Last week, I published a post asking SWLing Post readers what type of radio their “daily driver” is at present. Click here to read that post.
I created a survey form and left it open for about five days. In that time, we received 639 responses! If you’d like to read the results, continue scrolling or click on continue reading below.
Continue reading
A little over a week ago, many of us participated in the 2023 Virtual Winter SWL Fest.
I enjoyed all of the presentations and the casual conversations many of us had in the hospitality lounge and various break-out rooms. Again, kudos to the Fest organizers and all of the volunteers who moderated the various rooms and forums–you all did an amazing job!
The one thing I always pick up when hanging with other radio enthusiasts is the type or class of radio they tend to operate the most.
Case in point: I noticed one friend is currently enamored with tube/valve radios–in past years he loved compact DSP portables. Another friend switched from using primarily a portable radio to a Drake R8 series tabletop radio. I noticed that many others have been bitten the SDR bullet since last year.
For many of us, the type of radio we use daily changes over time.
For example, when I first started listening to shortwave in my youth my daily driver was a portable radio. When I got my ham license I found that I enjoyed using my general coverage transceiver connected to a multi-band doublet. Later, with the advent of Software Defined Radios, I became an avid SDR enthusiast.
At present, I’m back to using general coverage transceivers (specifically, the Icom IC-705).
Of course, I always have portables and vintage radios on the air, but they’re not my primary, or “daily driver,” these days.
I’m curious: what’s your daily driver?
I’ve created a short survey. If you’d like to participate, simply enter your answer in the form below, click the submit button and it will tally the results. Alternatively, you canclick on this link to open the survey form in a new tab/window. Of course, feel free to comment on this post as well! Thank you!
By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
A while back, Thomas, SWLing’s Maximum Leader, told me the scope of the SWLing Post is “shortwave listening first, then all things radio.”
As a fan of “all things radio,” when conditions on the shortwave and HF ham bands are awful, frequently I will turn on a scanner (or two) to monitor local VHF and UHF communications.
So why scan? Here are a few of my reasons.
First, scanning increases my enjoyment of communications monitoring in general. Communications monitoring is about hearing stuff, and the more I hear, the better it is. Depending upon current events and/or changes in location, I alter the types of communications services that I scan. For example, when I visited Sodus, NY, I monitored maritime frequencies to hear the activity on Lake Ontario. At another location, I might monitor the local air traffic controllers. When an ice storm passed through the area, I monitored first responders.
Second, “content DXing.” The content that can be heard on scanners is, on occasion, astonishing. Without doubt, I hear things on a scanner that I can hear nowhere else. To name just a few:
When confronted with all the different kinds of difficulty in which people can find themselves (particularly on the first responder frequencies), I find myself giving thanks for how nicely undramatic my life usually is.
Third, monitoring public service communications – fire, police, and emergency first responders – increases my awareness of what’s going locally and that, in turn, can be useful in avoiding trouble spots or traffic problems.
Forth, scanner listening can be opportunity to pray for folks who are in trouble. About a month ago, I was monitoring fire and EMS frequencies when I heard a transmission from an ambulance to a local hospital: “We are inbound with a 14-month-old male found unresponsive in his bed, performing CPR, attempting to establish airway.” Heartbreaking.
If you think you might be interested in a scanner (and I have no commercial interest with any scanner company or retailer), the type of scanner that you will need depends on the sophistication of the communication systems in your area and the kinds of communications that you want to hear.
If you are in the United States, I recommend consulting the Radio Reference database click on the NEAR ME button and follow the prompts. The database will show you what communications are available in your area and what communications systems are involved. If, for example, the database indicates the local Sheriff frequencies are “Project 25 Phase 1,” you will need a scanner capable of receiving P25 Phase 1 communications. If, however, the local Fire and EMS frequencies are labeled FM or FMN, the most basic level of scanner will be capable of hearing those communications. If the Radio Reference database indicates that some of your local communications services are encrypted, you won’t be able to hear encrypted communications with any scanner.
If you find this all a bit confusing, there are retailers who specialize in scanners, and they can help you figure out what you need, and, if necessary, pre-program a scanner for you. (Again, I have no commercial affiliation.)
Finally, there is a fifth reason why I scan: public service. I use four scanners routinely as part of the Commuter Assistance Network. One scanner monitors the local VHF NY State Police frequencies; another is locked onto the UHF frequencies used by the NY State Police on the New York State Thruway; a third scanner sweeps through three national emergency frequencies and a couple of regional interoperability frequencies, and the fourth scanner monitors first responder frequencies for Rensselaer County here in New York State.
In the end, perhaps scanning can open the door to increased enjoyment of your communications monitoring and “all things radio.”
By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
Man on the run thrillers, like The 39 Steps by John Buchan* and Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household hold a special fascination for me. Give me a yarn about someone being pursued by the bad guys, and I am enthralled. (Incidentally, there are a couple of good lists of these thrillers. Here and here).
Sometimes I like to play the mental game of: if I were that guy trying to stay ahead those who wished me evil intent, what radio(s) might I want with me?
The other day I realized I had the perfect combo, a pair of radios that cover a huge swath of spectrum, will fit in a couple of pockets (or one big pocket) and weigh just 14 ounces combined. Further, both will run off ordinary AA batteries, which are widely available.
Candidate number one is the C Crane Skywave SSB, which measures 3 inches by 4.75 inches by 1.1 inches. It receives AM, FM, shortwave (1711-29999 kHz), VHF aviation and NOAA weather radio with alerts. Because it receives single sideband (SSB) on HF frequencies, it can tune in aeronautical, marine and amateur radio stations that transmit in the SSB.
The Skywave SSB comes with a pair of ear buds that fit my ears well and offer pleasing audio. In addition, the SSB comes standard with an auxiliary wire antenna that can be deployed and clipped to the SSB’s whip antenna to boost signal-to-noise. Perhaps most useful for the man on the run, the SSB has excellent “signal seek” functions that can be used on any band. In fact, if you put the radio in SSB mode and activate the signal scan, it will search the ham bands and automatically switch from upper sideband to lower sideband as appropriate.
For the man on the run who can “hole up” for a while, I’ve tried clipping a 50-foot long wire to the SSB’s whip and antenna, and I was amazed at how well it can pull in faint ham signals. It’s the “little radio that could.” About the only thing that I wish I could change on the Skywave SSB is that it mutes between tuning steps when using the tuning knob.
But suppose our man on the run needs to monitor signals above the coverage of the Skywave SSB? Candidate number two is the Icom R6. Measuring just 2.3 inches by 3.4 inches by 1.2 inches, the diminutive R6 covers from 100 kHz to 1309.995 MHz (less cellular and gaps) in AM, FM Narrow and FM wide modes (no SSB). It has 1300 alphanumeric memories, search-and-store capabilities, and rapid scanning of memory channels.
For high stealth, there is a setting that allows the R6 to use the wire that connects headphones or ear buds to the R6 as the antenna instead of the usual antenna. For a non-stealth application, using an aftermarket antenna like the Comet W100RX 25MHz-1300MHz Handheld Scanner Antenna, the R6T does a surprisingly good job of receiving shortwave stations. This antenna has markings on the side so that it can be set to the right length for various frequencies.
As you can see from the photo, the R6 has only a few buttons on its face and two on the side. Every button has multiple functions, and I found trying to program memory channels using the buttons to be a trial. As a result, I can highly recommend the RT Systems cable and programming software for setting up memory channels. In addition, some very useful notes for setting up and using the R6 can be found here: https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/icom-ic-r6-notes.442112/
Finally, I know that there are several tiny ham transceivers that might fill the bill, including the Yaesu VX-6R, although I am not aware of any that can receive single sideband. Besides, if you had the ability to transmit, “they” might be able to direction-find you . . . and we wouldn’t want that, would we?
*For sharp-eyed readers: yes, I know that The 39 Steps is set in a time before radio was widespread, but it is still one of my favorites.
It appears that Alinco will soon introduce a new wideband handheld receiver covering 30 to 470MHz. I first learned about this during Ham Fair 2022 in Tokyo via HamLife.jp’s Twitter account. That Twitter account lead me to the HamLife.jp website where I translated the details into English via Google Translate:
On August 20, 2022, Alinco Co., Ltd. released the DJ-X100 handheld wideband receiver that supports WFM/FM/AM in analog mode and C4FM/D-STAR/DCR/NXDN/DMR in digital mode. , Announced at the company’s booth (B-17) at Ham Fair 2022. The reception frequency range is 30 to 470MHz (some frequencies are excluded), the external dimensions are 58W x 110H x 32.5mm, and the weight including the antenna and battery pack is about 260g. The price is undecided and it is scheduled to be released in early spring 2023.
This isn’t an HF receiver, but it will be interesting to those who enjoy monitoring many of the digital voice modes in those frequencies. It’s one of the few receivers I’ve seen that can decode both DMR and D-Star among others modes.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave (N9EWO), who shares the following:
“WKRP In Cincinnati” – “Tornado” S01 E12 (February 1979)
“The station staff finds themselves in danger when Herb unplugs a teleprinter just as it is receiving a local tornado warning.”
Look for the Radio Shack Realistic PRO-16 (cat no. 20-165) scanner receiver at 35:15 in this dual episode “Internet Archive” video. A Midland 13-902 weather radio sits on top of the PRO-16 scanner.
Dave Zantow N9EWO
Janesville WI
Sharp eyes there, Dave! Thank you for sharing this! WKRP is classic!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rolf, who writes:
Hello Thomas,
I have a Abbree AR-F8 portable.
It had a small problem: the volume would not get to zero, so you hear still hear noise if
the volume knob was on low/zero.
I opened the radio and found a solution. Continue reading