Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

The Degen DE1108: a new multimedia device with shortwave radio

3 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Magdiel Cruz, who shares a link to the new Degen DE1108.

Perhaps “radio” doesn’t really describe this multimedia device, but it does feature shortwave, MW, LW, and FM reception along with the following features:

  • Dual touch screens
  • WiFi radio (at least, I believe it does based on the description)
  • Video playback via WiFi
  • SD Card and USB playback (supports WAV, APE, FLAC, MP3)
  • WIFI+ Bluetooth
  • AUX input
  • Custom audio

Here are some of the receiver specs (click to enlarge):

In truth, the translated product description on eBay is a bit humorous, but I suspect most of it is a machine translation from Chinese and has yet to be properly edited.

Obviously, this is not a standard portable or tabletop radio–I feel like it’s more of a multimedia device that also happens to receive shortwave. I doubt this will be a benchmark receiver, although I could be proven wrong.

Degen DE1108

The price is a hefty $449 US shipped on eBay. It’s also available on AliExpress for the same amount.

Thanks for the tip, Magdiel! Of course we’ll post updates as we learn more about the DE1108.

Click here to view on eBay.

Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

“Father Knows Best” episode features shortwave radio

10 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who notes the following episode of “Father Knows Best” (link below) features shortwave radio. Dave also points out that the website streaming this episode can be somewhat slow to load, but is very watchable.

Click here to view on Shout Factory TV.

Thanks for the tip, Dave!

Using amplified loop antennas with portable radios?

24 Replies

SWLing Post contributor, Klaus Boecker, sports a homebrew magnetic loop antenna on his balcony in Germany.

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

I have a question about loop antennas; specifically which type is “better,” passive magnetic loops or active electric loops?

I know, “It depends.”–?

I live in a ground-floor apartment, with a small porch, lots of RFI and restrictions against visible antennas. Also there are no trees within 75 ft of my porch, which faces on a parking lot. My radio is a Tecsun PL-660, which works okay inside with my 10-ft bare wire antenna hidden on the porch.

With a loop antenna, I’d like to mount the antenna on the porch at night and have a remote tuner/control inside because it’s very hot n humid here in Louisiana even after dark.

No doubt there are a number of magnetic loop antennas that could serve you well in your situation, Marty.

To answer your first question, though, you should search for a wideband amplified loop antenna since you’re only concerned with receiving.

Passive loops are great antennas on the shortwave bands–and easy to build–but they best serve ham radio operators who wish to transmit. Passive loops typically have a very narrow bandwidth that requires the operator to constantly tune the antenna when they tune the radio a few kHz. Most amplified wideband loops need no separate tuning mechanism.

Last year, I posted an article about choosing the right loop antenna for situations like yours where one has limited installation options.

Click here to read : Shortwave antenna options for apartments, flats and condos

Portables and amplified loops?

I do hesitate to encourage you to invest in an amplified loop antenna when your only receiver is a Tecsun PL-660. Some portables don’t handle amplified antennas well–they can easily overload and I imagine you can even damage the front end of the receiver.

I’m well aware, however, that there are a number of readers here who do couple their portable radio to an amplified loop. I have connected a number of portables to large wire antennas and found they could easily handle the extra gain, so I imagine an amplified loop would perform as well; the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, Tecsun S-8800, and Sangean ATS-909X come to mind.

But the PL-660 is a hot little receiver even with the built-in telescopic antenna–I’m not sure if amplification would help or hinder.

Please share your experience

This is where I hope the amazing SWLing Post community can pitch in and help us out here!

Does anyone here regularly connect their PL-660 to an amplified loop antenna? If so, what model of antenna are you using? Are there other portables out there that you regularly connect to amplified loops? Please share your notes, thoughts and experience in the comments section.

Thank you in advance!

Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

ARRL reports California earthquakes disrupted west coast HF propagation

3 Replies

(Source: Southgate ARC)

The ARRL reports earthquakes in California disrupted HF propagation on the west coast

British Columbia radio amateur Alex Schwarz, VE7DXW, said that an Independence Day magnitude 6.4 earthquake in California’s Mojave Desert and multiple aftershocks negatively affected HF propagation on the US west coast.

Schwarz, who maintains the “RF Seismograph” and has drawn a correlation between earthquake activity and HF band conditions, said the radio disruption began at around 1600 UTC on July 4, and continued into July 5. He said that on July 4, the blackout was total except for 20 meters, where conditions were “severely attenuated,” Schwarz said. The RF Seismograph also detected the magnitude 7.1 earthquake on July 6 in the same vicinity, Schwarz reported. The distance between the monitoring station in Vancouver, British Columbia, and that quake’s epicenter is 1,240 miles.

“Things are back to normal after the strong quake, as far as the ionosphere is concerned, but the unrest has not stopped yet,” Schwarz told ARRL on July 8.

Read the full ARRL report at
http://www.arrl.org/news/view/report-california-earthquakes-disrupted-hf-propagation-on-west-coast

SDRplay RSPduo: SDRuno update now adds diversity reception!

1 Reply

The SDRplay RSPduo

Many thanks to Andy with SDRplay who notes:

We are pleased to announce the release of v1.32 of SDRuno. The purpose of this release is primarily to add MRC Diversity functionality for the RSPduo, but it also contains other fixes and additions based on customer feedback. Diversity functionality is described on P.78 of the SDRuno User Manual.

A full list of the changes can be found in the release notes: https://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRplay_SDRuno_Release_Notes.pdf

Issues can be reported to us via our ticket system: https://www.sdrplay.com/support

Comments and feedback can be sent to [email protected] – emails sent to that address are usually not responded to unless we have questions, but are always read and noted.

 

Test the Bonito MegaLoop FX and MegaDipol live on the air

5 Replies

Many thanks to Dennis Walter with Bonito, who shares the following for anyone interested in the Megaloop FX or MegaDipol::

If anyone like to test the MegaLoop FX live on the air, you can do it here:

http://emeraldsdr.ddns.net:8073/

The MegaDipol can be tested on the same location here:

http://emeraldsdr.ddns.net:8074/

The location of both KiwiSDR receivers is Carlow, Ireland. Both receivers exhibit excellent low noise characteristics.

Indeed, as I publish this post I’m listening to near perfect copy of Radio France International–using the MegaDipol–on 17850 kHz as they report the results of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. (Congratulations team USA!)

Thanks for sharing these links, Dennis!

Radio Deal: Eton Executive series shortwave radios hitting all-time low prices

3 Replies

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

Although I fear I sound like a broken record, your readers should be aware that this is a good time to buy Eton Executive series radios. On Amazon the prices are edging lower everyday while supplies last. Obviously Eton is making way for their new Elite series.

Here are the current prices. Many are all time low prices…

Thank you for the tip, Christian!

Please note that I changed the links above to Amazon affiliate links. If you use these links to purchase on Amazon, it will support the SWLing Post at no extra cost to you. If you’d rather not use affiliate links, simply go to Amazon and do a manual search using the model names above and search for those prices.

I agree with you, Christian: Eton is obviously liquidating their “Executive” models to make way for the new Elite series.