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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Steckler, who writes:
Hi Thomas,
A few weeks ago, I watched the movie “Bullitt”, starring Steve
McQueen, and shot on-location in San Francisco. The centerpiece of
that movie was a thrilling car chase through San Francisco; McQueen
did a lot of the driving himself. The director was Peter Yates, who is
English. He went on to direct “Breaking Away”, every cyclist’s
favorite movie.
Yates had directed an earlier movie, “Robbery”, a fictionalized
account of the Great Train Robbery of 1963. I purchased the DVD, and
watched that one tonight. That movie also featured a harrowing car
chase, this time through London. After robbing the train, the crooks
hole up in the basement of an abandoned building on a Royal Air Force
airfield. To keep tabs on the cops, they’re monitoring the airwaves
with what appears to be a Lafayette HE-30.
I’ve attached a screenshot of the scene which shows the radio most
prominently (sorry, it’s a little fuzzy).
The Zenith is seen sitting between an elderly German couple who were helping to hide a Jewish family from the Nazis.
Hunters is an excellent, if sometimes hard to watch, series which brought Pacino back to TV. The scenes with the Zenith radio were almost as long as the one in Last of Us containing the Grundig 700.
What a gorgeous Zenith, Dan. Thank you for sharing this and your notes about Hunters.
The new year was bittersweet for many Bengali radio fans this year, as listeners learned that BBC Bangla Radio would stop airing on December 31, 2022, after an 81-year run. In the years leading up to its closure, two sets of half-hour programs were aired each day on shortwave and FM bands in the morning and evening. The webpage was archived as soon as the night programs finished on the last day, closing the chapter on the iconic British Broadcasting Channel segment.
In an effort to cut spending and follow media trends, BBC World Service will be pivoting toward increased digital offerings, leading them to shut down radio-wave broadcasts in several international languages. BBC Bangla will continue as a digital-only multimedia channel in a limited capacity.
Bangla (Bengali) is the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. Spoken by approximately 261 million worldwide, it is the primary language in the region of Bengal, comprising Bangladesh (61 percent of speakers) and the Indian state of West Bengal (37 percent of speakers). [Continue reading…]
A trove of more than 150 such QSL cards, formerly owned by an operator who went by the call sign W2RP, was obtained by designer Roger Bova. Bova then collaborated with the book imprint Standards Manual (full disclosure: I’ve done some work with the publisher’s parent company, the design firm Order) to collect them into a handsome volume. I’m reprinting some of the images here, with the publisher’s permission.
W2RP, as it turns out, was no ordinary “amateur.” W2RP was the late Charles Hellman, who lived to the age of 106. The cards obtained by Bova are both a visual map and a physical manifestation of the numerous conversations he participated in over what is said to have likely been the longest continuously active ham license, more than 90 years. Hellman first obtained his license at the age of 15. Some historical context: he was born in 1910, one year after the Nobel Prize in Physics went to Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun for their pioneering work in radio. Hellman himself taught physics in Manhattan and the Bronx, and two of his students reportedly went on to win the Nobel in physics. (More on his remarkable life at qcwa.org.) [Continue reading…]
‘It would be the understatement of the year to say there were a lot of radios and radio-related paraphernalia’ at Chevy Halladay’s Orillia home
As I crossed the porch toward the side door of Chevy Halladay’s century home near Orillia, I had no idea what to expect. The door opened before I could knock, Chevy extended his arm to shake hands, and welcomed me into his home.
To my right was a small closet where I could hang my coat. I missed the hook, sending the coat to the floor. I was much too distracted to waste another second on hanging it neatly. To my left was a huge, free-standing mid-50s radio and TV tube testing machine stacked high with rare tubes, a six-foot-tall floor clock and radio with a built-in turntable, and a vintage Coca Cola vending machine. Each piece had been carefully restored for appearance and functionality.
A single step further into the room brought Chevy’s, and his wife Maggie’s, kitchen counter into view. Atop it were two partially restored radios, one a jumble of dusty tubes and a speaker early into the process, the other a spectacular and rare wood-cased Stromberg-Carlson, being prepared for final refinishing before being shipped to a friend in Bethesda, Maryland.
Don’t misunderstand. This was no hoarder’s enclave or home transformed into a ramshackle workshop. Their house is immaculate, and Maggie is on-side with Chevy’s mono-themed interior decorating style, yet it would be the understatement of the year to say there were a lot of radios and radio-related paraphernalia everywhere.
There was not an inch of wall that wasn’t shelved to display countless historic radios, or covered with hanging wall clocks that were used as promotional items by radio companies, steel promotional signs, framed advertising posters, or other memorabilia. [Continue reading…]
Between 1970 and 1991 a woman, never named and with a sonorous antipodean accent, could be heard broadcasting some of the most extraordinary communist propaganda ever heard amongst the radio stations of the former socialist countries.
Radio Tirana broadcast from Albania – at one time Europe’s most secretive and closed country.
The transmissions were the source of enormous fascination for one 13 year old boy who listened to the programmes at bath time, with increasing amazement.
53 year old journalist John Escolme was that 13 year old.
We join his journey to track down the mystery broadcaster who not only recalls her life on-air, but her own extraordinary personal story – one that took her from remote New Zealand to an eccentric Stalinist regime rarely visited by anyone from the west. [Click here for original article.]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Balázs Kovács, who writes:
Hi Thomas,
Happy New Year! Some pictures in two topics:
1.) First, a nice Zenith H511 Consoltone (MW) got a few seconds of screen time recently in the fourth episode of the third (final) season of “His Dark Materials” series:
2.) At the end of December in an old pub in Budapest (Helvecia) I ran into some more or less old radios as a part of the eclectic decoration. Since these are partly Eastern European, they may be less well known elsewhere (deep in the basement, so even if they were still functioning, not many radio signals would reach them anymore):
With best regards,
Balazs
Wow! I love those pub radios! I especially love the dial markings on the R 926 A!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following post:
Japan Buyee Site Halts Shipment of Amateur Equipment
by Dan Robinson
As readers of SWLing.com know, the Buyee website has provided a way for those who view it to see and purchase a range of equipment including premium receivers and items previously unseen on the global used market.
I discovered Buyee a few years ago and have used it to acquire some truly exotic communications receivers, along with rarely-seen shortwave antennas, spare parts for some of the most sought after JRC and other receivers, and other things.
Using the Buyee site required nothing more than establishing an account linked to a funding source. The site has a translation function that translates Japanese descriptions to English and other languages.
So, I was puzzled a few weeks ago when I noticed that many if not all items under my one of my primary search parameters (RECEIVERS, under AMATEUR RADIOS) began showing the following notice: “You cannot bid on because it contains a prohibited item.”
An example from the Receiver sub-category of Amateur Radio
This notice appears now on every single item on this search, ranging from classic older receivers such as a Yaesu FRG-7700, to an ICOM IC-R8600 or rare old JRC or Anritsu receivers. A JRC NRD-515 receiver listed as of the time of this writing is also on the banned list.
I sent a note into the Buyee system inquiring why this sudden block on bidding was imposed. The response I got was polite, asking me to “provide us with the item link and screenshot of the error you have encountered so that we can check and assist you accordingly and avoid misinformation and mistakes.”
Buyee responded to another followup, after I provided them with a screenshot of the banning statement, as follows:
“We understand the importance of this matter to you. In response to your concern about not being able to bid on the item . . .we apologize because amateur radios and other related items are prohibited from being shipped internationally. Please refer to the below link(s) https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/anpo/englishpage.html and https://buyee.jp/help/yahoo/guide/prohibited. Thank you for your understanding.”
When I inquired yet another time, Buyee responded: “Regarding your concern, please be informed that we cannot ship transceiver-related items internationally anymore in the future in accordance with Japanese laws and regulations for exporting this kind of item. You are able to provide the link below to the user and ask them to confirm more details” and provided the same URL.
Following the first URL takes one to a Japan Export Control web page which states:
“The Security Export Control in Japan is implemented for the purpose of enabling proper development of foreign trade, and maintaining peace and safety in Japan as well as in the international community by exercising the minimum necessary control based on the FEFTA (Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act) under international export control regimes.”
And a pdf on that page takes one to a document containing a long list of prohibited end users with a fairly recent review date listed of November 2022. The list contains no fewer than 670 prohibited end users, located in Afghanistan, the UAE, the Republic of Yemen, Israel, Iran, India, Egypt, North Korea, Syria, China, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Lebanon, and the Russian Federation.
Wow. Why a blanket ban would be placed on export of amateur radio equipment from Japan and/or Japan sellers is puzzling. Items I have purchased included TEN-TEC receivers, a Drake SPR-4, two Anritsu receivers, several rare Japan Radio Company items, and some spare parts for Harris RF-590 receivers, along with other items.
Based on my reading of descriptions, items were sold by Japanese amateur operators, or longtime shortwave enthusiasts in Japan, or by shops specializing in used equipment in various locations in Japan.
Caught up in this blanket ban are such things as VHF/UHF Talkies, Tecsun receivers, an XHDATA D-808, R-390/A receivers, a Collins 75-A4, and a AOR 3030 and various SONY shortwave antennas such as AN-1 and other models, along with Kenwood RZ-1s and a Yaesu FRG-965.
This is indeed a strange development, and I have sent an additional inquiry to the Buyee site, the outcome of which I will update readers on. If this truly marks the end of the ability of overseas buyers to access the Japan used market, it will be a sad day.
Update–The following is the latest message received by Buyee Customer Service:
Dear Customer,
This is the Buyee Customer Support. Please kindly understand that there is a part of items which have been restricted by Japanese laws and regulations (export trade management ordinances) (originally cannot be exported without the permission of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), are unable to export out from Japan.
We are afraid amateur radio-related items are restricted by export and trade management, and if shipping these items out to Japan may cause our service been restricted and ban by the law, we are afraid we are unable to take such risk thus we have stop our proxy purchase service for these items. (*What are the items that are restricted by export and trade management? Weapons related, items and technologies which may possible use for military purpose, which may threaten the safety of Japan and other countries, these kinds of item will be restricted by the law.)
We apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions or concerns.
Whether it’s World of Warcraft, Uncharted or the upcoming Super Mario movie – games characters have been all over our cinemas in recent years.
The Last of Us is coming to television screens, where shows based on Resident Evil and Halo have found audiences.
Now, BBC Radio 4 is getting in on the act.
Sam Fisher, leading man from the Splinter Cell game series, can call the radio station home, thanks to a first-of-its-kind adaptation that producers say no-one had thought possible.
Radio 1 film critic Ali Plumb says that with so much competition for audiences these days it’s no surprise that commissioners are giving the green-light to projects with a “built-in audience”.
He argues that we live in a world that is dominated by content: “From podcasts to music, TV, movies, games and audiobooks – frankly its tricky for anyone to cut through the noise.
“The art of finding intellectual property, using the built-in fan base of that property and engaging with them in something you want to say about the world is the trick that many creative people are trying to do.”
Splinter Cell: Firewall is an eight part dramatisation of a novel based on the famous video game franchise. Sam Fisher, the series’ main protagonist, is a covert special agent who excels at sneaking around military bases at night, silently killing terrorist guards and generally saving the world.
Bringing the gaming revolution to audio drama makes perfect sense to actor Andonis Anthony, who plays Sam in the Radio 4 drama, which is also available on BBC Sounds. He argues that with more people turning to “non-music audio”, it’s a good time for BBC radio to tell stories that offer a “cinematic experience”.
“Given the rise in podcasts, and audiobooks being so popular – more and more people are getting used to listening to audio as a story experience. Everyone’s going out and about with their air pods on these days and listening in a different way to before.” [Continue reading…]
Software-defined radio is all the rage these days, and for good reason. It eliminates or drastically reduces the amount of otherwise pricey equipment needed to transmit or even just receive, and can pack many more features than most affordable radio setups otherwise would have. It also makes it possible to go mobile much more easily. [Rostislav Persion] uses a laptop for on-the-go SDR activities, and designed this 3D printed antenna mount to make his radio adventures much easier.
The antenna mount is a small 3D printed enclosure for his NESDR Smart Dongle with a wide base to attach to the back of his laptop lid with Velcro so it can easily be removed or attached. This allows him to run a single USB cable to the dongle and have it oriented properly for maximum antenna effectiveness without something cumbersome like a dedicated antenna stand. [Rostislav] even modeled the entire assembly so that he could run a stress analysis on it, and from that data ended up filling it with epoxy to ensure maximum lifespan with minimal wear on the components. [Continue reading…]
An experiment to bounce a radio signal off an asteroid on Dec. 27 will serve as a test for probing a larger asteroid that in 2029 will pass closer to Earth than the many geostationary satellites that orbit our planet.
The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program research site in Gakona will transmit radio signals to asteroid 2010 XC15, which could be about 500 feet across. The University of New Mexico Long Wavelength Array near Socorro, New Mexico, and the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array near Bishop, California, will receive the signal.
This will be the first use of HAARP to probe an asteroid.
“What’s new and what we are trying to do is probe asteroid interiors with long wavelength radars and radio telescopes from the ground,” said Mark Haynes, lead investigator on the project and a radar systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Longer wavelengths can penetrate the interior of an object much better than the radio wavelengths used for communication.”
Knowing more about an asteroid’s interior, especially of an asteroid large enough to cause major damage on Earth, is important for determining how to defend against it.
“If you know the distribution of mass, you can make an impactor more effective, because you’ll know where to hit the asteroid a little better,” Haynes said.
Many programs exist to quickly detect asteroids, determine their orbit and shape and image their surface, either with optical telescopes or the planetary radar of the Deep Space Network, NASA’s network of large and highly senstive radio antennas in California, Spain and Australia.
Those radar-imaging programs use signals of short wavelengths, which bounce off the surface and provide high-quality external images but don’t penetrate an object.
HAARP will transmit a continually chirping signal to asteroid 2010 XC15 at slightly above and below 9.6 megahertz (9.6 million times per second). The chirp will repeat at two-second intervals. Distance will be a challenge, Haynes said, because the asteroid will be twice as far from Earth as the moon is.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks operates HAARP under an agreement with the Air Force, which developed and owned HAARP but transferred the research instruments to UAF in August 2015.
The test on 2010 XC15 is yet another step toward the globally anticipated 2029 encounter with asteroid Apophis. It follows tests in January and October in which the moon was the target of a HAARP signal bounce.
Apophis was discovered in 2004 and will make its closest approach to Earth on April 13, 2029, when it comes within 20,000 miles. Geostationary satellites orbit Earth at about 23,000 miles. The asteroid, which NASA estimated to be about 1,100 feet across, was initially thought to pose a risk to Earth in 2068, but its orbit has since been better projected by researchers.
The test on 2010 XC15 and the 2029 Apophis encounter are of general interest to scientists who study near-Earth objects. But planetary defense is also a key research driver.
“The more time there is before a potential impact, the more options there are to try to deflect it,” Haynes said.
NASA says an automobile-sized asteroid hits Earth’s atmosphere about once a year, creating a fireball and burning up before reaching the surface.
About every 2,000 years a meteoroid the size of a football field hits Earth. Those can cause a lot of damage. And as for wiping out civilization, NASA says an object large enough to do that strikes the planet once every few million years.
NASA first successfully redirected an asteroid on Sept. 26, when its Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission, or DART, collided with Dimorphos. That asteroid is an orbiting moonlet of the larger Didymos asteroid.
The DART collision altered the moonlet’s orbit time by 32 minutes.
The Dec. 27 test could reveal great potential for the use of asteroid sensing by long wavelength radio signals. Approximately 80 known near-Earth asteroids passed between the moon and Earth in 2019, most of them small and discovered near closest approach.
“If we can get the ground-based systems up and running, then that will give us a lot of chances to try to do interior sensing of these objects,” Haynes said.
The National Science Foundation is funding the work through its award to the Geophysical Institute for establishing the Subauroral Geophysical Observatory for Space Physics and Radio Science in Gakona
“HAARP is excited to partner with NASA and JPL to advance our knowledge of near-Earth objects,” said Jessica Matthews, HAARP’s program manager.
Update: This broadcast has been cancelled due to several of the SAQ staff contracting Covid-19. Click here for more information. Many thanks to Grant for the tip.
On Christmas Eve morning, Saturday December 24th 2022, SAQ Grimeton is scheduled* to be on the air, to send out the traditional Christmas message to the whole world, using the 200kW Alexanderson alternator from 1924, on 17.2 kHz CW.
Program and transmission schedule:
08:00 CET (07:00 UTC: The transmitter hall at World Heritage Grimeton is opened for visitors.
Transmission & YouTube Live stream:
08:25 CET (07:25 UTC): Live stream on YouTube begins.
08:30 CET (07:30 UTC): Startup and tuning of the Alexanderson Alternator SAQ.
09:00 CET (08:00 UTC): Transmission of a message from SAQ.
Test transmissions
We are planning to carry our some test transmissions on December 23rd, approximately between 13:00 CET (12:00 UTC) and 16:00 CET (15:00 UTC). SAQ will be on the air shorter periods of time during this interval, when we will be carrying out some tests and measurements. Your comments are welcome to [email protected].
Live Video from World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station
The event can be seen live on our YouTube Channel or by following the link below.
QSL Reports to SAQ
QSL reports to SAQ are most welcome and appreciated!
For guaranteed E-QSL from us, please report using our ONLINE QSL FORM.
We can not guarantee that reports by Email / mail / bureau will be confirmed.
The online form will be open from December 24th, 2022 until January 13th, 2023.
Amateur Radio Station SK6SAQ
The Amateur Radio Station with the call “SK6SAQ” will be QRV on the following frequencies:
– 3.535 kHz CW
– 7.035 kHz CW
– 14.035 KHz CW
– 3.755 kHz SSB
– 7.140 kHz SSB
QSL-reports to SK6SAQ (NOT SAQ) are kindly received via:
– Email to [email protected]
– or via: SM bureau
– or direct by postal mail (link to address here)Two stations will be on the air most of the time.
Visiting World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station
Visitors are most welcome to World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station on Christmas morning, Dec 24th. The doors to the transmitter hall will open at 08:00 CET. The entrance is free of charge and we will offer free coffee with Christmas buns and ginger snaps.
Support us to keep SAQ in running condition!
We welcome you as a member of the Alexander Grimeton Friendship Association, to support our non-profit activities in preserving, documenting and bringing to life the unique Alexanderson alternator from 1924.
As a member You get a 10% discount on World Heritage Grimeton’s entry, shop and activities, and free admission to Alexander’s evening displays and to the Alexanderson Day, upon presentation of your membership card. Four times per year, you will receive our online magazine “Alternatorn”, exclusively available only to our members.
NEW!: As member you will gain access to our online library with many unique, historical documents, related to the Alexanderson alternator.
Alexander members also have free admission to the Radio Museum in Gothenburg.
Membership costs SEK 125 / year (approx. EUR 12.-).
Spread the radio love
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Steckler, who writes:
