Author Archives: Thomas

Video: The Battle of the Beams

Radio Exterior de España to end shortwave broadcasts on October 15, 2014

SWLing Post reader, David, writes:

“I just wanted to let you know that REE has published a communication in its webpage, regarding the end of their SW broadcasts. The definitive cutoff will happen on October 15, 2014 at 0000 LT here in Spain, which is 2200 UTC.
REE will continue, though, and will be accessible through the Internet and also via satellite. Here in Spain they will also be available locally via the TDT/DVB-T system for regular TV broadcast (multiplexes, into which digital TV signals are combined, are also used to carry digital audio data for “radio” stations that therefore can broadcast using this system as well).

Here’s the link to the original REE article (in Spanish): http://www.rtve.es/radio/20141003/radio-exterior-espana-suprime-emision-onda-corta/1021661.shtml

And the [machine] English translation by Google: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=ca&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rtve.es%2Fradio%2F20141003%2Fradio-exterior-espana-suprime-emision-onda-corta%2F1021661.shtml&edit-text=&act=url

Many thanks, David, for the update!

David reports that he will attempt to record the last days of REE broadcasts. I will also make recordings and we will post all of them on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. Indeed, I would ask anyone who can capture the last broadcast to please do so and share your recordings with us.

UPDATE: Note that REE announced a return of their shortwave service in December 2014. Click here to read the update. Shortly thereafter, REE posted their new broadcast schedule–click here to view.

Final Day! Virtual Radio Challenge II

Chrome Remote Desktop: another application choice

1 Reply

In response to my post about SWLing in a hospital waiting room via TeamViewer, Stephen Cooper comments:

“Google Chrome Remote Desktop also works well for this.

[Click here to download]

Allows me to listen to my Elad when I am in work. Although it doesn’t transfer sound on Android (not sure about iPad) which isnt that good if you haven’t got a PC/Mac to use to login to home.”

Thanks for the suggestion, Stephen!

Shortwave listening in a hospital lobby

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This morning, at 6:00 am, I had to take a friend to the hospital for a scheduled (minor) operation.

The hospital waiting room is spartan for a projected three hour wait, but the complimentary wi-fi Internet is quite speedy. I had planned to catch up on a movie or two via Netflix, but the hospital blocks video streaming.

Fortunately, I just noticed that the hospital does not block TeamViewer–my remote PC application of choice.

Remote listening

I just logged into my home PC and launched both the Elad FDM-S2 and WinRadio Excabur SDR applications–fortunately, I discovered that the Excalibur was hooked up to an external antenna.

Not only does TeamViewer allow me to control a software defined radio, but it actually streams the receiver audio from my PC. With my inexpensive in-ear Sony headphones, the sound isolation and audio fidelity are quite good for a compressed audio stream. Indeed, other than a one second delay in response, the user experience is nearly as good as being home.

I should note that I could also use the TeamViewer app on my iPhone, but 4G reception in the hospital is very poor and controlling an SDR from a small touch screen is less than desirable (though works in a pinch–no pun intended).

I’m currently tuned and listening to Radio Australia, Radio Mali and the Voice of Korea.

The 31 meter band seems to be wide open at this morning. At this point, I don’t think I care if my friend’s out-patient procedure takes a while longer!

Japan Radio Company (JRC) announces a new SDR receiver: the NRD-383

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Dave Zantow (N9EWO) writes:

Sungchul Cho informs us that JRC has listed a new HF SDR Receiver on the web site. The new NRD-383 is a direct sampling, 2 channel with digital IQ data output with width up to 10 MHz each. Frequency coverage from 100 kHz to 32 MHz. Third-order intercept point + 23 dBm (typ), Second order intercept point + 80 dBm (typ). Not much information at this time , more when I have it .

See the PDF Brochure here : http://www.jrc.co.jp/jp/company/html/review65/pdf/JRCreview65_15.pdf

Many thanks, Dave! It’s exciting to see that JRC could manufacture a receiver once again; their products, in the past, have been world-class. If history is an indicator, I imagine the NRD-383 will not be an inexpensive rig; still, JRC equipment is often worth the price.

Guest Post: Anil reviews the FiFi-SDR receiver kit 2.0

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Anil Raj, for sharing his review of the FiFi-SDR receiver kit 2.0:

The perfect radio for business travellers?

I travel regularly, or should I say commute between Europe and Asia, and have been on the lookout for a small receiver with good performance that would be easy to carry with me. I never travel without my laptop so an SDR would be the sensible thing to look for. A few weeks back the tiny FiFi SDR receiver caught my interest as I was browsing the website of Funkamateur http://www.box73.com/ the excellent German ham radio magazine. It looked promising as it had an impressive bank of filters covering all the way from LF to HF. Also, the front end is designed to emphasize sensitivity, so that it can work well with short wire antennas. It also had a built in sound card which would make interfacing to my computer a simple job.

The price was certainly right – $ 169. I ordered it, and it showed up in my mailbox a few days later. It is offered as a “kit” though in practice all that needs to be done is to solder a couple of connectors and sockets. All the surface SMD components are pre-soldered, and the rugged extruded case has die cut holes for the connectors and controls making the mechanical assembly very simple. The entire exercise took me about 20 minutes until the receiver was plugged in and powered up.

Since I use a Mac the choice of SDR software is a lot more restricted than that for Windows. I did however find free software called SDR Radio (http://dl2sdr.homepage.t-online.de/) developed by DL2SDR which does a great job of partnering with the FiFi and my Mac.

SDR Radio is still in development, so the UI can a bit rough at the edges at times. Also, configuring the Audio and MIDI settings on my Mac took a bit of work, but DL2SDR Sebastian was quick to reply to my mails requesting help when I got stuck.

So how does it all sound? While I am sure that there may be better performing SDR radios out there, what this little matchbox sized receiver does is simply amazing. Users running Windows will have access to much more sophisticated applications than the simple programs available for Mac and will be better able to compare this radio. However, it does an outstanding job of handling both AM broadcast as well as CW and SSB utility and Ham signals. While SDR Radio does not offer a lot of bells and whistles at present, the continuously variable bandwidth which can be dialled in to almost zero, and effective notch filter get the job done very well. In empirical testing and comparisons with the Palstar R30C, the FiFi easily outclassed the older analog radio (and the Palstar is no slouch, especially on the lower frequencies).

In summary, this is going to be the radio that I will be taking with me on all my travels from now on. It is tiny, ruggedly built, and has excellent RF performance, especially at lower frequencies.

Many thanks for your review, Anil!

The FiFi SDR does indeed sound like an ideal SDR for travel. Like you, I am usually limited by the SDR applications available on the Mac OS. While I use a Windows 7 PC at home, on the road, I travel with the MacBook Air (a superb laptop!).

Click here to view details and purchase a FiFi SDR ($169 shipping included).