Many thanks to UNT Archivist, Maristella Feustle, who writes with the following inquiry :
I’m in search of some historical literature cited in a 1970 dissertation.
Might anyone have access to a copy of the OWI’s “A Brief Statement of Shortwave Programs to Target Areas,” dated November 1, 1942? Thanks!
Post readers: If you happen to have a copy of this document or know its location, could you please comment with details? Many thanks!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ulis (K3LU), who shares the following story of a popular CB Radio QSL Card design and print house:
73s and 88s :: The Ballad of Runnin Bare and Lil White Dove
We set a custom screensaver on Our AppleTV. Told it to pull images from Flickr tagged with “British Columbia.” After my wife and kids and I spent a few weeks in Vancouver and in various places on Vancouver Island, it had become one of our favorite places. We missed it.
And so, at night, after a show or movie ended and the AppleTV sat idle for a few minutes, a slideshow would automatically begin. The Parliamentary Buildings in Victoria, the Inner Harbor, the wild, rocky, tidepool-rich shores of Tofino, the murals of Chemainus.
Then, every once in a while, an illustration of some sort. I couldn’t tell what. A one-panel comic? Some kind of advertisement or flyer? It would be gone from the screen before I could really get a good look. Weeks would go by and I wouldn’t see it until, once again, there it was. It looked old, like something from the 60s or 70s. And it had numbers on it, like a code or a message: 73s and 88s.
It was the numbers that got me. Like the park rangers in The Shining calling for Wendy Torrance on the radio: “This is KDK-1 calling KDK-12. KDK-1 calling KDK-12. Are you receiving me?” They seemed to be saying something. But what? I had to find out. So, I took to Google, and began my search.[…]
FYI: Although the CB Radio landscape is quite different than it was in the 70s, most modern shortwave radio receivers can tune to CB channels. Here’s a quick tutorial from our archives.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jim Salmon, who writes:
With some extra time on my hands at the moment I’ve been able to forward one of my projects & start producing a monthly programme – ‘Radio Emma Toc World Service’. This is tied in with my website – www.emmatoc.com – & is to raise awareness of the UK’s first licenced radio service in 1922 – 2MT – & also to celebrate our hobby of radio listening & transmitting today!
I am pleased to say I have relays coming up on WRMI & Unique Radio Australia, & am looking at further relays in Europe. I will let you know times & frequencies when finalised. In the meantime, the first programme can be heard on the website – just click on the World Service link. Also – if any stations wish to relay this programme I am happy for this – just get in touch with me via the website.
Excellent news, Jim! Readers, check out Radio Emma Toc online and read all about the project and history of 2MT. For your convenience, I’ve embedded the first broadcast below, but also check out the Emma Toc World Service page for more information and links!
Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of RadioBecause I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: 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 Dave Zantow (N9EWO), Paul Evans (W4/VP9KF), and Mike Hangen (K8RAT) for the following tips:
With all of the strange happenings and excessive “Pop-Up” issues on Angelfire (even more so of late), we have finally decided to move off of that web host and made the move to QSL.NET.
So “Dave’s Radio Receiver Page” new URL is :
Please, for anyone who have web pages that have my web page linked (with the now old URL), I would appreciate the correction. Hopefully this will be the last time I will need to move the page.[…]
Please Note : Are still a few pages that still need to be transferred, but I expect to have that completed over the weekend. This has been quite a bit of work recoding all (again).
Paul Evans notes that Martin Lynch and Sons (ML&S) has just updated the product page for the IC-705 with the following note: “RRP £1199.95 incl 20% VAT. Estimated delivery now July 2020 due to major component shortage.”
Icom America retailers (Universal Radio, Ham Radio Outlet, Gigaparts, etc.) have not published an estimate for availability.
Dear OM and all CW lovers,
I will you proudly inform, that our website http://www.qrqpoint.com is now online.The idea of this meeting place for CW enthusiasts was born by me and the webmaster, Fabian, DJ1YFK, brought it very nice to the web. Thank you Fabian!
Everybody is very kindly invited to be there QRV.
The frequency is 3567 khz. To make a sked or just to say Hello we have a little Shoutbox on the site.
I hope to see you there!
Kindest regards,
Olaf, DL1OP
Pilots on reconnaissance missions could immediately call in their findings
As soon as the first humans went up in hot air balloons in the late 1700s, military strategists saw the tantalizing possibilities of aerial reconnaissance. Imagine being able to spot enemy movements and artillery from on high—even better if you could instantly communicate those findings to colleagues on the ground. But the technology of the day didn’t offer an elegant way to do that.
By the early 20th century, all of the necessary elements were in place to finally make aerial reconnaissance a reality: the telegraph, the telephone, and the airplane. The challenge was bringing them together. Wireless enthusiasts faced reluctant government bureaucrats, who were parsimonious in funding an unproven technology.
[…]One early attempt involved wireless telegraphy—sending telegraph signals by radio. Its main drawback was size. The battery pack and transmitter weighed up to 45 kilograms and took up an entire seat on a plane, sometimes overflowing into the pilot’s area. The wire antenna trailed behind the plane and had to be reeled in before landing. There was no room for a dedicated radio operator, and so the pilot would have to do everything: observe the enemy, consult the map, and tap out coordinates in Morse code, all while flying the plane under enemy fire.
Despite the complicated setup, some pioneers managed to make it work.[…]
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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of RadioBecause I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: 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 Harald Kuhl, Michael Bird, and Carel Kuijer for the following tips:
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 response and mitigation actions, the 2020 Armed Forces Day (AFD) Crossband Test scheduled for Saturday, May 9, has been postponed. Because it’s uncertain just when stay-at-home orders will be lifted across the US, AFD planners chose to postpone this year’s event, because the government stations that typically support this event may not be available. Armed Forces Day Crossband Test planners are considering scheduling a November event in honor of Veteran’s Day, depending on COVID-19 mitigation actions. During the AFD Crossband Test, military stations in various locations transmit on selected military frequencies and announce the specific ham frequencies they are monitoring to work radio amateurs. — Thanks to US Army MARS Program Chief Paul English, WD8DBY
Thanks to Lee VK3GK for this short video of the antennas used for the recent Radio Australia event using the call sign VI3RA. Take what will possibly be a final look at the feeders, switching boxes and antennas before they are pulled down and junked!
Also here is the final transmission of the event weekend with, of course, the famous Radio Australia music box interval signal.
I have added an article I wrote some years back on the code breaking efforts of the Allies during WWII. While certainly not exhaustive, I found many of the connections between countries and equipment rather fascinating, and new things continue to pop up regarding Bletchley Park’s role in training officers and decoding texts. While most famously known for breaking the Enigma code, also significant was the breaking of the Lorenz Cipher.
Click Here to download the article in PDF format.
73, Robert K4PKM
Let’s look inside this Panasonic RF-4900 radio receiver, and see what we have to restore.
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Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: 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 Paul Evans, and Robert Gulley for the following tips:
The FCC has published the new rules in the Federal Register.
Paul notes:
Different above 6GHz
Expanding rules from 3 kHz – 300 GHz to 3 kHz – 3 THz (inc. light
frequency RF sources, essentially future proofing rules)
Introducing SAR measurements from 100 kHz to 6 GHz (impact to ARS)
Introducing MPE measurements above 6 GHz
Introducing ideas for WPT at and below 100 kHz, with control over the
wires or remotely over the air. This is (obviously) for EV charging.
They say nothing about harmonics, filtering, etc.[…]
It’s 1890 all over again in the lab. By complete accident, I find myself the new owner of a high voltage box that turns out to be a vintage Xenon lamp sparker. Not only do we make it work, but we use it to retrace the critical experiments that led to the discovery of radio, using the lamp starter as the spark gap transmitter, and a coherer as the receiver.[..]
On Friday 3rd April, we carried an item regarding the use of Zoom for club meetings.
However, we have since been contacted by Paul, VP9KF, who offers this note of caution.
He says:
“This story http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/april/zoom-taking-your-radio-club-online.htm on your page recently is over-shadowed by the news as follows:Don’t use Zoom and get hacked ”
Our thanks to Paul for this informative, if not rather worrying, news item.
[Paul notes that Skype Conference Call is the best method because it is “secure, end to end. In browser (sandbox) with HTML5 embedded features.”]
Discover the story behind the recently discovered only known wartime film footage of a secret site connected to Bletchley Park.
A silent film, recently donated to Bletchley Park Trust, is believed to be a compilation of footage recorded between 1939 – 1945, showing members of MI6 Section VIII at Whaddon Hall, Buckinghamshire. During World War Two, this was a most secret site where Ultra intelligence produced by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park would be sent, and then passed on to Allied commanders in the field.
In this mini-documentary, hear Bletchley Park Veteran, Geoffery Pidgeon who worked in MI6 Section VIII during WW2, recall how it felt to watch the film for the first time and recognise his father. Peronel Craddock, Bletchley Park’s Head of Collections and Exhibitions and Dr. David Kenyon, Research Historian at Bletchley Park also talk about why the discovery of this film is so important.
Watch the original footage: https://youtu.be/bvVaFE5O3eY
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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of RadioBecause I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: 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 Jack Kratoville, Dave Zantow, and Dennis Dura for the following tips:
iHeartMedia owns and operates 858 broadcast radio stations, serving more than 150 markets throughout the U.S. The company reaches over a quarter billion monthly listeners ?in America.
In January, news hit that iHeartMedia was reassessing its ability to adapt to the modern music industry. The company said that it plans to make “significant investments … in technology and artificial intelligence.”
However, its on-air DJs were caught off guard when they found out that the company’s restructuring plan didn’t include them.
Streaming platforms has ushered in the digital age of music where each person make their own playlists. What does that mean for the future of the on-air DJ in the United States?
Click here to listen to the audio.
Librespace, who are the people behind the open hardware/source SatNOGS satellite ground station project have recently released a comprehensive paper (pdf) that compares multiple software defined radios available on the market in a realistic laboratory based signal environment. The testing was performed by Alexandru Csete (@csete) who is the programmer behind GQRX and Gpredict and Sheila Christiansen (@astro_sheila) who is a Space Systems Engineer at Alexandru’s company AC Satcom. Their goal was to evaluate multiple SDRs for use in SatNOGS ground stations and other satellite receiving applications.
The SDRs tested include the RTL-SDR Blog V3, Airspy Mini, SDRplay RSPduo, LimeSDR Mini, BladeRF 2.0 Micro, Ettus USRP B210 and the PlutoSDR. In their tests they measure the noise figure, dynamic range, RX/TX spectral purity, TX power output and transmitter modulation error ratio of each SDR in various satellite bands from VHF to C-band.
The paper is an excellent read, however the results are summarized below. In terms of noise figure, the SDRplay RSPduo with it’s built in LNA performed the best, with all other SDRs apart from the LimeSDR being similar. The LimeSDR had the worst noise figure by a large margin.[…]
Dave Zantow (N9EWO) shares a new page on his website devoted to receivers and amateur transceivers that never quite made it to the marketplace. […]
Brief: Shortwave is a modern looking open source Internet Radio player for Linux desktop. We take a quick look at it after its recent stable release.
Shortwave is an interesting open-source radio player that offers a good-looking user interface along with a great experience listening to the Internet stations. It utilizes a community-powered database for the Internet stations it lists.
Shortwave is actually a successor of the popular radio app for Linux, Gradio. Its developer Felix joined GNOME and discontinued Gradio to create Shortwave from scratch in Rust programming language. If you were using Gradio as your preferred Internet radio station player, you can import the library as well.
Recently, Shortwave released its first stable version and seems to push new updates after that as well.[…]
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