Radio users?

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

Hello FMs
Doubtlessly many of us here used to listen to radio programmes in our childhood days. Though now we have so many options to listen to music.... Physical media, digital media etc, we can't forget radio programmes and even today we can listen to FM stations or internet radio along side listening to SW and MW. I am curious to know how many of you are still listening to MW or SW in your old box type radio instead of a sophisticated radio tuner? As for myself ,I am still listening to programmes aired by the Akashbani kolkata in my Philips transistor. Would be glad if FMs using old type radio share their experiences here.
Regards

 

[Subbu68]

Saw your post now after I posted thread with my collection of radios (that you reacted to ).

I don't have a 'transistor" radio other than a MW radio (6 transistor) assembled by my daughter. All radios I have are IC based analog tuned or PLL synthesized and new ones DSP.

Seeing the performance of DSP radios I doubt if old transistor radios now have a chance.

I have linked to a couple of videos comparing a flagship Grundig S350 analog radio to C.Crane EP PRO a modern DSP radio in my thread.

 

[A K Bhattacharjee]

Perhaps I have skipped this thread. Better late than never. In total I have four radios, two Philips transistors, one Bush two in one & one receiver. Transistors are three bands & two bands respectively having MW & SW. Two in one is a four band radio & the receiver is FM/AM/Satellite radio. I use all of them by turn but listen to transistors daily. I start my days with bhajans tuning to Akashwani & end with old film songs from "Vivid Bharati".
Oh, I forget to mention about my father's valve radio. The radio is in working condition but the valves needs replacement, which are very rare to find.

 

[Subbu68]

Perhaps I have skipped this thread. Better late than never. In total I have four radios, two Philips transistors, one Bush two in one & one receiver. Transistors are three bands & two bands respectively having MW & SW. Two in one is a four band radio & the receiver is FM/AM/Satellite radio. I use all of them by turn but listen to transistors daily. I start my days with bhajans tuning to Akashwani & end with old film songs from "Vivid Bharati".
Oh, I forget to mention about my father's valve radio. The radio is in working condition but the valves needs replacement, which are very rare to find.

Which frequency does Vividh Bhrathi broadcast? Is it MW or FM? Maybe I can pull them in?

I used to listen to it on SW but is gone for good I believe.

 

[sunder]

Hello FMs
Doubtlessly many of us here used to listen to radio programmes in our childhood days. Though now we have so many options to listen to music.... Physical media, digital media etc, we can't forget radio programmes and even today we can listen to FM stations or internet radio along side listening to SW and MW. I am curious to know how many of you are still listening to MW or SW in your old box type radio instead of a sophisticated radio tuner? As for myself ,I am still listening to programmes aired by the Akashbani kolkata in my Philips transistor. Would be glad if FMs using old type radio share their experiences here.
Regards

Sir, Is Akashwani still broadcasting on Shortwaves for Old Hindi songs? or any other SW meters available for Indian film music or classical music? If they are still available, kindly let me know about the radio frequencies. Thanks.

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

Sir, Is Akashwani still broadcasting on Shortwaves for Old Hindi songs? or any other SW meters available for Indian film music or classical music? If they are still available, kindly let me know about the radio frequencies. Thanks.

Hello sir
Honestly I don't search for any SW channels as I used to do in past. These days those channels can't be listened to atleast in my vicinity. Even if occasionally i search for any such channels what I get is nothing but a very bad signal which is very disgusting. However, i do listen to Akashbani Moitree MW channel which is available at 594 kHz. This channel caters to Bengali songs, dramas, news etc. Perhaps some other knowledgeable FMs can chime in and say some thing more about the availability of the SW channels that are still in vogue.
Regards

 

[sunder]

Hello sir
Honestly I don't search for any SW channels as I used to do in past. These days those channels can't be listened to atleast in my vicinity. Even if occasionally i search for any such channels what I get is nothing but a very bad signal which is very disgusting. However, i do listen to Akashbani Moitree MW channel which is available at 594 kHz. This channel caters to Bengali songs, dramas, news etc. Perhaps some other knowledgeable FMs can chime in and say some thing more about the availability of the SW channels that are still in vogue.
Regards

I used to listen SW Srilanka Broadcasting Corporation for Hindi film songs and as well for the famous Binaca Geetmala on Wednesdays in the 60's & 70's. Those Golden days gone with the wind. Thanks for the reply.

 

[sbg]

I used to listen SW Srilanka Broadcasting Corporation for Hindi film songs and as well for the famous Binaca Geetmala on Wednesdays in the 60's & 70's. Those Golden days gone with the wind. Thanks for the reply.

..... ceylon lagado beta...
usual words from grandma and pops during childhood.

Thankfully they are gone. I can hardly have a minute of attention for 97% of the songs being played out now.

 

[Subbu68]

Hello sir
Honestly I don't search for any SW channels as I used to do in past. These days those channels can't be listened to atleast in my vicinity. Even if occasionally i search for any such channels what I get is nothing but a very bad signal which is very disgusting. However, i do listen to Akashbani Moitree MW channel which is available at 594 kHz. This channel caters to Bengali songs, dramas, news etc. Perhaps some other knowledgeable FMs can chime in and say some thing more about the availability of the SW channels that are still in vogue.
Regards

Thank you Sir.

I was able to catch Moitree on my Grundig sometime back sitting ~ 2000kms or more from Kolkata and AIR Chennai on I think 837kHz on my C.Crane. Rajkot comes in relatively clear and strong.

I read almost all AIR stations have moved to DRM. Going to try out a SDR dongle (in my next year budget).

There are still some MW stations for old time radios.

I used to listen SW Srilanka Broadcasting Corporation for Hindi film songs and as well for the famous Binaca Geetmala on Wednesdays in the 60's & 70's. Those Golden days gone with the wind. Thanks for the reply.

..... ceylon lagado beta...
usual words from grandma and pops during childhood.

Thankfully they are gone. I can hardly have a minute of attention for 97% of the songs being played out now.

@sunder @sbg Yes, Ceylon on 41m was really strong and so too Vividh Bharathi on 31m. Again these seem to have moved to DRM.

Current crop of songs as @sbg wrote are not listenable. Can be just background. Why they pass off Punjabi songs as Hindi I don't understand. Even most regional films songs (malayalam, tamil that I try to listen) are crap and even vulgar to some extent.

 

[Subbu68]

Sir, Is Akashwani still broadcasting on Shortwaves for Old Hindi songs? or any other SW meters available for Indian film music or classical music? If they are still available, kindly let me know about the radio frequencies. Thanks.

All AIR SW seems retired now .

You can plug in the SW broadcaster you want to know in this link and find the frequencies. No big result if you select AIR or All India Radio in the pull down menu.

Short-Wave Radio Frequency Schedule for BBC in ENGLISH

The short-wave radio frequencies used by station BBC for its international English language broadcasts, showing those on-air at 14:39GMT.

www.short-wave.info

 

[reubensm]

Some time ago a fellow FM enquired about the All Asia Service of the SBLC which used to be on the air from 6am to 10.30 am IST on the 49m band and from 6pm to 11pm on the 60m band. I am not sure if this service is available on shortwave any more as I dont have a radio to check. However during my visits to Colombo, I noticed they have dedicated English, Tamil and Sinhala FM channels. They are streaming these services via TuneIn as well. If you want to listen to the english broadcasts, which is mostly music, here is the link.

 

[A K Bhattacharjee]

Which frequency does Vividh Bhrathi broadcast? Is it MW or FM? Maybe I can pull them in?

I used to listen to it on SW but is gone for good I believe.

Yes, you are correct. Vivid Bharati is not available on SW band on regular basis. Sometimes it is available on 19m. I have noticed that it is clearly listenable on my Philips Commander transistor but not on the other one. I generally tune to local AIR where Vivid Bharati is available on 103.3 FM

 

[sunder]

I was able to catch Moitree on my Grundig sometime back sitting ~ 2000kms or more from Kolkata and AIR Chennai on I think 837kHz on my C.Crane. Rajkot comes in relatively clear and strong.

Sir, sharing the past experiences is giving the nostalgic feel with fondness & affectionateness . Thanks for the information.

 

[sunder]

Generally, sound quality & depth of fidelity in the music is ecstatic in shortwave frequency . Listening music in MW is something like joyless.

 

[Subbu68]

Generally, sound quality & depth of fidelity in the music is ecstatic in shortwave frequency . Listening music in MW is something like joyless.

True, used to wait for our parents to go to office on Saturdays to tune to Ceylon or Vividh Bharathi in the mornings. It was a joy then. Had Bush Baron 2 band. Never knew an external aerial would enhance the signal . Was always thinking the radio was not good enough. MW is called TALK RADIO in the US I believe for this reason.

If you DIY, you can try a downconverter to listen to DRM (Digital Radio Mondial) on normal radio with a PC. AIR has moved to DRM with simulcast in quite a few places I think. It is supposed to give FM quality audio.

https://www.eeweb.com/drm-down-converter-for-455khz-if-receivers/

Now yesterday night was a surprise - with this little fellow below I could get AIR Moitree on 594kHZ, AIR Indore 648kHZ and 1071kHZ, AIR External Service from Rajkot quite clear!!. No external aerial or loop to enhance. Moitree from Kolkata was a surprise. Then it was time to bed.

 

[reubensm]

Its true in some wierd way. Radio Ceylon SW broadcasts had superior quality in those times. If one wired the radio to an external amplifier and speaker, one would be able to hear real bass and treble, unlike the flat and screechy AIR transmissions on MW . I recollect going to my grand mother's home as a kid during the holidays and they had this daily ritual of playing radio ceylon's english service at 8pm on their huge valve radiogram. They had an internal mesh aerial but the reception was clear and stable, enjoyable and sounded almost as good as when they played records.

It was the time of the day when Radio Ceylon would play english oldies from Jim Reeves, Pat Boone, Skeeter Davis, Connie Francis, etc, etc. All used to gather around the radio, listen and socialize until around 10.00pm. I still recollect that western classical music used to come on at 10pm until 11pm when the station closed for the day. So effectively 10pm was time for us to retire for the day. We used to spend time there during the summer holidays, around 1977-1979.

 

[sunder]

Now yesterday night was a surprise - with this little fellow below I could get AIR Moitree on 594kHZ, AIR Indore 648kHZ and 1071kHZ, AIR External Service from Rajkot quite clear!!. No external aerial or loop to enhance. Moitree from Kolkata was a surprise.

Definitely will try Sir.

 

[sunder]

Its true in some wierd way. Radio Ceylon SW broadcasts had superior quality in those times. If one wired the radio to an external amplifier and speaker, one would be able to hear real bass and treble, unlike the flat and screechy AIR transmissions on MW . I recollect going to my grand mother's home as a kid during the holidays and they had this daily ritual of playing radio ceylon's english service at 8pm on their huge valve radiogram. They had an internal mesh aerial but the reception was clear and stable, enjoyable and sounded almost as good as when they played records.

It was the time of the day when Radio Ceylon would play english oldies from Jim Reeves, Pat Boone, Skeeter Davis, Connie Francis, etc, etc. All used to gather around the radio, listen and socialize until around 10.00pm. I still recollect that western classical music used to come on at 10pm until 11pm when the station closed for the day. So effectively 10pm was time for us to retire for the day. We used to spend time there during the summer holidays, around 1977-1979.

Dear Reubensm, is the 'internal mesh aerial' available anywhere? Thank you.

 

[Subbu68]

Dear Reubensm, is the 'internal mesh aerial' available anywhere? Thank you.

I searched a few minutes back. Unfortunately no. Not online. Maybe in some obscure radio shop in India?

 

[sunder]

I searched a few minutes back. Unfortunately no. Not online. Maybe in some obscure radio shop in India?

Will ask local radio technicians. They may have some used aerial materials. Thanks for the information.