BBC World Service: January 26, 2023

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Liam Spencer, who shares the following recordings and notes:

Broadcaster: BBC World Service

Date of recording: 1/26/2023

Starting time: 01:00 UTC

Frequency: 15.310 MHz

Reciever location: KiwiSDR in Philippines/Thailand

Antenna: 40M delta loop

Notes: This is part one of two of a one hour broadcast from the BBC World Service Relay in Kranji, Singapore. Reason I had to do two parts was due to the signal becoming weak on the KiwiSDR in the Philippines, So I switched to one in Thailand which had a stronger signal.

Broadcaster: BBC World Service

Date of recording: 1/27/2023

Starting time: 01:00 UTC

Frequency: 15.310 MHz

Receiver location: KiwiSDR in Thailand

Antenna: Wellbrook Loop FLX1530LN

Notes: Part 2, the first KiwiSDR I used the signal became to weak to listen to I switched to one in Thailand which had a better signal.
Part 2 covers from 01:11 UTC to 1:59 UTC.

PTT Voice Mirrors (Part 3): Circa 1970's

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: PTT voice mirrors from the 1970's Part 3

Frequency: various

Recption location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes:
Point to point stations were commonly found on shortwave in the 1970's outside of the normal SWBC bands. They could often be heard transmitting a repeating test message so a receiving station could tune them in prior to conducting radiotelephone traffic.

1.  U.S. Army radio station ACA, Panama Canal Zone

2.  Oostende Radio, Belgium

3.  PTT, Dakar, Senegal

4.  Reugen Radio, German Democratic Republic

5.  Venezuelan Telephone Company, Caracas

6.  French Telecommunications Service, Djibouti

7.  British Post Office Phototelegraph Network (no location given)

8.  Canadian Overseas Telecommunications Corporation, 

      Yamachiche, Quebec

9.  ENTEL, Bogota, Colombia

10.  Belgian Telegraph and Telephone Administration, Brussels

11.  British Post Office, London, England

12.  France Cables and Radio Company, Fort Lamy, Chad

13.  PTT, Blantyre, Malawi

14.  East African External Telecommunications Company Limited,

        Nairobi, Kenya

15.  International Telecommunications Corporation, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

16.  Office Congolais des Postes et Telecommunications, Kinshasa,Democratic Republic of the Congo

PTT Voice Mirrors (Part 2): Circa 1970's

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Frequency: various

Recption location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Your receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes:
Point to point stations were commonly found on shortwave in the 1970's outside of the normal SWBC bands. They could often be heard transmitting a repeating test message so a receiving station could tune them in prior to conducting radiotelephone traffic.

1.  Radio Telephone Circuit, Godthaab, Greenland

2.  PTT, Papeete, Tahiti

3.  AFA, USAF Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, USA

4.  AFI,  USAF McClellan AFB Sacramento, CA, USA

5.  Imperial Board of Telecommunications of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa

6.  Radiografica Costarricense, San Jose, Costa Rica

7.  International Radio Telephone Service, Havana, Cuba

8.  France Cables and Radio Company, Douala, Cameroon

9.  French Telecommunications Service, Noumea, New Caledonia

10.  AEZ, U.S. Army, Asmara, Ethiopia

11.  French Telecommunications Service, Fort de France, Martinique

12.  CUW, USAF Aerospace Communications Complex, Lajes AFB, Azores

13.  Malgache Republic International Telecommunications Company,

        Tananarive, Madagascar

14.  French Telecommunications Service, Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe

15.  France Cables and Radio Company, Niamey, Niger

16.  French Telecommunications Service, St. Pierre et Miquelon

17.  France Cables and Radio Company, Monrovia, Liberia

PTT Voice Mirrors (Part 1): Circa 1970's

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: PTT voice mirrors from the 1970's Part 1

Frequency: various

Recption location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes:

Point to point stations were commonly found on shortwave in the 1970's outside of the normal SWBC bands. They could often be heard transmitting a repeating test message so a receiving station could tune them in prior to conducting radiotelephone traffic. These recordings were all made at Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, using either a Hallicrafters S52 or Realistic DX150A receiver hooked up to a long wire antenna.

1.  Australian Overseas Radiotelephone Service, Sydney

2.  Reykjavik Radio, Iceland

3.  Moscow Radio Telephone Station, USSR

4.  Radio Telephone Station, Warsaw, Poland

5.  Overseas Station Berlin, German Democratic Republic

6.  Yugoslav Telegraph and Telephone Administration, Belgrade

7.  Swiss Telegraph and Telephone Administration, Bern

8.  ITALCABLE, Rome, Italy

9.  Netherlands PTT, Amsterdam

10.  Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, Nicosia

11.  Cairo Radio Telephone Terminal, Arab Republic of Egypt

12. PTT and Radio Administration, Tel Aviv, Israel

13. Saudi Arabian Post, Telegraph and Telephone Administration, Jeddah

14.  Moroccan Radio Electrical Centre, Rabat

15.  Companhia Portuguesa Radio Marconi, Luanda, Angola

16.  RCA Global Communications, New York City

17.  France Cables and Radio Company, Lome, Togo

18.  Zambian Post Office, Lusaka

Radio Nederland (Happy Station Show): April 20, 1980

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Clinton Turner, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Nederlands

Date of recording: 4/20/1980

Starting time: 0530

Frequency: 6.165 MHz

Recption location: North Logan, UT

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-1600 with random wire approx. 50' (15M)

Notes: Happy Station Show with Tom Meijer, 20 April, 1980 - off-air recording
Overview of 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, letters

Radio Metropolitana: November 10, 2022

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Live, off-air, three-hour excerpt of a recording of the provincial Cuban station Radio Metropolitana, CMBL, Havana, Cuba, on 10 November 2022 beginning at about 20:00 UTC. The station operates on an frequency of 910 kHz from a transmitter in the Villa Maria area of the Distrito de Guanabacoa municipality of Havana with a power of 5 kW and an omnidirectional antenna. The station also transmits on 98.3 MHz in the FM band.

The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 portable receiver with its built-in ferrite-bar-loop antenna in Marathon, Florida, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception was fairly good with some background noise due to the slightly weak signal associated with the over 200 km long-range reception.

Radio Metropolitana is part of the group of stations that make up the Provincial Directorate of Radio in Havana with studios in the FOCSA building in Havana's Vedado district. It is on the air 24 hours a day and offers cultural programming with a strong presence of music aimed at families in the capital city. Its slogan is "La radio de casa" and its theme tune is a fragment of the familiar song "El Manisero" ("The Peanut Vendor") by Cuban composer Moisés Simons. Both can be heard frequently in this recording.

The recording begins with a song by Puerto Rican singer Kany García followed by the program "De Buena Tinta" (literally "of good ink" but an idiomatic expression meaning "on good authority") beginning at 20:00 UTC. This is a news program for residents of Havana including events taking place, weather, and sports. At 20:30 UTC, there is the program "La Novela" (The Novel) with an instalment of "La Flor de los Sueños" (The Flower of Dreams). Next is "Un Amigo Cincero" (A Sincere Friend), a brief program on the literature of José Martí. The program "Por La Habana" (Around Havana) begins at 21:00 UTC. This program is mostly music with Cuban jazz, blues, and funk. Between every few musical items is a discussion of indigenous languages in Latin America and elsewhere and their impact on music. At 22:30 UTC, the program "Para Luego es Tarde" (meaning colloquially "no time like the present") begins. This edition features a discussion about corn (maize), its history and how it is grown, harvested, marketed, prepared for food and other uses. Midway through the program there is a musical interlude with a short discussion about the Bee Gees with excerpts of several of their songs. During some of the programs in the recording, mention is made of the 503rd anniversary of the founding of Havana on 16 November 1519. Public service announcements about health and other matters are also present throughout the recording.

UAE Radio Dubai: Circa 1983

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: United Arab Emirates Radio from Dubai

Date of recording: circa 1983

Frequency: 21.655 MHz

RX location: Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-3100 and longwire antenna

Notes: By the 1980's, UAE Radio stations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi were using high powered transmitters and could often be heard nice and clear here in Southern Ontario, Canada with English language programs.
Here is an aircheck circa 1983 from United Arab Emirates Radio from Dubai broadcasting on 21655 kHz.

Radio Moscow (Moscow Mailbag with Joe Adamov): 1978

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Moscow

Date of recording: Unknown

Starting time: Unknown

Frequency: Unknown

Reception location: Plymouth, MN

Receiver and antenna: Hammarlund HQ-180

Notes: Radio Moscow's Moscow Mailbag hosted by Joe Adamov from 1978. Questions ranged from why a woman asks the questions on Moscow Mailbag and a male (Joe) gets to answer them, why does the Soviet Union ignore positive aspects of Western society, dissidents in the Soviet Union, and more.

Radio Romania International (Hebrew Language Service): November 20, 2022

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker who shares this recording of Radio Romania International’s Hebrew Language Service. This recording was made in McGrath, Alaska, on 7,370 kHz at 17:31 UTC on November 20, 2022. Paul notes. “this is RRI with their once weekly 30 minute broadcast in Hebrew on 7370 from Galbeni, to the Middle East

Voice of America (English): November 22, 2022

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following recording of VOA made on November 22, 2022 at 20:34 UTC on 11,850 kHz in McGrath, Alaska. Paul notes that this was actually a program feed error because the Kirundi Language Service is normally broadcast at this time and on this frequency.

Voice of America (via Okinawa, Rhodes, Philippines, Greenville, & Woofferton): Circa 1970's

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recordings and notes:

Broadcaster: Voice of America Okinawa Rhodes Philippines Greenville Woofferton 1970's

Date of recordings: various

Frequency: various

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna

Notes: In the 1970's, Voice of America relay transmitter sites often gave their location between programs. Some VOA programs were relayed via the BBC site at Woofferton, England (audio from 1971).

Reception of Rhodes in the 41 metre band was not easy here in Ontario, Canada as evidenced by that recording.

The transmitter at Greenville, North Carolina was their largest operation. That recording is circa 1973.

The Okinawa relay was heard on 7165 kHz, and Philippines relay 15185 kHz, both recorded in 1971.

The Yankee Doodle tune was played during most of these interludes.

ETLF, Radio Voice of the Gospel (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia): March 23, 1971

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Photo by Rich Post

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recordings and notes:

Broadcaster: ETLF, Radio Voice of the Gospel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Date of recording: 3/23/1971

Frequency: 11.890 MHz

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna

Notes: Here are two brief recordings from Radio Voice of the Gospel, station ETLF, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In the first one, from 1971, there is significant QSB (fading) but they are in the clear. Listen for their four note drum interval signal, ID in English, and mention of the date Tuesday 23rd of March.

The second recording, also in English, is from the early 1970's during a transmission to West Africa in the 25 metre band where they are heard signing off.

Radio Netherlands (Death of Pope John Paul I): September 28, 1978

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Ioannes Paulus I, by Fotografia Felici, 1978

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Netherlands

Date of recording: 9/28/1978

Starting time: Unknown

Frequency: Unknown

Reception location: St. Cloud, MN

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-5900W using a whip antenna

Notes: Radio Netherland's shortwave transmission announcing the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978. I had tuned in to listen to DX Juke Box and heard that the show was being preempted due to the unexpected passing. Pope John Paul I was head of the Catholic Church for only 33 days, the shortest in papal history.

NDR - Gruss an Bord: December 24, 2022

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Live, off-air, three-hour recording of the special annual Gruss an Bord broadcast from German broadcaster NDR, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, on 24 December 2022 beginning at just after 18:00 UTC. The broadcast features music and greetings to and from mariners around the world. The Christmas greetings were recorded at two events on the third Advent Sunday (11 December) in Leer and on the fourth Advent Sunday (18 December) in Hamburg.

Relatives and friends had the opportunity to wish their loved ones at sea a happy holiday and a happy new year. The Leer event featured the Bingumer Shanty Choir and Anne-Fleur Schoch and her band while the Hamburg event featured Beatles experts Stefanie Hempel and The Silver Spoons. The broadcast was primarily in German with some greetings in English, Filipino, and Portuguese as well as German. A number of songs in English, too. A news bulletin (in progress when recording began) precedes the program for a few minutes.

In addition to being carried on the NDR Info and NDR Info Spezial networks, the broadcast was transmitted around the world on shortwave using transmitters in Nauen (NAU), Germany; Issoudun (ISS), France; Tashkent (TAC), Uzbekistan; and Okeechobee, Florida (RMI), U.S.A.; and was organized by Media Broadcast.

The schedule was:
1800-2100 on 6030 ISS 250 kW / 251 deg to North/East Atlantic
1800-2100 on 6080 TAC 100 kW / 301 deg to West/Central Europe
1800-2100 on 9740 NAU 250 kW / 130 deg to Indian Ocean - West
1800-2100 on 11650 ISS 250 kW / 148 deg to Indian Ocean - SoAf
1800-2100 on 13725 NAU 250 kW / 205 deg to Southern Atlantic
1800-2100 on 15770 RMI 100 kW / 044 deg to North/West Atlantic
RMI, Radio Miami International, experienced a power outage and was off the air for about the first two hours of the broadcast.

The recording is primarily of the transmission on the frequency of 11650 kHz for about the first two hours and 6030 kHz for the third hour as the signal degraded on 11650 kHz.

The program was received outdoors 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 2.3 kHz filtering. Reception was good for the most part on both recorded frequencies although, as previously mentioned, signal quality on 11650 kHz degraded during the second hour of the broadcast necessitating the switch to 6030 kHz. There was some adjacent channel interference on 11650 kHz at times. Also, there was about a one-minute dropout of the 11650 kHz frequency around the start of the second hour of the broadcast. The last minute or so of the broadcast on 6030 kHz was interfered with by a co-channel digital transmission from Radio Romania International.

Russ Edmunds' Mediumwave DX Airchecks 2: 1996-2013

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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 Blue Bell, PA 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:

KSKO Paul Walker's Christmas Special: December 23, 2022

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The following recording of Paul Walker's Christmas Special on KSKO was recorded on a live relay from Space Line Bulgaria on 5900 kHz on Friday, December 24, 2022 starting around 00:10 UTC.

This recording was made on the U Twente WebSDR in the Netherlands.