Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Robins, who shares the following recording and comments:
La Voz de Alpha 66 recorded in Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 0206 hours to 0237 hours UTC on 20 January 1988 on 6,668 MHz. The clandestine station opposed the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The transmitter was reportedly located in the Miami, Florida, area.
Receiver: Sony ICF-2020
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Robins, for the following recording and notes:
Radio Liberación-Sistema Radial de la Resistencia Nicaragüense recorded in Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 0240 hours to 0330 hours UTC on 20 January 1988 on frequency 5,929.3 kHz. The clandestine station opposed the Sandinista regime in Managua. The transmitter may have been in Honduras.
Receiver: Sony ICF-2010
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Robins, who shares the following recording and notes:
This is a recording of U.S. pirate radio station "Jolly Roger Radio" from my location in Kalamazoo, Michigan, beginning at 2300 UTC on 9 November 1980. At that time I was using a Collins R390A receiver and a random-length, end-fed wire antenna. The station was about the only U.S. pirate at that time that specialized in Bluegrass, folk, and Americana music. This was part of a marathon, multi-hour broadcast that led directly to the FCC "busting" the station and putting it off the air. It was revealed that Jolly Roger Radio operated from Bloomington, Indiana, with a transmitter power of around 50 watts.
On the top-10 list of DX targets in the 1970s was Spanish Sahara, the broadcast service transmitting from Aaiun in what was then Spanish-ruled Sahara in West Africa. Verification cards and letters were sent to lucky listeners around the world who were able to hear the transmissions which were a mixture of local programs and material from the Spanish national radio. Frequencies on shortwave: 7,230 khz listed as 10 KW and 4,626 khz which was a SSB frequency listed a 5 kilowatts, described as a service for Aaiun and Villa Cisneros, now called Dakhla, about 330 miles south along the coast from Aaiun.
My reception of Radio Sahara was on a Hammarlund HQ-180 receiver, which due to its superb filtering and vernier tuning capability I used to hear numerous African stations. According to the QSL letter received from Radio Sahara, and signed by Amparo Martin, their programming was from “0645 to 01 horas” making this one of the few African stations with a very late (or early in the morning) sign on for listeners in the eastern U.S. (the other being Radio Gambia).
In this recording you hear music to about the 1 minute 10 mark, then station identification by a male announcer “Musica para ellos. Radio Sahara de la red de emisoras [network of stations] de Radio Nacional de Espana” and since Spain was still under the rule of dictator Francisco Franco at the time, this was heard after an military march: “Viva Franco, Viva el Sahara, Viva Espana” followed by what I believe was the Spanish national anthem.
Another frequency for Radio Sahara was 11,805 khz. In 1975, the station sent out a more traditional QSL card (see below). The history that followed saw Spain withdrawing troops from the region on January 12, 1976, and ending its presence in the territory February 26, 1976. Morocco immediately claimed sovereignty over the territory and for years a guerilla war dragged on (1975 to 1991) between the Polisario Front and Moroccan forces. This Wikipedia entry explains the complexities of the situation in what is today called a “partially recognized de facto sovereign state.”
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Africa was a treasure trove of stations broadcasting on shortwave. Prime time for listening was late afternoon (especially during the winter DX season) and the 0300 to 0700 UTC range. For stations in East Africa and the Indian Ocean, evening hours presented an ideal time but did not mean that these were easy catches. One evening in 1975, propagation conditions were such that listeners on the East coast of North America suddenly heard East African stations at what sounded like a local level. One of them was Voice of Kenya. The signal was so remarkable on 4,915 khz that it rivaled signals from some Latin American stations that were still on the air in the 0300 to 0400 UTC range. This was the National Service in Swahili. Other VOK frequencies were more challenging, such as the listed 41 meter band frequency and one in 31 meters. Even more difficult, was the 4885 frequency for the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. That station eluded many DX’ers and verifications of the Mombasa station are among the rarest from the continent of Africa. Here is Voice of Kenya as heard in Pennslvania in 1975:
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording
This was the classic aerogram style QSL received by many DX’ers who heard Emisora da Guinea (or Guine as it was spelled by the station) Portuguesa. One of the hardest DX catches for North American listeners, the station’s main frequency was, as this verification notes, 5,041 khz. But for a brief period in 1972, DX’ers were amazed to find that this rare African station was putting out a harmonic and being heard at strong levels on 5041 x 2 = 10,082 khz. Some of us were pinching ourselves to make sure we weren’t dreaming, but yes, this was Portuguese Guinea. What’s more, the station was actually one of the more consistent verifiers of reception reports, and sent out this beautiful folding QSL complete with fantastic local stamps.
You may notice that no mention is made by the station of its harmonic frequency that allowed so many of us to hear this small country in the west of Africa. Here’s the recording, Emisora da Guinea Bissau, made on a HQ-180 in Pennsylvania, on the frequency of 10,082 khz a harmonic of 5,041 khz, the station’s main frequency. You will hear in this recording a variety of other interesting sounds, including interference from a local amateur radio operator whose signal was coming in at 10 mHz, the sound of an old dial-up phone, and the clunk of the HQ-180’s selectivity switch as I changed bandwidths from time to time.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording
Regardless of when one started in the radio listening hobby, we all like to look back at certain reception experiences — they bring back vivid memories, of what we were doing when we heard certain countries and stations, what the seasons were, even what the weather was like. For me, hearing Zambia for the first time is still one of those special memories. In the early 1970’s, I had graduated from my starter radios to a Hammarlund HQ-180 and a Drake SPR-4. These two receivers would stay with me for many years and brought me the bulk of countries are heard on shortwave.
In the 70’s some African countries actually had international services — aside from Radio RSA (South Africa) which had a well-known and powerful overseas broadcast structure, others included Mali, Zambia, Uganda, etc. One excellent article about broadcasting from Zambia can be found here. Zambia was always quite difficult to hear in its 60 meter band frequency 4,910 khz, but one day I was amazed when I heard — in the 16 meter band no less — what sounded like an African station in the middle of English news Indeed, it was “Radio Zambia, broadcasting from Lusaka” and “Zambia Broadcasting Services, this is the general service of Radio Zambia, broadcasting from Lusaka.” The frequency, as the QSL card above states, was 17,895 khz the 16 meter band, far from the lower frequencies I was used to focusing on for Africa. So, here is audio from that reception, on a HQ-180, in the winter of 1973.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording
Radio Free America broadcast for about 10 hours in 1973 from this converted WWII minesweeper
Radio Free America was a religious pirate station that was on the air for a day on September 19th, 1973 from a converted WWII minesweeper located about 12 miles off Cape May, New Jersey. The founder and operator was Carl McIntire whose WXUR in Media, PA was shut down by the FCC.
As described in this article the broadcasts lasted only about 10 hours due to technical difficulties, but there was time enough for a number of listeners along the U.S. east coast to hear the station on 1160 khz mediumwave. And although this item isn’t technically about shortwave, there were reports that McIntire intended to re-start his station on shortwave, but a review of the historical record doesn’t turn up any mention of that happening..
A longer article in 2014 (upated in 2019) describes the history of Radio Free America and McIntire’s battles with the FCC and notes that he was a pioneer of pirate radio as well as a controversial religious figure. Wikipedia on McIntire has some other interesting history, including “in the 1970s when McIntire organized a half dozen pro-Vietnam War "Victory Marches" in Washington, D.C. The march of October 3, 1970 was supposed to have featured South Vietnamese vice-president Nguyen Cao Ky, but the Nixon administration ensured that Ky would not be present.”
It’s unknown how many other recordings of Radio Free America exist in the surviving radio listening community in 2020. My recording was made, as I recall, on a Hammarlund HQ-180A tube receiver which I used for years as my main DXing receiver and which also had a reputation as a superb mediumwave receiver.
It’s difficult to make out all of the details clearly, but McIntire can be heard with an opening ID at approximately 1 minute 42 into this recording as he says: “Radio Free America, out in the North Atlantic…goes on the air. It’s now 12:24, September 19th, 1973….at 1160 on the dial….this is Carl McIntire….” There is an even clearer ID at about the 3 minute 30 second mark when he goes on to talk about “the right to free speech” and “free radio” and says “this is Carl McIntire speaking to you from the North Atlantic, Radio Free America just on the air [for] two minutes..”
There is even more great stuff later, at around the 30 minute mark, when McIntire notes that “NBC Cameramen” are due on the ship, and talks about the ship being anchored “just outside the 12 mile limit…we’re going to cruise off Atlantic City, on up to Asbury Park, Ocean Grove in that area, and we will cruise back down along the Delaware coast, and the eastern shore, so we can get a big strong signal if it’s necessary into the Washington, DC area. If the FCC is listening I say to these men in that commission, gentlemen fear God. . . that is my pray to you….all we want is the kind of liberty that the Constitution gives us..”
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording
In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge (the name for the Communist Party of Cambodia) seized power in Phnom Penh establishing what was called Democratic Kampuchea. It was estimated that at least 90% of the foreign aid to the Khmer Rouge came from China. In June 1975, Pol Pot and other officials of the Khmer Rouge met with Mao Zedong in Beijing, receiving Mao's approval and advice; in addition, Mao also taught Pot his "Theory of Continuing Revolution under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. What occurred under the Khmer Rouge is now a part of history — one of the worst genocides that the world has ever known. The Khmer Rouge were overthrown by the military of Vietnam in 1979, with many key Khmer Rouge officials fleeing fled to Thailand. But for many years, a Soviet Union and Vietnam-supported government in Phnom Penh held Cambodia's United Nations seat, right up until the point in 1993, when elections were held under a United Nations peackeeping effort (UNTAC) which included disarming of the various factions in Cambodia leading to a democratic election.
As part of my reporting in the 1990’s as VOA’s Southeast Asia correspondent, I covered the run-up to that election. Shortwave radio played a key role at the time — Khmer Rouge Radio continued to broadcast, somewhere in the 5 mhz range — and its English language programs were monitored by news agencies and government monitoring organizations. An excellent history of what I call Khmer Rouge Radio can be found here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/137455.stm
In this broadcast, KR Radio continued to challenge the legitimacy of UNTAC, saying the international community was attempting to “wash its hands” of the Cambodian problem. This broadcast was after the 1993 election, recorded in Phnom Penh where I was on one of my numerous trips covering the Cambodian story. At one point after the election, I traveled from Thailand along the Thai-Cambodia border where many refugees from Cambodia, including from the Khmer Rouge, ended up in camps. There are not many recordings of Khmer Rouge Radio — which was actually called Voice of the Great National Union Front of Cambodia (VGNUFC) — in English in existence — this is one of them. Of course, in later years a former Khmer Rouge batallion commander, Hun Sen, would rule Cambodia from 1985 — he remains in power today and in 2013 attempted to ban foreign broadcasts in Khmer — media freedoms continue to be suppressed to this day.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording
DXing Indonesia, with its former network of hundreds of regional and local stations, became a passion for many shortwave DX’ers. The shortwave bands used to be filled with these stations and in North America reception of the hardest-to-hear stations was always a challenge, even with the best receivers of the day. While some Indonesian regional stations had fairly powerful transmitters, many of the really small ones had power of only a few hundred watts or even less and QSL cards and verification letters from these stations are among the cherished items in QSL collections.
These recordings of one of the RRI regional stations, at Pontianak, was made from Bangkok, Thailand during a 5 year period when I lived in the Thai capital while Southeast Asia correspondent for Voice of America. This reception was on a Drake R8, made with an approximately 20 foot longwire antenna. The frequency I recall was 3,976 khz but this station had also been on the air at various times on 3,345 and 3,995 khz as well as 3,915 khz at one point
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording
Radio Myanmar QSL
Another country and station that was considered among the rarest catches for DX’ers in North America and elsewhere was Myanmar, the current name for Burma. 5,040 khz was the frequency many us finally heard Burma on, and this was as difficult as some of the other challenging countries in the southeast Asia region, even in the days when solar conditions were favorable. When the mail arrived one day and I saw that classic BBS QSL card I was thrilled, to say the least. In later years, the BBS became Radio Myanmar and there was an updated color QSL card sent to listeners. Even now, in 2020 with shortwave on its way out, it’s quite amazing that Myanmar remains audible on SW. In the 1990s, as part of my work for Voice of America, I began traveling to Myanmar/Burma regularly — at least until I was placed on a ban list by the then military government due to my reporting for VOA. On one of those trips, I made this recording of Radio Myanmar, on a SONY ICF-SW1 receiver during a reporting trip in the capital, Yangon (Rangoon).
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording
For DX’ers in the 1960’s and 1970s a key listening objective was Radio Singapore. The frequency many of us heard the station on was 5,010 khz which was always a challenge in early mornings on the east coast of North America but nevertheless was heard frequently. The QSL card I received for that frequency is still one of my most cherished. But in the 1990’s Singapore was more easily heard via its new international service, Radio Singapore International. While I was working for Voice of America as its Southeast Asia correspondent, I used a Drake R8 to monitor regional broadcasts. This recording of RSI was made on that radio from my Bangkok listening location (I do not recall the frequency) using a longwire that was hanging out our apartment building in the very crowded and noisy Thai capital (also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Singapore_International)
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording:
This recording of Voice and King of Hope WORD/KING was made in the 1980’s when the station was on shortwave in the 48 meter band at 6,215 kHz. This was the High Adventures station operating from the area known as “Free Lebanon” https://bit.ly/2zqsGOd Among the interesting things in this 15 minute recording, a weather forecast for the Free Lebanon area (at the end of the recording, just before a Billy Joel song), a commercial for an American eye specialist offering free eyeglasses, and a pre-recorded jingle “WORD”. The announcer also gives a mediumwave frequency of 945 kHz. Local time of this broadcast was before 7 AM Lebanon time. ID: “You are listening to WORD and KING, that’s High Adventures the Voice and King of Hope for the Middle East here in the Valley of the Springs in beautiful free Lebanon, on AM and shortwave.” Also, mention of the Maronite town of Marjayoun.
The signal from KING/WORD had that typical sound that we all remember from the time when propagation and solar conditions permitted reception of hundreds of stations still on shortwave. This reception was on either a HQ-180A or Drake SPR-4, two receivers I was using at the time and which I still have in my shack today.
To hear this nearly 15 minute recording of WORD/KING of Hope Lebanon…
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording and notes:
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recordings and notes:
Here is another little gem I dug up. Neptune Radio! Recorded off air on 10/25/2001, 0515 UTC, 6955kHz USB. It isn’t the best audio but it is intelligible and that was good enough for me!
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recording which includes his name being mentioned on HCJB. Adam notes:
This is an off the air recording of HCJB: 9745kHz, 8/12/01, 0434 UTC. Recorded off air on a DX-398 and 100’ longwire.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jerry Johnston, who has kindly shared his collection of airchecks with the archive. The following recording and notes originally appeared on Jerry’s website.
Sebele, Botswana
1981-01-02 0357 GMT 4845 kHz
10 kWCow bells and cows mooing interval signal.
Duration: 0:58
Filename: 19810102_0357_Radio-Botswana_Botswana_4845.mp3
Bitrate Mode: vbr Channel Mode: mono Sample Rate: 44100 Hz
Received By: Jerry Johnston
Receiving Location: Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recording and notes:
This recording was made on 10/27/2001, 0009UTC, 6928kHz USB with my Grundig 800 and 100’ wire. The Purple Nucleus of Creation was very strong and bizarre…. Maybe relayed by KIPM back in the day.
Adam also shared images of The Purple Nucleus of Creation’s amazing and intricate QSL card:
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Russ Edmunds, who has kindly shared another collection of mediumwave airchecks (click here to check out all of his contributions).
Russ notes that the reception location was Parsippany, NJ (in a garden apartment) using a Hammarlund modified HQ-150 and a 4' air core amplified loop.
Russ also shares details about each recording in the following table. All recordings have been embedded below:
Photo by Michael Parulava via Unsplash
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recording and notes:
Moscow Mailbag, recorded on 3/11/2002 at 0310UTC on 17,595 kHz.
Receiver: Satellit 800 with 100' random wire antenna.
The following recording of the Voice of Greece was made on March 21, 2020 starting around 22:45 UTC on 9.420 MHz. This recording was made with a WinRadio Excalibur and skyloop antenna. Reception location: Asheville, North Carolina, USA.
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.
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