Pavel’s Belka photos and poster

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pavel, who shares the following message and images. Note that this message was originally sent to me prior to Christmas, but never arrived in my inbox. Thank you, Pavel, for the follow-up:

Hi Thomas,

First of all, I wish you and your entire family and all blog readers a wonderful rest of the Christmas holidays, all the best for the new year 2023, lots of health and well-being and many beautiful moments listening to the radio.

Some time ago I became the owner of the last type of Belky. I’m excited about her. So I immediately made an advertising poster with my wife and Belka :-).

I made a small docking station for the Belka – it has a built-in stereo amplifier, speakers and a battery with a charging circuit and a Dc-Dc converter for emergency charging of the Belka in the field. The status of the battery is indicated by LEDs. The Belka holder itself is made on a 3D printer.

Maybe it can serve as inspiration for blog readers.

Hi

Pavel Kraus

Thank you for sharing this, Pavel. We all love both your creativity not only in your photos, but the amazing radios you produce. We love how you use your wife as your model in your work!

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More adventures in the shortwave library

Fastradioburst23 here to let you know of the return of the Shortwave Music Library this Sunday 5th February 2023 via WRMI at 2300 hrs UTC on 9395 kHz. This week we delve into the library shelves for some pop music remixes and a few instrumental jazz pieces – perfect for a relaxed evening. Tune in!

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Radio Tamazul and Radio Dabanga broadcast coordination?

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jeff (KJ7LTU), who writes:

Thomas,

I was wondering if you, or your readers, know if Radio Tamazuj and Radio Dabanga are coordinating their broadcasting efforts? This last Sunday I picked up their transmission on 15550 kHz. Radio Tamazul signs off at 15:57 UTC and Radio Dabanga signs on at 15:59 UTC.

Some quick research indicates that this is the intended broadcast schedule. The times, and shared frequencies, seem to allude to a joint effort. Other than these are both Sudanese broadcasters, I can’t seem to find any additional evidence to support this. Wondering if you might be willing to put this out there to see if anyone has any information to satisfy my curiosity.

Here’s a link to the transmission for reference: Radio Tamazuj & Radio Dabanga

Again, appreciate your many contributions to our listening community!

Best Regards,

Jeff Cooper
KJ7LTU

Thank you, Jeff!

Readers: Please feel free to comment with any insight!

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Frans add a Decca manual antenna tuner to his urban listening post

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Frans Goddijn, who writes:

Hi Thomas:

I bought a vintage antenna tuner, one that does not need a power source, very basic just a box with some beautiful coils and nice big variable capacitors and it works for the big magnetic loop antenna here.

I have four GRAHN loop antennas which each have their box with dials to fine tune the signal but the big loop didn’t have that yet.

The tuner works well, filters out some noise but I must say the iCOM radio also managed to select good signal from the loop with its own tuner system and the DSP noise filter at the speaker end of the system further clears up the voice sounds.

Video:

Best regards,

Frans

The internals of manual antenna tuners are simply hypnotizing, aren’t they? You’ve a beautifully-built tuner there that is functional and will outlive us all!

Thank you for sharing!

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Radio Waves: Absolute Radio’s Switch-Off, Pirate Database, Little Pea Island, Zero Power Transmitting, and is AM Radio Dead?

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura, JP, NT, and Paul for the following tips:


Hear Absolute Radio’s 200KW Transmitter Switch Off Forever (YouTube)

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Saturday morning fun: “fat” MW DXing with the MFJ-1886

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

It was a reader, Mario Filippi, who set me on this path. He posted a comment that said, in part: “An interesting place to DX would be the segment between 1500 – 1590 kc’s where there are a number of news stations, one being federal news on 1500.”

Huh, I thought, federal news? I wonder if I can hear that. So I hooked up the MFJ 1886 Receive Loop Antenna to my Grundig Satellit 800 receiver and tuned to 1500. With the 800’s whip antenna, I heard mostly static; switching to the 50-foot indoor room loop, pretty much the same; same thing with the 1886 with the amplifier turned off. But turn the 1886’s amplifier on, and it was like getting slammed against the wall by the schoolyard bully: LISTEN TO ME! A big, fat, S9 signal, sounding like WGY 810 just a few miles from me. Wow, I thought, this loop can really pull out a signal.

A little research revealed, as nearly as I can tell, that Federal News 1500 is in Washington, DC, over 300 miles from me. Over the next few days I would occasionally check on Federal News 1500 using the 1886 loop, and typically it was loud and clear here in Troy, NY.

Hidden behind a curtain, the 3-foot aluminum loop of the MFJ 1886 works well for MW DXing.

Early this morning, Jan. 28, 2023, a thought crept into my brain: how many big, fat, MW signals could I detect with the combo of the Satellite 800 and the MFJ 1886 loop antenna? (Bear in mind that my 1886 rests flat against a window and is NOT rotatable in its current configuration.) Here’s the log, with station IDs when I could get them.

Time                Frequency                   Station

1100Z              1520                            WWKB Buffalo

1102Z              1530                            Milwaukee? Sports, Australian open

1106Z              1540                            CHIN Toronto, old time radio programs

1112Z              1560                            religious music

1115Z              1660                            orchestral music, Strauss waltzes

1118Z              540                              middle eastern music

1121Z              660                              WFAN, NYC

1124Z              700                              WLW, Cincinnati

1127Z              710                              WOR, the Voice of New York

1129Z              730                              French language, Canada mentioned

1132Z              750                              WSB, Atlanta

1134Z              770                              WABC, NYC

1135Z              790                              ortho doctor show

1138Z              860                              French language, Canada mentioned

1140Z              880                              WCBS, NYC

1142Z              1010                            WINS, NYC

1144Z              1020                            Talk

1146Z              1030                            WBZ, Boston

1148Z              1050                            WEPN, ESPN radio, New York

1149Z              1060                            KYW, Philadelphia, PA

1153Z              1090                            WBAL, Baltimore

1154Z              1110                            WBT Charlotte, NC

Bottom line: it was immense fun, tuning around for “fat” MW stations in the early AM. Periodically I checked the other antennas as I traversed the band, but universally the MFJ 1886 was better at pulling them in.

Fat station DX? You bet! Try it; you’ll like it!

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Don Moore’s Photo Album: Cuenca, Ecuador (Part One)

Cuenca Cathedral

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Don Moore–noted author, traveler, and DXer–for the latest installment of his Photo Album guest post series:


Don Moore’s Photo Album: Cuenca, Ecuador (Part One)

by Don Moore

For me travel is all about seeing new places and having new experiences. When I retired in 2017 my plan was to spend the next fifteen years visiting new countries and new places in countries I already knew. Is that a viable goal? Three years ago while crossing the border from Ecuador to Colombia I shared a taxi with Dutch man who, like me, was traveling overland by bus with just a knapsack and a suitcase. And two weeks earlier he had celebrated his eightieth birthday. I don’t remember his name but he’s my hero.

The pandemic put a pause on travel but I’m happy to be back on the road. I’m currently in Ecuador, the country where I’ve spent more time than anywhere except the United States and Honduras. After landing in Quito at the beginning of December I visited four provinces I hadn’t been to before, including spending three nights at the bohemian beach town of Montañita where I had some good DX. I like seeing new places but there is also something to be said for returning to a familiar place that holds a special meaning. For me that place is where I am now – Cuenca, Ecuador.

My ex-wife and I finished our Peace Corps service in 1984, flew home to get married, and then in January 1985 flew to Quito, Ecuador to begin a long journey that would take us overland all the way to Buenos Aires and back. On our way to Peru in late February we stopped for a few days in Cuenca and fell in love with the little city. We visited Cuenca again in July at the end of our travels. When we left I knew we would be back but I never could have imagined the circumstances that would lead to that next visit. In 1997 we returned with our seven-year-old daughter to adopt a six-year-old son. We spent almost three weeks in Cuenca doing all the required paperwork but we had no complaints as we enjoyed being there so much. I clearly remember sitting in a park one day and commenting that Cuenca would be a perfect place to retire in someday. I was only ten years ahead of my time.

La Voz del Río Tarqui

Cuenca was home to several shortwave broadcasters over the decades but La Voz del Río Tarqui was probably the best known to my generation of DXers. The station was founded in 1960 by Manuel Pulla but didn’t begin its shortwave service on 3285 kHz until 1982. My loggings of the station run from July 1982 through 1997 but I believe they were on shortwave for a few more years after that. (Don’t confuse La Voz del Río Tarqui with Radio Tarqui, a sometimes broadcaster from Quito on 4970 kHz.)

La Voz del Río Tarqui in 1985. The facilities inside were no more impressive than the outside of the building was.

La Voz del Río Tarqui takes its name from the famous Battle of the River Tarqui. After the new countries of South America gained their independence from Spain there was often disagreement over just where the boundaries were that they had inherited from Spanish rule. Ecuador was in a union with present-day Colombia and Venezuela until 1830 and during this time Peru claimed much of present-day southern Ecuador, including Cuenca and Guayaquil. In 1828 a large Peruvian army occupied Loja, to the south, and a few months later marched north to complete their conquest. In February 1829 General Antonio de Sucre, a hero of the war of independence, met the Peruvians on the banks of the Tarqui, twenty-five kilometers south of Cuenca. Both sides suffered heavy losses but Sucre’s army routed the Peruvians. Cuenca, Guayaquil, and Loja remained a part of Ecuador. Continue reading

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