Tag Archives: Videos

“Shortwave” – student film recounts 1973 Military Coup in Chile

Shortwave-Film

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary Wise (W4EEY), who writes:

YouTube recommended a video titled, “Short Wave”. Of course I had to watch.

It looks like it might be  student film. It recounts the 1973 Military Coup in Chile with a ham radio operator reporting from Santiago.

Takes me back to my college days. Worth a look:

Click here to watch on YouTube.

“Mystery” reel-to-reel tape of shortwave radio broadcasts

Reel-to-reel

Several weeks ago, an SWLing Post reader (sorry–I’m missing your name in my notes!) sent me the following YouTube video. The video is essentially a review of the Pioneer RT-707 reel-to-reel tape deck. The reviewer is using a “mystery” tape of shortwave radio broadcasts in the deck.

You’ll recognize a number of broadcasters in his audio clips:

Click here to view on YouTube.

I’ve actually asked this YouTube reviewer if he would digitize the tape so that I could add it to the shortwave archive. I love lost and found recordings like this.

1953 film anticipates the transistor’s impact on technology

TheTransistor-Film

Many thanks to an SWLing Post reader who shared this brilliant 1953 documentary film about the anticipated impact the transistor could have on technology.

Here’s the film description from the AT&T YouTube channel:

Made between the 1947 invention of the transistor at Bell Labs and the 1956 awarding of the Nobel Prize for Physics to its creators, this documentary is less about the discovery itself than its anticipated impact on technology and society. The intent of the film was clearly to give the public of that era their first understanding of what a transistor was and why it mattered so much.

Made for a general audience, the film provides a clear and concise presentation on technological developments that began with the vacuum tube, showing different types of transistors and explaining the significance in their ultimate replacement of tubes.

Included are visions of “things to come,” concepts and creations of how the small transistor might free up an encumbered world: the wrist radio, similar to Dick Tracy’s, but with a cool lapel sound speaker worn like a boutonniere; a portable TV set, which must have seemed astonishing at the time given the huge, heavy cabinetry required to accommodate the plethora of tubes inside 1950s TVs; and the “calculating machine,” or computer, whose size, we’re told, will one day be so reduced because of transistors that it will only require “a good-sized room” rather than a space the size of the Empire State Building. The concept of how small computers could be still remained decades away.

While The Transistor’s vision of the future seems somewhat quaint in retrospect, it captures a moment in time before the transistor became ubiquitous; a time when Bell Labs wanted the world to know that something important had occurred, something that was about to bring tremendous change to everyone’s daily lives.

Click here to view the film on YouTube, or simply watch via the embedded player below:

Recordings: Paul records Vanuatu and Solomon Islands from central Alaska

IMG_0866

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following recordings of Radio Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands Broadcasting. Paul lives in Galena, Alaska, and records most of these broadcasts outside of his broadcasting studio:

7260 kHz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAxa5_Oyl3M

5020 kHz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9yw6GLy4Zw

5020 kHz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Rd-Whn2pA

3945 is much weaker then 7260 for some reason and Nikkei is on that channel till 0900 UTC, so about the only chance I have of hearing Vanuatu on 3945 CLEARLY is when Nikkei signs off.

9545 kHz Monday Night 1130 AKDT/(0730 utc Tuesday)

https://soundcloud.com/paul-walker-11/9545-april-25-2016-11-21-37-pm

7260 from April 19th at 1135 AKDT /0735 UTC)

http://youtu.be/yAxa5_Oyl3M

5020 from April 20th at 1248 am AKDT/0848 UTC

http://youtu.be/e9yw6GLy4Zw

Thanks for sharing your recordings, Paul! You’ve certainly done a fine job DXing in the northern latitudes all while standing next to a broadcast station.

Keep up the great work!

Paul’s DXing location in Galena, Alaska with sample logs and an update of music broadcast

IMG_0866

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the image above and the following:

How about a video [from Galena, AK]? Here’s one I shot on the evening of April 15th while DXin’g and apparently logging Radio Bandeirantes 9645 kHz in Brazil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7fnLA9aYvA

Looks like a beautiful DX location you’ve got there, Paul. You’ve obviously found ways to mitigate receiver overload from the broadcast station with the number of loggings you’ve been posting as of late.

Indeed, Paul recently forwarded the following sample of logs from this very DXing spot. Paul writes:

Unless otherwise noted, all loggings were from a Tecsun PL-880 with an 80 foot long wire 5 feet up in a tree. My location is Galena, Alaska which is a village of 500 people about 300 miles east of Nome, Alaska and 300 miles west of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Comments questions or thoughts always welcome!

I was able to log Channel Africa broadcasting in French on 15235 kHz, two mornings last week.

This recording was made on Friday April 8, 2015 at 8:45 AM Alaska Daylight Time/1645UTC. I would rate the signal about 6 1/2 out of 10 with good audio, some light fading and no interference.

Audio here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAvB-s7GeG4

This recording was made on Wednesday April 6, 2015 at 8:37 AM Alaska Daylight Time/1637UTC. The signal was about a 6 out of 10 with moderate fading, a little more then the recording made on April 8th.

Audio here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vylScGVsYfM

Radio Thailand 9390 kHz

This recording was made on Saturday April 9, 2015 at 10:36 AM Alaska Daylight Time/1836UTC. I would rate the signal about 7 1/2 to 8 out of 10 with good audio, some light fading and no interference.

Audio here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=nKwKakToMNs

Voice of Indoneisa 9526 kHz

This recording was made on Saturday April 9, 2015 at 10:36 AM Alaska Daylight Time/1836UTC. I would rate the signal about 4 1/2 out of 10 with ok audio, some light to moderate fading and some interference.

Audio here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06ZvqXEVhyE

Voice of Vietnam 9625 kHz

This recording was made on Saturday April 9, 2015 at 9:00AM Alaska Daylight Time/1700UTC. I would rate the signal about 4 out of 10 with fair audio, some light to moderate fading and little interference.

Audio here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39s2HNJmHEs

All India Radio 11620 kHz

This recording was made on Saturday April 10 , 2015 at 1:29PM Alaska Daylight Time/2129UTC. I would rate the signal about 6 out of 10 with GOOD audio, some light to moderate fading and no interference.

Audio here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89QJHdZyVKU

Note: This was by FAR the best reception I’ve ever had of AIR. Their audio is usually pretty piss poor with poor quality and low modulation. Plus, their signal just isn’t that good usually.

I have also logged Voice Of Korea on 2850, 3320, 6100, 6400, 12015, 7220, 11910, 11935, 11735, 15105, 15180, 13760, 13650, 7580, 9650, 9875, 9445, 9665, 9425, 6170 and 3250 kHz.

Radio Algerienne Holy Quran and Radio Saudi are fairly regular visitors here and at times, pretty strong.

6160 kHz via Vancouver is heard several times a week…sometimes just barely, and other times, like a few days ago, nearly like a local.

The upper bands, 15 and 17 MHz seem to do real well here, especially by day, even smack in the middle of the day. I’ve heard RFI and DW via Issoudun right around lunch time in the 15 MHz area of the band.

I get Zanzibar on 11735 kHz from time to time…usually at least at fair levels.

CFRX 6070 is heard just about nightly, sometimes poor and barely audible but many times at least poor to fair and listenable. Now and then it’s pretty strong and listenable.

That is an impressive number of stations you’ve logged. It appears one of your easiest catches is Voice of Korea–I’m not surprised since you’re certainly within their broadcast footprint.

New Music Show and Contest

Many of you know that Paul also hosts an occasional music show via shortwave. Paul recently set times and frequencies for the next show–he notes:

I will be on WRMI, 7570 kHz from 0400-0600UTC Saturday June 2nd, Which is 12 midnight to 2 AM Eastern/9 PM to 11pm Pacific on Friday June 1st.

More oldies and rock n roll music with some country thrown in. I’m working on a CONTEST with some cool radio prizes and even bigger…. I am ironing out the technical details and going to try and do the 2 hot show live from my studio in Galena, Alaska.

My target audience this time with be the West Coast of the US and Canada. I expected the Midwestern US to get a good signal from the 315 degree beam towards Vancouver, Canada as it has to pass over the Midwest to get to the West Coast.

Contest details and QSL information to be released before the show!

I’ll plan to re-post this announcement, with any updates, closer to the broadcast date of June 2, 2016.

Thanks again, Paul, for sharing some of your radio world!