Tag Archives: Shortwave Radio

Mark’s Malahit DSP-2 notes

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark, who recently shared the following comments in response to Dan Robinson’s excellent Malahit DSP-2 review series. Mark writes:

I’ve been playing with my new Malachit for a week now and I am very impressed. It’s got a superb receiver and last night I was pulling in several South American stations using the absolutely amazing Bonito MA305 with the longer whip, not the stock one, it’s around 30 feet up in a tree using H155 coax grounded at the base of the tree, this antenna really blows me away. Some of these stations are only 1Kw and the little Bonito was pulling them in very well indeed. I am in the country so have a very low noise floor and QTH is Ireland.

Yes I do have to turn the RF gain to 0 and use around 20db attenuation on Longwave but I know what I should be receiving here in Ireland on LW and by using attenuation it has no negative effect on LW. I do have a strong enough LW transmitter around 45-50 miles away which is probably having an effect here but if I compare it to my Tecsun PL-990x the Malahit completely obliterated the 990x on LW even with the attenuation on the 990x. Its performance on LW with external antenna is very poor even using one of the hidden features by Press and hold the [ 3 ] key for about 2 seconds, this does make a notable improvement to the 990x on LW and MW but the Malahit completely obliterates it on LW and External antenna. Of course the Malahit has no internal ferrite so without external antenna you won’t receive anything on LW or MW.

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Radio Waves: Shortwave is Holding its Own, Solar Storms and Internet Outages, Trust in News, and RSGB Convention Trailer

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dan Van Hoy, Dennis Dura, Rich Cuff, and the Southgate ARC for the following tips:

Shortwave Radios Keep Up With Tech (Radio World)

There’s still lots to listen to, and new ways to do it

Surprise! Shortwave radio as a broadcast medium is holding its own, despite the intrusion of the internet, transmission cutbacks by major broadcasters such as the BBC World Service and Voice of America and abandonment of the SW bands by other state-owned broadcasters.

Meanwhile, the ways in which people listen to SW radio transmissions are evolving, because SW receiver manufacturers are keeping up with the technological times.

Stayin’ alive

There is no doubt that the variety of stations on the SW bands has declined, due to the end of the Cold War — the propaganda war of which drove the medium in the 1950s and 1960s — and the emergence of the internet.

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Carlos Latuff’s shortwave radio logs are a work of art

For those who don’t know, our friend and SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, is not only a devoted radio enthusiast, but also a prominent political cartoonist in Brazil and throughout the world.

Recently, Carlos has been posting his shortwave logs on his Twitter feed and they’re pretty amazing.

Carlos’ shortwave logs not only include comments and notes from each broadcast, but also his own artwork.

Here’s Carlos’ recording of Vatican Radio which accompanies the log at the top of this post:

Click here to check out Carlos’ Twitter feed where he posts his political cartoons and, yes, even the occasional shortwave listening log!

If you’ve been a reader of the SWLing Post for long, you’ll notice that we’re not a space for political discussions; there are much better options out there on the Internet. Here, we stick to the world of radio, but we can’t help but highlight this intersection and Carlos’ creative logs.

In fact, Carlos, I might nudge you for that Vatican Radio recording and your artwork to post on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive!

The SI-307: Another Si473X portable receiver

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Konrad, who writes:

Hello Thomas,

I was checking AliExpress in search of Hanrongda HRD 747 (still nothing yet) and accidentally I’ve found something which might be interesting.

For now there’s not much information about this device, but it seems that somebody produced a handheld equivalent of well known Si473X receivers.

Name is SI-307

https://aliexpress.com/item/1005003010068279.html

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184956500398

Currently there are no details, but they’re mentioning SSB support, which might suggest, that they’re using a well known Si4735-D60 or Si4732-A10 chip. Also it is unknown if device might be programmable as original (non-handheld) version of this receiver. Speaker seems to be built in.

Might be interesting to know, if anybody from The SWLing Post has decided to risk ~100 USD to check this out 🙂

PS: Thanks for your outstanding work, I’m checking The SWLing Post daily 🙂

Thank you, Konrad! Yes, I think you’re right in that this is simply another Si473X-based receiver.

Interesting: the aluminum alloy chassis almost seems to be snap-together. The connection tabs remind me of radio kits that use circuit board material at the chassis.

Also, the buttons and labels on the front faceplate seem so “homebrew.”

Like Konrad, I would be interested if anyone has tried this radio. I’m not sure I’d be ready to fork out money on it quite yet, although it is certainly an interesting take on the Si473X.

Thank you, again, Konrad!

The new SIHUADON D-808 portable shortwave radio

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adid, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

Yesterday I found this short animation:

So I went to their website to look at this nice black and amber screen new model.

https://xhdata.com.cn/ (strangely enough, they sell there Tecsun stuff also)

I don’t plan on buying it any time soon as I don’t think they added “memories scroll” as there is in the R108.

So any of the members here can comment on the Black SIHUADON D-808 ?

Regards, Adi

Thank you for sharing this, Adid!

I’m also very curious if any SWLing Post readers have purchased the SIHUADON D-808 and could comment on any differences (other than the superficial ones) with it and the XHADATA D-808.

WRMI will air a second series of Texas Radio Shortwave programs

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Edward, who shares the following announcement:

WRMI to air second series of European free radio and low-power licensed stations

WRMI will air a second series of Texas Radio Shortwave programs featuring European free-radio and low-power licensed stations during September, October, and November.

The one-hour programs will be broadcast every Friday at 9 p.m. ET (Saturday at 0100 UTC) by WRMI, Okeechobee, Florida, on Texas Radio Shortwave’s “regular” frequency of 5950 kHz.

Dates and featured stations in Series 2 are as follows:

September 4-5 = Radio Clash (Somewhere in Europe)

September 11-12 = Radio Merlin (UK) *

September 18-19 = Crusin’ Radio (UK)

September 25-26 = CoolAM Radio (The Netherlands) *

October 2-3 = Radio Monique International (The Netherlands) *

October 9-10 = Radio Blackstone International (The Netherlands)

October 16-17 = Charleston International Radio (Germany) *

October 23-24 = KR1 (The Netherlands)

October 30-31 = To Be Announced

November 6-7 = To Be Announced

November 13-14 = To Be Announced

November 20-21 = To Be Announced

November 27-28 = To Be Announced.

*Series 1 station invited to produce a program for Series 2.

eQSLs will be available from individual stations. TRSW will not issue verifications for these programs.

These popular stations are heard regularly in Europe but seldom in North America because of propagation conditions.

Thank you for the tip, Ed!

Photos from the 2021 WCARS Hamfest

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This past weekend (July 24, 2021), my buddy Vlado (N3CZ) and I attended the 2021 Western Carolina Amateur Radio Society (WCARS) hamfest in Waynesville, North Carolina.

Due to Covid-19 lock-downs and social distancing, this was the first hamfest we’d attended in 18 months. I think all of us were having serious hamfest withdrawal, so this regional hamfest was very well-attended. Who knows what will happen in the future with regards to Covid–numbers are climbing sharply again here in NC–so I think many of us were there enjoying everything “while the gettin’ was good.” It helped that even the indoor area is incredibly spacious and had a constant airflow.

It was so great seeing so many friends, readers, and subscribers. Thank you for stopping by our tables.

Photo Gallery

This gallery has about 117 photos. So that the images don’t all load from the SWLing Post homepage, you may need to click on the “Continue reading…” link below to expand the post and view the photo gallery.

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