Eye Radio: June 7, 2016

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Live, off-air, approximately one-hour recording of Eye Radio on 7 June 2016 beginning at about 16:00 UTC on a shortwave frequency of 17730 kHz. According to the World Radio TV Handbook, this broadcast is one of two aired daily in the time slots 16:00-17:00 UTC and 04:00-05:00 UTC, with the latter transmitted on 11730 kHz. The broadcasts originate from a 150 kW transmitter of TDF in Issoudun, France.    

Eye Radio (http://www.eyeradio.org/), formerly known as Sudan Radio Service, operates an FM station in Juba, South Sudan, operating on 98.6 MHz. As Sudan Radio Service, it began broadcasts on shortwave before the FM station was constructed. Shortwave broadcasts as Eye Radio reportedly began on 26 April 2016. These broadcasts were brokered by Alyx & Yeyi.

The recorded program is multilingual and is in Arabic, English, and a local language. An extensive English segment, primarily on job training of women in South Sudan, runs from about the 17-minute mark in the recording to about the 40-minute mark and is an excerpt of the "Dawn Show" broadcast by the FM station. There are also some English public service announcements during the broadcast.

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 5.09 kHz RF filtering. Reception was fair with some noise, improving somewhat towards the end of the broadcast. 

Radio Tashkent, announcing death of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev: November 11, 1982

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Brezhnev greets Gerald Ford upon his arrival at Vozdvizhenka for the Vladivostok Summit on 23 November 1974.

Brezhnev greets Gerald Ford upon his arrival at Vozdvizhenka for the Vladivostok Summit on 23 November 1974.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jack Widner, for the following recording. Jack notes:

R. Tashkent announcing the death of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev during the 1200 UTC English broadcast on 5985 kHz on November 11, 1982 (Brezhnev died Nov 10).  After funeral music there was regular programming (approx. 8:09).

Radio Nacional Brasilia: July 3, 2016

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Radio Nacional Brasilia broadcasting in Portuguese to Brazil. The recording contains music with the occasional ID. This is very good DX for me, as reception of South American stations is quite difficult in my part of the world. Transmitted at 250 kw from Brasilia. Received with an Eton Satellit and Kestrel active loop in Sydney, Australia.

Radio Svoboda: June 25, 2016

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Live, off-air recording on 25 June 2016 of the last couple of hours or so of the final evening broadcast of Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty) in Russian on shortwave. The recording starts at about 19:22 UTC using the frequency of 5995 kHz. The transmission on this frequency was from a 100 kW transmitter at Lampertheim, Germany, operated by the United States International Broadcasting Bureau, with an antenna beam azimuth of 55°. Just before 21:00 UTC, this transmitter left the air and the receiver was retuned to 9540 kHz for the continuation of the broadcast. The transmission on this frequency was also from a 100 kW transmitter at Lampertheim, with an antenna beam azimuth of 75°. The broadcast ended just before 22:00 UTC.

The recording begins with the program "Vremya Dzhaza" (Jazz Time), moderated by Dmitry Savitsky, in progress. It is interesting that one of the last broadcasts of Radio Svoboda on shortwave included jazz music considering how important jazz was for fostering U.S. culture and lifestyle during the Cold War. At 20:00 UTC, there is a five-minute news bulletin, followed by the program "Kult Lichnosti" (Cult of Personality). It features an interview with Yevgeny Bunimovich, famed Russian poet, mathematician, and politician. At 23:00 UTC, there is another five-minute news bulletin, followed by the program "Itogi Nedeli" (Results of the Week), a discussion of the week's news.

Signal quality at the beginning of the recording (on the frequency of 5995 kHz) is quite good. There is about a minute of silence around 20:00 UTC while the radio is retuned. After the station changes frequency, the signal is not as good. Also, there is now interference in the background from a Chinese station. Between about 21:22 and 21:32 UTC, the Radio Svoboda transmitter is off the air. When it comes back, the signal is a bit stronger and stays that way until the end of the recording. 

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 initially with 9.09 kHz total bandwidth RF filtering. After the frequency change, the bandwidth was changed to 5.17 kHz. 

BBC World Service (Death of the Duke of Windsor): May 28, 1972

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The Duke of Windsor in 1945

The Duke of Windsor in 1945

Many thanks to SRAA contributor Ian Holder for the following recording.  Ian notes that this recording features the BBC World Service news bulletin which reports on the death of the Duke of Windsor. 

This recording was made on May 28, 1972 around 13:00 GMT on 11.75 MHz:

Radio Luxembourg (German Language Service): February 1982

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

The German service of RTL was recorded late on a Saturday/early Sunday morning Europe in either February or March 1982.  For those who speak German, there are news headlines that could pinpoint the exact date, so any help given would be greatly appreciated.

If you can help Paul ID headlines in this recording, please comment!

Radio Atlantida: October 1982

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Harner, who submits the following recording and notes:

In October 1982, I logged my first short wave broadcast station from Peru.  It was during a Friday night when I heard Radio Atlantida.  The station broadcast on 4790 kHz from Iquitos.  This was recorded on a 3" reel-to-reel machine I had purchased at a yard sale that summer.

Radio Colosal: April 16, 1980

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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

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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

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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

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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.