Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent CRU broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Portugal officially recognizes the State of Palestine, China Radio International (CRI), 17690 kHz
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Vladimir, who writes with a tip:
I’d like to share a very simple lifehack for improving reception on a regular radio broadcast receiver. I’ve been reading SWLing Post for a long time and I remember that you already had something similar, but I’m not sure how much it’s the same.
The method involves using a “virtual ground” – a quarter-wave resonant wire connected to the receiver’s “ground”, while the antenna itself remains a standard telescopic one. In amateur radio practice, this is widely known, but, as I see, it is very rarely used for SWLing, and meanwhile, it gives a good increase in performance without overloading the input circuits of the receiver. Of course, we are talking about reception at a known frequency and does not imply broadband.
My video about it:
I apologize that the experiment here is not entirely clean, since the “virtual ground” was made at a frequency of 13650 kHz, and the video shows reception at 14154, but I recorded this video spontaneously and did not prepare. But the result still pleased me.
As you can probably see, a male banana plug with a wire is used, and it is recessed into the antenna socket just enough to touch only the “ground” of the receiver, without touching the antenna contact. If you need to avoid electrical interference along the “ground”, for example, near power lines, then you can connect a second similar wire to the same point, stretched in the opposite direction.
There is an important nuance regarding the length of the wire. If it is located close to the ground, then its resonant length will be shorter then ?/4, but approximately ?/5, because the proximity of the ground greatly reduces the resonance. How do I know this? I experimented with resonant dipoles lying on the ground, measuring the resonance with an antenna analyzer directly at the feed point. It is important that the analyzer can measure and display separately active and reactive resistances, I used “Sector-200+”, the closest analogue of FAA-450, design EU1KY. Selecting the lengths by zero reactive resistance (i.e. by resonance), on my soils I got a shoulder length of 4.0 m for a frequency of 14150 kHz and 8.25 m for 7175 kHz, i.e. approximately ?/5. For comparison: a 5 m long wire lying on the ground resonates at about 9.7 MHz, and this is far from where we need it on the 20 m range, for example. Since then, I only use resonant radials on field trips with the GP antenna, but that’s another story. Those who have a similar antenna analyzer can get more accurate values ??for their area and height above the ground.
Thank you so much for sharing this hack with us, Vladimir!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following post:
Much to the delight of DXers, Trans World Radio began broadcasting from the African country of Swaziland over 50 years ago. According to the 1975 World Radio TV Handbook, they had four 30 kW transmitters to conduct initial testing in the 90, 60, 49, and 41 metre bands. Their interval signal, played on hand bells, reportedly comes from the song “We’ve a Story to Tell the Nations” and has a music box feel to it. It would pause frequently for an ID in English. This recording was made on November 2, 1996, on 4750 kHz just prior to 0400 UTC sign-on: https://archive.org/details/trans-world-radio-swaziland-1996
Today, the station is still on the air and follows the same format as in years past, except for the name of their country, which changed to Eswatini in 2018.
I chose a Kiwi SDR in neighboring South Africa to make this recent recording, on August 21, 2025 around 1359 UTC on 9585 kHz, leading up to the start of a program in the Portuguese language.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dennis Dura for sharing this fascinating Nuts & Volts article exploring the history of FM radio in American automobiles. While AM dominated dashboards for decades, FM began to make its way into U.S. cars in 1958, slowly changing how drivers listened to music and news on the road. The piece traces the industry’s hesitations, the technical challenges, and the cultural shift that followed. You can read the full story here:
Hello all! As some time has passed, I felt it appropriate to publish the latest schedule for my transmissions to North America and beyond!
My radio program is 1 Hour in length and features discussion (often about current events, other times about random subjects on my mind) at the start of the program and is then balanced out with listener requested music. I hope for it to be an enjoyable light entertainment program with good music and discussion!
There are two new shows each week, along with various repeat airings for listeners who might not be able to catch the new shows as they first air.
Main Broadcasts:
Saturday 0600 UTC (2 AM Eastern / 1 AM Central) – 4840 kHz – WWCR 100 kW – North America
Monday 0400 UTC (12 AM Eastern / 11 PM Central Sunday Evening) – 4840 kHz – WWCR 100 kW – North America
Repeat Airings:
Tuesday 0800 UTC (4 AM Eastern / 3 AM Central) – 5850 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – Western North America
Tuesday 2000 UTC (4 PM Eastern / 3 PM Central) – 15770 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – Eastern North America
Wednesday 2300 UTC (7 PM Eastern / 6 PM Central) – 9455 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – North America
Thursday 0200 UTC (10 PM Eastern / 9 PM Central) – 9395 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – North America
Thursday 1600 UTC (12 PM Eastern / 11 AM Central) – 15770 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – Eastern North America
Thursday 2200 UTC (6 PM Eastern / 5 PM Central) – 9955 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – South America
Saturday 0400 UTC (12 AM Eastern / 11 PM Central) – 15770 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – Europe/Middle East
Saturday 0700 UTC (3 AM Eastern / 2 AM Central) – 1300 kHz – WNQM 5 kW – Nashville, Tennessee
Saturday 2300 UTC (7 PM Eastern / 6 PM Central) – 5950 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – North America
Sunday 0100 UTC (9 PM Eastern / 8 PM Central) – 1490 kHz – WITA 1 kW – Knoxville, Tennessee
Monday 0000 UTC (8 PM Eastern / 7 PM Central) – 5950 kHz – WRMI 100 kW – North America
Listener reception feedback & reception reports are much appreciated at [email protected]
e-QSL’s are sent upon request!
Happy Listening!
Photo by Brock Wegner on Unsplash
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dennis Dura, who shares news via Radio World that the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 979) has cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support (50-1). If passed, the bill would require automakers to include free, easily accessible AM radio receivers in all new vehicles, including EVs, for at least the next eight years. Lawmakers emphasized the ongoing importance of AM radio for emergency alerts, public safety, and reliable communication. You can read the full article here: House Committee Advances AM Radio Bill – Radio World.
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:
U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese on the Gaza genocide, CGTN