Category Archives: News

Radio Vanuatu back on the air

Radio-Vanuatu

My friend and fellow DXer, Rob Wagner, writes:

R. Vanuatu has been off the air for ages. It has suddenly come back on in the last hour or so on 7259.95 kHz and 3945 kHz with post-cyclone assistance and information. There is also a report from a visiting R. New Zealand transmission engineer talking about the SW and MW txers at Port Vila; interviewed on RA – quite interesting. Just thought I’d let you know. details at MEDXR:

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/station-news-and-log-book-march-20-2015.html

Many thanks for the information, Rob! Very good news indeed!

On a side note, SRAA contributor, Julie (also based in Australia) has done a fantastic job posting cyclone coverage recordings from Solomon Islands Broadcasting. She’s also posted pre-cyclone Vanuatu recordings as well. Click here to browse her contributions on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

BBC Bush House desk on eBay

BBC-BushHouse-Desk

Want to own an bit of shortwave radio broadcasting history? Many thanks to Mike Barraclough who shares this listing on eBay: a BBC World Service Broadcast Radio Studio Desk from the Bush house in London.

Starting bid is £999–yep, that’s some serious money–and you’ll need to travel to Bristol, England to pick it up.

Here’s the full item description:

This is a genuine BBC World Service Studio from Bush House. I bought this when the BBC moved out of Bush House in July 2012. Unfortunately I have no room for it and so sadly I must sell it. All the components are still original as seen in the images.

Just think of the famous people who were interviewed at this desk. The whole desk is bespoke, beautifully made and crafted by BBC engineers, there is nothing quite like it. It still has all the detail such as the panic button underneath the desk, stands for computer monitors, telephone, the professional CD player and cassette desk player. Also original mixing desk, router board and switches – all you need to start your own radio station! The desk is mono as used by the BBC World Service.

Original Revox Professional Series CD player C-221
Original Kenwood Stereo Cassette Deck KX-4520
The original ElectroVoice RE20 Microphone with adjustable stand is NOT included and will be sold separately on eBay
BBC speaker will be sold separately.

The lucky winner will have to ship this from my home in South Bristol at their own expense. It will require a medium sized van and two people to lift it.

More pictures to follow including accurate measurements. Approx 8ft wide, 3 feet deep and 3.5 feet high.

Click here to view on eBay.

SDRplay RSP: now $149 or £99

SDR-PLay-RSP

I just received the following tweet from @SDRplay:

We’ve been able to reduce the SDRplay RSP price to $149 or £99 (approx €149 ) + tax/shipping. See

I’ve just started reviewing the SDRplay RSP for the June 2015 issue of The Spectrum Monitor Magazine. Preliminary impressions of this SDR are quite positive–especially for a receiver in this price class. At $149 US, the SDRplay RSP is now less expensive that the Funcube Dongle Pro+. Indeed, the RSP is even less expensive than portables like the Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X.

Over the next two months (as I get to know the RSP better) I will post the occasional broadcast recording using the SDRplay RSP with HDSDR and SDR#.

Missing Cities Mix

Aircraft-Jet-Boeing-VOLMET

Regular SWLing Post readers may recall a peculiar VOLMET recording I published in 2013 where all of the regional aviation weather was noted as “missing.”

My buddy, David Goren–you know, the fellow behind the Shortwave Shindig and Shortwaveology–gave me the original tip for that VOLMET broadcast.

David recently posted a new mix on Soundcloud. David’s description reads:

“So, a year or two ago Ryan Stively made an instrumental piece called Missing Cities and around the same time I recorded a chunk of shortwave sound that I called Missing Cities. When making some pieces for the recent Shortwave Shindig 2015 broadcast I decided the twain should meet.”

Readers: follow all of David’s shortwave mixes by bookmarking his website, Shortwaveology.net.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Australia Bureau Of Meteorology

Australia-BureauOfMeteorologyThis morning, I re-discovered a recording I made in the early morning hours of January 25, 2015 on 6,230 kHz SSB: the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s marine weather radio service.

This was actually a new station for me and, no doubt, decent DX (though I’m sure the broadcast is quite audible when conditions are favorable). While I prefer old-school recorded voice for shipping forecasts, this nonetheless has a catchy cadence.

Click here to download the audio as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below: