{"id":38286,"date":"2019-06-23T09:44:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T13:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=38286"},"modified":"2019-06-23T09:44:12","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T13:44:12","slug":"2019-bbc-midwinter-broadcast-comparing-the-panasonic-rf-b65-and-ge-7-2990a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/2019-bbc-midwinter-broadcast-comparing-the-panasonic-rf-b65-and-ge-7-2990a\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 BBC Midwinter Broadcast: Comparing the Panasonic RF-B65 and GE 7-2990A"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The GE 7-2990A (left) and Panasonic RF-B65 (right)<\/p><\/div>\n

This has been a very crazy and radio-active<\/em> weekend!<\/p>\n

It started with a busy Friday that was capped off with the BBC Midwinter Broadcast<\/a> and then continued into Saturday with a Parks On The Air<\/a> activation and\u00a0 Field Day<\/a> at Mount Mitchell State Park.<\/p>\n

In short: it’s been a lot of fun!<\/p>\n

I’ll plan to give a short report of Field Day later–it was one to remember–but first let’s talk about the 2019 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica<\/a>…<\/p>\n

To the field!<\/h1>\n

The Midwinter Broadcast has never been an easy catch here in North America–after all, the BBC aim their signals to Antarctica–but I always manage to receive the program with only a portable and I’m almost always travelling on the day of the broadcast.<\/p>\n

This year, I was actually at home and could have used one of my SDRs at home to snag the broadcast, but it’s become a bit of a tradition to listen in the field, so that’s what I did.<\/p>\n

Knowing how difficult it would be to receive the broadcast–especially given the poor propagation–I reached for one of my “Holy Grail” portables: the Panasonic RF-B65<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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The Panny RF-B65 is a portable DX hound!<\/p><\/div>\n

I never take only one radio to the field, though, so I decided it was time to give the hefty GE 7-2990A<\/strong> a little outdoor time on the Blue Ridge Parkway.<\/p>\n

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The GE 7-2990A<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve only had the GE 7-2990A for a few months. It came from the estate of my dear friend Michael Pool (The Professor) who passed away earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This particular radio has quite an amazing history–remind me to share the story someday–but I’ll always cherish the 7-2990A because it was one of Michael’s favorites.<\/p>\n

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I knew the GE was one of Michael’s favorite mediumwave receivers, but I wasn’t sure how well it would perform on the shortwaves. Turns out, it’s quite an amazing<\/em> HF receiver!<\/p>\n

Out of the the three Midwinter Broadcast frequencies (5875, 7360, and 9455 kHz), I could receive the 7,360 kHz signal from Ascension Island best.<\/p>\n

Here’s a short (informal) comparison video:<\/p>\n