Category Archives: News

Giuseppe catches the 40th Anniversary broadcast of LRA36

Leave a reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Giuseppe Morlè, who writes:

Ciao Thomas,
I’m Giuseppe Morlè, iz0gzw, from Formia, central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea … this is what I managed to hear about the 40 years of transmission of LRA 36 from the Antarctic Argentina to 15,476 …

I took two receivers and two different antennas to the sea … the Kenwood R1000 was connected to my tested “Simil beverage on salt Ground” with salt water tip and the Tecsun PL-660 to my Loop Mea Casali self-built …

Both antennas are directed to SSW where we find the LRA36 station …

The main problem was the boring and tragic Chinese Jammer that strongly raged on 15.470 until 15.00 UTC and then calmed down a bit so I could hear the last part of the transmission with fading and spoken female and male in Spanish …

On the Tecsun and the loop I have not found the station …but on my Kenwood R1000 and my similar beverage on salt grond I listened to about 13 minutes of final transmission.
You can watch the video on my YouTube channel at the link:

Thanks to you and a warm greeting from Italy.
Giuseppe Morlè iz0gzw.

Wow! Great catch, Giuseppe!  I understand the Chinese jammer made it difficult, but obviously your antennas did the trick. I tried to catch the same broadcast from home, but only received a very faint signal. Most of the audio was lost in the noise.

Thank you for sharing.

Spread the radio love

Eton Executive Traveler hits all time low price on Amazon

2 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Christian, who writes:

The price of the Eton Executive Traveler just hit an all time low on Amazon at $35.13. This is a lot of radio for the price which includes free shipping. If you’ve been following this thread over the past few months you’ll know that the price fluctuates almost daily. Maybe a good time to grab for the holidays! Just my two cents (plus $35.11). Hi hi.

Click here to view on Amazon.com (this affiliate link supports the SWLing Post).

Thank you for the tip, Christian!

Spread the radio love

Tecsun PL-990 and H-501 at the Shanghai International Audio Exhibition

5 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adi, who writes:

Hi Thomas, here is Shanghai International Audio Exhibition with the new toys:

https://kknews.cc/zh-cn/digital/plamvgp.html

Check out all of the photos and commentary (in Chinese) by clicking here.

Spread the radio love

Ron’s thoughts on RFL200 and Q-Stick longwave antennas

3 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ron, who shares his thoughts on comparing two portable longwave antennas:

To begin, for reference, check out this post where The Professor reviews the RFA200. Also, check out the following video from the replies of that post:

Both the RFL-200 and the Q-Stick came in today.

Performance of both was very nearly identical but for now the Q-Stick wins on price ($67.50 vs. $75.78 delivered) and the Q-Stick does both LW and MW.

But Gerry says he’s going to close RadioPlus early next year so-presumably-
that will leave just the RFL-200 and its REA-200 sibling.

The “200” no doubt comes from the length, 200mm or 8 inches…the Q-stick
uses a 7-3/4 inch ferrite bar which is probably why the similar performance.

There is one thing: the small tuning knob is not hard to turn on the RFL-200
as it was on the REA-200 tested earlier but a bigger knob would be nice.

But the tuning cap uses a 1/8th inch shaft so finding a larger knob is too
much bother, most are for 1/4 inch shafts.

By comparison the Q-Stick has a nice big knob and is quite easy to tune.

So for now the Q-Stick would be the better buy, but don’t tarry.

[One more note,] if you want the most bang for your buck, forget both of these, get
a PK Loop for $90.60 delivered (be sure to specify the 155-500 kHz model).

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ron!

Click here to check out the RFL200 longwave antenna on eBay.

(Click here to view the RFA200 mediumwave version.)

Click here to check out the Q-Stick antenna at Radio Plus. 

Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

Spread the radio love

New report: Review of Australian Broadcasting Services in the Asia Pacific

2 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Peter Marks, who writes:

A report two years in the making has been released (actually it was a few days ago but there was no fanfare.

I’ve posted about it here: https://blog.marxy.org/2019/10/review-of-australian-broadcasting.html

An interesting conclusion in the report on page 128 is that the authors estimate that shortwave broadcasts to the Asia and Pacific by Australia have a net economic benefit since 2007-08 of $40.3 million.

Presumably this means it would make economic sense for Australia to get back in to Shortwave broadcasting like our clever Chinese neighbours.

Spread the radio love

Lennart’s Malaysia QSLs

2 Replies

Radio Malaysia QSL

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Lennart Weirell, who shares the following in reply to our recent posts regarding Radio Malaysia and Radio Sarawak:

Back in early 80-ies (1981-1984) I lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I used my Panasonic DR-28 with a short indoor wire to listen.

RM Sabah QSL

Of course some of the loggings were “local”, i.e. RAAF Butterworth, RM Sarawak and RM Sabah. RAAF Butterworth answered with a letter and RM Sarawak with card and RM Sabah with letter and card. All these 3 QSLs are from 1982.

RAAF Butterworth

Brilliant, Lennart! Thank you for sharing these QSLs.

I’m very curious how many listeners were able to snag the 1,000 watt Butterworth signal on 1,445 kHz from outside of Malaysia. Please comment!

Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

Spread the radio love

A radio museum…in a subway

4 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who shares a link from Atlas Obscura featuring the Museo de la Radio in the Parque de los Venados station in Mexico City:

Upon entering the Parque de los Venados station of the Mexico City subway system, you may be surprised to find that you’ve also entered a museum. Here, the subterranean corridors double as the Museo de la Radio (Radio Museum), a small institution dedicated to the communication system’s history.

The museum’s exhibits display different radio-related devices such as lightbulbs, consoles, and microphones. The most prominent is the famous four-key xylophone with which the XEW—dubbed “the voice of Latin America”—announced its broadcasts during the golden age of the ’30s.

Other showcases contain collections of old radios, and still more highlight radio stars’ records. The display cards narrate some important events such as the first transmission, the birth of the digital radio, tidbits of curious data, and explain how the sound waves work.

The most interesting part of the museum is the radio booth, which actually broadcasts live shows. It was installed and opened in 2018, complete with the most advanced technology. One space is the speech booth, and another is the editing booth.[…]

Continue reading and view all photos at Atlas Obscura.

Spread the radio love