FM Until 2030, and Rampisham’s New Plan

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!

Significant X-class solar flare (Southgate ARC)

There was a global eruption on the sun today. It started with a powerful X1-class solar flare from sunspot AR2887.

The blast created a massive tsunami of plasma in the sun’s atmosphere, which rippled across the entire solar disk. A CME is probably heading for Earth, raising the possibility of a geomagnetic storm on Halloween. More information and updates @ Spaceweather.com.

Solar Flare Alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and get instant text notifications when solar flares are underway.

History of the Ham Radio Callsign (Southgate ARC)

In this video Mike Ritz W7VO looks at the history of amateur radio call signs in the United States

Every legal amateur radio operator in the world has a unique callsign assigned to them by their government, and many of us are better known by our callsign than our given name. But what world event was it that caused these monikers to be? Why are they constructed the way they are? Continue reading →

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CN Radio: Early entertainment for railroad travelers

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Edward Kusalik, who shares the following:

An interesting article appeared in the recent publication of the Canora Chronicle (Camrose Railway Museum /Historic Society) dealing with early historic facts/details/articles of Rail History in my area.

It talks about how passengers were able to listen to the radio on a train:

Thank you so much for sharing this, Edward! Fascinating!

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Video: Dave sets up the Chameleon CHA-RXL

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike, who shares the following video from David Casler featurin the CHA RXL amplified loop antenna:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Thank you for the tip, Mike!

I just checked out the loop at Chameleon and discovered that they’re currently offering a sale on the “two sections” version of the CHA-RXL. Click here to check it out.

Also, if you live in Switzerland or Europe, Lutz Electronics is now a distributor of Chameleon products.

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Halloween weekend will offer up excellent SW pirate listening!

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Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates. This year, Halloween falls on Sunday, October 31st which essentially opens up a Friday through Sunday Halloween Piratefest. Expect pirates to emerge like The Great Pumpkin!

Here are two things you’ll want to do this Halloween weekend:

HF Underground

hfunderground

Follow real-time pirate radio spots and loggings on the HF Underground discussion forum. Chris Smolinski at HFU typically posts post-Halloween pirate stats on the SWLing Post as well–always a fascinating overview.

You might also venture over to Andrew Yoder’s pirate radio blog, the Hobby Broadcasting blog. Although he doesn’t log frequently, he usually makes time on Halloween (no pressure, Andy! Ha ha!)

Listen!

Photo by Bill Patalon

Listen for pirate radio stations today and throughout the weekend! Turn on your radio anytime today, but especially around twilight and tune between 6,920 – 6,980 kHz. Pirates broadcast on both AM and SSB; you’re bound to hear a few. If you’re brand new to pirate radio listening, you might read my pirate radio primer by clicking here. I will be listening until late in the evening.

Happy Halloween to all!

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A Halloween Semiconductor!

Fred suggests a Halloween Spooktacular!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Fred Waterer, who writes:

This is going to meander a bit from shortwave, but I’ll give you a heads up in case it’s of interest.

October 31 is a Sunday this year and lines up with Michael Godin’s Treasure Island Oldies show

But…

This year there is a cool bonus!

Michael’s Annual Halloween Spooktacular, features four hours of great spooky and Halloween themed tunes. As usual, the show runs from 9pm EDT to 1am EDT (6pm PDT, 0100 UTC)

However if you tune in earlier at 6pm EDT (3pm PDT 2200 UTC) he will present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre with their notorious 1938 edition of War of the Worlds. This will be followed by Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, a musical version narrated by Sir Richard Burton and vocals by The Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward.

You can listen online via Michael’s website Treasure Island Oldies Radio Show, The Home Of Lost Treasures or some of the affiliates that carry him. My go to station in this regard is WTND.org, operated by former WBCQ broadcasters Tom and Darryl who had the Tom and Darryl Show.

It’s just not Halloween for me until I hear Orson Welles’ famous radio play.

Fred Waterer

PS Treasure Island Oldies is one of the longest running internet radio shows ever; broadcasting since 1997.

Thank you for the ip, Fred! And, yes, War of the Worlds is a must!

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Re-Visiting Calibration on Tecsun Receivers

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, for the following guest post and review:

Re-Visiting Calibration on Tecsun Receivers

Dan Robinson

As owners of the latest Tecsun receivers should know by now, the PL-990x, H-501x and the new PL-368 (also sold by CountyComm as the GP7/SSB) provide the user with the ability to re-calibrate.

I wrote about this in my past reviews of these receivers. With the PL-368, the addition of re-calibration combines with a new keypad to make this receiver even more attractive as a prepper type radio.

Recently, an exchange with Gilles Letorneau who runs the OfficialSWLChannel on You Tube and viewing one of his videos brought to my attention a variation in the method I had been using.

Since the 990x, 501x and more recently the 368 came out, I had been following this method:

Receive a clear and audible strong station in shortwave, then switch to USB and LSB. If adjustment is needed, hold down USB or LSB until a double display flash. Hit the STEP button once and then quickly again to move the display down arrow so it’s above the far right digit. Then fine tune for zero beat. Hold LSB or USB in for a couple of seconds until the LCD blinks again.

At one point, Tecsun engineers had cautioned against using re-calibration and apparently had de-activated it in the PL-330 and PL-368, worrying that using the feature might result in unwanted complications for some users. But it was later restored.

My exchanges with Gilles alerted me to the fact that the additional step of first holding down USB or LSB for a double display flash, depending on which is being re-calibrated, is not actually necessary.

I owe Gilles a beer on my next visit to Montreal.

Of course, switching to SSB does not automatically place the receiver in fine tune mode, which is still necessary, so after entering USB or LSB you still have to move the fine tuning cursor to the right with two presses of the STEP button. But it’s not necessary to long press USB or LSB first to achieve a first double flash

As I stated in my reviews, re-calibration doesn’t mean the receiver is then permanently zeroed up and down the shortwave bands. You will have to repeat the process from, say 25 meters, to 19 meters, to 49 meters, etc.

Revisiting the re-calibration issue on the Tecsun PL-368, and now on a sample of the CountyComm GP7/SSB has underscored a couple of other issues on these handy walkie-talkie style receivers. I will have more on this in an upcoming review of the CountyComm version of the PL-368.

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