Category Archives: Videos

Bill tunes to WWFD in AM HD

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Mead, who writes:

Thomas, I’m sending you a short clip from WWFD 820 kHz in Frederick, MD. It’s America’s only all-digital station, apparently. They are HD only with a relatively eclectic music format. I’m hearing them at my QTH in Harrisburg, PA, about 80 miles or so north of their transmitter which is 4.3 Kw daytime. I sort of doubt they’ll come in at night when they drop down to 430 watts, but who knows.

My experience with HD on MW is that it can be heard at pretty decent distances under ideal conditions but the slightest bit of interference, a lightning strike or someone switching on the lights for example, and it’ll lose the HD lock.

My HD receiver is a Sony XDR-F1HD. It’s well-known as an excellent FM DX machine. What’s not as well-publicized is that it’s a very decent MW receiver as well. All it needs is a good MW loop antenna directly connected to the AM ANT terminals on the back of the radio.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Excellent!  Thanks for sharing, Bill. I’m passing by Frederick, MD in a couple of weeks and plan to tune to WWFD in both my car and with the Sangean HDR-14.

Aeronautical RDS: Ivan’s impressive collection of in-flight FM stations

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan Cholakov (NO2CW), who writes:

Last week I took an Eton Satellit with me on a flight from Tampa, Florida to Washington DC. The radio is very light, portable and packed with features. I have used an SDR radio before for inlight FM reception where I recorded audio, but this time I decided to only count stations with an RDS lock. With so many signals battling RDS is tricky to catch as every 10 seconds or so one station comes on top of another. The flight was just short of 2 hours and I divided my logs into three 30 minute segments. Not suprisingly looking into the technicalities I noticed RDS is commonly received from stations 50 -100 kW of power and tall towers.

Interestingly signals seem to be stronger a lower altitudes. My theory is that FM broadcast antennas heavily favor gain on the horizontal plane parallel to the terrain and send as little signal as possible out into space. I overlaid my logs onto three maps and also a video:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Impressive Ivan! I’m taking a flight later this month and might even try this with the FM radio built into my Moto G6 smart phone which also includes RDS (although I doubt reception can match that of the Satellit.

This is fascinating, Ivan! Thank you for sharing.

The story behind the recent Bouvet Island 3Y0Z DXpedition attempt

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(Source: Southgate ARC)

Bob, K4UEE, narrated an interesting PowerPoint presentation at both the recent DX Forum at the Dayton HamVention and the W5DXCC/HamCom.

This presentation includes a summary of the 3Y0Z DXpedition with stunning pictures, their Vessel vetting process, what they learned, planned refund of remaining funds, another attempt, and some personal observations of K4UEE.

Watch the Presentation:

TX Factor Episode 21

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(Source TX Factor)

Welcome to our latest episode!

We hope you like the new theme tune!

In this early summer episode we look at programming your DMR handie and running a SharkRF openSPOT digital radio IP gateway. We review the new Icom IC-7610 transceiver, and Mike visits Bob’s shack in Cornwall to learn more about operating through linear satellites.

In our free-to-enter draw, there’s a chance to win two great amateur radio-related items. How about a Prism protective dust cover for your rig and a copy of Andrew Barron ZL3DW’s bookAmsats and Hamsats? Click here!

Click here to view Episode 21 on TX Factor’s website, or click here to watch on YouTube.

Thanks team for yet another excellent and informative episode, TX Factor!

Thomas (N1SPY): How to chase Cubesats with an RTL-SDR dongle and some wire

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Many thanks to Ivan (NO2CW) who writes:

Thomas, N1SPY used equipment worth $25 to chase mini satellites. Includes instructions for making a simple circularly polarized antenna. Did it work? Check for yourself!

Click here to view on YouTube.

Thanks, Ivan, for passing along another excellent project by Thomas (N1SPY). I love how simple this project is to put together and the fact that most SWLing Post readers, for example, likely have all of the components already! Great job, Thomas!

Click here to check out other projects by N1SPY.

Dean records Voice of Korea’s Panmunjon Summit coverage

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Front page of the North Korean newspaper “Rodong” on April 28, 2018. (Source: Mark Fahey)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dean Denton–our intrepid 13 year old DXer. Dean writes:

How are you doing? I have found a recording on the archives of a recent North Korean recording of the Voice of Korea on the Panmunjon Summit, between both North and South Korean leaders.

Not only am I pleased with the news, but I have uploaded the full 1 hour recording of the English broadcast on my YouTube Channel:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Click here to check out Dean’s YouTube channel.

Great job snagging this particular VOK recording! You’re following a long tradition of SWLs before you who’ve made an effort to capture these fascinating bits of radio history. Keep up the great work, Dean!