Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Jeff McMahon over at The Herculodge for his recent post, “Dude, You Really Love Radios: A Nostalgic Ode to the Tecsun PL-660.”
Jeff reflects on rediscovering the Tecsun PL-660, a “Pre-DSP Glory Era” classic, sharing insights about its design, performance, and the irresistible pull of nostalgia. Like many of us who love radios, he’s already contemplating buying a second one!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares illustrated radio listening report of a recent Radio Nikkei 1 broadcast.
Carlos notes:
*Better listened with earphones*
Part of Radio Nikkei 1 news bulletin (Nikkei Electronic News) in Japanese. BYD, a major Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, announced on the 24th that it will launch a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV) in the Japanese market at the end of 2025. Listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares:
Hi Thomas
I was doing some random tuning on shortwave this evening using the KiwiSDR at VK2ATZ in New South Wales, Australia, when I came upon a repeating music box-like tune on 13705 kHz that I thought had a familiar sound to it. It was like running into someone who you hadn’t seen in many years and trying to place where you knew them from. Yes, the sound was a bit different, perhaps even a little slower (age does that ?), but then it came to me, could it be Radio Japan, the overseas service of NHK? A quick check at Short-Wave.info revealed this was indeed NHK World Radio.
It felt like I had found an old friend, one that I knew from my high school days over a half century ago. Still recognizable after all those years, and it felt good to know that they are still around.
Attached are two recordings:
Radio Japan, interval signal and bilingual ID, as heard in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada on 9505 kHz in 1970:
NHK World Radio, interval signal and sign on in Thai on 13705 kHz, January 23, 2025 at 2300Z (via VK2ATZ KiwiSDR):
73
Dan Greenall
London, Ontario, Canada
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Jeff McMahon, who notes that he’s recently published a short review of the Tecsun PL-880 on his blog, The Herculodge.
Jeff has discovered something that portable radio enthusiasts have known for more than a decade: the PL-880 sports some of the best audio fidelity in a modern portable radio!
His review prompted me to search for my original review of the PL-880. It turns out I published it in December 2013. Has it really been over 11 years since the PL-880 was introduced? It’s hard to believe—but I’ll admit it still holds its own. I’ll never let mine go.
Hi to all SWLing Post community! FastRadioBurst 23 here with news of this week’s Imaginary Stations shortwave output.
On Saturday 25th January 2025 at 1200 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and also on Sunday 26th January 2025 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and at 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz via Shortwave Gold we’ll be bringing you WARM 3 (which was broadcast on WRMI last week if you missed it) a continuation of tunes to heat you up during this winter period (if it is winter where you are). So hitch up the huskies, take off your snowshoes, grab that USB powered hot water bottle and enjoy some great tunes. You can be assured there won’t be any lukewarm songs on the show, they’ll all either be hot or just below boiling.
Feeling cold or feeling run down with a cold? Well on Wednesday January 29th January 2025 at 0300 UTC via WRMI we have WARM 4 with tunes hotter than a thermal vest. Tune in and WARM up! More on our WARM shows here.
For more information on all our shows, please write to [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Alan, who writes:
Thomas,
I came across this PDF from the ITU: Use of International Radio for Disaster Relief frequencies for emergency broadcasts in the High Frequency bands
With so many disasters, may be of interest to your posters.
Thank you, Alan!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Carlos Latuff, who shares the following guest post:
Exploring Radio Radio Nikkeiby Carlos Latuff
It’s been a while since I listened to Nikkei Radio, a Japanese commercial broadcaster that operates on shortwave for a domestic audience. If I remember well, the signal was very weak and, since I don’t speak Japanese, I didn’t know what the content of its broadcasts was about. But today, with the possibility of recording the audio, transcribing it and translating it, it has become more interesting to follow its programs on shortwave here in Brazil, more specifically in Porto Alegre (distance between Nikkei’s transmitter in Chiba, Japan, and Porto Alegre, Brazil: 18779 km).
Nikkei Radio 1 was founded in 1954 and Nikkei 2 in 1963, and at the time it was called Nihon Shortwave Broadcasting Co., better known by the acronym “NSB”. Some Japanese electronics manufacturers have in the past released receivers dedicated to receiving the signal from these stations (see below).
Today, the Japanese company Audiocomm has radio models whose packaging states that this receiver is compatible with Nikkei Radio; note the image alluding to horse racing (see below).
I haven’t been able to acquire any of these devices (yet), since they were basically produced for the Japanese public. But any receiver with shortwave bands can tune into Radio Nikkei. I use my good old XHDATA D-808 with a long wire antenna. In Porto Alegre, the best propagation is between 08:45 AM and 06:15 AM (UTC). In the late afternoon, the signal also arrives, but with a fair amount of static.
Both Radio Nikkei 1 and Radio Nikkei 2 operate on the following frequencies:
Radio Nikkei 1:
Radio Nikkei 2:
On the station’s website https://www.radionikkei.jp/ you can find details of its programming, as well as broadcast times, including a table (in Japanese) with this information, which can be translated with the help of Google Lens.
Radio Nikkei also broadcasts its programming via streaming, however the platform used (radiko) is inaccessible to me here in Brazil (see message below).
Nikkei Radio is majority-owned by the business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which means the station focuses mainly on the financial market. However, much of its programming, especially on weekends, is dedicated to horse racing, a popular sport in Japan. In addition to news, talk shows and music, the radio station also broadcasts evangelical preaching (!). One of these religious programs is called “True Salvation” and is sponsored by The Japan Gospel Mission, a Christian Protestant organization.
This heterogeneous mix of business, horses and Jesus Christ makes Nikkei Radio an interesting station to tune into, to say the least.
The radio listening sessions published here were made in the central Porto Alegre, Brazil, between January 15th and 19th, 2025.
(Domo arigato gozai masu Mr. Tagawa Shigeru for helping me with translation).
Click here to view on YouTube.
Click here to view on YouTube.
Click here to view on YouTube.
Click here to view on YouTube.
Part of Radio Nikkei 1 program “Health Network”, in Japanese. Topic: Winter diet and health. Listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil.