Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Nigel Holmes, who shares the following:
SIBC [Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation] has ended its MF service on 1035 kHz.
Delivery on FM & HF has been retained. Audience surveys indicated HF delivery was more effective than MF. The decision will be reviewed in 2018
http://www.sibconline.com.sb/special-announcement-from-sibc-management/
Thank you for the tip, Nigel!
When listening to marginal FM signals, the AR1780 can be set to mono mode instead of default stereo mode.
(Source: The Guardian)
Digital switchover means that only the country’s local radio stations continue to use FM frequencies
Norway has completed its transition to digital radio, becoming the first country in the world to shut down national broadcasts of its FM network.
The country’s most northern regions and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic switched to digital audio broadcasting (DAB) as scheduled on Wednesday, said Digitalradio Norge (DRN), an umbrella group for Norway’s public and commercial radio.
The transition, which began on 11 January, allows for better sound quality and more channels and functions at an eighth of the cost of FM radio, according to authorities.
The move has, however, been met with some criticism linked to technical incidents and claims that there is not enough DAB coverage across the country.
Radio users have also complained about the cost of having to buy new receivers or adapters, usually priced at between €100 and €200 (£88 and £176).
Only 49% of motorists are able to listen to DAB in their cars, according to DRN figures.[…]
Though not a shortwave radio (the SWLing Post loves ALL radios!), C. Crane’s latest special involves free Priority Mail shipping to U.S. customers for their CC Pocket Radio. Just use the Promo Code: CCPKTSHIP. This special ends at midnight PST on 17 December. The CC Pocket Radio comes standard with the CC Buds earphones – a quality set of earbuds.
Crane’s Amazon Canada store offers free shipping with a number of C. Crane products through Amazon Canada Prime.
Post author: Troy Riedel
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Phil Brennan, who writes:
I spotted this article in the Australian edition of the Guardian about a local community radio network for Yolgnu people here in the NT:
‘We’re not going anywhere’: how cyclones failed to batter Yolgnu Radio
In 2015, when two cyclones battered the northern coast of Arnhem Land in less than a month, many remote homelands had just two ways to get news: Yol?u Radio or a payphone.
After the radio station’s transmission went down in the storm, some stranded residents used the payphone to contact the station.
“When the cyclone was closing in they would keep coming to the phone and we were like: you mob should be in a shelter now because anything can happen, things flying about and everything,” announcer Sylvia Nulpinditj describes.
“They were calling in every hour, running to the phone box,” production manager Gaia Osborne adds. “They came off all right in the end but they were incredibly worried.”
During Lam, the category-four storm that made landfall first near Elcho Island, Nulpinditj, Osborne and another colleague delivered more than 170 cyclone updates in Yol?u languages, working around-the-clock from the Darwin studio (special characters are used in written Yol?u to render pronunciation more accurately).
“The nature of satellite technology is affected by rain and cloud cover so we were pushing those messages out in every possible way we could,” Osborne says. “There was that much rain hitting Galiwin’ku and in some of those homelands we knew the radio signal would have been knocked out. But there were still people on Facebook.”
Nulpinditj, an award-winning host at Yolgnu Radio for more than six years, says it is a “huge responsibility” as a Yol?u broadcaster, and it can be challenging to work with mainstream organisations, “for example, the Bureau of Meteorology mob”.
Click here to continue reading at The Guardian.
Interesting that it refers to disaster advice on cyclones. It’s a pity it doesn’t draw the link between that and the closure of the NT shortwave service.
Many thanks for sharing this article, Phil!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who notes that C. Crane has developed an enhanced version of the original CCRadio-EP AM/FM portable.
C. Crane includes the following description on their website:
The new CC Radio-EP PRO is an enhanced version of the original EP. It has the same simple controls and the same high performance with superior selectivity and sensitivity. The portable CCRadio-EP PRO could be considered a super radio; built for ease of use and outstanding long-range AM with our C. Crane patented Twin Coil Ferrite® AM Antenna. FM performance is excellent.
Great for listening to Talk Radio, NPR®, Music, and Sports. The EP PRO has a wide bass and treble adjustment range for defined music and accurate and lively voice reproduction.
A large, 5-inch speaker is combined with a hi-fidelity amplifier and a “Wide/Narrow” enhancement dial to give extra clarity to AM programs. The dial accuracy of the new EP PRO is superior to our original model. Weight: 3.1 lbs. (without batteries). Size: 11.4″ W x 7.3″ H x 2.75″ D. Runs on four optional “D” batteries (not included). AC adapter is included.
C.Crane lists a shipping date of March 30, 2018 or after.
Since I receive so many questions about affordable radios for mediumwave DXing, I’ll certainly review the CCRadio-EP Pro when it’s available. I look forward to evaluating out a radio with such simple controls!
Click here to check the CCRadio-EP Pro on C. Crane’s website.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Steve Lekuecher, who writes:
A technology forum friend recently noticed Universal Radio listed a new Sangean HD portable (HDR-14) on their website which is very similar in form to the Sangean DPR-65 and I was curious if you are considering reviewing it.
Thanks for the tip, Steve! Yes, I’ll certainly review the HDR-14!
I was unaware the HDR-14 was in the works, so I reached out to Sangean who supplied a little more detail.
The Sangean HDR-16 sports stereo speakers, but it limited to five presets per band.
It sounds, of course, like the HDR-14 will retail at a lower price than the larger HDR-16 (which is currently down to $99.99 shipped on Amazon).
I’ve been evaluating the HDR-16 this fall and have been favorably impressed overall.
I expect to post my review of the HDR-16 within the next two weeks.
Sangean plans to start shipping the HDR-14 mid to late January 2018. I’ll order it as soon as it’s on the market. I’m intrigued by the HDR-14 because of its size–very compact. I’m very curious, though, if it can match its larger brother (the HDR-16) in terms of sensitivity and overall performance. We’ll soon see.
Thanks again, Steve, for the tip!
I’ve posted an image of the sales flyer below. Click on the image to enlarge:
Today, SDRplay, the UK-based manufacturer of affordable software defined receivers, announced a new addition to their product line: the SDRplay RSP-1A.
The RSP1A joins the SDRplay product line of the RSP2 ($169.95 US), and RSP2 Pro ($199.95 US). The new RSP1A will retail for $99.00 US.
But what of this SDR’s performance? In a nutshell: as of today, I’d contend that the RSP1A will simply be the best SDR value on the market. End of story. There is nothing I know in the $99 price bracket that can beat it.
How do I know this? I can make this statement with confidence because I have been involved with real-world testing and evaluation of the RSP1A Alpha, Beta, and production models since May. I took the RSP1A with me to Canada this past summer for field recordings with my laptop, and I’ve also evaluated the RSP at my home. Like a number of other reviewers, I’ve been intimately involved with putting the RSP1A through its paces. And let’s just say I like what I’ve seen.
I actually do quite a bit of Alpha and Beta testing for manufacturers. While it’s time-consuming volunteer work and requires meticulous attention to minor details, it gives me an opportunity to have meaningful positive impact on an upcoming product. Manufacturers that actively involve enthusiasts in their testing phase tend to produce better-quality products on the first run. Better products, of course, mean a better radio market with options for those only now discovering the mystery––and fun––of radio as well as DXing.
Since the RSP1A is essentially iterative agility on behalf of SDRplay, the RSP1A was surprisingly solid even in its early release. And try as I might, there were very few issues I ever needed to report back to the engineering team. SDRplay took each item of feedback seriously, logged it, and followed-up. Over the course of the evaluation period, SDRplay improved their dedicated SDR application SDRuno, as well.
In essence, the RSP1A hardware now in production and shipping has been thoroughly tested and is ripe-and-ready for your radio adventures.
I have not compared the RSP and RSP1A side by side; running two instances of SDRuno on the same PC has been problematic. To my ear, when I’ve tested one after the other, the RSP1A serves up slightly better sensitivity, perhaps due to a slightly lower noise floor. Also the RSP1A frequency stability is much improved over the RSP1.
Specifically, the following upgrades have been made per SDRplay:
Suffice to say, this budget SDR delivers, and users will be wooed by its stellar performance.
I’ve spent 95% of my evaluation time on the HF and mediumwave bands and I’ve been impressed with the receiver’s sensitivity, selectivity, and AGC control. The audio fidelity is also highly customizable since it’s pumping audio directly through your PC’s system.
I haven’t spent any time above the aviation bands (higher than 140 MHz); I have, however, tested the RSP1A thoroughly on the FM broadcast bands and found it a solid FM performer. Note, too, that SDRuno’s built-in RDS decoder window provides quite a lot of data.
I’m also pleased that I haven’t noticed any front-end overloading––this, despite the fact that during travel, I’ve used it in the vicinity of some powerful broadcasters.
I’ve compared the RSP1A to the Elad FDM-S2 ($500), WinRadio Excalibur ($900) and Microtelecom Perseus ($900).
The WinRadio G31DDC “Excalibur”
But let’s be clear, here: this is not an “apples-to-apples” comparison since the RSP1A is a fraction of the cost of the others, and is also a wideband receiver (1 kHz to 2 GHz). The only other SDR I own that has VHF coverage is the FDM-S2, which tops out at 160 MHz.
Pricier HF-focused SDRs have distinct hardware advantages––especially in terms of filtering––that give them an edge over budget wideband SDRs. Still, in my comparisons, the RSP1A holds its own quite well.
Compared to the WinRadio Excalibur, for example, this SDR came fairly close in terms of sensitivity. The WinRadio’s synchronous detector––which I consider to be the best in the business––was indeed more stable than that of the RSP1A. The RSP1A sync lock could falter a bit during a weak signal’s QSB dip compared with the Excalibur.
But again, HF SDRs in the league of the FDM-S2, Excalibur, and Perseus have the luxury of designing receiver architecture around a much smaller portion of the spectrum. If you are a hard-core DXer looking for uncompromised performance on the HF/MW bands, then you should invest in one of these benchmark SDRs. I have, and I’d never give one of them up.
With that said, even though I have these amazing benchmark SDRs at my disposal, I still purchased the original RSP1 (then at $159 US) years ago. Why? For one thing, it’s more portable than the Excalibur or Perseus as it requires no external power supply (like the excellent FDM-S2, the RSP derives its power from the USB data cable). Additionally, I do like to play with frequencies above 50 MHz from time to time. The RSP offers up an all-in-one RF toolbox at a very affordable price. I don’t hesitate to throw the RSP in my pack and take it anywhere I’m travelling. If it gets damaged or lost, I’m only out $99––not $1,000.
Again, RSP1A’s bang-for-buck simply blows my mind.
Side note: I do wish someone would develop an accessory outboard filter box that could be implemented with budget wideband SDRs, thus providing, in a sense, a hardware “upgrade.” Something like the Elad SPF-08 preselector box designed for the FDM-S2
This review has been overwhelmingly positive because, frankly, the RSP1A is challenging to find fault with. Of course, if it carried a price tag of $600-900, I’d be much more critical of its performance as compared with my benchmark receivers in that same price class. I’d fully expect a robust preselector system, a bullet-proof front end, and performance that could match or surpass the benchmarks.
But for just $99? You simply can’t get that kind of hardware for that cost. So SDRplay engineering cleverly pulls every bit of performance out of their receiver by focusing on their SDRuno application, which is optimized for this receiver. And for that reason, it’s in a class by itself.
Admittedly, when SDRplay first introduced their application, SDRuno, I wasn’t the biggest fan. I found it rather quirky and a little cumbersome to use. SDRuno has come a long way, though; SDRplay has continuously improved it, and today, I prefer it to HDSDR and SDR console. SDRuno is much less cumbersome to use than it used to be, and the default window arrangement is pleasing (though I’d still like SDRuno windows to lock and act as one window as I flip through programs on my Win 10 PC). I even prefer SDRuno to Elad’s application in terms of ease of use.
If more AF/IQ recording features are added (virtual receivers, for example) it could even become my application of choice.
The great thing about the SDRplay RSP series, however, is that they’re supported by so many third-party SDR apps. If you don’t like the one you’re using, there are numerous others to chose from. SDRplay takes an affirmative stance that their hardware should be usable on as many platforms with as many applications as possible. Kudos to them.
Here’s a question I know I’ll be asked…
Good question! As you might guess, my answer is fairly simple and depends on your particular needs:
If you’re happy with the RSP1 and see no real benefit in the RSP1A upgrades above, don’t bother upgrading. Seriously…enjoy what you have! The RSP1 is still a sharp, capable, versatile little SDR and fully supported by SDRplay and its community. I’ve worked some incredible DX with mine over the past few years, and love it.
If you like the sound of the RSP1A and would appreciate the upgrades listed above, then go for it! After all, it’s only $99! Consider this: the price is less than that of my recently reviewed Digitech AR-1780 portable and less than the venerable Tecsun PL-660. Even with a modest external antenna, it will perform circles around these rigs.
If you need an excuse to justify the upgrade to the RSP1A, consider doing what I’m planning to do: give your RSP1 to a friend or someone interested in the hobby. Or, donate it to your radio club as a raffle prize. Then too, of course, you can snag a decent price for it by selling it on eBay or QTH.com.
While a little busy, I do enjoy the combined spectrum display option on SDRuno.
If you can’t tell, I’m most impressed with this latest offering from SDRplay. I can recommend it with confidence because you simply can’t beat the performance and features for the price.
If you’re considering the RSP1A as your first SDR, you’ll be happy to know SDRplay’s Mike Ladd has also amassed a healthy number of SDRuno instructional videos on YouTube as well. If you start with the first video, by the end of the series you’ll be adept at using SDRuno. Couldn’t be easier.
Think of it this way: The RSP1A is the sporty-but-affordable compact car of the SDR world. It delivers performance well above its comparatively modest price and is fun to operate. In terms of DX, it gets you from point A to point B very comfortably––and quite affordably!
With just $99, there’s no reason you can’t join the world of SDR––the RSP1A is a very accessible, very intuitive SDR start your exploration of the radio spectrum.