{"id":61491,"date":"2024-12-28T07:21:58","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T11:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=61491"},"modified":"2024-12-28T07:21:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T11:21:58","slug":"rediscovering-the-golden-age-of-utility-dxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/rediscovering-the-golden-age-of-utility-dxing\/","title":{"rendered":"Rediscovering the Golden Age of Utility DXing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/udxh-cover.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-61492\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/udxh-cover.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"1129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/udxh-cover.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/udxh-cover-186x300.jpeg 186w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/udxh-cover-635x1024.jpeg 635w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/udxh-cover-624x1006.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a>Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Hi Thomas<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Back in the 1970&#8217;s, I used to enjoy hunting for &#8220;utility&#8221; radio stations outside the regular SWBC bands. When I came across a copy of the Utility DXer&#8217;s Handbook from 1971 recently on eBay, I couldn&#8217;t resist purchasing it. I have since made a page on archive.org for it to help preserve this unique piece of radio history. Anyone interested can follow this link and take a look at the world of utility radio as it was over 50 years ago.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Also, I have included links to some of the recordings and QSL&#8217;s from these stations that I have set up on the Internet Archive.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/udxh-page-66-and-67_202408\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Utility DXer\u2019s Handbook (1971)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/vintage-radio-ptt-stations-1970s-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vintage PTT stations 1970\u2019s part 1<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/vintage-radio-ptt-stations-1970s-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vintage PTT stations 1970\u2019s part 2<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/vintage-radio-ptt-stations-1970s-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vintage PTT stations 1970\u2019s part 3<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/att-fort-lauderdale\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A.T. and T. voice mirrors 1970\u2019s<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/c-w-bermuda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cable and Wireless voice mirrors 1970\u2019s<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/trt-managua\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tropical Radio Telegraph Company voice mirrors 1970\u2019s<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/fcr-cotonou-dahomey-1972\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">France Cables and Radio Company (Africa) 1970\u2019s<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/fts-st-denis-de-la-reunion-1971\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">French Telecommunications Service 1970\u2019s<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/zhh-st.-helena-inside-view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Utility Radio QSL cards<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/belawan-radio-pkb-indonesia-1988-page-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Utility Radio QSL letters<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/lourenco-marques-radionaval-crx-21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Prepared Form Card (PFC) QSL\u2019s<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Wow, Dan! What a utility DXing treasure trove you&#8217;ve created on Archive.org. Thank you for sharing these resources and recordings with us!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes: Hi Thomas Back in the 1970&#8217;s, I used to enjoy hunting for &#8220;utility&#8221; radio stations outside the regular SWBC bands. When I came across a copy of the Utility DXer&#8217;s Handbook from 1971 recently on eBay, I couldn&#8217;t resist purchasing it. I have since made [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,305,894,288,43,9589],"tags":[10271,4106,3627,10644],"class_list":["post-61491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-qsl-gallery","category-radio-history","category-shortwave-radio","category-utility","tag-dan-greenall","tag-recordings","tag-utility","tag-utility-dxers-handbook"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-fZN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62074,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/pdf-copy-of-utility-dxers-handbook-from-1971\/","url_meta":{"origin":61491,"position":0},"title":"PDF Copy of Utility DXer&#8217;s Handbook from 1971","author":"Thomas","date":"February 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who writes: Hi Thomas Back in December, I reported on the SWLing Post that I had made the Utility DXer's Handbook from 1971 available online via the Internet Archive. I am now pleased to report that I have added a PDF file\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Utlity-DXers-Handbook-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Utlity-DXers-Handbook-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Utlity-DXers-Handbook-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Utlity-DXers-Handbook-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Utlity-DXers-Handbook-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65683,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/a-mystery-signal-and-a-fast-answer-from-udxf\/","url_meta":{"origin":61491,"position":1},"title":"A Mystery Signal and a Fast Answer from UDXF","author":"Thomas","date":"March 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who write:\u00a0 Hi Thomas I still have a tendency to scan the utility frequencies from time to time, much as I did over 50 years ago. Now, though, I can listen in through the various Kiwi SDR receivers scattered around the globe.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/China-military-radio.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":59056,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/vis-the-end-of-an-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":61491,"position":2},"title":"VIS: The End of an Era","author":"Thomas","date":"February 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post and SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post: The End of an Era by Dan Greenall Many of us can remember the many radio telephone stations that could be found outside the regular SWBC bands during the 1970\u2019s and 80\u2019s and even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59604,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/dans-digital-archive-of-qsl-cards\/","url_meta":{"origin":61491,"position":3},"title":"Dan&#8217;s digital archive of QSL Cards","author":"Thomas","date":"May 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes: Hi Thomas In addition to digitizing many of my old SW and BCB audio files, I have begun setting up some of my QSL galleries on the internet archive in order to help preserve radio history. I am sending along\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/El-Salvador.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/El-Salvador.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/El-Salvador.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/El-Salvador.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/El-Salvador.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60359,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/can-you-help-dan-solve-this-50-year-old-radio-mystery\/","url_meta":{"origin":61491,"position":4},"title":"Can you help Dan solve this 50 year old radio mystery?","author":"Thomas","date":"August 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post and\u00a0Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes: Hi Thomas From the early 1970's, where sadly, some of my original logbooks went missing many years ago. ANTEL, the Administracion Nacional de Telecommunicaciones in Montevideo, Uruguay used to use its telephone time announcement instead of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo by Sai Harish on Unsplash","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Casette-Tape-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Casette-Tape-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Casette-Tape-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Casette-Tape-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Casette-Tape-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61611,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/from-ndbs-to-tis-a-dxers-journey-across-1610-1700-khz\/","url_meta":{"origin":61491,"position":5},"title":"From NDBs to TIS: A DXer\u2019s Journey Across 1610-1700 kHz","author":"Thomas","date":"January 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post and asks, \"Wonder who can add to this list?\": A Look Back \u2013 DXing between 1610 and 1700 kHz by Dan Greenall 1. The Caribbean Beacon, Anguilla West Indies 1610 kHz (1985 QSL) 2. NDB stations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61493,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61491\/revisions\/61493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}