New from Heathkit: the Explorer Jr TRF AM radio receiver kit

The Heathkit Explorer Jr. (Image Source: Heathkit)

Yes, the legendary Heathkit company is back and their first kit is a simple Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) AM/mediumwave analog receiver: the Explorer Jr.

I knew Heathkit was back in business and under new management, but hadn’t heard any updates as of late. Their president, Andy, just sent a message to the “Heathkit Insiders” group explaining what the team has been up to:

“We’ve designed and developed a wide range of entirely new kit products. We authored the manuals for these kits, complete with the beautiful line art you rely on, preserving and respecting our iconic historic Heathkit style. We developed many new inventions and filed patents on them. We relocated Heathkit, and set up a factory, and a warehouse, and offices, in Santa Cruz, California, near Silicon Valley. We built the back office infrastructure, vendor and supply chain relationships, systems, procedures, operations methods, and well-thought-out corporate structure that a manufacturing company needs to support its customers, to allow us to scale instantly the day we resume major kit sales. All this effort enables us to introduce a fleet of new kits and helps ensure Heathkit can grow, prosper, and continue to bring you great new products for a very long time.”

The Insiders’ message goes into much more detail–I would encourage you to contact Heathkit about joining this group.

The big news in this message was the launch announcement of the Explorer Jr. kit which can be ordered from their website now. The price is $149.95 plus shipping. Heathkit anticipates a 30-day shipping time for the first set of orders.

Here’s a description of the kit from their website:

A Radio Kit Whose Time Has Come.

Again.

When Heath started designing & selling do-it-yourself airplane kits shortly after the Great War, the state-of-the-art in radio was the Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) design.

A TRF radio was a great deal. If you had a great deal of money. A TRF receiver became a fixture in the homes of families around the world, receiving the news and music AM broadcasts of the day. A family AM radio was a big investment — $100 to $625 in 1929 dollars. (With inflation, that’s $1,400 to $8,700 in today’s dollars.) Of course, at that price radios also were beautiful. They were made of fine wood, and designed to last. Radios were a visible and attractive furnishing you could be proud to have in your living room or parlor.

Heathkit’s TRF radio is a great deal. And a great deal of radio. This Explorer Jr^TM radio is modeled on the original TRF designs, but better. You get to build it yourself. It’s safe and simple enough for beginners to assemble and understand. But it receives AM broadcast stations with performance superior to the vintage radios of 1930.

With the number of Heathkit enthusiasts out there, I suspect this first run of kits won’t last long. The kit trim is available in six colors: Silver, Cranberry, Cucumber Green, Plum Pie, Sapphire Blue, and Tangerine.

Click here to view and order the Explorer Jr on Heathkit’s webstore.

SWLing Post DXpedition at PARI…this weekend!

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If you’ve registered for, and plan to attend, the PARI DXPedition, please make sure you’ve joined our Yahoo Group. This is where we’re finalizing details and communicating about the DXpedition, noting any changes, updates, etc.

If you’ve tried to contact me recently and haven’t gotten a response yet (sorry about that!) it’s because I’ve been unusually busy: writing a shortwave radio buyer’s guide for The Spectrum Monitor, several reviews for WRTH 2016, plotting another reader challenge, and last but not least, putting together the final details of the SWLing Post DXpedition at PARI this weekend.

Soon I’ll be another kind of busy, at the DXpedition: exploring the bands, gazing at the stars, and hanging out with some of the SWLing Post community. Needless to say, it’s going to be fun, and I’m looking forward to it.

If we have Internet access at PARI, we hope to post a few loggings and photos from our Twitter account.

We have about a dozen registrants this year, a good start. If you can’t make it there, no worries; if all goes well, we may have another next year.

Met Office guide to space weather forecasts

DXtreme Reception Log X

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SWLing Post sponsor, Bob Raymond (NE1I) at DXtreme, writes:

I’m pleased to announce that the latest version of our logging software for radio and TV monitoring enthusiasts is now available:

www.dxtreme.com (Version 10.0).

Please find the full product announcement below:

DXtreme Reception Log X (Version 10.0)

DXtreme Software™ has released a new version of its popular logging program for radio monitoring enthusiasts: DXtreme Reception Log X™ (Version 10.0).

Like other logging programs, DXtreme Reception Log X lets listeners and DXers log the stations they’ve heard. But unlike other logging programs, Reception Log X provides advanced features that can add a new dimension to logging activities.

New Features in Version 10.0

Afreet Ham CAP1 Integration — Lets users run short- and long-path propagation predictions from the Schedule Checker, Reception Log, Countries, and Transmitter Sites windows. Reception Log X sends key data to Ham CAP which, in turn, displays a chart showing the signal-to-noise-ratio prediction by time and frequency and a Mercator projection showing the current propagation prediction for the path between the user and the target station.
Improv ImagingTM — A dedicated tab on the Reception Log window, Improv Imaging lets users associate ad hoc images with log entries. Users can capture from their screen, scan from their image scanner, or paste from the Clipboard any images they want to associate with a displayed log entry, such as screen captures of stations received on digital applications, waterfall displays, Amateur TV pictures, Ham CAP maps showing propagation conditions at the time of reception, etc. An Improv Image Explorer lets uses peruse their collection of Improv images, and call up the log entries with which they are associated.
Preview QSL Image Viewer — Is now larger and expandable on the Verification tab of the Reception Log window, and the new QSL Image Explorer lets uses peruse their collection of QSL images, and call up the log entries with which they are associated.
Colorful User Experience Enhancements — Lets users set the foreground and background colors of heading and data rows on grids throughout the program — one set of foreground and background colors for odd data rows, and another for even data rows — making it easier to view schedules on the Schedule Checker, log entries on the Last Log Entries grid and window, and data in Reports.

Advanced Features

Schedule CheckerTM — Lets users import schedules from Aoki, EiBi, and
FCC AM web sites and display that schedule data according to the filter criteria they specify. A list box lets users switch between the schedules at will. And, depending on the schedule type, users can filter schedule information by band, frequency, station, country, city, state, time of day, language, antenna direction, and target area. When the What’s On Now? function is activated, the schedule refreshes automatically at the top of each hour for Aoki and EiBi schedules.

For each schedule item, Schedule Checker queries the Reception Log X database to let users know – by means of user-defined, foreground and background display colors – whether they need to monitor a station for a brand- new or verified country. Schedule Checker also displays bearing and distance, runs Ham CAP propagation predictions and DX Atlas azimuth plots2, tunes supported radios to schedule frequencies when double-clicking schedule items3, and starts log entries for scheduled stations.

Last Log Entries Grid— Located on the Reception Log window, the grid shows up to 5000 of the most recent log entries added. Its records can be sorted, and double-clicking records displays detailed data on the Reception Log window.Users can resize the grid columns and scroll horizontally to columns that do not appear initially. But because the names of stations and NASWA countries can be quite long, users can also display a larger, resizable Last Log Entries window. A Properties dialog box lets users change the order of columns, the number of log entries to display, and the foreground and background colors and font attributes of grid headings and data rows system-wide.
Reception Reports — Users can create customized paper and e-mail reception reports plus club report entries for reporting catches to clubs and magazines.
Social Media Posting — When users add or display a log entry, Reception Log X prepares a post announcing their DX catch and displays it on the Social Media Post tab. From there, users can drag the post to their favorite social media web site(s) to share their catch with others.Using the Script Editor window, users can create and edit social media scripts that format social media posts to their liking. A browse button lets users select the script they want to use. Three scripts come with Reception Log X.
Direct Print SWL and Address Labels — Users can prepare SWL and Address labels for direct output to their printers, and print labels one-at-a-time or in any number up to the maximum number of labels on each page of label stock.
Rig Control — Retrieves the frequency and mode from supported radios and permits tuning from the Schedule Checker and Reception Log windows.
Multimedia Features — An embedded Audio facility lets users maintain an audio archive of stations heard. An integrated QSL ImagingTM facility lets users scan, display, and explore QSL and e-QSL images.
Performance Reporting — Produces reports that track the performance of the user’s monitoring station, and lets users FTP those reports to user-provided Web space for remote access. Reports integrate with DX Atlas to generate pin maps.
Support for Monitoring Amateur Radio Operators — Users can retrieve call sign and address information for monitored hams from optional Web services (HamQTH.com, BuckmasterTM HamCallTM, and QRZ XML Logbook Data) and send automatic eQSL requests to monitored hams via www.eQSL.cc.
Documentation — Includes on-line Help and a Getting Started Guide.

Operating Systems, Pricing, Contact Information

DXtreme Reception Log X runs in 32- and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows® 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista®, and XP. It retails for $89.95 USD worldwide for electronic distribution. Pricing for CD versions and upgrading users is available on our Web site. All prices include product support by Internet e-mail. For more information, visit www.dxtreme.com or contact Bob Raymond at bobraymond@dxtreme.com.

Bob, thanks for sharing your product announcement and thank you for sponsoring the SLWing Post!

Click here to visit DXtreme or here to download the PDF of this product announcement.

Alan logs shortwave stations while camping

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Alan, who writes:

I really appreciate your site. It has been my favorite since I got back into shortwave listening and DXing…great enough that I actually subscribe to posts via e-mail so I don’t miss anything.

In case you are interested, I did a post about what I was able to hear using my Kaito KA1103 and a Sangean antenna while camped in a tent in the back yard. Nothing amazing by many people’s standards…but I enjoyed it enough to stay up too late!

http://strasburg.rocks/2015/10/late-night-dxingswling/

Either way, thanks again for SWLing.com.

Alan, there are few pleasures in life better than SWLing while camping–even if it’s in your own back yard! Thanks for sharing your experience and thanks for the kind comments. This weekend I hope to log a few stations from my tent at the SWLing Post DXpedition.

Anniversary of Sputnik I Launch & Radio Moscow

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who writes:

Yesterday, 4 October, was the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial Earth satellite. The launch heralded the beginning of the space age. Sputnik I’s Doppler-shifted radio transmissions on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz led to the development of the U.S. Navy Navigation Satellite System (Transit) and the equivalent Soviet system (Tsikada) and, eventually, to GPS and GLONASS and the other modern global navigation satellite systems.

The Sputnik I radio signals were picked up by many shortwave listeners. The 20 MHz signal was close to that of WWV and so was easy to find. And, apparently, WWV turned off its 20 MHz transmitter during some of Sputnik I’s passes over the U.S. so as not to interfere with reception.

There are several good sites on the Web with information about Sputnik I and its radio signals including:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/features/sounds/firstsat.html

http://online.sfsu.edu/hl/Explorer1958.html

http://sjhrc.org/sputnik.html

http://sjhrc.org/beeps.html

http://web.archive.org/web…arrl.org/news/features/2007/09/28/03/

(Click to enlarge)

Sometime in high school, I received a card from Radio Moscow celebrating the launch of Sputnik I [see above]. Perhaps it was issued in 1967 for the 10th anniversary of the launch.

Richard: You never cease to amaze me! Thank you so much for sharing all of this Sputnik I information and resources! That gorgeous QSL Card is perhaps my favorite design from Radio Moscow.

Radio Kiribati and WiFi Radios

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Paul Walker, who writes:

Thomas.. I know this isn’t quite SW news anymore, but Radio Kiribati usedto be on SW a while ago and is now on AM.

I just found out something to those of us interested in Pacific radio signals. Radio Kiribati 1440 JUST started a live web stream…JUST…as in, like within the last few days!

The audio levels can be a bit loud and overdriven at times, but i am corresponding with their Chief Engineer and the Radio station manager at the Broadcasting & Publications Authority in an effort to get levels set just right.

The audio is average and I wouldn’t expect much more, quality wise, then what they’ve got now.. as most of these stations have hare basics when it comes to some equipment.
The Radio Kiribati stream was just added to the Reciva.com database for internet radios and should be there soon if it isn’t already.

The stream is at http://202.6.120.13:8000/ The stream itself is of amazing quality at 64k vorbis, which sounds good to my ears via my CC Wifi Radio and CCrane Senta speaker.

Radio Kiribati only broadcasts local programming at certain times of day. Sometimes I’ll hear Radio New Zealand International outside of local broadcasting, other times I won’t.

TX times are as follows…most of their programming is in their native language, which is Gilbertese according to Wikipedia. It’s a Micronesian language of the Austronesian language family. They do three segments of English broadcasting every day, some 30 minutes long and one is an hour long.
Kiribati is UTC+14… at 416pm Thursday in Southwest Arkansas, where i am.. it’s 916am Friday morning in Kiribati.

Morning: 0700am to 0830am. English at 8am

Lunch: 1200 noon to 1330. English at 1300

Evening: 1700 to 2130. English at 1800

Feel free to post this to your own blog, website, Facebook group or page.. let’s spread the word!!

Thanks, Paul!

WiFi radios

Though pricey, I’ve heard the Pure Evoke F4 has fantastic audio and a meticulously curated database of Internet streams.

This is one of the benefits of Wi-Fi radios and Internet streams: the ability to hear “local” stations–many of which used to broadcast on shortwave–from all corners of the globe.

I’m seriously considering purchasing a Wi-Fi radio for my wife to make it a little easier for her to listen to Internet streams in her office.

I’ve been looking at the C.Crane CC WiFi radio, the CC WiFi 2, the Grace Digital WiFi Music Player and the (much pricier) Pure Evoke F4 which my buddy, John Figliozzi, so highly recommends.

Any suggestions and recommendations are most welcome.