Original: Radio Review Translation.
This topic has been in my mind for a long time, and I have not started writing. Not long ago, two major events happened in the circle of foreign radio lovers, which touched me a lot, so I simply wrote some fragmentary thoughts around this topic.
One or two major events
What are the two major events? One is Dave Zanto, a well-known American radio reviewer and former senior editor of the book "Passport to World Band Radio", who died in a car accident in the hospital on December 6, 2023, at the age of 66. About six years ago, when I first started translating foreign radio review articles, I started with his magnum opus, I remember that there was an English word I couldn't get rid of, and I emailed him for advice, and he enthusiastically explained it to me, and our communication was very pleasant.
He has his own special **d**e's radio receiver page, which includes a large number of reviews of radios, receivers, and transceivers that he has created, especially after the "shortwave Bible" was discontinued, this private ** is his main stage. Sustaining this passion for radio, radio and radio is not easy, as evidenced by the fact that he accepts donations and tips from enthusiasts.
In the past few years, I have been browsing his **, and I have also translated many of these radio articles, which have helped me understand many radios more objectively and comprehensively.
However, with his unfortunate death, all the content included in this ** has been emptied, but fortunately, the foreign qsl** has his column, and these contents can still be seen. But this incident reminds us that the radio ecosystem is fragile, and who can guarantee that the content on QSL will survive forever?
Another big event, which is also bad news, this time not in the United States, but in the United Kingdom. Andrew Ikin, the head of the well-known Wilbrook Communications Company, passed away due to illness on October 25, 2023.
Maybe some friends don't know much about this person, but when it comes to the famous Wellbrook active loop antenna, many domestic players must have heard of it. This series of antennas was produced by his company, or rather, he was built by himself, and foreign radio players on both sides of the ocean respected him as "antenna manufacturing master".
Unfortunately, I haven't used the original Wellbrook Active Loop Antenna. About two years ago, I contacted the UK ** of a certain treasure, and the **to hand** of a Wilbrook loop antenna was about 4300 yuan, and I was reluctant to start at that time. But I've been using the domestic high-imitation version, even if it's a high-imitation version, the performance is a strong horse. Let's put it this way, it ranks first in terms of performance among the active loop antennas I've used. The high-imitation version is still like this, and the performance of the original can be imagined.
Back in the end of April 2023, with the retirement of Andrew Ikin, the company ceased to manufacture and sell antennas. In other words, a well-known series of antennas has come to an end.
I've just logged in to the link to the company's official website that I saved in my computer browser, and I've been automatically redirected to another homepage. Andrew and the company's official website have gone so thoroughly!
Do you think this radio ecosystem is fragile?
Second, there is a foreshadowing
These two incidents are not uncommon, and many similar incidents have been staged at home and abroad many years ago.
Let's talk about it first, it was also last year, an American transistor radio player's **disappeared.** There are many transistor radio review articles in it, ** extremely exquisite, the background information of the radio is extremely detailed, and his love for such old radios can be seen between the lines. I translated a few of these articles, and I had planned to translate a few more, but now that ** is closed, valuable transistor radio resources are gone.
Let's talk about it again, a few years ago, Mr. Huo Dinghong (screen name: I am from Hong Kong), a well-known radio collector in China, traveled westward by crane, and his personal ** and nearly 100 "Weekly Machine Storage" review articles on it were also gone. Although a few ** in China have included some before, it is not comprehensive, which is a pity!
Some friends may ask: Isn't it just a **, let it come back to life. In a few months, won't the Tianya community reopen!
Don't say it, some radios are really coming back to life! There is a foreign country called "Medium Wave Circle", which is made by a group of players who play with remote medium wave weak signal reception, and is known as "Europe's top medium wave club". In addition to publishing some medium-wave developments, it also includes a complete collection of evaluation articles created by Dutch Radio, commonly known as "Dutch Radio Evaluation". Years ago, this ** was forced to close due to a lack of funds. Unexpectedly, it was later reopened with financial support. The layout is more beautiful than before, and the previous information has been retained, and it is still being updated, the most recent article was published in November 2023, about the experience of a British player who received a weak signal in the Far East.
More serious friends may jokingly ask: Is there any resurrection and then hang up again?
Yes! Our domestic radio enthusiast forum is ah! The first one was in 2008, when it was about to be closed, Mr. Zeng Deping, who was still working in Lexin Radio Company at the time, that is, the designer of the SR-286 radio that was out of the circle last year donated a server worth 17,000 yuan, Guangtan was able to survive, and since then, there has been a link to the top of the home page of Guangtan "Lexin Electrical".
Also in 2008, a player named "Shanghai Mason" was engaged in something, and the person in charge of Guangtan, Rotten Wood, was invited to tea. **The server was forced to move to Hong Kong and was managed by Mr. Fok Ting-hung above. After the death of Mr. Huo Dinghong, Guangtan was briefly closed. It is said that Rotten Wood went to Hong Kong to retrieve the server and data disk, and soon after it ran again, in August 2020, Guangtan was completely shut down!
The rotten wood left this passage:
It's time to say goodbye, only memories remain!
Marutakeyi Nioshi Oike.
Hexagonal brocade.
Four Ayato, Takamatsu Mango, and five Articles.
Snow Fish Shed.
Six, seven
Hachijo Toji Road.
Nine Radio Lovers Forum: 1999 2020
I just opened the link to Guangtan, and this passage is still there!
Radio enthusiast forum, the earliest radio after the rise of the Internet in simplified China, the most complete radio information in China, a record of the rise and fall of domestic radio companies from 1999 to 2020, a carrier of countless domestic players happy spare time, even afraid that everyone will lose their minds and have to carry the "anti-addiction tool", a only release radio and radio information and never accept any commercial advertisements, a countless people on it, Even bet on the ** who swore to cut the balls, and it was gone!
O my youth!
3. The radio high-quality author list ecosystem is really fragile
Everything has its own stage, and he has also served as a glamorous protagonist on the stage. The highlight of radio was in the sixties and seventies of the last century. In the eighties and nineties, it gave way to television sets. In the new century, it has once again given way to the Internet.
Today's radio ecosystem is made up of manufacturers, merchants, and consumers (players), and any fluctuation in any of the three will affect this fragile ecosystem. In the past few years, foreign Sony and Panasonic no longer develop high-end radios, and the Gende trademark has been resold many times. Domestic Lexin and Anjian disappeared, Kailong and Dejin were dying, Desheng was making breakthroughs in transformation, and the mountains were ...... in the spring and snowIt can be seen that this link of the manufacturer is not very good.
The merchants are also miserable, I used to be able to see the radio counter in the local mall, and I could drool over the various radios inside, and I could ask the salesperson to take them out for me to fiddle with. Nowadays, I can't find a radio counter in my local shopping mall. This isn't my local case, is it? Is it similar to the north and south of the river?
Players are not much better in this regard, they are all a group of middle-aged and elderly people playing, you look at the gatherings of radio players or radio lovers all over the motherland**, all of them are a group of old men, not to mention young guys, it is more difficult to find a middle-aged player.
In the foreseeable and not-so-distant future, more and more radio players will leave, radios will be turned off one by one, and there will naturally be fewer and fewer manufacturers.
One day, the fragile radio ecosystem will collapse.
Let's play and cherish!
ENDS