For your listening pleasure: a recording of the Deutsche Welle English service made this morning, September 3rd, starting at 04:00 UTC.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below (note about 40 seconds of carrier prior to the beginning of the broadcast):
Lately, the Voice of Greece has been playing very long sets of music; and not all of it Greek. I assume the break in format has to do with the reorganization of Greek national broadcasting.
I believe VoG could be cut on a moment's notice. With heavy cuts being dealt to national broadcasting, I doubt they'll keep investing in shortwave radio since they no longer even have an English language service. This is one of the reasons I've devoted a lot of recording time to VoG as of late.
I certainly hope I'm wrong about my prediction.
On September 1st, I recorded over five hours of VoG, starting around 22:00 UTC. After about an hour of Greek commentary, you'll hear music ranging from contemporary to classical.
Click here to download the full recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below.
Friday night (30 August 2013), I came across a new shortwave pirate radio station: BOCHF.
BOCHF started broadcasting around 23:10 UTC on 6,925 kHz USB, and after about a twenty-five minute set, took a five minute break, then returned with a forty-two minute set, ending with an SSTV QSL. The signal, as you can hear below, is fairly strong, but interference was also strong at times; especially from SSB pescadores (fishermen) and the usual summer static crashes.
The entire mix consisted of Boards of Canada music from Tomorrow’s Harvest. There were no vocal ID’s, but there were messages in CW (Morse code) which clearly identifies this pirate as BOCHF.
The artists Boards of Canada have always had an affinity with shortwave radio, so I find a shortwave pirate station playing their music to be an appropriate tribute. Due to sound card problems, I was unable to decode the SSTV QSL, but thankfully a great copy was posted on HF Underground’s pirate radio forum (see above) by forum contributor, Chris Smolinski.
Click here to download MP3s of Part One and Part Two from the full broadcast last night or simply listen via the embedded audio players below:
Again this morning (1 September 2013) at 2:20 UTC–and last night, during a very active night of pirate radio activity–BOCHF crept onto the airwaves, this time on 6,920 kHz USB.
Yesterday, BOCHF played the Boards of Canada album Tomorrow’s Harvest; this morning, they played their album In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country.
And how did it sound? Combining the music of the Boards of Canada with the sonic texture of the shortwave ether is a winning combination, in my opinion. But don’t take my word for it: take a listen yourself.
Click here to download the full broadcast as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
BOCHF also sent me this hi-resolution QSL card (below) after hearing the off-air recordings.
Many thanks, BOCHF!
As on many Saturdays, this morning, I sipped my 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, Catherin Britt continues to fill in for Felicity Urquhart (who is on maternity leave).
I captured a two hour broadcast which you can download by clicking here or simply listening via the embedded player below.
For your listening pleasure: a recording of the Voice of Greece made Tuesday night, August 20th, starting at 23:00 UTC.
This broadcast begins with my favorite Voice of Greece station ID, then, following a little Greek commentary, resumes with an eclectic mix of music.
This is one of the few broadcasts I've heard with a substantial dose of non-Greek music. Click here to download the full recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Also published on The SWLing Post:
Many afternoons, I'm drawn to All India Radio on 9,445 kHz. I love what the ether does to their Bengaluru transmitting station's signal as it travels at the speed of light over 8,700 miles to my home here in the southeastern US.
Pressing hands together with a smile to greet Namaste/Namaskar – a common cultural practice in India. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
I enjoy, too, the way All India Radio announcers speak the news, in slow cadence, honoring the fine tradition of radio: "This is the general overseas service of All India Radio. It's time now for the news. Please stand by..." I also delight in their English language news bulletins, which begin with "Namaskar." I appreciate this--it makes it much easier for me to identify the station when listening on an analog radio like my BC-348-Q. I'm sure this makes a difference for many other listeners seeking their station, too.
I also love All India Radio--like I do the Voice of Greece--for their superb music. Where else on the shortwave dial will I hear the sitar sing, as on AIR?
But don't take my word for it. If you live in North America and Europe, when conditions are favorable, All India Radio is a favorite listening experience for many--myself obviously included.
For your listening enjoyment, here is a 30 minute recording I made of All India Radio only an hour ago on 9,445 kHz, starting at 22:00 UTC. Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
For your listening pleasure: a thirty minute show of Voice of America's French service to Africa. Recorded August 13, 2013 on 9.885 MHz starting at 21:00 UTC.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
[Note: I originally posted this article, along with the recording, on The SWLing Post]
While I'm passionate about shortwave radio--a technology that has, of course, been around for many decades--I also love to hear about emerging digital technologies, especially those that make our world a better place.
These days, I listen to several shows about technology, many of which are only available as a live stream or podcast (like TWIT, for example).
There are two shows, however, that I like to listen to on shortwave radio when my schedule allows.
One such show is the BBC World Service technology show, Click (formerly Digital Planet). I've listened to Click for years, and have even been interviewed on the show by its marvelous host Gareth Mitchell (click here to listen). I especially love the show's focus on technologies that have a positive impact in developing countries (hence my interview, about my non-profit, ETOW). Mitchell, I'm delighted to add, is quite the fan of shortwave radio as well, and is not afraid of reporting on technologies that are not exclusively tied to smart phones and the like.
Another show I've been listening to for a few months is Download This Show on Radio Australia. It's a fun and informative technology program and always has a great panel discussion on technology news. What I really love about this show is its take on Australian technology in particular, and how this compares with technology in the rest of the world.
Since Download This Show is broadcast via Radio Australia's Shepparton transmitting site, the signal is quite strong here in North America and easily received on portable shortwave radios.
Click here to download over two hours of Radio Australia, including Download this Show, or listen via the embedded player below. This broadcast was recorded on August 2, 2013, on 9,580 kHz, starting around 13:00 UTC.
You'll find Download This Show in the second hour of the recording, following the news headlines at 1:05.
(Source: Rob Wagner)
Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, shares this historic recording of Radio Australia's Club Forum, from February 4th, 1973.
Below is Bob's description, taken from his blog the Mount Evelyn DX Report, with recording following:
Here's something I found a few days ago! An old cassette tape of part of Radio Australia's Club Forum program, hosted by the legendary Keith Glover. The program went to air on February 4th, 1973 (over 40 years ago). It's only the first 6 minutes of the show, with Keith reporting on the Australian Radio DX Club'sConvention '73, held in Melbourne.
Keith had been invited to the convention as a guest speaker, delivering a wonderful talk on Radio Australia's devoted listeners around the world and the role that the station played in presenting an Australian Voice internationally. For many years, the station was very popular, particularly in Asia.
Keith's Club Forum report on his visit to the convention mentions many names of enthusiastic Melbourne and Sydney DXers from that era. Keith's programs were always well-prepared, but he was able to communicate with listeners with a relaxed and very personal style......with a feeling that he was almost face-to-face with you in the same room! You can hear that style come out in this recording. Indeed for many years, Keith was one of the best-known voices on shortwave. He died in 2006.
Club Forum was a weekly program, connected to the Radio Australia Listeners Club. A special listeners certificate was available, each individual certificate having it's own membership number.
I'm making this recording public after all these years because:
1) It may bring back memories to the "Old Folks" amongst us, of a fascinating era when the DX hobby and shortwave listening was blooming, and
2) Just this last month, Radio Australia discontinued their Mandarin and Indonesian shortwave services - what were formerly their two biggest audiences with literally millions of listeners.
How times have changed!!
I hope you enjoy this brief glimpse into the Radio Australia of a bygone age.
Rob Wagner VK3BVW
(Source: happystationshow.blogspot.com)
Jan Oversteen sends us this recording of the Happy Station Show and comments:
"Part of the Happy Station Show from July 26, 1992. This is the broadcast in where Tom Meijer announced that Pete Meijers is going to take over the program."
Thank you for sharing this recording, Jan! If you would like to share recordings, simply submit a recording with this form.
For your listening pleasure: over three hours of mostly music and commentary from the Voice of Greece. Recorded Sunday, June 23, 2013 on 9.42 MHz starting around 23:00 UTC.
Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey's new base (Source: BBC)
Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the forty one scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team; the show containsmusic requests and, most notably, personal messages from back home to the team of forty one.
The British Antarctic Survey celebrates today (their longest, darkest winter day) with the same enthusiasm as Christmas. The BBC noted:
The base commanders rise early to cook breakfast for their staff, presents are exchanged, there are sports and even, weather permitting, a mad streak in the snow! Feasting continues before they gather round a shortwave set to listen to the traditional broadcast packed with greetings from their family and friends back home together with music requests and messages from the British Antarctic Survey and a few celebrities. Finally the Antarctic horror movie The Thing is screened. For those who know the plot, perhaps it is just as well there are no longer sledge dogs in Antarctica...
Here is the recording of the BBC World Service's thirty minute broadcast to the British Antarctic Survey. I was able to receive a relatively strong signal at 21:30 UTC on 9,890 kHz from the World Service's Wooferton transmission site.
Click here to download the full recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
On Tuesday, June 11, 2013, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras called for the complete closure of the Greek National TV and Radio broadcaster, ERT.
The Voice of Greece went off the air, just like its national radio and TV counterparts, well before the announced midnight deadline. But around 22:44 UTC, the VoG came back on the air–at first with a few audio/technical glitches–and broadcast ERT protest coverage throughout the night.
The following recording was made on June 11, 2013 on 9.42 MHz, around 22:44 UTC, the moment when the Voice of Greece began transmitting audio again. Here’s a four hour recording beginning only a few seconds beforehand:A few days ago, I posted a recording of the Voice of Turkey that noticeably lacked coverage of the Gezi Park protests.
Friday, I recorded VOT’s English language broadcast and was surprised to find that they actually mentioned the protests (admittedly, without it’s due weight) in several news items. I’m very curious how future VOT broadcasts will cover news of yesterday’s riots in Istanbul as police cleared crowds of protesters with water cannons and tear gas.
Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Jan Oosterveen submits this recording and writes:
The following is a recording of PCJ International's first shortwave transmission for Europe on 5.955 kHz.
This recording was made in the Netherlands. I used a Software designed radio located at Technical University Twente in the eastern part of the country. Also the antenna is loacated in Enschede at TU Twente.
To access this SDR use this link http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
The antenna is a very small active one. You'll also find a description of the antenna there.
The following recording was made on 5,955 kHz at 13:00UTC on June 09, 2013:
This two hour fifty three minute recording of Radio Australia contains: the ending of an AFL game between North Melborne and the Gold Coast, the news headlines, two full hours of Saturday Night Country and (a bit for the history books) Radio Australia's first Radiogram at 25:00 in the recording (click here for more info).
This recording was made on June 8, 2013 starting around 12:00 UTC on 9.58 MHz:
Gezi protest in Kızılay Square, Ankara (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Turkey has been in the world headlines now for well over a week. In case you're not up-to-date, here's a summary of what has happened:
On May 28, 2013, about fifty environmentalists led a small protest in Istanbul to oppose the replacement of Taksim Gezi Park with a reconstruction of the Taksim Military Barracks. The protests escalated when the group occupying the park was attacked with water cannons and tear gas by the Turkish police. This event led to riots, which were soon widespread; the protests, meanwhile, broadened their scope into full-fledged anti-government demonstrations across the country and even into the Turkish diaspora across the globe.
Yesterday, I turned to the Voice of Turkey on shortwave radio to hear about the active protests currently ongoing throughout the country...
But what did I hear? The only mention I heard of the Gezi Park protests in the Voice of Turkey's English language service were in a passing Turkish press report on the reaction to the protests by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry. The item, moreover, was completely buried in their broadcast and certainly not something upon which they elaborated in the least (listen, beginning at 12:50 below).
I've always loved listening to the Voice of Turkey, but events like this remind me of the simple fact that many international broadcasters are still very much the mouthpieces of their governments.
Of course, Turkey certainly would not win an award for press freedom; not even close. Reporters Without Borders list Turkey as a country with a "Difficult Situation" with regards to press freedoms, ranking them 154th out of 179 countries in their 2013 Press Freedom Index. To put this in perspective, Finland and the Netherlands occupy the top two spots as models of press freedom, the USA is number 32, and North Korea and Eritrea occupy the bottom spots (numbers 178 and 179, respectively) obviously countries without press freedoms.
I'd like to think that the news readers at the Voice of Turkey would rather give this news the attention it deserves, or at least offer the Turkish government's perspective on the demonstrations. Instead, what we heard was...nothing. And we heard that loud and clear.
Indeed, the world is paying attention to the lack of news coming out of Turkey right now. Time Magazine posted this article article yesterday, which begins:
As epic clashes between anti-government protesters and riot police turned downtown Istanbul into a battle zone last weekend, the country’s two main news channels had, well, not much to report. One ran a documentary on penguins. The other, a cooking show. To many Turks, their silence was symptomatic of the self-censorship Turkey’s media have practiced under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s tightfisted 10-year rule. Penguin T-shirts, penguin jokes and penguin costumes now abound — the bird has become a symbol of protesters’ frustration with the mainstream media.
One of the most amazing things about shortwave radio is that by really listening, you can hear the unfiltered voices of regional broadcasters, the clandestine organizations, and the media representatives of their respective countries.
If this story had broken twenty years ago, moreover, I would have heard it as a headline from every respected international broadcaster. Then, upon turning to the in-country "news source," as I attempted to do yesterday when I tuned in the Voice of Turkey and was subjected to a total lack of news, I would therefore be instantly made aware of what the Turkish government didn't want me to hear.
Unfortunately I feel we've lost a bit of this comparative news consumption, not just because of the exodus of many trusted radio broadcasters from the field, but because we've been trained to consume news in (palatable) bites. Our attention spans and interest seem to have diminished to the point that we now often rely on our news sources to interpret for us. A sad fact...especially considering politically-evolving countries like Turkey still need our attention, interest, and thoughtful support.
Listen to the same Voice of Turkey broadcast I heard yesterday, by downloading the off-air recording or by listening via the embedded player below:
Jan Oosterveen submits this recording and writes:
"In the 1980's I often drove from home to the Radio Netherlands Flevo Transmittersite to make a clean recording of Happy Station."
"Also on October 4 1987 I was there. After the recording, the tape kept running also on the radio I was tunig around until at 21:28 I heard a very strong carrier coming from the transmitter building on a frequency not used that time: 9.850 kHz."
"I kept listening and there was an announcement of a Dutch transmission with frequency announcements in Dutch not mentioning 9.850 kHz."
"After the time signal suddenly a program for Indonesia started. How strange. The day after i called Continuity at RNW and I was told that I had picked up a non published frequency they used at that time to feed the transmitter in Madagascar because there was an outage on the satelite feed. But the engineer had made a mistake by sending out the wrong statiion-id. So it turned out i had a very unique recording. You must be aware that in this period no one actually used the internet for feeding a relay station."
If Radio Australia ever stops broadcasting on the shortwaves, one program I will certainly miss is Jazz Notes.
Jazz Notes showcases the best in Australian jazz, often featuring new and original recordings made in ABC’s studios. The show is hosted by Ivan Lloyd and has been offered on Radio Australia for several years. I listen to the show Wednesday mornings at 9:30 am EDT.
The following recording was made on 29 May 2013 on 9,580 kHz at 13:30 UTC.
This English broadcast of the Voice of Turkey was recorded on 29 May 2013, starting a few minutes before 03:00 UTC on 9,515 kHz.
The following recording includes several minutes of VoT's interval signal.
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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