Tag Archives: shortwave

USAF wants to release ionized gas in the upper atmosphere to improve HF

New Scientist magazine reports the US Air Force is working on plans to improve HF radio propagation by releasing ionised gas in the upper atmosphere using a fleet of micro satellites

As well as increasing the range of radio signals, the USAF says it wants to smooth out the effects of solar winds, which can knock out GPS, and also investigate the possibility of blocking communication from enemy satellites.

The story says there are at least two major challenges. One is building a plasma generator small enough to fit on a CubeSat – roughly 10 centimetres cubed. Then there’s the problem of controlling exactly how the plasma will disperse once it is released.

Read the story at
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2100382-us-air-force-wants-to-plasma-bomb-the-sky-using-tiny-satellites/

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The Classics Experience with Paul Walker: August 26 and 27

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who announces his next show:

The next broadcast of The Classics Experience with Paul Walker is going to be the biggest yet. It’ll all take place in late August with 2 hours of rock n roll music with maybe a few country songs thrown in for good measure. The show is ALL about the music and providing something different on the shortwave bands, so all you’ll get from the show is MUSIC. There will be NO rants, raves, personal opinions or political and religious rants. No commercials or sponsors either. I fund the broadcast out of my own pocket so I can pick whatever music I want and not have to answer to anyone but George D. Beagle!

WRMI 7570kHz Saturday August 27th 0400 to 0600UTC. Beaming at 315 degrees towards Vancouver. It should provide a good signal to the West Coast of the US and Canada and probably parts of the midwest and upper midwest along the way.

WRMI 11580kHz Friday August 26th 2100 UTC to 2300UTC., This signal target area is Eastern North America and Western Europe.

WRMI 11530kHz Saturday August 27th, 0200UTC to 0400UTC targetting South America with maybe a little spill over to extreme Western Africa.

WINB 9265kHz Saturday August 27th 0330 to 0530UTC. This should provide good coverage into the Midwest, parts of southern Canada, into Mexico along with parts of Central & Southern Europe it seemed.. It was weakly heard in Australia and New Zealand during my last broadcast.

Channel 292 6070kHz Friday August 26th 2200 to 2400UTC. This should provide good coverage of central and parts of Western Europe.

Shortwave Services 15195khz via Armenia Saturday August 27th 1200 to 1400UTC. Beaming at 65 degrees towards Japan.

I am going to suspend my request for $ to cover postage and QSL costs. I’ve been so lax in sending out QSL cards, I haven’t gotten around to any of them from previous broadcasts and have gotten a few nastygrams about it. I feel bad, so I won’t ask for any money to cover costs this time around.

Contact information for reception reports:
Paul B. Walker, Jr.
PO Box 353
Galena, Alaska 99741-0353 USA

There may be MFSK32 data and pictures during the broadcast. I will announce during the broadcast if and when that happens.

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Radio Northern Ireland WRMI Broadcast

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Radio Northern Ireland will be broadcasting via WRMI on 9955khz at 0130 UTC on Monday. This is a regular show from Radio Northern Ireland. Jordan Heyburn from Radio Northern Ireland has made changes to his show and he has included a news segment! Jordan said “I decided to include a news segment to bring the news of Northern Ireland to your own home no matter where you are in the world. Not many people hear about Northern Ireland in the news in all corners of the world! The news brings a full round up of what has been happening in Northern Ireland including events which are happening in Northern Ireland which might interest any listeners”

Radio Northern Ireland happily accepts reception reports to the email address [email protected]

They welcome a $2 donation via paypal to their email address if you wish to cover postage for a QSL card by post.

Jordan Heyburn (MI6JVC) is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Jordan is an avid shortwave listener, ham radio operator and shortwave presenter/owner of Radio Northern Ireland. Jordan is based in Northern Ireland.

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The Mighty KBC: two shows on shortwave tonight

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Sunday, August 7, 00:00 – 02:00 UTC, The Mighty KBC will broadcast on 9925 kHz for two hours:

00:00 – 01:00 UTC It’s Radio, But Not As We Know It – Dave Mason
01:00 – 02:00 UTC The Giant Jukebox – Eric van Willegen

Note that for those of us in North America, the broadcasts will start at 20:00 (EDT) tonight (Saturday).

I’m planning to tune “Scottie”–my Scott Marine Model SLR-M (above)–to the KBC signal and enjoy the shows!

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Turn your Elad FDM DUO into a portable receiver, with a 200 metre longwire

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As some of the subscribers to Oxford Shortwave Log will know, I’ve been talking about building a battery pack for my Elad FDM DUO to take it out on a DXpedition. Finally, I found the time to quickly do just that with some parts that cost less than £10 – as the video below demonstrates in more detail. The FDM DUO input voltage is stated as 13.8V and although 12V would probably have been sufficient, a couple of very cheap battery cases later, 9 x 1.5V ‘C’ cells and about 20 minutes of somewhat unpractised soldering did the trick. I have also put together a 200 metre longwire antenna, deployable from a large spool, with a termination connector to add resistor grounding for a Beverage Antenna configuration, should I wish to do so in the future. I used two spools of 100 metre equipment cable, soldered together and protected with heat-shrink.

Direct link to Oxford Shortwave Log channel

Regular viewers of my youtube channel will know that I spend much of my shortwave listening time out in an Oxfordshire wood where QRM is negligable and Tropical Band stations can be heard with, at times, unprecidented signal-to-noise. This is the first time I’ve used a longwire greater than 100 metres in length, however, to be resonant at two wavelengths for 90 metres and 3 wavelengths for 60 metres was the objective. I hope the already fine Tropical Band listening to be had out in the Oxfordshire countryside will improve further.

Clint Gouveia is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Clint actively publishes videos of his shortwave radio excursions on his YouTube channel: Oxford Shortwave Log. Clint is based in Oxfordshire, England.

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Radio Northern Ireland this weekend!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jordan Heyburn, who writes:

Radio Northern Ireland is going to be broadcasting to Asia and we hope that the propagation gods will be on our side and take us to Australia and New Zealand. Radio Northern Ireland will be broadcasting via the Shortwave Service in Armenia on Saturday 9th July at 2300 UTC on 17490khz. The show which is being beamed out towards Asia and Australia is a special pre recorded show just for this relay with SSTV at the end of the show in Scottie 2 mode! Have your decoders ready for this!

If you get a reception then why not send us a reception report to [email protected], if you have the correct reception you will be in receipt of a shiny new Radio Northern Ireland QSL. A donation of $2 is preferred to cover postage and this can be sent through paypal to the same email address.

If you wish to hear us on Shortwave at any time we can be found on multiple frequencies which are listed below.

Shortwave Service via Germany – 6005khz 1900 UTC (Saturday)
WRMI – 15770khz 2100 UTC (Saturday)
WRMI – 11580khz 0130 UTC (Sunday)
WRMI – 9955khz 0130 UTC (Monday)

I hope you enjoy the show and let us know where in the world you are listening from!

Best Regards,

Jordan Heyburn

Thanks for the heads-up, Jordan! We’ll be listening!

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There’s a pattern in that noise!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, @K7al_L3afta, who just shared the image (above) and noted, on Twitter:

“I just discovered the noise at the start of [the VOA Radiogram has] a purpose!”

I just discovered that the noise at the start of @VOARadiogram have a purpose! 🙂@SWLingDotCom @LondonShortwave pic.twitter.com/cSOAMCfDTv

— ? ????? ????????? (@K7al_L3afta) July 2, 2016