Gary DeBock - Gary started serious BCB DXing as a 14-year old in Japan (military dependent in 1967), and enlisted in the Navy in 1971. Gary was fortunate to not only receive intensive electronics training as a sonar repair technician, but also to have free travel to almost all of the countries we dxer's currently chase for TP contacts.
Ian McFarland - (at right-) Former CBC Broadcaster and host-writer of Radio Canada Internationals English Language Service, Ian currently resides in Maple Bay British Columbia and is a regular participant in our coffee forums.
Colin Newell (photo at the very top of the page)- Creator of the DXer.CA web page and radio enthusiast since 1971, Colin became an electronics technician/technologist in the late seventies and early eighties. Growing up on the farm meant plenty of room for antennas. Modern living in the urban jungle has forced Colin to become more creative with antenna solutions.
Greetings everyone. Best wishes from a place called Maple Bay, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, about an hour's drive north of Victoria.
If you are a regular visitor to this dxer.ca website you'll be aware that back in September of last year I released a set of nostalgic CD's, namely the very popular Idents & Interval Signals Series that I produced more than 30 years ago when I was the Producer of the popular Radio Canada SW Club program.
This is basically a fund raising effort for the Food Bank in Duncan, here on Vancouver Island, where I work as a volunteer. So far the sales of the Idents Series CDs have raised about $600 for the food bank. Some 147 350 sets of these CD's have been sold to date to SWLs all over the world.
Our thanks to everyone who has helped to publicize this project. This has been a very nice and nostalgic exercise for me, as well, in that many of the orders for these CD's have come from SWLs whose names I recognized as regular listeners to the SWL Digest as well as the Listeners Corner, two of the many programs I produced and hosted during my 24 years with Radio Canada International.
I found it quite amazing that I even recognized some of these people's addresses! In some cases there were very nice letters enclosed with the order for the CD's, with kind comments that brought back happy memories for me, and I do love happy memories about my life in broadcasting.
If you loved the nostalgia of the Idents Series CDs you'll be interested to hear that there is more nostalgia coming down the pipe. On March 8, 9 & 10 I'll be in Kulpsville, PA in the U.S. to help celebrate the 20th annual edition of the Winter SWL Fest . You can get details on this event at www.swlfest.com At the Fest I'll be launching the second set of CD's that
I've produced with the expert help of Colin Newell. This new project will be even more nostalgic than the first one, with more material from as far back as the seventies. If you can't get to the Fest in Kulpsville there will be a parallel launch of these new CD's right here on dxer.ca Watch For It!!!
Cheers for now. 73, 88s to the ladies and Good Listening!
Noted broadcast journalist, Ian McFarland, lives and works in Maple Bay, near Duncan British Columbia. As one of the most recognized voices of English speaking shortwave radio, Ian continues to be an ambassador for international broadcasting well into the 21st Century.
Solar Cycle 24 Sunspots where for art thou?
I have been a radio guy since 1971… when I was young. Very young. And along with a thriving community of radio amateurs on Vancouver Island - radio hams and listeners alike have been observing the regular ebb and flow of sunspots - in 11 year cycles, and how they make or break global radio communications.
We have just concluded Cycle 23 and are heading into Cycle 24 - or are we?
Sun spots come and go. They generate the types of solar radiation that energize the Earth’s ionosphere – that allow radio signals to bounce around – like at night time when you listen to San Francisco AM radio from your cabin on Gabriola Island.
Periods of intense activity are also a concern to telecommunications engineers because solar storms can zap sensitive satellites and our ability to communicate globally.
Sun spots go through cycles of intensity that last 11 years. And these Cycles have been going on without interruption for hundreds and hundreds of years… and carefully observed since the early 1700's. To date, 23 cycles worth.
That is, with some exceptions. Like the 17th and 18th century. When there were, how can I put this… mini ice-ages. Doldrums. The sun went through a period of sunspot inactivity from about 1645 to 1715. Called the Maunder Minimum no less. Periods when there were no Sun spots for several decades at a time. Triggering brief global Ice-ages. Albeit Small ones. It effected the whole planet. Normally moderate climates like the one they have in London, England — In the 1700’s, the Thames River would freeze up solid 3 weeks of the year… year after year… for about 20 years.
Coming back to the 21st century for a moment: I have been observing solar cycles for 38 years. And something is amiss. But there is no immediate cause for alarm… like not in the next week or so anyway.
We have just concluded Solar Cycle 23 and Solar Cycle 24 was supposed to start… a year ago.
Currently, the Solar globe is completely devoid of Sun spots. Yes, it is a big deal.
The term 'Solar Cycle 24' could very well become a household phrase over the next 6 months. In some ways, it could be coming at a good time… and at a very bad time. The good news: It could cancel out elements of global warming. The bad news - With record high fuel prices, we may feel the sting for a few winters to come.
Colin Newell is a resident of Victoria B.C. on Vancouver Island. DXing since 1971, he feels that no day is complete before the radio work is done... and that the work is never done...
Memory Lane - The Sony ICF-S5W - An Eighties Hero
Thanks to Jay and Russ for their comments on the ICF-S5W. As probably the top fanatic on the ICF-S5W, I thought you guys might like to hear a little of its history.
The Japanese-market version, the ICF-S5, was introduced in Japan in October of 1979-- and was immediately a super seller. The first of the SSP (sensitivity, selectivity, portability) series in Japan, the ICF-S5 has an innovative FET RF amplifier design which gives it amazing sensitivity on the AM band. It also has a Murata 455 kHz IF filter which provides quite good selectivity, for a consumer portable. The tuning system features both green and red LED's, which alternate in illumination depending on signal strength. In Japan, the ICF-S5 also had the Japanese FM band 76-88 Mhz), plus crystal-controlled reception of the Japanese NSB shortwave frequencies on 3, 6 and 9 Mhz (6 stations total).
It had a map of Japan on the back of the cabinet, and a drum rotation system displaying Japanese stations in ten different areas of Japan, for tuning purposes. For the Japanese, who have far more radio enthusiasts per capita than do North Americans, the ICF-S5 was an overnight sensation, with AM sensitivity superior to anything else on the market at the time. It gained the nickname of the "Superstar," and when I was stationed at Yokosuka, Japan in the Navy (in early 1980), its photo was displayed in train stations and shopping centers, similar to those of the most popular Japanese actresses and pop singers.
Based on the phenomenal sales in Japan, Sony designed an ICF-S5W model for the American market, retaining the outstanding FET RF amplifier for the AM band. There was a map of the USA on the back panel, however, and the drum rotation tuning system showed ten American areas, which correspond to the ten amateur radio area numerals. In comparison to the ICF-S5, the ICF-S5W was a rather stripped-down model, with no NSB shortwave coverage. There were shiny tuning and volume/tone controls, however, which are not found in the ICF-S5.
Introduced in America in the middle of 1980, the ICF-S5W retailed for just over $50 at the time, and was extensively reviewed for IRCA by Bruce Portzer, Mark Connelly, Gerry Thomas and others. Its major competition at the time were the TRF's, Super-radios and RF-2200. Most of the ICF-S5W reviews were positive as far as sensitivity, but one serious issue showed up repeatedly-- strong image reception 910 kHz below strong local stations. Sony never did address this problem in the ICF-S5(W) series. Otherwise, the radio's phenomenal sensitivity made it extremely popular with those North Americans who actually purchased it, and it has retained a certain cult status even until today, with decent units on eBay going for $200- $300 or more. Unfortunately, the actual sales in North America apparently did not satisfy Sony, and the ICF-S5W model was discontinued after only about a year, in 1981. This has produced the current situation of limited supply for the AM-DXers' demand, with the resulting high resale value.
Sony took many of the ICF-S5W concepts and incorporated them in their new ICF-EX5 model, which was introduced in 1985 in the Japanese market (only).
The ICF-EX5 has also been a runaway best seller in Japan, and is still currently in production-- 23 years later! It has a double conversion system on the AM band (which reduces image reception somewhat), and a synchronous detector also (one of the very few analog designs so endowed). Performance is very similar to that of the ICF-S5(W), and full details may be obtained in the ICF-EX5 review posted on dxer.ca.
Before becoming an Ultralight Radio fanatic, i was an ICF-S5 fanatic, importing 9 sets from Japan obtained via the Japanese Yahoo auctions (where great units go for about $25, because of the huge supply). A friend in Japan is usually necessary to do this, because the Japanese typically will not ship outside of Japan (or even wish to communicate with foreigners who are strangers). Fortunately, the ICF-S5 has all of the innovative AM circuitry found in the ICF-S5W, and is a great substitute. Most of my supply of the ICF-S5(W) models have been given away to friends now, but if any owners have questions on the radio's alignment or conversion to 530-1700 kHz, I will be happy to give information (a service manual is definitely required for disassembly and adjustments).
In summary, the ICF-S5W is the most sensitive stock AM portable I have ever owned, and is certainly capable of providing great DX thrills even now, for those few DXers fortunate enough to find a model.
Gary DeBock is an ex-Naval electronics technician and confirmed radio enthusiast. He lives in Puyallup with his devoted and beautiful wife, Ruth. For Gary, the joy of radio is in the experimentation and improvement of existing receivers - they can always be a bit better. Gary is also the god father of Ultra-Light DXing.
The DX Podcast Western Edition - Sept 2008! -
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Good afternoon, evening and morning to all of you joining us again... for the Western edition (the only edition...) of the DX Podcast. I am Colin Newell, creator and editor of the DXer.ca website, Canada's original World band radio resource and quite arguably, the most fun you can have with a mouse and internet browser!
It has been almost a year since the last podcast - and yes, we broke our promise that this would be a regular thing. That has not worked out. But here we are again. It is not like it has been an uneventful year - just the opposite. 2008 (and the latter half of 2007) have been the year of the Ultra-light... the year we took back the energy level for the radio hobby. The year that we figured we would be our last with the dreaded IBOC digital radio medium (Boo! Hiss!). No. We survived and we came back more amped than ever before.
And who can be blame for this new layer of enthusiasm and excitement? I lay the blame squarely in Gary DeBock's little corner of the World in Puyallup, Washington! My goodness, Gary - what have they been putting in the water there!? Anyway - it was last Christmas, December 2007, that saw Gary turn into Santa Claus for me... No kidding folks - I got more gifts from Gary than anything Saint Nick ever delivered - Sorry Mister White haired dude! Last December , I near suffocated under a mountain of Christmas wrap - and plastic wrap surrounding, I do not know, 4 or 5 Ultra-lights. Geepers, at the time I am not entirely sure what we were calling them. Either way, it was a baptism by fire and Double-A batteries.
And how were we to know that Ultra-light addiction was going to sweep the nation? Well. Picking up Turks and Caicos within the first few nights of owning an SRF-39 certainly contributed to the buzz - and others caught on too. John Bryant of Orcas Island quickly became one of our primary advocates of Ulr silliness - he was modding them faster than the engineers at Sangean were designing them. Guy Atkins was getting into the game with his layer of expertise and knowledge. Ulr madness quickly spread from a smoking camp-fire to a raging fire... and the fire is still burning.
Because last seasons DX peak had passed, it gave the boys several months to find out which units offered the most promise - we created a file area for ULr's on the DXer.ca site and it quickly became populated with files that, to date, have been downloaded thousands of times. Wow. Way to go dudes!
In the short space of 7 or 8 months we have tutorials, photo galleries, contests come and gone and a grain elevator full of excitement that the radio hobby had lost over the last few years. In the same period of time we have received exposure from the most respected radio magazines and clubs in North America.
This has been a very satisfying time for me - and I know for many of the veterans of the radio hobby. we are alive and well thank you very much.
In the last year, thanks to this new level of energy, we have drawn attention from other radios hobbyists as well as one online vendor in particular - who has allowed us access to their broad inventory of radios, portable and otherwise - to broaden our catalog of receiver reviews.
This Fall we had the first ever mini-summit of radio enthusiasts in Seattle, Washington (while I was attending Coffee Fest at the Convention Center...) In attendance: Gary Debock and Guy Atkins of Puyallup, Washington - 2 of the main architects of small radio obsessive compulsive disorder, my dear wife Andrea and our Toronto friend, Sara Spector. Andrea is very well versed in the radio hobby - Sara was merely puzzled. Drinking coffee and talking story with two of the guru's of palm radio was truly inspriring - we have to do that again soon!
Anyway - Here in Victoria, B.C. Canada, everything is turning around - and in a very good way. There is every reason to have a renewed sense of optimism about the radio hobby - whether it is medium and long wave DXing, shortwave listening - and general experimentation and tinkering with all the new stuff. The Fall medium wave season has been surprisingly good - after all, there are no sunspots... Cycle 24... it is a bust. Sky falling! Sky falling! The downside - The SW bands are about as lively as a monastery. It could turn around. Then again, it might not. No matter. Either way, we radio people win.
Looking forward, the DXer.ca core crew (that would be me... and my wife Andrea) are heading for Hawaii for a 2 week dx-pedition (I mean Christmas vacation...) for 14 days of radio tuning... I mean tanning. Hopefully the sun-spots will be on our side... and sun-block on our backs - for some real radio R&R. Cannot wait.
More from me soon! Anyway. For the DXer.ca website and DX Podcast Western edition (only edition...) I am Colin Newell reporting from Victoria B.C. Canada!
