Hackaday: “Secret Radio Stations by the Numbers”

SWLingPost-Spy-Numbers-Station

(Source: Hackaday via Andrea Borgnino)

One thing has stayed with the James Bond movie franchise through the decades: Mr. Bond always has the most wonderful of gadgets. Be it handheld, car-based, or otherwise, there’s always something to thrill that is mostly believable.

The biggest problem with all of those gadgets is that they mark Commander Bond as an obvious spy. “So Mr. Bond, I see you have a book with many random five character groups. Nothing suspicious about that at all!” And we all know that import/export specialists often carry exploding cufflinks or briefcases full of unknown electronics in hidden compartments.

Just as steganography hides data in plain sight, the best spy gadgets are the ones that don’t seem to be a spy gadget. It is no wonder some old weapons are little more than sticks or farm implements. You can tell a peasant he can’t have a sword, but it is hard to ban sticks.

Imagine you were a cold war era spy living in a hostile country with a cover job with Universal Exports. Would you rather get caught with a sophisticated encryption machine or an ordinary consumer radio? I’m guessing you went with the radio. You aren’t the only one. That was one of the presumed purposes to the mysterious shortwave broadcasts known as number stations. These were very common during the cold war, but there are still a few of them operating.

Continue reading at Hackaday…

Tune in: Halloween weekend is a pirate radio playground!

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Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates…so, here are three things you’ll want to do this Halloween:

  1. Listen for pirate radio stations this weekend!  Turn on your radio anytime this weekend, but especially around twilight and tune between 6,800 – 6,990 kHz. Pirates broadcast on both AM and SSB; you’re bound to hear a few. For a comprehensive primer on pirate radio listening, check out this post.
  2. Note what pirate stations are being logged–in real time–on the HF Underground pirate radio forum. This is a very active community of pirate radio listeners; I often check the latest loggings to discover frequencies where stations have surfaced. Click here to view the HF Underground pirate radio forum. Posting to the forum requires registration and approval by the moderator (so do this in advance!).
  3. Check out Andrew Yoder’s pirate radio blog with its deceptively simple title, the Hobby Broadcasting blog. Andrew is the author of the Pirate Radio Annual and a guru on shortwave pirate radio. He’s already logged a few mid-week, pre-Halloween pirates. Bookmark his site while you’re at it!

Happy Halloween to all! 

The Spectrum Monitor 2015 Radio Buyer’s Guide

TheSpectrumMonitor

If you’re a subscriber of The Spectrum Monitor (TSM) magazine, you’re in for a treat this month: the November issue is the TSM annual Radio Buyer’s Guide.

Many SWLing Post readers know that I write occasional features and reviews for TSM. Since the November issue will feature my shortwave radio buyer’s guide, I was sent a draft of the November issue. After double-checking my review, I thought I’d glance through some of the other articles–what a rabbit hole that was! Two hours later and I’m still reading. Since I’m primarily a shortwave guy, TSM expands my horizons with articles about parts of the spectrum I seldom explore. That’s a good thing!

TSM Publisher and Managing Editor, Ken Reitz (KS4ZR), has done an amazing job collecting a group of writers who are not only experts in their respective fields, but are effective writers as well. These two qualities do not always go hand-in-hand.

At $3 per issue or (especially) an annual subscription for $24 ($2/issue) I think TSM is a bargain. When the November issue is posted on the TSM website later today, you’ll be able to read through the table of contents online.

It’s hard to believe TSM is almost in its third year of publication–this TSM writer is wishing it many, many more!

PCJ special broadcasts to Europe and SE Asia

UPDATE: Frequency has changed.  Please read this update.

(Source: PCJ Media Press Release)

pcjOctober 29, 2015

Beginning November 14th, 2015. PCJ Radio International will offer a series of special broadcasts before the end of the year for listeners in Europe and Southeast Asia.

Time: 0900 to 1000 UTC
Frequency: 17825khz

November 14th – Say It With Music
November 21st – Call it Ukraine
November 28th – Rockin’ with Raoul
December 5th – Classics with David Monson
December 12th – Special Jazz For The Asking
December 19th – European radio during WW2 (documentary)
December 26th – Special listeners programs

Each of these special transmissions will have a special E-QSL.

Good Listening!

The BaoFeng UV-5R is tougher than the $25 price tag implies

UV-5R

I’ll admit it: I’m a bit of a handheld radio snob.

I don’t own many HT transceivers, but the ones I do own are manufactured by the “big three”–namely, Yaesu, Kenwood and Icom. For ages, these three companies dominated the handheld radio market.

A few years ago, several Chinese radio manufactures (BaofengWouxun, TDXone and TYT to name a few) started flooding the market with inexpensive handheld transceivers–radios that literally cost a fraction of those produced by the “big three.” Where a Yaesu dual band handheld might cost between $150-250 US, a Baefeng model might cost $25-50 US.

As one might imagine, these inexpensive transceivers gained quite a following in the ham radio community and with preparedness/communications enthusiasts.

I’ve read that many of these ultra-cheap transceivers are difficult to program and I’m sure that’s one of the factors that has kept me from purchasing one.

I also assumed that a $25 radio must be very poorly constructed. Seems I’m incorrect at least on this point.

Many thanks to Dave (K4SV) for sharing the following video from Chris (K5CLC), who put the popular Baofeng UV-5R through an “extreme” field test:

https://youtu.be/kZCDBsBuhmg

The Baofeng UV-5R is available at Amazon.com for a mere $25.80 US shipping included.

UV-5R accessories. Click to enlarge.

UV-5R accessories. Click to enlarge.

The UV-5R even comes with a number of accessories:

  • a ANT5 SMA-J flexible antenna,
  • BL-5 Li-ion battery (7.4V 1800 mAh),
  • belt clip,
  • wrist strap,
  • AC adapter (8.4V 600ma)
  • and drop-in charger.

Frankly, it’s hard to believe you get so much radio for the price.

Curiosity is getting the best of me and I believe I very well may purchase a UV-5R in the coming days. I’ll probably purchase the USB programming cable as well [UPDATE: several readers suggested this proper FTDI cable as a much better option].

Click here to view the Baofeng UV-5R on Amazon: I encourage you to read the numerous reviews–many of which sing its praises, others do not.

Readers: if you have the UV-5R, please post your comments about this little radio. I’m curious if you find it easy to use and if the battery life has held up over time.  Any tricks for programming it?

Guest Post: A Late Summer Visit to Howard Mills’ Radio Restoration

Many thanks to former VOA correspondent and noted DXer, Dan Robinson, for the following guest post:


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A Late Summer Visit to Howard Mills’ Radio Restoration

-Dan Robinson

The end of summer is a wistful time, as we begin to mourn the passage of warm days and anticipate the arrival of autumn.

For those of us in love with shortwave, even in these waning days of HF broadcasting, August brings changes in propagation that herald the approach of improved reception, thoughts of getting antennas in shape, and preparing receivers for the new DX season.

It’s also a time when Hamfests are winding down for the year — for me, it’s still great fun to attend these and see what equipment is available.

A few months ago, I and fellow Washington, DC area SWL Dave Malick took the opportunity to visit a couple of Hamfests. At one of these, in Berryville, VA, I ran across someone who over the years has become somewhat of a legend in the field of radio restoration — Howard Mills.

Howard lives in rural West Virginia, at a point about equidistant from Harper’s Ferry and Sheperdstown. That’s about an hour or so from DC and the immediate Maryland suburbs. From DC, you drive out Rt 270 to Frederick, Maryland and then up Route 15 and 340.

It’s beautiful country — on the way you pass through small towns, past farms, and in late summer, roadside stands selling huge ears of corn and about every type of vegetable, along with peaches and apples of every type and size.Rack mounted equipment

Back in the late 1990’s I first became aware of Howard Mills when I brought my Collins 51J4 to him for refurbishing.   Howard is one of the few persons remaining in this country capable of going through classic tube receivers from top to bottom.

A visit to Howard is an experience everyone should have at least once in a lifetime. Restoration activities take place in the lower/ground level of his home.

Outside there are some amazing antennas, long wires, and beams which support both his amateur radio and receiver activities.
DSCF7558Under a porch, covered in tarps, are some of his latest equipment and parts acquisitions, from thousands of tubes to some of the rarest radios and transmitter items one may ever see.

Howard at his home in WVA

Inside, you find a wonderland of receivers. You name it, Howard has it. In racks, there are specialized Beckman 51J4s, SP-600s, AR-88s and R-390/As, Eddystones, and others. In another room, you see some of the most beautiful, and collectible and valuable, American and foreign-made radios dating back to the earliest days.

Rare Eddystone

On tables in one portion of the basement of Howard’s place, you find several R-390s in various stages of refurbishment. One, he notes (probably among his “keepers” ) was found still new in its original crate (how I would love to have that one!).

On the day Dave and I visited, the purpose was to pick up one of the most beautiful R-390s I have ever seen — a Capehart that was refurbished by Howard in 2007 and placed in a custom cabinet, complete with an easy-left-off top, similar to the HQ-180 design. This black beauty is now sitting in my shack at home.

R-390A Capehart

Howard has been at it for many decades, as I said. A conversation with him is a voyage through radio history, punctuated by references to a range of major radio manufacturers. He clearly loves what he does, though one wonders how much longer he will be at it.

Howard emphasizes by the way that his work is in restoring TUBE radios — he doesn’t get into solid state. There are a few well-known receivers in his place — I noticed an ICOM IC-R72 and a JRC NRD-535– but most of what you see are the classics that we have all come to know and love.

DSCF7529

His primary specialty appears to be the 51J series. A link to him on the Collins site notes that his main focus is on A line equipment, J series, and 32V series, but he is certainly capable on a number of models, including as I saw, HQ-180s and AR-88s (http://www.collinsradio.org/howard-mills/)

I was able to take some photos of Howard’s operation and offer them to SWLing Post readers here. At this point, Howard remains in business. He has had customers from all over the U.S. and I assume around the globe.

For each refurbishing job, Howard provides an extensive print out of every single modification and component replacement he does, along with the results of sensitivity and calibration tests done for each set.

Please do note that Howard makes clear that basically as long as it takes him to refurbish a radio — is as long as it will take.   If you give him one of your radios, you basically agree to it being with him for several months if not longer. He does have a backlog.

R390A New

Things like sandblasting front panels for R390s (I am not certain to what extent he does this himself or out-sources this particular aspect) also takes time.   And the detail with which he approaches a breakdown of an R390/A, evidenced by the sets I saw in process, is quite extraordinary and time-consuming.

Howard gets mostly superb reviews from those who have used his services. If you look him up on the Internet, and he has time for you to visit, it’s an experience you will always remember, though it’s not that I would suggest a crowd descend on him.

Hope everyone enjoys the photos — I had intended to get this article to Tom much sooner than October. Keep in mind, of course, that though Howard is one of the last to do this kind of work, there are a few others, including Chuck Rippel in Virginia.

We are indeed lucky to have anyone still doing this work. We know they do it not just as a business, but out of a love for this wonderful old equipment.

Photo gallery

 

Many thanks, Dan, for taking us on this virtual tour of Howard Mills’ collection and workshop!

Your Capehart R-390A is absolutely gorgeous; Howard, no doubt, brought it back to mint status through loving, considerate restoration. What a great addition to your collection, Dan.

Thank you, again,  for sharing your guest post.

Incident highlights importance of marine radio communications

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, John Drake, who shares the following news via The National Post:

AHOUSAHT — Nobody saw the wave coming.

According to stories told by survivors on board the Leviathan II it broadsided the vessel, perhaps the biggest tourist boat in Tofino, as it was heading back from a day of visiting Hot Springs Cove.

The boat had turned its side to the waves rolling in across the open ocean to watch seals on Plover Reef.

The 27 people on board were not aware of the disaster about to unfold when a large roller wave rose up and knocked the boat over on its side, rolling it again and again.

As the ship tossed and began to sink, the passengers, dressed in street clothes, were cast about like rag dolls. Many were thrown into the water. Heads hit bulkheads and glass windows. Some were trapped inside, struggling to get free.

The ship sank at the stern, staying afloat only because air had caught in the bow.

[…]Some people were covered in diesel, making it harder to grab them and pull them onto a boat, said carver Joe Martin, whose relatives were out halibut fishing when they heard of the disaster over marine radio.

[…]Living in a remote community on the West Coast comes with its advantages, such as the beauty and wildness of the landscape. But it also has its privations.

Read the full story, along with video coverage, at The National Post website…