Category Archives: Art

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Korea

Last week, we posted the following recording on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive; our website and podcast of current and historic shortwave radio recordings.

Indeed, our podcast is absolutely free and by subscribing (via iTunes or RSS feed), you can also help preserve these recordings. Read about the archive by clicking here.

Though I post recordings on the SWLing Post, we post many more on the shortwave archive as many of our recordings are sent in by contributors (like you!).

Pyongyang Metro Station (Original: Wikimedia Commons)

Indeed, I owe thanks to SWRAA contributor, Frank, for this recording of the Voice of Korea‘s English language service.

Frank recorded this broadcast from his home in Europe on November 13, 2013, on 11,645 kHz, starting at 16:00 UTC. Frank used a Kenwood R-5000 receiver and a Wellbrook ALA 1530+ antenna.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

David Korchin’s photography captures ETOW radios in the hands of kids

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Click here to view David Korchin’s photography

A truly rewarding experience I am privileged to enjoy as the director of Ears To Our World is to work directly with kids and teachers in the countries where we extend our mission.

This year, photographer/SWLer/radio amateur–and good friend–David Korchin (KC2WNW) accompanied me on an ETOW distribution trip to inner Belize City. Besides grabbing a few moments to enjoy a little SWLing, we worked with ETOW partner organization, The Belize Council for the Visually Impaired, to place radios with some of the children attending their annual summer camp. This was the third year we’ve worked with the BCVI, and it’s been a very rewarding journey.

Can you imagine what impact a self-powered shortwave radio might have on a child who is visually-impaired, but whose family can’t readily afford batteries? If you can fill in the answer, you’ll know why I do this.

Today, David posted his photos from the trip, documenting these truly inspirational children. The photos are nothing short of amazing. Click here to view the photos on his website: davidkorchin.com

You might recognize the radios we’re distributing; they were generously donated by Eton Corporation and are shortwave versions of their clever little wind-up workhorse, the Rover. Eton, incidentally, is celebrating their 27th anniversary today.

And, David–many, many thanks!

A photo tour of the VOA radio shack, K3VOA

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Last week, I visited my friend and fellow radio enthusiast, Dr. Kim Elliott, at the Voice of America headquarters in Washington DC. Kim gave me a tour of K3VOA, the ham radio club station of the Voice of America. K3VOA has a full ham shack, QSL card gallery, an SWLing station, some vintage gear and they even run a repeater site. Kim also took me on the roof to view the K3VOA antenna farm; not only is it impressive, but so, too, is the view of the Capitol Building.

Here is a gallery of the photos I took–click on the image to enlarge:

K3VOA shack

Anyone catch the irony here?

At the SWLing desk, they have one of my favorite tabletops, the Drake SW8

They even have a Hallicrafters S-27 UHF receiver

QSL cards from across the globe

K3VOA antenna farm

The Washington Monument in the distance.

View of the Capitol Building from the roof of the Voice of America on 330 Independence Ave., S.W.

Myke maps his radio recordings

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Our friend, Myke Dodge Weiskopf, writes with an update:

“I went through all 600+ recordings of mine and generated a highly accurate Google Earth KML file pinpointing all the transmitters (along with reception details). Lots of fun for SWL types to fly around and look at antenna farms!

http://dodgeblog.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/SWM-GoogleEarth.kml

It’s also available directly from www.myke.me/shortwavemusic/ along with the normal maps version and the comprehensive spreadsheet.”

This is fascinating–thanks, Myke!

I’ve already checked out the Google Maps version online but will certainly download the KML file and import it into Google Earth as well. It’s fun zooming around the globe and finding all of these transmitter sites; this took serious dedication to plot. (To have had tools like this when I was eight years old…)

Note that the next season of shortwavemusic starts on October 1st. Check out Myke’s website for more details!

1944 “Chart of Electromagnetic Radiations”

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Hat tip to Dennis Walter for sending me a link to this beautiful circa 1944 “Chart of Electromagnetic Radiations” by W.M Welch Scientific Company. According to Flickr user llnl photos, it was found, “tucked away in the back of an unused office years ago, but now hangs framed in a high-traffic hallway populated by Lawrence Livermore engineers.”