r/shortwave

Testing Sanyo RP 8920.

Bought "for parts", replaced the torn tuning cord, had to glue the LW antenna ferrite rod that was broken in half right in the middle.

The first SW station caught was Voice of Korea (that was around 19:20 UTC yesterday).

(sorry that the sound on the video is quiet: tried not being too loud in the park)

LW works as well, could hear BBC 4 and Radio Algérie Chaîne 3 quite clearly (so it looks like the "repair" of the rod worked somehow), but it seems to be that the sensitivity on LW is a bit not that great as it might be (the tuning indicator doesn't light up while on my other LW radio it does): so maybe either the LW circuits may need realignment to match the changed characteristics of the LW antenna or it needs replacement of the rod or both.

P.S. location: Bois de Vincennes

Sitting by Lake Superior .... On my Mlite! ... 20 foot speaker split at ten feet ...

I heard Morse code on my D219 Radio and decoded:

- .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.-

→ “THANK YOU.”

What surprised me is that the D219 does not have SSB/BFO, so I thought CW/Morse reception would not be possible on this radio. Can someone explain how Morse becomes audible on a non SSB portable receiver like this?

To test the QSSTV, I was monitoring the 7058 LSB as always. Suddenly this bursts came up. All bursts in sync over a bandwidth of 70khz. The sond was like a 1200-packet transmission. (I was too slow to start a video grabber).
I've checked other sdrs, but couldn't get a stronger one to have an aprox. location.
Any idea what it was?

Adventist World Radio (AWR) broadcasts on 15215 kHz via the KSDA transmitter station in Agat, Guam. It features religious, educational, and cultural programming targeting audiences in South Asia. Received in Chennai, India.

73 !

I’ve been building a small project called WIRE-38 inspired by old longwave and shortwave broadcast aesthetics.

The idea was imagining what a continuously operating modern “longwave service” might sound like if:

• interval signals never disappeared
• late-night radio still felt atmospheric
• public information broadcasts evolved instead of vanishing into apps and feeds

The system rewrites current headlines into condensed radio bulletins with generated announcer voices and sparse ambient presentation.

A lot of the inspiration came from:

• Cold War-era broadcasts
• numbers stations
• BBC interval signals
• late-night AM radio
• longwave continuity announcements

What surprised me most is how differently modern news feels when presented as detached radio bulletins instead of infinite scrolling feeds.

It feels less like doomscrolling and more like discovering a signal.

Curious what people here think makes old broadcast formats feel so distinct compared to modern media presentation.

First bulletin: WIRE-38 Bulletin #1

Minnesota US

Holiday Monday here in BC Canada. Did a little offroading to take in the view and sunshine. Brought my PL-368 along. Picked up a rarity for me. Daytime reception of Radio Amazon on 11780 kHz at 22:10 Zulu on the whip while in the mountains.

Same outdoor relaxing Holiday Monday in the mountains of BC Canada and picked up Radio de Exterior Espana on my PL-368 with whip only at 22:13 Zulu. I was surprised.

I recently picked up the newer version of the XHDATA D219 (the one with the 1 kHz steps). Out of the box, the antenna is pretty loose and floppy.

When looking at comparison videos of the older grey version versus my new green one, I noticed a major design change on the back. The old version has a visible external screw holding the antenna base in place. The new version completely hides this screw inside the shell.

This means to fix a simple loose antenna, I now have to open up the entire radio chassis instead of just tightening it from the outside.

1. Has anyone else with the new version run into this loose antenna issue?
2. For those who have opened it, is it an easy fix inside?
3. Do you think this "upgrade" was actually necessary, or did they just ruin an easy maintenance feature for aesthetics?

Curious to hear your thoughts.

73 !