Aug 2, 2015
This edition of the programme involved phoning more than 9 different shortwave stations in the USA as non-government licences to broadcast internationally were dished out by the FCC, following the lead of WRNO in New Orleans. We also tested the Philips AC739, one of the few car radio shortwave receivers with more than the 49 metre band on them. I guess there are probably no surviving examples for this set left on the planet. I remember using it for a couple of years, but it was incredibly fiddly to change stations. Not recommended while driving.
My dad Alan had the electronic tune version of the Philips multiband shortwave car cassette stereo fitted to his Vauxhall Cavalier and we would listen to various SW stations in the United Kingdom on SW while going places;I would put Radio Luxembourg on via 6090kHz from the four post 500kW omnidirectional transmitter @ Junglinster and he would often put BBC World Service on via 6195kHz and 9140kHz (the two European transmitters;9140 from Cyprus and 6195 from Skelton which could be picked up easily in the UK). To have the world on tap when travelling by car was interesting-it's a shame Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) has not taken off via the MW LW and SW bands because it would have carried on this mantle but in much much better quality and with better ease-of-use (the AFS feature in DRM transmissions would retune the set to keep good reception on different frequencies where reception is poor on DRM-SW). An interesting piece of kit.