Beautiful emailed QSL card from Undercover Radio
This QSL card just came today from a broadcast on Halloween, station Undercover Radio. There were a number of broadcasts that night, but this was by far the most unusual that I heard!
Robert Gulley, K4PKM, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Robert also blogs at All Things Radio.
Good day all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week’s Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 5th November 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz, we have Radio Ace (2) featuring the further Adventures of Flash Frisbone. If you loved the last episode, you’ll love this one!
A few hours later via the transmitters of WRMI on Monday 6th November we have the return of the Blue light shortwave special and the only official supermarket radio show, KMRT at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz and then repeated at 0400 UTC on 9455 kHz.
This show is for all the shoppers out there and as usual expect centre aisle specials and “once in a lifetime” bargains. For maximum effect please listen through a supermarket type PA system and do remember “When it’s gone, IT’S GONE!” (until the next time).
For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.
A big hi to all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week’s Imaginary Stations transmissions. We have two different shows of KBIN, the first on Sunday 29th October 2023 at 2100 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz.
A few hours later via the transmitters of WRMI on Monday 30th October we have the second programme. The broadcast is at 0200 UTC on 9395 kHz and then repeated at 0300 UTC on 9455 kHz. We’ve got more recycled radio for you including mixes from some of our Imaginary Stations favourite shows so tune in and catch yourself another great value for money transmission this weekend!
For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following guest post:
By Bill Hemphill WD9EQD
Over the years, I have owned many of the various Sony shortwave radios. From analog to digital, I would buy the latest and sell my current radio. For the past few years, I have been using mainly Tecsun radios and didn’t own any Sony radios anymore. This changed last year. I got the urge to acquire a few of the Sony’s that I remember so fondly. Over several months I bought off eBay four ICF-2010 (one of which works), two ICF-SW100 (one of which works), four ICF-SW1 (none of which works). After spending way too much money just to acquire two working Sony radios, I started realizing that any Sony radio was probably going to need re-capping – a chore which I am not skilled at. I could have saved money by just paying the high price for a radio that had already been completely re-capped and working.
During the many hours spent watching eBay, I would occasionally come across a Sony radio that I was not familiar with – the Sony ICF-SW800. This is a very unusual radio in that it has only two bands – FM and SW. And the SW band only covers 3.7 to 17.9 MHz It also has these small credit card size pre-programmed memory cards. I ended up buying a couple of the radios just to learn what was going on with the memory cards.
The radio is very plain and simple. Dull black plastic, telescoping antenna, nice flip out tilt stand on the back, very small LCD display that shows time when off or in stand-by and band (FM or SW), frequency and card Preset memory number when card is inserted. Following are photos of front of radio, without and with card inserted:
Removing the battery cover reveals a storage area for the cards when not in use:
The cards are slid into the slot on the right of the radio. There is a plastic cover over the keyboard. This cover is touch sensitive. The plastic has imbedded in it small dots which can detect which part of the screen is being touched. Without a card inserted, you can select the band (SW EXEC or FM EXEC) and directly enter a frequency using the 0-9 keypad. Or you can use the manual +/- tune keys.
I had originally thought that the memory cards must be storing the memories in circuitry within the cards. When I got the first radio and looked at the cards I was really surprised to see that they were just cardboard cards – no circuity. So how was the radio knowing which card was inserted and what was stored in the memory.
The radio comes with four double side cards. Three of the cards are for the memories while the fourth is a card used to set the clock. Following are photos of the “L” series cards:
As you can see some cards are pre-programmed for Radio Stations and some are Free Memories for you to program your own station. But since the memories are NOT stored on the cards, how does the radio know which card is inserted and which memory on the card is selected?
Each card has one or two white tabs on the left of the card. There are three possible tab locations. A review of the service manual and the wiring diagram shows that the locations of these tabs make up a binary code for 1 to 7. (only 7 is needed since the clock card is single sided while the other three cards are double sided) The clock card has all three white tabs and is thus seven (Tab 1 = 1, Tab 2 = 2 and tab 3 =4 for 1+2+4 = 7). Then each of the other cards are 1 thru 6 depending on the tab locations. The radio has infrared leds along with sensors. By shining a LED light onto the card, the radio can sense which card is inserted and then reference the correct ten memory locations in the storage..
The memories are stored in an EEPROM chip soldered into the radio. Depending on where the radio was purchased, a different set of memories would be pre-programmed into the chip in the radio. An associated set of memory cards would be provided with the radio. There were at least the following different set of memories manufactured with associated card sets as follows:
Area 5/AE7 Austria:
Area 3/AE7 Swiss:
Area AE6 Germany:
Area 2/AE7: Scandinavia:
Area 6/AE7 Portugal:
Area 7/AE7 Europe:
Area 7/AE7 International Sales Division in Europe:
Area US United States:
Area UK United Knigdom:
It should be noted that even though a memory is preprogrammed (in the chip), you could re-program the memory using the “WRITE” feature on the card. Most of the cards just show memory location 0-9 with no indication of the frequency. Some cards do indicate the radio station but not the frequency. For example, Card Series “A”, Deutsche Welle has DW 0 thru DW 9 on the card:
In the packing material that came with my US version, there is a small fold out piece of paper that lists the Memory Presets for each card along with the preset frequency, broadcast time and coverage area:
There is no way to know from the outside of the radio which memory chip was pre-programmed at the factory. The model number does not differentiate between the regions. If the back cover of the radio is removed, then there is a printed sticker on the circuit board denoting which region the radio is for.
For example, one of my radios has a sticker with “E” on it to denote that it for the Europe market:
At this point, Sony was trying to market to people who just wanted to listen to their favorite station, be it FM or SW. Thus a simple to use. pre-programed radio. Never mind the fact that radio stations may change frequencies, or even disappear entirely. At least the ICF-SW800 allowed the user to re-program all the memories.
Sony also made two other radios that used the cards for memory.
The first was the ICR-SW700. This was a two band receiver covering MW and SW.
The second radio was the ICF-M500 which was made for the Japanese market. This radio was FM/AM two band radio:
A big hi to all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week’s Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 22nd October 2023 at 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz, we have Radio Ace featuring the Adventures of Flash Frisbone. If you love radio, you’ll love Radio Ace!
A few hours later via the transmitters of WRMI on Monday 16th October we have KBUS. The broadcast is at 0200 UTC on 9395 kHz and then repeated at 0300 UTC on 9455 kHz. Expect some Bus Driver’s classics, Conductor’s sing-a-longs and a collection of sound effects from various ticket machines. Step aboard and enjoy the trip!
For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.
Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week’s Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 15th October 2023 at 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz, we have the third episode of Skybird Radio International bringing you music and culture from all over the world. Tune in and enjoy some great jazz, electronica, pop and dub.
A few hours later via the transmitters of WRMI on Monday 16th October we have a different episode of Skybird Radio International. The broadcast is at 0200 UTC on 9395 kHz and then repeated at 0300 UTC on 9455 kHz. No genres or no agendas, just some cool sounds from around planet earth featuring a collection of international platters that really do matter. Enjoy!
For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.
Iglesia San Francisco, Loja
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Don Moore–noted author, traveler, and DXer–for the latest installment of his Photo Album guest post series:
Don Moore’s Photo Album: Loja, Ecuadorby Don Moore
A few months ago I did a two-part feature on my favorite small Latin American city, Cuenca, Ecuador. This time let’s journey to a nearby smaller city that I don’t know very well but want to spend more time in.
Loja is about two hundred kilometers south of Cuenca on a paved highway that runs through a long valley before climbing into the mountains to twist and turn the rest of the way. Look at the route on Google Maps and you’ll see what I mean. Today it’s a picturesque four-hour bus ride but when I made the trip the first time in 1985 it was a tortuous twelve-hour journey on rough dirt roads.
The roads today may be smooth and paved but Loja is still the most isolated major town in Ecuador. The city is so far south that it is closer to the Peruvian border than it is to any other town of size in Ecuador. This isolation has both forced the region to be self-reliant and cushioned it from problems in the rest of the country. For three years in the mid-1800s the province of Loja even governed itself as a peaceful independent country while the rest of Ecuador was mired in a bloody civil war.
One of Loja’s many picturesque streets.
Loja’s population of around 200,000 (a third the size of Cuenca) makes it the twelfth largest city in Ecuador. But Loja is one of those places that has always punched above its weight. The economy is strong as it’s the center of one of the best coffee growing areas in South America and the city is the main transit point for the gold fields to the east in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Loja is widely thought of as the most cultured and educated city in the country. Two of its universities rank in the country’s top ten. And everyone agrees that Loja is the center of Ecuadorian music. One of the city’s several museums has room after room filled with displays about the many famous musicians that have come from (and continue to come from) Loja. Free concerts are held in the city’s plazas at least once a week.
Loja has always been forward-looking. In 1890 the city installed one of the first hydroelectric generators in all of South America. That was just eight years after the first plant was installed in the United States. A little over a century later, in 2013, the first windfarm in continental Ecuador was constructed on a ridge above the city. The eleven windmills produce sixteen megawatts and phase two of the project, which is now under construction, will add another forty-six megawatts. A recently approved third phase will add another 110 megawatts.
Windmills overlooking Loja
The First Visit
My first visit to Loja was in March 1985 after that long twelve-hour bus ride from Cuenca. I remember Loja as being a pretty but sleepy small city. We only stayed two nights and one day. My primary goal was to visit Radio Centinela del Sur and get a QSL for myself and several friends. I don’t recall anything from that long ago visit but I did get the QSLs. Radio Centinela was founded in 1956 so it wasn’t the first radio station in Loja. But it was the first one to last for more than a few years. On shortwave Radio Centinela del Sur was a station that changed frequency a lot. I first heard it in 1974 on 5020 kHz but most of my logs were made in the early and mid-1980s when 4890 kHz was in use. In the 1990s Radio Centinela del Sur used 4771 and 4899 kHz at various times. The station left shortwave for good by the late 1990s.
Radio Centinela de Sur in 1985
Business card from 1985
The second oldest station in Loja was Radio Nacional Progreso, founded in 1958. I have many logs of the station on its 5060 kHz (variable) frequency from the 1970s through the 1990s. I don’t remember why I didn’t visit them in 1985. Maybe the office was outside of town and difficult to get to. Loja’s other shortwave station was the Catholic broadcaster Radio Luz y Vida, founded in 1967. In the early 1970s the station used 4825 kHz on shortwave but around 1978 they switched to 4850 kHz. I last logged them there in 1997. Radio Luz y Vida was only a few blocks from our hotel and I stopped by several times but the inner door was always locked and I never got to see more than the entrance way. Continue reading