Fair Radio Sales is closing

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Phil (W9IXX), who shares the following note posted on the Fair Radio Sales website:

After being in the surplus electronic military business over 50 years, I
have decided it’s time to retire and close the business. Fair Radio Sales
has over 30,000 sq ft of electronic parts and equipment that must go.
Over the next several months plan your visit to Fair Radio to stock up on electronic
parts, equipment, manuals, vacuum tubes and one of a kind items at
lower than hamfest prices. Buy an item, a pallet, or a truckload.
Come and make a deal. Cash and carry

Certainly the end of an era. I’ve bought a number of items from Fair Radio Sales over the years. If you live within driving distance and have vintage radio gear (especially military), you might consider a visit to stock up!

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Typhoon Khanun: Carlos’ Radiofax decodes using an XHDATA D-808 and Mag Loop antenna

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Carlos’ Radiofax portable receiving and recording station.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who recently shared a number of Radiofax images of Typhoon Khanun he’s decoded over the past few days–apologies as I’ve been traveling and could not post when received. Carlos writes:

Attached is a satellite image broadcasted today by Japanese meteorological agency via radiofax (7795 kHz USB), and received by me in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at 19h10 UTC.

Even with image quality compromised by the signal, it’s possible to spot powerful typhoon Khanun, approaching Okinawa, with winds of 220 km/h.

Receiver is a Xhdata D-808 with loop antenna, signal decoded by HF Weather Fax app.

Also:

Tropical cyclone forecast broadcasted today by Japanese meteorological agency via radiofax (7795 kHz USB), received in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at 19h50 UTC.

Typhoon Khanun is approaching Okinawa, with winds of 220 km/h.

In addition:

Radiofax (detail) from the meteorological agency of Japan, received today at 19:50 UTC in Porto Alegre, frequency 7795 kHz (USB). In the circle, position of the powerful typhoon Khanun, in southern Japan.

Thank you for sharing these, Carlos. It’s amazing that with such simple equipment we can track and download weather events and imagery like this. Pretty amazing!

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DnB mix on shortwave via RNEI!

Bill identifies a “credit card” HT in the movie “Hollow Man”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD) who writes:

Hi Thomas,

Last night, I was watching the movie “Hollow Man.” Being a ham, I’m always watching for ham gear being used in movies. Quite often they use various Kenwood or Icom handheld radios.

At about 1 and half hours in the movie, I caught a glimpse of what I thought was one
of the more usual (and unlikely) ham heldhelds:

Just from this screen clip, I was pretty sure that I was looking at the Alinco DJ-C5 credit card HT.

I was able to capture another clip that confirmed it:

In the late 90’s, Alinco made three credit card radios; DJ-C1 for two meters, DJ-C4 for 440 and finally the DJ-C5 dual band that could also receive the aircraft band.

The C1 and C4 were earpiece only radios while the C5 had a small speaker added which made it a lot more usable.

They are quite amazing little radios. It was great fun seeing them appear in a movie.

Here’s one of mine with a ink pen next to it to show size:

Thank you for sharing this, Bill! I remember when these credit card-sized HTs were on the market and I wanted one if for no other reason than to feel like a spy! Great catch, OM!

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Ron recommends the Planespotter Indoor VHF Airband Antenna

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

If you like monitoring the VHF airband then this antenna might interest you.It is a half-wave dipole cut for the middle of the band. (Recall that half wave vertical dipoles do not need ground radials.)

It is very well built and pretty rugged but is not meant for outdoor use.

How well does it perform? That depends on several things…how far you are from your airport? What is the “lay of the land” where you live? Etc.

Does it work better than the supplied telescoping antenna that came with your scanner?
Yes indeed.

And you will also notice an improvement in comms from aircraft in flight, too.
I had hoped to hear the ATIS and VOR from my local airport but they are too far away (20 miles).

In addition, the eBay seller (and builder) is also very pleasant to deal with.

https://ebay.us/qV5Hsg

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Radio Romania International shuts down two transmitters after budget cuts

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RRI’s Tiganesti-based shortwave transmitter centre (Photo source: Radio Romania International)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following news from RRI:

Two transmitters discontinued

Two out of the five transmitters broadcasting RRI’s programmes are temporarily suspended as of 1 August

Dear friends, the Radio Romania Board of Administrators decided to temporarily suspend the use of 2 out of the 5 Radiocom shortwave transmitters that ensure the broadcast of Radio Romania International programmes, because of budget cuts. As of August 1, our programmes are aired via one transmitter in ?ig?ne?ti, one in S?ftica (both of them near Bucharest) and one in Galbeni (east). As soon as the budget of the institution is restored, we will resume broadcasts on all 5 transmitters.

The RRI programmes in Romanian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and Hebrew are affected. All of them may be received on only one frequency instead of 2, as of August 1, 2023. The frequencies as well as any other prospective changes operated by Radiocom further to reception monitoring and to your feedback on reception quality will be announced in our broadcasts, on our web page and on Facebook.

Budget restrictions also prompted a reduction of the night time power of medium wave transmitters that broadcast Radio Romania News and Current Affairs programmes and of some regional stations.

We invite you to follow RRI’s programmes online at www.rri.ro (including on demand), on SoundCloud, on Android and iOS apps, via TuneIn and via satellite. You can find more details on our home page. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Spotify.

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Alan Roe’s A23 season guide to music on shortwave (version 4.0)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his A-23 (version 4.0) season guide to music on shortwave. Alan provides this amazing resource as a free PDF download: