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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom (DF5JL), who writes:
Who doesn’t know the mysterious station “The Buzzer” on 4625 kHz – but now it gets even more exciting: Because since today “The Buzzer” has a twin that transmits on 4810 kHz – fully synchronous. And to make to put a scoop on it: location is apparently near Changdu in China.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Ladd, who shares the following video by Rick King who compares four mag loop antennas: the MLA-30, Cross Country Wireless, Bonito ML200, and the Wellbrook 1530LN.
Although we’ve previously posted reviews and comments about the MLA30, I’m quite impressed that it gave the venerable Wellbrook a run for its money. I’m not surprised the Bonito ML200 was the winner here–Bonito quality is second to none.
Hello readers! You are invited to listen in to a new broadcast of VORW Radio International this Saturday.
The show is 1 Hour in length and will feature a variety of music from the 1960s to Present, including listener requests! It’s a very diverse show where you are guaranteed to hear music of many genres and eras!
Here’s when you can listen on Saturday:
0800 UTC – 3 AM Eastern – 1300 kHz WNQM – Targeting Nashville, TN and audible throughout the Southeast. Mediumwave DX reception reports are appreciated!
2300 UTC – 6 PM Eastern – 6115 kHz WWCR – Targeting North America and Western Europe
0200 UTC – 9 PM Eastern Saturday – 5850 kHz WRMI – Targeting North America
If you can receive this broadcast I encourage you to submit a reception report via email to [email protected] and it will be verified with a QSL.
Wow! That is an excellent price. Thank you for keeping us in mind when you find these deals, Christian! Perhaps you’ll consider sending us your review of this latest receiver from Eton?
On Sunday 17th November at 1300 UTC there’s a new transmission from DJ Frederick’s Free Radio Skybird on 6070 kHz shortwave by Channel 292 and if you haven’t got a suitable radio it can also be heard on the SDR link on their site here. The show will be rebroadcast the week after on Sunday 24th November at 1200 UTC on 7440 kHz.
This month’s programme will feature: Justin Patrick Moore’sRadiophonic Laboratory, Steve with Mini-indie radio and our very own One Deck Pete presenting the Skybird Mailbag. They will also play Pete’s “Shortwave mix and match” that has new tunes from: .ihaveaface, Jazzy System, Dabeyand Leaking Shell.
The programme will be available on DJ Frederick’s Soundcloud page a day or so before transmission date if you want to hear it in true stereo but we here prefer the show via by ground wave. Tune in and turn on! #shortwavesnotdead #madtone #freeradioskybird
It is also entering service on a full-time basis, along with, potentially, a similar Chinese system.
Yes, it has been in testing for many years but is approaching multiple site use, soon. As the sunspot cycle comes back they may prove to be very limiting.
(although I think that is of the old Woodpecker site, the Google Maps street view image looks somewhat different, see below).
However, it’s not so huge that it really stands out. It can be seen here:
in satellite view and can even be seen in street view here:
Note that the magic number in the phased arrays seems to be 9.
Rather worrying is that the UK continues to run, over many years now, OTHR from sovereign bases (ZC4) in Cyprus rather obviously aimed at use in Syria and Libya for use with the RAF and for Russian air space. It too can be seen on the salt marshes in the south of the island. As an active system it seems to be rather more cloaked than the Russian system, although there are some 360 degree images in Google Maps that show the towers. This was extremely annoying on the bands when the last solar cycle was near maximum from Bermuda because it was right in the main lobe when a Yagi was pointed towards Europe and was very loud. It was considerably narrower than the Russian system but occupied a solid chunk of band.
Paul, thank you for bringing this to our attention. I have seen chatter about the QRM this particular Russian OTH Radar site has created, but it seems other countries will soon be joining the OTHR QRM scene as well.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, H. Garcia (PU3HAG), who writes:
Hey Thomas,
Some very exciting news on the topic of portable all-band receivers comes from Russia! A group of engineers have just released for ordering the new Malahit-dsp. And it’s truly impressive! Picture an Icom IC-R8600 with the size of a Sony 7600G!
It seems it all started in June this year. Back then, RX9CIM George posted a note in QRZ.com forum about a new project he had been working of a standalone, SDR-based, all-band, all-mode receiver called Malahit-dsp.
Fast forward to November and it seems the project is finally complete as new posts started to bubble up in Youtube and in Russian forums. George is now taking orders of the Malahit DSP.
I can’t read Russian, but with the help of Google Translator, we can find some interesting details:
The project authors are RX9CIM George, R6DAN Vladimir and R6DCY Vadim. It seems their goal was to design a low-cost portable SDR radio, using only easily obtainable components and to become the natural successor of the popular Degen and Tecsun radios.
Technical Specifications
1 MHz to 1000 MHz.
Bandwidth 160 kHz.
Modulation types AM, WFM, NFM, LSB, USB.
Powered by one Li-ion cell.
Consumption up to 300 mA
Main chip ARM STM32H743VIT6 MCU High-performance and DSP with DP-FPU, ARM Cortex-M7 MCU with 2MBytes Flash, 1MB RAM, 400 MHz CPU
Printed circuit board is used four-layer, factory-made; for purchase, refer to RX9CIM. [email protected]
From the forum, there is also this important note: “Attention! Fraud/Scammers detected! You can purchase components or finished devices from George only ”
It seems the project is open source, the schematic, PCB and software are available to download.
I really hope this receivers becomes popular and available world wide. I also hope this new project “shakes” a bit the industry of shortwave receivers. Since the Degen 1102/03, Tecsun 450/600, Tecsun PL310/880, we have been seeing only iterations of the same designs.
Video 1: Shows the soldering of large components (encoders, speaker, SMA jack) on the radio board and installing it into the metal enclosure. Next a demo of receiver working. Prepared by Sergeyenkov Alexander:
Video 2: It shows a bit of the manufacturing process and demonstrates how one can build the receiver at home using kit pre-made board and components acquired in AliExpress. Also includes a test of the receiver barebones. Prepared by R2AJI Vladimir on his YT channel “HAM Radio Channel”
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing this! The Malahit-DSP looks like a fantastic little receiver–I especially love the fact that it has a backlit color touch screen with both a responsive spectrum and waterfall display. It also looks and sounds like the built-in speaker is of decent quality and the audio amplification is more than adequate.
I’ll see if I can get one to evaluate. Thanks again for the tip!
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