The following recording of the Voice of America French language service to Africa was recorded on June 17, 2020 at 21:00 UTC on 9740 kHz at a remote KiwiSDR site in the arctic region of Finland.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording and notes:
Recording of Radio Kuwait during the start of the invasion by Iraq. My understanding is that the broadcast originated from the Radio Kuwait transmitter site, which had not yet been occupied by Iraqi forces. Transmission consisted of music and announcements in Arabic. If anyone can translate/summarize some of the announcements, it would be appreciated.
Reception location: Minnetonka, MN
Receiver: ICOM R71A
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, for the following recording and note:
The Voice of Vietnam, broadcast over Radio Havana Cuba, announcing the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam war.
Reception location: Plymouth, Minnesota
Receiver and antenna: Hammarlund HQ-180, longwire
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording and notes:
Radio Moscow coverage of the end of the coup attempt. Per Wikipedia: The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, was an attempt made by members of the government of the Soviet Union to take control of the country from Soviet President and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup leaders were hard-line members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) who were opposed to Gorbachev's reform program and the new union treaty that he had negotiated, which decentralized much of the central government's power to the republics. They were opposed, mainly in Moscow, by a short but effective campaign of civil resistance led by Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who had been both an ally and critic of Gorbachev. Although the coup collapsed in only two days and Gorbachev returned to power, the event destabilized the USSR and is widely considered to have contributed to both the demise of the CPSU and the dissolution of the USSR.
Date of recording: 8/22/1991
Starting time: 0300 UTC
Frequency: Unknown
Reception location: Minnetonka, MN
Receiver and antenna: ICOM R71A
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording and notes:
During the Tiananmen Protests in 1989, a courageous announcer at Radio Beijing went on the air with the following announcement:
“This is Radio Beijing. Please remember June the third, 1989. The most tragic event happened in the Chinese capital, Beijing. Thousands of people, most of them innocent civilians, were killed by fully armed soldiers when they forced their way into the city. Among the killed are our colleagues at Radio Beijing. The soldiers were riding on armored vehicles and used machine guns against thousands of local residents and students who tried to block their way. When the army convoys made a breakthrough, soldiers continued to spray their bullets indiscriminately at crowds in the street. Eyewitnesses say some armored vehicles [inaudible] foot soldiers who hesitated in front of the resisting civilians. Radio Beijing’s English department deeply mourns those who died in a tragic incident and appeals to all its listeners to join our protest for the gross violations of human rights and the most barbarous suppression of the people. Because of the abnormal situation here in Beijing, there is no other news that we could bring you. We sincerely ask for your understanding and thank you for joining us at this most tragic moment.”
The above announcement was followed by a regular newscast.
According to some sources, the announcer was apprehended by the authorities almost immediately and detained for several years where he was separated from his family and underwent extended reeducation campaign.Broadcaster: Radio Beijing
Date of recording: 6/4/1989
Starting time: 0400 UTC
Frequency: 11695 kHz
Reception location: Minnetonka, MN
Receiver and antenna: ICOM R71A
Photo by Michael Parulava via Unsplash
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recording and notes:
Moscow Mailbag, recorded on 3/11/2002 at 0310UTC on 17,595 kHz.
Receiver: Satellit 800 with 100' random wire antenna.
The following recording of the Voice of Greece was made on March 21, 2020 starting around 22:45 UTC on 9.420 MHz. This recording was made with a WinRadio Excalibur and skyloop antenna. Reception location: Asheville, North Carolina, USA.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who shares the following recording and notes:
Date of recording: 4/30/1982
Starting time: unknown
Frequency: unknown
Reception Location: South Bend, IN
Receiver: Realistic DX-302
Notes: From April 30, 1982 I submit this recording of London Calling the Falkland Islands. I failed to record the time and frequency of this recording but it likely came from Ascension Island. This recording was made during the height of the Falklands War and many mentions to the conflict can be heard in the broadcast.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Zach Rutledge, who shares the following recording and notes:
This broadcast includes a news segment on the aftermath of the wildfires in Australia, as well as music from Hot Chip and Men At Work. Plus, in place of Jordan's World Of Radio, they play a track from a Monty Python album. This broadcast highlights the higher than average fidelity of WRMI's transmitter on 5850 kHz, and was recorded with an ~8 kHz wide audio bandwidth for improved fidelity.
Broadcaster: Hobart Radio International (via WRMI Okeechobee, Florida)
Date of recording: 1/26/2020
Starting time: 0830
Frequency: 5.850
Reception location: Baldwin County, Alabama, USA
Receiver and antenna: SDRPlay RSP-1, SDRUno, W6LVP active loop antenna
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tim Harrold, who shares the following recording and notes:
To mark the 30th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution, a recording of "Austrian Shortwave Panorama", Radio Austria International's weekly DX programme presented by David Hermges. This was a special edition broadcast a few days after Romania's 1989 revolution originally broadcast on 31st December 1989 (although this recording is of a repeat from sometime in 1990). Contains off-air recordings of Radio Bucharest and Radio Free Europe (in English, Romanian and other languages) recounting the events of the revolution. (Sent via The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive)
Frequency: 13.730 MHz
Reception location: Birmingham, UK
Receiver and antenna: Toshiba portable, telescopic antenna
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who shares the following recording and notes:
Last night I took advantage of a clear Saturday night to head out to my favorite "dark sky" astronomy site south of Bourbon, Indiana to do some stargazing. I took my 5" telescope along with my favorite "accessory", my newly cleaned, aligned and recapped RF-2200. While waiting for sunset and darkness I recorded one hour of The Mighty KBC's Giant Jukebox and followed that up with a recording of three hours of Toronto's CFZM "Zoomer Radio and their weekly program Saturday Night Bandstand. While not SWBC, listening to Zoomer is a great way to spend a Saturday night under the stars. There is some fading and a strange growling noise which I believe was caused by having my digital recorder too close to the radio. Also some thunderstorm static can be heard from storms which popped up near the end of the recording. Both recordings were made with either the RF-2200's whip antenna for KBC or the internal ferrite swivel antenna for CFZM. Enjoy!
Broadcaster: CFZM
Date of recording: 7/28/2019
Starting time: 0210
Frequency: 740 kHz
Location: Bourbon, IN
Apollo 11 Eagle (Image Source: NASA)
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskoski, who shares the following recording and notes:
I thought this might be an appropriate file to upload considering we are about to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. I recorded this program thirty years ago on July 20, 1989, the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Omnibus takes a look back at the historic Apollo mission and how and why it happened. Another SWRAA program on Apollo 11 from VOA can be found at https://shortwavearchive.com/archive/voice-of-america-july-20-1979?rq=apollo
Starting time: about 0400 UTC
Frequency: 5.975 MHz
Location: South Bend, IN
Receiver: Sony ICF-2001
The following recording was made by the late Michael Pool (The Professor) on July 7, 2007 with a Degen DE1103 in NYC. This recording (Part 1) was included in a post he had written on his blog, The Radio Kitchen. Click here to read this post in the SWLing Post Radio Kitchen Archive.
Here’s a description of this recording, written by The Professor. Note that the first recording was posted separately on the SRAA:
“[P]art two of this recording begins with the flip of the the tape. At the onset of this archive the interview is aborted in mid-sentence and a female announcer formally announces that Radio New Zealand International is closing on this frequency. After twice insisting that I “re-tune to six-zero-nine-five kilohertz in the forty-nine meter band” (followed by a clipped “This is New Zealand”), it all sounds so damn official that I felt compelled to follow the instructions. Although I knew that just because RNZI was booming in on 31 meters didn’t necessarily mean it would come in so strong (or might even be heard) on the 49 meter band.
You hear RNZI’s interval signal (the call of the New Zealand Bellbird) after the station ID, and then the signal at 9165kHz goes dead. I then put the tape deck on pause and punch up 6095 kHz on the Degen and release the pause button. And there it was! The call of the Bellbird is quite clear there as well, although a nearby signal is chewing on the edges of the reception a bit.
Whoever is running the board down there in the South Pacific was a little sloppy that night. After the interval signal the board-op starts to pot up the interview again (which is still running on one of the channels). But the mistake is corrected in a fraction of second, and it’s the news with Phil O’Brien. The lead story, a nationwide “Drunk Drive Blitz” the night before had netted over two-hundred inebriated kiwis on the highways down there. And an update on the aftermath of an unprecedented swarm of tornados that ravaged the North Island a couple of nights earlier.
After the news, it’s the beginning of a program I can barely believe I’m hearing in 2007. A faux flapper-era theme song launches a “nostalgia packed selection of favorites” that will saturate the skies of Oceania for the next four hours. While I love a lotta old music, the whole idea of “nostalgia” can get a little silly. Although I must say that old Joe Franklin used to pull it off with some charm on WOR here in New York City before he gave up the show a few years back. It’s really an approach to radio that’s all but dead here in the states. But apparently not in New Zealand.”
This recording was made on July 7, 2007 on 9615 kHz, then 6095 kHz, starting around 0658 UTC:
The following recording was made by the late Michael Pool (The Professor) on July 7, 2007 with a Degen DE1103 in NYC. This recording (Part 1) was included in a post he had written on his blog, The Radio Kitchen. Click here to read this post in the SWLing Post Radio Kitchen Archive.
Here’s a description of this recording, written by The Professor. Note that we will post the second recording in a separate post on the SRAA:
“This first bit is an interview with Canadian chemist and author Penny LeCouteur discussing her book about molecules that have changed the world. Of note here– the legacy of how James Cook and ascorbic acid made the south seas safe for European explorers and colonists.
Then the cassette came to an abrupt stop, and the part two of this recording begins with the flip of the the tape.”
This recording was made on July 7, 2007 on 9615 kHz starting around 0644 UTC:
Mexico City, Mexico (Photo by Jezael Melgoza @jezael)
For your listening pleasure: Radio Educación (XEPPM) from Mexico City. This recording was made on April 6, 2019 starting around 0058 UTC on 6,185 kHz. The receiver used was a WinRadio Excalibur hooked to a large horizontal delta loop antenna—the recording was made in North Carolina, USA.
This recording includes music and news—all in Spanish. Enjoy:
Auckland, New Zealand by Dan Freeman
The following recording of Radio New Zealand International—primarily in English with service to the Pacific islands—was made on March 16, 2018 starting at 13:40 UTC on 6115 kHz. The receiver was a KiwiSDR located in Canberra, Australia.
Note that the news headlines (10 minutes into the recording) mention the Christchurch mosque shootings massacre.
The following recording of the Persian language service of Radio Farda was made on March 16, 2018 starting at 11:30 UTC on 9990 kHz. The receiver was a KiwiSDR located in Maui, Hawaii using an 80-10 off-center dipole.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who shares the following recording and notes:
This is the way I remember Radio Australia.
Their signal used to boom into Eastern North America in the late evenings on 17715 and 17795 kHz with a reliable signal during the summer months. This program called International Report was one of my favorites.
Unfortunately I did not record the date and time when I made this recording. But judging from the content is must have been sometime in mid-June 1993. I was probably using my Sony ICF-2001. This program was likely aired around 1200 UTC as this was announced as the Southeast and North Asia Service on 21745, 6080, or 9710 kHz.
The Radio Australia Shepparton Transmitting site
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bruce Atchison, for sharing the following recording and notes:
This recording of Radio Australia was made in August of 1987 and I used my Sony ICF-7600 receiver. I've forgotten the frequency and the time I recorded it.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Davi Sousa, who shares the following recording and notes:
Radio Romania International, program in spanish to Europe. Good signal in South America. News and comments about political elections in Romania, cultural and historical comments.
Date of recording: 6/6/2016
Starting time: 1900 UTC
Frequency: 15,450 kHz
Location where received: Southeast Brazil
Receiver: Degen DE1103
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