Happy Holiday Festive Shortwave

Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 and all The Imaginary Stations crew, wish you a great festive season and send our best wishes to all for 2024! This week we’ve an Imaginary Stations Winter Special going out to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 24th December 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then on 3975 kHz at 2100 UTC. Pour yourself an egg nog if that’s your tipple of choice, tune in and enjoy the festive tunes.

Then on early Monday 25th December we have a show from deep within the Radio Thrift Shop archives, a Winter Holiday Special. Tune in at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI for the more eclectic side of yuletide/winter solstice programming featuring some wonderful tunes including a super one from Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings with “World of Love” and a mini-documentary called “In Search of the Shaggs” the rock band formed in Fremont, New Hampshire in 1965. More on the Radio Thift Store show below:

Enjoy the festive season and have a wonderful 2024! For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.

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Alan Roe’s 2023 Guide to Holiday Broadcasts on Shortwave (Version 3.1)!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares the following update:

Hi Thomas

Attached is an updated (version 3.1) list of Holiday Programming on Shortwave covering the period up to Monday 1 January 2024.

Note that this will most likely be the last version update that I will announce, however the list will continue to be updated on Box.com when and if further details are received.

Many thanks & 73

Alan Roe

Click here to download Holiday Programming on Shortwave 2023 V3.1 (PDF).

Thank you for sharing this update, Alan!

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Weather Station and Display Unit

WF-100SE Weather Station Review

WF-100SE WEATHER STATION

By Robert Gulley K4PKM

Weather stations have always intrigued me, particularly ones that sent information to the Internet. They are often more revealing than the local weather forecasts, and certainly can be used to augment NOAA weather reports. When living near a big city there were enough stations around I didn’t feel I could justify the expense, but living out in the country now there are only a few stations in the county, so I decided I would get one eventually.

About that time Radioddity came out with the WF-100SE and it seemed to tick most of the boxes I was looking for, and, as a amateur radio operator, had the Internet connectivity I sought. Since I suspected I would not be the only radio aficionado who might be interested in it, I approached Radioddity to do a review of the station and they promptly sent me a unit to review at no cost. I have reviewed other products for them, and they understand the ground rules – I tell it like it is, good or bad.

Here is a feature description as found on their website:

  • Easy-to-read Display: The WF-100SE features a large and clear 13-in-1 color display that presents weather data in a user-friendly format. Check temperature, humidity, rainfall, UV index, feels-like temperature, dew point, sunshine intensity, weather forecast, wind direction and speed, barometric pressure, and moon phase at a single glance.
  • Effortless Setup & Maintenance: Set up your weather station quickly with intuitive controls and straightforward installation instructions, and benefit from smooth operation with minimal maintenance requirements.
  • 7-in-1 Accurate Outdoor Sensor: The WF-100SE is equipped with a highly accurate outdoor sensor with upgraded rain collector, thermo-hygrometer radiation shield, and a solar panel that precisely measures weather conditions in your area. The system offers an impressive communication range of up to 330ft.
  • Sync with WeatherCloud & Wunderground: Stay updated with these platforms’ latest weather updates and forecasts via Wi-Fi. Access real-time data and make informed decisions wherever you are.
  • 24-48h Weather Forecast: Rely on the WF-100SE’s accurate sensors to provide reliable 24-48 hour weather forecasts. Whether it’s sunny, cloudy, rainy, or snowy, get prepared for any weather condition that lies ahead. Plan your activities in advance.

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Since photos often do more justice to something than just mere words, I have taken images of my display screen, as well as screen captures of my unit as it appears on the Internet. As you can see from the display unit, the image is bright, easily readable, and contains a lot of information in itself. In addition to the wind, rain, indoor/outdoor temperature, I also like that the unit displays the UV and solar radiation levels, and even the moon phase, as I like to take the telescope out now and again when the moon is not too full and obscuring things.

Display Unity

Clear, easily readable display with large print for these old eyes!

Where the unit really shines as far as information goes, is what can be displayed over the Internet. As can be seen in the images below, there is a lot more information available online, including Day/Week/Month totals and averages. These can be viewed as graphs or as a table.

Weather Underground Display of Information

Basic Information similar to the Display Unit

Weather History on Internet

Weather history can be viewed by Day/Week/Month, a really nice feature to look for trends.

Graph of weather history

Visual graph of weather history requested

Table view of weather history

This is a partial Table View of the weather History

Setup and Internet Connection

Setup was remarkably easy, and connection to the Internet was simple. Setting up the station on the Weather Underground and Weathercloud was just a matter of entering some basic information. Between the two sites I prefer the display of the Weather Underground, but that’s just me. Both worked fine.

I have ben testing the unit for several months now and it has performed flawlessly. I have compared my readings with nearby stations and they essentially agree, with slight variations as you might expect.

For those curious about the station working with APRS on the aprs.fi site, there is a process for setting up the station so that it can appear on the Google maps site for APRS, but I have not done that yet.

Conclusions

I am very pleased with the performance of this weather station, and find it’s features comparable to other well-known brands. The current price is $179, again, pretty much in line with (or less than)  other established stations, and if you sign up for their email list you will get various coupon offers throughout the year which should save you some money.

Anyone familiar with my typical reviews knows I normally try to list pros and cons, but honestly, I can think of no cons I have encountered with this unit. If you have specific features you are looking for that are not mentioned or displayed here, I would encourage you to contact Radioddity with your questions, as I have found their customer service to be quite helpful.

Update One Day Later:

I had a bit of a storm pass through this morning with some heavy wind gusts which knocked down my Weather Station. It was on a PVC pipe clamped into a tripod, no stakes, so blowing over was my fault. (Fixing that today!)

Good news is that falling from a height of 8 feet or so, no damage to the unit, everything working fine. Whew!!

Purchasing the WF-100SE ($15 Discount)

If you purchase the WF-100SE weather station via our affiliate link, you will receive a $15 discount and Radioddity will send a small commission to the SWLing Post. Click here to make your purchase (simple search for WF-100SE).

Robert Gulley, K4PKM, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post.

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Photo essay shows radios in use in refugee camp

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes:

A photo essay from Said Khatib (AFP via Getty Images) in Rafah refugee Camp, southern Gaza Strip, on December 19, 2023, shows the importance of the radio in a war-torn environment.

Embed from Getty Images

One of the radio sets is a KTF-1653 portable multiband, solar-powered radio.

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“100 years of radio in South Africa – and still going strong”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Green (ZS1JHG), who shares the following article from Tech Central:

100 years of radio in South Africa – and still going strong

Radio in South Africa turns 100 years old today. But advances in technology mean the medium is not standing still.

Today – Monday, 18 December 2023 – marks 100 years since radio was introduced in South Africa, with the first experimental broadcast going out from Railway Headquarters in Johannesburg on 18 December 1923.

Radio broadcasting began under the auspices of South African Railways, followed by the licensing of three more services: the Association of Scientific and Technical Societies in Johannesburg, the Cape Peninsular Publicity Association in Cape Town and the Durban Corporation, which began broadcasting in 1924.

These merged into the African Broadcasting Company in 1927, owned by a wealthy businessman, IW Schlesinger, but on 1 August 1936, they were sold to the SABC, established that year through an act of parliament.

The SABC took over the African Broadcasting Company’s staff and assets and maintained a state monopoly on radio until the launch in December 1979 of Capital Radio 604, and then Radio 702 in 1980.

In most of the world, reliance on the radio for communication came to an end in the 1950s and early 1960s with the advent of television – but in South Africa, where television broadcasting was not adopted until 1976 because the Nationalist government of the time considered it a threat to Afrikaner culture, reliance on radio lasted nearly two decades longer. This meant that South African programming could take advantage of the newest technological and production advances.

SABC stations included the English and Afrikaans language channels – eventually becoming SAfm and Radio Sonder Grense (RSG), respectively. Programming included news, plays and British content, and in 1950, the SABC launched Springbok Radio as a commercial, for-profit but still state-owned service. [Continue reading…]

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Alan Roe’s Updated 2023 Guide to Holiday Broadcasts on Shortwave!

Original Image by Annie SprattMany thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares the following update:

Hi Thomas

Attached is an updated (version 2) list of Holiday Programming on Shortwave covering the period Saturday 16 December 2023 to Monday 1 January 2024.

Many thanks & 73

Alan Roe

Click here to download Holiday Programming on Shortwave 2023 V2 (PDF).

Thank you for sharing this update, Alan!

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Detailed List of Radio Romania International English Programs (Dec 18 – Jan 2)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who writes:

Hi Thomas

I have been sent a listing with full descriptions of topics to be heard on the English service of Radio Romania International for most programmes for each day from 18 December to 2 January. This list was very kindly compiled and supplied by Vlad Paclu from RRI. [P]lease let Vlad and the team at RRI know that their efforts to provide such information over the holiday period was useful – their email address is [email protected]

Many thanks

Alan Roe

Click here to download the RRI Program Schedule (PDF).

Thank you for sharing this with us, Alan, and we’ll let Vlad and the team know how much we appreciate it! Sending my email now!

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