Mike Harwood explores active magnetic loop antennas with SDRplay

Many thanks to Jon Hudson with SDRplay who shares the following announcement:

Introducing a new series of videos comparing the performance of wideband active loop amplifier/antennas for HF frequencies and below. In this introductory video, Mike Harwood shows how an RSPduo enables a real-time comparison of two antennas – in this demo, he uses a Wellbrook 1530AN and one of his own compact loop creations. You can see that he has lined up several other active loop antennas/amplifiers to try in future videos, including the Bonito Megaloop FX, the LZ1AQ amp and the Cross Country Wireless amp.

SDPlay will endorse antennas which work well and formally recommend them on its website antenna suggestions page: https://www.sdrplay.com/antennasuggestions/

This is one of many videos from SDRplay – makers of the RSP family of SDR radios. See the full list of SDRplay videos and applications documents on: https://www.sdrplay.com/apps-catalogue/

The RSP family of SDRs from SDRplay cover 1kHz to 2 GHz with no gaps and give up to 10MHz spectrum visibility.

SDRplay is a UK company. The RSP SDR receivers are made in the UK and can be purchased for worldwide delivery directly from http://www.sdrplay.com/ (click on purchase and select your country to view shipping costs) or you can buy from any of our worldwide resellers listed here: http://www.sdrplay.com/distributors/ Many of the resellers offer local free shipping and/or local language technical support.

The SDRplay YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/c/SDRplayRSP

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The new ATS-25 Si4732 receiver with color touch screen

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Robert Richmond, who writes:

An ATS-25 receiver has appeared on eBay and similar sites. It appears to be a touchscreen and user interface update to the previous ATS-20 model. I suppose it remains to be seen if there are any improvements to the underlying electronic design and construction quality.

Click here to view on eBay (partner link)

At $130+ I am not sure if I am inclined to find out, but perhaps someone out there might be interested. Given the design shortcuts and potential build quality concerns of the current ATS-20, I would suggest considering the ATS-25 a possible “kit radio” as well until if or when proven otherwise.

Best Regards,

Robert Richmond

Thank you for the tip, Robert!

I would certainly welcome a guest review of the new ATS-25. If you’ve purchased this radio and would enjoy reviewing it here on the SWLing Post, please contact me!

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KMTS Summer Test Transmission

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Fastburstradio23, who shares the following:

Beaming to you from the transmitter’s location, forget summer vacation, it’s time for summer school. Get your pencils sharpened and thinking caps on for the KMTS Summer Test (transmission)! Numbers, poetry, the science of strange tones, music and mountaineering are all part of the curriculum.

And if you are one of those cats who was too hip for school the first time around, we understand. We’ve been there! When you use one of our proprietary quantum radios passing is as easy and pleasant as a breeze blown in from a deserted tropical island. All the answers tp all the questions are right in some reality or timeline!

And after you’ve peaked out with us at the crown of KMTS, you can join us for a Mai Tai at the Tiki bar on top of the mountain as we go over the summer test results.

6070 kHz at 1700 UTC on Tuesday 27th July and 3rd August 2021.

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Radio Cameos in Japanese Cinema

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

Good day,

I regularly visit the SWLing Post and very much appreciate the breadth of content you provide on the shortwave hobby. In between the receiver reviews and stories on broadcaster activities, I much enjoy the pieces showing the radio gear that folks notice in television/films. Over the course of the COVID19 pandemic, I have been watching a lot of films from Japan, and in the process have spotted quite a few interesting receivers here and there. Below are some photos and details on some of these unsung stars of Japanese cinema. I think that JRC enthusiast Dan Robinson will agree with me that it’s the ensemble cast of JRCs in Virus that steal the show! 🙂

1. Masahiro Shinoda’s 1961 Epitaph to My Love opened with a very nice shot of a Sony TR-812 multi-band portable in a scene where a news broadcast is being heard in a bar setting.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sony_tr_812_tr812.html

2. A Sony AFM-152J is shown in a contemporary home setting in Hiroshi Teshigahara’s 1966 film The Face of Another.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sony_fmam_automatic_tuning_radio_esaki_diode_afm_152j.html

3. Kihachi Okamoto’s 1978 sci-fi film Blue Christmas featured a brief shot of a Sony ICF-7600 – the first of a legendary line of Sony portables that would carry “7600” in their designation.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sony_icf_7600.html

4. There were several radio appearances in Kinji Fukasaku’s 1980 Virus – a film that took disaster movies to a new level by depicting both a global pandemic and a nuclear holocaust.

A range of JRC gear was captured in a scene that was set in a Japanese Antarctic base. Identifiable rigs include the NRD-10 and the NRD-71.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/jrc_nrd_10nrd1.html
https://www.rigpix.com/jrc/jrc_nrd71.htm

In another scene from the Antarctic base, a Trio (Kenwood) TS-820S is shown powered up.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/trio_kenwo_ts_820s_ts820s.html

5. Lastly, we have an unidentified tube receiver from Masahiro Shinoda’s Childhood Days – an interesting 1990 film about a school aged boy in World War II era Japan who, because of the bombing threat, is sent from his Tokyo home to live in a rural village.

Thank you for sharing this, Jon! It’s wonderful to include radio sightings from Japanese cinema in our ever-growing collection of radios in movies!

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Alan Roe’s A21 season guide to music on shortwave (version 4 update)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his latest A21 season guide to music on shortwave.

Click here to download Music on Shortwave A-21 v4 (PDF)

Alan notes that this might be the final update of the A-21 broadcast season.

This dedicated page will always have the latest version of Alan’s guide available for download.

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KSKO 89.5 McGrath, Alaska LIVE Request Show On WRMI Shortwave THIS WEEK!

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Join me, Paul Walker, on WRMI Shortwave for “The LIVE Friday Night Request Show Dance Party Thingy” being relayed from NPR/community radio station KSKO 89.5 McGrath, Alaska.

It’ll take place Saturday July 10th 0300-0500UTC on 7780kHz to the east coast US and Western Europe, 7730kHz to the west coast US, Canada along with Hawaii, and the South Pacific (NZ, Aus, etc) and 4980kHz to the Caribbean and South America.

I’ll be taking phone calls with requests with a number given out during the show as it’s truly
LIVE. No station money was spent for this, It’s coming out of my pocket just to have something different up on shortwave for a few hours.

The music during the show could be ANYTHING from any genre and any year. It’s a combination of what *I* want to hear and what listeners request. I’ve had Judas Priest, Garth Brooks and Weird Al Yankovic back to back to back during the Friday night show before because they were all request in that order by 3 different listeners.

A note: 5850kHz/7570kHz is beamed towards Vancouver, 7330kHZ is beamed towards the US/Mexico border according to Jeff white which affords 7730 better coverage of the Pacific Ocean region countries than 5850 or 7570.

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