Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Larry Shmagin, who recently discovered this May 2025 interview with Katie Thornton, host of The Divided Dial series, on The Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC).
Click here to listen to the show on WNYC or use the embedded player below:
(Image Source: Shortwave Australia on Facebook)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jack Dully, who shares a Tecsun Australia article highlighting several shortwave stations including Shortwave Australia.
Shortwave Australia is a non-profit station transmitting from Central Victoria in the 120-meter and 60-meter bands on 2,310 kHz and 4,835 kHz. Late afternoon and nighttime coverage typically reaches much of southeast Australia under normal conditions. Of course, Shortwave Australia would be a brilliant weak signal DX catch from outside the region.
Their programming is varied and intentionally distinct from mainstream broadcasters — a reminder that shortwave radio still provides space for independent voices and creative content!
Read the full post on Tecsun Australia’s site.
Listeners can reach the Shortwave Australia directly at [email protected] or via their Facebook page.
Greetings all SWLing Post community, here’s more about what the Imaginary Stations crew will be broadcasting via those airwaves this week. On Saturday 18th October 2025 at 1100 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then again on Sunday 19th October 2025 at 0900/1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and at 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz. We will be bringing you a visual shortwave special called Test Cards on Radio.
This show is a must for fans of test cards and TV trade test transmissions alike and will feature all kinds of frequency tones for screen calibration purposes and test card related music from around the world. If you love those test cards, you’ll love this show.
On Wednesday 22nd October 2025 at 0200 UTC via WRMI we have a different episode of Testcards on Radio. We’re talking more test card musical classics and test tones for screen calibration fans and rooftop antenna adjusters. Tune in and enjoy. More on the theme below.
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
By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
It was a remark from Sebastian Schlüter in response to this post – https://swling.com/blog/2025/10/some-really-inexpensive-ways-to-perhaps-improve-your-shortwave-listening — that sparked today’s post.
He said:
If your RFI is really high, your best weapon is a magnetic loop antenna aka small receive loop. At home, my RFI is so high that I don’t benefit from a larger/longer antenna. For example: Using the telescopic antenna (75 cm) vs using 3m of wire. Reason is that the signal-to-noise ratio is roughly the same in both cases and that all of those very weak signals are below the noise floor anyway, and the ones that make it through the noise are already strong enough to be received with the telescopic only. Conclusion: In a high RFI environment, it’s not about maximising the signal strength but maximising the SNR. You need to find an antenna type that will pick up less of that RFI. A cheap and simple antenna for this is the small receive loop. For a start, you can use a cheap wire terminal with 3.5mm mono jack. Using a 1:1 balun further improves the result.
What really struck my eye was this:
A cheap and simple antenna for this is the small receive loop. For a start, you can use a cheap wire terminal with 3.5mm mono jack.
My CCrane Skywave SSB 2 came with a wire terminal with a 3.5 mono jack, I realized. I hooked it up to my 45-foot horizontal room loop (a single strand of insulated wire run around the top of window frames and bookcases in my radio shack), and then ran the following experiment.
Using the scan function on the Skywave SSB 2, I scanned the shortwave bands using the whip antenna, and then I did it with the loop plugged into the external antenna socket.
The results:
CCrane Skywave SSB 2
Whip antenna: 4 stations detected. Loop antenna: 13 stations detected.
Then I tried the same experiment with a Tecsun PL-880.
The results:
Tecsun PL-880
Whip antenna: 8 stations detected Loop antenna: 15 stations detected.
Clearly, Sebastian’s suggestion of plugging in a simple wire loop makes a huge difference. And, I should note, I didn’t play fair. I did the test while 3 scanners, an LED light, and two UHF/VHF ham transceivers were operating in the vicinity and probably generating RFI.
So now the question: I ran the experiment with a 45-foot simple loop. What do you suppose would be the minimum wire length for an effective simple wire loop? I look forward to your input.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Fred Waterer, who writes:
I’ve subscribed to this channel for some time. This video, which dropped the other day, will be of relevance to both SWLs and HAMS:
Rob does some deep dives into language. Including the surprising origins of many words in English and the lingering influence of both Anglo Saxon and Norman French.
Cheers
Fred
This is a brilliant video. Thank you, Fred!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent Radio ELWA broadcast.
Carlos notes:
It’s never been easy for me to pick up the ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) radio signal on 6050 kHz in Brazil. The signal was always weak, propagation was poor, and conditions were never particularly favorable for listening to the historic evangelical radio station from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Until then, I had only listened ELWA, with great difficulty, in Porto Alegre and Guaíba, both cities in Rio Grande do Sul, and in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. Recently, while scanning shortwave frequencies during the early morning hours in Rio de Janeiro, I received the ELWA radio signal and decided to try recording the broadcast. I noticed a sort of propagation window between 6:30 and 6:50 (UTC). Even though, it took at least six days of failed attempts, the same weak signal and poor propagation, until finally today, October 13th, I got clear audio.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent CGTN broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Hamas hands over all remaining hostages to Israel, CGTN Radio, 13800 kHz