Category Archives: Nostalgia

Dan spots radios in two Netflix series

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes:

Two of the best foreign shows on Netflix are Wrong Side of the Tracks, produced in Spain, and The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, from Israel.

Classic antique radios feature in both.

In Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, a wonderful old tube set appears in a scene set in a shop in old Jerusalem (the left of the shopkeeper).

Someone in Spain must be in love with old classic radios because we see a number of them in different scenes — primarily on a shelf in the shop of one of the main characters, along with a few portable radios. The large radio could be Grundig or any one of a number of other European sets — perhaps SWLing experts can provide the answer.

Click images to enlarge:

Can you ID some of these radios? Please comment!

Don Moore’s Photo Album: The Museums of Galicia

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Don Moore–noted author, traveler, and DXer–for the latest installment of his Photo Album guest post series:

A Coruña coast

Don Moore’s Photo Album: The Museums of Galicia

by Don Moore

Some of my favorite sites to visit while traveling are historical, marine, and military museums. I’ve always been interested in those subjects and sometimes those kinds of museums have a few old radios on display. That makes a nice bonus to the visit. Last year, I spent May and June traveling all over Spain (with some short excursions into neighboring countries). One of my favorite regions was Galicia, where I stayed for five nights in the capital of A Coruña and six days in a rural village to the east. And the museums of Galicia had some of the most interesting radio-themed items I’ve ever seen.

Galicia is that small region of northwestern Spain directly north of Portugal. It was part of the Celtic world (along with Brittany in France and the British Isles) and the coastline was home to Phoenician and Greek settlements. It later came under Roman rule along with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula.

A Coruña Fishing Boats

A Coruña Fish Market

Spanish is spoken everywhere but the people are proud of their native language, Galician or Gallego. The language looks and sounds like Portuguese with a lot of Spanish influence but is actually older than either of those. Some linguists believe that Portuguese was derived from Galician.

The rugged Galician coast is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen with its numerous bays, estuaries, steep hillsides, and rocky shore. Most of Spain is arid but Galicia is one of the rainiest parts of Europe so the countryside is green and lush. And because of the neighboring cold Atlantic Ocean, temperatures remain comfortable even when the rest of Spain (and places further north) are baking in the summer heat.

A Coruña City Hall

MOON RADIO

One of the first places I visited in A Coruña was the Museo Nacional de Ciencia e Tecnología on the west side of the harbor. The very first display in the museum is a piece of radio history like no other. In the 1960s NASA set up a network of communication stations around the world to maintain constant contact with the Apollo moon missions. The primary stations were located in rural California, near Canberra in Australia, and in the little village of Fresnedillas outside Madrid. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969 Madrid was facing towards them and received the first radio transmissions from the surface of the moon. This museum has one of several redundant radio racks that were used to receive that historic broadcast.

After visiting the museum I wandered uphill to Monte de San Pedro Park, the best place in A Coruña to view the city and harbor. Those heights were also once vital to the city’s defenses and the park contains several mothballed gun turrets built in the 1930s. Continue reading →

Radio Waves: RTI Test Broadcast Today, Messages to North Korea, Exploring Space Weather Book, Vintage Radios at Auction, and WMLK

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura, Sten Odenwald, Paul Walker, and David Iurescia for the following tips:

RTI test broadcast July 1, 2023

Many thanks to David Iurescia who shares the following announcement (translated from French):

Dear listener,

The French service of Radio Taiwan International is pleased to inform you that during the month of August 2023, we will be broadcasting directly from the Tamsui transmission center in northern Taiwan to Europe and South Africa. north.

In order to better prepare for this radio activity in French, a test broadcast will be carried out on Saturday July 1 on short waves, at the following times and frequencies:

- Frequency 11995 kHz (325°), 5:00 p.m.-5:10 p.m. then 5:30-5:40 p.m., universal time
- Frequency 9545 kHz (315°), 6:00 p.m.-6:10 p.m., universal time
- Frequency 7240 kHz (315°), 6:20 p.m.-6:30 p.m., universal time
- Frequency 7250 kHz (315°), 6:40 p.m.-6:50 p.m., universal time

Your listening reports on these 10-minute segment tests will help us identify the two optimal frequencies for August’s “Live from Tamsui” broadcast under the best possible listening conditions.

Thank you for your valued input!

A special QSL card is produced for all the listening reports that you will send us by post, email to the French service or via the stations’s online form, both for the test broadcast and during the August broadcast.

Thank you for listening and for your loyalty.

Cordially,

French Service, RTI

[email protected]

Abductees’ relatives record radio messages for broadcast to North Korea (NHK)

Family members of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea have recorded encouraging messages for a radio broadcast aimed at the country.

The messages were recorded in Tokyo for Free North Korea Radio, a shortwave broadcaster. Its daily radio program is run by a group of people who defected from the North to South Korea.

The abductees’ relatives called on their loved ones never to give up until they are rescued.

The leader of the relatives’ group, Yokota Takuya, is a younger brother of Yokota Megumi, who was abducted in 1977 at the age of 13. He asked his sister how she is doing. He also said he is sorry that she has had to spend a long time in North Korea without freedom.

He added that the relatives will never give up until they achieve the return of all the abductees.

His twin brother, Yokota Tetsuya, told his sister about their parents. He said that their father, who died three years ago, thought about rescuing his daughter every day.

He added that their 87-year-old mother often falls over, but is doing well. He vowed to get back his sister and asked her to stay healthy until she can be reunited with her mother.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said last month that he wants to start high-level talks under his direct control to hold a summit with North Korea at an early date.

Yokota Takuya said after the recording that he wants the Japanese government to continue its steady diplomatic efforts until all the abductees are returned.

He expressed hope that a Japan-North Korea summit can be held and that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will decide to hand over all the abductees. [Read the full story and watch the video here…]

New Book: Exploring Space Weather with DIY Magnetometers (Amazon)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Sten Odenwald, who writes:

Hi Thomas!

Thanks so much for your contribution to the History of Space Weather book I published several years ago!

I have just published a new book I think you might be interested in. It’s called Exploring Space Weather with DIY Magnetometers, and it’s now available at amazon.com (see below). It provides step-by-step designs for building six sensitive instruments for under $60.00 that can measure real-time changes in Earth’s magnetic field.

If you are interested in such a building project, or you know of a family member, teacher, or even a student looking for a science fair project, this book will show you how to build these instruments. I also provide examples of storm events that were actually detected by each design so you can see what typical data looks like. For additional examples and updates, visit my blog page at http://sten.astronomycafe.net/diy-magnetometers/

Thanks again for your help!
Sten Odenwald
Astronomer

Click here to check out this book on Amazon.com (SWLing Post affiliate link).

Schulman Auction Radios

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who notes that a number of vintage and late model radios are up for auction at Schulman’s:

WMLK on the air (Paul Walker)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following tip:

It appears they are now operating at US night times now. For the longest time, as you may be aware, they were only on 9275 kHz during the day.

Sometime around mid last week, they were being reported on 15150 kHz as well.

And I finally logged them too.. nice signal on 15150 kHz here just after 0400!!

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Radio Waves: My Father’s Radio, AM Listenership by State, and Longevity of AM in Cars

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Kim Elliott and Dennis Dura for the following tips:

Opinion: My father may be gone, but ‘our’ radio is still going (LA Times)

My most prized possession was once somebody’s trash.

It’s a blocky, black radio that was manufactured in 1941, the year my father was 12 years old. I snatched it from the county landfill when I was 13, in 1978.

The person who threw it away must have determined they couldn’t fix it, though it seemed they thought someone else might. They had set the radio off to the side of the dumpster, safe in plain view, just in case some industrious person with know-how appeared.

That person was my father, who ran an electronics repair business from our garage. Though at first reluctant to save “that ugly old thing,” he seemed pleased hours later when he entered the kitchen announcing that the radio worked fine and had only needed a tube. For years after this, my father kept that radio on a shelf above his workbench, listening to country singers croon about lonesome truckers.

I like to think of myself as a minimalist, but since my father died in 1994, I’ve carried what I consider to be “our” radio thousands of miles from the Appalachian farm where I grew up, out to Los Angeles, and then many years later back home again. In California, I’d tune our radio to horse races being transmitted from Santa Anita or Hollywood Park while cleaning my kitchen. Or I listened to Paul Harvey, Casey Kasem or evangelists spouting “truths” about Jesus and cars. [Continue reading…]

AM Listenership by State, DMA (Radio World)

New analysis of AM reach provides market-level insight to listening habits

Following up its recent report on the 141 local markets where at least 20% of the market listens to AM radio, Nielsen has released a deeper look with new data at the state- and DMA-level.

Pierre Bouvard, chief insights officer of the Cumulus Media / Westwood One Audio Active Group, recently posted an analysis of the findings. The data comes from the Fall 2022 survey, but is based on all U.S. radio stations, not just Nielsen subscribers.

Nationwide, 30.9% of radio reach comes from AM stations, representing 82,346,8000 American radio listeners aged 12+ who listen to AM every month. At the state level it ranged from a high of 52.7% in North Dakota to a low of 4.6% in the District of Columbia. In 29 states, the percent of radio reach via AM is greater than 20%. [Continue reading…]

Not All Those AM Listeners Are in Cars, Bozzella Argues (Radio World)

Auto group also says it would take two decades for fleet to turn over and AM to phase out

“Whether or not AM radio is physically installed in vehicles in the future has no bearing on the multiple methods of delivering those emergency communications alerts to the public.”

So writes the president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. John Bozzella used a blog post this past week to summarize the auto industry’s case against a mandate to include AM radio in cars.

It’s simply not necessary, he wrote; and government shouldn’t be propping up a particular technology that’s competing with other communications options, either.

“It’s tempting to take a cheap shot at misplaced government priorities and unnecessary mandates or make light of the whole thing with a jab about laws for hand-crank windows or cassette players,” he writes, calling the legislation a bipartisan solution searching for a problem. [Continue reading…]

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Radio Waves: Hamvention Attendance Record, WWII Codebook, TuneIn for AM Stations, and 101 Years of Chicago Radio

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura, Ron Chester, and Ulis Fleming for the following tips:

Hamvention 2023 breaks attendance record (WHIO)

XENIA — A new attendance record was set at Hamvention this year.

This year 33,861 people flooded to the Greene County Fairground and Expo Center for the world’s biggest amateur radio show, according to a spokesperson for Hamvention.

The number surpassed the previous record by more than 1,300 people. It’s also more than 2,000 greater than last year’s attendance.

This year’s Hamvention ran May 19-21 and brought in people from across the globe.

“Things went very smoothly due to the dedication and hard work of close to 700 volunteers,” Jim Storms, Hamvention General Manager, said.

Hamvention 2024 is scheduled for May 17-19. [Watch report on WHIO…]

Man’s WW2 codebook unearths St Erth’s ‘best-kept secret’ (BBC)

A retired schoolteacher is shedding light on an “ultra secret” World War Two listening station in Cornwall.

Mike Griffiths unearthed the secret existence of the MI6 outstation in St Erth when his late father, Harry Griffiths, left him his code book.

He has revealed the role his father and others played in providing intelligence for code-breakers at Bletchley Park.

Mr Griffiths said he “couldn’t be prouder” of what his father achieved. Continue reading →

Radio Waves: Sri Lanka DRM, Czech Radio, Ham Radio Ops Ready for Disaster, Space Pirates, FM Not Far Behind AM, and AM Hearing Live Today

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura, David Iurescia, John Palmer, Gareth Buxton, and Mangosman for the following tips:

Sri Lankan Broadcaster Goes DRM Following Listeners’ Request (DRM Consortium)

The international service of the Sri Lankan Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) recently doubled its Tamil Service airtime to two hours, on 873 kHz AM (medium wave) from Puttalam transmitter. The new schedule is 0130-0330 UTC (7.00 am to 9.00 am IST). This is partly in response to individual efforts of listeners, many in the southern part of India, in Bengaluru. Introducing this change, Colombo International Radio also announced that shortly they are going to use DRM on 1548 kHz! This will be done by is using the old transmitter of Deutsche Welle located in the north of Sri Lanka at Trincomalee. The Sri Lankan public broadcaster has started airing the DRM announcement:

The publicity for the new DRM service is in full swing. See video:

Czech Radio centenary: Listeners send congratulations (Czech Radio)

On the occasion of Czech Radio’s centenary, we asked our listeners to let us know where they heard our special programme on that day in order to map Radio Prague International’s broadcast reach today. Here are at least some of the many letters and photos which you have sent us. Thank you to all our loyal fans.

George Jolly, who was listening to our special programme over the internet, wrote from Houston, Texas:

“Thank you so much for the special program today celebrating your 100 years of radio. If I were not so far away, I would surely visit you on Saturday. It means a lot to me that you continue the tradition of the ‘radio magazine’. Hearing the opera excerpt and other recordings from the past was wonderful!

“I love old music and old technology like radio, and I love that you are keeping their spirit alive and new again for today’s world. I am so grateful to celebrate your centenary with you from afar.”

Another listener from the United States is Timothy Marecki, who wrote us from New Port Richey in Florida: Continue reading →

A Hallicrafters SX-28/A in “Battle of the Bulge”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes:

Not a false alarm this time — one of the most striking appearances of a classic shortwave receiver was in Battle of the Bulge, the 1960’s movie about the great battle between German and U.S. forces during World War II, lasting five weeks between the end of 1944 and beginning of 1945. This movie had some of the biggest stars of the time, including Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, and Charles Bronson. Robert Shaw played the German commander of the offensive in the Ardennes and scenes in his command trailer showed a beautiful Hallicrafters SX-28/A which audiences are led to believe was both a transmitter and a receiver.