BBC midwinter broadcast to the British Antarctic Survey Team: June 21, 2014

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the 41 scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team. 

As promised on the SWLing Post, here are the recordings of the BBC World Service’s thirty minute broadcast to the British Antarctic Survey. The broadcast started at 21:30 UTC on June 21, 2014 and was broadcast on 5,875, 5,985, 7,350 and 9,890 kHz.

As in previous years, this broadcast was lighthearted, filled with humorous shout-outs from the team’s family and friends. Even a couple of special guests were included. Listen for yourself:

This excellent recording was made by SWLing Post reader, Dominik, in Europe:

Click here to download Dominik's recording as an MP3.

Post reader Rob Wagner (VK3BVW), in Australia, could receive the broadcast on three frequencies (5,875, 5,985, and 7,350). He's included clips of each broadcast on his excellent blog, The Mount Evelyn DX Report.

As for me, I was traveling to visit family yesterday afternoon when the broadcast started.  I knew from listening endeavors on previous visits that receiving a broadcast indoors at their home is not feasible; there is some sort of power line noise in that area that overwhelms anything on the short or medium wave bands, unless the station is very strong.

To cope with this noise, I knew I would need to move my operation outdoors, away from the house, and employ an outdoor antenna. So I packed the following, all into my small flight case: the CommRadio CR-1, a NASA PA-30 15 foot passive wide-band wire antenna, and the Zoom H2n Handy Recorder.

I hung the PA-30 antenna in a nearby tree, spread a wool army blanket on the ground for lounging, and put the mini flight case to use as a stand to hold the radio and recorder. The CR-1 required no external power supply, as its internal battery had been charged in advance (one of the reasons I love this little receiver for travel).

To try out the set-up, I tuned around the bands. Conditions were rough, thunderstorms were in the region, but I was most impressed that I could hear several broadcasters on 31 meters. I knew that the BBC broadcast would be a tough catch; after all, none of their transmissions were targeting my part of the globe–rather, the opposite!

When I tuned to the BBC broadcast on 7,350 kHz, here's what I heard:

This is (very) rough copy; for five or so minutes, you'll hear me switching between AM/USB and LSB to find the best mode for the signal. I also check the other BBC frequencies to see if any were more audible.

In the end, using ECSS (zero-beating the signal in USB) seemed to work best.

For fun, I had also brought along the Tecsun PL-660--a choice portable radio for weak signal DX. I tuned to 7,350 and could just hear the BBC signal in the noise, but voice and music were unintelligible.

Radio Thailand: May 22, 2014 (day of 2014 Thai coup d'état)

Thailand coup: Chang Phueak Gate Chiang (Photo: Takeway)

Many thanks to contributors Frank and Ayar who submitted recordings of Radio Thailand made on May 22, 2014: the first broadcast of Radio Thailand after the Thai coup d'état. 

Instead of broadcasting the English language service at the scheduled time, Radio Thailand broadcast patriotic songs and announcements in Thai. Several have confirmed that this was the same content heard on domestic news sources throughout Thailand. 

From Europe, Frank submits the first recording from the 19:00 UTC broadcast on 9,390 kHz:

Ayar (HB9EVW) submits this 19:30 UTC recording of Radio Thailand on 9,390KHz. His recording was made in Switzerland using a JRC-525 receiver with a 40m wire dipole antenna:

Radio Beijing: June 3, 1989

"Tank Man" temporarily stops the advance of a column of tanks on June 5, 1989, in Beijing. This photograph (one of four similar versions) was taken by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press. (Source: Wikipedia)

In this off-air recording of Radio Beijing, made on June 3rd, 1989, you'll hear the news reader/editor depart from the script and comment on the massacre of protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

It’s believed this announcer was detained shortly after the broadcast and spent years in a detention (re-training) camp.

We have few details about the shortwave radio listener who recorded this Radio Beijing broadcast.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

ABC Far North, Emergency Broadcast Service: April 11, 2014

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Mark Fahey, who has shared this special recording: a shortwave relay of the ABC Far North radio service. Mark explains:

"ABC Radio (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Far North (Queensland, Australia) Emergency Broadcast Service during the period that Severe Tropical Cyclone was making landfall in Australia's Far North Queensland region. This capture of the shortwave broadcast was made near Sydney, Australia on 6.15MHz at 2119 Queensland Time (1119 UTC) on the 11th April 2014. The broadcast was being transmitted via a re-purposed Radio Australia transmitter in Shepperton, Victoria.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ita is a tropical cyclone that crossed the coast of Queensland, Australia on 11 April 2014. The system was first identified over the Solomon Islands as a tropical low on 1 April 2014, and gradually moved westward, eventually reaching cyclone intensity on 5 April. On 10 April, Ita intensified rapidly into a powerful Category 5 system on the Australian Scale, but it weakened significantly in the hours immediately precedinglandfall the following day. At the time of landfall at Cape Flattery at 12 April 22:00 (UTC+10), Dvorak intensity was approximately T5.0, consistent with a weak Category 4 system, and considerably lower than T6.5 observed when the system was at maximal intensity. Meteorologists noted the system had, at such time, developed a secondary eyewall which weakened the inner eyewall; as a result, the system was considerably less powerful than various intensity scales predicted. Ita's impact on terrain was attenuated accordingly."

Click here to download this recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Please subscribe to our podcast to receive future recordings automatically.

Radio Berlin International final broadcast: October 2, 1990

Many thanks to Keith Perron who has shared this recording of Radio Berlin International's final English language broadcast. 

This recording was made on October 2, 1990:

KOL Israel: February 26, 1969

Kol Israel QSL card (Source: http://shortwavedxer.blogspot.com/2011/09/kol-israel.html)

This 1969 recording of Kol Israel comes from contributor, Greg Barman, who writes:

Prime Minister, Levi Eshkol (Source: Wikipedia)

"Shortwave listening was an active hobby in my youth and I have a few recording from that time. This was part of a series of experimental shortwave broadcasts from Kol Israel directed to the US and Canada. Reception quality at my location in the Chicago suburbs was generally good. This broadcast includes news about the death of Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol."

Greg used his Knight-Kit Star Roamer receiver with an outdoor long wire antenna.

This recording was made on February 26, 1969 at 04:00 GMT on 9,009 kHz, received and
recorded in Evanston, IL. 

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

WG2XFQ: December 26, 2013 (Longwave)

Reginald Fessenden: “The Father of Radio Broadcasting” (Source: Wikipedia)

A few weeks ago, on The SWLing Post, I published an article about Brian Justin’s holiday longwave broadcasts commemorating Reginald Fessenden’s Christmas Eve 1906 AM voice transmission. Click here to read the full article.

I don't spend a lot of time in the longwave portion of the radio spectrum, so this special event station gave me an excuse to venture a little lower on the radio dial.  Fortunately, LW propagation was in my favor, and Justin's signal made it the 215 miles to my home. While it's not armchair listening, it's most impressive, especially considering the transmitter used is "home-brewed" with modest output power.

This recording of WG2XFG was made when the signal seemed to be at its strongest on December 26th, 2013 starting around 12:40 UTC (Christmas evening, EST). Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Radio Australia rings in the millennium: December 31, 1999

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday–New Year's Eve, 2014–I spent some time listening to a few broadcasters as the new year passed through their time zones. While I missed hearing Radio New Zealand International (the first to welcome the New Year on the air), I did manage to catch Radio Australia, and the New Year was celebrated with no fanfare; one program merely ran into the next, and there was a brief mention of 2014's arrival in the headline news.

Oh, but it wasn't that way when we moved into the year 2000...

Rewind 14 years

Back in December of 1999, before setting off to visit family for the New Year, I had a sudden notion: I decided it would be fun–and a bit novel–to record radio broadcasters as each moved into the new millennium. As we were packing the car to travel, I changed my mind about using my Grundig Yacht Boy 400 to accomplish this fairly ambitious, round-the-world listening/recording endeavor; instead, I grabbed my ham radio transceiver, an Icom IC-735, and packed it, along with a hefty 12-volt power supply. While my IC-735 lacked AM filters (at the time) it had much better sensitivity than the YB400, especially when hooked up to a decent antenna. I also had the foresight to take along a few odds and ends, including a mechanical antenna tuner and a spool of long wire.

To record the broadcast, I used my trusty Aiwa AM F70 MiniDisk recorder–remember those? Upon arrival at our extended family's home, they kindly permitted me to erect a long wire antenna in a sloping configuration in their yard. It did a fine job netting the airwaves. The MiniDisk recorder recorded brilliantly, allowing me to monitor levels and even edit afterward.

As a result, I spent New Year's Eve 2000 recording station after station as the earth turned.  It was great fun, and meanwhile had very little impact on our family celebrations as I simply left the recorder running for long periods of time.

While I have yet to dissect the many hours of recordings, if memory serves, I think I managed to record Radio New Zealand International, Voice of Russia, Radio France International, NHK, Voice of America, and Radio Canada International as each rang in 2000. The IC-735 performed quite well, save a lack of bandwidth filters, as I only really had two–very wide, and very narrow.

So, for your New Year's Day listening pleasure:  I hope you'll enjoy, as much as I did,  listening to Radio Australia ring in the new millennium yet again. In the news items, you'll hear that Russian President Boris Yeltson has handed the reigns over to Vladimir Putin, and remarks about the (lack of) problems resulting from the infamous Y2K threat.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen below: