Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

A simple upgrade for your Ten-Tec Model 1254 shortwave receiver

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In the video below, Alan (W2AEW), shows us the installation and basic operation of an upgraded micro-controller for the Ten Tec Model 1254 Superhet Receiver Kit.

As Alan points out in the video, this is one of two upgrades offered at Cholakian.com. Both upgrades enhance the operation and usability of the Model 1254, giving it many more choices of tuning steps (yes!), the ability to automatically turn off the LED display, more memories and allowing you to eliminate the 9V battery back-up. This basic upgrade costs $38, the premium upgrade costs $68 even allows you to control the receiver via your PC.

Thanks, Alan, for showing us just how simple this upgrade is to perform:

You can see more of Alan’s projects at his website.

RNW: Antenna repairs under way in Madagascar

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(photo: RNW)

RNW Madagascar was hit by a tropical cyclone last week and incurred heavy damage. I’m very happy to read the report below that antenna repairs are under way:

(Source: RNW Media Network)

We have received some more photos from our colleagues in Madagascar, showing the damage to the antennas caused last week by Tropical Cyclone Giovanna, and repairs under way. The first photo shows the satellite dish that was used to receive BVN TV and the RNW audio channels from the satellite. The broken dish has been replaced by a backup. Damage to several of the antennas was similar to the one in the second photo. One has already been repaired. The third photo shows some repairs taking place on the ground to the feeder of the log periodic antenna.

Could the DR111 DRM Radio be the portable we’ve been waiting for?

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The DR111 DRM Radio (Photo: Chengdu NewStar Electronics)

One of the reasons DRM (Digital Radio Mondial) has struggled to gain global popularity is that there has yet to be a portable radio solution with universal appeal.

Perhaps the future Chengdu NewStar Electronics DR111 DRM Radio will change that? According to their website, the company is certainly setting out to make an affordable receiver that is simple to operate. Hopefully, CDNSE has learned from this radio’s predecessor; ergonomics, affordability and overall ability to receive and decode DRM signals are the keys to its success.

We have added the DR111 to our Shortwave Radio Index. Check back as we will post updates.

ShortWaveMusic offers one-day music download in honor of World Radio Day

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Our friend, Myke, over at the ShortWaveMusic blog has a very special World Radio Day gift:

As the preeminent blog dedicated to preserving and disseminating indigenous sound and music as heard via international radio, ShortWaveMusic is observing World Radio Day with a special, one-day-only offer: a download of the 5-CD retrospective box set, The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: ShortWaveMusic 2005-2010. This box set was compiled in 2011 for release on a prominent independent record label, but has since stalled at the gate for various reasons. As a result, I’ve decided to give it away on the occasion of World Radio Day – perhaps no more fitting time to compel others to enjoy the vast and kaleidoscopic array of music available via shortwave radio.[…]

What are you waiting for? Go to ShortWaveMusic and get your free download–bookmark the site, too, as Myke offers some incredible recordings and journals of his audio/radio expeditions. (This is not the first time we’ve mentioned Myke’s work on the SWLing Post.)

Thanks, Myke, and happy World Radio Day!

Today is World Radio Day: Support a Cause via Shortwave Radio

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Shortwave Radio Listeners may occasionally feel that their hobby is a passive one–one of simply listening. I’m here to tell you that it is not.

SWLers are among the more enlightened of media hobbyists, and here’s why: 1) they tend to be intensely curious about the world, 2) they tend to cultivate a nostalgic appreciation of the past, of the world’s history and what it teaches, and 3) as a result, they understand the power that radio still holds for much of our world today, especially those the not-so-world-wide internet has forgotten or overlooked, and those that political strife oppresses.

This World Radio Day, you can change that false label of “passive” to active, and create change by contributing to a charity near and dear to my heart–Ears To Our World (ETOW).

ETOW is a shortwave radio charity that sends self-powered shortwave radios to schools and communities in third world countries.  This is because ETOW believes that access to information is access to education.

In other words, every day is World Radio Day at ETOW.

Children in South Sudan listening to music on their self-powered shortwave radio supplied by Ears To Our World.

Click here to donate to Ears To Our World, and make World Radio Day a lasting reality for needy schools throughout our world.

Happy World Radio Day!  To quote ETOW’s tagline:  Listen and learn.

More power to you, SWLers.

RNW: radio = free access without app or web

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Brilliant article from Radio Netherlands Worldwide.  Hat tip to SWLing Post reader Mike Taniwha!

(Source: RNW)

On World Radio Day, 13 February 2012, UNESCO will remind the world that there is a medium which reaches parts that other media can’t reach.

Radio is still a vital form of communication because a radio station can be set up much faster, and at much lower cost, than a terrestrial or satellite TV station. Radio is especially useful for reaching remote communities and vulnerable people such as the illiterate, the disabled and the poor. It also provides a platform for such groups to take part in the wider public debate.

Radio also plays a vital role in emergency communication and disaster relief, which was illustrated following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. RNW was able to help several partner stations in Indonesia by sending out “radio stations in a box” – self-contained mobile FM stations providing a temporary studio and transmitter ready to be used by broadcasters whose own facilities had been destroyed.[continue reading…]

Thanks, RNW, for reminding us why radio is the the most effective information medium. Read the full article at Radio Netherlands Worldwide.