Category Archives: Mediumwave

Rare Hitachi KW-WSI WorldSpace Receiver on Ebay

This is the first and only “WorldSpace” satellite receiver I’ve seen on Ebay, currently offered at a $175 Buy-It-Now price from a seller in Australia:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HITACHI-KW-WSI-DIGITAL-RECEIVER-WS-FM-MW-SW1-SW2-/282192383263

The radio is listed as in excellent condition with the original box and literature. Besides the long-gone WorldSpace satellite frequencies, the radio covers medium wave, FM, and most of the shortwave range. A brief PDF data sheet for the radio gives a description of features and operations.

Wikipedia describes this radio’s satellite service as 1worldspace, formerly known as ‘WorldSpace’, is a defunct satellite radio network that in its heyday provided service to over 170,000 subscribers in eastern and southern Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia with 96% coming from India. It was profitable in India, with 450,000 subscribers.

I wonder if the Hitachi KW-WSI is a reasonable performer for shortwave listening? Does anyone know any technical details of this receiver?

Guy Atkins is a Sr. Graphic Designer for T-Mobile and lives near Seattle, Washington. He’s a regular contributor to the SWLing Post.

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Medium wave DX logs: WMEX, CFRB, CJBC, WNYC, WARV, WRCA, WWRU received in Oxford, UK

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north-america-map
Hi there, here is a selection of North American medium wave stations logged in Oxford UK, over the past couple of weeks using the Elad FDM DUO and Wellbrook ALA1530 active loop antenna (indoors). A quick list of stations logged follows below – with URL links which will take you directly to the respective reception video on the Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel. Embedded reception videos follow further below. A subsequent posting will follow detailing some South American stations logged recently on medium wave, using the same Elad/Wellbrook set-up. Thanks for watching/ listening and I wish you all great DX.

Medium wave DX: WMEX Boston Talk Radio 1510 KHz, wonderful signal

Medium wave DX: CFRB Newstalk 1010 Toronto 1010 kHz, with clear ID

Medium wave DX: CJBC Toronto 860 kHz, French language network of CBC

1000th video! Medium wave DX: WNYC 820 kHz, New York Public Radio (presumed)

Medium wave DX: WARV 1590 kHz, Warwick, Rhode Island, USA

Medium wave DX: WRCA 1330 kHz, Waltham Massachusetts, clear ID

Medium wave DX: WWRU Jersey City 1660 kHz, New Jersey, clear ID

Clint Gouveia is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Clint actively publishes videos of his shortwave radio excursions on his YouTube channel: Oxford Shortwave Log. Clint is based in Oxfordshire, England.

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Max’s impressive vintage radio collection

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Max Youle, who writes:

I thought I would send you a link to my radio collection.

Many of these are unique to New Zealand, and could be of interest to your readers.

I saved many of these radios from being trashed, by searching junk sales and second hand stores, over a period of the last 25 years

Click her to view Max’s collection via DropBox.

Wow! That is an impressive collection of radios, Max. It’s interesting to see so many New Zealand brands–I’m glad you’ve rescued these!

Max’s collection is so large I couldn’t possibly share them all here on the SWLing Post, so I asked Max if he could tell us which models are his favorites. Max replied:

My favorite radios would be:

Barlow Wadley XCR-30

1. Barlow Wadley XCR-30 featured here before https://swling.com/blog/2016/02/maxs-barlow-wadley-receiver-is-a-keeper/

Philips D2999

2. Philips D2999 for its good looks, ease of use , sound from the two speakers 3″ and 7″ and sharp MW DX

Sanyo Transworld 17h-815

3. Sanyo Transworld 17h-815 A beautiful looking classic with lots of chrome and a good performer

National Panasonic R-021

4. National Panasonic R-021 because it was my first radio, and a fairly rare collectible (article at the bottom of page) http://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/history/chronicle/1977.html

Its hard to choose a favorite, as every one of my radios has a story ,i.e where I found it, who gave it to me, how much I paid for it, how collectible it is, etc, etc!!

Yes indeed, Max! It is difficult to pick a favorite–especially from such a large collection.

Thanks again for taking the time to share these with us!

Click her to view Max’s collection via DropBox.

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eBay find: Mint Panasonic RF-2200

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jeff McMahon, who writes:

There might be a bidding war on this “possibly never used” with box Panasonic RF-2200.

Click here to view on eBay.

Last night, when Jeff sent this link, the price was still under $300–it’s now over $400. I suspect this listing might achieve top dollar.

It’s certainly saying something that this RF-2200 even includes the original four Panasonic D cells in the supplied cardboard tube! (I wonder what their voltage would be after all of these years?).

For what it’s worth, the RF-2200 is the best mediumwave/AM receiver I’ve ever used. They’re widely available on eBay and one in decent condition will typically fetch $200-300 US. Money well-spent if you want a benchmark portable with amazing audio fidelity.

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Creating a global network of inexpensive remote SDRs

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U_Twente_SDR

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey, who replies to Ivan’s preliminary review of the V3 RTL-SDR dongle:

With Shortwave SDRs (the receiver dongle) now costing less than $20, the time has come for us to set up a global group of receivers that we can all log into at will!

Have a look at SDR.hu – here you can put your SDR dongle on line and share it with anyone and they have full control of the receiver just as if it was in their own shack.

Imagine receivers scatted around the world – South America, Tropical Asia, Africa! The cost is now virtually nothing, all that is needed is the dongle, antenna (doesn’t have to be anything special – even a long wire or whip) and a small low cost CPU (Raspberry Pi for example).

Anyone else interested in this dream? Lets get together, get some receivers setup and then talk about our experience in a kick-ass presentation at the 2017 SWL WinterFest in PA!

Also… I am very soon to receive my KiwiSDR matched to a BeagleBone CPU. It will be online at SDR.hu and four remote listeners will be able to tune the full shortwave bands independently, its like my own Twente setup! Heaps of others are getting receivers online in the next few months with KiwiSDRs, this is going to be totally amazing!

I agree, Mark! While there is already quite a network of remote SDRs and receivers in the world, the barrier of entry keeps getting lower and lower. It’s hard to imagine that $25 can buy an SDR that natively covers the shortwave and mediumwave bands!

There’s only one other requirement for an online SDR that Mark didn’t mention: a decent Internet connection. Sadly, this is the only thing keeping me from hosting a remote SDR here at my home. I considered purchasing a KiwiSDR like Mark, but my upload speed (0.2-0.3 mbps) is so terrible and so unreliable that I could only host one listener at a time at best. You can bet that as soon as my ISP upgrades our service, I’ll launch a web SDR as well.

Of course, I’m willing to bet that most SWLing Post readers have more than enough bandwidth to host a $25 remote receiver! Let’s make Mark’s vision a reality!

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The Sony ICF-5500W: My morning companion

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I spent this morning doing a lot of work around our property. When it was time for a break, I turned on my trust Sony ICF-5500W and tuned to WTZQ: one of my favorite regional AM braodcasters. Though WTZQ is over 30 miles from my home, any good AM radio, like the ICF-5500W, can receive their 1,000 watt signal with ease.

As luck would have it, when I turned on my 5500W, WTZQ started playing Love Me Do by The Beatles. It sounded absolutely amazing via the 5500W’s internal speaker: full-on, rich AM audio fidelity! Absolutely brilliant!

I cranked up the volume so our local black bears could enjoy.

I relaxed a good half hour, and caught up on reading the latest two issues of RadCom with my ICF-5500W playing WTZQ in the background.

Sometimes it’s the simple stuff that starts one’s morning off the right way.

That and plenty of good coffee.

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Hello all,

A few nights ago during great propagation in the Medium Wave band I had the opertunity to DX Radio Capital from Lima, Peru all the way to Northern Ireland. I was planning to sleep early but favourable conditions on MW prompted me to have a late night to chase DX. I have had this confirmed to me by a few very well known MW DX’ers.

The equipment I had used to get this catch were as follows ;

• Lack of sleep & plenty of caffeine

• SDR Play RSP with ferrite chokes

• Wellbrook ALA1530LN Active Loop Antenna with coax running out of the electric field of my house and ferrite chokes attaches at parts

Jordan Heyburn (MI6JVC) is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Jordan is an avid shortwave listener, ham radio operator and shortwave presenter/owner of Radio Northern Ireland. Jordan is based in Northern Ireland.

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