Radio Waves: Pocket SSB Transceiver, Radio On The Bay Event, New Book on History of Spaceweather, and PSK31 on 437 MHz from the Moon

The uSDX/uSDR QRP transceiver (Chinese version)

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Ham Radio SSB Transceiver Fits in Pocket (Hackaday)

Talking about this Chinese ham radio transceiver requires a veritable flurry of acronyms: HF, SSB, QRP, and SDR to start with. [Paul] does a nice job of unboxing the rig and checking it out. The radio is a clone of a German project and provides a low-power radio with a rechargeable battery. You can see his video about the gear below.

SSB is an odd choice for low power operation, although we wonder if you couldn’t feed digital data in using a mode like PSK31 that has good performance at low power. There are several variations of the radio available and they cost generally less than $200 — sometimes quite a bit less.

There isn’t much on the front of the radio. There are a few buttons, a rotary encoder, and an LCD along with a speaker and microphone built-in. There are ports for power to run the radio if you want to not use the battery and a separate port for battery charging. There are also ports for a key, external microphone and speakers, and audio connections that look like they’d work for digital modes. According to commenters, the radio doesn’t have an internal charging circuit, so you have to be careful what you plug into the charging port. [Continue reading…]

(SIDE NOTE: I have been testing one of the USDX / USDR transceivers (a Chinese version–not the open source homebrew project) over at QRPer.com and have been very displeased with performance. So much so, I returned it for a refund. One of the biggest issues being spurious emissions that were produced in harmonics, but also the receiver is one of the worst I’ve ever tested. -Thomas) Continue reading →

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Marwan admires his cousin’s Crosley receiver/phonograph console

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marwan, who writes:

Happy Holidays Thomas And To All Subscribers To SWLing Post Website!

Last October I visited a relative in California. My cousin Imad is into collecting various antiques items. One of the items that welcomed us at front door and that caught my eyes is this old radio turntable combo system. With his permission I took a few photos and I told him I liked to share it with other SWLing Post subscribers. It looks like it is a shortwave radio made by Crosley. It had various European and Asian cities preset on the dial as well as Police.

I hope someone has owned one of these in the past and can share memories of it.

Cheers, And Happy Holidays!!

Marwan

Happy Holidays to you too, Marwan! What a beautiful console radio! I’m willing to best some here int he SWLing Post community know this very model! Thank you for sharing!

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and Recording of Dimtse Wegahta

Alan Roe’s 2021 Guide to Holiday Programming on Shortwave!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares the following note and PDF:

I have been collating a list of programming on shortwave over the forthcoming holiday period, covering Saturday 18 December 2021 to 2 January 2022.

The programmes listed are not necessarily seasonal. Here is the first edition of this compilation, which will be updated and redistributed if and when more information becomes available.

Regular weekly music programming, where no special advance programme information has been provided, are not included in this list, but please refer to my Music on Shortwave list already uploaded to the files section.
I hope that you find it useful.

Additions and corrections are most welcome to [email protected]

Best wishes for Christmas and a Happy New Year
Alan Roe, Teddington, UK

Click here to download this guide as a PDF (updated December 22, 2021).

Thank you so much for sharing this, Alan! So many great choices over the holidays!

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CTRN Returns Monday, December 20, 2021

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Fastradioburst23, who shares the flier above and notes that CTRN will return for a 5th broadcast on December 20, 2021 at 00:00 UTC via WRMI on 9395 kHz.

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Can you ID James Stewart’s receiver?

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kim Elliott, who shares the image above which was originally posted by the Museum of Portable Sound on Twitter.

Kim is curious if anyone can ID the receiver model in this photo. I think I recognize this model, but I know there are better experts in our SWLing Post community to make a positive ID!

Please comment!

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The new Stampfl MWS-1 Standing Wave Barrier

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Markku (VA3MK), who notes that Swiss manufacturer Stampfl has introduced the MWS-1 Standing Wave Barrier.

Stampfl notes (translated from German):

A standing wave barrier can improve reception. The standing wave barrier interrupts the ground loop and suppresses the interference caused by the cable shield.

This is designed only to work with receivers (not transmitters) between 0.15 – 30 MHz.

I suppose this might be a form of an RF choke, although I’m sure someone else might know better.

Thank you for the tip, Markku!

Click here to check out the MWS-1 at Stampfl.

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