Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

Brilliant radio song by Van Morrison: “In The Days Before Rock’n’Roll”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter, who writes:

After some 20 years I have rediscovered this radio song by the UK northern Irish singer Van Morrison.

“In The Days Before Rock’n’Roll”

There are some great TX station names in the song! It’s a full 8 minutes long….

Take a listen…

Click here to view/listen on YouTube.

I don’t think I’ve heard this song in twenty years or more. Thank you for sharing this, Dave!

I’ll have to add Van Morrison to the list of radio influenced musicians we’ve featured in the past, including:

Post Readers: Do you know of any other musicians who were influenced by the shortwaves? Please comment and share links to their work!

EQUINOX: A novel that blends sci-fi with ham radio

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader and author, DM Barrett (N4ECW), who recently shared the following press release which features his latest book:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EQUINOX Blends Science Fiction And Amateur Radio

1 May 2019 (Tampa, Florida)

A new science fiction narrative, EQUINOX, has taken amateur and shortwave radio into the cultural mainstream in its version of a limited alien invasion story line.

“It’s been quite a while since the world depended on amateur and shortwave radio as lifelines. In EQUINOX, both are critical for the success of The Resistance.” – DM Barrett, EQUINOX author

DM Barrett, callsign N4ECW, lives and breathes amateur radio. He is well known in the ham radio community having developed and manufactured several different specialized radio antennas through his former company, Transworld Antennas. He holds two earned doctorates with majors in law, economics, and religion.

The EQUINOX story line begins on a warm, slightly breezy day on Florida’s east coast as the vernal equinox marked the beginning of spring. Suddenly, there was a thunderous crash, a blinding light, and a vortex swirling in the blue Atlantic. The invading alien army arrived. The world surrendered. The Resistance made a stand.

When the science fiction novel was recently released as a Kindle Unlimited eBook, it moved steadily into Amazon’s top ten science fiction eBooks in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Australia. After only a few days, the paperback version of EQUINOX was ranked in Amazon’s top third for science fiction paperbacks.

DM Barrett may be contacted at [email protected] or by text to 931-239-3760.

EQUINOX and other books by DM Barrett can be ordered online through Kindle, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

If you are a radio amateur or shortwave enthusiast, or you are just interested in the topics, don’t miss the chance to join others that are enjoying the science fiction novel, EQUINOX.

I have been sent a paperback preview copy of Equinox and plan to read it in the coming weeks.

Equinox can be purchased from the following retailers:

Amazon.com paperback $14.95 and Kindle eBook $2.45 or free via Kindle Unlimited (affiliate links)
Barnes & Noble (paperback $14.95 and Nook eBook $2.49)

Also, the author notified me that there are a limited number of paperback copies available on eBay for $14.95. These copies are a First Printing and are autographed by the author. Click here to view on eBay.

Gene seeks input on source of HF voice chatter

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gene Paradis, who writes:

I have something to share…It is on every night on 5.620 MHz around 010 UTC some folks talking language unknown..It goes on most of the night..This is an aero frequency but these folks are there every night. Hope to find out more. Maybe fishing vessels or something else–? It is these mysteries that make this hobby fun!

My schedule as of late has not allowed dedicated listening time on this frequency. I would certainly suspect fishing vessel communications, but can’t confirm.

Post readers: can you help Gene identify this over-the-air chatter? Please comment!

Alex updates frequency charts and upgrades format

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alex, who notes updates to his excellent frequency charts. Alex writes:

My charts are updated again. This time I have changed format and made the charts less time consuming to compile and – I think – more user friendly too.

The result is they are updated for the summer schedule much earlier – there are still 6 months of summer to go for them to be useful!

For each hour, the listener is given a running order of about 30 stations that are most worthwhile to try. Doing it this way means you can easily compare the reception quality of the different frequencies for the same station and also get an idea of each broadcaster’s strategy for reaching listeners.

For the summer, I have put the top station as number 51, down to about 80. Many radios have enough storage to allow you to set a page for each hour and then up to 100 presets for each page. This means you can check your favourite stations in a couple of minutes. There is less detail, but today time is so precious, the ease of use seemed to me to be the priority for the charts. (I have numbered 1 to 30 for the winter charts)

Thank you for once again updating and sharing your handy broadcast charts, Alex!

Click here to download Alex’s broadcast charts via his website, ShortwaveTimes.com.