Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Nigel Holmes–formerly of Radio Australia–for the following update regarding Nick Xenophon’s bill to resume ABC shortwave services:
Last Friday I travelled to Canberra and fronted the Senate Committee hearing testimony on the matter of HF broadcasting & Senator Xenophon’s Bill to compel ABC to resume HF domestically & for RA. I was grilled like a breakfast kipper. It went well.
Another witness was Graeme Dobell, a legendary radio & print journalist who has travelled & worked all over the Pacific region. Graeme has written some good articles on the current subject. See here:
Interestingly another ex-RA journalist & RA senior executive Geoff Heriot wrote a recent piece critical of ABCs degradation of RA specialist programming. See here:
Thank you, Nigel. We appreciate your updates and are certainly thankful that you have been representing the interests of those who believe in ABC maintaining a presence on shortwave.
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, David, who writes with the following inquiry:
I really enjoy the SWLing site. It’s great and you guys have such good reviews and information!
I’m looking for a radio and one thing I have not seen on the site is a “features” type breakdown when you could limit the radios by the features you’re looking for. Maybe I missed it???
I’m looking for a portable radio (option to run on batteries, rechargeable, etc.) that has SW/AM/FM and the NOAA bands (perk if it has SAME) and has an Aux In so I can play music from my phone/whatever on it.
This will be a radio that I can take camping, to parks, have in the car for trips, gatherings, etc. I’d like it to have enough speaker that music is enjoyable, but not such a large form factor that it’s impossible/silly to lug around when needed.
Does such a thing exist!? Any recommendations? Thanks so much.
Good questions, David! I like your suggestion about a master feature list for comparing portables. If I have the time someday, I might try to put something like this together (else, perhaps, a Post contributor can volunteer for the job?).
The Skywave ticks every box on your feature list–it is even capable of SAME weather alerts! It’s also an excellent performer and my favorite compact travel radio that’s currently in production.
The only item missing on the Skywave is an audio AUX-in port, but I can’t think of any other radio on the market that comes closer to meeting your wish list than the Skywave.
SWLing Post readers: Perhaps you can help? Please comment if you can recommend a portable that meets all of David’s criteria. I may very well have overlooked a model. Obviously, the two features that make this search more challenging are weather radio and an an AUX-in port. Please comment with your suggestions!
Another radio spotted in a TV show, this time in the Netflix show iZombie.
Having been gifted a Yaesu FRG-7700 recently, it was an easy spot.
Click to enlarge
This FRG-7700 appears to be a ‘special’ model however, with a microphone plugged into the headphone socket and able to act as a transceiver!!
You have sharp eyes, Mark! Yes, indeed, it looks like they’ve turned that ‘7700 into a transceiver by plugging a mic into the headphone jack. Now why didn’t we think of that?!? 🙂
The last VOA Radiogram is this weekend. The successor to VOA Radiogram is Shortwave Radiogram, which will be broadcast for the first time on 25 June on the WRMI times and frequencies in the schedule below.
To help us keep in touch after the migration from the old Radiogram to the new Radiogram, please note the following changes …
The Mighty KBC transmits to Europe Saturdays at 1500-1530 UTC on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria), with the minute of MFSK at about 1530 UTC (if you are outside of Europe, listen via websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ ). And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday 8-10 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz, via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 0130 UTC. Reports to Eric: [email protected] . See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/.
Italian Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) For the complete IBC transmission schedule visit http://ibcradio.webs.com/ Five minutes of MFSK32 is at the end of the 30-minute English-language “Shortwave Panorama,” per the schedule below:
WEDNESDAY
18.55 UTC 6070 KHZ TO EUROPE
19.55 UTC 1584 KHZ TO EUROPE
THURSDAY
02.55 UTC 1584 KHZ TO EUROPE
FRIDAY
01.25 UTC 9955 KHZ TO CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA
SATURDAY
01.55 UTC 11580 KHZ TO NORTH AMERICA
20.25 UTC 1584 KHZ TO SOUTH EUROPE
SUNDAY
00.55 UTC 7730 KHZ TO NORTH AMERICA
10.55 UTC 6070 KHZ TO EUROPE
Thank you for your support during the four-plus years of VOA Radiogram!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan Cholakov (NO2CW), who writes:
My 11 year old son Tommy (N1SPY) completed a project where he compared a 1W lightbulb to a .25 W radio beacon that he put together and bet that the radio beacon can be heard around the world. I asked him to document his activities as he went along. The project took a couple of months but is now complete and we stitched together a video of his activities.
I especially like how you’ve taken time to explain the principles behind the various steps of the process. Brilliant job!
Tommy, your future videos are always welcome here. Keep up the good work and we’d love to hear how many new countries you’ve racked up on your WSPR system!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following regarding a Furuno RV-103SR marine receiver he discovered on eBay:
Recently, I came upon two great rarities in the world of receivers.
Furuno is a Japanese company known for maritime equipment, and is featured on one or two pages of the Osterman receiver directory. Two of these rare receivers came up on eBay, both located in an Asian location.
The Furuno RV-103SR and RV-128 are beautiful animals, and both receivers appear(ed) to be in good condition, obviously taken from ships, likely as part of tear downs in a shipyard.
There is very little information online about Furuno. One Japanese blogger did a review of the RV-128. And a guy in Republic of Srpska got to use the RV-128 which was installed on a giant oil tanker, during a trip he made as a navigator way back in 2002 (see the story at http://www.qsl.net/e78cb/mmstory.htm).
In my correspondence with him, Fred Osterman notes that the RV-103SR variant was not known to him, and likely stands for rack mount. And Fred says he never saw these receivers in the flesh, and never saw one offered on the used market, “a rare bird” indeed. For those interested, Furuno equipment is on page 216 of Fred’s massive and excellent receiver book.
The appearance of these beautiful radios, and similar ones, again demonstrates the kind of equipment that is popping up in Ebay and other locations. We have seen numerous JRC marine receivers become available, many of them also former ship receivers. Anyone interested in these should ask the usual questions about condition, ask for photos and videos, to try to ensure that what eventually arrives is not DOA or suffering from various issues.
Furuno, it turns out, and as noted in the Osterman book, was behind the first fish finder ever produced. And the company had a range of transceivers for maritime use.
Post Readers: this is what I love about Dan Robinson’s discoveries on eBay: he finds these rare treasures, then provides a little history about their origins, use and current availability. Thank you so much, Dan, for sharing!
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