Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark (VA3MK), who writes:
I found a great website written by the former head of broadcasting in Finland.
I hope this brings back memories of YLE Radio Finland.
I used to listen regularly on 15.400 MHz when they were on the air. Enjoy:
http://www.ulkomaanmedia.net/RFTIMELINE.html
What a fabulous deep dive into YLE Radio Finland history! Thanks for sharing, Mark.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jack Dully, who writes:
MFJ has gone through a metamorphosis with their marketing and I thought that some radio readers might find this brief origins of MFJ interesting!
From their September 2020 Newsletter:
Richard “I am not a crook” Nixon was our country’s president, The Dallas Cowboys beat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI, The Godfather was released to cinemas, George Carlin is arrested in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for uttering his ” Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” comedic routine, Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in a chest match in Iceland, and in the small college town of Starkville, Mississippi a young Martin Jue started MFJ Enterprises, Inc., while still teaching at Mississippi State.
Martin F. Jue built this company back in 1972 with his bare hands. There were no other employees besides himself and he had a full time teaching job at Mississippi State University. The CW-F2 was his first product. It came about through a love of ham radio and in particular Morse code.
Since it is the day after Labor Day we thought we would salute the gentleman that brought us where we are today, The World Leaders in Amateur Radio Accessories! Without Martin Jue’s undying love and hard work for his namesake business, we all wouldn’t be enjoying our years here. MFJ has never had a major layoff or shutdown for any reason. 48 years later from Martin Jue’s single man company, we own four other businesses, have a tremendous product line and some of the most wonderful folks building ham radio toys under MFJ Enterprises, Inc.
Thanks again Martin Jue for your Labor of Love, MFJ the business. We are all grateful to you to be a part of your very successful venture into the world of business and ham radio. Your labor of love is greatly appreciated!
Produced in October 1972, the CW-F2 was designed for the big boat anchor rigs of the time to help in CW filtering. The CW-F2 could separate two CW signals and make for more enjoyable listening. Mr. Jue used to give extra credit to his students if they helped build some of these.
Look at how far we have come! SMT, modern metal punching and forming machines. Here are the insides of the modern MFJ-998RT, legal limit automatic remote antenna tuner.
We salute all laborers out there for a job well done, especially our front line doctors, nurses, police officers, our US military, and Army National Guard during these crazy times. We appreciate you and our many customers! God Bless You All!
BTW — If you want to build your own modern CW-F2 kit today, the product is still alive on our Vectronics kit line as a CW audio filter kit.
P.S. VEC-820K is very similar to the first product of MFJ. A CW Audio Filter kit that you can have fun building yourself and relive a little history of MFJ!
Thank you for sharing this, Jack!
MFJ does something that few other US manufacturers can do. They still keep the majority of their manufacturing in Mississippi and they have a solid warranty. You can even reach a human being in customer service and they repair or replace their own gear. They do this while keeping their prices very competitive.
Their gear must be the most widely used here in the States. You’re hard-pressed to find a ham who hasn’t purchased from MFJ.
Their founder and president, Martin Jue, is a top-shelf fellow, too. I’ve met him a number of times. He’s an inspiring guy with an amazing story. His employees love him, too, because he’s fully invested in his company, his community and his hobby. His company has virtually no churn at all–most of his employees have been with MFJ their entire working career.
Last month, I was very proud to add MFJ as a sponsor of the SWLing Post.
(Source: Pete Madtone)
It’s heavy on radio transmissions this month with the return of DJ Frederick’s Free Radio Skybird on Sunday 20th September at 1100 UTC (12 Noon UK time) on 6070 kHz shortwave via Channel 292 (and repeated the week after.) If you haven’t got a suitable radio it can also be heard on the SDR link on their site here. The first programme will feature DJ Frederick, Justin Patrick Moore’s Radiophonic Laboratory and our very own One Deck Pete with his “Who’d be a pirate” mix. 49 metres is again where it’s all at!
Also Sunday 27th September 2020 (and repeated the week after) at 1800 UTC (7pm UK time) on 3955 kHz via Channel 292 is the final transmission of Radio Lavalamp. The ultimate programme of the year will feature One Deck Pete with his The Purple Nucleus of Creation 003 mix. Tune in to “Your ethereal shortwave music station” on 3955 kHz or this link here when the time is right! #Freeradioskybird #radiolavalamp #shortwavesnotdead
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes:
Another radio turned up in the BBC series, ‘Death in Paradise’.
Set on a picturesque Caribbean island with an infeasibly high murder rate, we see the police interviewing a witness as he listens to the local radio station.
Can SWLing Post readers identify the radio I wonder?
Please comment if you can ID this radio! Not an easy task this time as there’s no close-up shot to pull details from the front panel. Good luck!
Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of RadioBecause 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!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Rob (PE9PE), Bennett Kobb, Harald
(DL1AX), and Dennis Dura for the following tips:
ANATEL, the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency, recently published a public consultation, CP65, which is available at this link:
In their website, LABRE, the Brazilian Amateur Radio League, was surprised by the CP65 proposal that proposes, among other topics, the extinction of the COER (amateur radio certificate) exam for all classes and replacement by free access to initial class C, as is done today with the Citizen’s Band, as well as access to subsequent classes B and A upon presentation of the Certificate of Technical Course and Graduation in Telecommunications, respectively, or minimum stay of 3 years in each class.
In addition, the aforementioned proposal suggests ending the rules of different prefixes for each of the States of the Federation, remaining only the prefix per class and there would no longer be any special callsigns.
The proposal, in addition to going against what is consensus in the international regulation related to the Amateur Radio Service, is absolutely contrary to the LABRE’s thinking with regard to the minimum requirements to be a radio amateur and also does not match ANATEL’s request for support from LABRE in the revision of amateur radio regulations in Brazil.
For further clarification on the subject, LABRE has already requested a meeting with ANATEL, which will be scheduled soon.
PR7GA
Story by Bennett Kobb:
On September 3, radio engineer Alex Pilosov of Shortwave Solutions filed with the FCC an objection to WIPE, the DRM-based HF station of Turms Tech of New York, presumed to be ready to broadcast from the Armstrong Tower in Alpine, NJ.WIPE is suspected to be intended mainly for secret, non-broadcast message transmission for private trading clients while broadcasting financial and economic news for the public.
WIPE is not yet operational. The station is waiting on its FCC license, but Pilosov took aim at possible glitches in its license application. He also raises the issue of whether U.S. shortwave stations can legally conduct non-public telecommunications in the broadcast bands in a service limited to broadcasting.
Pilosov is a consultant to HF stations in the Experimental Radio Service, which are not constrained by the broadcast rules; thus he or his clients are prospective competitors to WIPE. This is Pilosov’s second FCC objection. He also filed against the application of Parable Broadcasting for WPBC, a DRM HF station proposed for Batavia, IL.[…]
In 2020 we celebrate the centenary of radio in Argentina. Such an event can be approached in various ways, since there are several milestones along this century of radio in our country. There are some events that are marked by fire in collective memory.
It is our intention to approach the celebration focusing on an event in which radio was in the spotlight: the 1982 Malvinas War, a conflict waged on various fields: military, economic, diplomatic and, of course, communications, mainly as a means of propaganda.
Most countries over time have recognised the great potential of radio as an effective instrument both in times of war and peace. Historically, Germany was the first country to use this for purely political purposes.
During WWII the broadcasts of Radio Tokyo, Radio Germany, the BBC in London and other stations were used for propaganda and military purposes by combatant nations.
The post-war period and the subsequent Cold War brought along a “war of the airwaves”. During these years, countless stations emerged with their own propaganda styles, looking to advance their social, political and economic systems.
An example of this are the broadcasts of Radio Moscow, Voice of America or Radio Beijing. Along with these stations, others of a clearly political nature emerged, such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, that targeted countries in Eastern Europe, as well as nations that became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This group also includes the so-called clandestine stations, which generally broadcast secretly from conflict zones or from nearby regions or using rented transmission sites.
Before April 2, 1982, the Malvinas Islands had one radio station: the Falkland Islands Radio Service (FIBS) – with broadcasts in English. Content aired included locally-produced programs as well as news services of BBC London. It broadcast on 536 khz and 2370 khz.
The AM frequency was intended to cover the Port Stanley area, reaching a little further with SW transmissions.[…]
As mentioned in a previous post, Weatheradio Canada is considering shutting down 48 network transmitters across the country. SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, recommends checking out the Weatheradio Canada Newsletter for updates.
He also forwards the following list of sites that are proposed for decommissioning. Click here to download the list as a PDF.
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who shares these screen shots from “Death Wish 2” (1982). Carlos is curious if anyone is familiar with or recognizes this brand of radio:
Do you think this radio a fabricated stage prop, or a real model? Please comment!
I’ll add this post to our ever growing archive of radios in film!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rob (PE9PE), who writes:
This is an interesting tool for those hams suffering from lots of local QRM.
Thanks, Rob! CATSync seems to allow control of a web-based SDR from any OMNI Rig-supported radio via CAT control (which is the majority of transceivers). It appears CATSync allows control of tuning and mode changes via your radio and from the web SDR interface back to your rig.
One interesting use of this would be to use a remote SDR for receiving while using your home antenna for transmitting. This could help those inundated with RFI at home. While this might not be an allowed practice for contesting (having your receiver and transmitter in two different locations) it’s certainly permitted if you want to check in with a net or chat with friends. You don’t need CATSync to do this–you can always manually tune a web SDR separately–it would simply facilitate keeping both your RX and TX on the same frequency.
CATSync has a free trial with limited control–you can purchase the full version for 9.95 EUR.
Click here to check out CATSync.
Thanks for the tip, Rob!