Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Steve Lebkuecher, who sent the above photo; Steve notes:
“What a nice cup! I wish you and all of your readers a very happy New Year!”
And a happy cup of new year cheer to you as well, Steve! I must say, that classic Panasonic RF-2200 does pair well with your new SWLing Post coffee mug…Enjoy!
If you, too, would like a mug with our new logo, click here for the SWLing Post CafePress shop.
Note: Jeff Murray and I posted this last Christmas–I thought it would be fun to dig it out of the archives for this Christmas as well. Enjoy!
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no shortwave. Uncle DX Dash! says, “If you see it on the SWLing Post, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a shortwave?
Virginia E. Layer
330 Independence Ave., S.W.
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a digital age. They do not believe what can’t be heard or seen on their smart phone. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by Google. They seek credit cards, not QSL cards.
Yes, Virginia, there is a shortwave. It exists as certainly as sound and circuits and tubes exist, and you know that these abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no shortwave! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no heterodynes, no band openings, no propagation to make tolerable this existence. It would be a world without London Calling.
Not believe in shortwave! You might as well not believe in the ionosphere. You might get your papa to hire men to listen to all of the wi-fi radios of the world, but even if you did not hear shortwave, what would that prove? The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see ground waves dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can casually conceive or imagine all the wonders there are heard and unheard in the listening world. For that, you must wear headphones.
No shortwave! Thank goodness! It lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, shortwave will continue to make glad the hearts of listeners.
Happy Holidays from your friends at Dashtoons and the SWLing Post!
With apologies to The New York Sun. Our tongue-in-cheek editorial borrows from the timeless classic, “Is There a Santa Claus?” printed in the September 21, 1897, issue of The New York Sun. Click here to read the original.
Earlier today, I published a post noting that I thought I heard the time station WWV in a scene of The Empire Strikes Back.
SWLing Post reader, RadioGeek, quickly corrected me: that’s Canadian time station CHU‘s data pips I’m hearing, not circa-1980s WWV. Cool!
Here’s the clip from The Empire Strikes Back, Battle of Hoth:
https://youtu.be/5BkOVSFb2Zw?t=2m15s
Now listen to the recording of CHU I made only moments ago–note the tone and duration of the data pips:
No wonder I mixed up CHU and WWV; I’ve listened to both for propagation since I was a kid.
I wonder which of the Lucas Film sound engineer(s)/artist(s) chose CHU for this scene? Anyone know, by chance? Or can anyone find out?
No doubt, that sound designer is an SWL or ham radio operator. Perhaps this may also explain the SSB-esque radio dialog between fighter pilots throughout the Star Wars films:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WBG2rJZGW8&feature=youtu.be&t=2m5s
Please comment!
With all of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens hype going on, I remembered that, as a kid, I thought I heard WWV in a scene from The Empire Strikes Back.
I looked through some video clips of the movie online and discovered it again this morning: I heard the WWV-like sound in the Battle Of Hoth scene. [Update: RadioGeek suggests this may actually be CHU’s date pips.]
This video clip will start around the :23 second mark; start listening for the metronomic tick in the background around :25 seconds and then again at :40 seconds:
https://youtu.be/HgY3rOOascY?t=23s
I may be mistaken, but I believe that sounds like 1980s era WWV. Has anyone else noticed this?
Over the years, readers have often encouraged me to create SWLing Post shortwave radio-themed products, which is to say, t-shirts, coffee mugs, and the like. But for some reason, I’ve never gotten around to it.
That is, until now…
What finally motivated me to create these items is a friendship: I’m fortunate to number among my friends the amazingly talented Jeff Murray (K1NSS) of Dashtoons. It occurred to me that I might commission Jeff to design some shortwave radio-themed graphics that represent the broad spectrum of radio enthusiasts here on the SWLing Post. Jeff, ever enthusiastic where radio is concerned, was the perfect artist for the job–particularly since he and I see eye-to-eye on the beauty of both radio innovations and radio nostalgia. And with Jeff’s quirky sense of humor to enliven his sharp, dapper graphics, the great results you see here were simply inevitable.
Of course, his pictures speak louder than my words. As I’ve said, Jeff’s clearly a graphic artist par excellence, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that he really knows radio–inside and out.
While he was at it, Jeff created an SWLing Post logo that will soon accompany a refreshed Post design I’ve had in the works…stay tuned for that as the new year approaches.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share a link to a simple CafePress webstore I’ve put together for our newly-minted swag.
Click here to view great SWLing Post gear.
So far we only have a few select items on offer, but I’ll soon be adding more. But we do have two great t-shirt and coffee mug designs available now: the Radio Waterfall design features the SWLing Post logo superimposed over a blue SDR waterfall, with the words “DX FIEND” emblazoned beneath; the Radio Nostalgia design features the above vintage-style radio image, with”DX FIEND” beneath, and the “SECRET WORLD” image on the back. Take it from me, they look great.
Let me know if there’s something in the CafePress catalog you’d like to own featuring Jeff Murray’s terrific radio art, and I may be able to put it out there for you.
Oh, and by the way–a small percentage of your purchase (typically between $2.00-4.00US) goes towards keeping the SWLing Post online. The rest of the cost goes to CafePress’ product base price. True, I doubt we’ll ever sell enough to break even this way, but who cares…! After all, I do all this for fun, not profit.
Plus I confess to a little personal motivation: I really wanted a Jeff Murray-designed mug for my own cuppa joe!
The great thing about CafePress–although slightly pricey for some items–is that they offer great products, great customer service, and a no-questions-asked return policy. I like that.
So, if you take a leap of faith and purchase one of our items, please comment and let me know how you like it!
Side note: If you ever need amazing custom artwork for your QSL cards, your company, or your shack, I highly recommend Jeff Murray. He worked with me over the course of a week to nail down these incredible designs, and wowed me with his powerful creativity every step of the way. It was worth every single penny and more, and an honor to work with him, which is why I hope to have him create even more artwork next year! Thanks, Jeff!
And thanks to our Post readers for your purchase! Go ahead–join me in a hot cuppa!
Beolit 39 from 1938, B&O’s first Radio in Bakelite (Source: Wikipedia, image by Theredmonkey)
On the topic of beautiful radio design, I just read this Wired Magazine article which features photographer, Alastair Philip Wiper.
Wiper has been researching the Danish consumer electronics company Bang & Olufsen for his upcoming book, The Art of Impossible: The Bang & Olufsen Story. He was granted unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to B&O, where he learned about the company’s design philosophy, process and history. Here’s a short excerpt from the article:
“In the mid-1950s, design greats like Arne Jacobsen began experimenting with new materials and colors, galvanizing a wave of mid-century modern Danish furniture makers. Everything was sleek, teak, and handsome—it still is—but exhibits showing off the new pieces had a curatorial problem: no one was making modern radio cabinets, forcing curators to display decidedly outdated designs alongside the stylish new furniture. The technology definitely needed a major overhaul.
Bang & Olufsen joined a handful of radio manufacturers in rising to the challenge. The two men spent a few years doing research and working with architects and designers to design devices as beautiful as they were functional—an approach widely taken for granted today but novel at the time[..]”
I encourage you to read the full article at Wired.com and view some of the photographs in their online gallery. If you’re not familiar with B&O design, do a simple image search online.
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bill Mead, who writes:
I read about this in the Boston Globe. It’s available for iOS now and android soon.
From the Architecture of Radio site:
The Architecture of Radio is a data visualization, based on global open datasets of cell tower, Wi-Fi and satellite locations. Based on your GPS location the app shows a 360 degree visualization of signals around you. The dataset includes almost 7 million cell towers, 19 million Wi-Fi routers and hundreds of satellites. A site specific version of the app includes wired communication infrastructure embedded in the exhibition space. It’s aim is to provide a comprehensive window into the infosphere.
Thanks, Bill–you are one of several people who’ve told me about this app recently. While there’s no practical use for this app as a radio enthusiast (it’s purely a data visualization, not a measurement instrument) in an elegant way, it does make one aware of all of the radio infrastructure around us. Thanks for sharing!