V32 Persian/Farsi Numbers Station: March 13, 2026

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: V32 Persian/Farsi numbers station

Date of recording: March 13, 2026

Starting time: 0226 UTC

Frequency: 7.842 MHz

Receiver location: Israel

Receiver and antenna: Kiwi SDR with MLA-30+ Active antenna

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Background material obtained via Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.
This radio signal first started broadcasting on February 28, about 12 hours after the United States and Israel began bombing Iran.

A man's voice can be heard speaking Persian, counting out a series of apparently random numbers. The numbers are read out for varying stretches of time, followed by a pause in which the word tavajjoh -- which translates as "attention" -- is spoken three times. (around the 48 second mark in the attached recording)

Beginning on March 4, the signal started to be jammed, with a cacophonous screech of electronic noise that made it all but impossible to hear the numbers. The original transmission paused for a period of time, then moved to another shortwave frequency.

The transmission, that has been dubbed V32 by at least one group, is called a numbers station, a Cold War-era tool that employs radio transmissions and old-school cryptology to transmit secret messages, usually to spies around the world. It's location is suspected to be somewhere in central Europe.

The attached recording of V32 was made on March 13, 2026 around 0230 hours UTC on 7842 kHz upper sideband USB using a Kiwi SDR located in Israel. I began the recording on 7841.9 kHz, but switched after a few minutes to 7842 kHz. This will account for the change in voice pitch.

Also attached is a brief recording of the jamming signal, or “bubble jammer”, made on March 6, 2026 on 7910 kHz (V32’s original frequency) at 0218 UTC.

Polish Radio External Service (Via WRN and WRMI): September 26, 2025

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor Liam Spencer, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Polish Radio External Service (Via WRN and WRMI)

Date of recording: September 26, 2025

Starting time: 02:59 UTC

Frequency: 9.455 MHz

Reception location: Berthoud, Colorado, USA

Receiver and antenna: Sihuadon D-808 with telescopic antenna

Notes: After the withdrawal of most Overcomer Ministry broadcasts in the Summer of 2025. WRMI began relaying the World Radio Network North American stream to fill the empty hours. While this is great for many shortwave listeners, as we get to hear stations that used to broadcast on shortwave again. WRMI isn't making any money from broadcasting the World Radio Network, and it is unknown how long these will last. On September 26th, I recorded the Polish Radio External Service, as they became part of my daily listening thanks to WRMI. I used a cassette tape to record the broadcast. Sometime during the recording, a few seconds of the broadcast were cut as I had to flip over the tape to continue recording.

Radio Netherlands ('Media Network' Program): April 29, 1982

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Netherlands 'Media Network' Program

Date of recording: April 29, 1982

Starting time: Unknown

Frequency: unknown

Reception location: St.Louis, MO

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-2001

Notes: This is a partial recording of "Media Network," though most of the program is on this recording. My interest in this specific show was the feature on Radio Luxembourg, This program is not in the Jonathan Marks archive of his "Media Network" shows.

Radio Union (Lima, Peru): July 1, 1994

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Union, Lima Peru July 1994

Date of recording: July 01, 1994

Starting time: 0730-0815 UTC

Frequency: 6115 kHz

Your location: St.Louis, MO

Your receiver and antenna: Icom IC R-71-A

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Radio Union in Lima was a longtime favorite station of mine from the late 1980s through the 1990s. Radio Union was well heard in the overnight hours, and featured salsa, chicha, and huayno music. Long after it left shortwave, I listened to the station online, until it closed down a few years ago.

Radio Netherlands ('Media Network' Program): April 23, 1987

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Netherlands 'Media Network' Program

Date of recording: April 23, 1987

Starting time: Unknown

Frequency: Either 6165 or 9590 kHz

Reception location: St.Louis, MO

Receiver and antenna: Icom IC R-71-A

Notes: I recorded "Media Network" using a timer, and reused these tapes weekly. In this case, it became a time capsule. It is also not a show that is on Jonathan Marks' archive site.

Voice Of America (Breakfast Show): August 02, 1975

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Voice Of America 'Breakfast Show"

Date of recording: August 02, 1975

Starting time: Unknown

Frequency: unknown

Your location: St.Louis, MO

Your receiver and antenna: Multi-Band portable

NDR - Gruss an Bord: December 24, 2025

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COPYRIGHT NDR

Live, off-air, two-hour recording of the special annual Gruss an Bord program from German broadcaster NDR, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, on 24 December 2025. Gruss an Bord features music and greetings to and from mariners around the world. The Christmas greetings were recorded at an event in Hamburg.

Relatives and friends had the opportunity to wish their loved ones at sea a happy holiday and a happy new year. The Hamburg event was recorded on the third Sunday of Advent, 14 December, in the Duckdalben International Seamen's Club and was hosted by Susanne Stichler. The program included a number of special guests including Bishop Kirsten Fehrs; Hamburg's Senator for Economic Affairs, Melanie Leonhard; the Federal Government's Maritime Coordinator, Christoph Ploß; and Vice Admiral Axel Deertz. Music was provided by the folk music duo of Frank Grischek and Ralf Lübke. The broadcast was primarily in German, however there were several minutes in English when Filipino seamen were interviewed and some of the songs had English lyrics.

In addition to being carried on the NDR Info and NDR Info Spezial networks, the broadcast was transmitted around the world on shortwave using transmitters at Nauen, Germany; Issoudun, France; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and Okeechobee, Florida, U.S.A.; and was organized by Media Broadcast.

The scheduled frequencies (kHz) were:
6030 (via Issoudun) for the Northeast Atlantic,
6080 (via Tashkent) for Europe,
9635 (via Nauen) for the Indian Ocean,
11650 (via Issoudun) for the Atlantic and Indian Oceans,
13830 (via Nauen) for the Southern Atlantic, and
15770 (via Okeechobee) for the Northwest Atlantic

Monitors reported that the program did not air on 9635 or 11650 kHz.

This recording was made in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada. It is of the transmission on the frequency of 15770 kHz for the full two hours.

The recording was made primarily using a Belka-DX receiver in pseudo-synchronous (AM2) mode with a bandwidth of 50 Hz - 2.7 kHz outdoors with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna Reception was quite good for the most part with a bit of fading at times. But that receiver was initially tuned to 13830 kHz with a weaker signal. However, 15770 kHz was being recorded simultaneously with a KiwiSDR 2 software-defined radio receiver in narrow AM (AMN) mode with noise cancelling and with a W6LVP indoor magnetic loop antenna. So, the recording here has about a 4-1/2-minute splice from the KiwiSDR receiver at the beginning with the remainder of the recording from the Belka-DX receiver. A few seconds of the end of the program are missing as WRMI cut over to other programming before the complete end of the program.

Radio Barquisimeto (Venezuela): Circa 1970

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Barquisimeto, Venezuela 1970

Frequency: 4.990 MHz

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna

Notes: On 4990 kHz shortwave, Radio Barquisimeto in Venezuela was one of the "regulars" on the 60 metre band here in southern Ontario Canada during the evening hours in the 1970's. On nearby 4980 kHz, you could find Ecos del Torbes from San Cristobal.

Emisoras Jesús del Gran Poder Quito: Circa 1989

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor David Goren, who shares the following recording of Emisoras Jesús del Gran Poder Quito, which he recorded on cassette tape, most likely in the summer of 1989. This broadcast was received on 5050 kHz.

BBC World Service (Carrier and Interval Signal): September 19, 20, and 25, 2025.

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Walker, who shares the following field recordings of the BBC World Service on 9410 kHz made on September 19, 20, and 25, 2025 at 0458 UTC in McGrath, Alaska. Paul notes:

The English feed via Ascension to West Africa operates from 05:00 to 07:00 UTC on several days in late September, featuring something rare: the carrier is switched on, followed by a brief silence and then an interval signal. This sequence occurs every time I hear this transmission sign on, but I have noticed it almost nowhere else on BBC World Service shortwave, which usually just “crash starts” and ends abruptly.

Radio Canada International (SWL Digest with Ian McFarland): April 26, 1986

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View from the roof of the RCI Sackville, New Brunswick Transmitting Station (Photo: Thomas Witherspoon)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor William Parmley, who found several cassette tapes with off-air recordings he made in the 1980s. Here are Bill’s notes for this recording:

SWL Digest on Radio Canada International with Ian McFarland, April 26, 1986, plus an excerpt from the same program on the next day, April 27, 1986. Includes a brief telephone interview with me. (40:57)

BBC World Service (Giotto Space Probe): March 13, 1986

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An image of the Giotto spacecraft during construction (Source: ESA)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor William Parmley, who found several cassette tapes with off-air recordings he made in the 1980s. Here are Bill’s notes for this recording:

BBC transmission live during the encounter of the Giotto space probe with Haley’s Comet, March 13, 1986. (43:45)

Comet Halley at Giotto spacecraft's closest approach (Source: ESA)

Radio Macapa Brasil: Circa Late 1980s

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor David Goren, who shares the following recording and notes.
This recording captures Radio Macapá, Brazil, clearly identified several times on the air. David discovered it on a cassette tape.

While the exact date is uncertain, David believes it could be from 1988, though he notes he was still recording to cassette into the early 2000s. The absence of CODAR interference—common on the bands starting in the early 1990s—suggests the recording likely predates that period.

Though not as unusual as some of David’s other finds, this recording remains a fine example of Brazilian shortwave broadcasting and a valuable slice of radio history. Enjoy and feel free to comment with any other details that may help date this recording.

Radio Australia: September 12, 1970

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bob Purse, who shares the following recording and notes from his excellent website Inches Per Second:

Somewhere along the line I managed to acquire a whole bunch of someone's tapes of Australian shortwave broadcasts from the 1960's and 1970's. My un-listened-to tapes in my basement have gotten jumbled around several times over the years, so a lot of collections which were once stacked all in one place are now scattered amongst the stacks down there. And so it is that this week, I found yet another tape of Australian shortwave recordings. The recordings only include the day of the week and the date, not the year, but based on those days and dates, and the contents of the broadcasts, I am surmising the first of these to be from September of 1968 and the other to be from nearly exactly two years later.

The 1970 tape [included here] is considerably clearer in sound quality [than the 1968 recording posted last week].

Radio Australia: September 23, 1968

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bob Purse, who shares the following recording and notes from his excellent website Inches Per Second:

Somewhere along the line I managed to acquire a whole bunch of someone's tapes of Australian shortwave broadcasts from the 1960's and 1970's. My un-listened-to tapes in my basement have gotten jumbled around several times over the years, so a lot of collections which were once stacked all in one place are now scattered amongst the stacks down there. And so it is that this week, I found yet another tape of Australian shortwave recordings. The recordings only include the day of the week and the date, not the year, but based on those days and dates, and the contents of the broadcasts, I am surmising the first of these to be from September of 1968 and the other to be from nearly exactly two years later.

The 1968 recording starts off difficult to hear and grows progressively worse - this is not an easy to listen to tape - such are the vagaries of listening to short wave broadcasts. The 1970 tape is considerably clearer in sound quality.

BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2025

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HMCS margaret Brooke off rothera station during the canadian antarctic science research expedition on March 15, 2025 (Courtesy of Dr. kevin wilcox)

A live, off-air, half-hour recording of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2025 beginning at 21:30 UTC.

The broadcast, hosted by Cerys Matthews and which celebrated the 70th anniversary of the first BBC broadcast to Antarctica, featured messages and music for the members of the staff of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) overwintering in Antarctica at the Rothera (Antarctic Peninsula) and King Edward Point and Bird Island (South Georgia) research stations. In addition to personal messages from family and friends, there was a message from Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS, who highlighted the construction of the Discovery Building at Rothera, and a very special message from King Charles III, a first for a monarch, highlighting climate change. He said "Each observation, measurement and calculation you undertake adds to the world's understanding of the Earth's fragile systems."

The recording is of the transmission on 12065 kHz from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station. The broadcast was received by the Web-interface wideband software-defined radio at the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands, with a "Mini-Whip" antenna in AM synchronous mode with 5.08 kHz RF filtering. Reception was quite good with little noise or fading and good signal strength. The additional parallel frequencies of 5960 kHz from Al'Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates, and 9575 kHz from Ascension were heard but not as well as 12065 kHz.