Listener’s Library, February 2000
Well I hope everyone is making their calls to the Kulpsville Holiday Inn to join in the fun at this year’s Winterfest. Further details and information can be found in another place within the Journal.
Each new year brings us a new edition of:
PASSPORT TO WORLDBAND RADIO
2000 Edition
Lawrence Magne Editor in Chief
592 pages
$19.95
ISBN 0-914941-45-3
International Broadcast Services, Ltd.
Box 300
Penn’s Park, PA 18943
http://www.passband.com
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Technical Topics, February 2000
Collaborative Receiver Design: The RX320 Saga
Hello Dolly
Sevierville Tennessee is famous for three things. One is TenTec. Two are country music legend Dolly Parton. TenTec is the only full-line manufacturer of ham radio equipment and short-wave receivers remaining in the United States. Like Dolly Parton, TenTec often pleasantly surprises us with capabilities that are not immediately obvious at first glance.
Rave Reviews
Back in December 1988, Alan Johnson reviewed the new TenTec RX-320 receiver in the NASWA Journal. Alan’s review introduced NASWA members to a first class radio. While it had no knobs or display, it sold at a price below that of some portable radios. If you have never read that review, I encourage you to go back and read it now. If you are new to NASWA, and you have Internet access, you can read the review on the NASWA web site. This page also has a link to an independent review for Radio Netherlands by NASWA member Tom Sundstrom. If that doesn’t do it for you, check out the year 2000 issue of Passport To World Band Radio for a review by NASWA member Chuck Rippel and Dave Zantow.
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Equipment Reviews, January 2000
RF Systems P-3 Preselector
I jumped at the chance to review this unit when Fred Osterman of Universal Radio gave me the opportunity, having been alerted by a mention on Radio Nederland’s website that the P-3 was on the way. Why all the excitement about another black box? Because the one fault of modern receivers is their lack of front-end selectivity.
Back in the old days before digital frequency synthesizers, most quality radios had a tunable radio frequency amplifier as the first stage after the antenna input. This amplifier was tuned either in conjunction with the main tuning or, in some radios, the stage was tuned with a separate “preselector” control. The main reason that this stage was required was to reduce the problem of “images”-signals that were twice the intermediate frequency away from the desired signal. With the advent of high (>30 MHz) first IFs, image rejection could be accomplished by a simple low pass filter at the front end of the receiver. Along with the switch to digital frequency synthesis and equipment minaturization, mechanical parts such as variable capacitors, wafer switches and slug-tuned inductors became expensive and difficult to obtain. As a result, the tuned front-ends of yore were replaced with fixed bandpass filters covering an octave or more, or no filtering at all.
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NASWA Notes, December 1999
Season’s greetings! It seems like 1999 began only a few short months ago and here we are closing out the year. I hope your favorite overpriced toy or gizmo will make its way into your possession during this time of the year. If not, you may have to hold your breath for another 12 months. Holiday greetings to all members.
Not all news is joyous this holiday season. From long time friend and DX associate Anker Petersen we learn that Jens Frost, the popular editor of the World Radio TV Handbook (“WRTH”) for some many years, passed away suddenly on October 18, 1999 after a heart stroke. Anker had just spoken to him only a few days prior to his passing where Jens confirmed his participation in the EDXC Conference on November 6th in Copenhagen. Jens would have been 80 years this month. He was Assistant Editor of WRTH 1961-1963, Editor-in-Chief 1964-1986, and Editor Emeritus 1987-1999. Letters of condolences can be sent to his daughter and son-in-law, Sonja Frost & Per Soerensen, Engvaenget 18, DK 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark.
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Easy Listening, December 1999
How Do We Want our Shortwave to Sound?
English is not the main language for most broadcasters we listen to on shortwave. While English is widely spoken in many Western European countries (France a notable exception), this is certainly not the case most places. As such, we can’t expect as lively nor as smooth a presentation as we hear on our local public radio stations, and pronunciation, grammar, and usage won’t be up to our usual expectations. Nor will broadcast styles necessarily match up with domestic content, as international services cannot assume its listeners would understand or appreciate nuances of interest to a largely domestic audience.
For that reason, I tend to focus on the actual content of shortwave programs, not so much the presentation styles. I’m frankly more interested in presentation styles for such stations as Radio Australia, BBC World Service, Radio Canada International, Radio New Zealand International, and the VOA-stations where English is the home country’s first language. With that preamble, should we appreciate stations such as Radio Netherlands, having a very “American” sound? Would we rather hear more of a Dutch sound? That’s one reason Radio Netherlands may be featuring more domestic content, specifically in the new Sunday 0053 program, Dutch Horizons. A review appears a bit later. What are your thoughts on how a station should sound?
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Listener’s Library, November 1999
We have a number of excellent finds for adding to your radio knowledge database. Let’s start off start off with another great addition to your CD-ROM collection.
The QEX Collection CD-ROM
1981-1998
2 CD Set
$39.95
Published by
The American Radio Relay League
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06110-1494
1-800-277-5289
http://www.arrl.org/catalog
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Equipment Reviews, November 1999
The Icom IC-R75 Communications Receiver
The IC-R75 is Icom’s re-entry to the HF-only desktop communications receiver market after the R71A was discontinued. Yes, there was the R-72, but this receiver was poorly received by the SWL community. This leaves Icom as one of the few Japanese ham radio equipment manufacturers that hasn’t written off the SWL market. The R75 is a definite step-up from the R72 and rated specifications are closely equivalent to the R-71A. The R75 is a triple-conversion digitally synthesized radio, but signal processing and filtering are analog in nature. There is provision for adding a DSP audio processing unit for noise reduction and automatic notch filtering. The R75 has a list price of $950, but the street price is very attractive at less than $800, making it a competitor to the Drake SW8. For a receiver in this price class, there is a high degree of flexibility in configuring the various operating parameters of the receiver.
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Easy Listening, October 1999
East Timor News Sources
One of the arguments used to lure newcomers to the shortwave listening hobby is the capability to listen to major news events from broadcasters in or very close to the country where the events are occurring. At the time this column was prepared, East Timor had descended into a state of anarchy, with an international peacemaking response just now being marshaled. The broadcaster with arguably the best English language coverage of the ongoing crisis is Radio Australia, primarily via Asia Pacific, its regional current affairs program. Asia Pacific normally airs at 0010, 1005, 1105, and 1505, Tuesdays through Fridays, and 2305 Mondays through Thursdays. The broadcasts are available live via World Radio Network’s WRN1 program stream at 0010 and 1605 UTC. The 1505 UTC broadcast is archived at the WRN website for 24 hours for on-demand listening.
A Saturday edition of Asia Pacific airs at 2205 UTC Friday, and 0005, 0830, and 1005 UTC Saturdays. The 0830 airing also is available at WRN1, with an on-demand archive at Radio Australia’s website.
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NASWA Notes, October 1999
We have some exciting news about a new website devoted to the history of shortwave broadcasting and shortwave listening. It is called “ontheshortwaves,” and it can be found at http://www.ontheshortwaves.com. The site is a joint production of NASWA members Jerry Berg, who is also on Executive Council, and John Herkimer. The site is the gathering place for people who are interested in this subject. The main focus is on shortwave broadcasting and the listening hobby that has grown up around it. However, since shortwave listening grew out of medium wave listening, the site covers medium wave too, as well as other aspects of early radio, when they help tell the shortwave story. The site is also home to the Committee to Preserve Radio Verifications (“CPRV”), where hobby enthusiasts can find information about the CPRV’s operation; copies of “The CPRV Page,” which used to be published in various club bulletins and which contains illustrations and descriptions of many QSLs; and a gallery of other interesting CPRV QSLs. Other parts of the site include a section called Articles, Research, etc., Book Reviews, Information for Collectors, On the Net and a Comments section. Jerry and John can be reached at the following e-mail addresses: jberg@ontheshortwaves.com and jherkimer@ontheshortwaves.com. Check out “on the shortwaves” and let us know what you think about it through a musing.
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Scoreboard, October 1999
Hello, and welcome to the NASWA Scoreboard. This month we highlight our members African totals. The next deadline is November 15th for the December Journal. The spotlight then will be on Asia. Please update your totals at least once a year to remain on the Scoreboard, and remember to use the NASWA Country List for counting totals. Thanks to all of our regular contributors, and welcome to those joining the Scoreboard for the first time.
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