Radio Colosal: April 16, 1980

/

Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner for the following recordings. Paul notes:

Radio Colosal de Neiva (Colombia) was one of the more reliable signals to be found on 60 meters where I live.  The station was an affiliate of the TODELAR network, and broadcast on 4945 kHz.  Within a year of this recording, Radio Colosal disappeared and the frequency became part of the Caracol network.

BBC Radio 4 LW "Referendum 2016": June 24, 2016

/

Live, off-air recording of the last three hours of "Referendum 2016" broadcast by BBC Radio 4 Longwave (LW) on 24 June 2016 beginning shortly after 03:00 UTC on a frequency of 198 kHz from the 500 kW transmitter at Droitwich, near Worcester, England. 

Reception was only fair with a lot of atmospheric noise (QRN) due to thunderstorms in the vicinity of the receiving station. Conditions improved slightly towards the end of the recording period. Radio 4 LW broke away from "Referendum 2016" for the "Shipping Forecast" segment between 05:20 and 05:30 UTC. The recording ends with the Greenwich Time Signal (the Six Pips) and the introduction of the "Today" program. 

The broadcast was received by the Web-interface wideband software-defined radio at the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands, with a "Mini-Whip" antenna in AM mode with 9.09 kHz RF filtering.

2016 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2016

/

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Mark Hist, who notes the following:

Thanks for alerting shortwave listeners to the British Antarctic Survey broadcast. It felt very poignant listening to a broadcast aimed at such a small number of people, with the voices of their loved ones being launched around the world.
I was able to record the broadcast from only 100 miles away from the Woofferton transmitter, so needless to say the quality and strength was very good. I imagine hearing that broadcast buried in the noise from far away with those happy birthday songs and best wishes must have been very emotional for its intended audience.
I enclose a short segment from my 30 minute recording, plus a photo (above) taken the next day of my set up (it was dark at the time of the recording).

I also recorded the broadcast from Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré, Québec, Canada. I wrote a post about this on the SWLing Post (click here to read). The following is my recording from 7360 kHz. Reception was not nearly as strong as that of Mark, above:

Note that we collected over 30 recordings--from accross the globe. You can listen to and browse them on the SWLing Post by clicking here.

Radio Quito: May 1985

/

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Harner, for the following recordings. Paul notes:

Aside from HCJB, Radio Quito was the first signals I ever received from Ecuador.  The station would reach the midwestern USA in the evening hours.
On a Saturday evening in May 1985, Radio Quito was playing an enjoyable mix of cumbia and salsa music and I decided to roll tape.  The first half hour was recorded on a cassette, and the last hour was recorded on an open reel machine.  To reduce interference I recorded the station in single sideband instead of AM.  While I am not completely sure of the date, I believe this was recorded on 4 May 1985.  The recording starts at around 0130z/UTC and ends with their sign-off at 0300z/UTC.

Radio Australia (Brexit in headlines): June 24, 2016

/

This morning, I was very curious about the results of the Brexit vote, so I turned to one of the only stations that is strong enough to punch through the noise here at our vacation condo: Radio Australia.

The following recording starts a few minutes prior to the top of the hour ABC news headlines at 12:00 UTC on 9580 kHz on June 24, 2016 (the morning after the Brexit vote and the resignation announcement of Prime Minister David Cameron. 

The recording is rather poor as propagation was dismal and the level of RFI significant.  Still, this is such an important event, I wanted it in the shortwave archive. Receiver used was the Sony ICF-SW55 in Beaupré, Québec, Canada:

BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2016

/

Two live, off-air, half-hour recordings of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2016 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast features music requests and special messages for the staff at the British Antarctic Survey.

The first recording is of the transmission on a frequency of 7360 kHz from the BBC's Ascension Island relay station (250 kW transmitter power, antenna beam 207 degrees). The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 5 kHz RF filtering. Reception was good with some atmospheric noise. The interruption in the audio around the 11-minute mark was due to a check of other parallel frequencies.

The second recording is of the transmission on a frequency of 5985 kHz from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station (300 kW transmitter power, antenna beam 184 degrees). The broadcast was received by the Web-interface wideband software-defined radio at the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands, with a "Mini-Whip" antenna in AM mode with 5.17 kHz RF filtering. Reception of the broadcast was good with some noise cracks.  

Gulf Harbour Radio: June 22, 2016

/

ZMH286 Gulf Harbour Radio reporting weather and sailing conditions and communicating with yachts sailing in the South Pacific. Broadcast at 1915 UTC Monday to Saturday, from May to November. Transmitted from Whangaparaoa, New Zealand, kw unknown. In association with Yachts in Transit, http://www.yit.nz/gulf-harbour-radio. There are some deep fades during the transmission. Received in Sydney, Australia, with a Sangean ATS-909X and PK's mag loop antenna.

Radio Moscow: September 19, 1984

/

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jim Jordan, who shares this recording of Radio Moscow from September 19, 1984. This recording was made using a National Panasonic RF-2200 tuned to 9.5 MHz around 08:10 UTC. The location was South Shields, UK. 

Jim notes:

A nice cold war piece from Radio Moscow on the double defection of the Soviet journalist Oleg Bitov.
The real story behind it was revealed ten years later here: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/he-came-he-saw-he-couldnt-take-it-he-was-a-soviet-defector-with-a-story-to-sell-and-duff-hart-davis-1383974.html

Radio Luxumbourg: March 5, 1982

/

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Harner, for the following recordings. Jack notes:

Radio Luxembourg used two short wave frequencies for their broadcasts: 6090 and 15350 kHz.  On 6090, the station relayed their 1440 kHz service, which included their English and German language broadcasts.  The 15350 kHz relayed their French language service on 234 kHz long wave.
This recording of RTL's French service was made in the early evening in the midwestern USA on Friday 4 March 1982, which would have been the early Saturday morning in Europe.

KBS World Radio in English: June 15, 2016

/

KBS World Radio on 9570 kHz ending the broadcast in Indonesian and starting the English broadcast to Southeast Asia. There was some mild adjacent channel interference for the first half hour so I have recorded with the narrow filter engaged. The program includes news, Seoul travel tips, a Korean language lesson, Sounds of Korea traditional music, Quarterly Quiz competition and sign off. Broadcast at 100 kw from Kimjae, South Korea. Received in Sydney, Australia, with a Degen DE1121 and a Kestrel active loop antenna.

Radio Thailand: June 13, 2016

/

Radio Thailand's English service recorded in London, UK on June 13, 2016 at 1900 UTC on the frequency of 9390 kHz using FunCube Dongle Pro+ and SDR# with the Lowe PR-150 preselector, DX Engineering NCC-1 phaser connected to two Wellbrook ALA1530S+ antennas (positioned indoors) to mitigate severe local man-made interference. The transmitter has a power rating of 250 kW and is located in Udon Thani, Thailand. 

Radio Oromiya: June 5, 2016

/

Radio Oromiya broadcasting in Afar Oromo to East Africa. Transmitted at 100 kw from Addis Ababa-Gedja, Ethiopia. Received in Sydney, Australia, with a Degen DE1103 and a Kestrel active loop antenna. The recording includes ID at 1900. The signal was good and the noise low and I was enjoying the music until the batteries died.  I quickly put a fresh set in but the Degen decided to spit the dummy and wouldn't work again that morning. The noise has been too high since then to attempt another recording.