Reports on Hack of HT Radios/ICOM Responds

by Dan Robinson

The explosions/detonations of HT radios targeting the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon continue to make headlines, with latest reports digging into the origins of the units and containing reaction from ICOM.  This story is one of those rare occasions when the radio manufacturing industry is thrust into the spotlight.

Reuters reported that:

“The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers may have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that’s not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say.”

The Reuters report also noted:

“For Icom, one problem is that it stopped making the IC-V82 model in question a decade ago, around the time it started introducing holographic stickers as a protection against counterfeit products, the company said. The company has long warned about imitation products, especially of its older models. In fact, more than 7% of firms in Japan reported business losses from counterfeit products in 2020, according to the latest available report by the Japan Patent Office, with around a third of cases linked to China. Icom has urged that customers only use its official distributor network to ensure they are buying genuine products.”

This earlier Reuters report was published in The Jerusalem Post.

Other reports were by Kyodo (see: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/09/9d7c5ea04e62-exploding-walkie-talkies-in-lebanon-may-be-product-of-japanese-firm.html, Bloomberg (appearing on the TIME website (https://time.com/7022598/lebanon-walkie-talkies-explosion-japan-icom/) and BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz04m913m49o).

Another report, which quotes Ray Novak, ICOM U.S. representative, appeared in The Washington Post.   It said ICOM was “[investigating the allegations, but early signs pointed to the walkie-talkies being counterfeit]”.  ICOM had issued three statements on its website as of mid-September 20th.

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Music from all over the map

FastRadioBurst 23 here with news of what the Imaginary Stations crew are up to. This Sunday coming on 22nd September 2024 there’s another episode of Skybird Radio International via the services of Shortwave Gold.

The show which features an across the board selection from around this musical globe of ours will be broadcast at 0900/1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then at 2000 UTC on 6160 kHz and 3975 kHz. Expect all sorts in a international musical mix up including the above musical gem.

Next Wednesday 25th September 2024 at 0200 UTC on 9395 kHz  via WRMI there’s an episode of Radio Ace. If you love all things radio-related you’ll Radio Ace!

We now have a Patreon page for our regular listeners here. Monthly memberships are available for exclusive audio and zines.

For more information on all our shows, please send  to [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and recording of CGTN/China Radio International (September 15, 2024)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a recent CGTN/CRI broadcast.


Carlos notes:

Part of CGTN Radio news bulletin about typhoon Bebinca approaching China. Listened via shortwave in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Click here to view on YouTube.

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Frank shares updates about the SWL Contest 2024 and 2025

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Frank SWL (F14368), who writes:

I’ve written three articles about the next contest project in January 2025, a list of our sponsors for 2024, and a list of listeners who worked this contest 2024. Check them out here:

https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/

Frank also shared the following banner for the 2025 contest:

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and recording of NHK (September 15, 2024)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a recent NHK broadcast.


Carlos notes:

Sounds like old news…but it’s not!

Part of NHK news bulletin about typhoon nr. 14 approaching Japan. Listened via shortwave in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Click here to view on YouTube.

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Clear Channel Stations: Dan’s gateway into the world of DXing

Many thanks to Dan Greenall, one of our dedicated Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributors, who shares the following guest post:


Clear channel BCB stations – My Introduction to the world of DXing

by Dan Greenall

Sometime in the mid 1960’s, I acquired a Japanese made AM only transistor radio similar to the one pictured.

I was entering my teenage years and living in southern Ontario, Canada in relative proximity to the U.S. border, and was immediately fascinated that I could receive American stations from places such as Buffalo and Rochester NY as well as Detroit MI with amazing clarity.

Before long, I discovered that signals from much further afield would begin to come through at dusk and throughout the night time hours. Although I was unaware at the time, many of these would be from so-called “clear channel” stations, those operating on frequencies with the highest level of protection from interference from other stations.

In addition, many of these stations ran a full 50 kw of power.  Signals from the Atlantic seaboard to the Midwest could often be heard at near local strength if I turned my radio to just the right angle.  At this point, I was beginning to learn about the directional properties of the built-in ferrite rod antenna.  It gave me great pleasure to be able to listen to their local ads, newscasts, or a far away sporting event from the comfort of my home.

I recall listening regularly to WOWO in Fort Wayne IN on 1190 for their play by play announcements of the Fort Wayne Komets hockey games.  Then there was a station identifying as WFAA in Dallas.  That was back when they shared 820 kHz with WBAP whose famous cowbell you can hear in one of the audio clips below.

By the end of 1969, a friend of mine had encouraged me to try shortwave, and I “borrowed” my parents Philips kitchen radio for a few months, but that is another story. I wonder how many others got “hooked” in this manner?

A few brief recordings of clear channel stations that I made in the early 1970’s are presented here. Many, but not all, of the stations heard in the last two links are from clear channel stations. Reception for these recordings was made using a Realistic DX150A or a Hallicrafters S-52 receiver hooked up to an outdoor long wire antenna.

KFI Circa 1971:

WOAI Circa 1973

KSTP Circa 1970s:

Vintage AM Radio Airchecks 1973:

Vintage AM Radio Airchecks 1973 Part 2:

As a sidebar, the National Radio Club has put out a number of books showing the daytime/nighttime directional antenna patterns of AM broadcasting stations in the USA and Canada.

I gave up my copy from 1973 a number of years ago, but you can find this one and others online. I found this very useful.

For example, it is easy to see why I was more likely to hear WBT Charlotte NC on 1110 kHz from my listening post in southern Ontario, Canada, rather than KFAB Omaha, NE.

The links below will take you to the 1973, 1975 and 2018 versions of these books.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/NRC_Logs/NRC-Pattern-Book-First-1973.pdf

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/NRC_Logs/NRC-Night-Pattern-Mapbook-2nd-1975.pdf

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/NRC_Logs/NRC-Pattern-Book-8th-2018.pdf

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The Asheville Radio Museum’s Vintage Radio Market, Saturday, September 14, 2024

If you happen to be in or near Asheville, North Carolina area this Saturday, I would encourage you to check out the Asheville Radio Museum’s Vintage Radio Market this weekend at AB Tech Community College.

Click here for full details and photos.

I’ve been a member of this wonderful museum for many years and volunteer for them as often as I can. We’ve just moved into a bigger area on the third floor of AB Tech’s Elm building and staff will be giving tours tomorrow morning as well.

In addition to the tailgate flea market, I helped prepare over 60 items that we’re selling in order to support the museum’s mission. We set the prices low so that we can clear our storage space for upcoming radio donations.

The SWLing Post has a very international readership, so I know only a small fraction of you may be able to check out the Vintage Radio Market, but since this museum is so near and dear to my heart, I just had to share details here! Thank for reading!

Cheers,

Thomas (K4SWL)

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