Caversham Park (Photo source: BBC)
(Source: BBC World Service via Julie M)
For 75 years the BBC ran a monitoring service based in an English stately home. Its job was to listen to foreign broadcasts from all around the world. But in 2018 the BBC decided the building was no longer needed. David Sillito spoke to veterans of the monitoring service before Caversham closed its doors.
A number of SWLing Post readers have been asking about the status of the Titus II portable DRM/SDR radio. I’ve been checking the project website, but had not seen an update in a long time, so I contacted the company. Mike, with PantronX, kindly replied with the following update:
As you might be aware, we have joined up with Fraunhofer to include their MMPlayer app standard on Titus–what a difference a professional decoder, for both analog, DRM(+), and DAB(+), makes! MMPlayer is full featured even including reliable one way file downloads with DRM.
We are attempting also to license HD to include on the app for North America, making a truly worldwide receiver. Some deficiencies in our version of Android have caused issues as well as MMPlayer. All of which have caused delays leading to some serious business decisions – as you can imagine. You are correct that broadcasters have made large orders that will be fulfilled first. There are units in the field testing and such and continuing resolution of the software issues.
One of the issues that folks seem to have a hard time understanding is that we can not just build a few hundred or even thousands of units. Our minimum run is 10,000pcs! To do that everything has to be 100% – including the software. We simply will not ship units that are not 100%. Titus works, MMPlayer works – its that last 5% that takes the most time to resolve. These facts preclude any incremental production attempts. All that being said, we are very hopeful that the first production run is ready by last quarter of this year.
Thank you for the update, Mike!
(Source: Star Tribune via Mike Hansgen)
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when from out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of … a sound effects man with a pair of coconut shells.
Radio theater, which was killed off by television, is being resurrected on the air — and the internet — across the country and across the state.
In International Falls, Icebox Radio Theater produces a twice monthly podcast about a tiny northern Minnesota town isolated by a meteorite strike. “Weird stuff keeps happening,” said playwright Jeff Adams of the fictional town of Icebox, Minn. “Comedy and science fiction and maybe some dark touches now and then.”
St. Cloud’s “Granite City Radio Theatre” serves up inside humor plus cameo appearances by the police chief and the university president. “Imagine ‘Prairie Home Companion’ was about your neighborhood,” said Jo McMullen-Boyer, station manager of KVSC, which has produced the skit-and-music show four times a year for six years. “It’s hyperlocal. It’s poking fun at ourselves, but also with pride.”
And in the Twin Cities, the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society embraces nostalgia by turning recordings of old radio shows into scripts, which it stages as live performances (including sound effects and commercials) before audiences at the James J. Hill Center in downtown St. Paul.[…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who writes:
Here you have a new video from Radio Prague “A visit to Czech Radio”.
Enjoy!!!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ulis, who shares the screenshot above–from the FX series Archer–via Twitter and notes:
Hats off to the artists of @archerfxx for their very detailed illustration of an aircraft #shortwave radio in the latest episode of Archer. Though only shown for a second it caught my eye! Bravo! @SWLingDotCom @swlbcl pic.twitter.com/OSpWr0mVBa
— Ulis K3LU (@UlisK3LU) May 31, 2018
I agree! Kudos to the Archer team! That’s a brilliant and intricate illustration for an animated series. Thank you for sharing, Ulis!
I’ll add this post to our growing archive of radios in film.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mehdi Asgari (DF2HF / NM9A), who shares photos from the 2018 Friedrichshafen ham radio convention flea market. Be sure to also check out photos we posted yesterday of Friedrichshafen vendors. Thank you, Mehdi!
by Mehdi Asgari (DF2HF)
Mehdi is a software engineer and SDR lover working in Berlin. He’s a licensed ham (DF2HF & NM9A) and also a member of EP2C club.
Based on readers correspondence, the most anticipated non-shortwave radio to hit the market this year might be the Sangean HDR-14 AM/FM HD radio.
Sangean sent me a sample evaluation unit and I’ve had it on the air since taking delivery last week. I’m starting to put the elements of my HDR-14 review together while also writing Part 2 of my SDR primer for The Spectrum Monitor magazine (Part 1 was published last week). Indeed, I’ve a total of five reviews and evaluations on my desk right now–!
So far, I’m impressed with the little HDR-14. If you recall my review of the Sangean HDR-16, I mentioned that one of my benchmark distant HD FM stations is WFAE 2–its transmitter is a full 101 miles from my home and I’m well outside even the the fringe reception area.
The HDR-14 has a unique back stand: a small foot that swivels out of the base of the chassis.
I’m pleased to note that on more than one occasion, I’ve gotten a reliable HD lock of WFAE from my porch. A most positive sign!
Over the next three weeks, the HDR-14 will be travelling with me and I hope to even snag an AM HD station if all goes well.
I can tell you already that I’m as pleased as punch Sangean gave the HDR-14 a total of 20 AM and 20 FM memory presets. The larger HDR-16, in contrast, only has 5 AM and 5 FM presets.
Look for my review of the HDR-14 on the SWLing Post in the coming weeks. If interested, follow the tag: HDR-14
I’ve noted that both Universal Radio and Amazon.com (affiliate link) have the HDR-14 in stock and shipping. Universal’s price is $79.99 plus shipping and Amazon’s price is $88.67 including shipping.