Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who shares his updated Music on Shortwave list for the A16 period.
If you love listening to music on the shortwaves, you’ll love Alan’s free guide.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, for the following guest post:
by TomL, May 26, 2016
My interest in radio listening has been rekindled after a long hiatus in parallel to my dwindling interest in Mainstream Media. It is now about 8 years without cable TV and I seriously do not miss it, especially with the evolving nature of discovery with respect to other forms of media. SWL radio was important to me in my formative years during the Cold War; fascinating were the many ways governments used shortwave radio to influence populations, each with their own brand of propaganda! Young people today know nothing about the endless (and entertaining) tirades of East German editorial commentaries denouncing the evil, decadent West. Or, of the free, large-sized envelopes full of travel and promotional brochures, pennants, bumper stickers, and booklets sent from the government broadcasters such as Poland, Hungary (yes, communist countries!), Australia, Netherlands, etc. just for sending in one simple QSL report!!!
I quickly realized that those days are gone forever, consigned to a period of history where radio was THE main method of disseminating copious amounts of government propaganda to very large swaths of humanity. Now, the internet and cable TV fulfill that function in a much more CONTROLLED manner, both technically and socially (Big Brother like). So, I have diversified my interests and have an unusual listening station. It is multiple things in one small space. You see, I live in a very small condo in a noise-plagued environment with only a 2nd floor wooden deck (owned by the Condo Association!) in which to put up any outside antennas. Only a single “Dish” type antenna is allowed. So my shortwave antenna needs to be well hidden. Same for the TV antenna, since I also have a north-facing deck, I cannot have any line-of-sight to the Southern sky for a Dish.
The first wire antenna strung from the top and brought inside was a dismal failure receiving nothing but noise. I gave up for a couple of years. I built a loop TV antenna and mounted an FM antenna instead since those were less susceptible to noise issues. Also recently added to this station are two cheap 4G antennas with wires into a single Verizon USB aircard plugged into my computer and getting up to 14 mbps performance.
But, I still wanted to try shortwave radio again (and medium wave too) but the noise issues were very, very discouraging. S9 noise on some bands. Tried preselector, a noise “phaser”, different lengths. Nothing worked. However, I read something from an amateur radio operator in Northern California who had a space problem. He put up a helically-wound-vertical (HWV) antenna with radials for 160 meters (John Miller HWV antenna). I also read about various “broomstick” antennas. So, I tried my own version with an old RF Systems Magnetic Longwire Balun I still owned and NO radials. Put it together with a 2 foot long, 4 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe wrapped in 200 feet of 18 awg magnet wire. Well, still noisy but, at least now I had a portable antenna!
So, I went camping in March of this year! Holy Cow, was it cold out but the helical antenna performed well enough to hear All India Radio for my very first time, a small 1kw Mexican station in the 49 meter band, and various others from Asia that were elusive for me in the distant past. I was finally encouraged again to continue my research. I did this a few more times and finally got tired of going camping just to listen to a radio! NOISE at home was still the big bugaboo to kill (and it still is).
I read up on Common-mode noise travelling on ground and shield components of antenna systems. So I bought a bunch of toroid ferrites of different types to cover different frequencies (something about initial permeability….) to make my own homemade “Super RF Choke” to cover all frequencies made on a Home Depot Homer bucket lid, winding the coax 5 or 6 times through all the toroids, the full diameter of the lid.
Measurements by Jim Brown published on the web (RFI-Ham.pdf), pages 32-33) indicate good choke performance using coax with these larger-sized coils. I still hoped to salvage the use of the HWV antenna. So, added the choke and noticed some improvement across most bands (less noise). Medium wave broadcast was not effective and decided that I did not want to keep tuning an antenna that HAD to sit outside to get away from the noise inside my listening station.
I also shut off the power to my condo and found out which noise sources were mine vs. other noise that came from all the neighbors (very important step to do!!!). For instance, I did not know before that USB charging adapters are PURE RF-NOISE EVIL in an innocently small package?!?!?! I rearranged wiring to shut off certain devices and power strips when I want to listen to the radio!
So, I kept reading. Found out about another magnetic balun from Palomar. Tried it but not impressed – performance was too lossy compared to the good old RF Systems MLB (what a great product that was back then!). Kept reading and found out good things about the EF-SWL from PAR electronics (product is now made and sold by LNR). The ground connections on it (and the Palomar) intrigued me. So, I decided to go to Hamvention for the first time, even though I was skeptical of finding anything useful, I told myself, I could at least buy the EF-SWL on sale (which I did).
Installed EF-SWL to the HWV but no difference compared to the RF MLB. The antenna did perform better outside on the deck in the far corner, so there it still sits. Then, I hooked up the wire they gave me with the EF-SWL to the ground and it resulted in MORE noise. Then, took off the jumper (which connects the coax shield to the ground side of the balun) and connected only the middle post (balun ground) to the ground wire and a lot LESS noise resulted along with a small reduction in radio signal level!!! Finally some progress – the wire seems to be acting like an old-fashioned “counterpoise”, which is misunderstood these days. Apparently, back in the 1930’s-1950’s, people involved in radio knew the differences between an “earth ground”, a “radial system”, and a “counterpoise”. Technically, they are all different and their use is different as a result. Now, people moosh all these concepts together interchangeably which risks creating very ineffective antennas.
Photo of installed EF-SWL at the bottom of the HWV with coax at the output, the red magnet wire input on top, the middle post for the counterpoise wire, and the coax shield post is unused.
The HWV antenna now has 600 feet of 26 awg teflon wire on the outside PVC, an inside 3 inch PVC “sleeve” with 102 Russian ferrite rods, a 56 inch stainless steel whip at the top, and one inch hole through the center to accommodate the 7 foot PVC mount to my carbon fiber photo tripod when I take it camping again.
So, I am on a new quest to understand counterpoises, how to actually TUNE them and, hopefully, how to use them to increase the performance of shortened antennas like my HWV (something about reducing the dB loss incurred by shortening….). A second result I hope will be how to use the counterpoise to keep signal-to-noise ratio high at the same time (maybe with this used $100 Dentron Super Tuner bought at Hamvention?).
Also bought at Hamvention (thanks Thomas W. for the tip!!) and installed Bonito’s Galvanic Antenna Isolator GI300.
If input directly to the input of the radio, led to more reduction in noise and signal!! Too much actually, so I took off my Super RF Choke and now I had a better result compared to the EF-SWL with the RF Choke (slightly cleaner sound with less hissy noise). Apparently, the GI300 completely isolates the coax shield, better than my homemade choke! The requirement is to use coax from the feedpoint and not bare wire. I then placed a few clamp-on ferrites I bought from eBay to help with slightly higher frequency choking of the shield at various places on the feedline.
Photo of GI300 on radio with NO extra coax lead into the radio at right (Thanks to Dennis Walter of Bonito for that tip)
Before Hamvention, I wanted to try out AM broadcast. I wanted to know more about this “FSL” antenna a well-known eccentric from Ireland (Graham Maynard FSL) developed before he passed away a few years later. So read up and bought a whole bunch of ferrite rods and tried different configurations. Well, my particular design did not work all that well because I did not follow directions for winding wire into a balanced design. So, I added all those ferrite rods to the 2 foot HWV (inside a 3 inch thin-walled sewer PVC pipe). The antenna is louder down to about 3 MHz with a stronger signal (including noise) than without. I do not have measurements, and find it too time consuming to document. Maybe one day, I will compare and document by sliding the ferrites out on the 3 inch PVC and measure actual signal levels. The ferrite sleeve seemed to pick up MORE noise and radio signal than without it. So, if you need more signal strength in a small package below 7 MHz, then the idea seems to have merit. But since it increased noise as much as radio signals, it has limited usefulness to me. I do have another project where I will put ferrite bars onto a tuned medium wave loop antenna (Tecsun AN100) that is much more portable and directional. The bars and loop were both relatively inexpensive from eBay. The ferrites change the tuning lower, so I have to figure out how to make it tune higher again…….
Photo of unfinished MW loop project.
Evolving understanding of dealing with major problems like overwhelming noise and limited space have led to unexpected additions to my SW Listening Station:
For shortwave, I still pick up mostly noise on many bands. With the uncalibrated S-meter on the ICF-2010 – 49 meters is around S1 (before about S3). 31 meters is MUCH improved and is now listenable to stronger stations (S2 instead of S7 noise!). Even 19 and 16 meters is improved from S6 to S7 down to about S3 now – noise still too annoyingly loud to understand any language being spoken however. And forget about DXing from this location! Will have to go camping again soon.
BUT, listening now to Voice of Greece, Radio Nacional Brasilia, or Radio Romania International is a much cleaner sounding experience than just a couple of months ago. They are there to re-discover and appreciate, even though many speak a foreign language and I do not understand a word they are saying! Also, there is the odd observation (like just this morning), that I can actually learn to enjoy listening to Country Music if it is the unique sounding Australian flavor!!
Do I miss cable TV?? Not a bit!!
TomL from noisy Illinois, USA
Many thanks for sharing your experiences, Tom! Also, it was great meeting you at the Hamvention this year.
I must say that there is something to be said for brute-force experimentation when it comes to mitigating radio interference. I hope you keep us posted as you continue to experiment and improve upon your unique listening system.
Paul Walker at KIYU Alaska.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and broadcaster, Paul Walker, who writes:
The next broadcast of “The Classics Experience” with Paul Walker is rapidly approaching. It’s a 2 hour broadcast of rock and roll music with some country classics scattered in and occasionally a few audio surprises.
The next broadcast schedule looks like this:
WINB 9265khz Saturday June 4th 0230UTC to 0430UTC
WRMI 7570 Saturday June 4th 0400 to 0600UTC
WINB’s principal radiation direction is 242 degrees true or almost due southwest. Looks to cover parts of the Midwest/Southern US pretty well: Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and into Mexico. WINB claims “At the long range, the main beam hits Eastern Australia and New Zealand. The rear lobe hits the Mediterranean area of Eastern Europe.”
WRMI’s 7570khz signal beams at a 315 degree azimuth to Vancouver, Canada. It is very listenable, near local like on good nights here in rural Central Alaska.
No appeals for donations, no begging for sponsors, no political or religious rantings and ravings nor any silly personal opinions. I promise. Just good music for the fun of it!
Seriously, I fund the broadcast out of my own pocket about once every 2-3 months just for the heck of it!
Reception reports are only accepted by regular postal mail. $2 appreciated to cover the costs of the QSL cards I had printed up and the postage. Reports can be sent to:
Paul B. Walker, Jr.
PO Box 353
Galena, Alaska 99741 USA
FYI: There are two surprises: I will have text in the MFSK32 format in the second half of the first hour and then a picture in the MFSK32 format in the second half of the second hour.
Thanks, Paul, for putting you good music show on the air! We’ll be listening for “The Classics Experience” this weekend. Note: since the broadcast times are in UTC above, listeners in North America should tune in during the evening on Friday, June 3rd. Compare your local time to UTC.
I’ve been evaluating the BST-1 car shortwave radio for a review that will soon appear in The Spectrum Monitor magazine.
I must admit: it’s mighty fun to be able to listen to shortwave broadcasters through my vehicle’s audio system.
Last week, the BST-1 saved my sanity, too. You see, I was in a rush to get to a morning appointment in town when Murphy’s Law stopped me dead in my tracks!
A construction crew began resurfacing a two mile (unavoidable) stretch of asphalt road on my route. As the road crew set up their gear, I was forced to wait a full 20 minutes (!!!!) before being allowed to pass.
Fortunately, I remembered that I had the BST-1 hooked up in the car. I tuned to 9580 kHz and there was Radio Australia. Somehow, hearing my staple broadcaster soothed my nerves. I accepted that I would be late for my appointment and simply enjoyed the moment. In your face, Murphy–!!!!
Here’s a very short video I made while stopped:
All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo source: Wikimedia.
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mike R, for sharing this article from Asia Radio Today:
During a session on Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) at Radio Asia, Fayyaz Sheheryar the Director General of All India Radio said all PSB [Public Service] broadcasters are facing the question of how to make revenue within the public service model.
As governments are reducing funding for public service broadcasters, “there is competition between hedonism and altruism,” he said.
“If we want to earn money would it be at the expense of ethics? This is a question that requires everyone’s attention.”
The expansion of tv channels in India overshadowed radio for a while, but radio has come back to life “thanks to the deregulation of radio, new licences and new frequencies on FM and [DRM]” according to Sheheryar.
All India Radio has introduced new channels to compete with the new private commercial channels.
But, like other public broadcasters else where in the world, All India Radio is “facing questioning from commercial broadcasters about our role.”
[…]In India, All India Radio is allowed to take advertising, but advertising is not allowed to affect decisions on program content. It is heavily used by advertisers to reach both educated and mass rural populations, but the new private channels have taken a share of the pubic service broadcaster’s significant ad revenue.
“Public service broadcasting is a keystone of democracy,” said Sheheryar.
“Should we leave it to the market to decide the content of PSB? PSB gently leads the masses to more mature values and services all sectors of the population regardless of whether the have money to spend or not. Ratings cannot be the sole yardstick to measure the success of PSB.
[…]“The proliferation of private broadcasters has also contributed to the questioning of PSB’s role.”
[…]The question of how to fund AIR now that it is autonomous is constantly being discussed. All India Radio uses a “hybrid model of funding” with some government funding and some commercial revenue funding. Other sources of revenue are program sales, news media sales, facilities hire and transmission rental.
Despite the philosophical and revenue challenges Sheheryar is optimistic: “Public Service Broadcasting is on a revival course despite all the challenges. The [Indian] Prime Minister’s choice to broadcast regularly on AIR has helped us… For PBS to survive it must be recognised as a creative art and treated accordingly.”
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bob La Rose, who shares a QSL he received (see above and below) from Radio Havana Cuba after they had only been on the air a few days back in 1961.
Amazing, Bob! Thanks for taking the time to scan and share this report!
Also, many thanks to Arnie Coro, Host of Dxers Unlimited at Radio Havana Cuba, for sharing the full text/script from his May 1st 2016 anniversary edition of DXers Unlimited:
Radio Havana Cuba
Dxers Unlimited
Dxers Unlimited’s weekend edition for 1 May 2016
By Arnie Coro
Radio amateur CO2KK
Hi amigos radioaficionados, welcome to the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited, today l am happy to celebrate with you all the 55th Anniversary of Radio Havana Cuba… Yes amigos, it was on the first day of May of 1961, during the May Day celebrations when Cuba had just won the battle against the mercenary invasion that we went on the air using our present name Radio Havana Cuba… Two announcers, Orlando Castellanos and Fernando Alcorta announced to the world that Radio Havana Cuba, was on the air… Previously we had used the name Cuban Experimental Short Wave, but from May one of 1961, we are known worldwide as Radio Havana Cuba…
So today is a very special day… remembering those who have passed away after many years of valuable services to our station, like Pedro Costa the General Administration Manager, Carlos Estrada our Chief Engineer, and former Director Generals Marcos Behamaras. Orlando Fundora, Jose Antonio Caiñas and Alfredo Viñas. I also keep very nice memories of Angel Hernandez our bilingual announcer with the most effective voice for short wave radio that I can recall, and also I remember Manolo Ortega, reading our Spanish language editorials so that they could be heard clearly through his powerful voice…
Si amigos, I was there at the station 55 years ago as a young radio technician in charge of supervising the operations of our studios and transmitters that at that time included four Brown Boveri Swiss made short wave transmitters connected to a still under construction antennas farm, and the two studios borrowed from Radio Progreso until we could finish building our first studios .
The history of Radio Havana Cuba is full of very relevant moments, like the day that our Experimental Station announced to the world that the mercenary invasion that entered the Bay of Pigs had been defeated after sixty six hours of fierce combats .
With a lot of enthusiast and the impacting presence of a new generation of announcers, journalists , technicians, engineers and support personnel we are moving ahead to provide the best possible programming keeping our short wave transmitting facilities because we do believe on the use of international short wave broadcasting, while not disregarding the feeding of streaming audio to the Internet-
I am Arnie Coro, your host here at this special 55th Anniversary edition of Dxers Unlimited, that will continue in just a few seconds after a station ID..
Musical short cut
Yes amigos this is Radio Havana Cuba, using short wave frequencies at different times of the day on the 16, 19, 22, 25 ,31, 49 and 60 meters bands… and now our next radio hobby related item, a very popular section of this show under the name Antenna Topics , that is dedicated today , at the request of several listeners to a very effective Dxing antenna, low take off angle radiator, known as the HENTENNA, A great number of listeners from all around the world have written to me recently, asking to learn more about this Japanese antenna design , known as the HENTENNA, that seems to continue to be making headlines in radio publications around the world once again… But before telling you more about the mysterious HENTENNA…. A solar activity update… believe it or not, we are seen the solar flux moving up to very near 100 units for the first time in many weeks… following the typical ups and downs of the tail end of solar cycle 24… so propagation conditions have improved on the short wave bands …. Now back to the HENTENNA…
By the way, the first original report about the HENTENNA that went on the air here at Dxers Unlimited, dates back to 1999,more precisely, it went on the air the 12th of October of 1999, and according to my records, it then generated a lot of interest from our listeners, who were at that time, 1999, getting ready to enjoy the peak years of solar dream solar cycle 23 !!! >Never as powerful as super cycle 19, but nevertheless much better than the present very poor cycle 24.
So amigos here is at the request of Dxers Unlimited’s fans , a special Dxers Unlimited’s report on the HENTENNA, the Japanese elongated rectangular loop antenna with an easy match to coaxial cable feedlines of any impedance, be it 50, 60 ,75 or 93 ohms…or even 150 ohms !!! Of course that you can feed it with parallel transmission line of 300 to 450 ohms too, it is just a matter of minutes to find the perfect match for the feedline in use.
Let me start by saying that I recently built yet another HENTENNA for the FM broadcast band, and it is working nicely, having already picked up some Sporadic E skip DX stations from Mexico, the US and Puerto Rico during first few days of this year’s spring and summer E skip season.
Now you will have to learn something very unusual about the HENTENNA… the HENTENNA produces or receives VERTICALLY polarized waves when the antenna is placed horizontally; that is, with the long sides of the rectangular loop parallel to the ground. AND, if you want horizontal polarization, just flip the HENTENNA so that the long sides of the loop are vertical, and the short sides are parallel to the ground, something that is puzzling, but that’s the way it is amigos…
By the way, one of the world’s foremost antenna experts, Dr. L. B. Cebik, amateur radio operator W4RNL, did during his fruitful life an extensive analysis of elongated loops, and his findings are really fascinating. Dr. Cebik , now sorrily a silent key specialized in computer modeling of complex antenna systems, and his work with the HENTENNA and other similar elongated loops shows that the HENTENNA is a very good performer indeed.
In a few seconds, be ready to write down, the formulas for calculating HENTENNAS in the frequency range from 14 megaHertz all the way up to 220 megaHertz.
And now, as promised more about the japanese wonder antenna… the HENTENNA. Dr. Cebik’s computer modeling shows that the elongated loop HENTENNA has an edge over a regular square one wavelength loop and the regular elongated loop.
HENTENNAS for receiving FM broadcast signals are very easy to build, using a wooden or PVC pipe frame and copper wire. I built the one just
mentioned cut for 100 megaHertz, using PVC insulated no. 12 wire, the one that is typically used for home wiring.
The loop was closed by soldering with a butane torch, and using regular solder with rosin core… The reason for using the butane torch is that no soldering iron at hand here could handle the heavy wire PLUS the high speed heat transfer of the copper wire.
The loop for the 100 megaHertz antenna is 1.5 meters on the long sides of the rectangle and 50 centimeters on the short sides. The feed point for the 50 ohm cable is was found to be located about 55 centimeters from one of the short sides of the loop.
The antenna is installed with the long sides in a vertical position; for receiving horizontally polarized FM broadcasts. I tried both 50 ohms and 75 ohms coaxial cables, and could not detect any difference on the weakest station that I am picking up here regularly with the FM band HENTENNA.
Again, now please pay extra attention …if you want to make of these elongated loops for receiving, here are the measurements to use: for the long sides of the rectangle 1/2 of a wavelength at the operating frequency, for the short side, the length is 1/6 of a wavelength… and the connection point for the coaxial cable of 50 ohms impedance is a little more than 1/6 of wavelength from one of the short sides of the rectangle, and it must be found experimentally by locating the point that provides the minimum standing wave ratio.
HENTENNAS can be built for any frequency between 10 megaHertz and 300
megaHertz by using heavy WIRE, and for the frequency range from about 50 megaHertz to 500 megaHertz you may try building HENTENNAS with copper or aluminum tubing.
Hope to have you all listening to my middle of the week edition of Dxers Unlimited amigos and do enjoy the improved short wave propagation conditions now in progress, especially after your local sunset.
You might recall a post from Robert Gulley earlier this week about Eye Radio. Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Borgnino who shares a link to the following article from the BBC about Eye Radio’s broadcasts over shortwave:
(Source: BBC)
A radio station in South Sudan is using older, but tried and tested technology to reach new audiences.
Radio is a crucial medium in South Sudan, where illiteracy is high and many areas lack an electricity supply.
But many people living in remote villages are out of range of existing FM and mediumwave (AM) broadcasts.
Huge distances
To reach these potential listeners, Eye Radio, which is based in the capital Juba and can be heard in regional capitals, has just started broadcasting on shortwave.
The new service covers “the whole of South Sudan, including remote areas in which communities are not able to access FM radio”, says Eye Media head Stephen Omiri.
[…]The station is thought to be renting airtime on a transmitter based outside South Sudan.
Funding for the shortwave service comes from USAID, the international development arm of the US government.
[…]Eye Radio broadcasts in English, standard Arabic, and local languages Dinka, Nuer, Juba Arabic, Bari, Shilluk, Zande and Moro.
The shortwave broadcasts are on the air from 7-8 a.m. local time on 11730 kHz, and 7-8 p.m. on 17730 kHz.
Another station using shortwave to reach South Sudan is Radio Tamazuj, which is based in the Netherlands.
Click here to read the full article at the BBC Monitoring website.