Our friend, Wlodek (US7IGN), who was recently featured in a BBC Radio 4 documentary, has been repairing radios throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A few weeks ago, he received a Grundig G3 from Charles (KC8VWM)–it was in need of repair. Wlod immediately cracked the case open and started diagnosing the problem!
Click here to read his blog post detailing the review.
Man thank to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who notes that C. Crane CC Buds-Pro earphones are on sale at Amazon.com today (affiliate link). Tom notes that the price is the same as thoseon the C.Crane website, but with Amazon, you can get free shipping.
Thank you for the tip, Tom!
Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
The United States has begun work on the deployment of a new long-range over-the-horizon radar system for the United States Air Force, which will be placed on the Pacific island of Palau.
The sensor station, known as the Tactical Mobile Over-the-Horizon Radar, or TACMOR, will be set up on the highly strategic island of Palau. The sensor station intends to improve the situational awareness of US and allied forces operating in the region in the air and maritime domain.
The Department of Defense announced on December 28 that it had granted Gilbane’s Federal business a $118.4 million contract to develop the structural foundation of a new US Air Force radar station to be built in the Republic of Palau.
Gilbane Federal will build reinforced concrete pads and other foundational components as part of the firm-fixed-price contract to set up the Tactical Mobile Over-the-Horizon Radar system, the Department of Defense said.
The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Pacific acts as the contracting activity for what is known as the TACMOR infrastructure project. The work is anticipated to be finished by June 2026. [Continue reading…]
Radio receiver is one such gadget that people have been using for many generations. After the invention of radio communication by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895, the first radio receiver was also invented by Marconi. A radio receiver is an electronic device that can only receive radio signals and can convert the radio signals to audio and sound. A radio receiver can receive radio signals of various frequencies by tuning to a particular frequency. These frequencies are of two types – Amplitude Modulation (AM) and Frequency Modulation (FM). A radio receiver capable of receiving any analog audio on AM/FM frequency is called analog radio receiver and for many years people were using analog radio receivers.
Since the invention of analog radio by Marconi in 1895, many companies started manufacturing radio receivers. First came the De Forest RJ6 in 1916, and later many analog radio receivers like Sony TR-63 (1957), and H.H. Scott 350 (1961) came in the market, and they were the first analog radio receivers of that kind. After the emergence of digital electronics and digital radio transmission, digital radio receivers started to capture the market – receivers capable of receiving Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) – digital radio transmission. In 2003, Pure launched the PocketDAB 1000 and It was the world’s first pocket digital radio capable of playing DAB radio stations. However, radio receivers became diversifying when internet technology was implemented in them, which made it possible for the companies to introduce internet radio receivers. An internet radio receiver can be either an app of a computer or can be a standalone receiver, connected to the internet to receive internet radio stations. Kerbango internet radio receiver from 3com was the first standalone internet radio receiver of 21th century. This change in the technology of radio receivers even went beyond internet radio – after the arrival of Software Defined Radio (SDR).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of NHK World Japan on January 2, 2023.
Carlos’ goal is to vividly illustrate the broadcaster’s message in his own unique artistic style and is not a reflection of his own beliefs or those of the SWLing Post. His objective is for his artwork to add historical context and put a visual with the news, reporting, and broadcast content:
Carlos notes:
South Korea versus North Korea.
Part of news bulletin in French broadcasted by NHK World Japan radio via shortwave to West Africa and listened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood, who shares a link to the latest episode of CBS’ 60 Minutes which highlights both the mission and work of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.
This episode can be watched on the CBS website by clicking here.
Thank you for the tip, Tracy.
Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
In the 1980s, Margaret Iaquinto was an amateur ham radio operator who communicated with Russian cosmonauts in space. She talked to them for over a year. Iaquinto died in 2014. But her son Ben Iaquinto remembers the friendships she developed with the cosmonauts. Marco Werman speaks to Ben Iaquinto about his mom’s hobby and the conversations she had with these Russian cosmonauts.
If you’re a radio fan, or have merely been stuck in a car as day transitions into night, you may have noticed that you don’t get quite as clear signal in the hours of darkness.
Before you assume that it’s a plot by reverse vampires (possibly in conjunction with the saucer people) in order to make radio listeners go to bed, you should know that it’s actually the result of a requirement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to power down or turn off at night, and the FCC in turn are required to do this by the laws of physics.
It all has to do with wavelengths and the ionosphere. During the daytime, AM signals primarily propagate close to the ground (known as ground wave propagation) and follow the curves of the Earth. In the daylight hours, AM signals sent by radio stations can cover around 162 kilometers (100 miles) before you will struggle to hear the signal.
As good as this is, at night the ability of long waves to propagate large distances becomes a problem, thanks to the ionosphere. Between 80 and 600 kilometers (50-373 miles) above the Earth, particles in the Earth’s atmosphere are bombarded with Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) and x-ray solar radiation, ionizing them as they do so. The ionosphere grows and shrinks (on your side of the planet) depending on the time of day.
At night, the layer reflects AM radio signals (known as “skywave” propagation) to a much greater degree than during the day, allowing the signal to be carried for hundreds of miles further than during the day. While this may sound like good news, it is what’s known as a “pain in the butt” for any communication regulators out there, or people who want to listen to anything other than an indiscernible mess of static.
“Because of this change in signal propagation from daytime to nighttime, if every AM station kept its daytime operating power at night, massive interference would result,” the FCC explains on their website. [Continue reading…]
‘The sky’s the limit. There’s just so many different things that you can learn’
The amateur radio community on P.E.I. is growing, thanks in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and post-tropical storm Fiona.
Stratford resident Brent Taylor has been a ham radio operator for 38 years, in New Brunswick and P.E.I. He goes by the call sign VY2HF.
“It’s been absolutely fantastic. We have been so thrilled with the number of people that have come forward, and now that we’re getting them on the air,” Taylor said.
“Probably because of COVID, and maybe because of Fiona, there’s been a more of an interest, I think, in people wanting to be able to maintain their connections with each other, even from their own homes.”
Taylor said a dozen people started the 12-week training program in the fall, and eight passed their exams and are now licensed operators.
“The most diverse I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been teaching off and on this course for 35-plus years. To see the number of women in the course, for one thing, is just tremendous,” Taylor said.
“Also, cultural diversity and a wide range of ages from as young as 12 years old.” [Continue reading…]
Airline passengers in the European Union (EU) will soon be able to use their phones to full effect in the sky.
The European Commission ruled airlines can provide 5G technology on board planes, alongside slower mobile data.
This could mean flyers will no longer be required to put their phone on airplane mode – though the specifics of how it will be implemented are unclear.
The deadline for member states to make the 5G frequency bands available for planes is 30 June 2023.
This will mean people can use all their phone’s features mid-flight – enabling calls as well as data-heavy apps that stream music and video.
Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, said the plan would “enable innovative services for people” and help European companies grow.
“The sky is no longer a limit when it comes to possibilities offered by super-fast, high-capacity connectivity,” he said. [Continue reading…]
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Seasonal greetings and a Happy New year from Fastradioburst23 and all of the crew at Imaginary Stations. Explore more “frequencies of the imagination” on Sunday 1st January 2023 as Kearsarge North Transmission Service goes on the air via WRMI at 2300 hrs UTC on 9395 kHz. Tune in and enjoy. More on the show below: