Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

Thailand military suspends TV and radio programming

Thailand’s army chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, declared a coup today (Thursday, May 22), and detained key party leaders while suspending the constitution in “a bid to restore order” after nearly six months of ant-government protests.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha has also ordered all domestic TV and radio outlets to halt normal broadcasting and only include content the military provides until further notice. Only yesterday, a group of Thai media bodies accused the Peace and Order Maintaining Command (POMC) of violating the constitution when the POMC banned 14 satellite TV outlets. Now that the constitution is suspended, I suppose it is no longer an obstacle.

I’m curious if Radio Thailand will be on the air today–if so, I assume broadcasts will contain military sanctioned content. I would encourage you to tune to Radio Thailand and, if possible, even record a broadcast to archive if they are indeed on the air.

The following is Radio Thailand‘s English broadcast schedule per Shortwave.am:

9390 kHz, 1230-1300 UTC, Target: Oceania
9390 kHz, 1400-1430 UTC, Target: Oceania
9390 kHz, 1900-2000 UTC, Target: Europe
9390 kHz, 2030-2045 UTC, Target: Europe
15590 kHz, 0000-0030 UTC, Target: Eastern North America
15590 kHz, 0030-0100 UTC, Target: Western North America
15590 kHz, 0200-0230 UTC, Target: Eastern North America
17640 kHz, 0530-0600 UTC, Target: Europe

Thailand is no stranger to full-blown military coups; this is their twelfth since 1932. I’ll be following this story closely as events unfold.

Alex updates shortwave frequency charts for summer season

Last day of the 2014 Hamvention

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Today is the the final day of the 2014 Dayton Hamvention. For exhibitors, it’s the slowest day of the weekend (Saturday is the busiest).

My voice is hoarse from speaking with so many people–it’s been great! Many thanks to the SWLing Post readers who stopped by our booth to talk radio.

This morning, I’m listening Pacific Break on Radio Australia with my buddy Eric McFadden while we eat breakfast and prepare to leave. I started listening to RA on my Tecsun PL-310ET and Eric (of course) brought out his Sony ICF-SW7600G and AN-LP1 for comparison. A little radio fun before the craziness yet to come.

We’re not staying in a hotel this year, and we have much quieter conditions for SWLing. Eric, as a I mentioned in a previous post, is retired from the Ohio Air National Guard; this year, he was fortunate enough to secure us a “TLF” (Temporary Lodging, Family) on Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Our TLF is a three bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house with a living room, laundry room, outdoor patio, yard and is surrounded by acres of green space. It’s about half the price of a local hotel, so we feel most grateful! Better yet, a TLF is like being at home: we can string up antennas indoors or outside and play radio.

Eric eating cereal and doing an informal A/B comparison. The AN-LP1 is attached to the dining room window.

Many thanks to Eric (WD8RIF) and his son, Miles (KD8KNC), for being such dedicated ETOW volunteers.

As I head out this morning, I thought I’d post a few more photos I took yesterday:

Though I wouldn’t have a clue how to operate this Collins 10B (above), I would love for it to adorn my radio table.

I’ve also taken photos of new products vendors displayed at the Hamvention. I plan to post them after returning home later this week.

If you’re visiting the Hamvention today, please stop by Booth BA411 and introduce yourself!

Dayton Hamvention flea market: a few photos

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I had a little over one hour to check out the Dayton Hamvention flea market yesterday morning before manning our inside exhibitor’s table for Ears To Our World.

Here are a few radios that caught my attention:

I actually purchased the Hallicrafters SX-24 in this photo (above) for $60. I would have purchased the speaker as well but he wanted $200 (!!!) for it.

By the time I made it back to this Hammarlund HQ 145 A, someone else had already snagged it. It was a beauty!

I probably saw eight of these RA6790/GM’s scattered throughout the flea market.

Going to the Dayton Hamvention? Stop by our booth!

Ken points out where Melson series derived design

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SWLing Post reader, Ken, commented that the “faux” knobs on the Melson S8 were derived from the Grundig Satellit 500.

Ken has taken a photo of the two radios together (above).

Note that the knobs on the left side of the Melson S8 are fake (right).

Read the Melson S8 review, posted yesterday, by clicking here.

Looking forward to the 2014 Dayton Hamvention and FDIM

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Each year, I attend the Dayton Hamvention and much of the QRP conference, Four Days in May. This year, I’ll be working our Ears To Our World table again, along with other volunteers, at booth 411 in the Ball Arena (BA411). Please stop by and introduce yourself!

What I love about the Hamvention (besides the massive outdoor flea market) is that it is a one-stop-shop for innovations appearing in our radio world.

Here are a few of the companies I’ll be following at the Hamvention this year:

Ten-Tec

Ten-Tec announced yesterday that it will merge with Alpha Amplifiers under the flag of RF Concepts. I plan to stop by Ten-Tec’s booth Friday and learn more about the merger. Personally, I believe the merger with Alpha Amplifiers is a good move. Both of these companies are known for great customer service and quality US-based design and manufacturing.

I know Ten-Tec is introducing a new open-source product to their line, the Patriot, because I’ve been beta testing one (check QRPer.com for details later this week).

Icom

Icom will showcase their new ID-5100 D-star, dual band, mobile with built-in GPS. While I’m more of an HF guy, this radio does intrigue me. You see, for almost one year now, I’ve been very pleased with my Icom ID-51A, dual-band, D-Star handie talkie (HT).

I find D-Star to be a very flexible digital mode and I’m amazed with how many interesting mom-and-pop companies have produced products for the D-Star mode. I’m surprised neither Yaesu nor Kenwood has adopted the D-Star standard (it’s not proprietary to Icom–indeed, read about the CS7000 below).

The new ID-5100 is a mobile version of my ID-51a. What I love about this radio is that it can store repeater frequencies and dynamically load them based on your geographic location. Perhaps my largest gripe with mobile VHF/UHF rigs is their inability to adapt to the repeater “landscape” when you travel. The ID-5100 may change this and push other manufacturers in the same direction.

Connect Systems

In less than a year, Connect Systems has become a household name among ham radio enthusiasts who love VHF/UHF and digital modes.

This Connect Systems is developing an HT–the CS7000–which will be the first non-Icom radio to have the D-Star digital mode. Whatsmore, in addition to D-Star, the CS7000 will also pack DMR.

I don’t think Connect Systems will have a working prototype at the Hamvention (I could be wrong), but there is a possibility that they will be taking early orders.

Elad

I’ve been intrigued by the Elad line of Software Defined Recievers. This year, they will attend the Dayton Hamvention. I look forward to checking out the new FDM-DUO tabletop SDR. I plan to review some of the Elad product line in the near future.

Palstar

Last year, Palstar showcased a prototype QRP transceiver with touch screen interface. To my knowledge, this would be Palstar’s first transceiver (though they’re well known for antenna tuners and their shortwave radio receiver, the R30A).

Last year, I was told that the new Palstar transceiver would be available this year and would retail between $1,600 – 2,000 US (a rather steep price for a transceiver with 20 watts output). One of the transceiver’s designers assured me that the receiver would “be worth the price.”

Bonito

I’ll stop by Bonito’s booth to check out their new AntennaJet ASM300. I’m curious how it works and what the Hamvention price will be.

Though pricing is a little steep, I might bring one home as I often would like to share one antenna with two receivers simultaneously.

Elecraft

The only new product I know of from Elecraft is the PX3 Panadapter for their Kx3 transceiver. Reviews of the larger P3 Panadapter for the Elecraft K3 are excellent, so I imagine this will be a great product. I hope to check out the PX3 at the Elecraft booth–I believe they’ll have a prototype on display.

SDRs

For the past three years, the market for software defined radios has been growing rapidly. I’ll be on the lookout for anything new–especially improvements on current 3rd generation SDRs.