Category: Radio

Ulefone 3w ruggedised smartphone

By GarfPosted on Cat Electronics, Journal, Linux, Photography, Radio, Technology2 CommentsTags
I recently purchased an unlocked Chinese Ulefone Armor 3W. - c/w  Mediatek chipset, 8-core 64-bit CPU, dual unlocked SIM slots, 256GiB TF slot and 10700mAH battery. I have quite a soft-spot for cheap generic Chinese phones. Of course, one has to choose the product quite carefully. You need to ensure your preferred device is not hobbled, or encumbered with masses of bloatware. If you want to make the device really useful then one also needs to be prepared to a little work oneself - especially if you wish to root the device. Because of its high power and relatively low… Read More ►

Roamer Ten

By GarfPosted on Cat Journal, Radio, Technology, Vintage Radio EquipmentLeave a commentTags
I was 12 years old when I built my first multi-band shortwave radio - a Radio Exchange Roamer Ten kit - as pictured above. After many nights surreptitiously listing to it hidden under the bedclothes so my mum never found out, I soon realised just how insular and generally pisspoor most our media is in here the UK. Back in the day, at least we had a fairly "world class" BBC World Service - which of course has been severely downgraded in recent years since the FO decided not to fund it any more. Meantime, my father read the Daily… Read More ►

Sony ICF2001

By GarfPosted on Cat Radio, Technology, Vintage Radio EquipmentLeave a commentTags
The lovely Alexa Allure wearing a cheongsam dress and listening to the world on a 1981 vintage Sony ICF 2001 multiband receiver. Back in the day, Sony used to be one of the market leaders in shortwave radios. Its big selling feature was the continuous AM band that covered all the standard LF, MF and HF frequencies, 150kHz though to 30,000kHz. Thus it received conventional longwave, mediumwave and shortwave bands in a big single band. In addition to standard AM reception it would also handle SSB (single sideband) and CW (continuous wave) transmissions via the switch on the front. It… Read More ►
Radio Pécs International played in the excellent KRadio4 player for Linux users with the KDE desktop

“This Is HansinUngarn, from Pécs Hungary…”

By GarfPosted on Cat Journal, RadioTags
[caption id="attachment_349" align="alignnone"] "This Is HansinUngarn, from Pécs Hungary"[/caption] "...playing his favourite music, I hope you like it." These are the first words you will hear when you connect to the internet radio stream of Radio Pécs International. And I recently had the pleasure of meeting the man behind the show, Hans Randau. His station is located in a small basement room in his lovely home, which overlooks Pécs, a Mediterranean style town about 200km south of the Hungarian capital, Budapest. HansinUngarn, playing his favourite music, 2014-01-07... Hans is a German citizen who married a Hungarian lady, way back in… Read More ►
Fifty years between them: Goodmans DSR80DAB & Bush VHF61

Internet radio tuner

By GarfPosted on Cat Journal, RadioTags
Editor's note: the Garfnet internet Radio player has been discontinued and this article amended accordingly. However the streams have all been updated and can be played through your browser or separate media player. This is a brief introduction to Internet radio. In a nutshell, we finally had to abandon GarfNet's somewhat ageing internet radio & TV tuner. This used to appear when you click the Internet Radio item on left side of the page. The "tuner" then automagically appeared at the top of the left hand column, just above the Index. It should be said there are plans for a… Read More ►
Icom R-20

How to install CS-R20 software for Icom IC-R20 on Linux

By GarfPosted on Cat FAQ, Journal, Linux, Radio, Technology, WindowsTags
It seems that with a little determination, the CS-R20 for the Icom IC-R20 software can be persuaded to run on Linux. I eventually made the CS-R20 software load under Kubuntu Linux using Crossover (a commercial implementation of WINE). The method in this article should work with many other Debian-derived Linuxes too, perhaps with a little tweak here and there! The IC-R20's USB to RS232 chipset is automatically detected and a module is loaded for it in modern Linuxes - so no need for a driver. The only issue, at time of writing, is that whilst the CS-R20 software can write… Read More ►
Icom R-20

Icom IC-R20 radio scanner

By GarfPosted on Cat Journal, Radio, TechnologyTags
Being a geeky type of chap, I generally find that the best way to guarantee that Santa puts a decent geek-friendly Christmas present in my stocking is to buy it myself! So this year I treated myself to an Icom IC-R20 hand-held, all-band communications receiver/scanner. I have always had a penchant for small communications receivers. My present and very well-worn collection consists of... Sony ICF 2001 Sony ICF 7600D Yupiteru 7100 AOR 8000 c/w data kit AOR 8200 Mk1 c/w data kit Miscellany of Chinese-manufactured Kaide & Kchibo shortwave receivers I picked up cheaply in various Hong Kong street markets.… Read More ►