Moroccan Radio & Television System - Rabat

Many thanks to Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Dan Robinson, who submits this recording of the Moroccan Radio & Television System - Rabat.

Dan comments:

While the Voice of America long had a relay transmitter in Morocco, one of the biggest challenges for DX'ers was hearing the Moroccan Radio & Television System local program in the 25 meter band. As I recall, this was on 11.730 mhz and in this recording you can hear, at about the 22 second mark, the English ID by a male announcer. Time of the program was 1730 - 1800 UTC.

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

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:

Shortwave Radio Interval Signals 1976-77

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Greg Shoom, who shares this recording of interval signals from 1976-1977. He has kindly logged the interval signals as:

• Deutsche Welle

• R. Nederland

• Voice Mirror of the PTT Habana, Cuba

• Voice of Spain

• History of R. Nederland's interval signal

• R. Nederland Arabic service

• Unidentified interval signal 2

• R. Canada International

• R. Nacional de Brasilia

• Interval signal history from R. Nederland

• R. RSA

• Voice of Iran

• R. Habana Cuba

• BBC Spanish Service

• Voice of Turkey

Recorded 1976 and 1977 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

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

HCJB DX Partyline: Dec. 7, 1976

The grounds of radio station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador (Source: Mschaa)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Greg Shoom, who has shared this recording of the program DX Partyline on HCJB, Quito, Ecuador.

This recording was made in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on Dec. 7, 1976 between 0230-0300 UTC, on 6095 kHz.

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

Voice of Iran: December 5, 1976

Golestan Palace, the seat of Qajar kings, a Unesco World Heritage Site (Image: Public Domain)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Greg Shoom for this 1976 recording of the Voice of Iran.

Greg notes:

"This recording might be of historical interest. It is the Voice of Iran from December 1976, three years before the revolution in Iran that overthrew the Shah and established the current Islamic Republic. The recording is of the full half-hour broadcast and includes the news, some Iranian music, and a segment on falconry as a sport. There is some occasional interference from single-sideband station."

This VOI recording was made on December 5, 1976 at 20:00 UTC on 9,022 kHz.

You can download the recording as an MP3 by clicking here, 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:

Radio Moscow, Soviet Viewpoint: circa 1980s

Many thanks to Keith Perron, for this short studio recording of Soviet Viewpoint from the Radio Moscow English language service. 

This episode focuses on the reduction of nuclear weapons and a Soviet/US summit. We do not have an exact date of this studio recording--please comment if you believe you know which summit they mention in the broadcast.

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

Shortwave Compilation, circa 1977

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Greg Shoom, who submits this recording: a compilation of clips from various shortwave stations, circa 1977. Greg didn't note specific dates, times, nor frequencies when he originally made the recording, but he has notes some details of the clips included:

Shortwave Compilation, Early 1977

• Transworld Radio - Interval signal and ID.
• Radio Veritas ID, as heard on Radio Nederland.
• Radio Nederland - The story of Radio Nederland's French language service interval signal (in English).
• Radio Nederland - Clip about interference in Scandinavia from Soviet over-the-horizon radar on shortwave.
• Radio Santa Fe ID. Probably from Radio Santa Fe, HJAF, Bogota, Colombia, which used to operate on 4965 kHz. I don't know if this was my recording of this ID, or one I heard on a DX program.
• Radio Nederland - French language service interval signal and ID.
• Unidentified utility interval signal.
• Radio Alvorada da Londrina, Brazil ID - heard on Radio Nederland.
• BBC World Service - Interval signal and ID in Portuguese.
• Radio Nederland - Story of Radio Nederland's official tune.
• Disturbing trends in DXing - From HCJB's DX Partyline show.

Greg made these recordings with either a Sony CRF-5090 or Realistic DX-160. All recordings were made in early 1977 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

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

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:

beHAVior Night: February 28, 2014

For your listening pleasure: beHAVior Night, a shortwave radio show, relayed by WBCQ, dedicated to showcasing music from the first four decades of the 20th Century.

This show was recorded on 7,490 kHz, starting at 22:00 UTC on February 28, 2014:

Radio Australia: circa 1969

Radio Australia's Shepparton transmission site (Photo: ABC)

Many thanks to David Firth, who is kindly sharing shortwave radio recordings he made on reel-to-reel recording equipment in the late 1960s. Firth is uncovering and digitizing these off air recordings as time allows and, thanks to his generosity, we will be posting these recordings on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

The following is a recording of Radio Australia, which Firth recorded in 1969.

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

beHAVior Night: February 7, 2014

Image Source

For your listening pleasure: beHAVior Night, a shortwave radio show, relayed by WBCQ, dedicated to showcasing music from the first four decades of the 20th Century.

This show was recorded on 7,490 kHz, starting at 22:00 UTC on February 7, 2014.

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

Radio Peking: circa 1968

Many thanks to David Firth, who is kindly sharing shortwave radio recordings he made on reel-to-reel recording equipment in the late 1960s. Firth is uncovering and digitizing these off air recordings as time allows and, thanks to his generosity, we will be posting these recordings on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

The following is a recording of Radio Peking, which Firth recorded in 1968.

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

Radio Switzerland: circa 1968

The Zytglogge clock tower, Bern - Switzerland (Modified photo, original by Cristo Vlahos)

Many thanks to David Firth, who is kindly sharing shortwave radio recordings he made on reel-to-reel recording equipment in the late 1960s. Firth is uncovering and digitizing these off air recordings as time allows and, thanks to his generosity, we will be posting these recordings on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

The following is a recording of the Overseas Service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Switzerland), which Firth recorded in 1968.

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

Voice of America: circa 1968

Willis Conover broadcasting with Voice of America in 1969 (Source: Wikipedia)

Many thanks to David Firth, who is kindly sharing shortwave radio recordings he made on his reel-to-reel recording equipment in the late 1960s. Firth is uncovering and digitizing these off air recordings as time allows.

We are grateful for this recording of the Voice of America, which Firth recorded in 1968. 

This recording will surely bring back memories with clips from VOA Jazz Hour (Willis Conover), the VOA Breakfast Show, and VOA Special English. 

The first time I heard Firth's recording, the Willis Conover clip gave me chills. 

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

Radio Moscow: circa 1968

Many thanks to David Firth, who is kindly sharing shortwave radio recordings he made on his reel-to-reel recording equipment in the late 1960's. Firth is uncovering and digitizing these recordings as time allows.

We are grateful for this recording of Radio Moscow, which Firth recorded in 1968. 

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

Tibet People's Broadcasting Station: January 20, 2004 (Station ID)

(Source: xinhuanet.com)

Many thanks to Brett Saylor, who contributed this recording of the Tibet People's Broadcasting Station from Lhasa, Tibet. This is a short recording of the station ID with time pips at the top of the hour (12:00 UTC) and identification including English.

Recorded in Pennsylvania in the eastern United States on January 20, 2004 using a Drake R8 with a longwire external antenna.

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: