FTIOM & UBMP, December 1-7

Leave a reply

From the Isle of Music, December 1-7:
This week our special guest is Ricardo Oropesa, who will discuss the new album by Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro, Para Siempre Embale with us. We will also enjoy
some tasty charanga by Orquesta Original de Manzanillo.
The broadcasts take place:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Sofia, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in the Netherlands during the broadcast at
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?tune=9400am
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0100-0200 UTC (New UTC) on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US).
If you don’t have a shortwave or are out of range, you can listen to a live stream from the WBCQ website here (choose 7490) http://www.wbcq.com/?page_id=7
3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from a listening radio in Europe.
Visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/fromtheisleofmusic

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, December 1 and 3:
Episode 141 features new releases of Latin music.
The transmissions take place:
1.Sundays 2300-2330 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
If you don’t have a shortwave or are out of range, you can listen to a live stream from the WBCQ website here (choose 7490) http://www.wbcq.com/?page_id=7
2. Tuesdays 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe.
If you don’t have a shortwave radio or are out of range, you can listen live to an uplink from different web SDRs in Europe.
Visit our Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/UncleBillsMeltingPot

Radio Deal: HRO Black Friday sale Yaesu FT-891 $589.95

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Robert Gulley (K4PKM), who notes that HRO’s Black Friday sale also features one of his favorite full-featured mobile HF rigs: the Yaesu FT-891 for $589.95.

Click here to view this deal at Ham Radio Outlet.

Check out all of our holiday sales tips by bookmarking the tag Black Friday Radios 2019.

Do you have a deal tip? Please share them via email, or simply leave a comment!

Radio Deal: HRO 2019 Black Friday sale Icom IC-7300 $899.95 after rebates

4 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans (W4/VP9KF), who notes that HRO’s Black Friday sale features the Icom IC-7300 for $899.95 after rebates. That’s the lowest price I’ve seen on the IC-7300! Thanks for the tip, Paul!

Click here to view this deal at Ham Radio Outlet.

Check out all of our holiday sales tips by bookmarking the tag Black Friday Radios 2019.

Do you have a deal tip? Please share them via email, or simply leave a comment!

Radio Deal: Retekess V115 $14.00 shipped on Amazon

3 Replies

After looking at the Eton Elite Mini sale Christian shared, I discovered that the Retekess V115 is currently $14.00 shipped on Amazon “for a limited time.”

Click here to read our previous reviews of this radio. The V-115 makes for a great portable broadcast receiver/recorder and has very pleasant audio–certainly a benchmark performer in the sub $25 category. It’s a great little backup radio to keep in the car glove compartment or go-bag. This is the lowest prices for the V-115 I’ve ever seen. This receiver typically floats around the $23-25 range.

Click here to view on Amazon.com (affiliate link supports the SWLing Post).

Check out all of our holiday sales tips by bookmarking the tag Black Friday Radios 2019.

Do you have a deal tip? Please share them via email, or simply leave a comment!

Radio Deal: Eton Elite Mini $19.99 shipped

5 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Christian, who writes:

Thomas: the new Eton Elite Mini is on sale for $19.99 plus free shipping from Amazon.com. This is the latest in Eton’s series of “mini” radios. If you’re looking for a nice stocking stuffer radio, this is a great one! If you already own a previous mini I wouldn’t bother buying because I feel like this might just be an updated body design. Internals are probably the same. Still while the Elite Mini is on sale, it’s actually cheaper than the discounted previous version which is currently $21.

Click here to view on Amazon (affiliate link supports the SWLing Post).

Thanks for the tip, Christian!

Radio Deal: AirSpy 30% off Black Friday Sale

5 Replies

The AirSpy HF+ SDR

Just discovered through the AirSpy Twitter account that they’re offering 30% off all of their products via their authorized retail outlets.

This morning, I posted an article featuring their $169 HF+ Discovery. Another AirSpy SDR I highly recommend is the $199 HF+ SDR. This deal would give you 30% off those prices.

According to AirSpy, the coupon code AWARDWINNING2019 will be activated “within a few hours.” I believe this might mean at midnight UTC because they had mentioned a November 26th activation date. Although the sale extends until December 2, 2019, AirSpy states that supplies are limited.

If you’ve been considering an AirSpy product, now would be a good time to grab one!

Click here for a list of participating retailers in your region.

Note that we’re posting all of the holiday radio deals we discover with the tag: Black Friday Radios 2019

Coastal DXing with the AirSpy HF+ Discovery and a homebrew passive loop antenna

14 Replies

Last week, we packed the car and headed to coast of South Carolina.

The trip was a bit impromptu but through the creative use of hotel points, we scored a two bedroom ocean front unit with a fantastic little balcony.

The vacation gave me an excuse to test the new passive loop antenna my buddy Vlado (N3CZ) helped me build recently.

The loop design came from AirSpy’s engineer and president, Youssef Touil.

This passive mag loop takes advantage of the new AirSpy HF+ Discovery‘s exceptionally high dynamic range. Youssef had reported impressive results, so I had to build one.

Vlado had a length of Wireman Flexi 4XL that was ideal for this project. The only tricky part was penetrating the shielding and dielectric core at the bottom of the loop, then tapping into both sides of the center conductor for the balun connections. Being Vlado, he used several lengths of heat shrink tubing to make a nice, clean and snag-free design.

The results were truly exceptional. I spent most of my time on mediumwave from the hotel balcony because I was determined to catch a transatlantic signal.

Check out the spectrum display from my Microsoft Surface Go tablet:

Our ocean front hotel was inundated with noise, but I still managed to null out most of it and maximize reception using the passive loop. I simply suspended the loop on the balcony rocking chair–not ideal, but effective and low-profile.

Want to take a test drive?

If you’d like to experience this portable SDR setup, why not tune through one of the spectrum recordings I made?

Click here to download the spectrum file [1.7GB .wav].

The recording was made on November 17, 2019 starting around 01:55 UTC–I chose it at random and have yet to listen to it myself. You’ll need to open this file in AirSpy’s application SDR# or a third party SDR app that can read AirSpy .wav files.

Stay tuned…

I’m writing an in-depth report of the HF+ Discovery, my experiments with this setup and AirSpy’s soon-to-be-released passive loop antenna for the January 2020 issue The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Spoiler alert: I am truly impressed with the wee little AirSpy HF+ Discovery. It’s a powerhouse!