I just discovered that GigaParts is also hosting a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale–possibly the most extensive among radio retailers. They have a large inventory of radios and accessories and GigaParts is a trusted retailer.
This morning, I received an email from C.Crane with a link to their Black Friday Sale:
Admittedly, I was a little underwhelmed when I discovered the sale only included four items: a stereo Bluetooth speaker, LED spotlight, headphones and ear buds:
I was hoping they’d include their excellent CC Skywave in the sale, but it doesn’t seem they plan to include any radios at this point.
Admittedly, I’m tempted by their Senta-40 Wooden Headphones–$25 is a great price. If you have a set of the Senta-40s, please comment–perhaps I should grab a set?
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jim (W4FJT), who writes:
I was surfing Amazon.com and saw this hard shell case made specifically for the Skywave and thought this might be of interest to the travelers out there:
Thank you, Jim! I might grab on of these for my CC Skywave since I do travel with it a lot and am not a big fan of the included soft case.
The price is $14.99 shipped, which is pretty reasonable. I do note that while the 3rd party vendor claims the item is in stock, delivery seems to be out a few weeks. Perhaps this ships directly from China?
Have any Post readers purchased this hard shell case? Please comment.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who shares the following reply to TomL’s post More Anti-Noise Ideas:
My VERY NOISY Sony CRT TV has gone to the great electronics recycling bin in the sky thank goodness. But I still have a MFJ-1026 here and need to use it when the neighborhood gets noisy. Intermittent power line noise is the main issue these days for me.
[Note that] my Monitoring Times review from April 2007 on the MFJ-1026 (and 1025 model without the preamp, but is best to have it) is still available here :
http://www.monitoringtimes.com/mtrevu0407.pdf
(is also linked on my web page, with many other of our other favorite ones : http://webpages.charter.net/n9ewo2/links.html )
I still power it with a analog REGULATED Jameco 170245 12 volt (1 amp) ac adapter.
Last batch I purchased a few years ago were still 100% clean and analog regulation. As I have covered in the past, SOME of Jameco excellent REGULATED AC adapters have gone to using switching regulator devices inside (and these no longer clean for any radio use).
Click here to view the170245 12 volt AC adapter on Jameco.
DX Engineering is about to come out with a improved version of the premium priced NCC-1, called the NCC-2. Mid late November Delivery ?? Never had our hands on one the pricey NCC-1 critters as the MFJ gets the job done for us (let alone affording it).
You make an excellent point: it’s important to power your noise-canceling device with a quality, clean, regulated AC adapter.
Thank you for sharing the links to your review and the AC adapter recommendations, Dave!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Phil Brennan, who writes:
[Recently] one of your contributors mentioned that he purchased a BHI DSP unit at a discounted price. I purchased one (a different model to the one in the previous post) some months ago before I headed away travelling.
The post reminded me that I had made a small video demonstrating the DSP unit on my FRG7. The video shows me tuning the DSP on a broadcast of Voice of the People on 3912 khz. While QRM at my place isn’t too bad, it’s still present and the DSP does aid in clearing up a signal.
https://youtu.be/prIPxMmcHQc
Voice of the People is usually jammed by the DPRK and the DSP also assists in reducing the roar of the jammer. Of course one can go to far with DSP and the audio can suffer from that underwater sound.
Thank you, Phil! The FRG-7 is an ideal receiver for something like the BHI module since it precedes on-board DSP. The great thing about an in-line module, of course, is that it can be used with a variety of receivers.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marco, who writes:
Great blog! I am an SWLer (have been inactive for some time but I am back again, mainly when I travel) and I really love it.
I am a Mac user and have now found a great, free SWL logging application: KB6IBB SWL Logger.
I suggest you give SWL Logger a try. It works really well and it’s free. The QSL part is lacking, but the rest is well done.
Thanks again for the hard work!
Thank you, Marco, for your recommendation!
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Michael Vitale, who (several weeks ago–!) asked:
Has anyone ever dealt with the equipment from Heros Technology Ltd UK specifically their VLF converters models 350-400? Their claim is these converters will work with any receiver (SW) on the market past or present.
Click here to view the video introduction to the VLF-LF Up-Converter.
I, personally, have no experience with VLF/LF up-converters, so I’m hoping someone else can help Michael. Please comment!
