Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
Jeff has discovered something that portable radio enthusiasts have known for more than a decade: the PL-880 sports some of the best audio fidelity in a modern portable radio!
His review prompted me to search for my original review of the PL-880. It turns out I published it in December 2013. Has it really been over 11 years since the PL-880 was introduced? It’s hard to believe—but I’ll admit it still holds its own. I’ll never let mine go.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan, who shares the following YouTube video about Worldspace satellite radio.
If you’re not familiar, WorldSpace Satellite Radio was a pioneering satellite radio network that operated from the mid-1990s to the early 2010s. It provided digital audio broadcasting services to underserved regions, particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. An amazing program, but sadly, funding ran short.
Hi to all SWLing Post community! FastRadioBurst 23 here with news of this week’s Imaginary Stations shortwave output.
On Saturday 25th January 2025 at 1200 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and also on Sunday 26th January 2025 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and at 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz via Shortwave Gold we’ll be bringing you WARM 3 (which was broadcast on WRMI last week if you missed it) a continuation of tunes to heat you up during this winter period (if it is winter where you are). So hitch up the huskies, take off your snowshoes, grab that USB powered hot water bottle and enjoy some great tunes. You can be assured there won’t be any lukewarm songs on the show, they’ll all either be hot or just below boiling.
Feeling cold or feeling run down with a cold? Well on Wednesday January 29th January 2025 at 0300 UTC via WRMIwe have WARM 4 with tunes hotter than a thermal vest. Tune in and WARM up! More on our WARM shows here.
For more information on all our shows, please write to imaginarystations@gmail.com and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Alan, who writes:
Thomas,
You have been reviewing radios on your site lately, which has prompted me to produce an up-to-date table of all frequencies allocated to radio and TV broadcasting.
Worldwide radios need to tune any frequency up to 240 MHz. DAB+ in the 1.452 – 1.492 GHz band has been a failure. TV is as indicated.
Some chip manufacturers are making FM reception for the CIS and Japanese markets, they need to tune down to 47 MHz to cover all of band 1 for DRM.
Please note that DRM and DAB+ can transmit coloured slide shows to the screen in DAB+ and DRM receivers provided they have a colour screen included.
Over the past few weeks, I have received messages from several of you stating that you are no longer getting email notifications via WordPress when new articles are posted on the SWLing Post.
I have contacted support, and they believe they may have resolved the issue. I had the same issue with QRPer.com and it appears they have indeed fixed the issue.
If you subscribe to new posts via WordPress, could you please leave a comment to let me know if you received a notification about this post in your email inbox? I would especially appreciate feedback from those who haven’t been receiving emails recently but did receive this one.
Hopefully, the issue has been fixed. If not, we will continue to work with support to ensure everything is functioning properly soon.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Carlos Latuff, who shares the following guest post:
Exploring Radio Radio Nikkei
by Carlos Latuff
It’s been a while since I listened to Nikkei Radio, a Japanese commercial broadcaster that operates on shortwave for a domestic audience. If I remember well, the signal was very weak and, since I don’t speak Japanese, I didn’t know what the content of its broadcasts was about. But today, with the possibility of recording the audio, transcribing it and translating it, it has become more interesting to follow its programs on shortwave here in Brazil, more specifically in Porto Alegre (distance between Nikkei’s transmitter in Chiba, Japan, and Porto Alegre, Brazil: 18779 km).
Nikkei Radio 1 was founded in 1954 and Nikkei 2 in 1963, and at the time it was called Nihon Shortwave Broadcasting Co., better known by the acronym “NSB”. Some Japanese electronics manufacturers have in the past released receivers dedicated to receiving the signal from these stations (see below).
Today, the Japanese company Audiocomm has radio models whose packaging states that this receiver is compatible with Nikkei Radio; note the image alluding to horse racing (see below).
I haven’t been able to acquire any of these devices (yet), since they were basically produced for the Japanese public. But any receiver with shortwave bands can tune into Radio Nikkei. I use my good old XHDATA D-808 with a long wire antenna. In Porto Alegre, the best propagation is between 08:45 AM and 06:15 AM (UTC). In the late afternoon, the signal also arrives, but with a fair amount of static.
Both Radio Nikkei 1 and Radio Nikkei 2 operate on the following frequencies:
Radio Nikkei 1:
3.925 MHz (in case of emergency)
6.055 MHz
9.595 MHz (in case of emergency)
Radio Nikkei 2:
3.945 MHz (in case of emergency)
6.115 MHz
9.76 MHz: (in case of emergency)
On the station’s website https://www.radionikkei.jp/ you can find details of its programming, as well as broadcast times, including a table (in Japanese) with this information, which can be translated with the help of Google Lens.
Radio Nikkei also broadcasts its programming via streaming, however the platform used (radiko) is inaccessible to me here in Brazil (see message below).
Nikkei Radio is majority-owned by the business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which means the station focuses mainly on the financial market. However, much of its programming, especially on weekends, is dedicated to horse racing, a popular sport in Japan. In addition to news, talk shows and music, the radio station also broadcasts evangelical preaching (!). One of these religious programs is called “True Salvation” and is sponsored by The Japan Gospel Mission, a Christian Protestant organization.
This heterogeneous mix of business, horses and Jesus Christ makes Nikkei Radio an interesting station to tune into, to say the least.
The radio listening sessions published here were made in the central Porto Alegre, Brazil, between January 15th and 19th, 2025.
(Domo arigato gozai masu Mr. Tagawa Shigeru for helping me with translation).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Jeff McMahon, who notes that he’s recently published a short review of the Tecsun PL-880 on his blog, The Herculodge.
