Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Fred Waterer, who writes:
I’ve fallen down a YouTube rabbit hole.
This time a video that is part propaganda, part Hallicrafters ad, and part documentary.
Pretty interesting how they adapted the radios to wartime conditions:
A new resource such as Passport was always an incentive to turn on a radio.
by Bob Colegrove
A couple months ago I became one of the last 10 people east of the Mississippi River to acquire a smart phone. It was a great improvement for someone who had been trying to navigate through modern life for several years using a flip phone. The transition came at a cost, however. It required an investment of time learning the basic features and functionality. Having a long-standing familiarity with computers and tablets, there was a degree of experience I could draw from. Still, it was different, plus it included new features I found to be amazing and demanding of my attention.
Not long after this I was informed by Microsoft that I would soon be needing a new computer to remain safe and functional. Having logged on to a mainframe for the first time in September 1976, I had been around the block too many times to be greatly alarmed by such warnings. Nevertheless, having not purchased a new computer since 2014, I decided to use this information as leverage to do just that and treat myself to a new laptop. The basic features and functionality remained similar; however, the transition still required time to find where they had been relocated. An operating system upgrade is kind of like buying a new car and finding the steering wheel in the trunk and the spare tire in the front seat.
These new technological acquisitions demanded my undivided attention for a period of several weeks – time which had to be carved out of life’s normal activities. Admittedly, being retired helped. Still activity tends to progressively slow with age. The transitions were completed relatively painlessly; I would even say with a good level of discovery and enjoyment.
I told you all of that in order to tell you this: While all this transpired, not a radio functioned for several weeks. Neither a knob was turned nor a button pressed. Notwithstanding the newly enhanced forces of 5G and Wi-Fi, the world could have stood still. Not once, but many times during this period I would look over at the radio table and see them all silently looking back like so many forelorn puppies in want of a scratch behind their ears. Coldly and cruelly, I would turn my back and set up another email account.
I was on what is simply called a “break.” Not my first. I am hard-pressed to say how many breaks I’ve been on over the years; nor can I tell you how long each one lasted. I am reassured by my fellow radiofiles that I am not alone. I occasionally read comments or blogs from folks who have returned after a break, sometimes after several years.
In the old days tinkering could reignite flagging interest.
Breaks may be caused by many things, the increased burdens of life being the most obvious. Maybe there is illness. Seasonal changes can initiate a break; it’s just good to be outside when the air is fresh and warm. It might be an increased level of boredom where one simply neglects to turn the radio on. In my case, it was an irresistible distraction like a new gadget. I have never consciously told myself I needed a break and turned the radio off for a planned length of time. It has never ever become a matter of work to operate a radio. Perhaps that’s how you know you’ve been irrevocably hooked.
We all come back – eventually. It’s in our DNA. Are breaks bad? No. Every human endeavor requires a break now and then. Sportspersons hang up their spikes or sneakers for six months at a time every year. The idea is they come back refreshed and renewed ready again to conquer the mountain. While success may be illusive, it is the break that provides the incentive to go on. So it is with radio.
I could spend hours to the point of ignoring meals attentively getting a dial cord to run smoothly.
Source : The National NC109 Communications Receiver.
Eventually you turn the radio on with renewed enthusiasm. Perhaps you recall a previous discovery, an untried band, a different time of day, a new tuning technique, a suggestion of something you read or heard. Maybe it’s a new radio, or one you haven’t used for a long time. Maybe it’s just the attraction of the dial and buttons that draws you back. These are some of the sparks that reignite your interest.
Eventually, the initial flash of enthusiasm for the new phone and computer subsided. Sound again emanates from the headsets. What was old is new again. Regardless of why you went away or how long you’ve been gone; you’ve got that old feeling and you’re back.
Do radio designers try to attract us with appearance?
From Ronald W. Kenyon’s collection
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ronald, who writes:
I am 83 years old now. When I was actively DXing from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, some stations, such as Radio Prague and Radio Nederland, and clubs such as the Japan Short Wave Club (JSWC) organized contests with prizes, usually special QSL cards.
In 1957, Radio Nederland ran a DX contest and offered a special QSL card. The JSWC offered a special QSL card to SWLers who received confirmation of their special 5th Anniversary broadcasts from eight stations between December 1956 and January 1957. I reproduced the JSWC card and the Radio Nederland card in my book, QSL: How I Traveled the World and Never Left Home.
Perhaps on this occasion or another occasion, Radio Nederland ran a contest and offered
prizes. I won one of these prizes, a silver-plated commemorative sugar scoop spoon made by “Schonenberg.”
I illustrated it on the colophon of my book.Googling “Schonenberg,” I couldn’t figure out where it was located. Some said the Netherlands, some said Canton Thurgau, Switzerland, and one source (obviously wrong) said England.
“Wettig gedept” on the box is abbreviated Dutch for Wettig gedeponeerd “legally deposed,” which suggests “Trademark Registered” in English. Thus, I conclude that the spoons are made in the Netherlands–logical for Radio Nederland to have its prizes manufactured in its own country!
Questions:
Ronald
Readers: If you can help Ronald answer these questions, please comment!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares:
Hi Thomas
I was doing some random tuning on shortwave this evening using the KiwiSDR at VK2ATZ in New South Wales, Australia, when I came upon a repeating music box-like tune on 13705 kHz that I thought had a familiar sound to it. It was like running into someone who you hadn’t seen in many years and trying to place where you knew them from. Yes, the sound was a bit different, perhaps even a little slower (age does that ?), but then it came to me, could it be Radio Japan, the overseas service of NHK? A quick check at Short-Wave.info revealed this was indeed NHK World Radio.
It felt like I had found an old friend, one that I knew from my high school days over a half century ago. Still recognizable after all those years, and it felt good to know that they are still around.
Attached are two recordings:
Radio Japan, interval signal and bilingual ID, as heard in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada on 9505 kHz in 1970:
Audio PlayerNHK World Radio, interval signal and sign on in Thai on 13705 kHz, January 23, 2025 at 2300Z (via VK2ATZ KiwiSDR):
Audio Player73
Dan Greenall
London, Ontario, Canada
Canadian Reginald Aubrey Fessenden in his lab believed circa 1906 (Source: Radio Canada International)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Brian (WA1ZMS), who writes:
What has now become an annual LF listening event, WI2XLQ (an FCC Experimental Callsign) will once again be QRV for a recreation of the alleged first voice transmission made by Reginald Fessenden in 1909. Transmission on 486kHz in full carrier AM will start at 22:00z on Dec 24th and run for 24hrs. In keeping with tradition, a repeat transmission will take place on Dec 31st at 22:00z and run for 24hrs. Further details about the Fessenden transmissions can be found in prior years of ARRL News.
-Brian, WA1ZMS
I look forward to tuning in each year. Thank you so much, Brian, for making this annual broadcast a reality!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post:
by Dan Greenall
When I first discovered the world of shortwave listening, many years before the internet, access to hobby related information was mostly available through over-the-air DX programs, monthly DX club bulletins, as well as a number of books and electronics magazines. I joined a few clubs including the Midwest DX Club, SPEEDX, and the Ontario DX Association, and eagerly awaited each issue of Electronics Illustrated and Popular Electronics (early 1970’s) on the news stand. Later, in the 1980’s, Popular Communications and Monitoring Times came along, though these were not always easy to find here in Canada.
Ironically, nearly all issues of these magazines can be read today, over 30, 40 and even 50 years later, thanks to David Gleason’s not-for-profit, free online library
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/index.htm
You can also find the semi-annual (and eventually annual) Communications World (1971-81) which contained the popular White’s Radio Log.
As well, five issues of the Communications Handbook can be found; 1963, 1966, 1967, 1974 and 1977. It only came out once a year but was still a favourite of mine, so much so, that I still have my copies from 1971 and 1972.
I have scanned parts of these and put them on the Internet Archive. You can find them here:
Communications Handbook 1971: https://archive.org/details/page-09
Communications Handbook 1972: https://archive.org/details/page-20
Here are links that will lead to some of the other magazines:
As a bonus, all of the issues of the monthly SPEEDX bulletin (1971-95) have been made available here
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Speedx.htm
And finally, a good read is Shortwave Voices of the World by the late Dr. Richard E. Wood written in 1969. I still have my copy of it, but you can find it online here
https://archive.org/details/shortwave-voices-of-the-world-richard-wood-ed-1-pr-1-1969
My link to the 1971 Communications Handbook contains pages regarding the old WDX SWL registration program. I have found my old certificate from December 1971:
Wonder how many others still have theirs, or even the WPE ones from the 1960’s?
Many thanks to SWLing Post and SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following Radio Moscow ephemera from 1972. This media is also posted on Archive.org:
I first began listening to shortwave radio in December 1969 at the age of 15. My parents were very supportive of this newfound hobby and allowed some space in the basement for a listening post, in addition to permitting external antenna wires to be run across their property. Various pieces of radio equipment, audio cassettes, shelves of reference books and printed matter including albums filled with QSL’s were accumulated over the next several years, and it all followed me when I moved out. Or so I thought! While clearing out my parents estate in 2016, I came across some ephemera received from Radio Moscow in 1972, that was mixed in with a pile of old papers.
These included a leaflet announcing a Quiz to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the USSR, a frequency guide for their North American service from May to October 1972, and a small 12 page program guide for their North American and Pacific Coast Services.
