Beautiful emailed QSL card from Undercover Radio
This QSL card just came today from a broadcast on Halloween, station Undercover Radio. There were a number of broadcasts that night, but this was by far the most unusual that I heard!
Robert Gulley, K4PKM, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Robert also blogs at All Things Radio.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Frans Goddijn, who writes:
Dear Thomas,
Recently I watched the film “Golda” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14454876/)
There are quite a few RACAl receivers in the film and I will send you a few screen snapshots!
Best regards,
Frans
Thank you for sharing these screen shots, Frans! What a gorgeous radio!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes:
For the first time, I received in Porto Alegre a noisy radiofax from the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia: Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) map.
Frequency of 20469 kHz USB, 08h45 UTC.
Radiofax (noisy)
Original
My request for a QSL card was kindly answered (attached along the radiofax and the original chart from BoM’s website). Notice that BoM’s transmitter is 1 KW only!
I realize that your Radiofax decode wa noisy, but I feel like that’s an impressive feat considering the distance involved, the fact that your radio was a portable, and their output power was only 1,000 watts. Proper Radiofax DX! Thanks for sharing!
Good day all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week’s Imaginary Stations transmissions. Beamed to Europe via Shortwave Gold on Sunday 5th November 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz, we have Radio Ace (2) featuring the further Adventures of Flash Frisbone. If you loved the last episode, you’ll love this one!
A few hours later via the transmitters of WRMI on Monday 6th November we have the return of the Blue light shortwave special and the only official supermarket radio show, KMRT at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz and then repeated at 0400 UTC on 9455 kHz.
This show is for all the shoppers out there and as usual expect centre aisle specials and “once in a lifetime” bargains. For maximum effect please listen through a supermarket type PA system and do remember “When it’s gone, IT’S GONE!” (until the next time).
For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.
Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of RadioWelcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Andrea Borgnino, Paul, and Dennis Dura for the following tips:
It will provide listeners in Gaza with the latest information and developments as well as safety advice on where to access shelter, food and water supplies
BBC News Arabic has today (1 November) announced an Emergency Radio Service for Gaza in response to the conflict in the region.
The emergency service – Gaza Daily – will broadcast vital news daily to the people of Gaza during this time of urgent need.
It will provide listeners in Gaza with the latest information and developments as well as safety advice on where to access shelter, food and water supplies.
Produced in Cairo and London and broadcast on medium wave, the service will initially run one programme a day at 1500 GMT from Friday 3 November. A second daily update will be broadcast at 0500 GMT from Friday 10 November.
The BBC World Service has a history of responding to emergency situations globally. Most recently, in May 2023 during the conflict in Sudan BBC News Arabic began an emergency radio service. In February 2022, the BBC News Ukraine service began extended TV bulletins following the invasion of the country. The BBC also previously launched a service for Gaza in 2014 following a summer of conflict.
Liliane Landor, Director, BBC World Service, says: “BBC News Arabic are extremely well-placed to offer this vital service for the people of Gaza at a time of greatest need. Their expertise and specialist knowledge of the region alongside the BBC’s reputation as the most trusted news provider, means we can reach civilians in Gaza with the information they need.”
RM3
Notes to editors: The Gaza service will be broadcast on MW 639kHz for morning and evening episodes.
Commission will vote in November on plan to remove outdated technical restrictions
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel says the FCC plans to “incentivize innovation and experimentation in the amateur radio bands” by getting rid of outdated restrictions and providing licensees with the flexibility to use modern digital emissions.
The commission at its November meeting is expected to take action on a Report and Order that would eliminate the baud rate limitation and establish a bandwidth limitation in the amateur radio bands below 29.7 MHz.
The order being circulated for tentative consideration by the commission would remove the baud rate limitation — the rate at which the carrier waveform amplitude, frequency and/or phase is varied to transmit information — for data emissions in the amateur radio bands, the FCC says. The current baud rate limits were adopted in 1980.
The order would implement a 2.8 kilohertz bandwidth limitation in place of the baud rate in amateur radio bands. The 2.8 kHz limitation is consistent with the commission’s treatment of other wireless radio services, the FCC says.
The current rules limit the baud rate for high-frequency amateur radioteletype/data transmissions to 300 baud for frequencies below 28 MHz (except in the 60-meter band), and 1200 baud in the 10 meter (28-29.7 MHZ) band. [Continue reading…]
Amateur radio operators who study space physics and the upper atmosphere probed the ionosphere’s response to the 2023 annular solar eclipse using shortwave transmissions.
On 14 October, millions of people in North, Central, and South America peered through safety glasses and other viewing aids at the partially obscured Sun. Simultaneously, thousands of folks experienced the annular solar eclipse in a different way: through transmissions sent and received over amateur radios.
Before, during, and after the eclipse, ham radio operators pinged signals off the ionosphere and connected to people hundreds or thousands of kilometers away. The experiment, part of the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI), is gathering hundreds of thousands of those contacts to investigate how the ionosphere responds to the temporary loss of sunlight during an eclipse. [Continue reading…]
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Photo: US Coast Guard
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following video/recording and notes:
Hey Thomas, [Check out] how well the USCG signal arrives from Chesapeak in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It’s a NOAA Pacific NE forecast.
I made this video at 06h36 (09h36 UTC):
[Here is an audio ifile so you can get an idea of the quality of the reception:
That is amazing reception in Brazil, Carlos! Thank you for sharing this! I must say, you really give your XHDATA D-808 a workout! It’s a proper little DX machine!
Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates. Spend some time on the HF bands tonight and you’ll easily tune in to numerous stations. Expect pirates to emerge like The Great Pumpkin!
Here are two things you’ll want to do this Halloween weekend:
Follow real-time pirate radio spots and loggings on the HF Underground discussion forum. If you’ve never tuned to a pirate in the past, these real-time loggings will help you find pirates while they’re on the air and also help you ID them!
Listen for pirate radio stations tonight! Turn on your radio anytime today, but especially around twilight and tune between 6,920 – 6,980 kHz. Pirates broadcast on both AM and SSB; you’re bound to hear a few. If you’re brand new to pirate radio listening, you might read my pirate radio primer by clicking here.