Our friend, Wlodek (US7IGN), who was recently featured in a BBC Radio 4 documentary, has been repairing radios throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A few weeks ago, he received a Grundig G3 from Charles (KC8VWM)–it was in need of repair. Wlod immediately cracked the case open and started diagnosing the problem!
Click here to read his blog post detailing the review.
My dear friend and SWLing Post community member, Volodymyr Gurtovy (US7IGN), has been featured in another brilliant documentary on BBC Radio 4 called Call Signs.
This documentary was produced by the talented Cicely Fell with Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio 4. Note that Cicely also produced a BBC Radio 4 Short Cuts earlier this year featuring Vlad as well. Enjoy:
A man, a Mouse and a morse key: the story of a radio amateur in Kyiv as the Russian invasion unfolds.
When his wife and two children flee Kyiv to escape the war, Volodymyr Gurtovy (call sign US7IGN) stays behind in their apartment with only his radios and the family hamster, Mouse, for company.
Before the war, he used to go deep into the pine forests, spinning intricate webs of treetop antennas using a fishing rod, catching signals from radio amateurs in distant countries.
Prohibited by martial law from sending messages, he becomes a listener, intercepting conversations of Russian pilots and warning his neighbours to hide in shelters well before the sirens sound. After three months of silence, he begins transmitting again. Switching his lawyer’s suit for a soldering iron, he runs a radio surgery for his friends and neighbours, dusting off old shortwave receivers and bringing them back to life.
During air raids, he hides behind the thickest wall in his apartment, close to his radios, their flickering amber lights opening a window to another world. A story of sending and receiving signals from within the darkness of the Kyiv blackout.
Music: Ollie Chubb (8ctavius)
Producer: Cicely Fell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
Listen to Call Signs on BBC Sounds by clicking here, or via the embedded player below:
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and friend, Wlodek (US7IGN), who writes from Kiev:
Hello!
Because of another air raid alert, I can’t sleep and I decided to make a small comparison of the receivers of the 60s and the modern one.
Of course, you can not compare their size and weight, as well as some features.
This Chinese XHDATA D-808 was given to me by a friend for comparison. When he was just choosing a good receiver, I advised him to buy an old Sony 7600 series or Panasonic B65, for example. But he decided that modern technology is better at handling the task of receiving. But it turned out to be not so clear:
Click here to view on YouTube.
Radios:
73 de US7IGN!
Thank you for sharing this, Wlod. I wish the circumstances for the radio comparison were better–even though I know air raids have sadly become a fact of life for many in Ukraine, I can’t imagine sleeping through them.
Your short comparison is interesting too. I consider the D-808 to be an excellent little DSP portable, but the audio simply can’t compare with your vintage radios. Indeed, the vintage receivers seem to handle the QRM a bit better than the D-808 as well.
Thank you for sharing this and wishing you the very best, OM.
Many thanks to my friend and SWLing Post contributor, Vlad (US7IGN), who recently shared a recording of VORW Radio International he made in Kiev (Ukraine) on May 27, 2022, at 16:00 UTC using his Icom IC-756 Pro III connected to a roof-mounted GP 5 M antenna. This show was broadcast on 9670 kHz from Austria. [See details in the April QSL above.]
Here’s Vlad’s recording:
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Vlad (US7IGN), who writes:
Hello!
I hasten to inform you the good news that Ukrainian radio resumes broadcasting on medium waves.
At a time when the whole world is curtailing broadcasting, a new station has appeared on the air!
From February 1, the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine will resume broadcasting UA: Ukrainian radio in the medium-wave band on the frequency 549 KHz.
The medium-wave transmitter of UA: Ukrainian radio in the village of Luch, Mykolaiv region, with a capacity of 500 kW, covers most of the territory of Ukraine (during the day – 60% of the territory including the occupied territories, from evening to morning – the whole territory of Ukraine).
http://uarl.info/news/ukrainskoe_radio_vosstanavlivaet_veschanie_na_srednih_volnah
Brilliant news–many thanks for the tip, Vlad!