Tag Archives: Mark Hirst

The Avengers: Mark spots a room full of radio gear in Season 5

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who writes:

Thomas,

I picked up Season 5 of the cult TV show “The Avengers” at a street market last weekend.

In the episode “Never, never say die”, Mrs Emma Peel follows a lead and meets a radio ham playing chess with other radio hams around the world.

With all the little details in the room, I wonder if someone involved in setting up the scene knew something about amateur radio?

Mark

I bet they did, Mark! How many of these fine radios can the SWLing Post community identify? Please comment!

Mark spots a vintage radio in ‘Taxi Driver’

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes:

Thomas,

I’ve been deep down the k-drama rabbit hole for months now and I’m trying to familiarise myself with the Korean language at the same time.

I’ve just started a new series called ‘Taxi Driver’ and this radio cassette player popped up in the first episode. It shouts ‘shortwave receiver’ to me, but what I think is the manufacturer logo is blacked out in the top left corner.

I’m wondering if anyone recognises the model; it has a late seventies Panasonic or Sony vibe to me.

Mark

Readers: please comment if you can identify this radio for Mark!

Mark spots radios in the original “Hawaii Five Oh”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes:

Thomas,

I recently picked up a couple of DVD boxsets of Hawaii Five Oh from my local charity shop.

These old shows are always an interesting watch, giving insights into fashions, cars, cultural norms and story lines from the time.

I spotted these radios, sometimes used for exposition or just props in various episodes.

Mark

Thank you for sharing, Mark! I bet readers can recognize all of these fine vintage radios! The top photo might be the trickiest in terms of narrowing down the exact model. 

I haven’t watched Hawaii Five Oh in decades. It would be fun to rewatch a few episodes–I loved that show in my youth! 

Practical Engineering: How Would a Nuclear EMP Affect the Power Grid?

Photo by Parker Coffman on Unsplash

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst who shares the following video from Practical Engineering on YouTube:

Click here to view on YouTube.

As I’ve mentioned in past articles, I believe taking some precautions against EMPs is important. While I feel that an intentional nuclear EMP is unlikely, our local star can cause even more damage to an even larger portion of our planet if it decides to cause a solar storm like the Carrington Event.

For an in-depth look at practical ways you can protect your gear from EMPs (and dispel a few myths), check out our interview with Dave (NM0S) in this EMP primer.

The Guardian: “Hundreds of jobs to go as BBC announces World Service cutbacks”

(Source: The Guardian via Mark Hirst)

Hundreds of jobs to go as BBC announces World Service cutbacks

Corporation to end production of radio output in 10 languages, including Chinese, Hindi and Arabic, as it blames licence fee freeze

The BBC has announced deep cuts to its World Service output that will result in the loss of hundreds of jobs, saying it has been forced to act by the government’s ongoing licence fee freeze.

In a move that could weaken the UK’s soft power around the world, the corporation will stop producing radio output in 10 languages, including Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic.

BBC Persian will end its audio broadcasts aimed at Iran, with the announcement coming at a time when widespread protests are taking place in the country.

There will also be a change in focus of the World Service’s English-language radio output, with more time dedicated to live news and sports programming at the expense of standalone programmes.

About 382 jobs will be lost as a result of the proposals, which the BBC said was required to make £28.5m of annual savings. The broadcaster blamed years of below-inflation licence fee freezes imposed by the government, in addition to the rapidly increasing cost of producing programmes because of the state of the economy.

Philippa Childs of the broadcasting union Bectu said she recognised the BBC needed to adapt to the digital era but that the government’s licence fee freeze has “potential ramifications for the BBC’s reputation globally”.

The World Service was traditionally funded directly by the government and was seen as a soft power tool that provided British news and information to hundreds of millions of people around the globe. This money largely dried up as part of George Osborne’s austerity measures in 2010, when the bill for World Service operations was loaded on to domestic licence fee payers.

Since then the BBC has had to go cap-in-hand to the government to seek extra funding to support specific World Service projects, with ministers providing around £400m in additional cash since 2016. However, there are doubts about how long these deals will continue. Earlier this year the BBC had to ask ministers for an emergency £4m to keep its operations in Ukraine and Russia on air. [Continue reading at The Guardian…]

Mark Spots an Atlas in “The Rockford Files”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes:

Thomas,

I spotted this radio from an episode of the Rockford Files in a story about Russian spies.

According to IMDB, the episode, “A Material Difference” aired in February 1979.

https://www.rigpix.com/atlas/210x.htm

Mark

Thanks so much for sharing this, Mark. You’ve got sharp eyes!

I remember watching The Rockford Files as a kid. I think it’s time to re-watch some of those episodes. Thanks again, Mark!