My good friend, Jeff Murray (K1NSS) of Dashtoons fame, posted this on his Facebook page and it gave me a chuckle:
Notes on our new CK722 Data Sheet, where else but www.dashtoons.com
A Halloween Semiconductor!
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Category Archives: Funny
“How To Make a Cheap Receiving Outfit”
Our friends over at the SolderSmoke Daily News recently posted this fun piece from a January 1921 issue of Radio News:
This is great! I’ve often thought a proper ground needed daily watering. And we know it must work: Mars is some serious DX! Professor Nutty T. Wyrlus was way ahead of his time.
Click here to check out the original post at the SolderSmoke Daily News.
Video: Thomas (N1SPY) takes a look at a “Future QST” magazine dated April 2041
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan Cholakov, who writes:
Hello Thomas,
Something entertaining – Thomas, N1SPY got his hands on a QST Magazine dated April 2041 if you can believe it! So he shared some of the stories in the magazine in a video and also attached the magazine to this email. I found some of the ideas in the magazine very entertaining.
There is also a story specifically regarding the golden years of shortwave listening – I really wish the “real” shortwave archive described in the magazine becomes reality one day!
The introductory video is here and the pdf magazine is attached.
Click here to download the “2041 QST” as a PDF (6.4 MB).
This is hilarious! Thank you for sharing Ivan and Thomas!
Finding Happiness…
This public service announcement brought to you by the SWLing Post:
Dan’s Fridge Counterpoise and Butter Cookie Signal Booster
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy, who writes:
Here’s something you and the SWLing Post bunch might enjoy. My latest innovation in signal enhancement. Listening to KNLS from Anchor Point, Alaska on the 30m band. Not sure how much signal gain is achieved with the butter cookie tin, but it looks intriguing! And the 40 KV electrolyte just happened to be in the area. I’m sure it adds at least another 3dB to the received signal strength. ??
Continuing the relentless pursuit for better radio!
Ha ha! I had no idea that Danish Butter Cookies could help with DX! So much better than setting the Skywave SSB on an Altoids tin! Thanks for the chuckle, Dan!
When Dagwood decided to become a radio repair technician
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow, who shares a link to this 1947 “Blondie & Dagwood” episode #21. Dave notes that the part of the episode with a radio slant starts at approx. 24:22:
Click here to view on YouTube.
Thanks, Dave! I’m not sure I’ve ever watched an episode of Blondie and Dagwood, although I’ve certainly read hundreds of the comic strips and listened to many episodes of the OTR shows.
In fact, if you’d like to listen to some of the Blondie and Dagwood radio shows, the Internet Archive has a collection of 42 episodes that you can stream or download.
I’ve embedded the Internet Archive Playlist below for your convenience:
You’ve Been Warned: Emilio just brought a Grundig Frankenradio to life–!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor (and certified mad scientist), Emilio Ruiz, who writes:
Recently I was given a broken Grundig G8 Traveler II. This radio had an accident–the case, speaker, tuning knob, and volume controls were all broken or damaged.
I discovered that the tuning and volume controls are not potentiometers, they are a rotary encoders, so I substituted the tiny and broken original controls with rotary encoders (typically used for Arduino projects), but I needed to remove the 10 kiloohms resistor to work properly (only used the CLK, DT, and GND pins).
All materials were reused from other things, the result is like a “Frankenstein radio”.
The “telescopic” antenna is a tape measure/flexometer which was broken too. I replaced the original speaker (which I think was another impedance) with a proper 8 ohms speaker which produced low volume, so i decide add a Pam8403 amplifier module for best performance. The total current drain is 0.10 amp for a regular “loud” audio level.
So the Grundig Frankie is alive!!… It’s alive!!
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Click here to view video in new window.
This is brilliant, Emilio! Although this radio is quite scary–and, let’s face it, “post-apocalyptic”–I think it’s absolutely amazing! I love the handle and the tape measure antenna. You, sir, are a mad scientist and I look forward to your next creation! (I’ll just take shelter first!) 
Anyone else ever created a Frankenradio? Please comment!