Adventist World Radio broadcasting in Western Karen-Pwo to Southeast Asia on 15150 kHz at 1430 UTC. Transmitted at 125 kw from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Received in Sydney, Australia, using a Degen DE1103 and a Kestrel W31MS active loop antenna.
Voice of Mongolia in Mongolian broadcasting to Southeast Asia. Transmitted at 250 kw from Ulaanbaatar-Khonkhor. The broadcast cuts out several times towards the end. Received in Sydney, Australia, using a Degen DE1103 and a 40 meter longwire.
Voice of Mongolia broadcasting in English to Southeast Asia. Transmitted from Ulaanbaatar-Khonkhor at 250 kw. Interval signal, sign on, news, music, a commentary on climate change in Mongolia, more music and sign off with schedule and addresses. Received in Sydney, Australia, using a Degen DE1103 (the old, good one) and a 40 meter longwire.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who notes:
Radio Canada International recorded on October 26, 1981. This is another from my archive of old recordings of Radio Canada International's Shortwave Listeners Digest. This contains part two of Larry Magne's interview with Perry Ferrel from Gilfer Shortwave (part one aired on October 19, 1981, see previous program) and Glenn Hauser's DX tips. Recorded using my Sony ICF-2001 likely on 15.325 MHz around 2100 UTC. The audio quality isn't the greatest. Enjoy!
Radio National programme "Global Village", featuring the (great) music of Alain Toussaint. Broadcast at 50 kw from Rangitaiki. Received in Sydney, Australia, using a Nooelec RTL-SDR with R820T tuner, a Nooelec Ham-it-Up Upconverter, a 10 meter longwire strung inside, and SDR-Radio Console.
All India Radio programming in Telugu. Broadcast at 500 kw from Bangalore to SEA. Received in Sydney, Australia, using a Nooelec RTL-SDR (an early one with the R820T tuner), a newly homebrewed planar disk antenna, and SDR-Radio Console.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Richard Langley, who notes:
Live three-hour-long recording of a transmission from the The Mighty KBC on 17 October 2015 beginning at 23:00 UTC on a frequency of 7395 kHz from a transmitter at Nauen, Germany, operating at 125 kW and beamed to North America. This was the first regular Saturday night transmission by KBC using this new frequency following a test on 26 September 2015.
Reception was good with negligible interference and only occasional fading. The recording starts with "It's Radio, But Not As We know It" presented by Dave Mason followed by "The Giant Jukebox" presented by Eric van Willegen ("Uncle Eric"). Both programs feature mostly "oldies" pop music with commentary and announcements in English with some announcements and commercials in Dutch.
The broadcast was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with its built-in telescopic whip antenna indoors in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 5.0 kHz RF filtering.
A poster of RCI's propagation map which was found hanging in the foyer of the RCI Sackville transmitting site. This photo was taken by Thomas Witherspoon in June, 2012; only months before the site was shut down.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who notes:
My first contribution of many recordings I have of Radio Canada International's Shortwave Listener's Digest hosted by Ian McFarland.
The first 12 1/2 minutes is Bonsoir Africa. The recording was made using a cheap GE portable. The audio quality isn't great but it's still very nostalgic listening to a program I recorded 34 years ago.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Guy Atkins, who notes:
Inaugural shortwave broadcast and celebration of Wantok Radio Light, Papua New Guinea on June 11, 2005. Frequency was 7120 kHz. Receiver: AOR AR7030+. Antenna: Wellbrook Communications ALA100 Phased Delta Loop Antenna. Recorded by Guy Atkins at Grayland, Washington USA.
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00:00 Introduction by speaker or host named "Witness"
01:31 Song "Naso Joda" by the band P2-UIF ("P2-United in Faith"; the Gospel band's name honors those killed in the missionary aviation plane P2-UIF that crashed in Papua New Guinea ). A YouTube video of the song being performed live in August 2012 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQvkKWROal0
03:00 Praise for the signal of Wantok Radio Light to go out through all the world
03:50Testimony of James
09:18Solo music on harmonica: "Jesus Saves" performed by James
12:06Phone conversation with "Brother Paul": salutations to Wantok Radio Light; praise for the new shortwave transmitter
15:52 More talk by Witness
17:50 Live music
23:40 Praise & talk with announcer Witness
24:52 Live Music
28:52 Talk & praise by Witness
29:43 "You're listening to Radio Light, Wantok Radio Light, live right here, the one and only; live right here Amen, at the top of Minion House, right at the top. That's right! We're right at the top."
Guy also notes:
Wantok Radio Light is still going strong, in this 10th anniversary year of their shortwave transmissions. Their current frequency is 7325 kHz, and the web site is at: http://www.wantokradio.org/. The live stream of WRL broadcasts can be heard at: http://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/PNGRADIO
A portion of the "All Night Programme" on RNZI, with news at 1500. Broadcasting at 50 kw from Rangitaiki to Oceania. Received and recorded in Sydney, Australia, using a Nooelec brand rtl-sdr with R820T chip (wrapped in foil and copper tape and connected with USB extension cables loaded with ferrites and a powered USB hub), the Nooelec Ham-it-Up HF Upconverter version 1.2, a homebrew indoor broomstick antenna, and SDR Console version 2.3 build 2194.
For your listening pleasure: Radio Tirana's English language service.
This recording was made on September 16, 2015 at 01:30 UTC on 9580 kHz. The receiver used was an Elad FDM-S2 hooked up to a large horizontal delta loop antenna in the southeast USA. The Tirana signal is weak--and conditions quite noisy--but still quite audible.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Richard Langley, who notes:
Live recording of Radio Reloj (CMBD), Havana, Cuba, on 30 August 2015 beginning at about 15:55 UTC on a frequency of 950 kHz. The signal originates from a 10 kW transmitter at Arroyo Arenas / San Augustin, near Havana, using the Centros Transmisores de Ondas Medias 1 (CTOM1) non-directional antenna facility.
(Radio Reloj can be heard on various frequencies in the AM and FM bands in Cuba and live on the Internet at http://media.enet.cu/radioreloj.)
The recording, in Spanish, is a typical Radio Reloj broadcast with two announcers alternately reading news bulletins accompanied by time signals. The announcers identify the station and verbally give the local time each minute. In addition to the verbal station identification, each minute either the letters RR in morse code (using 1800 Hz tones) are transmitted or five-note chimes (D4, G4, B4, D5, B4) are played. The chimes sound like those of a dinner chime or even some door bells and are reminiscent of the U.S. National Broadcasting Company (NBC) chimes. On a couple of occasions in this recording, during a particular minute, neither the morse code nor the chimes are used and sometimes, during a particular minute, both are used. In this recording, we can also hear at some minutes pairs of tones being played going up and down the scale as news headlines are read. On other occasions, three- and four-note chimes in various sequences have been heard (perhaps at the announcers' whim).
Different tones identify each second, minute, and five-minute epochs. Based on measurements, each second is marked with a "seconds tick" consisting 10 cycles of a 1000 Hz tone (0.01 seconds duration). Minutes, except for multiples of 5 minutes, are marked by 172 cycles of a 1000 Hz tone (0.172 seconds duration). Every 5 minutes, the marker is extended to 672 cycles of a 1000 Hz tone (0.672 seconds duration). The minute and 5-minute markers are preceded by 5 cycles of a 1000 Hz tone, followed by 0.013 seconds of silence.
The time signals in this particular broadcast were well within one second of the time given by a computer's clock synchronized to the U.S. time standard using Network Time Protocol.
The broadcast was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with its built-in loop antenna in Key West, Florida, using an RF bandwidth of 5 kHz. The receiver was oriented for maximum signal strength. Signal quality is generally good. However, there are repeated static crashes (QRN) from thunderstorms in the region.
Richard also notes that he was located in Key West, Florida, using a "Tecsun PL-880 receiver with built-in loop antenna using an RF bandwidth of 5 kHz. The receiver was oriented for maximum signal strength."
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who sends us his first shortwave recording: HCJB Ecuador.
Tom recorded this broadcast, on 9 MHz starting around 0600 UTC on July 19, 1979 using a GE portable radio. Tom has informed us that he has a number of shortwave recordings on cassette that he will be sharing in the near future. Many thanks, Tom!
SWLing Post reader and SRAA contributor, Frank, writes from Germany:
First let me say that I enjoy your blog a lot.
After a 2005-13 hiatus, I have rediscovered a childhood hobby and your reviews have helped me find my way to the post-Sony portable shortwave radio markets.
First, I obtained my “childhood dream” radio (Sony ICF 2001D), because at the time I made these recordings I was still in school and 1300 DM would have equaled over 1 year of pocket money, so a Supertech SR16HN had to do. I thought I got some fine results with this Sangean-Siemens re-branded receiver then, using a CB half-length antenna, a random wire, and much endurance.
I kept regular logs throughout the years, wrote to 50 international and pirate stations for QSL and compiled this cassette.
A few years before I got that trusty SR16HN, however, I recorded a few number stations (such as G3, Four Note Rising Scale etc) with an ordinary radio cassette recorder, and in 1991 I put them onto this tape as well. The other recordings are done with the same radio placed right in front of the SR 16HN.
Feel free to make use of these recordings. Most of it are the well-known international state-owned shortwave stations of the past; plus European pirates; plus number stations; and at the end, a few (off-topic) local Am and FM stations interval signals.
As I said, this collection I made shortly after the Wende/reunification period, when all former-GDR state broadcasters changed their names, sometimes more than once.
Please continue your good work on the blogs! Weather permitting I am often outside cycling and always have the tiny Sony ICF 100 with me (which I call my then-student’s dream radio of the later 90ies).
SRAA contributor, Brian Smith, writes:
Want to know what shortwave radio sounded like in 1974? This 55-minute recording, recovered from a cassette, was never intended to be anything but "audio notes": I was an 18-year-old shortwave listener who collected QSL cards from international stations, and I was tired of using a pen and a notepad to copy down details of the broadcasts. I wanted an easier way to record what I heard, and my cassette tape recorder seemed like the perfect means to accomplish that goal.
But it wasn't. I soon discovered that it was simpler to just edit my notes as I was jotting them down — not spend time on endless searches for specific information located all over on the tape. To make a long story shorter, I abandoned my "audio notes" plan after a single shortwave recording: This one.
Still, for those who want to experience the feel of sitting at a shortwave radio in the mid-1970s and slowly spinning the dial, this tape delivers. Nothing great in terms of sound quality; I was using a Hallicrafters S-108 that was outdated even at the time. And my recording "technique" involved placing the cassette microphone next to the radio speaker.
Thus, what you'll hear is a grab bag of randomness: Major shortwave broadcasting stations from Canada, Argentina, Spain, Germany and Albania; maritime CW and other utility stations; and even a one-sided conversation involving a mobile phone, apparently located at sea. There are lengthy (even boring) programs, theme songs and interval signals, and brief IDs, one in Morse code from an Italian Navy station and another from a Department of Energy station used to track shipments of nuclear materials. And I can't even identify the station behind every recording, including several Spanish broadcasts (I don't speak the language) and an interview in English with a UFO book author.
The following is a guide, with approximate Windows Media Player starting times, of the signals on this recording. (Incidentally, the CBC recording was from July 11, 1974 — a date I deduced by researching the Major League Baseball scores of the previous day.)
Guide To The Recording
00:00 — CBC (Radio Canada) Northern and Armed Forces Service: News and sports.
07:51 — RAE (Radio Argentina): Sign-off with closing theme
09:14 — Department of Energy station in Belton, Missouri: "This is KRF-265 clear."
09:17 — Interval signal: Radio Spain.
09:40 — New York Radio, WSY-70 (aviation weather broadcast)
10:22 — Unidentified station (Spanish?): Music.
10:51— Unidentified station (English): Historic drama with mention of Vice President John Adams, plus bell-heavy closing theme.
14:12 — Unidentified station (Spanish?): Male announcer, poor signal strength.
14:20 — Unidentified station (Spanish): Theme music and apparent ID, good signal strength.
15:16 — Unidentified station (foreign-speaking, possibly Spanish): Song, "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep."
17:00 — Deutsche Welle (The Voice of West Germany): Announcement of frequencies, theme song.
17:39 — Unidentified station (English): Interview with the Rev. Barry Downing, author of “The Bible and Flying Saucers.”
24:36 — One side of mobile telephone conversation in SSB, possibly from maritime location.
30:37 — Radio Tirana (Albania): Lengthy economic and geopolitical talk (female announcer); bad audio. Theme and ID at 36:23, sign-off at 55:03.
55:11 — Italian Navy, Rome: “VVV IDR3 (and long tone)” in Morse code.
For your listening pleasure: the Voice of Greece.
Recorded on August 5, 2015 starting around 04:20 UTC on 9,420 kHz. Receiver used was a WinRadio Excalibur, hooked up to a large horizontal delta loop antenna. Reception location is North Carolina, USA.
SRAA contributor, Richard Langley, writes:
Live recording of a test transmission of Nigerian Armed Forces Radio on 4 July 2015 beginning at 06:00:01 UTC (carrier on; audio file begins at 06:01:30; program begins at 06:01:36) on a frequency of 13775 kHz. The test was broadcast from a 250 kW transmitter of TDF in Issoudun, France. The antenna beam direction was 170 degrees towards west Africa.
The test, which is running daily for a week, consists of Nigerian traditional and military music interspersed with brief announcements and identifications in Hausa and English. In addition to 13775 kHz, a frequency of 11825 kHz was announced. The first musical piece features the line "I remember when I was a solider." The IDs include an SMS number to which to send messages: +2348148366886. The test program ended abruptly at 06:57:17 UTC when the transmitter cuts off in mid-song.
The signal was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 5 kHz RF filtering.
For your listening pleasure: the Voice of Greece.
Recorded on 29 June 2015 starting around 01:50 UTC on 9,420 kHz using a WinRadio Excalibur and a horizontal delta loop external wire antenna. Location of reception is North Carolina, USA.
Notes: In the last 15 minutes of this recording there are a number of multi-language station IDs for the Voice of Greece and ERT.
For your listening pleasure: Famagusta Gazette followed by Glenn Hauser's World of Radio via WRMI.
This broadcast was recorded on 9,955 kHz, starting around 0100 UTC on 17 June 2015. This recording was made with an Elad FDM-S2 hooked up to a horizontal delta loop antenna.
For your listening pleasure: the Voice of Turkey English language service.
This recording was made on June 8, 2015 starting at 2200 UTC on 9830 kHz. My recording was cut short due to an approaching thunderstorm (indeed, static crashes are quite audible in the recording).
Note that this broadcast was made the day after Turkey's elections, when Erdogan's governing party in lost its parliamentary majority.
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.
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