Front of RHC QSL card (click to enlarge).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Daniel Amoroso, who shares this QSL card and notes:
Hello Thomas,
Attached is QSL # 1 from Radio Habana Cuba for their shortwave broadcast on 8- 15-2015
This was the day the US Embassy in Cuba was officially re-opened.
Back of RHC QSL card (click to enlarge).
Card was received on April 18 , 2016.
Very cool! Thank you for sharing this card and noting that relevant bit of history, Daniel.
That’s my minivan parked in front of the RCI Sackville transmitting station in June, 2012. The site was closed by the end of 2012 and towers demolished shortly thereafter.
Recently, my friend and fellow archivist, London Shortwave, and I engaged in a discussion about creating a curated list of “endangered” shortwave radio stations.
The idea being we could use such a list to focus our efforts and those of the archiving community on recording broadcasters that were most likely to disappear in the near future.
London Shortwave published an excellent post about this on his blog.
Please click here to read his post.
We quickly put this page on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive as a starting point.
We need your help to curate this list!
Please comment either on London Shortwave’s blog, or on this post, and suggest any additional broadcasters we may have missed. Please include a link to news item(s) which may indicate the broadcaster faces closure.
Of course, this list and the categories are subjective–we’re simply using our best judgement in this process. Often, broadcasters can shut down with little or no notice.
Thanks in advance for your help!
(Source: Silicon Republic via Andrea Borgnino)
At an event in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) tonight (25 April), the centenary of the broadcasting of the Proclamation of an Irish Republic via shortwave radio in 1916 – considered by many to be the first pirate radio broadcast – will be marked.
While the men and women who took part in Easter 1916 were camped out in the GPO and other locations around Dublin, one group involved with the rebellion, led by Joseph Mary Plunkett, wanted to use the latest technology to spread the message of Irish revolt.
Having commandeered the Irish School of Wireless Telegraphy at the corner of O’Connell Street and Abbey Street – where the Grand Central Bar now sits – the group set up a ship’s wireless systems to broadcast a shortwave radio transmission, with the hope that a passing ship near the country would pick it up and report back to the US.
With Plunkett at the controls, the radio enthusiast issued a burst of Morse code that read: “Irish Republic declared in Dublin today. Irish troops have captured city and are in full possession. Enemy cannot move in city. The whole country rising.”
With some reports suggesting the broadcast was picked up as far away as Germany and Bulgaria, it is widely considered one of the first pirate radio broadcasts as, until then, point-to-point transmissions was the most common form of sending messages wirelessly.[…]
Continue reading the full article at Silicon Republic online…
This year, I have a lot of portable radio play in mind as I travel across the continent. At some point, I even plan to spend several days in an off-grid cabin on the coast.
In the past, I’ve powered my 12 VDC ham radio transceivers with a system comprised of three PowerFilm solar 5 watt foldable PV panels (see below), a Micro M+ charge controller and several gel cell type sealed batteries (a couple 7 Ah and one 20 Ah).
The system works well, but the batteries are a little heavy and unhandy when I want to hike into a remote site or play radio on the beach, for example.
In terms of receivers, my portables (like the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, Tecsun PL-660, etc.) simply use AA batteries which I charge with PowerFilm AA PV chargers (see above). My CommRadio CR-1a has an internal battery that will power it for hours at a time.
Power is much less of an issue with receivers because they’re quite resource efficient.
I mainly need a system to power my QRP ham radio gear, and that’s where I could use your experience!
Charge controller
I need a new charge controller since my Micro M+ (no longer produced) is now being used to power a remote antenna tuner.
Of course, I’ll need an inexpensive charge controller that doesn’t produce RFI (radio interference).
It would be an added bonus if the charge controller could also charge my batteries when grid power is available.
12 VDC Battery packs
I’d like something relatively lightweight and safe.
Note: LiPo packs worry me, especially since I had one (an early GoalZero model) quite literally melt down and burn up on my bed only a few hours after bringing it back from an eight hour flight a few years ago. Scary!
Pure Sine Wave Inverter
I’d also like a small, efficient pure sine wave inverter that I I could connect to my largest battery and power my laptop for extended SDR spectrum recording sessions while off-grid.
I’d love a recommendation from someone who uses one and can confirm a model that doesn’t create radio interference while operating.
Post readers: Please comment with your recommendations and include model numbers and links if possible. Thank you in advance!
[UPDATE: Read the full review of the IC-7300, along with listener survey results, by clicking here.]
Many thanks to all of you who participated in our last survey comparing the new Icom IC-7300 with the WinRadio Excalibur SDR. We had over 100 responses (!!!)–the results will be posted in the forthcoming IC-7300 review.
Before completing my review, I thought I might fit in one more quick comparison–this time, comparing the Icom IC-7300 to my Elecraft KX3 and focusing on SSB and CW reception.
The Icom IC-7300 offers native digital audio recording, which means that it records both transmitted and received audio to an inserted SD card.
The Elecraft KX3 does not have a built-in recorder (indeed, most transceivers do not) thus I made in-line recordings using my Zoom H2N digital recorder.
I did no post-processing of the audio other than converting .wav files to .mp3.
Both receivers shared my large outdoor omni-directional horizontal delta loop antenna for each test.
The Elad ASA15 Antenna Splitter Amplifier
To keep the comparison on as equal footing as possible, the receivers shared the same antenna through my Elad ASA15 antenna splitter amplifier. Though the ASA15 has both 12dB amplification and –15dB attenuation, I employed neither.
The ASA15 allowed me to make the following recordings simultaneously.
In each case, I tried to set up both radios using the same filter widths, AGC settings, and (as much as possible), audio level. I didn’t engage a noise-reduction feature on either rig.
I also didn’t employ any type of audio equalization on either rig–still, you’ll note that one radio produces a more “flat” response than the other.
At the end of this post, I have an embedded a survey in which you can vote for the sample recordings you like best. Each recording is clearly labeled to denote that it’s either from “Radio A” or “Radio B” (chosen at random).
And now…here are the recordings:
Audio Clip 1: CW (20 meter band)
Audio Clip 2: Weak Signal CW (20 meter band)
Audio Clip 3: Weak/Strong SSB
(Sable Island working Asia/Pacific on 20 meter band)
Use the form below to vote for the recordings you prefer in each section.
I’ll close voting at 12:00 UTC on Wednesday April 27, 2016. Thank you in advance for your participation in this survey!
(Source: SDRplay via YouTube)
Click here to view on YouTube.
This demonstrates turning an Android Tablet (or Android Phone) into a highly portable comms receiver or spectrum analyzer operating from Long Wave to Microwave (10kHz to 2GHz) – using SDR Touch and the SDRplay RSP www.sdrplay.com
To be a beta tester simply go to https://play.google.com/apps/testing/ and follow the instructions – the SDR Touch author welcomes feedback on https://www.facebook.com/SdrTouch/ – your chance to influence the way this amazing software can get better and better.
Suspected pirates surrender to crew members of the CGC Boutwell. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN) for the following guest post:
by Mario Filippi (N2HUN)
(All photos taken by author–click to enlarge)
Ahoy! After spinning a radio dial for over a half-century, shortwave listening still provides a source of adventure and interesting intercepts. While major broadcasters continue to move to the Internet and dwindle in number, there nonetheless remains plenty of utility intrigue to be had; you just need to know where to look, and be comfortable with other modes of communication such as RTTY (Radioteletype).
RTTY remains on HF (3 – 30 MHz), albeit mostly encrypted, but there are some stalwarts of this mode that transmit important and interesting information for ships at sea. The information can take the form of weather broadcasts, hazards to navigation, information on ships lost at sea, and pirate activity. Yes, pirate activity but not radio pirates; real honest-to-goodness modern day pirates looking to loot, plunder and prey upon commercial ships making an honest living or other leisure watercraft just out having fun.
Who knows what dangers lurk behind that dial? Trusty AOR AR-3000 receiver and SignaLink™.
Has your interest been piqued? When avast mateys as I spin ya’ a yarn on how to find out where these sea-faring scoundrels lurk from the Caribbean all the way to the South China sea!
Pirate activity is not something of the past; it exists today and is a threat conducted by ragtag armed ragamuffin groups. To keep abreast of the action you’ll need the following gear: a shortwave radio with single sideband (SSB), a decent antenna, a means of decoding RTTY, and WLO, a station from Mobile, AL that transmits information to ships at sea.
You’ll do well to add WLO’s frequency to your receiver’s memory list as it’s a pretty active station that faithfully serves the sea-faring community and is one of the gems on HF.
First, tune your receiver using USB (Upper Side Band) to around 8.472 MHz and listen for that warbling sound. You will also need a way to pipe the audio from your shortwave receiver to a computer (I use a SignaLink™ USB) and a decoding program for RTTY, such as MMTTY.
To decode you’ll need to set the baud rate (45.45) and shift (170 Hz) on MTTY (or software program of choice) and tune your radio slightly up and down frequency until the software starts decoding.
You may have to press the “Reverse” or “Rev” selector at times. MMTTY is my favorite for RTTY decoding, and a picture of it is below.
WLO, Mobile AL, with RYRY idling loop, MMTTY decoder, 45.45 bauds, 170Hz shift, “Rev.”
MMTTY is available as a free download from Makato Mori, JE3HHT. I’ve used his program for over a decade and it performs well.
You can also use MultiPSK or FLdigi to decode RTTY so it’s the user’s choice as to which is a better fit.
Anyway, what are these pirates up to? Well the next few screenshots (click to enlarge) show some interesting activity as per WLO’s RTTY transmissions:
Pirates use element of surprise with guns and knives as armaments.
Somali pirates reportedly armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. Yikes!
Give ‘em hell boys! An alert bulk carrier crew aborted hijacking with teamwork and water cannon.
Ships are encouraged to report pirate activity via FAX or phone.
Well mateys that’s enough high seas adventure for now, so first shove off to the galley for some grub (or grog) and then head to the radio room, turn on that rig and get ready for action on HF, you’ll find plenty to choose from, it’s out there for you.
I would like to thank the operators of WLO for providing such a valuable service to mariners and for providing us radio aficionados with interesting reception! And thanks readers!
P.S. Note that WLO alternates from RTTY to Sitor B so just make sure you are listening to the RTTY broadcast. If the transmission is in Sitor B then you can use a NAVTEX (e.g. YAND) decoder instead.
Thank you so much, Mario, for sharing yet another fascinating aspect of our radio world! FYI: I’m planning on purchasing a SignaLink USB at the Dayton Hamvention this year.
Readers, you can read all of Mario’s posts by clicking or bookmarking this link.