Welcome to the 100% Canadian made DXer.ca website - a resource for radio listeners, SWL's DXers and hams... on the air since 1995.
My name is Colin and I have been a radio enthusiast since I was a kid in the 1960's. Long distance AM radio reception has always fascinated me and I have had one radio or another to play with since I was 6 or 7 years old.
The SWL Digest (with Ian McFarland) returns!
Photo at right: This has been in the works for a while - the classic RCI program from yesteryear returns with new material - interviews - news and nostalgia! Available on iTunes - Apple Podcasts - and our companion research webpage ColinsCafe.com
History - My parents, always motivated to keep their kids engaged in the World around them, handed me my first transistor radio while I was still learning to walk and talk.
Throughout the late 1960's (and during a global cultural revolution...) radio kept me in the groove -- perhaps too much for such young ears... but that was the way.
By 1971 I had my first encounter with a multiband shortwave portable, my first station heard being WWV -- and I was then hooked for life!
This experience is captured for all time in my ham radio call sign VA7WWV! I built my first multiband radio from a kit in 1973. In 1979 I started my career in electronics with a college pre-apprenticeship program. By 1985, I was a red-seal electronics technician. I retired from a local university after 36 years of technical service to that community. Now I have built my home research/development/production shop!
Got Questions - Comments - criticisms? - Click here to send an e-mail - replies are generally instantaneous!
I make (amongst other things...) VACTROL units for Flag/Pennant/EWE Antennas - active antenna modules and Misek-Lankford Phasers.
In light of all the tariff hub-bub from our neighbours to the South - be prepared for an extended dialog on getting any of my projects to America
Sound-Byte Here is a rough cut sample of the upcoming SWL Digest 2025 1st edition! Check it out - will be on shortwave soon!
I also do PCB design and testing on request using Autodesk FUSION Eagle CAD and KICAD for pcb development and testing.
We are adding items to our inventory - Stay tuned for more surprises!
We review radios -- new and old. Stay tuned for some fresh content.
XHDATA radio have been sending me various units to test out and we are having fun with this - stay tuned for an update/review of these radios.
A few sound bytes from our vast audio archives
Ian McFarland's final show on RCI - March 1991
Colin Newell on CBC Spark with Nora Young