More of the Summer of COOL

Radio Waves: Sonic Bonds, FCC Hits FM Pirate Landlords, Brokered Programming at WBCQ, WCPO, Tecsun AN-48X Loop, and “Is Shortwave on Life Support?”

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, David Iurescia, and David Snyde for the following tips:

Sonic Bonds: A Journey into Wondrous Radio

This is a new book available on Amazon.com [SWLing Post affiliate link] in both print, audio, and eBook formats. Description:

Invisible sonic transmissions are all around, bonding you to other human beings! The world of radio is vast and might surprise you! From hardboiled detectives to pirate broadcasters, Sonic Bonds is a personal book/zine journey that rides the waves from the 1940s to present day, showing just how magical this technology is. Popular music, anarchist DJs, emergency broadcasts, African American history, underground culture, speculative fiction dramas… radio reflects all the things that make us interesting and human.19 black and white illustrations and 8 full colour radio art. Available in paperback, ebook, linked PDF, and audio book form. Audio book is ready by author and contains 32 examples of full vintage radio dramas. Book, linked PDF, and ebook contain professional indexes.

Click here to check it out on Amazon.com [affiliate] and click here for more info from the author’s website.

FCC Hits 13 Landlords in NYC Metro Area With Pirate Letters
Enforcement sweeps allege illegal FM broadcasts within the last year (Radio World)

The FCC Enforcement Bureau’s New York Office has sent 13 different landlords in New York City, Rockland County, N.Y., and northern New Jersey the “pirate letter” after discovering alleged illegal FM broadcasts originating from their properties.

The NYC metropolitan area is notoriously known for pirate operators. Each of the 13 cases outlined below occurred within the last year.

According to FCC Rules, the landlords could face a fine of nearly $2.4 million if the commission determines that an illegal broadcast continued from a property they own or manage after receiving notice. [Continue reading…]

WBCQ: A One-of-a-Kind Shortwave Radio Station (Radio Waves)

A brokered programming business model has kept the station on the air for 26 years

There are all kinds of shortwave radio stations in the world, but WBCQ seems unique.

Allan Weiner at the foot of the rotatable antenna installed in 2018.
Located in Monticello, Maine, WBCQ is an up-to-500,000 watt shortwave powerhouse that covers the world via 7.490 MHz, 9.330 MHz, 5.130 MHz, 3.265 MHz, and 6.160 MHz — depending on the time of day, to maximize signal propagation by bouncing off the ionosphere.

The same rural broadcasting center and antenna/transmitter site is also home to local stations WXME(AM) — carrying talk and rock music on 780 kHz with a translator on 98.3 MHz — and WBCQ(FM), airing classic country on 94.7. [Continue reading…]

75 reasons to celebrate WCPO-TV’s 75th anniversary (WVXU)

From Uncle Al to Al Schottekotte, from Sports of All Sorts to recorded “Scrippscast” newscasts, and from Sherry Hughes and Paul Dixon, WCPO-TV has provided many memorable moments and innovations in Cincinnati TV history since 1949.

Cincinnati’s third television station, WCPO-TV, has many impressive firsts in local TV history dating back to its very first minutes on the air on July 26, 1949.

WCPO-TV debuted at noon on Channel 7 (before the federal government reallocation moved it to Channel 9) with WCPO-AM radio disc jockey Art Jarrett. WLWT-TV — the city’s first TV station then in its 16th month of operation — didn’t air programming until 4 p.m. WKRC-TV, which debuted in April 1949, was dark until 6 p.m.

The station’s official dedication was broadcast at 7:45 p.m. with Gov. Frank Lausche at Crosley Field before Channel 7 broadcast the Reds-Boston Braves game, a simulcast with Waite Hoyt’s radio call on WCPO-AM (now WDBZ-AM, 1230 “The Buzz of Cincinnati”). [Continue reading…]

An Antenna To Throw You For A Loop (Hackaday)

It is one of Murphy’s laws, we think, that you can’t get great things when you need them. Back in the heyday of shortwave broadcasting, any of us would have given a week’s pay for even a low-end receiver today. Digital display? Memory? Digital filtering? These days, you have radios, and they aren’t terribly expensive, but there isn’t much to listen to. Making matters worse, it isn’t easy these days to string wires around in your neighborhood for a variety of reasons. Maybe you don’t have a yard, or you have deed restrictions, or your yard lacks suitable space or locations. This problem is so common that there are a crop of indoor antennas that seem attractive. Since I don’t often tune in shortwave and I don’t want to have to reset my antenna after every storm, I decided to look at the Tecsun AN-48X along with a YouLoop clone from China. Let’s start with the Tecsun. [Continue reading…]

Ask Hackaday: Is Shortwave on Life Support? (Hackaday)

Between World War II and Y2K, shortwave listening was quite an education. With a simple receiver, you could listen to the world. Some of it, of course, was entertainment, and much of it was propaganda of one sort or another. But you could learn a lot. Kids with shortwave radios always did great in geography. Getting the news from a different perspective is often illuminating, too. Learning about other cultures and people in such a direct way is priceless. Getting a QSL card in the mail from a faraway land seemed very exciting back then.

Today, the shortwave landscape is a mere shadow of itself. According to a Wikipedia page, there are 235 active shortwave broadcasters from a list of 414, so nearly half are defunct. Not only are there many “dead” shortwave outlets, but many of the ones that are left are either not aimed at the world market or serve a niche group of listeners. [Continue reading…]

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Dan updates his Tecsun S-2200x Review

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares this update to his original Tecsun S-2200x review:

TECSUN S-2200x: Some Updates

by Dan Robinson

Since my original Tecsun S-2200x review, I have run additional tests on the S-2200x and have the following observations, and responses to some comments. I continue to test this receiver, but conclude that really if one has to have just one radio – which I think is usually not the case – one cannot really go wrong with any of the Tecsun portables, whether the 2200x, or S-8800, H-501, or PL-990. With that said, here are my additional observations on the 2200x:

OVERALL RATING: At the end of my original main review, I said that assuming Tecsun can maintain a high level of QC in production, and considering that the important RECAL feature has been retained, and that the radio has no muting, I would give the S-2200x a 4.8 out of 5. This would increase if Tecsun can address the slight alignment issue on the rotatable antenna, the issue in which SQUELCH does not completely silence audio.

However, after extensive testing, I feel that the problem of SYNC losing lock and generally sounding unstable takes the 2200x down a few notches. At present, the receiver is an attractive package with its retro styling, really nice and smooth main tuning knob, no soft muting and recalibration. However, the fact that synchronous mode has still not improved over the H-501/PL-990 means I would rate the 2200x at no more than a 4.5. Had Tecsun taken steps to improve SYNC – if it’s at all possible using the current chips — the radio would easily be several rating points higher.

AGC/SYNC: SYNC mode on the 2200x struggles, especially with weaker signals and regardless of bandwidth. As an example, testing on 15,575 khz (South Korea) using the telescopic and an an external long wire showed that in synchronous, there was a good amount of “pulling” with the signal, which was only at a fair level. The question of whether Tecsun has made any changes to SYNC mode between the H-501/Pl-990 and S-2200x remains, and we would hope to hear from them on this issue.

Here is an additional video showing both the 2200x and a H-501x in SYNC mode on a strong signal. Both receivers exhibit some less than satisfactory SYNC performance, though the 2200x sounds a bit worse:

Reader comments always spark additional thinking. As one user observed, Tecsun could have added AGC FAST/SLOW/MEDIUM options in addition to providing AGC and adjustable manual gain. It is definitely a good thing that SYNC as well as LSB/USB operate not only on SW, but also in AM and LW.

SSB: One reader asked if SSB performance on the 2200x has “the same woeful SSB audio quality issues caused by AGC and a low cut off frequency of around 300 hz making the audio sound thin, lacking bass while on SSB?” The reader also notes that these are “issues with every single Tecsun and most other DSP radios and due to the cost of these radios one should expect perfect performing and sounding SSB.” To adapt a quote from one of my favorite Clint Eastwood movie lines (“Deserves got nothing to do with it”) in this case I will say that Perfect has nothing to do with it. We’re all enjoying a mini-boom in the appearance of new receivers – to expect absolute perfection from a DSP-based receiver is sadly, unrealistic. SSB on the 2200x is probably about as good as it can get. The fact that fine tuning on the 2200x is so smooth is a very good thing.

ANTENNA: I have tested the 2200x using telescopic versus external antennas, including a long wire, W6LVP, Wellbrook and Chameleon loops. Reception is further enhanced with external antennas. The three ATTENUATION positions on the 2200x help to keep any overloading down.

RDS: A number of users/viewers have commented on the absence of RDS in the 2200x. This is indeed a good observation – seems that it would have been easy for Tecsun to include this, and one wonders if the company will consider adding this as a feature not only in the 2200x but H-501/PL-990 as well. However, I believe that Tecsun has just chosen to not increase costs and thus, no RDS.

AC POWER: As everyone probably sees, there seems to be no way to run the receiver on AC power. There is a dual USB-A cube included in the package, but as we have found, running receivers while they are charging is not a good idea. The 2200x does appear to charge fairly quickly via the USB-C port. Anyone with radios using 18650 batteries should invest in at least one good quality charger – these are available at any of the well-known professional battery/flashlight online sellers.

TUNING KNOB: Yes, the main tuning knob still exhibits wobble. It’s a puzzle as to why this can’t be resolved, especially years after the original Grundig 750 emerged and the old models continued to have this issue for years. But the action of the knob itself is really smooth and it’s a pleasure to tune this radio, at least based on the sample I have here.

In the end, our purchase decisions are driven by a number of factors – some potential 2200x buyers may not be as concerned with ongoing SYNC issues, while others might reject a new receiver outright based on this issue. The 2200x offers basically the same features as the H-501/PL-990, but adds AIR band and an excellent mediumwave rotatable antenna, and these facts alone may be enough to justify a purchase of the new radio.

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Dale Recomends the Aziloop DF-72 Antenna System

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dale Parfitt, who writes:

I wanted to mention a receive only antenna that I am using at my home QTH. I do a lot of NDB logging during the winter below 500kHz, some AM band DXing and 160M. In the past I have had Beverages, homebrew Flag antennas, Shared Apex Loop Array and now last month I installed the new Quiet Radio AziLoop:

https://www.quietradio.co.uk/

With the Array Solutions Model AS-SAL, I could electrically rotate in 45 degree increments and also flip the direction by 180 or make it bidirectional. Click here to download the manual (PDF).

You can read the features of the AziLoop on Dave’s site. But the outstanding feature is rotating electrically every 5 degrees and 2 modes- small RX loop and K9AY. In K9AY mode I can achieve up to 30dB F/B and the rear null is very sharp. If it did not rotate in 5 degree increments, you would not even see the rear nulls.

But here is where it really stands out. The K9AY design, like the flags and Ewes, has a terminating resistance. By varying the value of that resistance via the AziLoop App, one can achieve skywave nulls. The value of that terminating resistance changes from day to night etc. So using that feature, I can often reduce co-channel or adjacent channel QRM or thunderstorm QRN. Small loops (aka magnetic loops) cannot do that. They are omnidirectional to skywaves.

Anyway, I mention this as some of your site readers both ham and SWL might find it interesting.

I built mine from telescoping fiberglass poles and it is completely standalone- no loops on the ground stakes etc.

I have no commercial relationship with Quiet Radio- just a very satisfied client.

Thank you for sharing this, Dale. I was not aware of the Aziloop. Fascinating!

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The XHDATA D-220 Discount Code is Here!

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Hi Folks!

The promised exclusive XHDATA 40% off code is here!

The Radio is available to pre-order at Amazon today, and is supposed to be in stock at Amazon.com on the 1st of August.

The discount code is : 40D220NEW

While the detail page shows a 15% coupon, ignore that and place the desired radio from the links below in the cart and during checkout type in the discount code and apply. The results should look like what is listed below. You can review the price with discount before placing the order.

XHDATA D-220 (Orange)

XHDATA D-220 (Green)

XHDATA D-220 (Black)

I have checked and the Code does indeed work:

Order Summary

Items:	$15.98
Shipping & handling:	$0.00
40D220NEW:	-$6.39

Total before tax:	$9.59
Estimated tax to be collected:	$0.58

Order total:	$10.17

A big “thank you” to the folks at XHDATA for giving us a special discount price! (I went wild and ordered the Orange one!)

Cheers! Robert K4PKM

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Dan Robinson Reviews the New Tecsun S-2200X Portable Receiver

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and supporter, Dan Robinson, who shares the following review:

Tecsun Delivers The S-2200X – New Life For A 16-Year-Old Cabinet Design

by Dan Robinson

Note: Please see an addendum of updates at the end of this post.

Some months ago, I learned from Anon-co that Tecsun planned to release an update to the S-2000 receiver, which for the past 16 years also sold under other names such as the Grundig Satellit 750 and later the Eton Satellit 750 and Eton Elite 750.

To say that this radio was long in the tooth is an understatement.

I remember seeing one when they first came out back in 2008 and I was never very impressed. To me, the radio looked like a toy, and the performance did not impress. The standout feature was the top-mounted rotatable antenna for MW/LW reception. That was popular with those of us who own the Panasonic RF-2200 and it’s a great tool for MW.

Grundig Satellit 750

While popular with a certain segment of the listening hobby – beginners liked the 750 and even some veteran SWLs appreciated the retro design — the receiver was plagued by annoying issues, such as the famous wobbly tuning knob. It also had limited selectivity, no synchronous mode, and mediocre SSB.

In 2013, The Monitoring Times (Larry Van Horn) took another look at the radio with the following memorable comments:

[MONITORING TIMES 2013]

“Needless to say some folks were not happy with our review of the 750 including Etón. In retrospect, over four years later, I would not change one single word I wrote in that review. I believe we honestly gave a fair assessment of the unit that was shipped to us for review. If you read my previous review closely, you would see that most of my concerns back then had to do with quality control issues and most in our industry fully acknowledge that we were seeing some nasty stuff coming out of China back in 2008.”

So, measuring from 2008 when the first Eton 750 came out we’re now in 2024 and Tecsun has decided to preserve the cabinet design of the original radio while substantially upgrading the internals.

Enter the S-2200x

Photo by Anon-Co

Reviewers have obtained units from the first production run. Tecsun has provided long-needed upgrades that put this radio on the same playing field as the very popular H-501 and PL-990 portables.

The 2200x adds a dedicated SYNC mode with its own front panel button. AIR band is retained, though sadly coverage doesn’t extend up to give us the NOAA WEATHER frequencies.

My initial testing of the S-2200x shows that performance is excellent on SW, AM, and FM. In contrast with portables from other manufacturers, SSB performance is excellent – in USB and LSB, tuning is smooth with no “warbling” and using the fine tuning control is a pleasure. Continue reading →

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Typhoon Gaemi: Carlos’ Recording of Radio ZP-30, RTI, and Radiofax via the Japan Meteorological Agency

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art, radiofax, and off-air recordings:

Carlos notes:

The season for hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific has arrived, and here I bring you info on typhoon Gaemi via radiofax from Japan Meteorological Agency and radio news from Radio ZP-30 (in German from Paraguay) and Radio Taiwan International (In Spanish via WRMI, US).