Category Archives: FM

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report Special Edition: Africa (PDF)

Mark shares some sights and sounds from South Korea

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who recently returned from a trip to South Korea and, at my request, is sharing some sights and sounds with us. Mark writes:

Thomas,

I’ve been catching up on cataloguing pictures and videos from my Korea trip.

I’ve enclosed a picture taken through the Seoul North Tower observation window of an adjacent radio mast.

You can also see a view of Seoul along with its dubious air quality !

I’ve posted these radio-related YouTube videos:

AFN Korea – War in Iran:

MBC FM4U – Reporting on a fire at a ‘capsule’ hotel in Myeong-dong
I embedded English translations generated by the Korean language app, NAVER Papago:

Mark

Thank you, Mark! Wow–I can’t imagine being a guest in a capsule hotel during a fire–that sounds terrifying. And thank you for that photo of the Seoul North Tower–great shot!

End of an Era: CBS News Radio Shuttering After 100 Years

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Edward R. Murrow

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Richard Cuff, who shares the following article from The Guardian regarding a significant restructuring at CBS News. In a move described by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss as a “necessary decision” driven by a radical shift in the media landscape, the network has announced a major round of layoffs affecting roughly 6% of its staff. Most notably for the radio community, the nearly 100-year-old CBS News Radio service is set to shutter on May 22, 2026. This marks the end of an era for a service that famously hosted Edward R. Murrow’s wartime reports and produced the CBS World News Roundup, the longest-running newscast in the country.

Read the full article at The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/20/bari-weiss-cbs-news-layoffs

The Deepelec DP-666: A very interesting radio

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By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

My friend Andy, who is an expert medium wave DXer, calls it his “weapon of choice” and a “DX machine.” In fact, just a night ago, using a YouLoop passive antenna hanging from a birdfeeder on his porch in upstate New York, he snagged a couple of tiny Mexican stations above 1600 kHz at a distance of over 2000 miles. He was surprised the stations were there, and it was a bit of a hunt on the internet to find their livestreams and ID them.

The radio that made hearing these diminutive stations possible is the Deepelec DP-666, a radio based on the high-sensitivity, high-selectivity TEF6686 chip which is used in automotive radios. The DP-666 measures 5 inches wide (excluding knobs) by 3 1/8 inches high by 1 1/8 inch deep. On the front panel are a speaker grill, a 2.8-inch color display, and 15 buttons for various radio functions (including a full numeric keypad for direct frequency entry) and a red power button. On the right side are tuning and volume knobs. On the bottom panel is a master switch for power. On the left panel are a 1/8-inch headphone socket and a USB-C port for a communication interface and for charging the 5000 mAh rechargeable battery, which is not user-accessible.

The DP-666 can receive FM (from 65-108 MHz with various frequency ranges selectable for different parts of the world and over a dozen different bandwidths), SW (from 1700-27000 kHz), MW (522-1791 kHz, 9 kHz steps; 520-1720 kHz, 10 kHz steps) and LW 144-513 kHz. In AM mode, 3/4/6/8 kHz bandwidths are available. The DP-666 does not offer single-sideband reception.

You won’t hear anything, however, unless you connect an antenna to the standard SMA female connector on the top panel of the radio, because the DP-666 has no internal antenna. The DP-666 comes with a 29 ½ inch whip antenna that does a yeoman job of receiving MW and FM. For MW DXing, Andy prefers the passive YouLoop, and he uses the DP-666/YouLoop combo frequently. “It’s quiet,” he says.

For MW reception, I like a direct cable connection between the DP-666 and a Terk AM Advantage, which is an un-amplified loop antenna with capacitive tuning. I can hold the Terk antenna in my left hand (which allows me to rotate it from side to side and even tilt it for improved reception), and with my thumb, I can rotate the antenna’s tuning wheel for peak reception. At the same time, I hold the DP-666 in my right hand and operate the tuning knob with my thumb and forefinger. It looks a little weird, but works really well.

For FM reception, I use a scanner antenna, a Comet W100RX extended to about 31 inches. The DP-666 display offers a full complement of RDS information if transmitted by the FM station. I am not, by any means, an expert FM DXer, but it seems to be a “hot” receiver.

For SW reception, the DP-666 also works pretty well with the whip antenna that comes with it. When connected to my 50-foot indoor horizontal room loop antenna, it detected a lot of shortwave stations on auto-scan. My guess is that dedicated shortwave DXers will be pleased with this pocket-sized radio.

In addition to its excellent electrical performance on MW, SW, and FM (I did not test LW), there are a couple of things about the DP-666 that I really love. The first is that, straight out of the box, the DP-666 is easy to use without consulting the manual. However, if you want tons, and tons, and TONS of customizability, press and hold the MODE button to access the MENU screens, where you can “fiddle the bits” to your heart’s delight. I have never used any of these settings, but they are there if you want them. (I think I consulted the manual just once to learn how to store stations in memory.) The well-written manual can be downloaded in PDF format here: https://deepelec.com/files/dp-666/DP-666_Product_Manual_EN.pdf .

The second thing that delights me about the DP-666 is that it is a quiet radio to operate. The clicks from the buttons are soft, and the tuning knob has detents that are felt, not heard. With headphones on, I can seek distant stations without disturbing others in the room.

Bottom line, the Deepelec DP-666 is a sensitive and easy to use radio that delivers pleasing results on MW, SW, and FM. I would be delighted to hear from others who have used it, particularly with high-performance antennas.

Radio Waves: Origins of PRI’s The World, Hona Ghazza, and Vatican Radio at 95

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Richard Cuff, Carlos Latuff, and David Iurescia for the following tips:

How The World launched 30 years ago ‘to connect Americans to the rest of the globe’ (WGBH)

For three decades, The World, the public radio program from GBH and PRX, has crossed time zones to tell the stories that matter. For 30 years, it has delivered captivating global journalism — the first of its kind, and still the only program dedicated to bringing international news to U.S. public radio audiences every day.

Marco Wermen, host of the World, joined GBH’s All Things Considered’s Arun Rath to celebrate the milestone anniversary. This is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation. [Continue reading…]

New Radio Station Breaks the Silence from Gaza Ruins (SAFA News Agency)

From the rubble of a territory that has endured years of siege and devastation, a new independent radio station has begun broadcasting once again, offering a voice to residents after a prolonged blackout of local media. For the first time in over two years, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip can tune in to Hona Ghazza, meaning Here Gaza, on FM radio, a milestone in communication after all 23 local stations were destroyed during Israel’s genocidal war.

Broadcasting from makeshift studios and supported by collaborations between local media groups and university centres, the station is designed to serve as more than just a source of music or news. [Continue reading…]

Vatican Radio at 95: English Africa Service approaches 76 Years (Vatican News)

Founded in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi at the request of Pope Pius XI and placed under the guidance of the Jesuits, Vatican Radio continues its global service. For its part, the English Africa Service has been broadcasting to the continent for 76 years

12 February 2026 marks the 95th anniversary of Vatican Radio, a pioneering voice in global broadcasting and one of the Church’s most historic media institutions.

Established on 12 February 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless telegraphy, at the request of Pope Pius XI, Vatican Radio began its mission with the first papal radio message. This event began a new era in the Church’s use of modern communication to proclaim the Gospel. [Continue reading…]

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The Genesis of Carlos Latuff’s Illustrated Radio Listening Reports

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Carlos Latuff, who writes:

The first time I thought about illustrating news I listened to on the radio, I was a kid, in the kitchen of my aunt’s apartment, I think in the 80s. From her Philco Transglobe receiver, I was informed that a sea lion had appeared on Copacabana beach, or something like that. I imagined what it would be like to draw that unusual event. But it remained just an idea; I never got around to drawing it.

The 20th century passed, and in 2019, I decided to rescue that childhood idea from the past. I made my first illustrated radio logbook:

This minilog would be the embryo of what I now call an “Illustrated Radio Listening Report.” A way to record, in illustration form, historical moments listened on the radio.

I hope to leave to those who come after me, research material, both on History and on radio. With this in mind, I’m making available here on SWLing Post this PDF with some of my illustrated reports of news captured by radio in 2025, related to climate change, a crucial theme of our times. This is my legacy as an artist AND radio enthusiast. Enjoy! ?

World Radio Day: Kentucky’s Real People Radio

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A new documentary from the BBC, produced by SWLing Post friend and contributor David Goren and presented by Maria Margaronis, is now available to listen to online.

Kentucky’s Real People Radio, from The Documentary Podcast, visits WMMT in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a small community radio station known locally as “Possum Radio,” which serves coalfield communities in Appalachia and now faces an uncertain future amid potential cuts to public funding. The programme explores why community stations like WMMT matter more than ever, providing trusted local information, emergency alerts, and a rare platform for voices often unheard in national media.

You can listen to the full documentary, with embedded audio, on BBC Sounds here:
https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0n0g9f2

Update: If you don’t have a BBC account and can’t access the recording above, they also make the recording available via this link, which I’ll also embed below: