Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

Pete discovers a Dieter Rams T 1000 Weltempfaenger at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pete Madtone, who writes:

I took a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum yesterday on my day off and whilst browsing the galleries spotted this wonderful radio (pics attached)! It was in the Design 1900 to Now display (Room 61) if any of the readers fancies having a look. Talk about a lovely radio, it’s even got a BFO and a range of 3 telescopic antennas!

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O168288/t-1000-weltempfaenger-radio-rams-dieter/

What do you think? I’d love to own one of those.

I’d love to own one as well! Those Braun T 1000s are simply gorgeous. They fetch top dollar on the market as well.

Thank you for sharing this, Pete! One more reason to visit the V&A Museum!

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and recording of Vatican Radio (February 6, 2023–Turkey/Syria Earthquake)

Wlodek repairs a near mint Sony ICF-SW7600

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Sony ICF-SW7600 (Source: Universal Radio)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Wlodek, who has been quite busy repairing vintage receivers and ham radio gear during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Wlod’s neighborhood in Kiev experiences frequent blackouts, thus much of his soldering work must be done while mains power is available.

Wlod just shared the following video documenting a recent repair he did on a new-old-stock Sony ICF-SW7600.

Wlod notes:

One of [my last repairs] was new old stock Sony ICF-SW7600 restoration. One guy watched my past videos and wanted one for himself. I don’t know where he found it in such excellent external condition, but age and typical problems require it to be prophylaxis.

The first turn on and it does not receive the station at all. These receivers have a known problem of leaking electrolytic capacitors. They also need to be alignment.

I demonstrate how to safely remove old capacitors.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Wlod! What a beautiful portable in near mint condition!

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Guest Post: Old Fashioned Band-Scan after the Solar Storms

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

Old Fashioned Band-Scan after the Solar Storms

by TomL

This is just an old fashioned band scan to randomly see what I could hear after last week’s solar perturbations when the Solar Flux Index went well over 200. I considered what I could hear on the shortwave broadcast bands, even though the SFI had quieted down to around 135. Would the ionosphere still be holding on to the charge built up during the solar storms? The date and time was January 30, 2023 around 1400 through 1600 UTC. By the way, as of today (February 2), the bands are dead and cannot hear any of these even though the Solar Flux is about the same!

I will not have time to describe my antenna setup now at my noisy Condominium in detail. I have been experimenting with a DX Engineering NCC2 antenna phasing device for the past year with somewhat good results. I had to place dedicated receive antennas in many different ways in order to find an arrangement that works in conjunction with the two Ham Radio antenna wires out on the porch. Sometimes it helps by lowering the noise, sometimes the native antenna by itself, or peaking the signal, has better reception even though it might be slightly more noisy. By matching one of two receive-only antennas (the left Heathkit switch) with one of the Ham Radio antennas (the right Daiwa switch), I can usually eke out some extra decibels of signal-to-noise improvement. Continue reading →

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Pavel’s Belka photos and poster

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pavel, who shares the following message and images. Note that this message was originally sent to me prior to Christmas, but never arrived in my inbox. Thank you, Pavel, for the follow-up:

Hi Thomas,

First of all, I wish you and your entire family and all blog readers a wonderful rest of the Christmas holidays, all the best for the new year 2023, lots of health and well-being and many beautiful moments listening to the radio.

Some time ago I became the owner of the last type of Belky. I’m excited about her. So I immediately made an advertising poster with my wife and Belka :-).

I made a small docking station for the Belka – it has a built-in stereo amplifier, speakers and a battery with a charging circuit and a Dc-Dc converter for emergency charging of the Belka in the field. The status of the battery is indicated by LEDs. The Belka holder itself is made on a 3D printer.

Maybe it can serve as inspiration for blog readers.

Pavel Kraus

Thank you for sharing this, Pavel. We all love both your creativity not only in your photos, but the amazing radios you produce. We love how you use your wife as your model in your work!

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More adventures in the shortwave library

Radio Tamazul and Radio Dabanga broadcast coordination?

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jeff (KJ7LTU), who writes:

Thomas,

I was wondering if you, or your readers, know if Radio Tamazuj and Radio Dabanga are coordinating their broadcasting efforts? This last Sunday I picked up their transmission on 15550 kHz. Radio Tamazul signs off at 15:57 UTC and Radio Dabanga signs on at 15:59 UTC.

Some quick research indicates that this is the intended broadcast schedule. The times, and shared frequencies, seem to allude to a joint effort. Other than these are both Sudanese broadcasters, I can’t seem to find any additional evidence to support this. Wondering if you might be willing to put this out there to see if anyone has any information to satisfy my curiosity.

Here’s a link to the transmission for reference: Radio Tamazuj & Radio Dabanga