Category Archives: Radios

Hermitshell Protective Travel Case for CC Skywave

CC-Skywave-Midwinter-Antarctica

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jim (W4FJT), who writes:

I was surfing Amazon.com and saw this hard shell case made specifically for the Skywave and thought this might be of interest to the travelers out there:

Click here to view on Amazon.com.

Thank you, Jim! I might grab on of these for my CC Skywave since I do travel with it a lot and am not a big fan of the included soft case.

The price is $14.99 shipped, which is pretty reasonable. I do note that while the 3rd party vendor claims the item is in stock, delivery seems to be out a few weeks. Perhaps this ships directly from China?

Have any Post readers purchased this hard shell case? Please comment.

What made the Squires Sanders SS-1R receiver legendary?

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ss-1r

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Michael Black, who reminds us why the Squires Sanders SS-1R receiver (Dan recently spotted on eBay) was so innovative at the time:

It’s legendary because it leaped forward in receiver design, at least at the amateur level, and there was the article in QST in 1963 by Squires about the design. So lots of people knew about the design, even if they weren’t owners.

There’s no RF amplifier, the antenna feeds the mixer trough a tuned circuit. There’s a q-multiplier on that tuned circuit, to improve selectivity (q-multipliers were mostly seen in 455KHz IFs). The mixer was a 7360 beam deflection tube, hard to overload, and a balanced mixer, which was likely a first in ham receivers. After, everyone was using 7360s for receiver mixers, at least until good solid state balanced mixers came along.

I keep forgetting that it is still a dual conversion receiver (except for one band), though presumably to avoid other issues while allowing for a fixed 500KHz tuning range.

But the second IF is at 1 or 2 MHz, higher than the usual 455KHz, a sign of the future, though there were already some SSB transceivers with IFs in the HF range.

It does seem a relatively simple design now, but wasn’t fifty years ago.

The ham band version was the “big seller”, the shortwave version maybe offered because they could. It’s not clear if the front end needed changes to cover the SW broadcast bands. But it would have been an expensive SW receiver, and needing another crystal for each 500KHz tuning segment, a new concept at the time (though a few years later Drake had their SW receivers like that). But that was the trade-off, most receivers did have a 2:1 tuning range, while some were like the R390 , very complicated mechanically and crystals for every band. A subset of 3 to 30MHz meant fewer crystals and a simpler bandswitch but you spent a lot of money for a receiver that wasn’t “general coverage”.

Michael

Thank you, Michael, for the insight! At last glance, the bidding was only at $227.50. I suspect it will go much higher, but perhaps this will end up being a deal for someone.

Click here to view on eBay.

Which is the best? Sony ICF-2001D/2010 or ICF-SW77? Part two

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Hi there, after the first set of recordings were analysed, the score was 4-3 to the ICF-2001D, demonstrating how similar these two great receivers are in overall performance. There were a copule of notable differences however. The synchronous detection circuit on the ICF-2001D allows the user to effectively tune through a signal in 01. kHz steps, whilst the receiver automatically locks onto either the upper or lower sideband, depending on the frequency offset. The ICF-SW77 synchronous detection system differs in that the user must tune the signal and select the sideband. The results of this test confirmed that whilst the ICF-2001D almost always retained SYNC lock, the ICF-SW77 was very prone to losing lock, which of course affected the audio quality in many cases. The other issue was with the ICF-SW77 in that the narrow audio bandwidth filter often seemed to deliver ‘muddy’ audio. Whilst this feature proved to be excellent in terms of mitigating adjacent channel QRM, it also reduced signal clarity/ audio discernibility a little too much in my opinion. However, overall, sensitivity and selectivity was very similar between both radios – in fact, one recording had to be judged a draw (Radio Bandeirantes, Sao Paolo on 9645.4 kHz) – I simply couldn’t split them. Part two of the reception testing follows, using signals from Canda, DR Congo, Brazil, Cuba and Peru.

I hope you enjoy the recordings – text links and embedded videos follow below:

Which is the best? Sony ICF-SW77 or ICF-2001D? Test #9 CFRX Toronto 6070 kHz

Which is the best? Sony ICF-SW77 or ICF-2001D? Test #10 Radio CANDIP 5066.4 kHz

Which is the best? Sony ICF-SW77 or ICF-2001D? Test #11 : Radio Alvorada 4965 kHz

Which is the best? Sony ICF-SW77 or ICF-2001D? Test #12 Radio Verdes Florestas 4865 kHz

Which is the best? Sony ICF-SW77 or ICF-2001D? Test #13 Radio Rebelde 1620 kHz Cuba

Which is the best? Sony ICF-SW77 or ICF-2001D? Test #14 Radio Cultural Amauta 4955 kHz

Clint Gouveia is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Clint actively publishes videos of his shortwave radio excursions on his YouTube channel: Oxford Shortwave Log. Clint is based in Oxfordshire, England.

What radio would you grab in a fire?

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Lately, fires have been on my mind. No doubt, this is because there are so many wildfires in the greater southern Appalachian region right now, which is in the midst of a record drought. Brush fires start up almost daily, and no rain is in sight. In the mountains, the air is hazy with smoke, and it’s become a struggle for fire departments to contain these blazes, even with help from outside the region.

Living, as we do, in a forest, we’ve always had to think through contingency plans if a forest fire should threaten our home: with only a two hour (or so) warning, what items would we grab and load into our truck?

Of course, we’d likely focus on those things that are irreplaceable and thus essentially invaluable: our few family heirlooms, boxes of photos, documents––you know, stuff you can’t buy.

But what about radios? I hope I’ll never be forced to choose the one thing I should save from my shack, because there are several to which I’m rather sentimentally attached…There’s my Zenith Transoceanic, for example–the first proper shortwave radio I ever owned. There are also a number of vintage radios as well as some SDRs which have become my staple receivers.

In the end, though, there’s no question which radio I’d grab. It would have to be my Scott Marine Radio Model SLR-M, affectionately nicknamed “Scottie.”. True, she’s not even close to portable at a solid 90 pounds, but I’d strap her to the roof of my vehicle, if I had to.

Why? Well, it’s the most pristine vintage radio I own, and I use it daily. If it’s not tuned to Radio Australia in the morning, it’s tuned to my AMT3000 AM transmitter on 1570 kHz drawing in any of a number of stations I relay from my WiFi radio.

Scottie simply isn’t replaceable. Even though my Elecraft KX3 probably costs more in terms of monetary value, I could eventually scrape together the money to buy another KX3. But I couldn’t buy Scottie again. Not this one.

So, there you go: after we’ve saved those things important to our family, I’d grab a 1945 receiver and haul it to safety.

Post readers: Now I’m curious–if your home was threatened by fire or other disaster, what radio would you save? Please comment!

Which is the best? Sony ICF-2001D/2010 or ICF-SW77? The halfway score

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Hi there, here is a summary of the first half of tests comparing the Sony ICF-2001D against it’s replacement the ICF-SW77. Both receivers are widely acknowledged as being amongst the best shortwave portables ever made, but how close are they in performance? Is there a clear winner after the first 8 reception tests? I hope you enjoy the summary video. Links to the first half of reception tests follow again, below, whilst the second half will follow in a separate post. Thanks and good DX to all.

Possible Tecsun PL-880 hidden feature: Noise reduction adjustment?

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Paul, who writes:

While putzing around with my new Tecsun PL-880 that I got while browsing at Universal Radio’s store in Columbus OH, I found what appears to be an adjustable noise reduction function.

Firmware level: 8820
Mfg date: probably August 2016 (201608 from the serial number inside the tilt stand)

Here are the steps to check it out;

When in a shortwave band, press “4” until either “ON” or “OFF” appears in the display.
If it displays “OFF”, press 4 briefly to clear, then long press again until “ON” appears.

Then, long press “9” until a two digit number appears.

Use either tuning knob to increase or decrease the number.

The number appears to correspond with the DbM threshold of the received signal.

Perhaps someone can play with the feature and elaborate on its function.

Hope this is useful, let me know.

Thank you for sharing, Paul! I do wonder if this adjustment could affect the DNR setting (check out this previous post as well).

Post readers: Has anyone else been able to replicate and test this hidden feature? Please comment!

Oxford Shortwave Log: DXing in the tropical rainforest of Pará, Brazil – part 2

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Hi there, here is part 2 of my reception videos taken in the tropical rainforest of Pará, Northern Brazil. As I mentioned in my previous post, I took a Tecsun PL-680 with me on the trip because I didn’t want to risk losing or trashing one of my precious vintage portables but also because of the following:

It can handle a longwire very well without overloading (I actually only used a 5 metre wire)
An excellent synchronous detection circuit and audio bandwidth filtering options
Excellent sensitivity, as demonstrated by the many DX reception videos on YouTube
If it got lost or damaged it would be a pain, but not difficult to replace

So, what can you hear in the jungle? Part 2 of my group of reception videos follow below – I hope you enjoy them.