Category Archives: News

Global Tuners for Android smart phones

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GlobalTunersAppMany thanks to Chris Freitas, who informed me that the excellent Global Tuners website, has produced an app for Android-based smart phones. With this app and a free Global Tuners account, your smart phone can remotely control a number of  receivers across the globe.

Best of all?  It’s free!

Click here to view Global Tuners in Google Play.

You won’t find the app through categorical searches via your phone–you must search for the term “Global Tuners” in the Google Play. Indeed, this app has been available since 2012, but none of my categorical searches had ever unearthed it.

To my knowledge, there is no Global Tuners app for iPhones/iPads as of yet (iOS).

Radio Romania International “broadcasts” to US phones

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SWLing Post reader, Mike Kitchen, kindly shared this message from Radio Romania International:

“Dear friends, you can listen to us on your mobile phone, in the US. Our programs in English are available live or on demand, at the following call-to-listen phone number: 716.274.2526. This incurs no extra charge and is the equivalent of making a standard mobile call in the US.”

I just tried the service and am happy to report that each time you call, the RRI English language service begins at the top of the hour. While not nearly as fun as listening over shortwave, it does make this Romanian broadcaster even more accessible within the US.

Shortwave noise reduction via GarageBand plugin

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sg1-gui-fordocMany thanks to @LondonShortwave, on Twitter, who made a video showing how to use a GarageBand plugin to filter noise out of shortwave audio in real time. He describes this on his YouTube channel:

“I recently discovered a Mac AudioUnit plugin called Soniqware SG-1 that allows real-time noise filtering based on a brief noise sample (sometimes referred to as the “noise profile” or the “noise fingerprint”). This video shows it being applied to shortwave radio signals, which I believe is a first, as I have been unable to find anyone else who has already done it. In a number of cases, it turns laborious DXing into armchair listening.

The antenna used in these experiments is a Wellbrook ALA1530SP-1 and is positioned indoors. More information is contained in the first few seconds of the video.”

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Note that GarageBand is an application only available on the Mac OS X platform. Fortunately, it comes free with every new Apple computer purchase. You can find the Soniqware SG-1 spectral noise gate plugin by clicking here.

Be sure to follow @LondonShortwave on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LondonShortwave

The Tecsun ICR-110 packs AM/FM and digital recording/playback

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Photo: BigBargainsOnline from eBay

In a comment, SWLing Post reader Owl mentions:

“Tecsun has just released ICR-110 which is as BIG as the PL-880 and seems to have the same speaker too.”

The ICR-110 can be found on eBay–click here to search. At $46.00 US shipped, I’m very tempted to purchase it. Though it lacks shortwave, it appears that it can record AM (MW) and FM broadcast stations in either MP3 or WAV formats. While I’ve yet to find a radio that can make a digital recording with acceptable fidelity (the CC Witness Plus being a notable exception) I would like to think the engineers at Tecsun have nailed it.

I have a friend who has recently purchased the ICR-110, and am looking forward to his review! (hint, hint)

Popular Communications: free download of November and December 2013 issues

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2013_12_pc_coverMany thanks to SWLing Post reader Lynn Kelly who writes:

“Anyone, subscriber or not, can get a free copy of the November and December Popular Communications to download as a PDF on the Popular Communications site.“

Lynn also mentions that many Pop Comm subscribers may not have received these two issues due to printing problems–thus you should download these while they’re still available.

Simply go to the Popular Communications website to download your copies (download by clicking on the November and December front covers).

For your convenience, here are direct links to download the November 2013 and December 2013 issues.

Russia “quietly” ends longwave services

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Zenith Transoceanic tuned to shortwaveThe BBC reports that Russia has “quietly switched off nearly all of its long-wave transmitters, ending almost nine decades of broadcasting – as cost finally catches up on the medium.” Read the full story on the BBC News.

Not a huge surprise as many countries are pulling the plug on longwave, despite the medium’s large local broadcasting footprint. It does make one wonder if VOR shortwave could also be pulled with little fanfare or warning.

Indeed, check out Jonathan Marks’ comments on the changes at the (former) Voice of Russia which we’ve mentioned has at least, administratively, been liquidated and consolidated.

I can tell you that for those of us in North America, VOR is now a much harder catch on shortwave–a very strange shift from the ubiquity of the broadcaster’s signal in past decades.

But if you want to hear frank, public comments about how these changes are affecting the staff of VOR, just bookmark and listen to From Moscow With Love. Hosts Vasily and Natasha happily march to their own beat and comment openly to listener inquiries.