Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
Good morning all SWLing Post folks, FastRadioBurst 23 here letting you know now, in this instance, what the Imaginary Stations crew will be bringing to the shortwaves this coming week.
Firstly we have the debut of KNOW (our great new trailer is above) on Saturday December 14th 2024 at 1200 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and repeated on Sunday December 15th 2024 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and also at 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz via Shortwave Gold.
We will be imparting some very deep knowledge on the show, answers to questions like “When is tea-time?”, “Where’s me jumper/glasses/soldering iron?” and “Why doesn’t this work?” and bringing you songs that are in the moment, out of the moment and tunes that you may not even know.
Then on Wednesday December 18th 2024 at 0300 UTC via WRMIwe have the return of the excellent Radio Thrift Shop where DJ Frederick will be playing an eclectic mix from forgotten 45’s, library music and seldom heard LPs, EPs, 45’s and scratchy 7″ers. Prepare your ears to be suprised!
For more information on all our shows, please send to imaginarystations@gmail.com and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.
“Polarisation Illustrations of the antenna usually show it mounted upright; that is, with
its axis parallel to the ground. This is fine for the reception of LF and MF transmissions, which
are vertically polarised, but most HF transmissions are horizontally polarised.”
Huh, I thought, “I wonder this would have any bearing on how I use my MFJ 1886 loop antenna?
So hooking the 1886 loop to an SDRplay RSPdx, here’s what the spectrum looks like on medium wave in vertical orientation with the 1886’s internal amp turned on:
And here’s what the medium wave spectrum looks like with the loop in horizontal orientation, amp on:
But what about shortwave reception? Here’s 31 meters in vertical orientation:
And here’s 31 meters with the loop in horizontal orientation:
Here’s 25 meters in vertical orientation:
Here’s 25 meters in horizontal orientation:
It looks to me, at the very least, the noise floor is lower . . . or I am in desperate need of a laxative?
My conclusions: I definitely don’t want the 1886 loop in horizontal orientation for medium wave DXing, but I think that the flat orientation might help for shortwave DXing.
Kyodo’s Breaking News radiofax: “Assad regime collapses; Syrian opposition forces take control of capital”. Received in Porto Alegre,Dec 8, 2024, 10h20 UTC, 16970 kHz.
Notes:
– Syria government falls, rebels declare end to Assad family’s rule
– Ousted Syrian leader Assad flees to Moscow after fall of Damascus, Russian state media say
– S. Korea Pres. Yoon to step aside before resigning: party head
– South Korean police considering overseas travel ban on President Yoon over martial law
– Police in India clash with farmers during protest march over minimum price demand for crops
– Japanese actress Miho Nakayama’s death ruled accident while bathing
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Giuseppe Morlè, who writes:
Dear Thomas and Friends of the SWLing Post,
I am Giuseppe Morlè, IZ0GZW, writing to you from Formia, in central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Do you remember the DICA 2 antenna? It was a small, shortened antenna with three ferrite cores inside, capable of tuning across all shortwave bands. Unfortunately, it no longer exists in its original form.
I have completely reworked the windings to enable the ferrites to also function for medium wave (MW) reception. Now, the antenna features:
• 35 turns for medium waves,
• 4 turns for shortwaves, and
• the same variable capacitor of over 1000 pF remains in use.
For medium waves, the antenna works wonderfully by induction. You simply place the ferrite core near the tube and turn the variable capacitor to achieve perfect tuning across the entire MW range.
I was genuinely amazed by its performance on shortwaves. Despite its small size, the antenna provides excellent gain, especially when a ground cable is connected to the variable capacitor’s casing.
I conducted several tests on my balcony. Initially, I thought the random ground wire simply improved the rotor’s tuning capability, but I discovered the antenna works equally well even when placed on a metal surface.
During a recent outing to Monte Orlando Park in Gaeta, I observed how the ground cable significantly enhanced both the signal strength and audio modulation. You can see this in my latest video, where I received Australian operators Greg and Grant on 20 meters with excellent signals.
The antenna’s two windings are separated and connected to the stator and rotor of the variable capacitor. On one end of the shortwave winding (the 4 turns), I’ve added a crocodile clip that can be attached or detached to switch between shortwave and medium wave operation. All of this functionality is achieved with a single variable capacitor.
I will soon share videos demonstrating all of these details and performances.
Thank you, Thomas, for your incredible activations—I follow them regularly on your channel, and they are a constant source of inspiration for me.
Greetings to you and all the Friends of SWLing Post!