cobalt pet shortwave / mediumwave weblog

firedrake jammer logs

2012-01-29T10:06:00.000-08:00

To participate in Firedrake monitoring again, I loaded my Eton E5 with six memory pages worth of recent Firedrake frequencies. With seven frequencies per page, but only four frequencies on the last page, that's 39 shortwave frequencies. I suppose I've created something of a hitchhiker's guide to firedrake monitoring on my radio. In spite of this setup, band scans are really more helpful in locating the broadcasts, as jammers are moving targets.

Finding Firedrake on shortwave has been difficult for me. Most of the recently reported frequencies from Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digest have been daytime frequencies, and most of my shortwave listening is at night. I'm in California, so I'm in an advantageous geographic location for receiving Firedrake if it's broadcasting.

Early morning monitoring has worked the best for me so far, although I don't get a lot of opportunities. Here are some of my firedrake receptions, all with the Eton E5 receiver and the Degen DE31 active loop antenna.

• 21 Sep 2011, 1452-1456 UTC, memory scan

7970 kHz: very poor, lots of fading (sky is fully bright now)
10300 kHz: poor but clear
11560 kHz: very poor

• 24 Sep 2011, 1515-1535 UTC, band scan from 10000 to 20000 kHz

10300 kHz: fair
12175 kHz: good and clear

• 25 Sep 2011, 1140-1150 UTC, memory scan

7970 kHz: very poor, severe fading

1320-1334 UTC (morning twilight), memory scan + SOH frequency scan (SOH frequencies from short-wave.info)

7970 kHz: poor
10300 kHz: fair
11500 kHz: very good and clear

• 06 Oct 2011, 1535-1545 UTC, memory scan

10300 kHz: good
13850 kHz: fair

• 07 Oct 2011, 1550 UTC, memory scan

10300 kHz: poor

• 10 Oct 2011, 1332-1348 UTC, memory scan then manual scan 7000-14000 kHz

7970 kHz: good
10300 kHz: poor

1420-1423 UTC, memory scan

10300 kHz: good
13970 kHz: good

• 16 Oct 2011, 0845-0900 UTC, manual scan 7000-18000 kHz

7970 kHz: poor
12230 kHz: very good
12600 kHz: good
13130 kHz: poor

My firedrake reception video on 12230 kHz, on 16 Oct 2011:

• 22 Oct 2011, 0738 UTC, memory scan

10300 kHz: very poor; off promptly at 0800 UTC

• 23 Oct 2011, 0058 UTC, memory scan

13850 kHz: poor; off promptly at 0100 UTC

• 25 Oct 2011, 1555 UTC, memory scan

12175 kHz: good
13970 kHz: good

• 27 Oct 2011, 1457-1500 UTC, memory scan

7970 kHz: good
10300 kHz: good
11500 kHz: good
12600 kHz: good
13130 kHz: good
13970 kHz: good
14700 kHz: good

1635 UTC, memory scan

13970 kHz: good

• 02 Nov 2011, 1620 UTC, tuning in the range 7500-20000 kHz

7970 kHz: poor
12160 kHz: good; hearing voice in the background but can't determine the language; could just be WWCR

fun with ebay

2012-01-12T16:57:00.000-08:00

Since starting with shortwave radio during the summer of 2005, I've searched for radios on eBay as a way to stay informed with current prices, features, manufacturers, and so on. During some recent searches, I found some rather entertaining listings. I mean, some of these people are clearly a bit loopy.

Here are my observations and thoughts after reading a number of listings.

• Over 250,000 results for "ipod"; around 2000 results for "shortwave".
• A Sony ICF SW7600GR, commonly sold for around $150, listed for $402.79
• Another Sony ICF SW7600GR, listed for $799.96
• A brand new Grundig G3, with starting bid of $200, 0 bids, simply described as "AM FM Shortwave Radio". Perhaps they don't want you to compare prices elsewhere, which are actually around $100.
• A brand new Tecsun PL-210, listed for $168 (other listings are around $45), with a photo including the mis-spelled phrase "HIGH QULITY"
• "Expedited shipping available" probably means "We can't wait to get rid of this"
• Radio Shack spelled as "Radio Schack", despite the correct spelling appearing in the auction photo
• A Tecsun R-911 listing from "Curly", with great content such as "THIS RADIO REQUIRES TWO AA BATTERIES. HOWEVER, IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO LISTEN TO IT, THEN NO BATTERIES ARE REQUIRED."
• A listing for a Grundig/Eton S350DL has a photo with an American flag in the background and "No Photo Available" in a handwritten-type font
• A used Eton E1 in poor cosmetic condition is listed for $299
• A refurbished Eton E10 listing with a stock E10 photo.
• A Kchibo radio listed for $4.99 with shipping cost of $4.99
• A deceptive listing for an Eton AM/FM/SW/Airband radio, with a Grundig G5 photo, and no product description. $179.99.
• Why do so many Chinese-manufactured radios have an FM range of 76-180 mHz, covering everything needed for the USA, Japan, and Russia, but only an AM range of 520-1610 kHz? The AM expanded band has existed in North and South America since 1993.
• There's a radio brand called Ultra-Power? The listing has a photo of the radio with the logo printed on it.
• A radio branded as "Borg Johnson" (now there's a trust-inspiring name) looks like the Sony ICF SW11.
• One listing showed a side or back view of a radio as the primary photo. The seller might be onto something, because the photo stood out and I looked at the listing.
• A listing by kaito-electronics-inc uses the phrase "The newly released Kaito KA1103". Didn't this radio come out in 2004?

video of chu reception

2011-12-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

On 12 September 2011, at around 0440 UTC, I used my Eton E5 receiver and my Degen DE31 active loop antenna to receive CHU, Canada's shortwave time signal broadcast from Ottawa. I was tuned to the 7850 kHz broadcast. It was a uniquely poor day for shortwave in my location.

Here's a 2m 30s video of the reception, taken with a mobile phone:

checking in on redsun

2011-12-18T21:08:00.000-08:00

When the Redsun RP2100 radio arrived on the analog radio receiver market, it quickly became a widely-regarded product among radio fans. It was readily available on eBay, got an overall positive review on RadioIntel, and was an impressive entry into the market for a new Chinese radio manufacturer. At the time, I hoped that the product's success meant that the anticipated RP3000/RP3100 would soon follow.

But the rumored RP3000/RP3100 hasn't materialized. At one point, I emailed the company to ask about the RP3000/RP3100. They stated that they were focused on the RP2100 at that time, which was eventually sold under the C.Crane and Kaito brands. Visitors to Redsun's website see a graphic displaying four radios, the fourth of which resembles the RP3000. Why do they tease us like this?!

The current crop of Redsun radios seems to closely follow the offerings of fellow Chinese radio manufacturer Tecsun. Among the many products created by the two companies, there's a pocket-sized multi-band radio (Tecsun R-911 and Redsun RF-1201), a larger multi-band radio (Tecsun R-9700DX and Redsun RF-1210), and a jumbo radio covering the full shortwave spectrum (Tecsun BCL-2000/BCL-3000 and Redsun RP2100).

I purchased two Redsun radios listed above: the RF-1201 and the RF-1210. While my RF-1210 has a loose tuning knob issue, these two radios are otherwise impressive for their price range and feature set. I still haven't purchased an RP2100, mostly because I already own a Tecsun BCL-2000. Sometimes, close competition can spur companies to improve quality and produce new, innovative products. Tecsun's route lately seems to be the use of DSP chips in inexpensive portable products like the PL-300wt, PL-310, and PL-380. Redsun's route? We're still waiting to find out.

While browsing Redsun's product lineup on their website, I found that the camouflaged RP007 was their most expensive product. The RP007 covers the full frequency range for FM, MW, and SW. It received mediocre rating in this review from dxer.ca [pdf]. And if Redsun were trying to evoke James Bond with the product name, watching a movie or two in the film series (with 22 films to date) would reveal that James is a classy dresser who does not do camouflage. But I digress.

I sent Redsun several questions about their products and analog radio broadcasting in general, but did not get a response by the time this article was published.

the absence of radio netherlands

2011-12-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

As I review the latest shortwave broadcasting schedules, the most notable absence for me is Radio Netherlands. Their broadcasts seemed to do everything right: lots of interesting content, up-to-date news, strong and reliable broadcasts, and perfectly understandable English. I noted in a May 2006 reception report that Radio Netherlands was my best source of news about Europe. And in April 2007, they broadcasted a detailed story about the Lincoln assassination.

For a few years at least, I was spoiled by that station and their transmission site in Bonaire. I've recently learned that the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved in October 2010, although I've also received a Dutch language broadcast from that transmitter site since then.

the disco palace

2011-11-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

While browsing the shortwave schedules published by EiBi and Primetime Shortwave, I saw a station called "Disco Palace" that I didn't recognize. It was marked as a drm transmission, and alas, I don't have a digital radio mondiale (drm) receiver. But I went to their website and found the groovy graphics enticing enough to explore more. I tuned in to their online stream with my music player software, and enjoyed some dance and disco hits from years past.

Anyway, I looked up the frequency for their North American broadcast (only 2000-2100 UTC) on short-wave.info, and found that the transmitter is in French Guiana. The broadcast direction seems favorable for California, but again, without a drm receiver, I have no experience with it.

shortwave border crossing information

2011-11-13T01:31:00.000-08:00

Interesting article from the Associated Press indicating that a new shortwave broadcast will provide US/Mexico border crossing information:

• Feds unveil system for speedier border crossings

"Shortwave" probably means a low-watt broadcast only intended for reception within several miles of the border, though.

Which travelers have vehicles equipped for receiving such signals? Truckers might already have the capability if the broadcasts are in the Citizen's Band (26965-27405 kHz). But the article describes the new system as if it's intended to help everyone who wants to cross the border.

the leap second is threatened

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

The leap second, necessary for keeping Earth-based atomic clocks in sync with the not-as-reliable rotation of the Earth, is considered a nuisance. A vote at the World Radio Conference in Geneva will decide its fate.

The leap second is an interesting catch on WWV and WWVH, with special voice announcements and, of course, one more or one less second in a given minute.

Read more here:

• Changes to the world's time scale debated
• Leap second (Wikipedia)
• NIST radio broadcasts

weatherall's shortwave buying guide, 2011 edition

2011-11-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

With winter holidays (and weather) fast approaching for those of us in the northern hemisphere of Earth, radio shopping may be on your mind. This is my guide for portable radio recommendations. Please note that this is based partially on experience with the radios and their manufacturers, and partially on my expectations for radios that I haven't used. Prices are approximate as of publishing time, and are in US dollars.

I've only covered a portion of the portable shortwave radio market here; some radio models, features, and manufacturers have been excluded. As always on this blog, reader comments are welcomed.

If you're considering a purchase through eBay, you may want to read my Shortwave radios on eBay article to familiarize yourself with the challenges you may encounter.

• $25: You can get a basic analog-tuned radio, typically requiring two AA batteries, with a short telescopic antenna. It'll be adequate for local AM and FM stations, and you can hear some strong shortwave stations if you avoid local interference sources. Slide-rule frequency displays are imprecise, so it can be hard to confirm what you're hearing. It's a fun way to scan the bands if you're not as concerned with finding a specific frequency. Many radios in this category are single-conversion, which invites the possibility of receiving unintended signals on the same frequency as the signals you want.

Recommended: Tecsun R-911 / Kaito WRX911, Tecsun R-912, Tecsun R-9012, Redsun RF1201.

Not recommended: Any products from Coby, jwin, Kaide, Kchibo, Bell & Howell.

• $50: This is the price range where radios tend to include a digital frequency display, helping you to find specific broadcasts.

Best in class: Kaito KA1101. This is the portable radio I would buy if I wanted something in the $50 price range.

Recommended: The Tecsun PL-300wt / Grundig G8 gets positive reviews, particularly for its mediumwave or AM broadcast band sensitivity. This isn't a radio I have tried, but it's an appealing option at this price. It is digitally tuned with digital frequency display, and its radio circuitry is DSP-based. Manual tuning is through the tuning dial or with memory recall, so there's no numeric keypad. Shortwave tuning from 2300 kHz to about 22000 kHz is divided among four bands, so tuning through the dial may be tedious, but the frequency display lets you know exactly what frequency you're hearing. A significant portion of the interface under the front cover is dedicated to a knob that allows selection of the timezone. So if you're mostly or always based in the same timezone, this radio's interface won't do much for you.

Take a chance: The C. Crane SWP appears to be a rebranded Redsun RP300. Redsun is one of the newer Chinese radio manufacturers and has a solid reputation. Check around to see if this radio has the reception sensitivity and reliability that warrants a purchase.

Take a chance: Eton has several dynamo (hand-crank) and solar-powered emergency radios near this price point. They make a good gift for anyone who needs to be concerned with emergency preparedness. This includes people living in areas prone to earthquakes, hurricanes, electrical storms, flooding, or disruptive power outages. Here in Northern California, where earthquakes are a part of life, we're reminded to have supplies on hand to keep us safe, hydrated, and fed for at least 72 hours.

Take a chance: The Tecsun PL-380 is another DSP-based receiver in a small package. I own the sibling radio, the PL-310, and I'm impressed with it.

• $100: This price category can get you a high-quality digitally tuned, dual conversion radio, with a long telescopic whip antenna, a signal strength meter, and typically requiring 3 or 4 AA batteries. These radios tend to be on the larger side; too big for pants pockets but not too big for jacket pockets.

Best in class: Kaito KA1102, Kaito KA1103. These radios are known for powerful reception capability in a small package. Both radios are nearly full-featured shortwave receivers, primarily lacking sync detection and switchable USB/LSB. Each radio has an interface quirk, with the 1102 requiring page 9 for SSB, and the 1103 using the big knob for both frequency and volume (volume setting is activated by pushing a button).

Recommended: Grundig G3. This radio is the successor to the Eton E5/Grundig G5 (the Eton E5 is the one I use the most). I had a bad experience with the early-production Grundig G3 unit that I tested, but I've heard that newer units work fine.

Not recommended: Grundig S350. These radios are bulky, heavy, single-conversion, and may suffer from tuning drift.

Not recommended: Sangean ATS-505: Overpriced and oversized for what it is, which is a poor substitute for one of the best-in-class Kaito radios.

• $150: In this price category, the Eton E5/Grundig G5 used to reside until it was replaced by the Grundig G3 (which is listed in the $100 category). Sony's top-of-the-line portable shortwave receiver is still widely available, with a few caveats versus other radios commonly available now.

Recommended: Sony ICF SW7600GR. This radio has a very high quality construction, includes a switch for LSB/USB, and includes sync detect. Negatives include the lack of a tuning knob, a small display area, and a rather conservative filter for AM.

Take a chance: Tecsun PL-660. Tecsun manufactures high-quality portable radios at a wide variety of price points. For 2011, this looks to be their top-of-the-line offering, with dual conversion, single sideband, synchronous detection, and a built-in battery charger.

v02a number station logs

2011-10-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my logs of the V02a Spanish numbers station. Receptions were with the Eton E5, using the telescopic whip antenna or a random wire antenna, indoors.

• 12 Sep 2011, sometime after 0700 UTC : 5883 kHz
• 02 Oct 2011, 0734-0742 UTC : 5883 kHz: Five-digit groups as usual, ending with "Final, final, final"; adjacent channel interference from WWCR (Nashville, TN, USA) on 5890 kHz
• 02 Oct 2011, 0800 UTC : 5898 kHz: "Atencion!"
• 08 Oct 2011, 0702 UTC : 5883 kHz: poor signal
• 08 Oct 2011, 0808 UTC : 5898 kHz: good signal
• 09 Oct 2011, 0632 UTC : 5800 kHz: morse code; expected Spanish numbers; off at 0633 UTC
• 16 Oct 2011, 0701 UTC : 5883 kHz: "Atencion!" greeting heard several times interspersed with number groups
• 16 Oct 2011, 0817 UTC : 5898 kHz: good signal
• 22 Oct 2011, 0708 UTC : 5883 kHz: fair signal with fading
• 22 Oct 2011, 0802 UTC : 5898 kHz: poor signal
• 30 Oct 2011, 0738 UTC : 5883 kHz: poor signal with fading; heard "final" twice at 0741 UTC

printing my swl cheat sheet

2011-10-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

For several years now, I've been maintaining a cheat sheet of hf radio frequencies, schedules, broadcasting bands, terms, reception tips, and so on for my outdoor listening activities. It's a single sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper, folded into eighths (two across by four down). It easily fits into my pocket or my logbook.

While preparing my autumn 2011 shortwave listening cheat sheet back in September, I replaced all of the schedule and station frequency data, and tightened up the text to take full advantage of available space. I noticed that the 8-point text looked a little small on both the screen and the paper. But there was a more serious problem: the left edge of the text was not printed correctly.

When my shortwave listening cheat sheet first came together, I looked at the one-inch margins on the printout and thought, "I can do better. This doesn't all have to be whitespace." So I reduced the top, bottom, left, and right margins from 1 inch all the way down to 0.15 inch, and it worked. This made it possible to fit more text on a page, and as a bonus, the frontmost eighth of the cheat sheet (when folded up) was both more impressive and more useful.

Then, after an OS update on my home computer, I tried printing the updated document with the same 0.15-inch margins. No good. I made several small adjustments until ending up with a usable printout with 0.25-inch margins on the left and right.

So, I lost a tenth of an inch along each of the four sides of the page. I also bumped the font up to 9-point, which took a lot of reformatting and some loss of data. To make this work, I cropped some of the schedule data, remove the air traffic control and selcal sections, and tightened up the wording in the "propagation and reception" section. My revised and reformatted shortwave listening cheat sheet has been very valuable during the past few weeks for outdoor listening sessions, away from all the noise sources conveniently listed.

wbcq moving from 7415 to 7490 on monday

2011-10-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

WBCQ 7.415 will move to 7.490 effective Monday, October 24, 2011

Quoted from wbcq.com:

The FCC has notified WBCQ that they must vacate 7.415 MHz no later than Monday, October 24, 2011. Effective this date the new frequency will be 7.490 MHz.

radio survey spam from koit

2011-10-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

KOIT 96.5 mHz in San Francisco is a light rock radio station. In other words, they play bland background music for mindless suburban types. The only time I hear it is while at my dentist's office, where it is played continuously in every room. Me? I prefer to have my pain dulled with chemicals while getting my mouth checked.

On Friday, October 14, 2011, I received postal mail from a company called Impact Research in Newton Square, PA. It was addressed to me, without a single flaw in my name or address, so I decided to take a look. Maybe it was legitimate, or maybe they just got past my filters.

The sensation of pleasure was evident in my brain as I scanned the text: "Dear Bay Area Radio Listener"... "radio listening preferences"... "help shape local radio programming"... "listen to your assigned station for at least one hour"... "you will be entered into a drawing"... "the station you have been assigned to listen to is KOIT at 96.5 FM".

Well, I never put any faith in drawings for $1000, but I was curious enough to follow through. I googled for "impact research" "newton square", and found articles berating it as a marketing ploy to boost Arbitron ratings:

• http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/chicago-media-blog/7542655/believe-it-or-not-fake-survey-brings-real-ratings-to-rewind

• http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,154247.0.html

Plus, the enclosed "no postage necessary if mailed in the United States" postcard included fields for my name and address. So if I tried to enter the drawing for a modest stack of cash, some marketing firm could run wild with my contact information. Maybe I'd get invited to enter more bogus surveys.

Photos of the junk mail I received:

kaito an-200 mediumwave antenna review

2011-10-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

The AN-200 tunable passive loop antenna for mediumwave is manufactured by Tecsun, and sold under the Grundig and Kaito brands in the United States. It has an impressive appearance, with red wires wrapped around a clear plastic loop about 9 inches in diameter, and a black plastic arched base. So, is it just for show, or does it deliver better mediumwave reception?

As traditional mediumwave DXing is increasingly threatened by HD (hybrid digital)/IBOC (in band on channel) broadcasting, I'm looking for ways to get more out of this hobby in the near term. I purchased a Kaito AN-200 antenna to use via inductive coupling with my portable receivers. This is the first external AM antenna I've ever owned or even used, so I can't compare its performance with other similar products.

The item

Out of the box, this thing looks cool. The exposed red wire wrapped around the clear plastic ring has a nice, simple appearance and a bold red color for the wire.

The black plastic base and the clear plastic loop wobble as if not solidly connected. Since it's in this condition as a brand new item, I'm concerned that it will eventually fall apart. The antenna gets moved around during normal usage, and perhaps stowed when not needed. Durability of a product like this is a necessity, and the product I received does not inspire confidence.

The wrapped wire fits into a groove on the outside of the clear ring. In some places, the wire looks bent, scuffed, and not evenly distributed. My unit certainly does not resemble the glamor shots I have seen on eBay. I don't know how much functional difference it makes when I gently push the wires into visually-pleasing conformance, but this action provides the aforementioned aesthetic enhancement. However, there's enough slack in the line that the problem of disorderly, overlapping wire returns after a short time.

As for the tuning selector, it's a loose plastic knob with a barely discernible pointer on it. Fortunately, the pointer doesn't make a difference. Just turn the thing and listen to the results. The knob has a range of about a half turn. It's possible to just pull the wobbly knob off and turn the potentiometer directly, although the wobbly knob acts as a cover for the potentiometer to shield it from debris.

Overall, the construction and durability is poor. This is such a simple design that only neglect and inferior components could cause problems. Extra care with the design could have resulted in a wire that stays snug. Tighter coupling between the base and the loop would make me believe that this unit would last a long time, but that remains to be seen.

Test preparation

For calibration purposes, I used my digitally-tuned Eton E5 (which I often use for mediumwave DXing without an external antenna). To test the signal strength improvement of the AN-200 antenna, I used my Tecsun R-9012 radio (which is very similar to the Tecsun R-911 / Kaito WRX-911). Both radios were powered with new alkaline batteries.

Daytime reception tests

My daytime tests of the AN-200 took place between roughly 11am and 6pm local time.

Daytime performance of the AN-200 impressed me. Stations from great distances aren't audible via skywave propagation during the day, so the objective is to find some weak signals without the help of an external antenna, and use the AN-200 to make the signals usable.

On the E5, I tuned to 580 kHz (KMJ; Fresno, CA; 50 kW) and heard a faint signal among the noise. I tuned the R-9012 so I could tell that it was on the same frequency, but could not hear the weak signal sufficiently through the noise. I tuned the AN-200 which was along the left side of the R-9012, and KMJ's signal literally jumped right out of the background noise to sound as good as a local station. That was a dramatic boost in signal strength, and now I can easily hear this station during the day.

Another test involved 650 kHz (KSTE; Rancho Cordova, CA; 21 kW). At a distance of about 120 miles away and a weaker transmitter, this station came through weakly on the E5. I was able to find the frequency on the R-9012 without the AN-200, and the AN-200 boosted the signal to a usable level. This signal was noisy, though, so I wouldn't have enjoyed spending a lot of time listening to that station.

840 kHz (KMPH; Modesto, CA; 5 kW) is about 80 miles away, and during the day, my listening location is in the fringe reception zone according to the radio-locator coverage map. This is an example of when I had to use the AN-200 to pull in the signal on my E5 reference radio, and the R-9012 was able to receive the station but not loud enough to use.

With the E5 and the AN-200 during a later daytime session, the radio was tuned to 840 kHz but picked up KCBS on 740 kHz by tuning the AN-200 down. The KCBS signal came through loud and clear. So, the inductive-coupled antenna can apparently tune the radio.

Nighttime reception tests

My nighttime tests of the AN-200 took place between roughly 8pm and 11pm local time.

For my first nighttime test, I tuned to 840 kHz (KMPH; Modesto, CA; 5 kW) with my diminutive Tecsun R-9012 radio. The signal was weak, noisy, and not illuminating the radio's "Tune" LED. Also, this is a frequency where I often hear overlapping traffic advisory transmitters at night. With the radio held in front of the AN-200, I whipped through the antenna's tuning knob range a couple times. I saw the tune LED come on, and I heard a dramatic increase in the signal strength. Cool! The best results were achieved with the radio six inches or less from the base of the antenna.

Results with my Eton E5 were a bit different. The E5 already had a usable signal for KMPH on 840 kHz, even with the local/dx switch in the local position. But the signal strength meter wasn't showing anything, without involving the AN-200. Moving the E5 close to the base of the antenna caused the signal strength meter to reach the half-way mark.

It's also important to point out that the sweet spot is a very narrow range of the antenna's tuning knob. On the one hand, the half-revolution range of the knob allows traversing the whole range quickly, but on the other hand, it means that fine-tuning is laborious. The back and forth tuning adjustments aren't too difficult for one station, but it becomes an issue when trying to log lots of stations.

Another evening test was with 660 kHz. I was worried about 660 kHz being a usable frequency for signal strength tests, because 680 kHz hosts KNBR, a local 50 kW sports station with plenty of bandwidth to spare. But I found the signal properly isolated on the little Tecsun. Given the heavy fading and the chanting I heard on this frequency, I guessed it was the Navajo Nation station (KTNN; Window Rock, AZ; 50 kW). Without the AN-200, this signal was only occasionally fading in above the noise level. The antenna brought in a stronger signal on the R-9012, and was pulsing the "Tune" LED in time with the signal fading. I also heard a clear "Navajo Nation" identification.

Here's a tougher test. 1000 kHz (KOMO; Seattle, WA; 50 kW) next to 1010 kHz (KIQI; San Francisco, CA; 10 kW day/0.5 kW night). KIQI is in Spanish; KOMO is in English. I tuned the R-9012 to where its signal was the strongest, and where I didn't hear interference from the adjacent frequency. While sweeping the antenna's tuning knob, however, it only amplified the adjacent frequency and didn't boost the signal from KOMO. I will point out though in the AN-200's defense that the experience was not the same on the Eton E5. The E5 didn't get a boost of KIQI while tuned to 1000 kHz, so this particular instance revealed poor mediumwave selectivity on the R-9012.

A somewhat weak signal on 1070 kHz (KNX; Los Angeles, CA; 50 kW) seemed like another good place for testing, but the R-9012 was barely able to find it on the left side of a really strong signal on 1100 kHz (KFAX; San Francisco, CA; 50 kW).

On 1200 kHz (KYAA; Soquel, CA; 25 kW day/10 kW night), the station hardly comes in for me during the day, comes blaring in during twilight, and then is reduced to the audio equivalent of rubble later at night. This is one case where the AN-200 provided a nice signal boost to the E5 during my nighttime tests. Without the antenna, the R-9012 wouldn't have a chance with this signal.

Tips

With the R-9012, I found that the best improvement was possible by pointing the top of the radio at the base of the AN-200. This behavior depends on how each particular radio is constructed, whether the radio contains a ferrite bar antenna, and where the ferrite bar is located.

Trying to boost a weak signal next to a strong first-adjacent station was difficult in my experience, and the radio's selectivity plays a factor. If you're trying to boost a weak signal that is right next to a stronger signal, the AN-200 will work best on radios with excellent mediumwave selectivity or selectable bandwidths.

Ideally, you point the antenna at the station you want to receive, and stations not facing the antenna are nulled. I'm not experienced enough at this yet to say how well this antenna does it. One experience was trying to log KMIK (Phoenix, AZ) on 1580 kHz, where there was a strong signal from KBLA in Santa Monica, CA. For me, KMIK is just a few degrees towards the east from KBLA. Two 50 kilowatt flamethrowers on the same frequency, 360 miles apart. They have directional transmissions at night, but I'm glad I don't want to listen to either station on a regular basis.

A brief diversion

I laid the antenna down on my carpet and took a rather dark photo, and submitted the photo to the "Amazon Remembers" service. The Amazon Remembers service is human-powered through their Mechanical Turk service. The item was incorrectly identified by an unknown person as a "Smooth ring door knocker - flat black iron".

Conclusion

Was it worth the expense? Is it producing the stated benefits? Do I recommend this product?

This was a good lesson for the fact that upgrading one piece of equipment exposes flaws in other pieces of equipment. The Tecsun R-9012 has poor mediumwave selectivity which becomes evident when using an external antenna such as the AN-200. The external antenna was working correctly and effectively.

Using the AN-200 is really easy, at least with the inductive coupling method that I used. When you find the sweet spot for a signal with the antenna tuning knob, you know. The signal gets louder and sometimes clearer, and if your radio uses a tuning LED or a signal strength meter, you'll likely observe the change in signal strength. But focus on what you hear, not what you see.

This product provides me with a clear benefit that aligns exactly with why I purchased it. My AN-200 antenna appears to be poorly constructed and is not durable enough to last for many years as I'd like. The very simple design also suggests that this product is easily replicated by those with the knowledge, capability, and materials.

quick longwave test on tecsun pl-310

2011-10-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

I loaded a set of alkaline batteries into my Tecsun PL-310, and took notice of the LW label on the MW/LW button. Time to check the Montague Airport morse code beacon on 404 kHz!

Without the telescopic whip extended or an external wire antenna attached, the MOG morse code signal came in loud and clear. The beacon is at an airport in Montague, California; 280 miles from me.

Pushing the numeric buttons on this radio is a hassle. When it works, there's such a long delay that I almost forget what frequency I'm trying to enter. And when it doesn't work, I have to wait a couple seconds, realize that it didn't work, and try again. Tecsun, it's called responsiveness.

kaito wrx911 review

2011-10-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

I'm always looking to augment my collection of cheap plastic portable radios. There's no single radio, or even no collection of over 20 radios, that can do everything. And in my collection, there just wasn't one that I considered an outstanding receiver for radio commercials. I wanted to find a radio that could accurately broadcast advertisements from the AM and FM bands.

After evaluating the products on the market, I decided to get a Kaito WRX911. I always wondered what the result would be if I glued a ruler, a speaker, and a paper clip together inside a flimsy plastic box.

I have many digitally-tuned radios, but I am tired of cheating by punching in frequencies on a keypad. What was missing was some geniune manual labor that made me feel proud of accomplishing something when finding a station. Going back and forth through the bands by endlessly flicking the tuning knob would be a nice little workout for my hands. Additionally, the WRX911 is small enough that I could easily slip it into a pocket, in the event I arrived at a store and felt the urge to go in and buy something. However, as I would learn later, when they say pocket-sized, they mean the whole pocket.

Supposedly, a sound heard inside someone's head is considered by that person to be more believable. So for this product I focused on one with a built-in speaker that was smaller than my own ears. A small speaker's weak sound should permit me to utilize the full amount of skepticism necessary for dealing with advertising. And moving away from it would make the speaker even smaller, right? That's why stars in the sky look so small.

Telescopic antennas on some of my radios are ridiculously long! When I extend the antenna and place the radio on the floor, there shouldn't be danger of losing an eye. Similarly, this kind of setup should in no way resemble a vacuum cleaner, despite any possibility of the thing accurately making a sucking sound. So, the Kaito WRX911 seemed just right in the baby bear kind of way.

After deciding on the Kaito WRX911, I quickly (although not too quickly) learned that I could get either black or blue. Or black and blue, I suppose, if I got distracted while walking around with the radio, and tripped over something. Like a box.

After looking at the two colors for a while, it came down to this decision: do I want a blueberry-flavored radio or a chocolate-flavored one? When I figured out that those were the options, I immediately chose chocolate. Frankly, blueberries are everywhere these days: farmer's markets, grocery stores, and vending machines. But chocolate is harder to find.

I ordered the radio online, which meant there was a mandatory one-week waiting period. I guess they do a background check to make sure I don't intend to use the radio for nefarious purposes. Anyway, it was a stressful week, because I learned that chocolate was usually brown, and not black. I learned that licorice was usually black, and boy, do I hate licorice. Now I was starting to get mad. If I got a licorice radio by mistake, I just might have to put the unloved thing up for adoption. I mean, put some licorice in my mouth, and I'll show you the meaning of... darn, I forgot the saying.

When my radio arrived, my tongue was on it in no time. But what the heck? There's no flavor here at all! Discouraged at the possibility of spending twice as much on this radio as I originally planned, I nevertheless hurried to submit a purchase for the blue one. I discovered a way to opt out of the waiting period by paying more money, but I declined, so again I had a long wait ahead of me. It was frustrating to wait, but I decided I wouldn't turn the things on until my tongue was satisfied.

Photo of the black Kaito WRX911 at night (Olympus C-3020 digital camera, macro mode)

When the blue radio arrived, I tore the box open, ensuring that I couldn't return it or sell it used with the original packaging intact. Then I went in for a taste, and... well, you already know how this is going to end. THESE RADIOS AREN'T FLAVORED AT ALL. Let me tell you right now: don't make that same mistake. I licked both of these radios immediately after opening their diminutive boxes, right when the flavors should have been at their best, and they were tasteless. Who got to them before me? Did the air-tight cloth pouches fail to hold in the flavor? What should I do about this?

Further discouraged at having not one but two flavorless radios, I decided to try out the radio feature. After loading the black radio's backside with two AA batteries, I noticed the "DC In 3v" port on the left side. Wishful thinking, little buddy. You're getting your juice from alkalines, because I'm not sitting still while I wait to be instructed on what to buy.

I started tuning through the FM band, hunting for advertisements so I knew how to spend my disposable income, and quite possibly, next month's rent. I started hearing English and Spanish, and it wasn't too long until I found ads. Jackpot! The radio even turned on its green light, which apparently means: time to spend money!

Then the ads stopped, a bunch of cryptic jargon went past at a high rate, and the music started. Ahhh, soothing music by which to enjoy my new purchases. I can drive my new Toyota Tundra from my refinanced home, down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, after taking my new medication. But who are these musicians? And what products are they singing about? I hope there's a song about my new Toyota Tundra, because I still need to learn how to use some of these buttons, levers, and pedals. Why is it called the Tundra, anyway? I'm in California, and Toyota is from Japan. So I ask you, where's the tundra?

Unfortunately, the amount of bass coming from the WRX911 speaker was overwhelming. I reduced the volume so far as to risk missing the next batch of commercials. Where's the bass control on this thing?

I thought that perhaps I should move to the AM band. Maybe that band would be free of the oppressive bass frequencies. The first thing I noticed was that the voices seemed much more emphatic and dynamic than those on FM. Maybe these people are actually excited to be on the radio or something. Or desperate for listeners. I'm happy for you and all, but just TELL ME WHAT TO BUY.

With the steering wheel in one hand and the portable, battery-powered radio in the other, I found a strong AM station. This guy seems to be selling computers. Apparently there's a computer called the Air. Air and tundra are two things that naturally go well together, right? I better drive my new truck to the computer store and buy one now, before they close, and definitely before I get home. I want to make sure I have everything I need before I get home again. They can't just send me on an endless series of errands whenever they want.

Another AM station I tried was repeatedly using the word "ministry", so I made a mental note to look this word up when I got home. Maybe I could use my new Air to do that.

Suddenly, I was in the parking lot of a large shopping mall. Time to review all my mental notes of what to buy, and hopefully, get it all done at once! My Tundra has a lot of storage space, so I immediately decided to fill the truck with purchases and head home.

While walking out of the pet store, I got to the end of the tuning range and turned around. And there's the computer guy again. Now he's talking about an online video meeting of some kind. Well, now that I have the computer with the camera and microphone in it, I'm all set! Except... I don't know anyone. I guess I should try to meet some people, then convince them to meet me again, later, online. But I have no idea where to meet people. I need to get out of this crowded mall, drive home, and think about how to go about meeting people.

Back home again, after spending several hours unloading my new purchases, I wanted to look up that word: ministry. So, I did just that, and learned that Ministry was an industrial/metal band. It was pretty surprising, since the radio station where I learned about this was just all talk, and no music. Maybe the band was still asleep and would arrive at the studio later that night to perform a show. But it was past midnight already, so I made a mental note to try tuning in some other day.

Now it was time to try the shortwave band. Some of the strangest signals I picked up turned out to be government-sponsored jamming stations. These were heard on 5000 kHz, 10000 kHz, and 15000 kHz. I heard a series of beeps, and male and female voices. The strange thing is that some of these jammer stations reported a mailing address. I wrote down these addresses (one in Colorado and one in Hawaii), and will send them furious letters explaining that they are disrupting my enjoyment of this fine hobby! I don't even know what I'm missing, since those frequencies were otherwise clear. It seems like the other side just abandoned those frequencies.

Alas, the shortwave stations I heard were devoid of advertisements, except apparently for their own radio shows to which I was already listening. These shortwave stations seem to get louder and quieter and louder and quieter. Maybe I need a radio with a bigger speaker and a longer antenna. And quite possibly more buttons. I think I know a website where I can find radios like that.

In conclusion, I hope you haven't taken this review seriously.

shortwave reception, sep 2011

2011-09-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

It was a great month around here for shortwave listening. Opportunities combined with good conditions is a beautiful thing. In the past, I've used a couple regular locations for outdoor shortwave listening. This month, I tried a new location, and found that it had everything I wanted: a pleasant walk on a paved sidewalk, adequate lighting, not much automobile traffic, and very little environmental noise. Being outdoors, away from buildings with electrical wiring, and away from overhead power lines is arguably the best way to experience shortwave listening.

Some of these receptions were indoors with my Eton E5, occasionally with the Degen DE31 active loop antenna. Some receptions were outdoors with my Tecsun PL-350. All receptions took place in northern California.

Received stations:
• China Radio International
• Deutsche Welle
• Radio Australia
• Radio Netherlands
• Radio Taiwan International
• Voice of Russia
• WBCQ

• 14 Sep 2011, 2304 UTC, 11840 kHz: I got a strong China Radio International signal with my Eton E5 and the Degen DE31. This broadcast comes from Sackville. CRI reported on the American hikers imprisoned in Iran. There were brief mentions of the American and European economic situations, with what I'd call cautioned optimism. I hope they don't dwell on this topic too much; it's already constantly in the news over here. Tell me something about China or Asia!

Now they're discussing Libya sanctions. When will we see resolution of who controls the Libyan government? And the Taliban are trying to disrupt the transfer of power in Afghanistan. France suffered a nuclear waste explosion, killing one and injuring four others.

Stories involving Hong Kong and the RMB currency, and Sony PSP pricing, were hard to follow due to fading. "You're listening to the Beijing Hour." "Coming to you live from the Chinese capital." This might be the first time I knowingly heard a live CRI broadcast, assuming it wasn't a replay.

Drunk driving arrests in China have plummeted since May, although no reason was mentioned. Chinese couples who give birth to children abroad to get around the family planning policy will have to pay social services fees if the foreign-born children are brought back to China. Many couples go to the USA to give birth to additional children. The family planning policy is not strictly a one-child policy; if both parents are both former only-childs, they can have more than one child. This was news to me.

Kids in big cities have unbalanced eating habits. School officials don't focus on nutrition when preparing student lunches. A balanced lunch should provide 40% of the necessary energy for a day. In some countries, school lunches are planned by professional nutritionists. Japanese students have to attend a nutrition class at a young age.

"That's all we have time for in this edition of the Beijing Hour." But there's seven minutes left in the hour! Schedule information and various recorded CRI promos followed.

• 15 Sep 2011, 0019 UTC, 9445 kHz: I found a strong signal, and thought "This sounds like Dutch." And it was! Radio Netherlands, Dutch to North America. Is this really broadcasting from Bonaire? Could they please transmit English to me? Not during this time slot, mind you. I'm happy that there's a Dutch language broadcast, even if I don't know the language. I just want an English broadcast at some time during 0300-0700 UTC. I should email them again.

• 0200 UTC, 9680 kHz: This is a strong Radio Taiwan International broadcast, coming to me from Okeechobee. They used to relay through Delano, didn't they? That transmitter site is closed though, as far as I know. Taiwan is seeking newer fighter jets from the United States. Taiwan's first lady will throw the first pitch at an upcoming Giants/Dodgers game in Los Angeles. Weather: Taiwan, partly cloudy, 27-30C. Beijing, partly cloudy, high of 19C. Tokyo, partly cloudy with a high of 32C. "RTI news, programs, pictures, and more, online at english.rti.org.tw."

Military plane crash. Two military planes crashed, killing three air force pilots, and the wreckage has been found. The investigation is ongoing, but one possibility is that one or both of the planes deviated from their flight plans. One of the planes is from the 1960s. President Barack Obama still needs to make a decision about supplying Taiwan with new fighter jets. (An agreement was reached some time after the broadcast.)

Singapore makes it easy for foreigners to become citizens. However, it's very hard for foreigners to become citizens in Taiwan. China wants to be known for innovation, and not just for being the world's factory. Next is a segment about convenience stores in Taiwan. The average Taiwanese goes to a convenience store 15 times per month. They go to pay bills, renew a driver's license, get train tickets, purchase inexpensive coffee, use an ATM. When traveling abroad, Taiwanese people don't know where to go to shop, and stores can be closed on Sundays. Stores are open every day in Taiwan.

A pancake dish popular in Thailand was invented in Taiwan. (I had to look this up afterward: Thai shrimp pancake.) The two female reporters briefly discussed how people sometimes confuse Taiwan and Thailand. When one woman tells someone she is from Taiwan, sometimes another person mentions that they visited Bangkok, which is in Thailand.

"You're listening to Radio Taiwan International. Check out our website at english.rti.org.tw." "Ilha Formosa--a look at Taiwan and its environment." Increased CO2 in the water could threaten clownfish.

The highlight for me during this hour of English broadcasting was the "Occidental Tourist" segment: Taiwan is a city that never sleeps. Food options during the middle of the night may be more plentiful than the options during the day. Night markets allow you to feast almost until sunrise. The reporter mentions several areas where rows of bars can be found. There are some 24-hour dim sum restaurants. Taipei also features a 24-hour bookstore. Supposedly, half of the cars in Taipei are taxis, and it's very easy to find a taxi. Taipei has a small downtown area which is easily bikeable. Karaoke is also a popular activity, and private rooms are available so you won't embarrass yourself in front of strangers.

Listening to this hour of Radio Taiwan International programming reminds me that this is one of the better shortwave broadcasters that I currently receive. The cultural segments they include in their broadcasts help me learn something about Taiwan, and especially, discover something more to like about Taiwan.

• 0300 UTC, 15425 kHz, "This is the Voice of Russia." The headlines were spoken rather quickly, and a bit of fading interfered with the clarity, so I was unable to follow. Summary of news stories: 2004 political crisis in Haiti. Tourists stuck in Bulgaria. Financial assistance is available for families impacted by the September 7 plane crash. "That was the news from Moscow." So, after that brief news segment, the rest of the broadcast has been about Russian music. I like music on most other shortwave broadcasts, although Russian music typically doesn't do anything for me.

• 17 Sep 2011, 0337 UTC, 7415 kHz: This must be WBCQ! It's an elusive station for me, but I got it during an outdoor listening session. References to illuminati, Israel, Palestine. This show features a woman and a man in a telephone interview format. The woman seems to be reading submitted questions. "I can't answer that," he would say, when he lacked the relevant knowledge or couldn't make a prediction about the future. Something about Libyan gold. A question about General Petraeus becoming a presidential candidate. On the real estate market, "A house is a place to live, not a gambling chip." (No argument from me.) Filler music was by The Police, "When the world is running down..." "WBCQ, Monticello Maine, USA."

• 0406 UTC, 9330 kHz: WBCQ again! Excavations near Bethlehem. "The bible is not a book of fables." "This is Science Rocks" (Science Rocks is a show listed on WBCQ's program guide). "Our vision is to get people back into the bible." They offer a quick study pocket guide, and their mailing address is in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada. "There is a better way to live than how we are living now."

During these two WBCQ receptions, I was walking around a small city, and I found a city block where power lines were not running overhead. My radio was nice and quiet there, instead of blasting me with unwanted static. And WBCQ has nicely isolated frequencies in the case of 7415 and 9330 kHz, so adjacent channel interference wasn't a problem. So once I found the quiet block, I stood in the path of a flood light so I could see my notebook and take notes.

• 23 Sep 2011, 0404 UTC, 7240 kHz: This is a Deutsche Welle broadcast in English from Kigali, Rwanda. The Kigali transmitter site loves California for some reason, and I get to benefit! This reception took place in a new listening location with very little noise. I should make this my new regular spot for outdoor listening.

Wall Street is approaching its lowest levels for the year. Pope Benedict is visiting Germany for four days and is facing protests about sex abuse scandals. Protesters in Berlin criticized the pope's views on gay rights. European nations are considering legislation similar to France's law that bans burqas. There are signs of economic slowdown in Germany and China.

• 0429 UTC, 15240 kHz: This is Radio Australia. A big news story of the moment is the possible neutrino (subatomic particle) traveling faster than the speed of light. "When we find out how the universe works, we find a way to use that information." Two boats of asylum-seekers were intercepted and sent to Christmas Island. Australia has been able to maintain strong Standard and Poors ratings due to its stable financial policies.

I couldn't hear the Radio Australia signal too well, but there was nothing else I wanted to listen to at that moment. So I kept it on the earphones and picked up bits and pieces of the broadcast. And my mind wandered. I started thinking about Australia, its location on earth, the Pacific ocean, and wondering about daily life in that part of the world. It was a fun diversion to try to imagine myself being removed from my America-centric life.

voa ending broadcasts to china

2011-09-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

Voice of America (VOA), the official broadcaster for the United States government, will no longer broadcast via shortwave to China as of October 1, 2011:

• Radio Silence in China: VOA Abandons the Airwaves [heritage.org]

The linked page above has a column on the right side where four key talking points are listed. So, read those if you want a quick summary of the full article.

shortwave scanning, sep 2011

2011-09-22T01:19:00.000-07:00

My Eton E5 is up and running, with relatively fresh alkalines, and the Degen DE31 active loop antenna is hanging in the window. Let's see what's out there. I only used the tuning knob here; no automatic scanning, stepping buttons, or frequency entry.

On 13 Sep 2011, at 0400 UTC, I hoped to catch China Radio International on either 6020 kHz or 6080 kHz, both transmitting from Sackville in a westerly direction. But I checked those frequencies and heard barely a murmur on them. The loop antenna helped somewhat, but the male announcer just couldn't keep up with the strong buzzing sound I was picking up. So I decided to do a band scan starting at 4700 kHz, the beginning of the 60-meter broadcast band.

4840 kHz: WWCR from Nashville. It sounds like infomercials. The signal is somewhat strong, but there's fading and the constant buzzing I mentioned above. If I hold the radio with my right hand, then the buzzing goes away, but then I can't sit at the computer and type and stuff. Ugh. Anyway, this infomercial is about storable foods, with free shipping. Oh, it's Alex Jones. I don't know much about this guy. I believe he's acquainted with George Noory and occasionally appears on Coast to Coast AM. Anyway, Alex is talking about "al qaeda terrorists". Not the most cheerful of subjects, right? Time to tune again.

WWV on 5000 kHz, just the gent from Colorado. The lady from Hawaii might be in there somewhere! I better turn on the loop antenna and find out. Yep, I can just hear her faint announcements just before the gentleman's recording, right before the minute marker tone.

5025 kHz. At times, I can hear Radio Rebelde here, but not tonight. Well, something is there, but barely. I enjoy listening to their music when the signal comes through.

5040 kHz. Music. I don't recognize it. Spanish? Ah, it appears to be Radio Havana Cuba. Well, I'd love to hear the music if the signal was better.

5755 kHz. "That's when you know you're talking to a lukewarm christian." Ah, one of the many religious shortwave broadcasts. Which one? WTWW from Tennessee. This frequency is just outside the 49-meter broadcast band. I wonder how stations like this, and WBCQ, are allocated frequencies outside of the normal broadcast bands. This signal is stronger than the others I've heard, but the content isn't really for me. Back to the tuning knob.

5935 kHz is a strong signal, and I recognize that voice! It's the legendary Dr. Gene Scott, a shortwave broadcaster that I learned about from the Professor. The good doctor died several years ago, but he's still on the radio, should you wish to find him. Dr. Scott is another religious broadcaster, but I enjoy listening to him for everything else he does. But this particular moment of his broadcast sounds tame.

5950 kHz, this must be Radio Taiwan International. And it is, but in Mandarin, which isn't a language I know. There's a little flute song here, but it didn't last long. I should be able to find Cuba on 6000 kHz or 6050 kHz, even though their evening broadcasts before 0500 UTC aren't aimed at me. Ah, 6050 kHz has a somewhat usable Radio Havana Cuba broadcast. Radio Havana Cuba was one of my first shortwave receptions; it was really exciting to hear the announcer state that she was in downtown Havana. This signal is fading like crazy. The loop antenna helped quite a bit. This story is about the Cuban Five, a frequent topic on Radio Havana Cuba, and arguably a story that helps keep Radio Havana Cuba on the air broadcasting to the United States. If you're not familiar with the Cuban Five, I suggest you look into it.

Singing on 6090 kHz. This is another frequency used by the University Network, Dr. Gene Scott's network. Interestingly, a voiceover just said "You are watching (unintelligible). The number to call is...". All I'm watching is the frequency displayed on my radio, pal!

6120 kHz has a Spanish broadcast from Radio Havana Cuba, but it's barely there and has severe fading.

6385 kHz has a repetitive noise, like the sound of a car that won't start, but at a lower pitch. I hear the same thing on 6400 kHz.

There's a really faint female voice on 7250 kHz. It's very weak, and it sounds like there's an echo. Vatican radio in French, perhaps? But the signal is too weak for me to recognize the language.

Nothing on 7415 kHz, where I was hoping WBCQ would be broadcasting something that I could hear.

Something on 7570 kHz, well past the 41-meter broadcast band. It sounds like Spanish, so it would be Radio Taiwan International broadcasting to Latin America from Okeechobee.

I pretty much flew through 8000-9000 kHz, not expecting to find much there unless it was a jammer. Now I have a broadcast on 9410 kHz which is clearly English even though I can't hear it too clearly. I just know the speech patterns. This signal appears to be WINB in Pennsylvania, broadcasting to Latin America. The broadcast stopped at 0458 UTC in mid-sentence. So, I scanned from 4700 kHz to 9400 kHz, and I'm ready to be done. I hope you enjoyed reading this, or I hope you stopped reading it once you realized that you didn't enjoy it!

Schedule information was obtained from Primetime Shortwave and EiBi.

emergency preparedness radio broadcast

2011-09-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

While tuning through the mediumwave band on my Eton E5, I found a TIS broadcast on 840 kHz. I have logged this transmitter before. But the current audio message is about emergency preparedness, so I decided to share it. The signal strength is 10 watts, and some of the content is specific to the Belvedere/Tiburon area of northern California. I received this broadcast from about 7 miles away.

"This is the city of Belvedere emergency advisory radio system WPEX988 operating on 840 AM. The message is: Our local emergency services have been encouraging residents of the Tiburon peninsula to get ready, and prepare for a catastrophe. Our community has responded with enthusiasm and commitment. This September, we are asking that you continue your hard work while recognizing natural disaster preparedness month. We ask that you take the time to update your emergency kit at home, in your car, and at your workplace. Replace food, water, and batteries that may have expired. This is also a good time to review your emergency plan with your family, and ensure that your emergency contact phone numbers, including your out-of-area contacts, are current. Once that has been completed, this is also a good time to practice your plan. If you would like to attend a get ready class, a number of classes will be held at various locations. The next meeting has been scheduled at the Tiburon Police Station on September 22nd from 7pm to 9pm. The class is free of charge, and is a great way to make sure that you are prepared for any kind of disaster. We also encourage you to participate in the annual ShakeOut nationwide earthquake drill on October 20th, by registering to participate and then practicing drop, cover, and hold at 10:20 AM on the 20th of October. Sign up today at www.shakeout.org to take part in this historic event. The website contains information and tools like audioclips to make the drill as effective as possible. After you drop, cover, and hold during the shakeout drill, why don't you take the opportunity to practice your personal plan, such as relaying important information through your out-of-area contacts. For more information on get ready classes, disaster supply kit lists, or personal plans, go to www.getready94920.org, or feel free to call me at 435-7386, or stop by the Tiburon uh, Police Department, the Office of Emergency Services, in the event of an emergency."

the tecsun pl-350 revisited

2011-09-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

I recently retrieved my Tecsun PL-350 from the shelf in my living room. It has been sitting up there for many months, without batteries of course, inside the cloth pouch that came with it. Since I'm hoping to do more radio listening during evening walks in the next couple of months, I wanted to find a capable portable radio to take with me. My Eton E5 is still the radio I go to for shortwave reception at home, but I'd like something a little smaller without sacrificing too much shortwave capability.

When I first got this radio, the rubberized exterior was a nice benefit because it was easy to hold onto. But now the radio has permanent fingerprints on the outside, and a sticky feel. Annoying. What happened to it? And is there any way to fix it?

I remember being interested in getting a radio with controls labeled in Chinese. And it wasn't too difficult an adjustment at first, because I memorized the controls by reading the English control guide PDF supplied by the eBay seller. But so much time has passed that I have to re-learn the buttons. And being away from the computer with a Chinese-labeled radio may be challenging.

I opened up the telescopic antenna, and was pleased at the sturdiness and stiffness of the antenna. This part is in excellent shape.

While tuning to various shortwave stations on the Eton E5, I also tuned them in on the PL-350. Even with the antenna gain set to DX and the antenna trim dial set appropriately, shortwave reception was weaker across the board on the PL-350 during the afternoon. After sundown, I was impressed with the PL-350's handling of broadcasts from Voice of Russia and China Radio International, but it struggled with a weaker Radio Taiwan International broadcast.

Unfortunately, due to carelessness, I snapped the folding stand on the back of the radio. The rectangular stand itself is misleadingly sturdy; the two plastic pegs that hold it into the back of the radio are small and weak. And while setting up the hinged stand to put the radio on a desk, I applied too much pressure and broke it. I made this mistake before with another Tecsun radio, the R-912.

So, is this an adequate portable radio for outdoor reception? Sure. First, the crucial parts are all solid and functioning. Second, this radio runs on three AA batteries, and carrying three spare batteries is easier than having to carry four. Third, it's small enough to fit in a jacket pocket. Fourth, it handles strong shortwave broadcasts adequately. This seems like the right radio for my outdoor listening adventures.

wbcq has saturday airtime available

2011-09-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Does anyone want to be on the air? WBCQ is selling 7415 kHz airtime on Saturdays.

And now that I've plugged them even though they didn't ask me, I have a request of my own. WBCQ, please make it easier for me to receive your broadcasts in northern California! I know that your antennas aren't transmitting in my direction, but you have the kind of content I'd love to listen to a bit more often.

need help with station/show id

2011-08-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

Around approximately 0510UTC, on approximately 9400 kHz, I'm hearing an intermittent signal that I think identified as "radio weather", including a phrase "What's the weather?" It's using a talk radio format. I heard them announce a postal address in Ontario Canada several times. I'm using a super noisy Kaito WRX911 outdoors in Northern California. The transmission is in English.

On a related note, I'm hearing much more noise than I remember hearing in this location. Some new lights are especially noisy; possibly xenon lights that I've been dreading.

Update: another quote: "You're listening to radio weather, whether you like it or not!" I've also heard mentions of QSLs and propagation.

Update 2: A google search for "glenn hauser" "radio weather" revealed the answer: Glenn reported reception of a "Radio Weather" show on WBCQ's 9330 kHz transmission on August 10, so that's likely what I heard. (via DX Listening Digest 11-32)

the tiny humanity bubble

2011-02-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

The tiny humanity bubble

There is an ever-expanding bubble announcing Humanity’s presence to anyone listening in the Milky Way. This bubble is astronomically large (literally), and currently spans approximately 200 light years across.

But how big is this, really, compared to the size of the Galaxy in which we live (which is, itself, just one of countless billions of galaxies in the observable universe)?

Via Hacker News.

radio drama and audio theatre

2010-11-19T02:11:00.000-08:00

As you might expect, I owned and operated a tape recorder in my youth. It was a console-style cassette deck, with a large mechanical dial for setting the mode of operation. My parents gave it to me, along with a simple microphone. Naturally, I realized that this was most of what I needed to establish the production side of a radio station. As for transmitting and finding an audience, well, that only existed in my imagination.

I had a nook just inside my bedroom door which accommodated a small desk. The walls in this location were soon filled with old newspapers, mainly Sunday comics and peculiar or rearranged headlines. I took a wire hanger from my closet and bent it into a microphone boom to enable hands-free recording. That ten-year-old had an enviable setup.

At the time, I was aware of radio personalities like Dr. Ruth and Casey Kasem. But instead of acting like them, introducing songs like a DJ or taking calls, I told sci-fi stories.

After I moved to California, I had a roommate who frequently listened to KCRW on Sundays, particularly to Joe Frank and Harry Shearer. I was very enthusiastic about hearing opinionated, satirical, and surreal commentary from a radio station (albeit via a RealAudio stream). Talk radio wasn't something I much explored prior to that. My roommate also introduced me to Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe in compact disc form.

Joe Frank parted ways with KCRW in 2002, and my interests in KCRW shifted towards their music programming for the next few years. I don't regularly listen to KCRW anymore. But I wanted to acquire some of Joe Frank's work. There has been the option of purchasing CDs, but that just didn't appeal to me. A few weeks back, I researched Joe Frank again and found that he has radio shows available for purchase in MP3 format. I jumped at the chance and purchased one of the shows.

Radio drama is an area in which I am completely inexperienced. What else is out there that's worth exploring? Where should someone look to find something new? If you have comments on Joe Frank, radio drama, podcasts, or other forms of alternative media distribution, I'm all ears.

Except for my legs, which are normal human legs. But the rest of me is all ears.

bay area dxing opportunity on 740 khz tonight

2010-10-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

San Francisco's KCBS has announced that they will not be broadcasting on AM 740 KHz from 12:10am to 3am on Thursday, October 28. This is a scheduled outage for transmitter work. KCBS will continue broadcasting on FM 106.9 MHz during this time.

If I had the opportunity to stay up late tonight, I would love to see what I can pull in on 740 kHz, and on the two adjacent channels that are often jammed by that ridiculous HD radio stuff.

If you're in the area and can take advantage of this, please share your findings!

eton corporation wikipedia page tampered

2010-10-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

Approximately three years ago, Eton Corporation's Wikipedia page was edited several times by a user named Sohrabah, and all of those edits were reverted. Reasons cited for the reverts include spam, COI (confict of interest), and violating NPOV (neutral point of view). Sohrabah submitted five edits to the page during July 16 and 17, 2007.

The comment included with one of Sohrabah's submissions is "Eton Corporation is redoing this site to make sure they are reflected fully and accurately to wikipedia audiences". That's not how Wikipedia works. But it appears that no damage has been done, and the pre-existing, factual content has won out.

animal rescue foundation radio commercial

2010-10-03T01:03:00.000-07:00

KCBS has been airing a refreshingly amusing commercial for ARF, the Animal Rescue Foundation. It's available on the multimedia page of their website, with the title "At the park":

• Animal Rescue Foundation - multimedia

new military-oriented radio from redsun

2010-09-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

I periodically search eBay for shortwave radios, and I just noticed an interesting new product from Redsun. The Redsun RP007 is a portable, digitally-tuned radio with AM (522 - 1620 or 520 - 1710 kHz), FM (66 - 108 MHz), and SW (3000 - 30000 kHz). The eBay listing I looked at describes this radio as having been designed for the Russian military. It claims that the radio is especially durable and tolerant of environmental conditions, and the product photo shows a camouflage front panel.

The price and shipping cost from China make this item too expensive to buy on a whim, but I'd like to know more about this new product. Are its radio circuits derived from the RP2100? Should I buy one now and keep it available for my eventual survival shelter? Could it be a better radio than the Eton E5/Grundig G5? Will a North American distributor eventually offer this item?

redsun rp2100 coming to grundig

2010-08-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

It looks like the popular Redsun RP2100 radio will be rebranded as the Grundig S450DLX. The radio will come with a price tag around US$100, and feature a slightly redesigned user interface compared to the RP2100. Eton Corporation, owners of the rights to the Grundig name in North America, become the fourth company to sell this product, following Redsun (the designer and manufacturer), Kaito (North American distributor of other radio brands including Degen and Tecsun), and C. Crane. Grundig's offering appears to continue supporting SSB only as an external add-on.

All four of the aforementioned distributors are (or were) offering radios based on the original RP2100 design, featuring a tuning knob but lacking a numeric keypad. The RP3000/RP3100 products from Redsun were expected to essentially be an RP2100 with a numeric keypad, but neither of these products have yet materialized.

the intrigue of russian espionage

2010-07-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

Last month, eleven people were arrested and accused of performing espionage for Russia while living in the United States. I am not qualified nor sufficiently informed to discuss any of the political, security, or legal aspects of this. It's fascinating to speculate that Russia would have espionage operations in the United States in current times. But I'm going to focus on the purported communications techniques that were employed.

The wikipedia article about this incident, Illegals Program, makes reference to tradecraft including hiding messages in digital images, disappearing ink, ad hoc wireless networks, hf radio communication, and exchanging physical items in public places.

I was most surprised to hear about how wireless networks were used. Coffee shops located in modern United States cities often have patrons using laptops, so this alone does not arouse suspicion. A vehicle parked in front of the coffee shop, requiring as little as a laptop running on its internal battery, is sufficient to create an ad-hoc wireless network to which a coffee shop customer can connect. Then, computer files can be exchanged freely without relying on the cafe's own wireless network. This is not a completely secure technique, but encrypting the files before transferring them further reduces risk of detection or interception.

This is essentially the wi-fi version of a dead drop. Two people can exchange information without meeting; they only need to agree to a time and a place. The person driving the vehicle that sits outside the coffee shop can be a cutout without knowledge of the operation. Wikipedia also references unmanned wireless data exchange in the dead drop article.

product evaluation process

2010-04-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

As I casually browse online radio websites and consider the current product offerings, a constant theme I'm encountering is "bare-minimum checklist completion".

One product, which shall remain nameless but will serve as the focus of this article, combines a digitally-tuned shortwave radio with a detachable MP3 player. The detachable MP3 player has been criticized for having a complicated user interface, particularly for managing recordings made from the radio with which it can connect. The MP3 player has inadequate memory capacity, considering what else is available in the standalone MP3 player market. I make no claims that I've used this product, but without owning one, I can make observations about its shortcomings. It seems to be a case of the whole being barely a sum of its parts.

How did the product end up this way? Perhaps a goal of combining a shortwave receiver with an MP3 player came about. It would be cheap to include a small amount of memory, so choose some small storage size and go with that. Ignore how quickly the flash-player market will change over the next two years; this product is in a different category (even though it may likely end up in the same home as a flash-based MP3 player). Find some way to allow the MP3 player to detach from the radio, no matter how ugly the resulting product ends up. Put it in a box and sell it. This is a pretty cynical view of things, but how far is it from the truth?

What is the manufacturer doing to resolve the criticism of this product? Probably nothing. They may decide to focus on implementing other features, or they may decide that there's not enough interest in the product, so it will get scrapped. Or it will remain on the market, unchanged, to languish (from the manufacturer's perspective) and potentially damage the manufacturer's reputation (from the consumer's perspective).

There are two distinct ways to evaluate a product. They differ in the method and, I would argue, in the quality of the purchasing decision. One way is to compare a product against a checklist of required or desired features: the product has this, the product doesn't have that. The other way is to individually rate each of the features. "This radio has a below-average speaker (2 out of 5) but above-average sensitivity on shortwave bands (5 out of 5)," for example. I prefer to use numeric ratings for product features, such that I can come up with a formula to express my overall rating of a product.

This ratings-based feature list evaluation is the method I used for selecting my current car from among about 10 possibilities. Obviously, it would've been far too time-consuming to test-drive all of the candidate products, so the initial ratings were based on aspects that I could rate without using the product. This included details like exterior appearance, safety rating, line-in support, fuel economy, price, and so on. When a few clear winners emerged, I test-drove those models and made my selection. And the ultimate winner wasn't the one I expected, but I made my purchase and had full confidence in it.

The fact that two individuals may rate the same product completely differently is due to something that we call taste. This is perfectly normal, and both people can be right no matter how far apart their individual ratings are. But when it comes to technology products, the average consumer doesn't pay very much attention to the important factors for enjoying a product after purchase. It's easier to make a checklist of required features and find a product to fulfill that, than to come up with a scoring system to determine what the best choice would be. And sometimes, people base much or all of their decision on price. In some cases, if they really thought about it, price would not turn out to be the only important factor in the decision.

passband.com also closing

2010-03-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

The book Passport to World Band Radio saw its last issue published in 2009. Now, Larry Magne indicates that the website will cease to exist:

• Passport to World Band Radio
• Shortwave Gets a Bit Shorter (Radio World)

outdoor listening checklist

2010-01-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

I recently had a portable radio kit with me so I could take a break during a lengthy drive home and spend some time listening to shortwave broadcasts. However, I omitted one critical item from my standard set of items, and paid the price. So, to better prepare myself for future listening sessions away from home, here's my personal checklist of required items:

• Portable receiver
• Two sets of alkaline batteries
• Printed shortwave broadcast schedule
• Log book
• Two ballpoint pens
• Earphones
• Miniature flashlight

a place for comments and questions: 2010

2010-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Readers of the Cobalt Pet shortwave / mediumwave radio weblog are encouraged to post comments and questions. In case you have a comment that's not related to a specific article, you are welcome to reply here. I'll link to this post from the website's sidebar so it's always easy to find. I welcome general comments, questions, and any feedback about the website.

I'll do my best to respond, either with a comment here of my own, or an article on the front page.

* (there is no 2009 comments and questions page)
* 2008 comments and questions
* 2006 comments and questions
* 2007 comments and questions

latest receptions - 2009 archive

2009-12-31T23:59:00.001-08:00

During my occasional band scans, I tune in to each audible signal I can find and make a cursory attempt to identify it. Schedule information from EiBi and Primetime Shortwave aids in station identification. I collect and publish these logs so others can see what's possible to receive with a portable shortwave receiver in northern California. This list of receptions doesn't include items from my reception reports which I publish separately.

Here's my list of shortwave band scan receptions during 2009:

25 July 2009:
0520 UTC : 6010 khz : Radio Havana Cuba
0526 UTC : 6110 khz : NHK Radio Japan
0527 UTC : 6190 khz : China Radio International
0529 UTC : 6060 khz : Radio Havana Cuba
0530 UTC : 6090 khz : University Network

01 Aug 2009:
0304 UTC : 5875 kHz : WHRI
0305 UTC : 5890 kHz : WWCR
0307 UTC : 7325 kHz : Voice of Turkey
0310 UTC : 7415 kHz : WBCQ
0311 UTC : 9505 kHz : WYFR
0312 UTC : 9560 kHz : China Radio International (Spanish)
0314 UTC : 9625 kHz : CBCNQ
0315 UTC : 9680 kHz : WYFR (Spanish)
0316 UTC : 9690 kHz : China Radio International
0324 UTC : 9715 kHz : WYFR (Spanish)
0325 UTC : 9735 kHz : Voice of Russia (Spanish)
0326 UTC : 9790 kHz : China Radio International
0325 UTC : 9735 kHz : Voice of Russia (Spanish)
0326 UTC : 9790 kHz : China Radio International
0325 UTC : 9735 kHz : Voice of Russia (Spanish)
0326 UTC : 9790 kHz : China Radio International

03 Aug 2009:
0001 UTC : 13725 kHz : Radio Canada International (Spanish)
0003 UTC : 13760 kHz : Voice of Korea (Spanish)
0005 UTC : 9505 kHz : WYFR
0006 UTC : 9980 kHz : WWCR
0009 UTC : 11530 kHz : WYFR (Spanish)
0012 UTC : 11760 kHz : Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
0015 UTC : 15440 kHz : WYFR
0211 UTC : 5890 kHz : WWCR
0211 UTC : 5935 kHz : WWCR
0212 UTC : 5950 kHz : Radio Taiwan International
0213 UTC : 5960 kHz : NHK Radio Japan (Japanese)
0215 UTC : 6010 kHz : Radio Sweden (Swedish)
0216 UTC : 6060 kHz : Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
0216 UTC : 6090 kHz : University Network / Gene Scott (Gibberish)
0218 UTC : 6100 kHz : Radio Canada International (Spanish)
0219 UTC : 6120 kHz : Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
0226 UTC : 6175 kHz : Voice of Vietnam (Vietnamese/English)
0228 UTC : 7415 kHz : WBCQ
0229 UTC : 9505 kHz : WYFR
0230 UTC : 9600 kHz : Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
0231 UTC : 9680 kHz : Radio Taiwan International
0232 UTC : 9690 kHz : China Radio International (Mandarin)
0233 UTC : 9735 kHz : Voice of Russia (Spanish)
0234 UTC : 9745 kHz : HCJB (Spanish)
0234 UTC : 9755 kHz : Radio Canada International (Spanish)
0236 UTC : 9780 kHz : HCJB (German)
0238 UTC : 9955 kHz : WRMI
0243 UTC : 11520 kHz : WEWN
0244 UTC : 11760 kHz : Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
0244 UTC : 11775 kHz : Radio Marti (Spanish) + bubble jammer
0249 UTC : 11780 kHz : Radio Nacional Amazonia (Portuguese)
0250 UTC : 11870 kHz : WEWN (Spanish)
0252 UTC : 13710 kHz : Radio Canada International (Spanish)
0252 UTC : 13790 kHz : Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
0254 UTC : 15440 kHz : Radio Taiwan International (Hakka)

04 Aug 2009:
0830 UTC : 5900 kHz : V02 numbers station

06 Aug 2009:
0534 UTC : 11725 kHz : Radio New Zealand International

08 Aug 2009:
1305 UTC : 5875 kHz : BBC
1310 UTC : 7325 kHz : Radio Canada International (Mandarin)
1312 UTC : 9455 kHz : WYFR (Vietnamese)
1314 UTC : 9605 kHz : BBC (Mandarin)
1315 UTC : 9675 kHz : China Radio International (Russian)
1316 UTC : 9980 kHz : WWCR
1323 UTC : 11785 kHz : Hmong Lao Radio (Hmong)
1330 UTC : 6030 kHz : China National Radio (Mandarin)
1400 UTC : 5875 kHz : BBC
1408 UTC : 6110 kHz : Voice of America (Mandarin)
1409 UTC : 6170 kHz : Radio New Zealand International
1411 UTC : 7240 kHz : Radio Australia
1414 UTC : 9525 kHz : Voice of Indonesia (Malay)
1416 UTC : 9760 kHz : Voice of America

09 Aug 2009:
1937 UTC : 15290 kHz : Radio Nacional Venezuela (Spanish)

11 Aug 2009:
0011 UTC : 17715 kHz : Radio Australia

analog tv channel 6 used for radio

2009-12-19T20:15:00.000-08:00

While reading about VHF on Wikipedia, I learned about a company called Pulse 87. This company broadcasts low-power analog television on channel 6, with the audio subcarrier appearing at 87.7 MHz. Low-power television is exempt from the digital tv switchover, so this analog broadcast works as a radio station at 87.7 MHz. This unusual radio station has a "hot dance airplay" format.

Pulse 87 currently operates WNYZ in New York City, while plans to operate stations in other cities (Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Chicago) have run into various problems preventing their launch.

Wikipedia also suggests that digital television in the channel 6 frequency (83.25-87.75 MHz) has had problems with interference, so it's possible that the FCC might release that part of the spectrum for radio broadcasting.

Digital radios intended for the North America market are often confined to the 88.1-107.9 MHz range, so as a rule, this station's target audience is limited to those who have radios without that limit (such as imported radios with a wider range for FM, or analog-tuned radios that have less precise FM broadcast band boundaries.

radio factory quality control

2009-12-12T21:42:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I wonder what it's like to work in quality control at a shortwave radio factory in China. I imagine the conversation with a new employee could go something like this:

Employee 1: "When I tune through the shortwave bands, all I can hear is loud orchestral music."
Employee 2: "That means it's working."
Employee 1: "But where does it come from? And why is it the same on so many frequencies?"
Employee 2: "Just put the QC PASS sticker on the radio, and wrap the package!"

radio versus the web in 2009

2009-11-29T14:47:00.001-08:00

I've been following chartoftheday on Twitter. Recently, they posted an interesting finding by the Council for Research Excellence:

• Radio reaches more people than the web

traffic reports on the radio

2009-11-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

I enjoy listening to traffic reports on the radio. The regular traffic reports on KCBS AM 740 in the San Francisco bay area can actually be quite entertaining.

This area has bad traffic. It's the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States according to Wikipedia, and I often hear disturbing statistics about how much time the average person in this region wastes in traffic each year. These days, it's easy to obtain live traffic maps with the average speed of vehicles in a given location, but it's invaluable to know in advance that a disabled vehicle is blocking the left two lanes of a particular roadway. Or that a major event is starting or ending, which can impact traffic.

A couple of the in-studio traffic reporters have special methods of delivering their reports. One of the reporters, Mitch, starts the work week on Mondays at 10am by greeting the anchors by name, then saying "Happy Monday, if there is such a thing!" He sounds cheerful on the air, so I interpret his greeting as a positive and friendly way of saying that we're all in this together. On a few occasions, he omitted the "happy Monday" greeting for reasons unknown. He also says "Happy Friday" during his first report at the end of the work week. KCBS uses airborne traffic reporters, but also encourages listeners to call in with incident reports or updates. Occasionally, the studio traffic reporter will credit the caller. Mitch's usual way of crediting a caller for updating a long-standing problem is with a rhyme: "Joan was the latest... to update us."

Another traffic reporter on KCBS has an obvious interest in sports. Sometimes, when Ted greets an anchor who is just coming on the air, he will start out discussing the latest sports headline. He'll hurriedly finish up that bit and quickly start with the traffic report, as if he might get in trouble for wasting too much on-air time. In one instance, I heard Ted ask the anchor a sports-related question. The anchor was silent for a moment, then said "Let's have the traffic, Ted." However, the sports banter has continued between the two, so it must be an officially sanctioned practice when the traffic news is light. Ted has also been lucky enough to occasionally fill in for sports reporters.

Various traffic reporters on KCBS empathize with listeners when reporting about debris in the roadway. One traffic reporter alerted drivers that a ladder was dropped in the roadway at a particular location, and ironically added, "that never happens!"

Since the traffic reports are always live (as required by our current lack of time travel ability), they provide ample opportunity for studio mis-haps. Many times, I've heard an anchor call for the traffic reporter on the air, followed by silence, and additional calls. Then the anchor says "There we go!" as if they just found the right button or fader on the console, and the traffic reporter starts talking. I also heard the anchor introduce the traffic reporter as Mitch one morning, only to have Paul respond via microphone. The anchor then admitted she hadn't looked over to see who was sitting at the traffic desk.

The traffic reporters confused me with one of the ways they describe current conditions. Sometimes they cheerfully say that traffic is moving "at the limit" in a particular area. At the limit?! That sounds like a dismal scenario for people who need to travel through there. But my interpretation was wrong: finally, a reporter said "at the speed limit" to clarify the issue and correct my initial assumption of "at the capacity limit".

My understanding of how radio traffic reports originated is that a radio station had a helicopter or a plane that they planned to use for live weather reports. The station didn't see much difference in the weather forecasts, though. But one day, the weather forecaster in the sky spotted a bad accident on the roads, and relayed the message to the station. This turned out to be so useful that the reporter was told to report on the traffic from then on instead of the weather.

Traffic reports on the radio provide an interesting frame of reference when doing AM broadcast band DXing. When I pull in major stations from Los Angeles or Seattle, I can hear about their traffic conditions, and imagine that I'm in a different place. I can't remember if I've heard traffic reports for other large cities such as Denver or Vancouver. Then there are smaller cities like Reno, where station KKOH sometimes has traffic reports like this: "there are no accidents or incidents to report." Or, when they're reporting an incident, they use highway mile markers to indicate the location (presumably due to the lack of other suitable landmarks).

OK, I feel like I got that topic out of my system for now.

portable radio memory systems

2009-11-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

I have never been satisfied by the frequency memory systems in portable radios. The primary reason is that, in the year 2009, I'm expecting so much more than I'm getting.

The simplest memory systems only store a fixed number of stations in a simple list. The list can be stepped through with up and down buttons, or sometimes by entering the number of the memory location. A slightly more complex system adds the concept of pages, which provides a way to group frequencies together, and usually increases the total number of memory locations. Improving upon that, pages or even individual memory locations can be labeled with short alphanumeric strings.

Simple memory systems work fine for FM and the AM broadcast band, where stations are broadcasting 24 hours a day. In shortwave, I find that this is the exception rather than the rule.

With shortwave broadcast schedules widely available on the Internet, radios could easily sync with a computer and save the schedules to memory. Then, a portable radio could add a schedule browser to the memory system. The internal clock could keep track of both local time and UTC, and the user could specify their geographic location, and perhaps even which languages they understand. Then, the internal schedule could show them the appropriate broadcasts.

Sure, this concept has several flaws. More screen real estate would be needed to make this work well, and most portable radios commonly available today use limited LCDs. Schedule data can easily go out of date. Shortwave reception within a target region doesn't come with a guarantee.

This is the kind of enhancement that would take portable radio memory systems from the level of computerized intelligence up to the level of human intelligence. Maybe radio manufacturers will make this happen, and we'll ask, "why hasn't it always worked this way?"

bay area television antenna update

2009-11-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

In late October 2009, I heard a most unusual commercial on a local AM station. Television users were asked to rescan for channels on their over-the-air sets. A url was provided for more information: www.sutrotower.com.

Those who live in or near San Francisco are likely familiar with the name Sutro Tower. This ominous, three-pronged antenna dominates the skyline near the center of the city. San Francisco's hilly terrain made line-of-sight propagation difficult for analog television and FM stations, prompting the construction of Sutro Tower from 1971 to 1973.

A new graphic on sutrotower.com shows the location, callsign, and frequency/channel of each station with an active or inactive antenna on the tower. The website also hosts an RF exposure report showing the findings of a firm called Hammett & Edison.

definition and usage of sio codes

2009-10-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

"Logs, or it didn't happen"

When I log shortwave broadcast receptions, I include an SIO code in my notes (such as "SIO 353"). The SIO (strength, interference, overall) code, a simplified form of the SINPO (strength, interference, atmospheric noise, propagation conditions, overall) code, is a standard way to rate shortwave reception. Each value of the code uses a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best), and the highest possible SIO code is 555. SIO codes are commonly included in reception reports sent by a listener to a broadcaster.

A SINPO code includes two more components but requires the listener to break strength and interference into two categories each. Shortwave listening novices (a group in which I still belong) may not know how to do this. For the sake of simplicity, I'm starting with the SIO code.

Reception reports along with SIO or SINPO codes help broadcasters understand the success of their transmissions. Transmitter sites are sometimes operated by a different organization than the broad caster, and listeners are often hundreds or thousands of miles away from broadcasters, thanks to the wonders of ionospheric propagation. So, reception reports from the broadcast target region can be very valuable to broadcasters.

Here are the three components of SIO, along with how to determine the value for a given reception:

• Strength

This rating indicates the effectiveness of the transmission for your particular location. Factors such as transmitter location, transmitter antenna direction, transmitter strength, ionospheric condition, and atmospheric attenuation can affect the strength of a broadcast. This category can be scored by evaluating the loudness of the broadcast above the noise floor, and whether any signal fading is present.

Some stations offer propagation maps that show where particular broadcasts are expected to reach. If that information is available, it can help to set your expectations about how well you might receive a transmission.

I've heard that atmospheric attenuation is better counted against the interference score, although the cause of a weak signal is not always easy to determine. North American shortwave listeners can check the latest NOAA solar data at n3kl.org. Or you can listen to the geophysical alerts on WWV or WWVH.

• Interference

This rating tells the broadcaster if there are any problems with transmitting on a particular frequency with the intention of reaching specific locations. Rather than rate the amount of locally-generated interference you receive (which the broadcaster can't control), rate the interference on the frequency itself. Same-channel or adjacent channel interference are the reasons to subtract points for this category.

If you want to factor out local interference when determining this score, try tuning to another broadcast of comparable strength within the same meter band, ideally as close to the primary frequency as possible. This can help you determine the baseline noise level. The ideal situation would be to perform your listening in a location that is largely free from radio frequency interference.

• Overall

This is your opportunity to describe the overall quality of the broadcast in spite of the signal strength or interference. This score is likely going to be in the range between the strength and interference scores, but does not need to be a simple average of the two scores. In my experience, interference is less of a factor than the signal strength, especially when the signal is fading in and out.

Some broadcasters such as Sound of Hope and Radio Marti are victims of intentional, targeted jamming. In those cases, interference plays a major role in the overall quality of the broadcast, especially if the jamming signal is louder than the desired broadcast.

If you haven't logged SIO codes before for your shortwave receptions, I'm hoping that this article gives you enough information to start doing so. I also recommend being generous in sending your reception reports to broadcasters. You may receive something in return (QSL cards, stickers, newsletters, schedules, or other gifts), stations may respond in order to provide better transmissions, and it can help ensure continued broadcasting to your area.

tecsun pl-310 first look

2009-10-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

I received a Tecsun PL-310 at last. Silver was my color of choice. My second attempt at purchasing this radio succeeded, just a few days before they started appearing on eBay. I just got it out of the box, so here are some initial thoughts on this new Tecsun product.

The radio has a nice appearance, but feels flimsy in my hands. With some of my radios, I wouldn't be concerned while holding both the left and right ends and twisting it slightly to test its durability. With this radio, I don't think that's a good idea. Some Chinese radio manufacturers have certain products or certain production runs that they deem export quality, and I'm not sure whether my radio qualifies. It is an early production run to be sure, so I'm hoping Tecsun will deliver a more refined product later on. This product offers the full range of FM (64-108/87-108 MHz) and MW (520-1710/522-1620 kHz) frequencies that anyone would want, plus LW (153-513 kHz), so from a technical standpoint, this product can satisfy all portable radio markets.

In contrast to the fabric protective bag that Tecsun includes with many pocket radios, this radio comes with a zippered clamshell, perhaps made of nylon. The inside has a little pocket, and my folded shortwave cheat sheet fits nicely. It's a thin enclosure, so it's mainly useful for avoiding scratches during transit.

This is the first radio I've purchased that comes with a USB cable. It makes this DSP-based product for analog broadcasting almost seem like a modern electronics product! The mini USB port on the radio is labeled "DC-IN 5v", so it's intended for NiMH battery recharging. I don't yet know of other uses for the USB port.

All of the Chinese-language documentation was included, which I can't use, but I enjoy having to look at anyway.

Oh, I suppose you want me to put in some fresh batteries and turn this thing on?

General

• The radio made two quick beeps upon insertion of the batteries. The beeping can be disabled by pressing the bell button (corresponding to the 0 key) when the radio is off.
• Both the volume dial and the tuning knob are notched continuous encoders. The tuning knob has a bit more resistance than the one on the PL-350, but its feel is similar to that radio. It's not like the strong resistance on the PL-200 tuning knob (which annoys me). I didn't expect the notched volume dial though.
• The only way to change the tuning knob from small to large steps is to turn quicker, according to my experience so far. I don't really like this. I want to be able to turn the knob and know exactly how much the frequency is going to change.
• When volume is adjusted, the volume level (00-30) is shown at the top right of the screen momentarily. With a strong local FM station, I didn't hear anything but static for volume levels 00-04. Level 30 was ridiculously loud and the speaker was distorting. For a mid-sized room, a volume level of 10 works well for me.
• The LCD screen shows dbµ and db numbers, updated about once a second. Pressing the "display" button quickly will toggle this section of the screen among the db meter, the alarm clock time, and the temperature. I haven't figured out how to change the temperature readout to fahrenheit yet. Pressing the "time" button will momentarily show the current time (according to the radio) in this same top-right region.
• The code system used on previous Tecsun radios such as the PL-200 is not needed here to set the FM frequency range, the MW step size, or the 12/24 hour clock preference. While the radio is off, just press the buttons "FM SET", "12/24", or "9/10 kHz" (corresponding to buttons 1-3 respectively) until the desired setting is shown on the screen.
• Similar to just pressing the labeled buttons to perform a function while the radio is off, the battery button (corresponding to button M at the bottom left of the numeric keypad) toggles between NiMH battery mode (allowing recharging) and alkaline battery mode (disallowing charging).
• When using 9 kHz steps for MW, temperature will be displayed in celsius (for example, 23ºC. When using 10 kHz steps, temperature will be displayed in fahrenheit (for example, 73ºF).
• Pressing a numeric key while listening to a weak signal or a blank frequency produces audible momentary static, or occasionally, a rapid pitch shift that sounds like a zap special effect.
• Toggling the screen backlight with the light/snooze button momentarily boosts the volume. I don't like that.

FM

• Selecting an FM station is easy! Just punch in the frequency digits: "9" "6" "5" gets you to 96.5 MHz; "1" "0" "2" "9" goes to 102.9 MHz. Unfortunately, I'm seeing quite noticeable lag after pressing each digit, and sometimes, a keypress doesn't register.
• When an FM stereo signal is received, two speaker icons are shown on both sides of the "FM" indicator. FM stereo can be enabled or disabled with a dedicated button on the right side of the interface. Stereo output is only useful when using the headphone jack.

SW

• When tuning to a shortwave frequency, the meter band of the frequency is momentarily displayed at the top right of the screen, such as "120 mb". This doesn't happen when switching to a frequency outside the range of the bands.
• I heard a faint WWVH signal and a strong WWV signal on 5000 kHz.
• Shortwave reception can also take advantage of the AM bandwidth settings.

MW

• For AM, bandwidths of 6, 4, 3, 2, or 1 kHz are offered, and toggled with the "AM BW" button as you might expect. For my ears, 4 kHz sounds best for my local flamethrower, KCBS 740 kHz.
• If there's a local/dx setting somewhere in this radio, I haven't found it yet. Bummer, because I'd really like that for mediumwave.
• I was able to hear KRLA identify while listening to 870 kHz, so this pocket radio has DX potential. That's a 3 kW station at night, about 400 miles away in Glendale, California.
• I received a clear signal from KOMO on 1000 kHz, a 50kW station about 800 miles away in Seattle, Washington. I had to lower the bandwidth to 2 kHz to get rid of the annoying adjacent channel chirps coming from local station KIQI 1010 kHz.

LW

• It was not intuitive to tune to longwave frequencies, so here's how I did it: with the radio off, I held down the MW/LW button for a few seconds, and the display showed "LW On". Then, with the radio on, pressing the MW/LW button toggled between mediumwave and longwave as one would expect out of the box. I'm not sure why longwave is disabled by default.
• While tuned to 404 kHz, I heard the MOG airport beacon which is about 300 miles away from me. The radio was very buzzy while tuning through longwave, and the airport beacon was very faint. That's all I've been able to do with longwave at my location.

Conclusion

This is quite a promising pocket radio. I like that this radio can receive weak, distant mediumwave stations with ease and clarity. I like the more immediate interface provided by simple digit-pressing for frequency selection. The construction quality could be improved, and buttons could be more responsive than they are. I don't yet have any information such as battery life or reception capabilities compared against other radios in the same class. Since I don't plan to do a full review of this radio, I may post occasional updates in the future and I'll do my best to answer specific questions from readers. So, feel free to ask questions or share your own experiences with this new product.

wire antennas in cramped space

2009-10-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

Now that I have some of the best portable shortwave receivers available, I either need to upgrade my radios or my antennas in order to get more out of the broadcasts that are generously sent in my direction. I'll start by upgrading my antennas.

My small apartment makes this difficult. Indoor antennas are my only hope, and I can't run a straight wire for longer than about 20 feet diagonally along my ceiling. I finally established permanent mounts for two wire antennas that I use, which helped somewhat with nighttime reception. However, I just realized I had an asset that has remained untapped for my four years of shortwave listening: I have a box that contains approximately 800 feet of unshielded Category 5 cable. I don't need lots of ethernet cables, so I can cut a length of Cat 5, and get eight individual wires at that length which can be shortened as required.

For my first project, I want to make a five-band antenna specially designed for the NCDXF/IARU beacons. This provides me with five specific frequencies to target, and the high frequencies of the beacons require less material. I'm going to make half-wavelength elements, so the elements will be between about 18 and 35 feet long. Also, the longest element for 14100 kHz should be decent for CHU on 14670 kHz and WWV/WWVH on 15000 kHz.

But what about that 20-foot straight line limit that I mentioned? With a sharp 45-degree turn or several gentler turns, I can extend the antenna for 30 feet. I could toss the antenna up on the roof and either hope nobody notices or remove it when it's not in use. I could call my landlord and request some holes be drilled through my walls.

Or, I could ask the experts. I posted some questions about this problem on the dxing.info forums.

ham reception on 14175 khz

2009-10-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I spent an hour listening to some ham radio operators on 14175 kHz (SSB). This was on 02 August 2009, 1830-1930 UTC. For most of the hour, I could only hear one person speaking. As I can only listen to other people transmitting, it makes me feel like I'm eavesdropping. I've recently learned that this practice is known as reading the mail. I was using my Eton E5 receiver along with a Degen DE31 loop antenna.

During the hour, I learned that the primary speaker was in the Seattle, Washington area. Much of the conversation centered on getting home windows replaced, discussing radio technology, planning a party, buying trucks, buying jewelry, and getting a check from an insurance company to replace part of a roof. Here are some quotes from what I heard:

"We don't tell people to bring anything because there's plenty of food."
"No four-letter words in this house."
"The only one that gets wet is me out there, doing the salmon, but that goes pretty fast."
"We made the rounds at pawn shops looking for stuff. i guess they do big business in this kind of environment."
"I should've never bought the darn thing. It's just a piece of junk."
"I reduced the mic gain a little bit."
"This winter, maybe I'll get that 922 in here."
"Barb keeps trying to talk me into getting a new truck. I don't know when the 2010 Toyotas come out."
"Tundra is the big one."
"I've got a Ranger now... it's probably good for the rest of my life. And we got the fanciest cab we could get. They make that Tacoma with three and four doors, which I don't want. I want the one that has the little fold-up seats in the back. They don't give you much choice on color."
"I bought my Ranger through Costco."
"...Island County ... Bellingham..."
"When I go to a dealer for a car, I bypass their salesmen and go upstairs to the fleet dealer."
"We'll put the truck in the driveway with a For Sale sign on it."
"When we went down to Seaside, we got 24 miles to the gallon in that little car."
"How many miles do you have on your truck now, W7LFA?"
"The inside of the truck is just like new, but it's got 109,000 miles on it."
"How noisy was your 922? Does it have a fan in it?"
"I suppose they went out and had a big lunch at the Olive Garden after we left."
"Good signal up here in Seattle."

Callsigns heard: W7LFA, W7EPA, W7ZP.

shortwave listening cheat sheet updated

2009-10-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

When I got started as a shortwave listener in 2005, much of my listening was done outside for better reception and less interference. Hanging a wire antenna from my old apartment bedroom didn't help much; radio waves only had a narrow path to reach me. Being outside away from my computer left me separated from the shortwave information I needed to effectively tune in. So I produced my shortwave listening cheat sheet, a single letter-size page with information such as broadcasting frequencies, North America broadcast schedules, and reception tips. I folded the sheet into a 1/8 size so I could easily put it in my pocket. I'm happy with this low-tech solution.

When I moved a few years ago, I got an apartment that's more favorable for indoor shortwave reception, so I didn't keep the cheat sheet updated. However, I've just updated it for 2009. Unfortunately, I don't have approval from all of the information sources to distribute the information, so I'm providing this image to show what's included and how it has been formatted.

I find it useful to get broadcast schedules from primetimeshortwave.com and eibi.de.vu, and condense the information by choosing specific broadcasters within specific times. Most of my shortwave listening is between 0000-0700 UTC, so the schedules included on my cheat sheet focus on that time range.

For the number station schedules on my cheat sheet, some of them are expected to broadcast on certain days of the week. In instances where a broadcast is expected on more than two days of the week, I write the days in this condensed form: (_m_w_fs) represents monday, wednesday, friday, and saturday. This format also lets me use a single character for both tuesday and thursday, because the position rather than a unique letter is the identifier.

Cramming all of this information onto one side of a sheet of paper is achieved with these tricks:

• Top, bottom, left, and right page margins are 0.15 inch. I printed one copy with 0.10 inch margins, but the printing was cropped at the edges.
• The font is 8-point Monaco.
• Horizontal character spacing is reduced by 1%. The text is still legible with even lower settings, but I can fit all of the desired information already with the current format.
• Line spacing is reduced to 0.8, allowing for many extra lines on the page. Additionally, lines without any text are reduced to a line height of 0.4.
• Some information that would only take up a couple lines across the whole page has been crammed into the right column next to other unrelated data. Unfortunately, the broadcast band and ham band sections don't efficiently use their space.
• Radio Australia has a complex schedule. I don't listen to it very often, and I can't always receive it. To save space, I consolidated that section of the schedule by simply listing every frequency they use during 0000-0800 UTC. Schedules on the cheat sheet for other broadcasters are more precise.
• This may make morse code purists unhappy, but I use a forward slash instead of a hyphen to represent the dashes in my morse code section. This allows me to easily count how many dashes are in a character when I've reduced the character spacing down so much that hyphens would otherwise run together.

I've also produced an audio version of this data, using Mac OS X text-to-speech. All of the data is stored in 16 separate mp3 files, with a total duration of 39 minutes. The text has to be massaged to sound nice, so I have to maintain the information in a second document. For example, I'd rather hear a frequency spoken as "seventy-eight fifty" than "seven thousand eight hundred and fifty." Here's how I reformatted the data about North American time stations: "time stations. frequencies in kilohertz. WWV, colorado. 25 hundred, 5000, 10000, 15000, 20000. WWVH, hawaii. 25 hundred, 5000, 10000, 15000. C H U, ontario. 33 30, 78 50, 14 6 7 0."

As an example, here's an mp3 of the time station data.

Do you do something similar to keep shortwave listening information more handy? What sorts of information do you use the most?

my failing eton e100 works again

2009-10-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

I don't have a very good explanation of how this happened, but I brought an Eton E100 back from the dead. This particular E100 (based on the Tecsun PL-200) has had a rough life. I bought it used, and kept it in my bathroom. So, it endured humid conditions due to the shower and a weak ventilation fan. And it went through a few gravity incidents.

At one point, it would act very confused when powered on. The LCD would show corrupt or blinking characters, and no sound was produced. I couldn't tell what band it was on, and the numeric keypad, up/down buttons, and tuner knob weren't responding. I removed batteries for lengths of time, tried different sets of batteries, tried the reset switch on the bottom, and nothing was working. So I took the batteries out and stuffed it into a dresser drawer to be forgotten.

I saw the radio again a few days back, and wondering about radio electronics, I opened up the case to look inside. Everything looked normal, except for a large capacitor that showed evidence of leaking. When I reassembled it, I put in two batteries just for fun. When the radio powered on, it started...behaving normally! Honestly, I didn't make any internal modifications more extensive than gently removing a small amount of debris. I'm not taking any credit here; this E100/PL200 has crazy super self-healing powers. Honest.

shortwave summary, september 2009

2009-09-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

During September, I logged shortwave broadcasters while in various northern California locations. I've used my Tecsun PL-350 receiver with the telescopic whip, and with indoor random wire antennas while at home.

Received stations:
• Firedrake
• Radio Australia
• Radio Havana Cuba
• Radio Taiwan International
• China Radio International
• Voice of Turkey

• 02 Sep 2009, 0300 UTC, 7325 kHz (Voice of Turkey, via Sackville): Turkey and Armenia are working on establishing diplomatic relations, and it has become the top story in Turkish media. Greece fails to realize Turkey's capabilities, with regards to Cyprus negotiations. The 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan since WW2 will be called into question. Governments worldwide are seeking to replace the Kyoto protocol.

There are parallels in democratization in both Turkey and Iraq. Turkey and northern Iraq have economic ties, such as the two oil pipelines that run between the two countries. "Clearing Turkey and Iraq of terrorism is of paramount importance."

A significant portion of this hour-long show was taken up by two of the station's reporters (based in the capital, Ankara) speaking via telephone to one of the station's listeners in the United Kingdom. They spent the first few minutes talking about the weather. The listener will be visiting Turkey in November for about five days. He works in the hospitality industry, and complained about a lack of flexibility for vacation scheduling. He has listened to TRT for about 10 years, saying that TRT offers "what a shortwave listener is looking for." Somehow, they started talking about a French climber who climbs towers with his bare hands to raise awareness of climate change. According to the listener, 100-watt bulbs are now banned in the UK, but he suggested that "changing your lightbulbs is not going to save the world." Shortly after that, he said that "so many things in our life are unnecessary but convenient." They then discussed the Dugard kidnap/rape story from California. One of the reporters pointed out similarities with the Josef Fritzl case in Austria, and the situation was described as "worse than death" for the victim. However, "nothing really shocks society these days."

I had difficulty understanding this broadcast because the reporters were speaking fast and had heavy accents. In my logbook, I noted that I might understand them better if they would speak slower. Given that both of the Voice of Turkey receptions I've done in the past few weeks have ended with ten minutes of filler piano music, it seems to me that they have the time to speak slower. On the other hand, I'm happy that Voice of Turkey is able to use the Sackville transmitter and reach North America.

• 0400 UTC, 6020 kHz (China Radio International, via Sackville): "From Beijing, this is CRI, China Radio International." China plans to maintain relations with the new Japanese government; "China and Japan are important neighbors." The Sichuan-Tibet railway construction has been delayed by geographic challenges and lack of funds. Gas and diesel prices were increased for the sixth time this year, with the increase amounting to 4%. China and Uzbekistan have launched a new e-commerce platform. Chinese students have been instructed on H1N1 viral prevention prior to the start of the school year. Weather: Beijing, overcast, 17-28C. Showers in Bangkok and Tokyo. Clear in New York and Toronto.

Elsewhere in the world: Iran wants to ease fears about its nuclear program, and the USA has set a deadline at the end of September for nuclear talks. Poland and Russia are about to finalize a new oil contract. Myanmar needs to restore peace and stability so exiled citizens can return home. Many fled into China after the start of armed conflicts last week. In the USA, stocks fell for a third straight day. Government officials are meeting in Gdansk, Poland to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the World War 2 outbreak. "Remembering the tragedies of the second world war." China is making an official visit to Cuba, and will go on to visit the Bahamas and the USA. China denied Indian reports that one of its helicopters crossed the border into India.

I didn't really understand the e-commerce deal between China and Uzbekistan. A dollar figure for the amount of trade between the two countries was announced, but it wasn't clear what the goods or services were, or who the major beneficiaries were either.

• 03 Sep 2009, 2308 UTC, 17795 kHz (Radio Australia): The reporter was speaking to someone about a recent earthquake somewhere. This signal was moderately strong, but fading. The priorities following the earthquake were obtaining food, drinking water, medical kits, and blankets. No temporary shelters were being planned; people were left to fend for themselves. There were 57 confirmed deaths, and the number was expected to grow. The presidential election in Afghanistan has been plagued with accusations of vote-rigging. If Karzai is re-elected, it could benefit the insurgence. "If Karzai continues to hold some power, he should not hold all the power." Two Khmer Rouge leaders are being investigated by a war crimes tribunal.

Okay, which earthquake was this that they were discussing?

• 04 Sep 2009, 0500 UTC, 6010 kHz (Radio Havana Cuba): Cuba is one of my focus countries for shortwave listening. Their signals are loud, I can copy them with ease, and there are lots of interesting segments and topics in their broadcasts.

Spanish music at the top of the hour, as if they're running late. Running behind schedule? Too busy setting up the number stations? Ah, the intro lullaby started at 0503 UTC. "This is Radio Havana Cuba." Washington stopped aid to Honduras after a meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and ousted Honduran president Zelaya. It's part of a plan to restore constitutional order in Honduras. The US military is ending a contract with a public relations firm over criticism that embedded journalists covering conflicts in the middle east were being screened. The contract was first revealed about a week ago. Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Ho Chi Minh, which Radio Havana Cuba called "Southeast Asia's most important communist leader." He was inspired by the Russian revolution. Chevron was sued for dumping toxic waste in Ecuador's rainforest. There's reportedly a video of the judge in the case, involved in some dishonest dealings.

Low-wage workers in the United States have routinely been denied overtime pay and forced to work for less than minimum wage, according to a survey. "Blue dog" democrats got large campaign donations from the healthcare industry. (Lots of these stories make the USA look bad. It's no surprise to me that Radio Havana Cuba appears to have an agenda!)

China and Cuba are getting along very well and will continue working together. Someone from Cuba is making an official visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (you know, the poorly-named communist northern half). The viewpoint segment was about climate change, and mentioned an upcoming summit that will take place in Copenhagen in December. The reporter hopes that the summit won't just be a place for leaders to give speeches without making commitments. The Caribbean Outlook segment followed, although I didn't listen to it.

• 06 Sep 2009, 0200 UTC, 9680 kHz (Radio Taiwan International): I first tuned in to 5950 kHz, but found that frequency's signal to be relatively weak. 9680 kHz came in stronger, although it started fading out halfway through the hour-long broadcast. This particular reception will be the subject of a future article on QSLs from RTI. RTI sent me two QSL cards, neither of which had entirely accurate reception details.

The government is monitoring migratory birds to track the spread of the H1N1 virus. Taiwan got a rare visit last week from the Dalai Lama. He offered prayers for the typhoon Morakot victims. China describes the Dalai Lama as a separatist. A major sporting event, the deaf Olympics, is coming up in Taipei. The event started in 1924, but this will be the first time it is hosted in Asia. Lights, rather than guns and whistles, are used for signaling the athletes to start a race or stop play in a team event. Lots of ads announcing the deaf Olympics have appeared on public transit vehicles in Taiwan. Many countries have their own sign languages, although a universal sign language exists. "You can't have beach volleyball in central Taipei!" "Taipei is quite a noisy city." One of the reporters lamented the fact that taxi drivers honk their horns aggressively at pedestrians.

During the "Women making waves" segment, a female science teacher was interviewed about how she became a teacher, how she keeps up with scientific developments, and how she approaches teaching. A tribe from the Solomon Islands made a donation to Taiwan to help with typhoon Morakot relief. The dollar amount of the donation was small, but it amounted to one year worth of savings for the tribe. The tribe wanted to show its gratitude to Taiwan for supporting them.

• 12 Sep 2009, 0807 kHz, 10210 kHz (Firedrake): I heard a weak, fading Firedrake broadcast here, although it was stronger than the presumed Firedrake signals on 8400 kHz and 9000 kHz.

mediumwave logs, winter 2008-2009

2009-09-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Between November 2008 and January 2009, I logged 59 mediumwave stations. I used my Eton E5 radio with just the built-in ferrite antenna. I didn't get very many stations this time, but I managed to pull in WWL from New Orleans, and for the first time, I logged Texas with WOAI in San Antonio.

Here's a collection of quotes from my log:

• "You don't have to worry about that signal down in salinas valley." (due to online streaming)
• "British Petroleum is on board. We got Microsoft on board. Everybody is listening to this right now."
• "The chance to catch a fish of a lifetime."
• "Reduced tingling." (infomercials can be so delightful)
• "When you look at the veins of these children, you find that they're... not good."
• "Let's go back to where Jesus was born."
• "And now, it's time for letters to Obama-Claus."
• "Obama is playing you now like a fool."
• "Our one caller, and we get an idiot." (some talk-show agreed to take one caller, and the caller played a bugle into the phone.)
• "Obama says we have one president at a time."
• "Guess what? Global warming is causing the frigid temperatures in the northeast."
• "Is your sex drive what it used to be?"
• "28 [degrees fahrenheit] here in Seattle." (wow, that sucks)
• "They just push the billion-dollar button a few times."
• "Experience the miracle of fish oil." (experience the miracle of shutting up, you annoying advertiser)
• "30 [degrees fahrenheit] in Salem [Oregon], 32 in Vancouver [Washington], 30 in Portland [Oregon]."
• "Coming up next hour: the list of America's dirtiest hotels."
• "I use [online backup service] because folks, I know that at some point, my computer will crash. It's as simple as that."
• "The lowest gas prices in San Antonio." (hmmm, that's too far away to be of any use to me)
• "Popcorn... take it out and serve."
• "I wish we could've done brownies, and then gone to brownies."
• "I'm a happy single person."

States and provinces received:

• Arizona
• Baja California, Mexico
• British Columbia, Canada
• California
• Colorado
• Louisiana
• Nevada
• Oregon
• Texas
• Utah
• Washington
• Wyoming

Annoying mediumwave broadcasters using AM HD, effectively jamming both adjacent frequencies:

• 740 KCBS
• 910 KNEW
• 960 KKGN
• 1050 KNBR/KTCT
• 1310 KMKY

Stations received:

560: KSFO (San Francisco, CA)
580: KMJ (Fresno, CA)
590: KUGN (Eugene, OR)
600: KOGO (San Diego, CA)
610: KEAR (Berkeley, CA)
620: KPOJ (Portland, OR)
630: KIDD (Monterey, CA)
630: KXLI (Spokane, WA) (New)
640: KFI (Los Angeles, CA)
650: KSTE (Rancho Cordova, CA)
660: KTNN (Window Rock, AZ)
670: KMZQ (Las Vegas, NV) (New)
680: KNBR (San Francisco, CA)
690: CBU (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
710: KFIA (Sacramento, CA)
720: KDWN (Las Vegas, NV)
740: KCBS (San Francisco, CA)
760: KFMB (San Diego, CA)
770: KCBC (Riverbank, CA)
780: KKOH (Reno, NV)
790: KABC (Los Angeles, CA)
810: KGO (San Francisco, CA)
830: KNCO (Grass Valley, CA)
840: KMPH (Modesto, CA)
850: KOA (Denver, CO)
860: KTRB (San Francisco, CA)
870: KRLA (Glendale, CA)
870: WWL (New Orleans, LA)
890: KDXU (St. George, UT)
910: KNEW (Oakland, CA)
960: KKGN (Oakland, CA)
980: KFWB (Los Angeles, CA)
1000: KOMO (Seattle, WA)
1030: KTWO (Casper, WY)
1050: KTCT (San Mateo, CA)
1070: KNX (Los Angeles, CA)
1090: XEPRS (Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico)
1100: KFAX (San Francisco, CA)
1120: KPNW (Eugene, OR)
1130: KRDU (Dinuba, CA)
1140: KHTK (Sacramento, CA)
1150: KTLK (Los Angeles, CA)
1160: KSL (Salt Lake City, UT)
1180: KERN (Bakersfield, CA)
1190: KEX (Portland, OR)
1200: WOAI (San Antonio, TX) (New)
1220: KDOW (Palo Alto, CA) (New)
1260: KSFB (San Francisco, CA)
1270: KBZZ (Sparks, NV)
1310: KMKY (Oakland, CA)
1350: KSRO (Santa Rosa, CA)
1370: KZSF (San Jose, CA)
1400: KVTO (Berkeley, CA)
1450: KEST (San Francisco, CA)
1480: KYOS (Merced, CA)
1510: KPIG (Piedmont, CA)
1530: KFBK (Sacramento, CA)
1550: KFRC (San Francisco, CA) (Moved)
1640: KDIA (Vallejo, CA)

ebay seller stole my photo for auction

2009-09-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

An eBay seller stole my Redsun RF-1210 photo for their auction. I published the photo to Flickr with all rights reserved, and was never asked if the photo could be used for any other purpose.

Don't buy anything from cnnjseller.

Update: Here's the stolen photo on the offender's Flickr account.

Update 2: Complaints have been filed with both eBay and Yahoo/Flickr. I no longer see the auction on eBay. Yahoo/Flickr required additional information from me regarding my claim of violation of copyright, and I just submitted the additional information to them.

Update 3: Yahoo has pulled the stolen image from Flickr.

ncdxf/iaru shortwave beacon receptions

2009-09-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

W6WX is the callsign of a five-frequency shortwave beacon in northern California. It is one of the eighteen beacons in the NCDXF/IARU International Beacon Project. On 15 August 2009, with my Eton E5 and an indoor wire antenna, I heard the W6WX beacon on all five frequencies: 14100, 18110, 21150, 24930, and 28200 kHz.

Since I can't copy morse code at all, and certainly not at the 22WPM used by the beacon, I recorded the transmissions and decoded the morse afterward.

• 2215 UTC: 14100 kHz SSB, SIO 445 (lots of digital transmissions on this frequency, although faint)
• 2155 UTC: 18110 kHz SSB, SIO 555 (yep, i received these out of order)
• 2227 UTC: 21150 kHz SSB, SIO 555
• 2233 UTC: 24930 kHz SSB, SIO 555
• 2240 UTC: 28200 kHz SSB, SIO 252 (the morse code was barely audible above the noise)

The links above are for mp3 files, each about 15 seconds long and around 100 kb.

I submitted these reception reports to the NCDXF on 15 August 2009, and got a reply from VE3SUN the next day. Alas, they don't send QSL cards for the beacons.

One down, seventeen to go!

rumored sangean ats-909 updates

2009-09-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

Back in December 2006, I reported that Sangean was not interested in producing new shortwave products:

End of Sangean line

But last month, Herculodge reported on two rumored updates to the well-known Sangean ATS-909 receiver:

Two new Sangeans should be on the way soon: 909X and 909XR

The Sangean ATS-909, which I've never owned, has long been rumored to practically require internal modification for decent MW and SW sensitivity. A company called RadioLabs responded by offering a well-known ATS-909 overhaul which they call the Super 909.

While I'm plenty happy with the radios I already own, I'll watch these developments at Sangean with interest.

krko am radio towers vandalized

2009-09-05T01:38:00.000-07:00

Radio antenna towers for AM station KRKO in Snohomish County, Washington were intentionally knocked down by vandals on Friday, September 4, 2009. KRKO is a 5000-watt station operating on 1380 kHz. Here's an article about the crime, from SFGate / Associated Press:

• 2 radio towers in Washington state toppled

mail from south korea's kbs

2009-09-04T22:19:00.000-07:00

On August 9, 2009, I sent a brief email to KBS World Radio in South Korea to tell them that I have been missing their shortwave broadcasts. I meant it both ways: their broadcast times weren't convenient for me, and I regretted not hearing the broadcasts. About two weeks after I sent the email, I got a large envelope (about 6" x 12") from KBS, containing a reception report form, eight identical station stickers, and a "Spring 2009" pamphlet. They used my postal address from my previous correspondence to them, as I didn't include a postal address with my recent email.

The reception report form is interesting because of the list of occupations that are provided. At the top of the form where the listener describes himself or herself, the listed occupations are: student, company employee, civil servant, teacher, engineer, sailor, self-employed, medicine, journalist, artist, legal practitioner, farmer, freelancer, housekeeper, unemployed, and not applicable. It's interesting to think about how KBS imagines their current English listener audience.

The pamphlet is about 20 pages long, in color, with pages for many different languages. Inside the front cover is the current broadcasting schedule, along with a note that "some broadcasting frequencies are expected to change at the end of October, 2009" when the B schedule period begins. I only see nine "E" squares (for English broadcasts) on the whole daily schedule, and the only one labeled "NAM" (for North America) is between 1200 and 1300 UTC, from the Sackville transmitter site. Yep, that starts at 8am on the east coast, and 5am on the west coast.

Quoting from the pamphlet, here's the station history:

KBS World Radio, the overseas service of the Korean Broadcasting System, is Korea's window to the world. Alas, they didn't give me any indication that they'd add English broadcasts to North America in my preferred 0000 - 0700 UTC timeframe.

KBS World Radio's maiden transmission was a 15-minute English broadcast on August 15, 1953 under the station name, "the Voice of Free Korea." It was renamed as "Radio Korea" in 1973, and again as "Radio Korea International" in August 1994 to better reflect its increasingly global mission. The station adopted its current name, "KBS World Radio" on March 3, 2005.

KBS World Radio now broadcasts in 11 languages: Korean, English, Japanese, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Indonesian, Arabic, German, and Vietnamese. It provides a total of 48 hours and 4 minutes of daily programming on 22 shortwave and one medium-wave frequencies, bringing up-to-date information on Korea to the world.

KBS World Radio's primary mission is to promote friendly relations and understanding with the peoples of the world. It brings listeners fast and accurate coverage of news taking place in and around Korea as well as a wealth of information about Korean culture, society, and politics.

In addition to shortwave broadcasting, KBS World Radio aims to diversify its global reach through satellite radio, DRM transmission, local FM and AM relays, and the Internet in preparation for the full-fledged digital broadcasting era.

While KBS is clearly looking ahead to newer broadcasting technologies, they're still happy to reach out to the fans of their analog shortwave service. Alas, they didn't give any indication that they'd resume an English broadcast to North America during my preferred 0000 - 0700 UTC timeframe.

shortwave summary, august 2009

2009-08-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

My shortwave listening activities have increased recently, and I have reception logs to share. I used to do this on a regular basis here, but alas, times have changed. Recently, I've been using my Eton E5, Kaito KA1102, Grundig G3, and Tecsun PL-350 radios, along with an indoor 30-foot random wire antenna. However, due to circumstances beyond my control, the disappointing Grundig G3 was returned to sender.

Received stations:
• BBC
• BPM time station (unconfirmed)
• Firedrake
• NHK Radio Japan
• Radio Havana Cuba
• Radio Taiwan International
• Voice of America
• Voice of Turkey
• WWCR
• WWV / WWVH time stations

• 25 Jul 2009, 0500 UTC, 2500 / 5000 / 10000 / 15000 / 20000 kHz (WWV / WWVH): I heard time station broadcasts on all of these frequencies at the same time. Good propagation conditions?

• 1250 UTC, 5000 / 10000 kHz (WWV / WWVH / BPM): I heard beeps once per second that were slightly offset from the WWV/WWVH ticks. Maybe I was hearing the BPM station from China.

• 1400 UTC, 5875 kHz (BBC): This English broadcast to Asia was weak with fading. The announcer discussed the famous Beatles' Abbey Road album artwork.

• 1416 UTC, 9760 kHz (Voice of America): This broadcast was weak and noisy. They played a quote of Obama saying that this is "the beginning of the end of the recession." A homerun by Alex Rodriguez ended the epic 15-inning game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

• 09 Aug 2009, 0500 UTC, 6010 kHz (Radio Havana Cuba): "This is Radio Havana Cuba." Why does their intro music sound like a lullaby? Generally, I like their bumper music, as well as the Cuban music that they play to fill each half hour of their broadcasts. The leadership crisis in Honduras is impacting the poorest members of the nation. Hugo Chavez claims that the USA wants to incite war between Venezuela and Colombia. Evictions of Palestinians in Israel is blocking progress towards peace. The "Skull and Bones" secret society from Yale University claims it stole some of Geronimo's remains. Ed Newman still neglects to say "dot" after "www" when giving a URL on the air.

Viewpoint segment: The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in August 1945. Bombing survivors continue to die from radiation exposure, although some are dying from old age. The commentator called the USA "one of the main enemies of life and peace." A Japanese word, hibakusha, is used to describe the atomic bombing survivors. It literally means "a person who has been bombed." Approximately 250,000 hibakusha are alive today. This segment was extremely critical of the USA, which Radio Havana Cuba is always willing to do, and focused on the gruesome results of the bombings. It was difficult to hear.

Arnie Coro's DXers unlimited: 28 consecutive days without a sunspot. Meteor showers are expected, because the Earth is going through a comet debris field. Meteor showers produce favorable ionization for amateur DXing. The 3B7 DXpedition will take place at St. Brandon island. The 3D2 DXpedition will take place on Conway Reef. Arnie talked about harmonic hunters, and referred to harmonics as "non-essential radiation." The maximum usable frequency is around 21 MHz due to the lack of sunspots. "73 and very good DX!" Even though I'm not yet an amateur radio operator, Arnie's enthusiasm and compelling delivery create a very enjoyable show.

• 10 Aug 2009, 0301 UTC, 5950 kHz (Radio Taiwan International): Typhoon Morakot news. More rain is coming; some areas are already flooded. The military has ben mobilized for disaster relief. Most damage is in the south of Taiwan. Temperatures around Taipei will be 26-32C tomorrow. When I heard this shortwave broadcast, typhoon Morakot was not yet widely covered by the mainstream news.

The health minister resigned to run for another office. H1N1 flu continues to spread. However, the approach has gone from containment and quarantine to detection and prevention. August 6 and August 9 mark the anniversaries of atomic bombings in Japan by the USA.

For the health beat segment, a childbirth expert was interviewed. It was rather boring. Pizza delivery has been very popular in Taiwan after the typhoon, and this will be the subject of a Chinese language lesson. After the first example phone call, the announcer asked, "now, will the pizza be delivered in 30 minutes? Probably not, because the guy forgot to request the address!" That was a fun segment, even though I don't aspire to learn the language. I wasn't clear on what dialect of Chinese was being used, but they likely used Mandarin.

• 12 Aug 2009, 0526 UTC, 6010 kHz (Radio Havana Cuba): "The Cuban Five...they will return!"

On a night when 49-meter broadcasts from Sackville (NHK Radio Japan and China Radio International) and Okeechobee (Radio Taiwan International) are coming in poorly, Cuba's broadcast is coming in clear and strong. It's a Caribbean victory!

• 24 Aug 2009, 0327 UTC, 5890 kHz (WWCR): For the last few days, I've been targeting the WWCR broadcasts so I could send them a reception report and request a QSL card. I don't enjoy listening to religious programming otherwise. When I tuned in, the pastor was telling his congregation how their "little church" could have a greater influence. He said that two things move the heart: music, and preaching. "Acupuncture does not work nearly as well on western men as it does on eastern men." "Want to be different? I'll stick a big ring in my nose, or my lip." The signal was fading and distorting, so it was difficult to follow the broadcast. I'm not certain how the acupuncture and body piercing came up, but he was trying to make a point that I missed.

I got identification in a few different forms. First, I heard the pastor say "This is pastor Peters." Then I heard an advertisement for a book called "America the Conquered" by Peter J. Peters. And at the top of the hour, I heard the station identification: "WWCR, Nashville Tennessee, USA."

• 0538 UTC, 6010 kHz (Radio Havana Cuba): During the mailbag show, Ed Newman once again laments that most of their letters and emails come from males, so the mailbag show is really the male-bag show.

• 28 Aug 2009, 0512 UTC, 6110 kHz (NHK Radio Japan): What to do when contracting the flu. China is arguing about the Dalai Lama's planned visit to Taiwan. Power-generating rice paddys.

NHK's signal was weak, fading, and suffering from local interference. The noise was affecting much of the 60m, 49m, and 41m bands, although a stronger Radio Havana Cuba broadcast on 6060 kHz was usable. I also tuned in too late to catch the top headlines. There's a lot going on in Asia right now, and I'd like to get more local perspective.

• 30 Aug 2009, 0303 UTC, 7325 kHz (Voice of Turkey): This was my first substantial Voice of Turkey reception. Unfortunately the signal strength was only moderate, and I was receiving a lot of noise. I was surprised to learn that this transmission came from Sackville, because I would have expected a stronger signal from there. I'm definitely missing that Delano transmitter. The broadcast was also plagued with random moments of silence that didn't sound like traditional fading problems. Based on the way the interruptions happened, I suspect that the problem was with the Sackville transmitter site, or with content delivery from the Voice of Turkey studios.

This station sure identifies frequently. I heard the "Voice of Turkey" identification at least seven times during the hour-long broadcast.

Among the news stories reported in this broadcast: Afghanistan is tallying the results from their recent presidential election, and results are expected next week. The U.S. government is releasing two prisoners from the Guantanamo prison. The station's website was given as www.trtenglish.com .

The Turkish music in this broadcast was the best part, and unfortunately, the poor signal quality hindered enjoyment of the music. The broadcast essentially ended at 0350 UTC; below is a video of the piano music that repeated to fill the remainder of the hour.

• 0735 UTC, 9000 kHz: I spent a lot of time trying to pull down a very weak music signal. When the signal strengthened, I recognized the loud oriental orchestral music; the trademark of the Firedrake jammer. A schedule check shows 9000 kHz as a Sound of Hope frequency, which Firedrake regularly targets. I used to hear Firedrake a lot, but this is most likely my first reception of it during 2009. Have they reduced transmitter power?

grundig g3 review and eton e5 comparison

2009-08-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Along comes the Grundig G3. This radio offers three new significant features over the Eton E5/Grundig G5: synchronous detection, VHF aircraft band reception, and FM RDS. The concept of an Eton E5 plus synchronous detection was appealing, so I ordered the G3.

This product has a distinguished lineage. If I understand the history correctly, it starts with the Degen DE1103 (sold under the Kaito brand in the United States). This radio was widely regarded for its sensitivity, feature set, and sub-$100 selling price. However, the 1103 had a peculiar user interface: the numeric buttons were in a single row along the bottom, most of the user interface was taken up by a large LCD with an unnecessary simulated analog tuner, and volume control was indirect.

RadioIntel then posted a fax they received showing a new product called the Degen DE1106. Reportedly, it was a direct derivative of the DE1103 with a more traditional user interface. Then, Degen sold the DE1106 radio design to a foreign company. After that, the Eton E5 and subsequently the Grundig G5 were released, almost identical in design to the Degen DE1106 image from the fax. Now, the Grundig G3 adds three features to the predecessor E5/G5 but retains the same retail price.

Taking it out of the box

Eton Corporation (who markets and distributes Grundig-branded radios in the USA) does not usually impress me with their packaging. The G3 box features impressive artwork, but inside the box is a different story. The G3, manual, and accessories are packed in a thin cardboard tray, with the manual not fitting particularly well. To get anything out of the box, the outer artwork sleeve has to be removed from the box, then the inner cardboard tray has to be removed from the box. I have this same issue with the Eton E5 and Eton E100 packaging. It's a minor issue but gets things started on the wrong foot.

If you've never had the pleasure of unboxing a Kaito 1102, it goes like this: lift the box flap, then lift the box top, and you're in. The radio, headphones, and power adapter are accessible. Lift the cheap plastic tray to get to the radio pouch, batteries, and manual. Kaito's product boxes may have a less impressive exterior, but they're much more usable than Eton's.

Right after removing the G3 from the plastic wrapping, I detected a burned rubber odor that resembles the odor of a skunk. Who wants to bring a skunk into their home? The odor is still there, too, if I put my nose close to the radio. This thing has been sitting on a desk near a window that's often open, so this thing has a serious odor problem. Some of the odor transfers to my hands when I handle the radio.

While testing this radio, I have been powering it with four fresh Rayovac akaline batteries. I didn't try the included power adapter.

Visual comparison with the Eton E5

Since I own an Eton E5, I have a good benchmark for the new Grundig G3. Keep in mind, however, that my E5 is 3.5 years old at this point.

I'm a big fan of the G3's black enclosure. The left side of the radio, however, uses raised lettering to label the ports and the switch. The local/dx switch is one place where it would be useful to see the labels in low light. But that's not possible because the raised letters are the same color as the background. This is the same labeling method used on the left side of the E5, but the lighter color of the E5 enclosure allows the labeling to be somewhat visible in low light. Fortunately, the local/dx switch is one that reveals itself through usage.

The LCD backlight is attractive, brighter than on the E5, and does a better job of filling the screen. However, the G3 does not backlight its buttons. I like the backlit buttons on the E5. I don't need the backlit buttons to be completely legible, as I can work from memory once I have a basic frame of reference. Really, I just like the way it looks. It's more inviting, you know?

The LCD alphanumeric display is expanded from four characters on the E5/G5 to eight characters on the G3. This facilitates RDS data, and allows memory pages to use names of up to eight characters. Now I can finally create a memory page for Radio Netherlands that says something more than "HLND". The irony is that they're no longer broadcasting to North America.

An issue that my E5 has, and which is even worse on the G3, is alignment of the round buttons on the front panel. The numeric keypad is surrounded by five round buttons, and none of them are aligned properly.

Functional comparison with the Eton E5

According to my ears, the G3 produces more treble response through the speaker. I don't know if this is due to my E5's wear and tear, or a design change. Both radios had the tone switch in the "music" position when I did this comparison.

Using the numeric keypad to select frequencies on the G3 has a couple of problems. First, it takes a bit longer for the audio to come on after changing the frequency than on the E5. Second, sometimes when I press the "3" key, the radio enters a "4" instead. This has been happening about once every couple of days.

Scanning through a shortwave band is slower on the G3. It gets through the frequencies a lot slower. Also, scanning doesn't begin until "key up", whereas the E5 would begin scanning with "key down". I prefer the E5's "key down" scanning behavior.

Similar to the E5, the G3 will not jump to the seldom-used 15-meter band (18900-19020 kHz) when hopping between bands by pressing the AM button. Also, the G3 will not display "15M" when tuned to the 15-meter band frequencies, whereas it shows the meter band label for all other shortwave bands. Poor, neglected 15M band.

While trying to receive the NCDXF/IARU HF beacons on 21150 kHz, I heard the 98.1 MHz FM broadcast in garbled form. I did some basic calculations but couldn't figure out why I was hearing that station. A wire antenna was connected at the time that this happened. I connected my E5 to the wire antenna and tuned to 21150 kHz, but didn't hear the FM station interference.

The G3 has a problem with volume control. It offers volume levels in the range of 00 to 31, but the usable range for me is only between 08 and 14. Below 08, the radio doesn't seem to make any sound through the speaker. Above 14, the speaker is too loud. This experience was the same for AM, FM, and SW.

I tuned in to some amateur voice traffic on 3760 kHz in the 80-meter band. On the G3, I wasn't able to use the BFO dial to eliminate the robotic quality of the voices. With the E5, it was relatively easy to clarify the voices with the BFO. I received a reply to this comment on the rec.radio.shortwave newsgroup stating that input overload can sometimes cause this.

In my experience, shortwave sensitivity is comparable between the E5 and the G3. Both radios also provided a similar positive impact when attached to a 30-foot random wire antenna.

In one case, the G3 did slightly better on mediumwave with a weak signal than the E5. I was receiving KDIA on 1640 kHz, which is a 10 kW station about 30 miles away. The broadcast was fading noticeable on the E5, but the G3 held the signal steadily and provided greater reception.

Using synchronous detection

Synchronous detection is a premium feature that is more common these days on pricier tabletop receivers, whereas very few portable receivers offer it. The purpose of this feature is to enhance reception of a broadcast that is weak or is receiving interference on one of the two sidebands.

The Grundig G3's synchronous detection implementation could make or break this product. With a similar retail price to the well-respected Sony ICF SW7600GR receiver, the G3 will have to really deliver here.

While tuned to China Radio International on 6080 kHz (from Sackville, Canada), I wanted to clarify the weak signal. When I enabled the sync detection, the radio briefly muted, then emitted a loud whistling sound over the broadcast. This sequence repeated every few seconds, including both the muting and the loud whistling. An example of this noise and muting can be seen in the YouTube video below.

My Sony ICF SW7600GR receiver also mutes the audio when sync detection is enabled, but very briefly. To measure how long each radio mutes upon sync activation, I recorded each radio with my computer during sync activation, selected the muted region of the audio, and checked the length. The SW7600GR muting lasted 0.03 of a second, while the G3 muting lasted 0.25 of a second (over 8 times longer). The SW7600GR doesn't emit any whistling when sync is enabled, either.

I got the G3's sync detection to succeed on 1090 kHz (XEPRS, in Mexico), with adjacent channel interference mostly eliminated. Unfortunately, it only held on for approximately 20 seconds before having to restart the detection. I also had some success with sync detect on 780 kHz (KKOH, in Reno, NV).

Dr. Gene Scott's broadcast from the Caribbean Beacon on 6090 kHz was another place that sync failed to impress. This was a strong shortwave broadcast, and probably this radio's best chance to succeed with sync detect on shortwave. Sync also couldn't perform on 6165 kHz, which was a Radio Netherlands broadcast in Dutch to North America.

So, my experience with the G3 sync detection is that it works somewhat with moderate-to-strong mediumwave signals, and can eliminate adjacent channel interference, but is not effective at all for shortwave. Enabling sync detection is no guarantee of success, and if the signal is too weak or there's too much noise, enabling this feature can do more harm than good due to the muting and the whistling noise.

This experience brought to mind something that a radio enthusiast acquaintance once told me: usually, the human ear is the best filter. With synchronous detection as this product's most important advancement over the Eton E5, I am disappointed.

Using the VHF band

Before my G3 arrived, I visited liveatc.net and airnav.com to make a list of air traffic frequencies for the three closest airports. WIth the G3, I first tuned in to the SFO tower. I heard the plane crews, but not the tower controllers. It's like hearing one side of a phone conversation, something we all probably encounter a lot these days. VHF basically provides line-of-sight reception, so the hills in my area are preventing me from receiving the tower transmissions. Not much sense in owning an aircraft band receiver, then, when I can listen to the live feeds on liveatc.net and hear everything.

The G3 will not scan through the VHF frequencies when holding and releasing the auto search buttons. You need to adjust the frequency with the tuning knob or the numeric keypad. Some may see this as an oversight, but I don't consider it practical to scan through a frequency range where in-use frequencies don't have constant transmissions.

A minor nitpick: the G3 displays air band frequencies as six unseparated digits. I would like to see the frequency displayed as MHz instead of kHz.

Using FM and RDS

Radio Data System (RDS) is another new feature on the Grundig G3. When tuned to an RDS-enabled FM station, the G3 will display or scroll the provided text using the eight on-screen alphanumeric characters. RDS is off by default, so the LCD will show either "MONO" or "STEREO" when tuned to a station, which is actually irrelevant unless stereo headphones are used. Technology companies often show off their new features, so I'm surprised that RDS isn't automatically enabled for FM.

I almost never listen to the FM broadcast band, so RDS doesn't really interest me. But I scanned the FM band to find out which stations use it. I received RDS data for 15 stations (88.5 KQED, 90.3 KUSF, 91.7 KALW, 92.7 KNGY, 94.1 KPFA, 95.3 KUIC, 96.5 KOIT, 97.3 KLLC, 98.1 KISQ, 98.9 KSOL, 100.3 KBRG, 102.1 KDFC, 103.7 KWNI, 104.5 KFOG, 106.9 KCBS/KFRC).

In one case, I saw the current artist identified as Sting when it was actually Journey. I'm guessing that this problem was on the provider's end, however.

Since all of the clear stations I was able to tune in were spaced at least 0.4 MHz apart, I didn't notice any problems with FM selectivity.

Conclusion

I like my Eton E5 a lot, and I have to really think about it when prompted to suggest improvements. Getting me to switch from the Eton E5 to the Grundig G3 would require a significant new feature or a significant capability upgrade. Unfortunately, the Grundig G3 just doesn't meet my expectations. Synchronous detection, the feature with the most potential to impress, behaved poorly in my trials. If I had no choice between these two radios, I would accept the Grundig G3 as a replacement. But since I have a choice, I'm sticking with the Eton E5.

point reyes weather station on shortwave

2009-08-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

In early August 2009, I was tuned to 8764 kHz using SSB, where the weather station NMC was broadcasting. NMC is located in Point Reyes, California. I recorded this short video of the reception with my Eton E5.

Tuning the BFO to make the voice sound good is particularly hard with this broadcast, which has a fair amount of radio silence.

More info about radio broadcasting at Point Reyes:

• Photos of the NMC station and antennas
• Photo of the NMC site sign
• US Coast Guard "HF Voice" broadcasts
• US Coast Guard Communications Area Master Station Pacific (CAMSPAC)
• National Park Service page about communications at Point Reyes

kaito ceo reviews his own products on amazon

2009-08-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

I was reading the Amazon reviews for the AN-200 loop antenna when I saw the reviewer name "W. Zhao". I thought that the name sounded familiar, so I searched my email. I found one email from one Walter Zhao who was responding to a question that I submitted to Kaito USA. Then I searched Google for "Walter Zhao" and found a LinkedIn page for Walter Zhao, listed as the CEO of Kaito Electronics in Los Angeles. Kaito is a distributor of radio and electronic products manufactured in China.

Walter Zhao has reviewed 17 products on Amazon so far, giving all of them five stars, all of which are offered by Kaito Electronics. The reviews were published on Amazon between February and May, 2009.

Further, as the CEO of Kaito Electronics would surely have direct knowledge of his company's retail products, the reviews appear to contain lies. W. Zhao reports "I call Hisonic" to ask about a karaoke system, and claiming that "I saw this color" when shopping for a radio for his wife (in a review which he signs as "Walter"). In three of the radio reviews, he even complains that "I have to buy the AC adaptor separately from Kaito" in a shallow attempt to disguise his identity.

numbers station received on 5900 khz

2009-08-05T00:59:00.000-07:00

It took me a little over four years, but I finally located a numbers station on one of my radios. I wasn't intentionally searching for such a broadcast at the time; I was just randomly scanning the shortwave band on my diminutive Kaito KA11 radio. The frequency was 5900 kHz, SSB wasn't required, and this took place between 0830-0843 UTC on 04 August 2009.

I believe that I heard the V02 numbers station, which supposedly originates in Cuba. V02 uses a female voice to recite digits in groups of five, with about a two-second pause between the number groups. I listened to some of the YouTube videos described as V02 recordings, and the voice sounds the same as what I heard.

Unfortunately, I tuned in after the beginning of the broadcast, which might have contained the well-known "Atencion" greeting. But I heard the end of the broadcast, which gives me more confidence that I heard V02. In my logbook, I wrote that the broadcast concluded with what sounded like "two nine, two nine" or "goodnight, goodnight". But a YouTube video that's believed to also contain a V02 broadcast contains the same ending as I heard, and is transcribed as "final, final".

The Spooks Newsletter website has a pseudo-schedule for V02, which lists 5898 kHz as a broadcast frequency beginning at 0800 UTC on Tuesdays.

My KA11 was switched off, and I tuned in with my more powerful Eton E5. I captured a video recording of the final minutes of the broadcast. The E5 backlight only stays on for 15 seconds at a time when running on battery power, so the screen is not illuminated continuously in the video.

updated prediction for solar cycle 24

2009-08-04T04:48:00.000-07:00

The NOAA now offers a consensus opinion that solar cycle 24 will have a below-average solar maximum:
• NOAA Solar Cycle Progression

The solar maximum for solar cycle 24 is expected in May 2013.

new grundig radio ordered

2009-08-01T03:03:00.000-07:00

I ordered a Grundig G3. Since my Eton E5 has been my main radio for years, I'm eager to get this revision with synchronous detection and the VHF aircraft band. Also, since I arrived to the shortwave hobby after the Yacht Boy era, this will be my first "Grundig"-branded radio. After my G3 arrives, I hope to post my reactions, photos, and comparisons with the Eton E5.

I am surprised at Eton's decision to cancel the E5 / G5 and name this product the Grundig G3, rather than update the G5 and change its name slightly. This new radio could easily be called Grundig G5 with the addition of "Enhanced", "Pro", "Second Edition", etc. I sent email to Eton to ask why the product name was changed, but I received no response.

Also, In case you're looking for a great bargain in a high-quality portable shortwave receiver, Eton E5 radios have been spotted at various online retailers for under $80.

chu time signal on 7335 khz has moved

2009-07-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

As I catch up with various changes in the world of shortwave listening, I discovered via wikipedia that CHU moved one of its three shortwave broadcasts. The time signal previously broadcast on 7335 kHz can now be found on 7850 kHz due to a frequency reallocation by the International Telecommunications Union. More information about this can be found in Shortwave Central's article, Canada's CHU moving to 7850 kHz.

defense against ebay impulse purchases

2009-07-30T01:54:00.001-07:00

My copy of the 25th edition of Passport to World Band Radio has found a purpose: dissuading me from purchasing new but mediocre radios that pop up on eBay. Case in point: I was intrigued by the Tecsun PL 600 until I read the review. However, now the book has me thinking again about the Eton E1. Maybe I should tear out those pages of the book and throw them away.

grundig g4 cancellation

2009-07-24T11:33:00.001-07:00

I was curious about the Grundig G4, because it looked like a sibling of my enduring favorite, the Kaito 1102. Its disappearance from online radio retail catalogs and appearance on Eton's "past collection" page had me confused.

My curiosity in the Grundig G4 was a passing interest, because some issues turned me off. It appeared like another Eton move to take an existing product, slightly redesign it, and sell it for twice the original price (Kaito 1102 became Grundig G4; Kaito 1103/1106 became Eton E5/Grundig G5). I'm not interested in onboard digital audio recording, and one review I saw on an online retailer's website highlighted that the radio's user interface isn't suited for managing files on an SD card.

More information about this discontinued Eton/Grundig product can be found in the Passport to World Band Radio review: Grundig G4 introduced, dropped. The review was intended for the 25th edition of the book for 2009, before the radio was cancelled.

passport book is in limbo

2009-07-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

Passport to World Band Radio in limbo:

the 26th Edition of Passport to World Band Radio® is being held in limbo. Despite this, for now we are continuing to maintain the WorldScan® database and uphold all proprietary material. Among other things, this should help allow for an orderly return to production, under IBS’ aegis or otherwise, should conditions allow.

Although I only bought one edition and didn't spend much time reading it, I'd be sad to see this book cease annual publication.

annoying radio commercial

2009-07-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

I need to rant about something. My local all-news radio station of choice has been ceaselessly playing an advertisement that I absolutely hate. I found a link with an audio clip of the ad spot. But I decided not to link to it, because I don't want to give the advertiser any publicity.

Perhaps some of you have heard the commercial. First off, the background music for this ad is utterly pedestrian. Most of the ad time is spent degrading the listener to teach them the cleverly-misspelled organization name. The purpose of the organization is thrown in as an afterthought after the phone number is drilled into the listener's head.

I have become so disgusted with this advertisement that I turn my radio off when I hear it. I guess I've been spoiled lately by some extremely clever car insurance ads. So, I wrote to the station and told them that I hate this advertisement, that I find it degrading, and that I shut my radio off when I hear it. However, the station did what suits them best in a situation like this: they didn't respond.

cobalt pet anniversary

2009-07-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today marks four years since the beginning of the cobalt pet radio weblog. This weblog has provided me with an excellent feedback look for my radio hobbies. I realize that content has been really lacking this year, and I apologize. My life has changed a lot since this weblog was started, and other activities are consuming my time.

I have a winter mediumwave DX log that still needs to be posted, so that will likely be my next post. I'm also looking forward to sharing my perspective on the portable shortwave receiver market. Thanks for reading!

grundig g3 appears online

2009-01-28T11:51:00.000-08:00

Both Eton corporation and at least one online radio retailer have posted a listing for a future radio called the Grundig G3. The product photos show an identical appearance to the Eton E5 / Grundig G5. The feature list suggests an E5 / G5 with the addition of VHF band tuning (118-137 mhz), synchronous detection, and radio data system for FM.

No pricing has been announced. With the E5 / G5 previously retailing in the USA for US$150, it would be reasonable to expect a retail price in the range of US$150 - 250.

This sounds like an excellent upgrade to the E5 / G5, which traces its roots to the Degen DE1103 / Kaito KA1103. Will people still buy the Sony ICF SW7600GR after the G3 is released? That will depend primarily on retail price and the quality of the synchronous detection implementation. I am definitely looking forward to giving this new radio a spin.

a place for comments and questions: 2009

2009-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Readers of the Cobalt Pet shortwave and mediumwave radio weblog are encouraged to post comments and questions. In case you have a comment that's not related to a specific article, you are welcome to reply here. I'll link to this post from the website's sidebar so it's always easy to find. I welcome general comments, questions, and any feedback about the website.

I'll do my best to respond, either with a comment here of my own, or an article on the front page.

• 2006 comments and questions
• 2007 comments and questions
• 2008 comments and questions

redsun rf1201 nighttime mediumwave tuning

2008-11-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

In a previous post, I tested daytime FM reception on my miniscule Redsun RF1201 radio. Along with my digitally-tuned Eton E5 for reference tuning, I used the RF1201 on an evening in November for some mediumwave tuning exploration. For each signal received, I've listed the callsign, frequency, and approximate distance from my location.

AM reception

KSFO 560 khz (0 miles): Strong signal but a bit noisy.

KEAR 610 khz (0 miles): Clear signal.

KNBR 680 khz (0 miles): strong signal with the needle centered on the 700 on the AM scale.

KCBS 740 khz (0 miles): Strong signal with the needle to the right of the 700 on the AM scale.

KKOH 780 khz (200 miles): Weak signal (I missed this the first time through) with the needle to the left of the 900 on the AM scale.

KGO 810 khz (0 miles): Strong signal with the tuning needle to the left of the 900 on the AM scale.

KTRB 860 khz (0 miles): Weak signal. The needle was almost centered on the 900 on the AM scale.

KNEW 910 khz (10 miles): Strong signal with the needle right of center of the 900 on the AM scale.

KWRU 940 khz (170 miles): Weak signal (I missed this the first time through) with the needle on the right edge of the 900 on the AM scale.

KKGN 960 khz (10 miles): Strong, clear signal with the needle to the right of the 900 on the AM scale.

KFWB 980 khz (360 miles): Very weak signal (not very usable) with the tuning needle to the right of the 900 on the AM scale.

KOMO 1000 khz (750 miles): Weak, noisy signal with the needle less than halfway between 900 and 1200 on the AM scale.

KIQI 1010 khz (0 miles): Average signal with the needle less than halfway between 900 and 1200 on the AM scale.

KTCT 1050 khz (20 miles): Strong, clear signal with the needle more than halfway between 900 and 1200 on the AM scale.

??? 1090 khz: Extremely weak, and impossible to isolate from the adjacent signal on 1100. The needle was just left of the 1200 on the AM scale.

KFAX 1100 khz (0 miles): Strong, mostly clear signal with the needle over the 1 in the 1200 on the AM scale.

KHTK 1140 khz (70 miles): Average signal with the needle between the 1 and the 2 in the 1200 on the AM scale.

KLOK 1170 khz (45 miles): Weak, noisy signal with the needle almost centered on the 1200 on the AM scale.

KSFB 1260 (0 miles): Strong, clear signal with the needle on the last digit in the 1200 on the AM scale.

KMKY 1310 khz (10 miles): Loud, strong, clear signal with the needle to the right of the 1200 on the AM scale.

KZSF 1370 khz (45 miles): Weak, noisy signal with the needle centered between the 1200 and the 1620 on the AM scale.

KVTO 1400 khz (10 miles): Strong, clear signal with the needle to the left of the 1620 on the AM scale.

KEST 1450 khz (0 miles): Average, clear signal with the needle on the 1 in the 1620 on the AM scale.

KSJX 1500 khz (45 miles): Weak, noisy signal with the needle on the 6 in the 1620 on the AM scale.

KFBK 1530 khz (70 miles): Weak signal with the needle centered on the 1620 on the AM scale.

KMPC 1540 khz (360 miles): "Radio Korea... Los Angeles." Really weak signal; sounded choppy due to a stronger signal on the adjacent channel (1550).

KYCY 1550 khz (0 miles): Strong signal with the needle just right of center on the 1620 on the AM scale.

Unfortunately, 1550 was the highest signal I could get reliably, so I was unable to really test the upper bounds of the AM band on this radio.

In a few cases, this little radio picked up mediumwave broadcasts from hundreds of miles away. However, weak signals that are adjacent to stronger signals will often be unusable.

audio greeting

2008-11-22T18:25:00.001-08:00

audio-greeting-20081122.mp3 (0 min 33 sec, 328 kb)

interesting email from cri

2008-11-14T12:22:00.001-08:00

A few days ago, I got an interesting email from China Radio International:

How are you? We haven't heard from you for a long time.

We wonder whether you can do us a favor helping to monitor the 1190AM(WBIS), the broadcast time is 1400-1500(Mon.-Fri.) Local time. Thanks in advance.

Looking forward to your reply.

Best wishes,

Yours sincerely,
YingLian
English Service
China Radio International
http://english.cri.cn/

I have written to CRI via email several times with shortwave reception reports and requests for magazine mailings. So, they have my postal address. I'm kind of curious why they would ask me to monitor a mediumwave station that's about 2,500 miles (4,023 km) from my location.

redsun rf1201 daytime fm tuning

2008-11-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

On a day in late October 2008, I used my Redsun RF1201 for some tuning adventures. My digitally-tuned Kaito KA1102 was used for reference. I also used my Tecsun R9012 for tuning and audio comparisons with the Redsun RF1201.

The Redsun RF1201 is a very attractive pocket radio. The tuning scale is very legible, and the white printing on the dark gray enclosure provides nice contrast. The power switch, band switch, volume dial, and tuning knob all function well and illustrate the radio's solid construction. The folding radio prop on the back actually snaps into place when deployed.

For each signal received, I've listed the callsign, frequency, and approximate distance from my location.

FM broadcasting reception

KQED 88.5 mhz (0 miles): Although this is a strong, local signal, it took a lot of fine-tuning to achieve a clean signal. The needle was approximately centered over the 90 on the FM scale.

KUSF 90.3 mhz (0 miles): The tuning needle was about halfway between the 90 and 94 on the FM scale, and I got a perfectly clear reception here with ease.

KNGY 92.7 mhz (10 miles): With the tuning needle touching the right edge of the 90 on the FM scale, I found this station but I also heard an image of KOIT 96.5 mhz. Because of the image, I was unable to get a clear signal of KNGY at first. However, I kept tuning and found a clear signal for KNGY with the needle centered on the 94 on the FM scale.

KOIT 96.5 mhz (0 miles): I got a clear signal with the tuning needle on the left side of the 98 on the FM scale.

KLLC 97.3 mhz (0 miles): With a slight movement from the 96.5 mhz station, I picked this one up easily.

KISQ 98.1 mhz (0 miles): It wasn't possible for me to isolate a clear signal for this station on the RF1201. The same problem was exhibited on the Tecsun. I contacted this station within the past couple of years to tell them about my reception problems. They replied and said that they were working on upgrading their equipment.

KSOL 98.9 mhz (0 miles): This Spanish-language station came in pretty clearly with the tuning needle about halfway between 98 and 102 on the FM scale.

KDFC 102.1 mhz (0 miles): This station came in very clearly with the needle almost centered on the 102 on the FM scale.

KKSF 103.7 mhz (0 miles): This station keeps smooth jazz alive in the San Francisco bay area. With the needle on the right side of the 102 on the FM scale, this station came in clearly.

KFOG 104.5 mhz (0 miles): With the needle to the right of the 102 on the FM scale, this station came in clearly.

KVVF 105.7 mhz (40 miles): This Spanish-language music station from Santa Clara came in with some noise.

KCBS 106.9 mhz (0 miles): The local all-news station that just began broadcasting on this frequency came in clearly with the needle on the left half of the 108 on the FM scale.

Audio quality

While receiving KNGY, I compared the audio quality of the speaker with a Tecsun R9012. The Tecsun had a sound that I would describe as hollow, while the Redsun unit had a clearer, fuller, brighter tone. While the Tecsun sounds fine for talk radio, I prefer the Redsun's speaker for listening to music.

Another way I tested the clarity issue was to tune the Redsun and Tecsun radios to the same station, turn the volume up a bit (on one radio at a time), and go to the other end of the room to listen. The Redsun was much easier to understand.

KDFC is a classical music station. Although I don't listen to classical music much, it is useful for audio testing. Classical music is comprised of pure recordings of well-known instruments, so knowing how these instruments typically sound is an effective reference. The RF1201 didn't hold up so well here because of the limited frequency response of the built-in speaker. More lower frequencies would have helped here.

Sibilance was not a problem when tuned to a clear broadcast. Sometimes, even a clear broadcast on some radios can sound distorted when emitting the "s" sound, producing what sounds like distortion. I would speculate that this is caused by inferior audio path components in the radio. The RF1201 does not noticeably demonstrate this problem.

where the grundig satellit 750 comes from

2008-10-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering where the Grundig Satellit 750 comes from, I just saw it in a banner on the Chinese Tecsun website. Tecsun calls this radio the S-2000.

am 740 kcbs expands to fm 106.9

2008-10-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today, I learned that local AM flamethrower KCBS added a simulcast on FM 106.9. In the San Francisco bay area, FM 106.9 has changed hands and formats a few times in the past decade.

The all-news KCBS recently carried unusual promos for FM 106.9, which previously used the callsign KFRC. My best recollection of those ads suggested that KFRC was playing oldies music, with some KCBS news. Hearing KCBS identify itself today as AM 740 and FM 106.9 therefore wasn't a big surprise, just a little one.

What's the case for simulcasting an all-news broadcast on AM and FM? I suppose the motivation is to expand listener reach, and therefore, advertising dollars. Younger people are probably more likely to listen to FM radio, and to scan through stations when listening to the radio in a car. They're probably scanning for music stations, though.

I rely on KCBS for traffic reports. The traffic reports on KCBS happen every ten minutes ("on the eights", as some other stations might announce). (Actually, I could do a whole post about the traffic reports on KCBS.) So, car radios without AM couldn't previously tune in to KCBS to hear about the traffic, but now it's available on FM.

Technology is progressing, and soon, most devices with a screen will be capable of receiving and displaying maps, driving directions, and traffic information.

Without knowing more about the plans, I doubt that KCBS will move off AM. As previously mentioned, KCBS is one of the stations in my area broadcasting in AM HD. Wikipedia calls KCBS "a leading contender for the title of oldest station in the United States and possibly the world." So it's just hard to imagine that KCBS would give up on AM.

tecsun bcl-2000 photo

2008-10-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here's an older photo of my Tecsun BCL-2000 receiver. The lighting is uneven, and the shot is not aligned, but I like the appearance of the radio here.

mailbag comment about kchibo

2008-10-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

The short-lived Kchibo KK-S500 doesn't seem to be around anymore, including eBay and the Kchibo site.
I always thought it was over-priced with no SSB, although it had sync-detect. They were also supposedly coming out with their version of the Sony 7600 with a remote, but it's never appeared.

This comment was posted by an anonymous reader in March 2008. I just searched eBay and could not find the S500. I also could not find a model resembling the famed Sony ICF SW 7600. However, one eBay seller is offering the KK-9510, which is an analog-tuned, dual-conversion receiver that includes sync detection.

Kchibo's english website looks out of date, but their Chinese website is scrolling images and details of a few portable radios with DSP in the description.

One of the radios I own is a Kchibo KK-1215. It vaguely resembles the well-known Tecsun R-911 (also sold as the Kaito WRX911), except it adds a couple FM bands that include TV audio signals. It is well built, but the built-in speaker sounds really cheap.

degen de1123 radio appears on eBay

2008-10-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

A new portable AM/FM/SW radio from Degen has appeared on eBay. The DE1123 has a rather unusual appearance:

I immediately noticed the very thin design (thickness is listed at 0.5 inch), and the resemblance of the round speaker to the iPod click wheel design.

Here are some details of this new product:

* FM 87-108 mhz or 64-108 mhz (100 khz step)
* AM 522-1710 khz (9 khz step) or 520-1710 khz (10 khz step)
* SW 2300-23000 khz (5 khz step)
* DSP for radio signal processing
* 1GB mp3/wma player with digital recorder
* Powered by 3 AAA batteries

On the manufacturer's website, this radio is listed at ¥299 which converted to US$43.75 at xe.com. The cheapest DE1123 auctions currently listed on eBay start at US$59.99.

The DE1123 auction claims that due to the high-gain built-in antenna, an external antenna is not recommended. I think that's the first time I heard such a claim for a radio in this size class.

Missing details include SSB and single- vs. dual-conversion. Volume and tuning are both controlled via stepping buttons. And as shown clearly by front photos of the radio, numeric frequency entry is not available. Memory capacity is listed at 225 (100 FM, 25 AM, 100 SW). Although without a numeric keypad, recalling a frequency from memory is probably done by pressing the M button then the plus or minus buttons to step through the memory positions sequentially.

I haven't followed Degen's products very carefully in the past year or so, so I don't know if this DSP technology is new. To me, that's the most interesting aspect of this product. If I learn something more about it, I will share it. Comments are always welcome.

magic johnson mocked by fm radio hosts

2008-10-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

Two talk radio hosts on KTLK-FM suggested that Magic Johnson has faked AIDS. Hosts Chris Baker and Langdon Perry agreed with each other that Magic Johnson was pretending to have AIDS. Perry's logic was "'cause he's the only cured AIDS guy ever."

* Read the Media Matters article; listen to the audio recording
* Read the Associated Press article with KTLK-FM expressing regret

I would expect that if KTLK-FM were truly sorry, scanning their homepage for the word "Magic" would produce something. As of this moment, it doesn't.

The claim that Magic Johnson could be faking AIDS simply because he has been infected since 1991 shows a clear lack of knowledge on the subject of AIDS treatment. Off the top of my head, I can think of more deaths than survivals among those that are or were known to have AIDS, but long-term survival is clearly possible. It doesn't take one famous person's survival to prove that.

Some people criticize Magic Johnson for retreating from the AIDS prevention movement:

* Read the ESPN article

And to diverge slightly, I'm not familiar with the Chris Baker show. I welcome comments from those who have heard it, and from those who have listened to KTLK-FM.

radio netherlands ditches north america

2008-09-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

From the RedOrbit article:

Radio Netherlands now feels that the number of alternatives for listeners in North America is such that we have decided to end our shortwave broadcasts to the region. This will take effect from the start of our winter season on 26 October 2008.

Radio Netherlands to end shortwave broadcasts to North America

ka2100 out, ccradio sw in?

2008-08-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this is a temporary or permanent situation, but Kaito KA2100 availability seems to be poor in the USA. This is my finding after repeatedly checking the websites of two popular online radio dealers located in the USA, and searching eBay for KA2100.

Two eBay listings for the Redsun Radio list a total of 214 units available, direct from China.

Both of the aforementioned USA dealers offer the C.C. Radio SW. Has C.Crane persuaded Kaito to stop distributing the KA2100 to USA retailers? Is the supply low? Is demand only sufficient to warrant selling one of the two very similar products?

Kaito's USA website still offers the KA2100 at an inflated price (even despite the humorously out-of-date Fathers' day special pricing).

(The Kaito KA2100 and C.C.Radio SW radios are derived from the Redsun RP2100.)

grundig g6 buzz aldrin edition

2008-08-05T00:08:00.001-07:00

Eton is now offering a G6 Aviator - Buzz Aldrin edition. Far out.

mediumwave logs, winter 2008

2008-08-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

I logged 105 mediumwave stations with my Eton E5 during February and March 2008. Eleven of these stations are first-time logs for me. HD broadcasts on five frequencies blocked me from logging out-of-state stations that I have logged in the past, which was extremely frustrating. Once again, I heard several Spanish stations that I was unable to identify.

Here's my list of confirmed stations:

540: CBK (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada)
540: KRXA (Carmel Valley, CA) (New)
550: KOAC (Corvallis, OR)
560: KSFO (San Francisco, CA)
570: KVI (Seattle, WA)
580: KMJ (Fresno, CA)
590: KUGN (Eugene, OR)
600: KOGO (San Diego, CA)
610: KEAR (Berkeley, CA)
620: KPOJ (Portland, OR)
630: KIDD (Monterey, CA)
630: KPLY (Reno, NV)
640: KFI (Los Angeles, CA)
650: KSTE (Rancho Cordova, CA)
660: KTNN (Window Rock, AZ)
670: KBOI (Boise, ID)
680: KNBR (San Francisco, CA)
690: CBU (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
700: KMBX (Soledad, CA) (New)
710: KFIA (Sacramento, CA)
720: KDWN (Las Vegas, NV)
740: KCBS (San Francisco, CA)
760: KFMB (San Diego, CA)
770: KCBC (Riverbank, CA)
770: KKOB (Albuquerque, NM)
780: KKOH (Reno, NV)
790: KABC (Los Angeles, CA)
810: KGO (San Francisco, CA)
830: KNCO (Grass Valley, CA)
840: KMPH (Modesto, CA)
840: HAR WPEI-433 (San Francisco/San Bruno, CA): http://www.angelfire.com/sc/scannerpost/tisgov.html
850: KOA (Denver, CO)
860: KTRB (San Francisco, CA)
870: KRLA (Glendale, CA)
870: WWL (New Orleans, LA)
880: KKMC (Salinas, CA)
890: KDXU (St. George, UT)
910: KNEW (Oakland, CA)
940: KWRU (Fresno, CA)
950: KJR (Seattle, WA) (New)
960: KKGN (Oakland, CA)
970: KCMD (Portland, OR)
980: CKNW (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
980: KFWB (Los Angeles, CA)
990: KTMS (Santa Barbara, CA) (New)
1000: KOMO (Seattle, WA)
1010: KIQI (San Francisco, CA)
1020: KTNQ (Los Angeles, CA) (New)
1030: KTWO (Casper, WY)
1050: KNBR (San Francisco, CA)
1070: KNX (Los Angeles, CA)
1080: KSCO (Santa Cruz, CA)
1090: XEPRS (Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico)
1100: KFAX (San Francisco, CA)
1110: KBND (Bend, OR) (New)
1120: KPNW (Eugene, OR)
1120: KZSJ (San Martin, CA)
1130: CKWX (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
1130: KRDU (Dinuba, CA)
1140: KHTK (Sacramento, CA)
1150: KTLK (Los Angeles, CA)
1160: KSL (Salt Lake City, UT)
1170: KLOK (San Jose, CA)
1180: KERI (Bakersfield, CA)
1190: KDYA (Vallejo, CA)
1190: KEX (Portland, OR)
1200: KYAA (Soquel, CA)
1210: KPRZ (San Marcos, CA) (New)
1220: KNTS (Palo Alto, CA)
1240: KSUE (Susanville, CA)
1260: KSFB (San Francisco, CA)
1270: KBZZ (Sparks, NV)
1290: KAZA (Gilroy, CA)
1290: KPAY (Chico, CA) (New)
1310: KMKY (Oakland, CA)
1330: KLBS (Los Banos, CA)
1340: KTSN (Elko, NV) (New)
1350: KSRO (Santa Rosa, CA)
1360: KFIV (Modesto, CA)
1370: KZSF (San Jose, CA)
1380: KTKZ (Sacramento, CA)
1400: KVTO (Berkeley, CA)
1410: KERN (Bakersfield, CA)
1430: KYKN (Keizer, OR) (New)
1440: KVON (Napa, CA)
1450: KEST (San Francisco, CA)
1460: KION (Salinas, CA) (New)
1490: KTOB (Petaluma, CA)
1500: KSJX (San Jose, CA)
1510: KGA (Spokane, WA)
1510: KPIG (Piedmont, CA)
1520: KVTA (Port Hueneme, CA)
1530: KFBK (Sacramento, CA)
1540: KMPC (Los Angeles, CA)
1550: KYCY (San Francisco, CA)
1560: KNZR (Bakersfield, CA)
1580: KMIK (Tempe, AZ)
1590: KLIV (San Jose, CA)
1600: KUBA (Yuba City, CA)
1620: KSMH (Sacramento, CA)
1640: KDIA (Vallejo, CA)
1670: KNRO (Redding, CA)
1680: KGED (Fresno, CA) (New)
1690: KFSG (Roseville, CA)
1700: XEPE (Tecate, Baja California, Mexico)

taiwan reconsidering north american shortwave broadcasting

2008-05-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

A reader named Chuck E. wrote:

Weatherall and all SWLs,

We have a big problem. Radio Taiwan Int'l has just revealed that their management is considering ENDING SHORTWAVE BROADCASTS TO THE USA on 5950 and 9680. They are seeking listener comments on this. We can't let this happen, RTI is one of the best SW broadcasters we have left. Here is the contact email for comments on this:

paula@rti.org.tw

Please ask RTI to continue SW transmissions!

I agree that RTI is one of the best shortwave broadcasters. Taiwan isn't just a normal place, it is facing tensions from China over issues of ownership and independence. I've mentioned here before that I won't listen to a station's internet broadcast once their shortwave broadcast goes away.

My letter has been sent to the above address, and those of you who enjoy RTI's content via shortwave broadcasting are encouraged to also send them a message.

reader question: eton e5 versus sony icf sw7600gr

2008-03-22T18:08:00.001-07:00

This question was recently submitted by Pete:

If you were about to be abducted by aliens and you could only take one SW portable with you, would it be the Sony SW7600GR or the Eton E5? I live on the West Coast too, so I'm interested in your opinion of the two radios. I'm primarily interested in their SW performance.

Send those aliens my way! I'm ready for a vacation.

Without recently comparing these two radios side-by-side for shortwave performance, I have an overall preference for the Eton E5. The Eton E5 is smaller, produces better treble response through the speaker, and has the continuous non-muting tuning knob. The E5's tuning knob is great for band scanning. The SW7600GR offers AM synchronous detection, but in my experience, it has only slightly improved already-usable signals. (I risk angering some readers with that comment, but I'm always willing to hear your opinions!) My SW7600GR is rarely used these days; the E5 is my main receiver for mediumwave DX and shortwave.

beeping ka2100 buttons question

2008-03-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

An anonymous reader posted the following recently, and I'm putting it on the main page so more people can see, and perhaps respond, to it:

Just got a KA2100 and am impressed so far. Good service from Universal Radio. KGO in San Francisco comes in crystal clear 1000 Mi away in BC. Still playing with SW. Anyone know how to turn off the beep when the buttons are pressed?

By the way, nice job catching KGO, which is here in my hometown.

quotes collected during mediumwave dxing

2008-03-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

While attempting to identify mediumwave stations in the past couple months, I write some non-identifying quotes from the radio into my log. Since I'm not ready to post my mediumwave dx results, I thought I'd share some of these quotes. Since I didn't know the callsign in every case, I'll just list the frequency. I could post a reaction to many of these, but I thought I'd let you readers have the first shot at it.

• "The show is done; you can unbuckle the seatbelt." (540 kHz)
• "It's like an almanac on crack." (550 kHz)
• "20 billion dollars worth of arms. ...precise guided weapons... moving into the Saudis' large and growing arsenal." (560 kHz)
• "Think twice before starting that food fight." (740 kHz)
• "Folks, now more than ever, we need a joint product we can trust." (770 kHz)
• "You're like a two-year-old... you just keep playing with that thing!" (860 kHz)
• "Too bad they're unable to stop their opponent from scoring!" (950 kHz)
• "You can always go to surgery as a last resort." (960 kHz)
• "We happen to do it in a studio. You can do it anywhere in America!" (970 kHz)
• "150,000 watts of pure San Diego power." (1090 kHz)
• "I've never done steroids." "No, you've just done donuts." (1120 kHz)
• "A family of twin sisters recognized by the Guinness book of world records..." (1130 kHz)
• "My brother... mi hermano." (1170 kHz)
• "You've gotta get your kids out of the government schools." (1180 kHz)
• "Who cares if you kill yourself if you're a child molester?" (1360 kHz)

mediumwave dx vs. hd radio

2008-03-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

While trying to log mediumwave stations this year, I have encountered a new problem. The mediumwave band now contains harmful interference where once it contained AM stations. The introduction of HD radio on the AM broadcast band may be to blame.

I expect the occasional instance of adjacent channel interference. I may hear a strong signal on 1400 kHz, then hear remnants of that same signal when tuned to 1410 kHz. Compensating for this problem usually involves enabling the narrow filter on a radio, tuning further away from the interference source (such as going to 1412 kHz for example), or a combination of the two. With the noise that I'm now hearing surrounding some HD broadcasts, these methods are ineffective as the noise is overwhelming.

Here are the stations that I have logged, which have harmful noise on both adjacent channels (plus and minus 10 kHz). I'll also list stations that I logged back in 2006, but will likely no longer hear as a result of adjacent channel interference. Listening tests to confirm the presence of noise on the adjacent frequencies were performed with my Eton E5 on 02 March 2008.

• 740 KCBS: Sometime in 2008, KCBS began identifying itself as "KCBS and KCBS HD". An email exchange with the station reveals that their HD broadcast is running 24/7. 730 kHz and 750 kHz are now so noisy that no stations can be identified on these frequencies. So this eliminates 730 CHMJ (Vancouver, BC, Canada), 750 KHWG (Fallon, NV), 750 KOAL (Price, UT), and 750 KXL (Portland, OR).

• 910 KNEW: Their website says "Broadcasting in HD radio." This eliminates 900 CKMO (Victoria, BC, Canada), 900 KBIF (Fresno, CA), 920 KIHM (Reno, NV), 920 KVIN (Ceres, CA), and 920 KXLY (Spokane, WA).

• 960 KKGN: This station used to be KQKE until August 2007. Their website includes an "HD radio" logo. This will eliminate 950 KAHI (Sacramento, CA), and 970 KCMD (Portland, OR).

• 1050 KNBR: This is an odd one. KNBR is the callsign here for both 680 and 1050. The 680 frequency does not have adjacent channel interference on 670 and 690. I don't know why only 1050 would use HD. The only confirmation I have for my suspicion of an HD broadcast on 1050 is Wikipedia. Fortunately, I have not previously logged any stations on 1040 or 1060.

• 1310 KMKY: Oh great, Radio Disney with its numerous stations will use HD radio too? I could not find evidence of the HD broadcast on the Radio Disney website, but I found it on the iBiquity station list for California. This eliminates 1300 KCMY (Carson City, NV) and 1320 KCTC (Sacramento, CA).

first canadian am station logged

2008-02-24T21:56:00.000-08:00

I just logged my first Canadian AM station in this current mediumwave DX project: AM 690 CBU (CBC Radio One) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. CBU uses a 50 kW transmitter, and the station is approximately 800 miles from me. This station was received by my Eton E5 with no external antenna. I previously logged this station during my autumn 2006 mediumwave DX project.

The signal is strong and clear, and currently features a show with an eclectic music selection. For example, a Paul Anka song was followed by "Woman from Tokyo" by Deep Purple. According to www.cbc.ca, this show is "In the key of Charles", hosted by Gregory Charles. At times, he plays a piano and sings along. I like it! I don't think I've ever heard a radio show like this before.

nimh batteries with reduced self-discharge

2008-02-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

I used to be a big user of rechargeable NiMH batteries in my radios. My Eton E5 has more recently been living on alkaline batteries, and they seem to provide a much longer lifespan than the Energizer rechargeables I was using. Also, when traveling, I always packed a spare set of alkaline batteries instead of my battery charger.

Experiencing the poor lifespan of NiMH batteries in my radios led me to take action. First, I obtained a battery charger that was capable of fully charging the 2500 mAh Energizer NiMH batteries that I was using. Second, I researched the self-discharge property of NiMH batteries with the help of reader comments and some Internet searches.

While researching batteries, I learned about a new type of rechargeable NiMH battery that greatly reduced the self-discharge effect. Sanyo's eneloop batteries are one example of this new battery type, and in September 2006, I obtained a 4-pack of 2000 mAh NiMH eneloop batteries for $11.99 plus shipping.

When the batteries arrived, I immediately took them out of the packaging to measure their voltage levels with my volt meter. All of the batteries reported 1.31 volts. What happened next was not intended, but it happened. The batteries wandered around my apartment, unused, for 17 months. Well, they surfaced again, and the alkalines in my E5 just ran out. So I measured the eneloop batteries again (they all reported 1.30 volts today), then put them into my E5. So my Eton E5 is back on rechargeables, and these eneloop batteries only lost 0.01 volts after 17 months.

wwvh transmitter antenna upgrade

2008-02-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

Shortwave transmitter antennas have been upgraded at WWVH, a NIST radio station in Hawaii.

In a seven-year project to adopt a technology used on Navy ships, NIST has installed new antennas encased in fiberglass rather than traditional steel supports, to resist corrosion from the salty ocean air. ... NIST staff believe the project is the first demonstration of high-powered, high-frequency fiberglass antennas on land.

Have any of you heard any changes in WWVH service? I continue to get decent WWVH reception here during the day on 10 mhz and 15 mhz. I'll have to try for 2.5 mhz and 5 mhz at night.

radio marti recording: 02 february 2008

2008-02-16T13:08:00.000-08:00

This is a 30-minute recording of Radio Marti on 13820 khz. According to martinoticias.com's frequency list, this broadcast originated in Greenville, NC.

I heard this broadcast during a shortwave scan, and was surprised to hear a strong Radio Marti signal that was mostly free of a jamming signal. You might hear a faint trace of Cuba's bubble jammer in this recording.

I don't know Spanish, so I can't discuss the program contents. Top-of-the-hour identification can be heard starting at 6 minutes and 40 seconds into the recording. Another notable section is at 25 minutes and 48 seconds when there's an English recording. I'm always amused to hear English used as the backdrop over which a translation is spoken. That part is about Raul Castro's Cuban government.

If you understand Spanish, you're welcome to share your comments about the program contents. And let me know if you encounter any problems with the embedded media player.

bbc discontinuing shortwave to europe

2008-02-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

Bad news for fans of the BBC's shortwave transmissions in Europe, as well as in other locations where the European transmissions could be heard. Quoting bbc.co.uk:

The remaining BBC World Service shortwave transmissions to Europe will close on 18th February 2008.

This change is being made in line with listener trends in radio. Increasing numbers of people around the world are choosing to listen to radio on a range of other platforms including FM, satellite and online, with fewer listening on shortwave.

This news came to me via Google News. More information is provided on bbc.co.uk. I haven't followed this story too carefully, so I don't know whether there are shortwave transmitters that will be repurposed or shut down as a result.

winter am dx is on

2008-02-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

I'm in the early stages of a winter mediumwave (am) DX project. I just confirmed the identification of my 17th station, KOMO 1000 in Seattle, Washington, which is approximately 750 miles away. My Eton E5 is doing the heavy lifting.

kaito ka11 first look

2008-02-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

Gadget-lust caused me to purchase a Kaito KA11 sometime last year. It is redundant in my radio collection, but I wanted it anyway because it is tiny, attractive, and offers good functionality. And Kaito has a reputation for producing high-quality radios. Let's take a look at this little thing:

I paid US$50.90 for the radio, US$9.95 for shipping, and received it from Florida in about one week. Simply opening the product box was enough to elicit shock from me over how small this radio is. The KA11 is smaller but heavier than the WRX911, and features a numeric keypad.

Here are the positive aspects of the KA11:

solid, firm enclosure
the side-mounted antenna has a hinge all the way at the bottom, so you can pull the entire antenna out and rotate it
the orange backlight looks really nice and fills the whole screen
the battery door is permanently attached
a plastic prop on the end of the hand strap clips into the back of the radio
strong local AM and FM signals are received with ease, and FM signals come in fine while the telescopic antenna is stowed within the radio
stronger shortwave signals in the 49-meter and 31-meter bands were picked up with just the telescopic antenna

And here are some of my complaints regarding the KA11:

pressing a button does not always register
moving the telescopic antenna in and out of the radio doesn't feel right, as if it is getting stuck or is about to break. the antenna enclosure is presumably tiny and delicate. the antenna itself is relatively sturdy and quite long.
quite a wide filter on AM, which means that strong local stations can be heard on adjacent channels
shucks, no protective pouch included!
lack of bass response is apparent on FM stations
sibilance (whistling, chirping sounds)
poor language in the user manual
location of the volume dial makes it susceptible to accidental adjustment
shortwave reception is limited to 5800-18100 khz
the digital thermometer is nice but gratuitous

The speaker's limited frequency response seems well suited to talk radio, where the speaker can adequately handle the typical frequency range of the human voice. The speaker's limitations are very noticeable when used for music.

One of the shortwave signals I picked up with just the telescopic antenna was a weak WWVH signal on 10000 khz around 0150 UTC. If you're going to use this radio for shortwave reception, you're going to need to supplement the telescopic antenna.

A high level of hiss is audible when earphones are plugged in and the volume is all the way down. I wish I had a better understanding of the technical side of this issue. It seems like the space requirements and the cost for improved audio quality is within reach for this type of product.

Before plugging in earphones, turn the volume way down to avoid a surprise and preserve your hearing! The volume output of the heaphones and the tiny speaker do not relate very well.

On the topic of volume control, my personal preference would be to remove the miniscule volume dial and instead provide up/down volume buttons.

This is certainly no DX machine; it is best suited to background listening rather than active listening. This is an attractive, pocket-sized novelty radio with basic capabilities and a cheap internal speaker. Perhaps the small packaging is enough to entice your friends or family members who have radio curiosity or require an ultra-portable receiver.

tecsun pl-450 radio appears on eBay

2008-01-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

Tecsun just released a new digitally-tuned portable radio called the PL-450. The eBay auction that I found for this radio indicated that it replaces the PL-350 (which is in my collection). Here's an image from Tecsun of the PL-450 in an attractive silver enclosure:

This radio receives AM (522-1620 khz with 9 khz steps, or 520-1710 khz with 10 khz steps), FM (76 - 108 mhz), and shortwave (1711 - 29999 khz). Although the auction currently omits this, the Chinese specs for the PL-450 also lists longwave (100 - 519 khz). If you look at a high-resolution image of the radio, you can see FM, MW, LW, and SW labels below the band switch buttons. The auction specifies dual conversion reception for AM; I'm unsure if this includes shortwave. The PL-350 model was a single-conversion receiver.

Like the PL-350 that preceded it, the PL-450 takes three AA batteries. Three batteries is inconvenient, especially if one decides to buy higher-quality rechargeable batteries to replace the factory rechargeables. What to do with the fourth battery? I like the tuning knob on the side of the radio as opposed to a flat tuning dial recessed into the enclosure as found on other pocket-sized receivers.

I like this oddly-translated phrase from the auction: "The sleepy function allows you to sleep more before getting up!"

Tecsun's website also shows a PL-600 radio, which probably replaces the PL-550. Anyone have any theories why Tecsun added longwave reception to the PL-450 and PL-600?

my tecsun dr-920 replacement arrived

2008-01-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

My Tecsun DR-920 replacement arrived on 15 January 2008, alongside the Redsun RF1201 that I ordered from China. I installed two alkaline batteries, set the clock, and tuned to several AM and FM stations to give the radio a basic workout. So far, so good.

If you didn't read it already, here's a link to my April 2007 review of the Tecsun DR-920.

This DR-920 has very good build quality, like the unit that I had before this one. The knobs, buttons, and switches are all in excellent condition. The telescopic antenna is as durable as can be expected for its size. The audio quality, both through the built-in speaker and through the headphone jack, seems the same as before. Hiss is audible on all bands through headphones, even with the volume at zero.

I noticed a difference between this radio and my original DR-920: this radio's backlight is yellow while my original radio had an orange backlight. The orange backlight looked better.

One issue I previously complained about with the DR-920 was the frequency display rapidly alternating between adjacent frequencies (such as 739 and 740 khz). When that happened, it kept the LCD backlight on unnecessarily. With this new unit, the frequency jumps a bit sometimes, but often it quickly settles on a frequency and shuts off the backlight. There was one instance where the frequency was unstable just after turning the radio on, requiring adjustment of the tuning knob to calm it. I'll keep watching to see if this DR-920 shows improvements over my previous one.

images of new grundig radios

2008-01-20T07:38:00.000-08:00

Here are images of the forthcoming Grundig G4, G6, and Satellit 750 radios. These images come from the Universal Radio online catalog.

Grundig G4

Grundig G6

Grundig Satellit 750

redsun rf1201 first look

2008-01-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

My Redsun RF1201 arrived from China on January 15, 2008. This pocket radio receives AM, FM, and shortwave, and is comparable to the Kaito WRX911 in terms of size, design, and features.

Inside the box were these items:

Redsun RF1201 radio
a wire antenna that clips onto the telescopic antenna
a cloth pouch (hooray! I really like these, and sometimes the sellers remove them from the box before shipment)
a 3" blue-and-white CDROM, labeled with a panda bear face, claiming to hold 25 minutes / 225 megabytes

Alas, all of my current optical drives are slot-load models that don't support 3" discs.

I loaded the RF1201 with a pair of alkaline batteries for initial testing. I'm pleased with this radio so far, due to:

very good build quality
strong, clear signals for local AM and FM stations
high-quality printing on the tuning scale
nice frequency response via headphones

I heard a weak WWVH signal and a moderately strong WWV signal at 5000 khz with just the telescopic antenna. I found a few strong signals in the 60-meter, 49-meter, and 31-meter bands during an evening session a couple days ago, although shortwave reception was noisy due to local interference.

My main gripes about this radio thus far:

limited frequency response from the speaker due to its size
the volume dial is very touchy
noticeable hiss from the headphone jack

To be fair, headphone jack hiss is common for the pocket radio category. Overall, this has been a satisfying radio buying experience. I unfortunately had a bad first impression of Redsun, since the RF1210 that I bought had a loose tuning knob. I'm still planning to acquire an RP3000/RP3100 once those are available for purchase in the USA.

If you're interested in Redsun radios, you might wish to check out the RP2100/KA2100 user reviews on this site.