Tag Archives: Luke Perry

Luke discovers a treasure trove of CIDX newsletters! (And I believe everyone should join the CIDX!)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who writes:

Hi Thomas, thought that you and your readers would enjoy my recent “find.” I came across an old copy of the “Messenger”, which was a magazine put out monthly by the Canadian International DX Club.

While looking for the current garbage bill I was shuffling through my file of bills and receipts, and lo and behold I came across one copy……how it ever got in there I have no idea. Anyway it sparked a lot of nostalgia and remember how excited I used to be when a new copy arrived in the mail.

I knew that I had more, but had no idea where as I tend to not throw things away, especially anything associated with electronics or cars. After a day or so of brainstorming I had an idea of where they might be, and lo and behold there they were.

They mostly date from the mid-90’s right before the internet basically killed off “zines” like this. Oh well.. progress marches on.

Anyway, I hope that people can enjoy the pictures and maybe have some insight or memories of the club and/or the guy who ran it. I believe that his name was Sheldon.

Take care,
Luke Perry

Wow–what a treasure trove you unearthed there, Luke! I could spend hours looking through those copies!

Join the CIDX!

I have good news for you: The Canadian International DX Club (CIDX) is very much alive and well! Check out the cover of the the August ’23 issue of the Messenger above.

Here’s an article I posted about the CIDX in the past and how much I enjoy the Messenger. And yes, Sheldon Harvey is still at the helm along with some other amazing, devoted volunteers. I’m a member and I’d encourage everyone else to become one, too. It’s one of the best deals in the world of radio.

The Messenger is now in digital format only, but I actually prefer it this way since I’ve so little room to store printed material these days.

For more information about joining the CIDX–only $10 per year or $25 for three years–click here!

Thanks again, Luke, for sharing this!

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Kenwood R-2000: Luke’s simple fix for a frozen encoder

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who writes:

Hi Thomas, I thought I would share with the people on the SWLing Post my new radio purchase.

I needed a receiver with a noise blanker as you might (or might not) recall my issue that I was having with electrical noise at my listening location. So I saw this on the local Craigslist for $50 and called right away and I was lucky to be the first one to respond.

The seller was the original owner and he had bought it back in the 80’s after coming back from Saudi Arabia so he could listen to the BBC. It was fully working but when I got home I noticed that tuning dial was not working and this set does not have direct frequency input for some reason.

I went online and scoured the internet for a possible fix and found a old posting that said to adjust the pots on the encoder board behind the main tuning knob. I found a service manual online and located the position of the board and thankfully that was the fix. But for some reason the position that they both were in was not the correct position so I don’t know if someone had been in there before but I doubt it.

Anyway, I am very happy with the purchase and the noise blanker seems to really work as I could not listen to any frequencies above 5 MHz on my old radio due to RFI. Also, the R-2000 seems to be very sensitive just from the small wire antenna that I have been using so I plan to get a better antenna and I am hoping to get some good DX catches.

Anyway, I thought I would share the news of my new purchase and hopefully the fix for the tuning knob might be of some use to others down the road.

I’m so glad you found the fix for the encoder function, Luke. Thank you for sharing because, no doubt, others will be searching for this solution. Sounds like it was a simple enough fix and certainly did the trick. If you ever need to re-cap the R-2000, you can find kits like this one to make the process easier. If you don’t want to do the work yourself, my friend Vlado recaps radios for a very reasonable price.

I’m sure you know you really snagged a deal grabbing that R-2000 for $50! Wow!

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Can you help Luke identify this radio noise?

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who writes:

I am experiencing a issue with my shortwave reception at my part-time home. I have been helping out my mother so I have brought over my Sony portable, along with the Sony active antenna. I have a constant ‘clicking’ sound starting at about 5 kHz or thereabouts that make listening unbearable. As the video shows the problem is non-existent below 4 kHz. I tried moving the radio throughout the house thinking it could be something in the room and still get the same interference.

I was hoping that the filter on the active antenna would help but it does little to remedy the problem. I have no issues with MW or FM reception at all.

I have made a short YouTube video to document the problem in the hopes that one of the blog readers can identify it. I looked online at other instances of RFI and I could not find one that is similar. Hope that someone can help me!

Click here to view on YouTube.

After listening to the first few seconds of your recording, I thought it sounded a bit like an electric fence controller. However the interval between pops is nearly random, which suggests a different source. I suppose it’s possible a faulty fence controller could do this. I believe the only way you could defeat this noise (without shutting it down at the source) would be to use a radio with a durable noise blanker. Of course, I know of no portable radios with an NB function (though most SDRs and tabletop receivers include an NB).

Post readers: Can help Luke ID the source of this noise? Does it sound familiar to you? Please comment!

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Good Times Bad Times: Luke’s nighttime listening rewarded

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

Just [wanted to share] a little bit of shortwave good luck that I had when tuned to 3925 kHz. That is the frequency for Radio Nikkei 1 if I am not mistaken. They have a similar frequency that I can usually get at about the same time in 3945, but from my location in the Pacific Northwest the former usually comes in better until about 13:00 UTC or so.

To any SWL listeners on the west coast can tell you, there are not a whole lot of choices anymore for the listeners who like the exotic DX catches, whereas 20 years ago you had many choices like Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Radio Vladivostok on 5015 kHz that was a special station for Russian boats at sea, etc. These stations all played exotic and sometimes even current music, not to mention lots of ‘oldies’ and classics.

So I am left with the few that are left and I usually tune in late at night as the static lulls me to sleep.

Last night, I was listening to 3925 kHz at about 12:00 UTC or so and I got quite the surprise. Usually when I tune in at about 2:30 AM my time they are playing classical music or some other relaxing music. I think their sister station on 3945 kHz plays more of the current music and I believe that they even have a special hour or more that they play newish music. When I first tuned in it was their typical show where they start with about an hour or so of relaxing music and then the announcers come in with news, talk, or whatever? Truthfully, I don’t speak Japanese so I really can’t say! I do remember reading somewhere though that they broadcast horse races on that channel and sometimes it does sound like that.

But last night I still hadn’t fallen asleep for whatever reason so I kept hitting the ‘Sleep’ button on my trusty Panasonic RF-9000. After the announcers talked for a bit they played a few hard rock songs back to back. Quite a few of them but a couple that I remember off of the top of my head were “Smoke On the Water” and “I Remember You” by Skid Row. That kind of stuff and this went on for a good half hour or so uninterrupted so my ears were perked up at this point. What came next really blew me away and really made my staying up worthwhile.

They first started off with Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times”, and then proceeded to play the whole first Led Zeppelin album straight through! No interruptions and they went straight from Side A to Side B with only a moment pause. After that, they started in on Led Zeppelin III but after “Immigrant Song” the signal was really fading bad but I could still make out that it was the might Zeppelin. It kind of reminded me of old pirate radio stations on shortwave or even FM radio in the 70’s when they would play whole album sides.

So anyway, just a quick update on that station and for people who have given up on finding good programming on shortwave radio…it is still out there, but it takes a bit more time to find nowadays.

Thank you for sharing your listening experience, Luke! Yes, shortwave is still a medium for this sort of serendipity–a space where you can listen to broadcasts that are free of commercial breaks. I image Led Zeppelin must have sounded pretty amazing on that Panny RF-9000!

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Video: Luke demonstrates the Panasonic RF-9000

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who recently purchased a Panasonic RF-9000 and writes:

Hello Thomas. I did a YouYube video demonstrating my ‘new’ Panasonic RF-9000 SW receiver.

I already submitted a review to the blog which you posted (thank you). There are a few videos out there of the RF-9000 but most are short and not that descriptive.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_saMACKRiVU

Click here to view on YouTube.