Category Archives: Guest Posts

We do love imaginary stations and Ohio!

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Greetings all SWLing Post community, Imaginary Stations bring you WLIS (We Love Imaginary Stations 2) through the ether this week via shortwaveradio.de on Saturday 25th January 2026 at 1200 hrs UTC. Then there’s the second transmission on Sunday 26th January 2026 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz and (the new time of) 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz.

As the first programme a couple of weeks ago, the show is a homage to imaginary, fictitious or fabricated radio stations that have appeared in films, books and music. Use your shortwave radio or an online SDR to tune into radio stations that may or may not exist. It’s going to be an interesting show so tune in!

And on Wednesday 28th January 2026 at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI we bring you OHIO. We’re talking about songs about Ohio. Could Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young be in there? Randy Newman? And REM? Who knows, you have to tune in and find out, but it will be a great show no matter what.

For more information on all our shows, please write to us at [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.

FastRadioBurst23

A first class service with some warmth

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Greetings all SWLing Post community, Imaginary Stations bring you POST (The Shortwave Postal Service) through the ether this week via shortwaveradio.de on Saturday 17th January 2026 at 1200 hrs UTC. Then there’s the second post on Sunday 18th January 2026 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz and (the new time of) 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz.

We’ll be pushing the (audio) envelope and be playing songs about stamps, post masters, postmen and women, and the humble post-box in all its free-standing glory (unless it is mounted into a wall). So put the imaginary overstuffed mailbag on your shoulder and listen to some sorted and possibly redirected tunes by the power of shortwave.

And on Wednesday 21st January 2026 at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI we bring you WARM. It may be cold where you are now, but we at Imaginary Stations will be sitting in front of a roaring fire dreaming about the change in the seasons and that magical time when the sun comes out again and playing some tunes with warmth to cheer you up. Tune in and listen to tunes that raise the temperature.

For more information on all our shows, please write to us at [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.

FastRadioBurst23

Mystery Station … Solved

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By Don Moore

Don’s traveling DX stories can be found in his book Tales of a Vagabond DXer [SWLing Post affiliate link]. If you’ve already read his book and enjoyed it, do Don a favor and leave a review on Amazon.

About two weeks ago I reported a mystery station identifying as the Duyen Hai Vietnam Information Station broadcasting in Thai on 8101 kHz. There is now enough information to identify who is behind the station and where it is coming from.

First, thanks to California DXer Ron Howard for his Internet sleuthing. Ron found a PDF file that specifically lists 8101 kHz as being used by the Hai Phong station in the Vishipel network, the Vietnam Maritime Communications and Electronics Company. This is a government-owned company that provides various services to the maritime industry. One of those services (and the one we’re interested in) is a network of thirty marine radio stations strung along the Vietnamese coast from north to south. The stations provide two-way marine radio communication and twice-daily scheduled weather broadcasts. All the stations use VHF and seventeen also use HF.

Vishipel’s weather broadcasts are listed on the DX Info Centre website and I had been monitoring those in my travels here in Southeast Asia. I suspected Vishipel was connected to this station but Ron found definitive proof that they use 8101 kHz and that the frequency comes from their station in Hai Phong. He also found this map showing all the coastal stations in the Vishipel network.

I’ve been wanting to record the station again, but my current location is not suitable for DXing. Since December 15th, I’ve been staying in the old city in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. But a few days ago, I made a two-day DXpedition to a rural location outside the city and made a terabyte of spectrum recordings with my three Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR receivers.

It will take me a while to go through all that DX, but I’ve already checked for Duyen Hai. I had a very good signal from it on 8101 kHz at 1214 UTC on 08 January 2026. This broadcast was eleven minutes long, which is a few minutes shorter than the ones previously monitored. Here’s a recording of the entire broadcast.

The reception was good enough that Google Translate had no problem turning the spoken Thai into written English. The program was about new EU requirements around animal welfare. But the broadcast content wasn’t my focus. This was the first time I had good copy of the entire broadcast and I wanted to hear the ending. Here is a translation of the sign-off announcement.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, today’s broadcast is over. Thank you for your attention, fishermen and audience. Our program is broadcast daily on the frequency 8101 kHz at 07:05, 19:05, and on the frequency 7996 kHz at 12:05. People can also contact their families and relatives via these two frequencies on all days of the week. I wish you all safe and effective sea trips. Hello, and see you again.

The wording is important for those of us who like to neatly categorize things. It proves that this is an intentional scheduled broadcast to an audience and not just a utility station unofficially relaying a broadcast. It’s the difference between whether it can be counted as a shortwave broadcast (SWBC) station or as a utility station. This ticks all the requirements to be counted as SWBC. Indeed, as a broadcast from Vietnam in Thai to a Thai audience it could even be considered as an international broadcaster!

The times in the announcement are local for Southeast Asia and correspond to 0005 and 1205 UTC on 8101 kHz and to 0505 UTC on 7996 kHz. I also found the program in my spectrum recordings coming on at 0019 UTC on 09 January. Obviously, they don’t care too much about beginning on time. Every broadcast I’ve monitored has begun ten to fifteen minutes late.

Unfortunately, I can’t check for the 0505 UTC broadcast as I didn’t make any spectrum recordings in that frequency range at that time (local noon). I’ll be sure to get some at my next opportunity. I also have questions about the 7996 kHz frequency. It isn’t listed in the Vishipel PDF, but it was listed as being used by the Nha Trang station in the 2017 Klingenfuss Utility Guide (the most recent I have).

Unless you’re in Southeast Asia, you won’t get a signal as good as the recording. But the Duyen Hai always uses the same woman announcer and the same musical interludes. Even if you just have a weak static-ridden signal, you should be able to match the music to that in the recording. So, can you catch this one at your location?

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Imagination and strange cloud formations

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Greetings all SWLing Post community, Imaginary Stations bring you WLIS (We love Imaginary Stations). It’s a homage to imaginary, fictitious or fabricated radio stations that have appeared in films, books and music. Remember Jimi Hendrix’s EXP, Wolfman Jack on XERB, Harry Chapin’s WOLD, the many shows on GTA and others?

The first show is via shortwaveradio.de on Saturday 10th January 2026 at 1200 hrs UTC and then again on Sunday 11th January 2026 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz and (the new time of) 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz.

Use your shortwave radio or an online SDR to tune into those radio stations that may or may not exist. If you love (fictional or non-fictional) radio, you’ll love our show!

And on Wednesday 14th January 2026 at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI we bring you The Weather Channel, a programme which features the joys of meteorology. So have your weather vane wired up as your antenna and keep a look out for strange cloud formations while tuning into The Weather Channel.

For more information on all our shows, please write to us at [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.

FastRadioBurst23

‘Tis the season before spring

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Greetings all SWLing Post community, Imaginary Stations start the new year with the final episodes of WNTR. The first is via shortwaveradio.de on Saturday 3rd January 2026 at 1200 hrs UTC and then again on Sunday 4th January 2026 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz and (the new time of) 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz. Winter vibes abound as per with the show, and the temperature outside may only a few degrees, but we will be transmitting as much winter warmth as we can!

And the final instalment is on Wednesday 7th January 2026 at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI. Spring may be a good few weeks away, but this’ll be the end of WNTR for now.

For more information on all our shows, please write to us at [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.

FastRadioBurst23

Don Pushes Portable Antennas Further: Loop Size, Performance, and Real-World Limits (Part 2)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Don Moore–noted author, traveler, and DXer–who shares the following post:

Two Portable Antennas for Remote DXing (Part Two)

By Don Moore

Don’s traveling DX stories can be found in his book Tales of a Vagabond DXer [SWLing Post affiliate link]. If you’ve already read his book and enjoyed it, do Don a favor and leave a review on Amazon.

In my initial comparison of the PA0RDT mini-whip and the MLA-30+ MegaLoop, the mini-whip performed best on medium wave and the lower shortwave bands, while the loop worked better on the higher bands. But, I wondered, why should the MLA-30+ be restricted to that small steel loop? The wire loops I use with my Wellbrook ALA-100LN typically range from twenty to fifty meters in circumference.

I threw a twenty-five-meter wire over a tree branch and formed it into a delta with the MLA-30+ in the bottom center. Remember, I was testing in the northern Chicago suburbs. My SDRs were completely overloaded. Medium wave was useless and I had strong MW stations all over the shortwave bands. The MLA-30+ doesn’t have the same strong-signal handling capabilities as the Wellbrook. And there are a lot of strong medium wave signals in the Chicago suburbs.

So I took that wire down and replaced it with a loop of twelve meters circumference.

That did the trick. I had lots of signals on medium wave without the overloading. Here’s what the upper end of the MW band now looked like with the MLA-30+.

For comparison, here’s the same wire loop using the Wellbrook ALA-100LN. The Wellbrook has a slightly lower noise floor but otherwise the signals are about the same.

Out of curiosity, I replaced the Wellbrook power unit with the Bias-T from the MLA-30+ but left the Wellbrook antenna head unit in place. With this hybrid setup there’s no visible difference with the full Wellbrook.

I was satisfied with my findings but I still wondered how much wire the MLA-30+ could handle. A few weeks later I ran some more tests in Kansas, where I knew the dial wouldn’t be as crowded. The MLA-30+ easily handled a 25-meter delta loop without overloading.

Two weeks after doing the Kansas tests I was at a DXpedition in rural western Pennsylvania. The MLA-30+ worked fine with a 40-meter circumference loop, other than being a tad noisier than the Wellbrook with the same wire. So how much wire you can use with the MLA-30+ components depends on how strong your local medium wave stations are.

Findings

From the SDR images above it would be easy to conclude that with the right length of wire an MLA-30+ is just as good as a Wellbrook ALA-100LN even though it is significantly cheaper. But that’s not the full picture. Back in the 1990s my Drake R-8 cost about three times what my Sony ICF-2010 did.  All other things being equal, I would say that 95% of the DX heard on the Drake could have been heard equally well on the Sony. I wanted the Drake for the other five percent.

I have no doubt that if I did a very careful head-to-head comparison of the two units under serious DX conditions on the same wire that the Wellbrook would get things the MLA-30+ couldn’t. But I suspect the difference would be around that five percent mark. I’m willing to accept that tradeoff for an effective cheap light-weight travel antenna. And the MLA-30+ is like having two antennas in one. I can use it with the steel loop in limited space situations or with a larger wire loop when I have access to some garden space with a tree. Together, the MLA-30+ and the PA0RDT make the perfect DX travel antennas.

The only thing I didn’t like about the MLA-30+ was that pre-attached coax cable. It’s not the best quality and I’d rather carry my own cable. I’m not very handy with a soldering iron in tight spaces but at our recent DXpedition my friend Bill Nollman replaced the coax with a BNC jack for me.

The MLA-30+ now looks like this when connected to a wire loop.

Finally, I should address powering the MLA-30+ via USB. While it can be connected to a spare USB port on your laptop, I found doing that sometimes introduced a tad more noise. Instead I’ve been using one of those battery packs used for recharging cellphones. Mine is rated at 6700 mAh and it can power the MLA-30+ for over 48 hours before needing a recharge. But be sure to test yours before doing any serious DXing. I’ve read that some power packs have a minimum required power draw and will automatically shut off if the draw is too low.

Another Option?

While I was finishing this article I heard about another option from my friend Guy Atkins.  This antenna is a combination of the YouLoop with a low-priced Chinese made clone of the LZ1AQ amplifier. Some users say it’s better than the MLA-30+. Guy says it works well on shortwave up to 16 meters but he hasn’t tried it on medium wave. Guy says it’s a “low price, good value” antenna. I’m traveling in Southeast Asia for the winter but will definitely have to try this antenna when I get back to the USA. So maybe there will be a follow-up article next summer.

Links

[Note: Amazon links are affiliate and support the SWLing Post at no cost to you.]

Info on ordering a quality PA0RDT from Roelof Bakker. (Other cheaper versions have had issues with quality control.)

https://dl1dbc.net/SAQ/miniwhip.html

There are various versions of the MLA-30+ and the original MLA-30. This is the version that Mark Taylor recommended and that I bought.

https://amzn.to/3MEKjPY

There are numerous YouTube videos on using and modifying both versions of the MLA-30+. This one shows how to replace the coax with a BNC jack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAqh2Lawwdc

Here’s the Amazon link for the YouLoop/LZ1AQ antenna that Guy has.

https://amzn.to/4s1RB09

And the same antenna on Ali Express.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808527623276.html

You don’t want to be left out in the cold!

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Greetings all SWLing Post community, here’s more Imaginary Stations WNTR shows for the festive season just when you’re fed up with what’s on Christmas TV. The first is via shortwaveradio.de on Saturday 27th December 2025 at 1200 hrs UTC and then again on Sunday 28th December 2025 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz and 2200 UTC on 3975 kHz.


Expect all sorts of winter tunes, festive tunes and music to celebrate the end of the year. Turn your shortwave radio on and enjoy some pleasurable and warm tunes. There may be some egg nog left in the fridge if you’re lucky!

And there’s another instalment of WNTR on Wednesday 31st December 2025 at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI. Start your New Year’s Eve very early and enjoy the cosy sounds on WNTR!

For more information on all our shows, please write to us at [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.

FastRadioBurst23