Radio Impala: June 26, 2014

Yesterday, while recording the BBC coverage of Portugal v. Ghana in the World Cup, I noticed a relatively strong carrier on 17,540 kHz. A quick check of schedules and I realized this was the Rwandan based station, Radio Impala–a new catch for me.

Radio Impala broadcasts music and commentary daily from 17:00 – 18:00 UTC (7:00 – 8:00 PM Rwanda time) on 17,540 kHz out of the Talata-Volondry, Madagascar transmitter site.

I was able to record almost 45 minutes of the show before the signal began to fade. Click here to download the recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Radio Romania International: June 26, 2014

For your listening pleasure: Radio Romania International‘s English language service.

I recorded this broadcast with the Elad FDM-S2 on June 26, 2014, starting at 00:00 UTC on 9,700 kHz.

This broadcast originates from RRI‘s Tiganesti transmitter site.

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

Middle Eastern And Ecuadorian Music (Circa 1976-1978)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Greg Shoom, for this recording of Middle Eastern and Ecuadorian Music from the late 1970's

Greg comments:

"Recorded from shortwave radio stations around 1976-1978 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The Ecuadorian music is from radio station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador. I am not sure of the origin of the middle eastern music, but I think it might be from the Voice of Iran."

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.

Radio Station of Macedonia (VOG): June 11, 2014

Last night, while learning the ropes of the new Elad FDM-S2, I noticed some great music on 9,420 kHz, the former Voice of Greece frequency.

It was then that I realized yesterday (June 11) marked the one year anniversary of the day that the Greek government shut down ERT and the Voice of Greece. If interested, click here for some audio I recorded that very night.

Amazingly, one year later, 9,420 kHz is still active out of the Avlis transmitter site and last night, the Radio Station of Macedonia (a.k.a., ERT 3) was playing an excellent mix of Greek music and jazz.

Click here to listen to the 51 minute recording, made with the Elad FDM-S2 software defined receiver, starting at 00:50 UTC:

Wolverine Radio: May 26, 2014

A previous eQSL from Wolverine Radio. Try decoding the one at the end of this recording!

For your listening pleasure: 1 hour, 20 minutes of the pirate radio station, Wolverine Radio–recorded May 26, 2014 starting around 1:20 UTC.

Wolverine was broadcasting on 6,950 kHz in the upper side band. Typical of Wolverine, lots of music variety which spans the decades and no commentary other than station ID throughout.

At the end of this recording, you'll hear an SSTV QSL card being transmitted.

Try decoding the QSL image from this recording--it's quite easy! I usually decode Wolverine’s SSTV QSL with Chris Smolinski’s SSTV app for iPhone, but there are other programs to do this. The eQSL above came from a broadcast about two weeks ago and was submitted by SWLing Post reader, Steve Yoth.

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

Hot Legs Radio: May 25, 2014

For your listening pleasure: about 20 minutes of pirate radio station, Hot Legs Radio–recorded May 25, 2014 starting around 1:55 UTC.

Hot Legs Radio was broadcasting around 6,925 kHz in AM.

Hot Legs was rather weak and somewhat over-modulated. Indeed, in regular AM mode, I couldn't make out the station ID at all. Fortunately, by turning on the WinRadio Excalibur‘s AM synchronous detector and selecting the less noisy lower sideband, I dug the signal out of the noise. AM sync also helped compensate for the over-modulation.

You’ll hear me re-tune a couple of times in this recording. Hot Legs' signal was a bit of a moving target.  I don’t think it would have been as noticeable in standard AM mode (which is more forgiving of drift), but in AM sync, you’ll hear a tone when the frequency shifts.

Still, I’m quite happy to have caught Hot Legs Radio–a new pirate logging! Hope to hear them on again soon.

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

Radio Station of Macedonia, ERT 3: May 23, 2014

For your listening pleasure: three hours, seven minutes of the Radio Station of Macedonia (a.k.a. Voice of Greece/ERT Macedonia 3) recorded on May 23, 2014 starting around 19:00 UTC on 9,420 kHz.

This recording was made using my WinRadio Excalibur receiver and a large horizontal delta loop antenna.

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

Radio New Zealand International: May 24, 2014

Road to Mt. Cook, New Zealand by B.muirhead (WikiMedia Commons)

For your listening pleasure: two hours, fifty nine minutes of Radio New Zealand International, recorded on May 24, 2014 starting around 7:59 UTC on 9,700 kHz. This recording was made on a WinRadio Excalibur SDR and a large horizontal delta loop wire antenna.

This recording begins with the The RNZI interval signal: the charming and unmistakable call of the New Zealand Bellbird.

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

Ecuadorian Music circa 1976-1978

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Greg Shoom, for this recording of music from the late 1970s. Greg describes the recording:

"This is a compilation of Ecuadorian and perhaps other South American music recorded on shortwave in the late 1970s (1976-1978 time-frame I think). Mostly from HCJB in Quito, Ecuador. I listened regularly to their DX Partyline program back then, and they usually included one piece of Ecuadorian music on each episode. I think most of these songs come from there. Sorry that I don't have any record of station IDs, song titles, dates, times, or frequencies for this recording."

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.

Voice of America: May 5, 2014

For your listening pleasure: thirty minutes of the Voice of America's English Language service to Africa.

This broadcast was recorded on May 5, 2014 in eastern North America around 20:59 UTC on 15,580 kHz.

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.

Radio Nacional de Brasilia: April 20, 2014

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Greg Shoom, for this recording of Radio Nacional de Brasilia.

Greg made this recording on April 20, 2014 at 03:03 UTC on 6,180 kHz. Greg used his Kaito KA1103 portable radio with built in telescopic antenna to capture this broadcast.

Greg comments:

"This recording has the distinctive sound of shortwave - distortion of the signal from its passage through the Earth's ionosphere, interference from a station on an adjacent frequency, the sound of natural static, and the whine of a heterodyne in the background. Stations like this from Latin America used to be much more common. It's good to hear that Brazil still has a presence on shortwave."

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.

Wolverine Radio: April 27, 2014

For your listening pleasure: 1 hour and 7 minutes of pirate radio station, Wolverine Radio–recorded April 27, 2014 starting around 1:10 UTC.

Wolverine was broadcasting on 6,945 kHz in the upper side band. Typical of Wolverine, lots of music variety which spans the decades and no commentary other than station ID throughout.

I decoded Wolverine’s SSTV QSL (see right) with Chris Smolinski's SSTV app for iPhone.  As you'll hear, overall signal strength and audio fidelity were excellent.

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

MAC Shortwave: April 27, 2014

For your listening pleasure: over one hour of the pirate radio station, MAC Shortwave. 

I recorded this broadcast on April 27, 2014 starting around 00:05 UTC, on 6,950 kHz AM. This broadcast features host "Jimmy Stewart" who plays a set of big band music. 

Simply click here to download an MP3 of the recording, or listen via the embedded player below:

All India Radio (DRM): April 14, 2014

Shola highlands are found in Kudremukh National Park, Chikmagalur which is part of the Western Ghats. (Photo source: Karunakar Rayker)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Mark Fahey, who has shared this Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) recording of All India Radio.

Mark explains:

"Almost every morning at 5:45AM (Sydney time) I have my first cup of coffee and eat breakfast and listen to the All India Radio Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Hindi language evening broadcast to Europe. At this time of year in Australia (April) the broadcast starts in darkness and ends as the sun is rising. The broadcast originates from the Khampur (Delhi) transmission facility. 

I have a deep love for India and have spent a large part of my life working and living there, so I take every opportunity to listen to All India Radio in both DRM and analogue mode.

Digital DRM provides the opportunity for fade and noise free reception. But as you can hear on this recording, AIR introduces plenty of unintended noise into their programs even before the broadcast reaches the transmitting antenna. The 50Hz hum is a feature I notice in all AIR DRM broadcasts. On some occasions (perhaps every few months) they "forget" to patch the audio path correctly to the transmitter and all that is heard is the hum without any programming for the hour!"

This recording was made on April 14, 2014 starting at 19:45 UTC on 9,950 kHz. Mark received this broadcast at Freemans Reach, NSW, Australia (60 km North West of Sydney), on a WinRadio WR-G31DDC Excalibur Receiver and Wellbrook ALA1530 Loop antenna.

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.

All India Radio: April 12, 2014

Kedarnath range behind the Kedarnath temple early morning. (Photo source: Kaustabh)

For your listening pleasure: fifty two minutes of All India Radio's English language service

This broadcast was recorded in North America on Saturday, April 12, 2014 starting around 9:40 UTC on 9,445 kHz.

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

Chairman of the Board Radio: April 12, 2014

For your listening pleasure: a short 20 minute broadcast from the pirate radio station, Chairman of the Board Radio–recorded Saturday, April 12, 2014 starting around 3:30 UTC.

Chairman of the Board Radio was broadcasting on 6,935 kHz in the upper side band. As you’ll hear, the signal was quite strong, with just a little compression noise.

I really enjoyed this short set of Frank Sinatra tunes. You’ll hear the station ID at the end with a shout out to listeners in Chicago.

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

Radio New Zealand International: April 5, 2014

For your listening pleasure: three hours of Radio New Zealand International.

This broadcast was recorded on 9,700 kHz, starting at 07:59 UTC on April 5, 2014. This weekend RNZI broadcast includes Peter Fry's Saturday Night music request show--always a treat to hear.

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

Radio Nederland ("Happy Station Show"), "Why Join a DX Club?", LW Beacons: December 27, 1976

Greg Shoom used a Sony CRF-5090. (Photo courtesy of Universal Radio)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Greg Shoom, who submits this recording which includes Radio Nederland's Happy Station Show from December 27, 1976.  Greg writes:

"This is the first of a set of DX cassette tapes I made back in the late 1970s. Most of it is a recording of the broadcast of the Christmas 1976 edition of the Happy Station program on Radio Nederland.

Following that is a short segment "Why join a DX club?" (broadcaster, date, and frequency of recording unknown), and a few minutes of longwave beacons."

He also includes the playlist/log with notes:

DX Tape 01

1. "Happy Station" - R. Nederland English language show, Host: Tom Meyer, Dec. 27, 1976, 6165 kHz, 0200-0320 UTC,  SINPO 44444 
2. "Why Join a DX Club?" 
3. IDs: Q, Y, P, W, M, YGK (Longwave beacons) 

Greg made these recordings from 1976-1977 with his Sony CRF-5090 portable radio in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Remember, you can download all of the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive as a podcast by subscribing to our iTunes or RSS feed. 

If you can help ID the broadcast, "Why Join a DX Club?" please comment!

The Shortwave Shindig: March 15, 2014

Every year at the Winter SWL Fest in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, radio producer David Goren hostsThe Shortwave Shindig, a live event that celebrates the art and culture of long distance listening. This year, for the first time, the Shortwave Shindig was broadcast live on shortwave. The Shindig signed on for one hour at 10:00 ET (02:00 UTC) on 7,570 kHz via WRMI's new Okeechobee facility. 

Last week, I asked readers on my blog, The SWLing Post, if they could record the Shortwave Shindig.  I received two shortwave recordings and one FM recording--I will add others to this post as they arrive.

Matthew Williams took this photo of his TS-590S and Grundig G3 while recording the Shortwave Shindig.

Our first recording comes from Matthew Williams who recorded the show on his Kenwood TS-590 with an 80 meter doublet antenna in New Paltz, NY:

Ed McCorry made the following recording at his home in Willow Spring, NC. He used an ICOM R-75 with a 120 ft. longwire antenna:

"The Professor" recorded this FM broadcast from inside the hotel where the Winter SWL Fest was held. Evidently, an in-house pirate radio FM station was relaying the broadcast:

The Mighty KBC: March 9, 2014

DJ Eric van Willegen, "Uncle Eric"

For your listening pleasure: two hours of The Mighty KBC, recorded on March 9, 2014 starting at 00:00 UTC on their winter frequency of 7,375 kHz.

As we’ve come to expect, the Mighty KBC’s Giant Jukebox of music has a lot of rock-n-roll and Euro-pop variety, spanning the decades; DJ, “Uncle Eric” knows how to entertain and spin the tunes! Uncle Eric includes Kim Elliott’s digital text modes in this broadcast–if you missed the live broadcast, you can even decode the messages from the recording below.

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