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My pleasure, thanks David!

Hi Vasanth, unfortunately there is no one PDF where you can find all the frequencies and stations. The WRTH Handbook is very good, but it is a paid app. You can use short-wave.info or shortwavedb.org, both those sites are good and free to use.

Hi Anthony, I agree, perfect for situations like that!

Do you mean does it mute while you are tuning? It does.

Hi Arnie, thanks for your comment! Perhaps my radio is 1 kHz off, apparently this is an issue on some of the PL-680 radios. But, to be honest, most of the time the frequencies are spot-on, so these two might just have sounded better when tuned slightly off-frequency... I haven't heard any of these Chinese coastal radio channel markers, so this one from Guangzhou is a first for me. But the EiBi listing was a bit confusing, a viewer (also in Poland) pointed out that it was not Tianjin, as listed by EiBi, but Guangzhou. What is the frequency for Istanbul Radio? I will try to catch that one. And I'll try for the other two Chinese ones also.

@@swlistening I'm sitting right next to my laptop w/ SDR running, plugged to my large loop (well, one of two I had last winter), so I decided to make a bit of a bandscan for these maritime markers: I'll give all frequencies as center frequencies for the signal, tune down any amount to get whatever pitch you like in USB :) 8416.5 UDK Murmansk Radio SITOR-B/NAVTEX, very strong peaking S9+35dB 8419.5 v.weak carrier ?? 8421.0 XSQ Guangzhou Radio almost peaking S9 8424.0 SVO Olympia Radio, dash & DE SVO in CW, S9+10 8425.5 XSG Shanghai Radio, only S7 8431.0 TAH Istanbul Radio, S9 8436.0 unknown FSK/RTTY, traffic a bit intermittent, peaking S8 Murmansk is just too strong at the moment to catch XSQ on 8417.5! EDIT: after 2000z, a FAX signal has appeared on 8442.1 kHz USB, S9+10dB signal. must be another Murmansk, listed as RBW41. Also: 4212.0 XSQ mixing w/ some weak tone 4215.0 XSG S9 in noise 4232.0 a spur of an FT8 signal :O 4560.0 there is another TAH, a bit out-of-band, S9+5 And on another band: 12610.0 ruZZian Navy CIS-36-50, S9+25dB 12613.0 XSQ S9 but sounds really healthy, low noise :) 12637.5 XSG S9 12648.5 XSQ S9+5dB 12654.0 TAH S5 only, skip zone 🤷‍♂ Finally 16 MHz, surprisingly not empty: 16880.0 XSQ S6 w/ QSB Hope this helps :)

@@ArnieDXer Thank you so much Arnie, I've noted them all down and will monitor over the coming days. Will let you know how it goes!

Being slightly off-frequency especially in SSB is a common issue on PL-660/680. My 660 does it too. There is a recalibration procedure (easy to find here on RUclips) but I've never managed to effectively correct the small shift. Maybe it's just me.

Indeed, there certainly are so many interesting radio transmissions that we don't always bother to check. I find it really enjoyable when I come upon strange noises or voices outside the regular broadcast bands to check what they might be. It is a lot of fun!

@@swlistening That's a fair statement, bru. I really have to be in the right mood to go signal hunting. It requires patience to turn that frequency knob 1 kHz at a time, hoping to receive the right transmissions at the right time. Sometimes, daily life gets in the way. My cats ask for food or attention at the most ridiculous times of the day and they also like to have at least one radio playing something in the background so they would fall asleep. 😑🐈 Fortunately for my cats, they aren't picky enough as to what foreign language they'd like to hear on shortwave. 😎 I like to imagine myself being stationed on a light house with a few desktop shortwave receivers in front of me. 😀

@@StratmanII Very true, these utility signals call for an entirely different frame of mind compared to broadcast DXing 😀 You need lots of patience. But it's the kind of thing you can do while feeding your cats, just leave the radio parked on a frequency and do your chores until you hear something. I actually do that at times with utility signals. I'll find a frequency and then just do other things, like replying to emails, or doing some work. And then sometimes something comes through. That's actually how I heard Seychelles Radio last week. How wonderful it would be to DX in a lighthouse!

Hey Arnie, really great news about the Qodosen. I hope you will share your impressions with me when you get it. I hope you are as pleased by it as I have been! The whole AWR thing still seems to be a bit of a mystery. I haven't seen any updates or new information on either the WOR group or in any other place. I think we will probably only know when the B24 schedules come out. I am quite curious to see what will happen with Voice of Hope Africa from Lusaka. They don't list any official affiliation with AWR on their website, but they do broadcast AWR Wavescan every week, so I am wondering if Voice of Hope maybe has some kind of link with AWR. Which could, of course, mean that AWR could use the Lusaka transmitter for some of their African-language transmissions. There is a message on the Voice of Hope website that says "Discussions and planning IS currently underway to expand our Voice of Hope broadcast reach further into North Africa and Asia. More to announce soon!" I asked Anna about the PL-880 and PL-990x, I will let you know what she says.

@@swlistening will do 😃 I plan to use it for portable FM & MW DX, maybe some antenna experiments. I'm curious of its ability to pick up LW/MW just on a telescoping whip :) Wavescan might be an AWR programme but they outsourced its production to WRMI. And Dr Adrian Peterson's historic features are read by Ray Robinson of now deceased KVOH, which was a North American version of Voice of Hope, hence the broadcasts on Voice of Hope Africa. But then, Wavescan is also carried by IRRS SW on 1323 MW out of Italy... and I don't know what kind of agreement there is in force.

@@ArnieDXer I'm also quite curious to hear about your LW experience with the Qodosen. No luck on my side yet. I won't be entirely surprised if we do start hearing some AWR from Lusaka in future. Waiting with anticipation for the B24 schedules!

I will monitor that one also, maybe I can hear the "Sky King" drill!

Glad it was helpful Tariq!

The new price will be $118.

@@swlistening There are still a few PL-660’s around for less than $100. In your opinion is a $118 PL-680 with it over a PL-660?

@@ditto1958 I don't have a PL-660, so I can only answer based on what I know and what I have read. It sounds to me as if these two radios are almost exactly the same, with the PL-680 marginally better on SW and the PL-660 marginally better on MW. They appear to be basically the same for SSB listening. All features are the same. In my experience the PL-680 is a really great radio, so if the PL-660 is basically the same, as others have said, then, by all means, get the PL-660 at the lower price.

Upon further review, the PL - 660 radios that were available for less than $100 just a couple of weeks ago now seem to be gone. They can still be found, but for prices. So it looks like a new PL 680 when they come out again will actually be a pretty decent deal, if not a really good one.

@@ditto1958 Yes, if the PL-660 is sold out, I think $118 for the PL-680 is not a bad price. You get a very good, real analogue radio for your money. Recommended without hesitation from my side.

My pleasure Frank!

Thanks for decoding the message :-)

Hi Randy, thanks! I haven't decoded any of these digital modes or charts yet, but it is something I would like to try.

I from Tucson, Arizona and my old babysitter’s husband was a U.S. Air Force Staff sergeant that was stationed there in 1970-71 24 hours on an 72 hours off at that silo. Even in school we knew that Tucson would be on the top of the old Soviet hit parade…if WWIII ever broke out. Have a great day!

Hi Piero, thanks for your comment. Interesting to hear about how busy this frequency used to be. Maybe VHF was down, as you say, although I think perhaps some flights crossing the Indian Ocean might use this frequency regularly. I'll keep monitoring it.

My pleasure David, glad you enjoyed it!

Indeed! But the price will will be a bit higher, unfortunately.

EiBi lists it as XSV?

@@swlistening You can just hear it. Last letter is --.- which is Q.

@@swlistening Yes it was XSV on this frequency but now as you hear it's XSQ.

@@oz_dxThanks. Then EiBi is incorrect.

Hi Craig, it is indeed... I think the link to the earlier video will not work anymore, I deleted it and uploaded this one. Pity it wasn't Kaliningrad, but I guess Tianjin is also a nice catch.

@@swlistening he is a very smart lad he will figure it out i am sure,almost like the movie on the beach

Thanks Liam. I think for these US emergency action messages one needs to park on a frequency for several hours and just wait, they appear to be quite random. I have caught them before, on another frequency. This is only my second time.

@@swlistening I guess I was really lucky or they just had a lot of messages.

Hi Garech, yes, it has to do with signal quality. It is a scale that ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 being worse, 5 being best. S is signal, I is interference, N is noise, P is propagation and O is overall.

Cool, thanks Andre.

Thanks!

Very good idea Matt! It will keep you busy 😉

Glen, I think if you already have the PL-660 you probably don't need the PL-680. From what I've read they seem to be very similar. There are some marginal differences in terms of sensitivity, with the PL-680, apparently, being slightly more sensitive on SW and the PL-660 slightly more sensitive on MW. But the difference, apparently, is really small.

@@swlistening I'm just getting that urge to buy another radio. Maybe a PL-330 would an option. I have a PL-600 which is starting to show its age so I could do with replacing it.

@@Hiram8866 Well, now that you put it this way... Why not 😁

We had a massive snow storm a week ago, in spring ❄️ Not here in Johannesburg, but on the Drakensberg mountains to the east. We just got the cold here. Now it does feel like spring, nice and warm. Hopefully your fall will arrive soon!

If you do need one, this will be a great choice! That little scratch is really small, so I'm not too bothered about it.

It sure is!

It is sad news indeed. Another one down... I think ORS will probably focus on other transmission modes, like digital. Maybe ORF will move their shortwave programmes to another transmitter, maybe Bulgaria or Germany? Who knows...

​@@swlisteningThe only way will find out is when the site is closed which I don't want to see happen.

AFAIK, ORF was relayed on 6155 kHz on voluntary basis only by ORS engineers themselves. ORF did introduce some additional broadcasts on SW at the beginning of war in Ukraine, but I think they were gone very quickly, possibly even quicker than the BBC silenced their own specials 🤡 and I've never gotten around to even checking them out 😆 In fact, ORF/ORS had even cut the morning relay on 6155 since then, to run 35 minutes instead of 70-80. So I think they will disappear completely with Moosbrunn's closure.

BTW there's a quite lengthy transmission from VMC on 8176 USB, so long that the warnings given (lots of geocoordinates!) was seemingly interrupted abruptly for a schedule announcement! Very weak here, maybe 12365 is better? Off now @ 2021z but to resume at 2030z, like every BOH. Something to check out :)

Another odd tip, just fresh off the press :) CNR1 DIDN'T sign-on at 2025z as they would normally do on Mondays only! Instead, 1377 kHz (600kW there, also supposed to have those 1805-2025z breaks) was already running a programme at 2021z, while 4800 didn't start modulating (mid-programme) until 2025z, as scheduled. Yes, it is still Monday UTC 😵

Thanks for your comment. Since this video I have used the AN-200 much more on many different radios and it actually works wonderfully well. There are some newer videos on my channel where I used the AN-200 with my Qodosen DX-286 and I picked up stations from Europe, the Middle East, North Africa... I have a feeling the day I made this specific video conditions were just not good.

Indeed!

😀 Paul, I think it is very good news in the end that Tecsun did manage to get the parts they need to continue making this radio. I really enjoy the PL-680.

My pleasure, glad you enjoy it!

Thank you! I think many people enjoy the podcast format. It makes it possible to just listen and not miss anything, you still get the full story. Fun for me to make also! I'm actually not so sure if the Tecsun situation was a marketing scheme. Maybe... But initial reports and rumours about the parts shortage did not come from Tecsun or Anna. I contacted them to find out what was going on only after I started hearing the rumours, which they then confirmed.

Thanks for your comment Garrech! You are lucky, I think you got one of the very last PL-660's. I think both the PL-660 and PL-680 are really great radios, I am also very happy with my PL-680. Like you, I think the SSB is really great. The difference between these two is really minimal. Reviewers seem to agree that MW is marginally better on the PL-660 and SW is marginally better on the PL-680, but overall they are pretty much the same. Good old analogue technology!

​@@swlisteningI didn't realise how great the analogue would be. Even today I was tuning the lw band and with the signal meter I could find 3 different ndb signals, without the chuffing that is normal on the likes of the pl330 I feel much more inclined to manual tune rather than just rely on etm scans. Lucky us!!

@@Protocallireland This is so true. One doesn't realise the difference between analogue and DSP until you actually start using a good analogue radio. It makes such a difference, being able to hear everything while you are tuning. Right now, as I am typing this, I just received Morse code from a Russian military base in Kaliningrad. Just by tuning slowly, hearing something come up, fine-tuning, and there it is!

​@@swlisteningamazing v cool catch!

@@Protocallireland Thanks Garech!

My pleasure Anthony, glad you enjoyed it.

True :-) I guess most pocket radios are more or less clones of one another, not too much you can do in terms of design with such a small radio.

Hi Lew, thanks for your comment. If you need another radio I will recommend this, but I think if your D-328 is serving you well, then you probably don't need this one. Unless you want something really small that you can carry around anywhere.

Thank you Tariq!

@@swlistening welcome 🤗

Hi Alain, thank you so much! I was quite excited about this one, because I have tried this frequency many times in the past, but I have never heard anything. As you say, the thing with the HF air traffic frequencies is that you simply have to listen at the right time, but it's kind of impossible to know when the right time is :-) These transmissions are always very random. So what I learned from this specific catch is that I just need to park on a frequency and listen for a very long time. Eventually something might happen. Thanks for the explanation about the SECALL tones, I did not know about that. I hear these tones often when I monitor HF air traffic, but I never really knew what they meant. The Seychelles are not that far away from me, flight time is only five hours, and the distance is about 4000 km, so not very far at all. But still, this is a nice one for me. I also catch Mumbai quite often these days, that is a bit more distant, about 7000 km. But my best HF air traffic catch was Manila, I caught that a year ago, I have a video on my channel. That is a distance of 11000 km. Here is the video: ruclips.net/video/scgqIp4dA_Q/видео.html

I will gladly join you on one of those flights to the Seychelles! Looks like a dream destination.

Thank you so much for your comment. I have made some videos about how shortwave works, but if you have specific questions, feel free to ask! I will gladly make another video to explain how shortwave works. About how I know what the stations are and where they come from: There are various websites where it is possible to find the frequencies, and to see where these stations come from. One good site is short-wave.info

Bon soir Robert :-) What a wonderful place to have lived in! I would love to visit some day, the flight from South Africa is only about 5 hours.

@@swlistening I hope you visit the Seychelles some day I can assure you that you would enjoy every minute in that paradise....

@@robertvandervelde60 I am sure I will, it looks like a real tropical paradise!

Indeed! These HF air traffic signals gives us DXers the chance to hear some interesting locations.

​@@swlistening I like to hear the Gander Radio signals a lot (not the volmet. Also, RUclips notified me 9 seconds after you commented. Usually it takes two minutes!)

@@theshortwavearchive35 Mach 1 on RUclips 🤣 I have also caught some HF air traffic from Mumbai, Chennai, Manila, Santa Maria (Azores) and Shannon. Santa Maria and Shannon were very weak though, the other three were listenable. I really enjoy HF air traffic. I do also enjoy catching the Volmets 😀Anything to do with air travel is fun for me.

That island airport looks very inviting indeed! I read a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal this week about GPS systems on planes being hacked, all around the world. This causes, among other things, the satellite communication systems on board to jam up. Which, in my opinion, just shows how important HF and VHF radio remains on aeroplanes. When all else fails, let's return to good old radio technology :-) Here is the article: www.wsj.com/business/airlines/electronic-warfare-spooks-airlines-pilots-and-air-safety-officials-60959bbd I wasn't a subscriber, but when I saw this article I clicked on the subscribe button and they had a special offer of $2 per month for a year. So I signed up. Been very impressed so far, it is a very good newspaper. Not as partisan as some other US media outlets, like the New York Times (on the left) or Fox News (on the right). WSJ seems to be quite centrist and objective.

Hi Glen, I have also heard Mumbai on 8879, it is actually the one that I seem to catch most often. I think in some cases HF is just a back-up, as you say, but I think there are still instances when airliners are in the middle of vast oceans where they still rely on HF for some of their communication needs. The messaging system used on planes, ACARS, relies on VHF, so it only works overland. And satellite communication, from what I have read on some aviation blogs, while used by most airliners, is not ubiquitous, that is why a number of airliners still use HF radio when crossing oceans.

it's not so much a backup than a cheaper means of communication than satellite comms when out of reach of VHF. Still very much used. Commercial aircraft use low-bandwidth satellite data links for different purposes (including ACARS too, not to be confused with ADS-B), but not for voice comms. Well, most if not all crews in commercial aircraft do have satellite phones, but these are used as backups.

Small, single or twin engined propeller aircraft generally don't have sophisticated communications equipment like satellite as they're very expensive. At the very least, small aircraft would have a VHF and HF radio, plus the mandatory transponder equipment. Nevertheless, VHF AM remains the primary means of communication with the ATC. At a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet an aircraft's radio transmission on VHF can reach up to 322 kms. Aircraft waypoints are usually shorter than 800 kms from one waypoint to another and on trans-oceanic flights pilots would contact the nearest ATC every 30 minutes or so, to report their current position. Commercial flights always takes routes that are the nearest to populated areas with airports, should the flight need to be diverted in an emergency. That's why there are no commercial aircraft overflying the Himalayas or the empty southern Indian Ocean. 🙂

@@F4LDT-Alain It's interesting that you mention the fact that it is a cheaper means of communication Alain. This thought did cross my mind also, I think there are many airlines with quite tight budgets and satellite communication can be really expensive. So it makes sense to me that some (maybe many) would continue to use HF radio. It certainly isn't just a back-up option, the many air traffic radio stations around the world that are still operating are evidence of the fact that HF radio is still used regularly by airlines. Lucky for us!

@@StratmanII Indeed. And when they are flying over empty oceans, they would need HF radio to contact the nearest ATC, which might be some thousands of kilometres away. Flights from Singapore or China to South Africa, for example, cross vast stretches of empty ocean. From here going east, after crossing Madagascar and before reaching Indonesia, there aren't really any islands or land anywhere near the flight paths. Not to mention flights across the Pacific, or flights across the Atlantic from Europe to South America.

Hey Matt, I have never heard this one before, it's not very busy, so you need to be really patient and wait for something to happen :-)

Hi Kailash, you are right, this is a very good little radio!