Episode XIX: Interview with Sjef Verhoeven PE5PVB on the TEF6686 and OpenRadio Discord

The VHF DX Podcast

Is spring in the air at your QTH? It won't be long until E-Skip and rumors of Sporadic-E begin floating around the interwebs. Until then, Bryce and Nick bring you another off-season episode of the VHF DX Podcast. After recapping conditions, including a very notable February TEP log from CE3SX (formerly CE3SAD) of 92.7 WEOW from Central Chile, the duo was thrilled to be able to talk with Sjef Verhoeven from the Netherlands!

Sjef talked with us about:

• How he became interested in radio receivers and FM broadcast DX
• What the TEF chip was originally designed for and how it became part of a portable receiver
• How Sjef joined the TEF ecosystem and began working on developing its firmware
• Evaluating the right TEF receiver for purchase
• Version 2.0 firmware features, including how RDS PI decodes are managed

• Sjef also discussed additional ongoing OpenRadio projects, including:

1. The Sony XDR-GTK
2. The FM-DX-Webserver plugin and the ability to share your TEF with the world
3. Maps on FMDX.pl

We highly encourage DXers to join the OpenRadio Discord for the best way to stay on top of firmware updates to the TEF plus engage with an active DX community!

Links from the show:

• The super helpful TEF buying guide from Noobish!
• OpenRadio Community Discord server
• All of Sjef's projects
• Sjef's GitHub page
• FM-DX Webserver
• FM-DX Maps
• The helpful YouTube video on running TEF firmware updates we referenced

We thank Sjef gain very much for his time and would strongly encourage buying him a coffee if you enjoy the TEF firmware as much as we do!