For your listening pleasure: four hours of music, and a little Greek commentary, from the Voice of Greece. I recorded this broadcast on Sunday, April 21st March 8th, 2013 on 9.42 MHz at 18:30 UTC. While recording, I piped the shortwave audio through our home hi-fi system--it sounded absolutely amazing. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Today at 20:30 UTC, Radio Romania International's signal on 11,745 kHz was quite strong, as it so often is. RRI is one of the few broadcasters that still target Europe and the eastern US on shortwave.
RRI is a treasure of a station, too, with true local flavor--Romanian news, music, and mini cultural documentaries. This Sunday broadcast features the program Inside Romania, Romanian Without Tears (a language program which always reminds me of the similarities between French and Romanian), DX Mailbag, and Roots.
Click here to download the full broadcast as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below. This recording features their interval signal before and after the broadcast.
If you enjoy Radio Romania International, I encourage you to send an accurate and descriptive reception report to: rri@rri.ro Maybe your letter will be featured on their DX Mailbag!
Monday morning, I was up earlier than usual and caught Radio Australia's Tok Pisin (Pacific Pidgin Language Service) on 9,475 kHz.
I doubt many English-speaking SWLing Post readers will understand Tok Pisin if you're hearing it for the first time, but as with other Pidgin languages throughout the world, Tok Pisin is a mixture of several languages: English, German, Malay, Portuguese and Austronesian languages. It has a comparatively simple structure and you might be surprised what you can understand if the topic shifts to something familiar. I've certainly enjoyed listening to it in the background as I work on other projects.
I recorded a full 90 minutes of the Tok Pisin service; you can download it directly by clicking here, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
For you listening pleasure: thirty minutes of NHK Radio Japan's English language service.
This broadcast was recorded an hour ago, at 10:00 UTC on 9,625 (April 19, 2013). Though NHK has dropped their English language services into North America, you can still receive their broadcasts targeting other regions quite easily.
Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below. note that I include a full five minutes of their interval signal: Enjoy!
One of the countries dominating the headlines of global news lately is North Korea. As Kim Jong-un raises tensions and rattles his nuclear saber, the rest of the world is attempting to determine if this is a egotistical show of power for the benefit of all observers (as with previous leaders) or if there is real intention behind the rhetoric. Just this morning Pyongyang has warned that Tokyo would be a primary strike target if war were to break out, or if their test missile is downed; they've even moved their missile launch pad into position.
Regardless of outcome of these provocations, I know that the bulk of the North Korean population will suffer. North Korean mainstream "news" consists of images of military parades in the immaculate capital city of Pyongyang; but the reality is that most of the population live in rural North Korea, which is subject to severe food shortages and extreme poverty.
We know North Korea is a country that carefully controls and manipulates their media internally; they also broadcast the same flavor of propaganda externally on shortwave radio via the Voice of Korea.
As shortwave radio listeners, we have the distinct advantage of being able to listen directly to the case of North Korea. We can actually hear (and analyze for ourselves) the North Korea propaganda directly from the source. Note that it's not uncommon for the Voice of Korea to unexpectedly go off air, likely due to power shortages: this fact is much more suggestive of the of general conditions in the country than the "news" itself.
Depending on where you live in the world, your ability to hear the (relatively weak) Voice of Korea will vary. If you live in the Asia/Pacific region, the station is very audible.
Yesterday morning at 10:00 UTC, I recorded an hour of their English broadcast to South America on 11.71 MHz. You can download an mp3 of the recording by clicking here, or simply listen via the embedded player below.
Below, you'll also find the current broadcast schedule for the Voice of Korea English service courtesy of North Korea Tech:
For a full schedule of the Voice of Korea, please visit this page on North Korea Tech.
For your listening pleasure: thirty minutes of Radio Australia’s Jazz Notes.
This broadcast was recorded today at 13:30 UTC on 9,580 kHz. As on most mornings, the signal out of Shepparton, Australia, was very strong; the audio fidelity was, in consequence, very impressive for a transmission emanating from some 9,800 miles away.
You can download this recording of Jazz Notes by clicking here, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
On Thursday, March 14th, I tuned to the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 9.895 MHz at 02:30 UTC.
The signal was strong, but audio somewhat typically over-modulated. However, I was able to record the full broadcast.
Click here to download the MP3 of the recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
I believe that VOA Special English may be one of the best educational resources on the shortwaves. At Ears To Our World, we find that it is often the most popular program in countries where English may be the official language, but where locals only speak it as a second language. Over four years ago, I mentioned a Special English broadcast honoring Henry Loomis, the creator and champion of Special English at the VOA. Click here to read the archived post.
I recorded this particular broadcast of VOA Special English on March 19, 2013 at 1:30 UTC on 5,960 kHz.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3 file, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
One of my favorite shortwave radio broadcasters is Radio New Zealand International. RNZI has authoritative news--with a focus on NZ and the Pacific islands--music, sports and their own unique character, though they operate on a very modest budget by international broadcasting standards.
The RNZI interval signal is charming and unmistakable: the call of the New Zealand Bellbird.
Fortunately, in the 3 hour recording of RNZI below, I caught not only the interval signal as the broadcast began, but also as it went off the air. This recording was made on March 14th 2013 starting around 8:00 UTC on 9,765 kHz. (You'll note news of the Pope.)
Click here to download the full broadcast as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Note to SWLing Post reader, Mike: I hope you enjoy these sounds from home!
On March 19th, I was able to record a particularly strong signal from Alcaravan Radio out of Puerto Lleras, Columbia. Alcaravan Radio broadcasts domestically on medium wave and also on 5.91 MHZ shortwave, from 23:30-12:00 UTC.
I have seen their output power listed anywhere from 1,000 - 5,000 watts; a puny amount by international standards, but more than enough to cover their target area of Columbia.
There are very few details about Alcaravan Radio on the Internet. If anyone can add more details about this station, feel free to comment below.
This is a four hour recording and contains about three hours of music.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Last night, I heard a new pirate on the air: Black Cat Radio.
Black Cat signed on 6,925 kHz USB around 23:45 UTC. After sending in a reception report, I received a reply with a cool eQSL card (see right) and learned that this was, in fact, show number one.
Here's the show #1 play list, courtesy of Greaser Bob:
Click here to download the full recording of Black Cat Radio Show #1 as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Standard Pirate Radio Disclaimer:This is a recording of a real pirate radio broadcast, and as such, may include strong or colorful language or lyrics. In general, if you are easily offended by the words, ideas, music lyrics, or music herein, you should slowly…back… away…
Perhaps one of the things I love the most about SWLing is the sheer variety of broadcasters out there. We can sample diverse offerings across a broad spectrum--from the BBC World Service to Radio Romania International, from pirate stations to numbers stations. There's even The Disco Palace: a station that plays only disco music, and each show is mixed thematically. This station broadcasts online and over shortwave radio via DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale).
Last week--specifically, on March 15, 2013--I caught about thirty minutes of The Disco Palace broadcast and was able to record it from my Bonito RadioJet IF Receiver. Reception on 17,875 MHz was excellent, although the DRM signal wasn't quite strong enough for comfortable stereo decoding.
The following TDP recording starts around 2030 UTC (about halfway through the broadcast). Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
For your listening pleasure: alomost four hours of music, and a little Greek commentary, from the Voice of Greece. Recorded on March 8th, 2013 on 9.42 MHz at 22:00 UTC.
Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
A few moments ago, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected Pope, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas, and taking the name Pope Francis I. When breaking news like this is happens, I often turn to shortwave radio to hear it "from the source;" what better station for news about the Papal elections than Vatican Radio? Right?
Hm. When I turned to Vatican Radio on 13.765 MHZ at 20:00 UTC today, here is what I heard:
After a little music and announcement confusion--including what sounds like at least three audio feeds coming in at once--Vatican Radio settles on an announcement program which states, in several languages, "Vatican Radio's programming schedule is currently being modified to cover the election of the new Pope."
It wasn't until thirty minutes later (20:30 UTC), when the Vatican Radio service to Africa started in French on 11.625 MHz, that I heard any substantive news about the new Pope:
Of course, I can find information about the new Pope from any one of two million different online sources, but it did surprise me that Vatican Radio wasn't better prepared for this event. I even wondered if there was a different broadcast running on a consecutive frequency, so I checked; all were identical, however.
Still, the radio archivist in me can't help but experience some appreciation of the confusion on the airwaves. After all, this is a genuine piece of radio history and a fascinating thirty minutes of audio in the wake of a big decision.
In my mind, I envision the Vatican Radio staff frantically stirring to assemble news--for which they had no advance notice--regarding the new Pope. No doubt, the CNNs, BBCs, and Al Jazeeras of the world had pre-prepared material on each of the papal candidates. When the white plume of smoke announcing the election was first spotted, these broadcasters were likely more than ready to pull out the appropriate material and publish.
Perhaps this is not how Vatican Radio usually operates. Indeed, I suspect their live feed of events experienced a technical difficulty which they have, no doubt, since resolved. And for what it's worth, their website was appropriately up-to-date.
History: sometimes bumpy, but always fascinating. Especially on the airwaves.
For your listening pleasure: thirty minutes of Radio Australia's Jazz Notes.
This broadcast was recorded yesterday at 1:30 UTC on 11,945 kHz. You will note a little noise that bleeds over from jamming of Radio Marti on an adjacent frequency.
You can download this recording of Jazz Notes by clicking here, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
My good buddy, David Goren, directed me to the VOLMET frequency for New York Sunday afternoon on 3,485 kHz.
VOMET, for those of you not familiar, is a worldwide network of radio stations that broadcast TAF, SIGMET and METAR aviation weather reports on shortwave radio, and in some countries on VHF, too. All of the reports are broadcast in upper sideband, using automated voice transmissions.
At any rate, they must have experienced a glitch which resulted in the loss of meteorological data for most of the United States. The broadcast preamble is as usual, but as soon as specific airport regions (mostly major US cities and some islands) are mentioned, the report takes a disturbing turn. It's fodder for science fiction--one is not sure whether to be alarmed or amused by this eyebrow-raising data (or, lack thereof).
The end result becomes almost like a numbers station, sans numbers, of course. Take a listen for yourself by clicking here to download the recording, or listen via the embedded player below:
As on many Saturday mornings, this past weekend I sipped my morning coffee while listening to ABC’s Saturday Night Country from Radio Australia’s Shepparton shortwave transmission site on 9.58 MHz...some 9,800 miles from my home.
In this program, Emma Swift continues to fill in for Felicity Urquhart (who is on maternity leave). Swift, who is an amazing host and songwriter in her own right, focuses in this show on country drinking songs (amongst others) and on a few nostalgic country songs in the final set. Fortunately, I captured the whole show in two recordings.
Click here to download the first recording and here to download the second as MP3s. Alternatively, you can simply listen via the embedded player below:
The Archive.org download page for these recordings can be found here.
For your listening pleasure: two recordings of the pirate radio station, Radio GaGa. Both of these broadcasts were recorded on 6.925 MHz in the upper side band on February 23rd, 2013; the first one at 12:40 UTC, the second one at 04:10 UTC.
Download the broadcasts from this page, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
For your listening pleasure: two hours of music, and a little Greek commentary, from the Voice of Greece. Recorded on February 24, 2013 at 00:00 UTC on 9.42 MHz.
Click here to download the MP3 of the recording, or listen below:
This morning at 13:30 UTC, I enjoyed listening to 11,945 kHz, home of Radio Australia and their Wednesday music show, Jazz Notes. I recently posted a recording of Jazz Notes and described my fondness for this particular show. Moreover, I find that the sonic texture of the shortwave ether enhances the nostalgic character of one my very favorite music genres.
As on most mornings, the signal out of Shepparton, Australia, on 11,945 kHz was very strong; the audio fidelity was, in consequence, very impressive for a transmission emanating from some 9,800 miles away.
Click here to download the full recording of Jazz Notes as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA) is a collection of shortwave radio recordings that you can download or listen to as a podcast. The collection grows every day and includes both historic recordings and current recordings from the shortwave radio spectrum.
The goal of this site is for shortwave radio enthusiast to have a place to store, archive and share their radio recordings with the world.
Click here to learn how to contribute and archive recordings.
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