Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

Radio Nederland, DX Contests, and a Silver Spoon: Ronald is Seeking Answers from the Past

From Ronald W. Kenyon’s collection

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

I am 83 years old now. When I was actively DXing from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, some stations, such as Radio Prague and Radio Nederland, and clubs such as the Japan Short Wave Club (JSWC) organized contests with prizes, usually special QSL cards.

In 1957, Radio Nederland ran a DX contest and offered a special QSL card. The JSWC offered a special QSL card to SWLers who received confirmation of their special 5th Anniversary broadcasts from eight stations between December 1956 and January 1957. I reproduced the JSWC card and the Radio Nederland card in my book, QSL: How I Traveled the World and Never Left Home.

Perhaps on this occasion or another occasion, Radio Nederland ran a contest and offered
prizes. I won one of these prizes, a silver-plated commemorative sugar scoop spoon made by “Schonenberg.”

I illustrated it on the colophon of my book.Googling “Schonenberg,” I couldn’t figure out where it was located. Some said the Netherlands, some said Canton Thurgau, Switzerland, and one source (obviously wrong) said England.

“Wettig gedept” on the box is abbreviated Dutch for Wettig gedeponeerd “legally deposed,” which suggests “Trademark Registered” in English. Thus, I conclude that the spoons are made in the Netherlands–logical for Radio Nederland to have its prizes manufactured in its own country!

Questions:

1. When did this contest take place?
2. What were the rules of the contest?
3. How many Schonenberg spoons were offered as prizes?
4. Were there other prizes?

Ronald

Readers: If you can help Ronald answer these questions, please comment!

Weathered, Worn, and Still Tuning: Carlos’ Story of His XHDATA D-808, ‘The Beast’

18 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Carlos Latuff, who shares the following guest post:

“The Beast”

by Carlos Latuff

Since December 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height, I have had an inseparable companion: the XHDATA D-808 radio.

This receiver has accompanied me in many situations, on the beach, in the countryside, in light rain, in cold and hot weather, and its durability has been more than proven, which is why I affectionately named my radio set “The Beast”.

I have received everything with this receiver, from military and clandestine transmissions to radiofax of weather reports and news (Kyodo News). The selectivity and sensitivity of this model are useful for both DXers and radio listeners eager for news (like me). Since this is my field radio, “The Beast” has already lost its antenna (I currently use a 3-meter long wire), and has scratches and marks resulting from several falls. And it continues to work perfectly. Even the battery remains the same.

I don’t use FM much, my focus has always been on MW and SW, bands where the XHDATA D-808 has shown excellent reception. Maybe it’s time to buy a new model, but I’m reluctant to retire my beloved “The Beast”, since, even after so many years of continuous usage, this receiver continues to serve me very well.

I usually use other Japanese-made models from the 80s and 90s, but without a doubt, the China-made XHDATA D-808 has proven to be unbeatable. Here are some recent listenings made with this transistorized wonder.

Radio Nikkei 1

Radio Nikkei 2

(April 15) Kyodo News English Edition, received via radiofax in Porto Alegre, 16970 kHz:

China, Vietnam agreed to boost trade, Nvidia plans to manufacture AI chips in US, fugitive India jeweler arrested in Belgium, Ghana prohibits foreigners from trading gold, Philipines’ Antipolo church eyes Guiness, Japan govt mourns death of former US officer, India weighs Japan’s next generation of bullet train.

“Voice of the People”, clandestine radio station operated by the South Korea’s intelligence service, 4560 kHz, April 15, 10h03 UTC, listened in Porto Alegre (enhanced audio):

Audio Player

00:00

Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

Radio Emma Toc Broadcast Updates

Leave a reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Jim Salmon, who shares the following information sheet via www.volaonair.com and www.retworldservice.com:

The Great ATS Radio Challenge

26 Replies

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

Here is an idea thought up by a radio pal of mine, Andy, W2SRA.

It’s an exercise to get us operating our portable mutliband radios from manufacturers such as Grundig, Sony, XHDATA, Tecsun, Sangean, and so on. If you own a digital multiband radio that has an ‘ATS’ search function, that being a function where the radio will scan the selected band and store stations to memory automatically, this challenge is designed to see what your radio can hear from your location.

Here’s your task: During daylight hours (preferably around midday or as close it to as possible) we would like you to scan the AM broadcast band, the FM broadcast band, and the shortwave band, and record how many stations your radio finds and stores to memory for each band.

Rules:

No external antennas! No loops. No anything.
For FM & SW, the whip antenna will be fully extended, and fixed vertically.
For AM –you will use the internal ferrite rod antenna, and do two scans. One with the radio facing East-West, and one facing North-South. Duplicated stations between the two scans will count as one station. (i.e. 660 is received in both directions, that will count as one station reception. 770 is received in one direction but not the other, that is one station reception.)
Radios that use the telescopic whip antenna for AM reception will follow the same rule for FM & SW, fully extended vertically.
You must do this challenge from your residence! Indoors or outdoors is your preference, but it must be with 100 feet of your residence.

This is not a contest, no prizes will be awarded. This is an experiment to see how many strong signals are received in different locations around the region. You may use any radio of your choice so long as it meets the above criteria.

For even more fun, try it at roughly the same time in the same location with two or more different radios that have ATS capability. Do not, however, combine the scores from the different radios.

Report your results in the comments below.

Whatever the weather

Leave a reply

Hi to all of the SWLing community worldwide. Imaginary Stations are at it again transmitting over those airwaves this week with a couple of programmes for your listening pleasure. The first is on Saturday 19th April 2025 at 1100 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and on Sunday 20th April 2025 at 0900/1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and at 2000 UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz.

The programme (weather permitting of course), features the joys of meteorology. We have all our weather stations at the ready for our transmission that will bring you tunes about the weather, a bit of sunshine and rain and other atmospheric phenomena. So have your weathervane wired up as your antenna and keep a look out for strange cloud formations. If you love the weather, you’ll love The Weather Channel.

On Wednesday 23rd April 2025 at our new time of 0200 UTC via WRMI we hoist the sails on the pirate ship MV Skybird again and bring you another audio voyage in the Free Radio Skybird series. Tune in and enjoy some “Music, speech and atmospheric effects”.

Radio Havana Cuba’s A-25 Schedule

Leave a reply

Havana, Cuba (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Paul Walker, who writes:

This is the A25 Schedule for Radio Havana Cuba. Only English, Spanish, and Portuguese remain on shortwave (SW) broadcasts. You’ll notice that only two frequencies, 6000 kHz and 15230 kHz, are still in use. Unfortunately, the antenna systems and transmitters are probably beyond repair, and it seems China won’t be providing any more funding. Regardless, the broadcasts still sound awful—fuzzy, distorted, and incredibly under-modulated.

French, Arabic, Esperanto, and Creole will only be available via streaming. Honestly, if it were up to me, I would consider reversing course a bit by dropping service to North America and focusing on Latin America and Africa. This could involve prioritizing Spanish, Portuguese, and French, while offering English and Creole only online.

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of CGTN (April 8, 2025)

Leave a reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares illustrated radio listening report of a recent CGTN broadcast.

Carlos notes:

“Chinese people do not provoke trouble, nor do we fear it.” CGTN Radio, China, 11770 kHz.

Part of CGTN Radio’s news bulletin (in English) about the Chinese government response to Trump’s tariffs. Listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on a Panasonic RF-B11 receiver.