by Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Here are the rules: You must use a D-220 with native (built-in) antenna (no hooking it up to your two-mile-long Beverage antenna) No use of other radios or SDRs as “spotter” radios. You must ID off the air. Any band the D-220 receives. Any location. Contest starts 6 pm your local […]

Originally, the XHDATA D-220 DX Contest was intended to be on shortwave, but prompted by a question from Dennis, K2DCD, I consulted with Thomas (our Maximum Leader) and he said “I say with a radio this basic, simply go for anything and everything logged.” That makes sense and sounds like pure, unadulterated DXing pleasure. So […]

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Official Disclaimer: “Yes, XHDATA is a supporter of the SWLing Post but this is my own crazy idea, and we aren’t getting any commissions from the sales. XHDATA doesn’t even know we’re doing it!” It’s all Robert Gulley’s fault. He had the temerity to post an article about the XHDATA D-220 […]

Like some others of my age (roughly) who have posted here, I vastly prefer radios that do NOT mute between tuning steps . . . that provide smooth, continuous tuning. So, does anyone know of any true, new, currently in production, radios with an analog receiver? Could be AM, FM, and/or shortwave? And, if there […]

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Size matters . . . especially when it comes to antennas. In general, the more aluminum or wire you can get up in the air (presuming, of course, that it is properly designed), the more signal you are going to pull in. A radio friend has a 560-foot loop erected on […]

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM I had intended to travel light; I really did . . . but I betrayed my best intentions. Instead of a “minimal” radio go-bag, I had stuffed a small cross-body bag with: a ham radio handi-talkie (a Yaesu VX-6R) with high-performance antenna, extra batteries for the handi-talkie, a car plug-in adaptor […]

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM The syllables coming through the headphones were unknown to me. Clearly it was a language, but not one that I knew. So I logged it: 2/18/24, 1101Z, 1660 kHz, unknown language, orchestral music. (I later found out it was a Korean language station from New Jersey.) Then I moved on down […]