Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

Medium Wave DXer, Johnny Bråtveit, interviewed by Oregon Public Broadcasting

Check out this excellent in-depth interview with medium wave DXer, Johnny Bråtveit, via Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPD):

“About a month ago, our station received a fascinating email. It came from a Norwegian man named Tore Johnny Braatveit. He wrote: “I am one of those people who still really enjoys hunting for long-distance radio signals on the AM band. I am glad to tell you that I was able to pick up the AM signals of KOAC in arctic Norway.”

Braatveit sent us a recording of what he heard, and there’s no mistaking our litany of OPB stations beamed more than four thousand miles away.

Braatveit, who said we can call him TJ, says the serendipity of the search is what makes collecting radio signals appealing. “It’s the same as for a hunter or a fisher,” said Braatveit, “They know what they want, but they don’t know what they will get.”

Braatveit has been DXing – a hobby to receive, record and identify faraway broadcasts – since the early 1980’s. DX-ers use receivers along with computer software to collect the signals before reaching out to the stations with “reception reports” to verify what they picked up, hence the email he sent us.”

Listen to the full interview via OPB’s SoundCloud:

Tore Johnny Bråtveit also maintains a blog where you can listen to many of his medium wave audio samples. Click here to visit his site.

Radio Canada International 70th Anniversary was bittersweet for some

RCI Action

We recently noted that Radio Canada International (RCI) celebrated its 70th year anniversary. While it was certainly an amazing milestone–dating back to WWII–it was a bittersweet celebration for some. Check out this article on the RCI Action blog:

“The flood of wonderful memories, fueled by the old and not so old photos of Radio Canada International’s 70 years, is now, as I write this, suddenly mixed with regret, lost opportunities, and missing colleagues.

In a way I dreaded this anniversary, not knowing how to deal with this important milestone.

RCI has survived all these years since its first broadcast on February 25, 1945, as Canada’s Voice to the World. But now, almost three years after an 80% budget cut that took us off shortwave radio, cutting us off from our listeners, how do you celebrate? How do you not look with some exasperation, regretfully, wistfully, at how little people, even colleagues, know about RCI’s proud achievements, and its path-breaking innovations?

The contradictions of how some viewed us and the reality is almost too much to bear. People say we used outdated technology, weren’t moving with the times, and no longer needed to explain Canada to the world.

Yet none of this is true.”

[Continue reading on RCI Action…]

Sheldon Harvey

My good friend, and host of the International Radio Report, Sheldon Harvey was interviewed by Lynn Desjardins of Radio Canada International regarding Radio Canada International’s 70th anniversary. Here is a link to the story and the audio of the interview now accessible through RCI’s webpage

Amanda Dawn Christie

On a similar note, you might check out this interview between Wojtek Gwiazda and film marker, Amanda Dawn Christie. Amanda is making a documentary film about the destruction of the RCI Sackville transmitter site.

Click here to listen to the full interview via Radio Canada International online.

Check out Amanda’s short video of several towers as they were taken down:

Can you help George identify the mystery pip?

3 Replies

WWV format

SWLing Post reader, George (NJ3H), writes:

I quite often see a spike in the evening on 4996 khz. From the listing, this is suppose to be RWM, in Moscow, a time signal station.

When I listen on remote receivers in Poland and Denmark, I do not hear time pips, but rather just hash.

On my Perseus, I can watch the spike go up and down each second. This makes me think it is caused by WWV. However, the 29th second seems to make the spike move up, even though WWV doesn’t have a pip at second 29. The remote receivers in Europe that I just mentioned do not have any time pips being broadcast. Does WWV cause a signal on 4996?

Can you shed any light on 4996? Should we be able to hear RWM in the Eastern US?

Good question, George, and I’m hoping a reader can shed some light on what you’re seeing on the spectrum display. I’m not sure what could be causing the 29th second spike unless it’s WWV transmitting a sub-audible tone.

Pete gives Kaito high marks for customer service

1 Reply

SWLing Post reader, Pete Jernakoff (K3KMS), writes:

“I purchased two PL-880 radios from Amazon about a year ago and before the soft muting issue became a hot topic. Both of my radios (8819 firmware version) suffered from this most annoying problem but it wasn’t until I started reading your excellent blog that I learned of the cause.

About two weeks ago, I called Kaito Electronics USA and asked if they could upgrade the firmware on my two radios to the 8820 version. The person I spoke to said (paraphrasing) “Sure! Send them to us any we’ll perform the upgrade for free. All you do is pay for the return shipping.”

So off the radios went to Kaito. About 10 days later I had them back with the new firmware installed. The return shipping was $10. Weak MW and SW signals are now easy to listen to: no soft muting issues at all. Kudos to Kaito for agreeing to perform the upgrade for me. My dealings with them were thoroughly pleasurable.”

Thanks for sharing that great experience, Pete! You’re right–the 8820 upgrade is certainly worth the shipping costs and I’m happy to hear Kaito makes the process so easy.

Don’t know the firmware version of your PL-880? Click here to learn how to display the firmware version.

For more information on PL-880 soft muting, click here.

Shortwave Shindig Rebroadcast: March 7, 2015

1 Reply

I’ve just learned via @shortwaveology that the Shortwave Shindig will be rebroadcast on Saturday March 7, 2015 from 10:00-11:00 PM EST (that’s Sunday from 0300-0400 UTC) via WRMI on 7,570 khz.

Those of you who tuned into the live show last Friday noted that the audio dropped out at times–this was due to a flaky Internet connection at the hotel where the ‘Shindig was held. You will hear the full show, without interruption, in this rebroadcast.

I plan to record this show, but would certainly appreciate other recordings as well to add to the archive. On that note, a few of you have sent recordings of the original broadcast (thank you!)–I will post those as soon as I’ve caught up with work, post-‘Fest!

Sproutie hears the Shortwave Shindig

1 Reply

SWLing Post reader, Dave Richards (AA7EE), made a short video of his regen receiver “Sproutie” tuned to the Shortwave Shindig Friday evening.

Dave writes:

“I was quite pleased with the fidelity. Of course, the skirts on a regen are quite broad, even though the nose of the selectivity curve is fairly narrow. The signal was a bit lower in level and noisier at the beginning of the show but by the time it got to this segment, it was a nice strong signal. Sorry – no S-meter here, so that is the best I can do!”

Dave, thanks for sharing this video! Sproutie did a brilliant job tuning in a program from across the continent. I’m also most impressed with Sproutie’s audio. Amazing!

Readers, click here to read a previous post about Dave’s home brew regen receiver, “Sproutie.” Also, be sure to bookmark Dave’s blog by clicking here.

A Photo Tour of the National Capital Radio and Television Museum

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On Tuesday afternoon, I made a pilgrimage the to the National Capital Radio and Television Museum in Bowie, Maryland, USA. The museum is located in a modest and beautiful historic house on the corner of Mt. Oak and Mitchellville Roads in Bowie.

Museum Curator and volunteer, Brian Belanger, kindly gave me a private tour of the museum collections (the museum is closed on Tuesdays).

Many thanks to Brian for taking time out of his day for the tour, and for allowing me to take some photos for the SWLing Post!

The museum has a number of display rooms with radios broadly grouped by style and decade. The first room offers examples of some of the earliest radios produced–including the venerable crystal radio (below).

[Click photos to enlarge.]

Like Brian, numerous volunteers work to keep the collections in working order. This isn’t a place where vintage radios come to die; they actually come to life here.

Even examples of some of their earliest radios are on the air and can be tuned to local and international stations.

This RCA “portable” (below), housed two batteries on either side of the center faceplate. Note the ad on the wall above–a couple enjoy the RCA as they recline on a beach.

Speakers of the day were pretty amazing, too–check out this hand-painted 1927 Air Chrome Double Cone Speaker, below.

The museum also has an extensive collection of studio and off-air recordings that can be played over an AM carrier throughout the building.

By the late 1920s and early 1930s, radio manufactures built gorgeous console radios, features in the living rooms and parlors of many lucky homes.

This E.H. Scott All-Wave 23 console (above and below) sported not only twenty-threee vacuum tubes, but a large, robust internal speaker. Radio collectors consider the All-Wave 23 to be one of the finest performing radios of the vacuum-tube era.

The museum also features the Zenith 12-S-232 tabletop radio with working shuttle dial–a futuristic band-switching mechanical wonder with a stunning dial.

A number of tabletop and portable radios that span the decades have found their homes in this museum. No doubt many SWLing Post readers cut their teeth on these classics!

I love the design of the Garod Model 5A2–wow! And I’m sure many kids of the fifties wished they had an official Hopalong Cassidy AM radio (below).

The museum, of course, also houses a large number of classic televisions.

Radio stations and benefactors have also donated many items used in the industry, both in broadcast and retail.

Brian was also kind enough to take me to the building, next door, where they repair radios and store others for eventual rotation into the collection.

Museum volunteers also teach radio repair and restoration classes.

The number of classic ham radios, home brew receivers and transmitters was simply amazing. Indeed, I felt like a kid in a candy shop!

By the end of the tour, I had decided to become a member of the National Capital Radio and Television Museum. Even though I live a few states away, I like knowing that my membership funds not only help preserve vintage radios and televisions, but also provide me members-only access to many of their scanned archives. Click to view a full list of benefits for a modest $25 membership.