Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

The bands are open! Make time to listen.

Though I’ve spent the entire day sawing and splitting firewood, I’ve been actively recording spectrum on the 31, 25, 19 and 16 meter bands with the WinRadio Excalibur, Elad FDM-S2 and the SDRplay RSP. Why? Propagation–especially on the higher bands–has been the best it’s been in several weeks.

As I discovered at the recent SWLing Post DXpedition, my shack PC can handle making multiple spectrum recordings simultaneously as long as I limit each recording to the width of a broadcast band. (I’ve never tried pushing the limit very hard.) Someday in the future–perhaps when we’re having terrible propagation–I’ll play those spectrum recordings back and tune through them as if they were live.

Radio time travel at its best.

Sony-ICF-SW100-Outside-2

When I decided to throw in the towel with all of the firewood processing, I fired up the Sony ICF-SW100 (above) and tuned in a game on 17,855 kHz: Radio Exterior de España.

The REE signal was simply booming into eastern North America!

Hard to break away from the radio on days like this.

My advice? Take advantage of these conditions and make time to listen!

For me, SWLing a great excuse to relax and let me back heal after a long day of splitting wood. For some, perhaps it’s a good excuse to take the radio outdoors and away from urban interference. Whatever the excuse, don’t hesitate to fire up your radio!

There are some interesting stations on the bands this evening. Feel free to comment with some you’ve logged.

SDRplay RSP review in CQ Ham Radio Japan

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Two weeks ago, I received a mystery package in the mail: a copy of the October 2015 issue of CQ Ham Radio magazine, sent directly from the publisher in Tokyo, Japan.

Supplement magazine shipped with the October issue.

Since I can’t speak or read Japanese, I was very confused why I would receive a copy.

Out of curiosity, last week, I opened the magazine to see what sort of articles it contained.

In short: I was very impressed. While I couldn’t read the content, of course, I was able to get an idea of the scope of this magazine–it contained numerous articles, news items, reviews and photos.

I was pleased to note a section that focused on good etiquette for amateur radio exchanges in English. After all, if you are a Japanese DXer, you will need to know enough English to log DX stations around the world as English is the staple DX language. Japanese hams are well known for their excellent on-air etiquette–ask anyone who has been on a DXpedition.

The magazine is thick, too; most of the pages are black and white news print, but there are several color/glossy sections as well. This particular issue was even mailed with a separate supplement magazine containing a history of ham radio ads throughout the years. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip down memory lane.

Once I landed on the page above, I quickly realized why I had been sent a courtesy copy of the magazine: my SDRplay RSP review had been translated and published. It was then I remembered granting permission to have the article translated into Japanese for a ham radio magazine. I had completely forgotten!

I’m honored my review was printed in CQ ham radio, but most of all, it has been fascinating to browse through what appears to be an excellent radio publication. I offer my gratitude to the translator who took the time to edit my article.

ITU Monitoring Programme: 2.85 to 28 MHz

Tom’s 1981 off-air recording of RCI’s Shortwave Listener’s Digest hosted by Ian McFarland

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I snapped a photo of this propagation poster in RCI's Sackville, NB transmitter site only months befor ethe site was closed.

A propagation poster in the foyer of RCI’s Sackville, NB, transmitter site only months before the site was closed. (Photo: Thomas Witherspoon)

Tom Laskowski, has been generously contributing a number of off-air shortwave radio recordings to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA).

Recently, he shared a series I’m sure many of you remember. Tom writes:

“My first contribution of many recordings I have of Radio Canada International’s Shortwave Listener’s Digest hosted by Ian McFarland.”

“The first 12 1/2 minutes is Bonsoir Africa. The recording was made using a cheap GE portable. The audio quality isn’t great but it’s still very nostalgic listening to a program I recorded 34 years ago.”

This brings back many memories of one of my favorite shortwave programs–thank you, Tom!

The audio quality actually reminds me of one of my first analog portables, Tom! Nostalgia at its best.

Check out all Tom’s SRAA contributions by clicking here. While you’re at it, bookmark the SRAA!

C.Crane fixes CC Skywave overloading

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Many thanks to SWLing Post readers, Mark and Alan, who were both recently notified by C.Crane that the CC Skywave has been updated.

Mike purchased the CC Skywave early this year after reading our review. He was disappointed to find out, though, that a local radio station (in his urban location) overloaded the Skywave’s front end, causing imaging and other problems.

Mike, along with other Skywave owners, notified C.Crane about the issue and returned their units.

C.Crane passed along this feedback to their engineers, who have updated the CC Skywave accordingly. C.Crane believes the latest production run will be immune to this sort of overloading. [Kudos to C.Crane for listening to customer feedback.]

I contacted C.Crane yesterday–they recommend ordering directly from their website to insure your unit is coming from the latest production run. It’s possible that some of their distributors could still have some of the older units in inventory for the next few weeks. At least, to be certain, you should check with the distributor directly.

To be clear, I’ve never noted the overloading issue on my Skywave, but I live in a rural area with no blowtorch stations nearby. If you live near an AM broadcaster, and are considering the CC Skywave, you should certainly purchase the updated unit.

Click here to view/purchase the CC Skywave on C.Crane’s website.

Again, many thanks to Mike and Alan for the tip!