Radio Thailand on the Death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej: October 15, 2016

King Bhumibol Adulyadej was an amateur radio operator with call sign HS1A. He was featured on this postage stamp issued by Thailand in 1997.

Live, off-air, one-hour recording of Radio Thailand World Service (HSK9) in English on 15 October 2016 beginning a few seconds before 19:00 UTC on a shortwave frequency of 9390 kHz. The signal originates from a 250 kW transmitter at the International Broadcasting Bureau facility in Ban Dung District, Udon Thani, in northeastern Thailand, and was beamed 329° to Europe. Radio Thailand World Service is operated by National Broadcasting Services of Thailand and is carried over AM and FM stations in Thailand as well as being relayed on shortwave.

This broadcast was one of the first English-language Radio Thailand World Service broadcasts produced after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, which occurred on 13 October. The Radio Thailand World Service broadcasts are prerecorded and there were no announcements of the death of the king during the shortwave transmissions on 13 October. Regular programming on Radio Thailand World Service was suspended on 14 October in homage to the king and replaced with archival material on the king's projects during his reign. Also, 14 October was declared as a public holiday for Thai citizens to pay their respects to the king. The recording starts with time pips, the bell peals interval signal, sign-on announcement, and then the prerecorded 7:00 a.m. (Indochina Time) "Morning News Hour."  The national and global news bulletins as well as the business news have extensive reports about the death of the king and the national and international response. The segments "ASEAN Focus," "Take on Thailand" (with an item on the Broadcasting Museum in Bangkok), "Weather Flash," and "What's on in Thailand" fill out the hour. The broadcast also includes government and public service announcements as well as commercials. 

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 9.0 kHz RF filtering. Reception was very good with a strong signal, no interference, and negligible fading.