traffic on each sideband). To an SWL some of the most interesting of these were the VOA point-to-point links from the East and West Coast, each carrying two simultaneous program feeds for the overseas relay stations!

While overall a good receiver my personal results on the sensitivity of the original RF-505 were not very positive. On the bench with exactly a 50 ohm source it looked good but on a real world antenna it was pretty numb. Eventually, after a lot of internal arguments, they came out with the RF-505A that included a tunable active preselector as shown in the photos. Problem solved.

For a ham or SWL the RF-505 was a real pain in the butt to tune. You could dial in any exact frequency but the decade switches didn’t roll over (either mechanically or electrically) so you had to do a lot of knob twiddling to do any kind of band scanning. The detents on the switches connected to the knobs were pretty stiff so you could easily take some finger skin off tuning around!

If I remember correctly Harris built them for about a five year period and then replaced them with the RF-550, which was a monster of a receiver with all kinds of advanced features. It included a keyboard with electronic display.

Great memories!

Thanks so much for this RF-505A insight, Bob! I had a hunch that band-scanning wasn’t the RF-505A’s strong suit–it would be incredibly cumbersome to scan with so much “knob twiddling.”

It must have been pretty amazing to work for the legendary Harris corporation. Thanks for sharing!

eBay: Dan notes astronomical price sought for Panasonic RF-9000

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes:

This is the highest price ever sought by an RF-9000 seller. [The last RF-9000] went for around $9,000-10,000.

[…]The RF-9000, as many veterans of SWL know, was produced by Panasonic as a kind of showpiece.

From information available, only some hundreds were ever made. The price new, as detailed in the Osterman book, was about $3800.

Note Dan's RF-9000 at the far end of the listening lounge table.

Note Dan’s RF-9000 at the far end of the SWL Fest’s Listening Lounge table.

Those who attended this year’s SWL Fest got a rare opportunity to lay hands on this technology showpiece (at least the technology as it was back when it was being made between 1982 and 1985).

Click here to view on eBay.

And, Dan, thanks for lugging your RF-9000 to the SWL Fest! It was indeed a treat to operate the RF-9000. I must say that the RF-9000’s audio fidelity is outstanding–beautifully balanced! What an amazing radio.

Still–this eBay seller is asking too much at $20,000 US (and $300 shipping). This might well be a collector that has no intention of letting the RF-9000 go. I could understand that! Thanks again, Dan!

Dan notes some rare Harris, Microtel and Drake receivers on eBay

The Shortwave Daddy SDR on 73 Radio Row

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It’s not often I find a shortwave radio I’ve never heard about–so you can imagine my surprise when I looked at 73 Radio Row this morning and found the Shortwave Daddy software defined radio for $159.00.

How did I miss hearing about a radio called the Shortwave Daddy when it was on the market a few years ago?

Here’s the description lifted from 73 Radio Row:

The Tablerock Shortwave Daddy software-defined receiver connects to your computer to open up the exciting world of AM-FM-Shortwave radio. It is powered solely by your computer’s USB port via a connecting cable, which is provided. Your computer provides the audio. Except for the antenna, no external connections are required. Simply plug and play. Fully tested. The Shortwave Daddy is no longer produced. It originally cost $289.99.

For details, we strongly encourage you to read the Shortwave Daddy’s manual by clicking here.

The radio covers:
Worldwide AM Band 520kHz – 1710kHz
Shortwave Bands 2.3MHz – 26.1 MHz
Worldwide FM Band 64MHz – 108 MHz

For computer compatibility specifications, click here.