Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy, who writes:
Because I [purchased a RT-470L last year], Radtel sent me news of their brand new RT-860. No need to mod the radio like a Quangsheng. It does LW/MW/SW with SSB/CW (rx only, of course) out of the box for less than $50! I just posted a short preliminary review of the RT-860 on YouTube:
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.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Giuseppe Morlè, who shares the following guest post:
Dear Thomas and Friends of SWLing Post,
I am Giuseppe Morlè from Formia, a town in central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
I have built a new “Multiloop” antenna using a 40 cm diameter milk crate. The crate is very sturdy and shockproof, making it an excellent base for this project.
I wound three different loops on the crate:
1. A single shortwave coil
2. Two shortwave coils
3. Twelve medium-wave coils
The design includes a single coil placed between the two shortwave coils, which picks up the signal by induction and transfers it to the receiver via an RG58 cable.
The heart of this system is a 2,100 pF variable capacitor with sockets connected to the rotors. Inside the crate, I added another 18 cm diameter loop positioned just below the two main coils.
The ends of this small loop are attached with crocodile clips to the external ends of the rotor. This small loop allows me to exploit induction and, by turning the capacitor, access all decametric bands from 160 to 10 meters.
The variable capacitor enables tuning as follows:
This works because the small loop and capacitor couple inductively with the primary turns. By increasing capacity with cables on the rotors, the antenna can even tune up to 160 meters.
The medium-wave turns cover frequencies from 300 kHz to 1,900 kHz. Essentially, this Loop Milk Crate antenna can access a wide range from 300 kHz to 30 MHz.
I tested the antenna using the Tecsun PL-660 and the Tecsun S-8800 receivers. I also compared the Loop Milk Crate with my “Ferritona” antenna and found surprising results!
Some of the videos were filmed in my shack because it was too cold to work on the balcony. Other videos were shot outside, either on my balcony or on the beach in Formia.
I hope you enjoy my “crazy” constructions. Always remember, I’m not a technician—just a passionate listener who loves building with recycled materials.
Wishing everyone a year full of happiness and satisfaction!
Best wishes to all,
Giuseppe Morlè
By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
– Arthur C. Clarke
Shame on us: we take it for granted that someone can speak into a microphone miles away (perhaps thousands of miles), we can hear them, reply to them, share information and maybe even get someone some help.
It’s astonishing, but we accept it as commonplace. (Let me remind you: every time you fire up your mobile phone – smartphone or otherwise – you’re using a radio). And yet it has the potential for greatness.
I saw that greatness demonstrated by ham radio in the response to the devastation brought to Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee by Hurricane Helene. Torrential rains and high winds wiped out infrastructure – roads, bridges, dwellings, businesses, power lines, cell towers – isolating people and putting them in peril . . . and cutting off the affected areas off so thoroughly that people not far away had no idea how desperate conditions were. It was bad . . . really bad.
The morning after Helene ripped a hole in civilization in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina, Dan Mark K2DMG dropped his callsign on the Mount Mitchell repeater (which is fortuitously located on the highest peak in the Eastern United States, giving it enormous reach) and asked if anyone needed help . . . and that began a saga that will likely be studied as an example of radio emergency response for years to come. For hours and then days, Dan – who had never before been a net control – passed health and welfare messages, summoned help for people, and much, much more. Others listened to Dan’s radio traffic and used it to direct help to those who needed it and to find roads that were open.
In the heart of the affected area, Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL (SWLing Post’s Maximum Leader) also used ham radio to summon help for others and provide community communications.
But these few words do very poor service to what really happened. So I would heartily suggest, recommend, even implore you to listen to the following videos and podcast.
I think they will boost your appreciation of the potential of ham radio to do good. I know they inspired me.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Fred Waterer, who writes:
I just rediscovered this 9 year old video. It may be old news to you, I’m not sure.
An Icom display photobombs this Japanese music video, which up to that point I found, well, amusing on a number of levels.
LADYBABY Nippon manju Music Clip
Warning, you can’t “unsee” this video! 🙂 What a hoot! Thanks for sharing, Fred.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, André, who writes:
I have been following the SWLing Post for many years and really enjoy it. Like many DXers, I have a YouTube channel where I share my catches.
But I have something a bit different, that your readers might find interesting. It is an interview with a producer and presenter at an Ethiopian clandestine SW station, Voice of Fano.
I think it is interesting to hear from someone who is directly involved in a clandestine station, during a time of conflict, about their station. How they make programmes, the listeners, why they started the station, why shortwave, are they being jammed and more.
The station transmits from Issoudun, twice a week only, 15215 kHz. It can be heard on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 17:00 to 18:15 UTC. The WRTH listing has not been updated yet, they used to broadcast for 30 minutes only, but have increased this to 75 minutes. They have been transmitting for just over five months.
Kind regards,
André
Johannesburg, South Africa
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following video via Danilo Nonato. Please note that this video is in Portuguese. If needed, simply turn on Closed Captioning and have YouTube auto-translate the video into your language of choice. Enjoy: