I'm in the USA but I've listened to all 5 of your broadcasts. As a noob to SWL, I don't understand everything you report, but you are providing a valuable service to SWL fans around the world. Thank you for investing your time and energy into this broadcast.
Thank you so much for your comment Bill, I am really very happy that you are enjoying these podcasts! Please do ask if there is something specific that you would like me to explain, I will gladly make a video to clarify things that you don't understand. I am quite sure there are a number of new SW listeners who might not understand everything yet.
Some shortwave station definitely has to broadcast this at some point. This show just keeps getting better and better as it continues. 73's from Colorado, USA.
Thanks Andre for another well researched radio report and the RU-vid video. It’s a shame that management of the old establishment radio broadcasters think that the internet is the way of future, but if a disaster happens the internet is the first to shut down. Radio New Zealand management is farsighted as they still continue to serve the rural and isolated areas of the Pacific while being audible in the American and European areas also. I don’t trust “Smart Speakers “ as they tend to listen to you more than you listen to them. 73! Have a great day!
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it! Good point you make about smart speakers, I think they do listen to you all the time. I use a smart speaker system in my lounge, for streaming music from the internet and for weather reports, among other things. I enjoy the convenience. But it is weird sometimes, when I happen to mention the word "Google" in conversations, the speaker sometimes comes alive :-)
@@Kw1161 You are definitely taking the safer option 😀 I just really enjoy the convenience of asking for music and there it goes, the speaker gives it to me. But I am giving away free information to Google all the time...
Hello Andre. Excellent program as usual. Plenty of useful info and your graphics are cool. One of my shortwave units is the Tecsun PL360….diminutive but lots of fun. CHEERS!
Hey André, another episode full of interesting news, be they good or bad. Great news from RNZ at least! This could make it easier for me to catch it from here. It really makes my day when I do. At least the Kiwis understand that SW broadcast is not to be left in the hands of China only... unlike the Americans (and others). It seems that the remaining stock of PL-680 will go quickly based on the comments here 😆 I really like my PL-660. It's now without minor flaws (it eats batteries quick), but it's definitely my first choice for hunting VOLMETs, ground-to-air HF traffic, ham talk and besides this all the mysterious things going on in the SSB world. Thanks for this quality contents. Tecsun should really spare a free PL-680 for you!
Thanks Alain! Seems like there is always a bit of good news mixed in with the bad :-) It is great news indeed that RNZ still values their shortwave transmissions to the Pacific. RNZ is the only station that challenges China on shortwave now in that area. It's probably a completely unrealistic hope, but maybe some other countries will also begin to realise that a presence on shortwave remains important if they want to challenge the dominance of China... I am really looking forward to my PL-680, especially for utility listening like Volmets and air traffic, as you say. I mostly do that on my D-808 and the Kenwood R1000 now. I am certain the PL-680 will be far better than the D-808 for utility listening. Utility listening is actually one of my main reasons for getting it.
Excellent news about the radio world It reminds me of the many dx programs in the past from different shortwave stations I have a Tecsun PL660 Ì find it a very good receiver
Thanks John! I think the PL-660 and the PL-680 sound like two excellent radios, based on the reviews I have seen. I am looking forward to the arrival of my PL-680 very much.
Hello Andre, another good report 👍🏼 You will love the PL-680, it’s a great SW DX’er with the lack of soft muting, really good for finding low power stations and utilities. I hope Tecsun find another IC supplier. The swing towards listening to commercial radio in the U.K. is partly due to various scandals surrounding the BBC (like Huw Edwards), their seemingly lack of impartiality regarding news reporting, poor decisions like making some OAP’s pay for the TV licence and closing endless transmitters. The decline of the service is quite sad. Best 73’s
Thanks Franco, I am really looking forward to trying out the PL-680! Especially for the utility signals, I have only very few receivers with good SSB capabilities at the moment, my Kenwood R1000 is probably the best one I have now. Interesting what you say about BBC, I suppose those scandals do have an effect on listenership and trust in the BBC...
You got a nice mention in this month’s edition of the British DX Club journal, Andre. So you should have a few more tuning into your videos and podcast. 📻
Yes you can have my copy, no problem. Its paper not digital so I would need a postal address. Unless any of your listeners/viewers are BDXC members and have a digital copy. Let me know either way 👍🏼 It’s a small write up in the ‘Webwatch’ section of the journal and mentions your reviews of the Qodosen as that Radio is also got a write up in the journal.
@@FrancoDX Thank you so much for the offer Franco. Our post office is very unreliable, unfortunately, so I'd rather save you the effort. Maybe you'll post it and I will never get it, it happens... I don't know, perhaps you could just take a picture of the write-up with your phone and send it to me by email? You can send it to andre9@duck.com
Very interesting about the antenna! I will try that when I get my PL-680. I am really looking forward to finally trying this radio. There is just something great about real analogue radios.
Hi Andre, thanks for another excellent podcast. Sorry to hear that two of the Tecsun radios are being discontinued. I actually have a Tecsun PL-390 receiver. Great to hear that the Radio New Zealand SW service has secured its future. It is a pity that Radio Australia didn't continue here. Anyway, all the very best. Rob in Melbourne Australia.
Thanks Rob. It is indeed a pity that these two Tecsun radios are no longer being produced. They are among the last true analogue radios still available. I read that Radio Australia is considering some kind of cooperation with RNZ, let's see what happens there!
Thanks Andre for another roundup of shortwave news 👍 I think somebody on IRCA group wrote the Sao Tome transmitter is now closed completely. I think the last transmission was on July 28th, and then poof, gone, suddenly, no one listening would even know this was the last time they were listening to Sao Tome. And a real shame about 1530 kHz gone too - another DX target gone, from a part of Africa where I don't think there's much left on MW. Which leads me to wonder about Radio Nacional do Sao Tome e Principe on 945 kHz, which also ran from the USAGM site. But likely closed now too.
My pleasure Arnie. I saw that post on the IRCA group, but no real official confirmation yet. VOA has been strangely quiet about all this, no official announcements or explanations or anything. I was very happy to see that the WRTH now has updated listings for the locations of the transmitters, at least these new listings now confirm that São Tomé is, indeed, gone. I wonder if 1431 is now meant to cover all of northern Africa, like 909 is meant to cover all of southern Africa? Have you ever tried to catch São Tomé 945 on a Kiwi SDR? Not that there are many Kiwi SDRs nearby, I only know of one in Nairobi and some in Cabo Verde. Maybe we will be able to hear Radio Nacional do São Tomé on one of those...
@@swlistening yeah, that's the thing that USAGM wanted to do this quietly, perhaps in hope nobody's going to protest. And when they do notice it's gone, it's gone. How many stations have gotten rid of those crappy old AM services like this? Probably the most stunning was RUV in Iceland, when they abruptly replaced regular programming on 207 kHz from Eidar with a retune loop, and the next day not only the transmitter was switched-off but even the tower was demolished! No, 1431 is not going to cover all of West Africa. It's too far, and probably more focused on Horn of Africa. Although in the past it used to carry Radio Sawa, to Yemen... That Nairobi KiwiSDR is crap. I've been there once and all I got on it was noise. Not even a single signal, not even on shortwave. An absolute waste. Haven't seen the Cape Verde one yet though. I think Reunion is the only usable Kiwi in Africa at the moment. But there are two on Canary Islands, and one run by EA8FBK is the better one. I had listened to 945 Sao Tomé on that one, with a fair but clear signal, in fact I was surprised how little Romania it was getting. I tried it again 2 days ago and only heard the very weak Romanian signal, but it could have been a bit too early yet. Need to try yet again.
@@ArnieDXer If USAGM wanted to do it quietly, they severely underestimated the MW and SW listeners and fans all around the world. I made a mistake, when I said Cabo Verde SDR I actually meant Canary Islands... There is no Kiwi SDR in Cabo Verde that I know of. You are right, the best one in Africa seems to be Reunion. Although the Réunionnais would probably say they are in Europe 😀 Strange that there are so few Kiwi SDRs in Africa. I just tried the Canary Islands ones, but nothing at all on 945. Probably too early. I would really think that São Tomé is probably still using the 945 MW frequency. I had planned a trip to São Tomé in 2020, but the pandemic ended that plan. I read up quite a bit about the country before the trip, and I remember Príncipe has a very small population, under 10000 people. I would think that the easiest and most efficient way to reach the people on Príncipe would be through MW. From what I know about Príncipe, there is very little modern infrastructure. So for a national radio service to reach the residents there, MW seems to be the answer. But who knows...
Thanks for the video and new format Andre . It's v informative and engaging. I have ordered a Pl660 as it has been on my wishlist for a while. Looks like the 680 is sold out now!
Hi Garech, thanks for your comment! Glad you like the podcast. I am still making videos like I did in the past, but the podcast seems to be quite popular, so I will do that regularly now. Glad you got a PL-660, I think they might also be sold out soon. The PL-680 has been on my wish list for a very long time, so I am waiting for mine to arrive with much excitement.
Same here, I want the PL-680 because it is not DSP based. There is still something great about real analogue radios. I am looking forward to mine very much!
Hey Andre. Regarding the Brazilian station(s). I went to Twitter and checked the Shortwave Observer video from Italy. That content comes from a collection of old sign-in/signoff IDs from around the 70s and 80s. In that particular snippet, we can hear IDs from Jovem Pan and Universo. My guess is that content was included as part of a programme on radio history.
Hey, I think I caught something like this recently as part of AWR Wavescan on IRRS on 1323 kHz 😮 was surprised to hear some vintage Brazilian station IDs, but then there came Jeff White briefly, and over to Bangladesh DX Report. If I remember correctly, this was while I was recording the band during Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday July 26th.
I am. A few people have asked me about this, so I am looking at some options. I will make an announcement on my channel once it is available as a podcast.
I remember that DEGEN produced the original version of the late DE1103 as a PLL set, just to switch to a DSP version for the revision, which unfortunately wasn't as good as the first version.
Hi Piero, indeed, this sounds very similar to what is happening with the PL-680 and PL-660 now. Maybe they will also become DSP versions, and they will not be as good as before. I wish I had the DE1103 in its original version!
You can always tell an AI image of a radio. It mashes up the front of the radio with random dials, squiggles and knobs. Two examples in this video. I feel it is better to use photos of real receivers. Other than that, thanks for the good new reports. 73 de Rob VK3BVW
Thanks for your comment Rob, this is very true. Also for people, AI just cannot render people perfectly. It's getting better though 😀 I will try to use more real images of radios, but an issue with images is always copyright. There are very few good images of radios that are copyright free. I will do my best to keep finding some.
Thanks for your comment Matt, it is a real pity that 1530 is gone. Good to hear that 1431 is still on air though, I don't usually hear that one in Johannesburg.
I still hear most of their frequencies in Africa, I will make a video soon to show these. But you are right, many of their frequencies around the world are gone or have been cut.
I'm enjoying the podcast, but I'm curious is there an RSS feed available so I can copy it into my Apple Podcast app on my iPhone or will it be availabe from the Apple app at all in the future, I just find the You Tube music app clunky.
Thank you very much for your comment Endaf. Good idea about the RSS feed. I looked into it after your suggestion, seems like I will have to set up an account on a podcast service, and then I can link the RSS feed from that channel to my RU-vid podcasts. Then it will be possible to hear the podcast on various services like Spotify. I will do that this coming weekend when I have some free time again.
Now I am curious. If I were to buy one of the last PL- 660 radios, what would I notice that would be different about how it would work and perform than a newer DSP radio?
The biggest difference is in the tuning, there is no soft mute. So you will hear signals slowly becoming stronger as you tune in, and then fade away as you tune away again. SSB on analogue radios generally works better also, the PL-660 and PL-680 are said to be really good for SSB listening.
Wow, I just might need one. I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and spent many an evening hour fine tuning AM dials looking for far off signals. I remember Little Rock, Arkansas, about 900 miles away, and Detroit, about 500 miles away, could often be heard at night.
Hi Andre, I'm in the market for a Sihuadon XHDATA D 808, in your opinion which I value, where can I get a genuine one(not a rip off) I'm in Durban, Many thanks, Tony.
Hi Tony, my suggestion is that you buy directly from the XHDATA website. I have very many XHDATA radios, and I bought all of them directly from XHDATA's website. Shipping is very reasonable to South Africa, they use a courier company called Buffalo Express here in South Africa. I have never had any issues. The prices on their website are also very good, the D-808 is available at R1220 now, and you get their new D-220 pocket radio for free: xhdata.com.cn/products/xhdata-sihuadon-d-808?variant=50150447907134
@@swlistening Hi Andre, the radio was ordered yesterday evening, delivery is 5 days...... I will let you know when it arrives, I will have to get my head around the navigation of it🙈
