Dx-Camp Marajó Island: Thank you for the support!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Martin Butera who shares the following note:

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The DXcamp that took place between November 15 and 18 on the island of Marajó was the first event of this kind held in Brazil and perhaps in South America.

This DXcamp got the attention of several sponsors who helped the 15.61 Crew, including: C.Crane, SDRplay, DS Antennas (Brazil), Heil Sound, COMPACtenna, Cross Country Wireless, Antennas4Less, NI4L Antennas, Radiwow, RTL-SDR, ELAD, SSB, RadioShack, Antennas Loop DZ by Denis Zoqbi (Brazil), Arrow Antennas and the SWLing Post blog.

Different organizations and clubs are included: BDXC (British DX Club), EDXC (European DX Council), SR (Sugar Radio – Sperimental Group), RC (Romeo Charlie Dx Group), Colón Dx Club, Dxnews.com, among others.

We would like to thank everyone for supporting us and we hope to have all of you, in the next Dxcamp as well as all the people, beyond the brands, who believed in our project and supported this Dxcamp: Ligia Katze (DXcamp photographer and Martin Butera’s wife), Mark Van Marx (Marcos Melzi, photo editor), Orlando Perez (PT2OP), Chrissy Brand BDXC (British DX Club), all members of the European DX Council, Thomas Witherspoon ( SWLing Post), John Wilder KJ6AVJ (C.Crane Radio), Jon Hudson (SDRplay), Murilo Rodrigues (DS Antennas – Brazil), Bob Heil (Heil Sound), Chris Molding (Cross Country Wireless), Chris Fox (Ni4L), Madeleine Wellie (SSB -Electronic GmbH), Tim Chapman (Arrow Antennas), Jack Nilsson (COMPACtenna), Carl Laufer (RTL-SDR.com), Darrell / K7LZR (antennas4less.com), Denis Zobqi (Stars Telecom – Brazil), Radiwow, Elad SDR , RadioShack, Stephane (RC Int. DX Group), Mimmo (Sperimental Radio), Sal Al (GCC DX Foundation), all members of the Colón Dx Group and DXnews.com.

The report will be ready in January 2020,
Stay tuned for the official website https://dxcamp-marajo2019.blogspot.com/ and for the publications of SWLing Post and the BDXC (British Dx Club).

Ivan Dias da Silva Junior & Martin Butera

(15.61 Crew founders)

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FTIOM & UMBP, December 8-14

Ivan tests the SDRplay RSPdx’s HDR mode

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan (NO2CW), who writes:

The new RSPdx has what they call “High Dynamic Range: (HDR) mode below 2 mHz. I tested a day after receiving the new unit by turning HDR mode on and off. It seemed to make quite a difference when receiving Non Directional Beacons.

As far as Medium Wave itself, I did see some difference but it was harder to make conclusions there as propagation of weak signals on medium wave can change up and down in the course of a minute and some additional testing on Medium Wave will be done in the future. Overall for anyone interested in the world below 2 mHz HDR mode is definitely something to explore!

My video is here:

Thank you for sharing, Ivan!

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Modifying a Degen DE1103 DSP for longwave/VLF?

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jiri Kaplan, who writes:

Is it possible to modify the new (DSP) DEGEN DE1103 for VLF reception?

Like before, the old Degen version (without DSP), see these videos:

I wonder if instead of the DE1103 I should buy the PL-660 or PL-680?
I think DSP is worse and the old version can no longer unfortunately be purchased.
My main concern is good selectivity and sensitivity, I live in the city, there are many strong signals.

Thank you for your question, Jiri.

I’m certain you can’t use the same modification of the original DE1103 on the DSP version to achieve VLF reception. In fact, unless the DSP chip itself can be hacked, I imagine modding the DSP DE1103 for VLF would be quite difficult.

I hope more knowledgeable SWLing Post readers can comment with a definitive answer.

Regarding the choice between the DE1103 DSP and the PL–660 or PL-680? I wouldn’t hesitate to grab either Tecsun receiver over the DE1103 DSP. Check out my short review of the DE1103 DSP for more info about this particular model’s shortcomings.

You’re right about finding the original DE1103. I did create this eBay link that should help filter out the DSP models from the search results. At time of posting, there were no listings.

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2019 “Cyber Monday” Radio Deals

CBC’s Nightfall: “A Short Wave Goodbye”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Zack Schindler, who writes:

In the early 1980’s CBC Radio 1 had a radio play show called Nightfall. Most episodes dealt with the supernatural. I used to listen to this from CBE (1550 khz) in Windsor Ontario. One episode that aired in 1981 was called Shortwave Goodbye and the story was about a “ham radio enthusiast who receives messages from the future. When he gets rich gambling, will he be able to rid himself of his shrewish wife before she and her lover can kill him first? “

Here’s the audio recording from the Internet Archive:

You can also listen to this recording on YouTube.

Many thanks, Zack, for sharing a link to this program! Although I’ve listened to loads of OTR programs, I somehow missed Nightfall.

For more information about Nightfall, check out this page from Awake At Midnight and this page on WikiPedia.

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ABC celebrates 80 years of international broadcasting

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Geraldine Doogue (Photo by Peter Marks)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Peter Marks, who was recently invited to attend an ABC celebration. Peter wrote up a summary of the event on his blog:

80 years of international broadcasting by the ABC was celebrated this week at the headquarters in Ultimo, Sydney.

David Hua, ABC Head, International Strategy introduced the event.

Geraldine Doogue was the MC for the evening. She described the International division as “Taking Australian culture beyond its shores”. Doogue described ABC International as the very best of the ABC and said that the people who work in it have a sense of pride in Australia and work out how to present it to the world.

Ita Buttrose, ABC chair, said “The birth of Australia’s international broadcasting service came at a time of global upheaval, uncertainty and disruption. Australia seemed far removed from the epicentre of conflict in Europe, but the technology of cable and wireless brought the war in to living rooms across the country.”

As Ms Buttrose noted in her recent speech at the Lowy Institute, radio technology also gave Australia the opportunity to speak directly, for the first time, to its near neighbours, countering the propaganda and fake news of the day.

Click here to continue reading the full article on Peter’s blog.

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