BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica: June 21, 2024

Olivier Hubert with BBC presenter Cerys Matthews for the BBC Midwinter Broadcast (Source: BAS and BBC)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, TomL, who shares the following recording of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica, recorded on June 21, 2024 at 21:30 UTC on 11,685 kHz.

TomL notes:

BBC 2024 Midwinter broadcast to Antarctica. 11685 kHz using AM-Sync (LSB). Location Campton Hills Forest Preserve, St. Charles IL. Loop-On-Ground antenna amplified by Welbrook Medium Aperture preamp, into AirSpy HF+ SDR & laptop using SDR Console 3.2. RTTY station on 11690 kHz prompted recording on the lower sideband. Thunderstorm noise persistent.

BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2023

A live, off-air, half-hour recording of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2023 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast, hosted by Cerys Matthews, featured messages and music for the 37 members of the staff of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) overwintering in Antarctica at the Rothera (Antarctic Peninsula) and King Edward Point and Bird Island (South Georgia) research stations. In addition to personal messages from family and friends, there were interviews with Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS and Nadia Frontier, a marine biologist from BAS and former winterer. The transmitter came on the air with a test tone (1108 Hz plus harmonics) about a minute before the program started. As sometimes happens, the first few words of the introduction were missed.

The recording is of the transmission first on a frequency of 12005 kHz but after a few minutes it was switched to 13810 kHz due to interference (QRM) on the former frequency. Both frequencies were from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station. The sender of the 12005 kHz frequency had a registered power of 300 kW with antenna beam 182 degrees, while that for 13810 kHz was registered as 250 kW with an antenna beam of 180 degrees. The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna outdoors in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception on 13810 kHz was quite good with little noise or fading and very good signal strength. The additional parallel frequency of 7255 kHz from Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates, was not heard.

BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2022

A live, off-air, half-hour recording of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2022 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast, hosted by Cerys Matthews, featured messages and music for the 32 members of the staff of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) overwintering in Antarctica at the Rothera (Antarctic Peninsula) and King Edward Point and Bird Island (South Georgia) research stations. In addition to personal messages from family and friends, there were special messages from BAS personnel and others including ones from Sir David Attenborough and Maj. Tim Peake. The transmitter came on the air with a test tone (1108 Hz plus harmonics) about a minute before the program started.

The recording is of the transmission on a frequency of 12065 kHz from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station (300 kW rated transmitter power, antenna beam 182 degrees). The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna outdoors in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception was quite good with little noise and fading and good signal strength, which was better than that on the parallel frequencies of 9505 kHz from Woofferton and 7305 kHz from Ascension Island.

BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2021

Midday at Rothera Research Station in midwinter. Credit: Klara Weaver, Rothera Research Station.

A live, off-air, half-hour recording of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2021 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast, hosted by Cerys Matthews, featured messages and music for the staff of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) overwintering in Antarctica. In addition to personal messages from family and friends, there were special messages from BAS personnel and others including one from Sir David Attenborough accompanied by a blackbird. The transmitter had a "crash start" and the first two words of the introductory announcement ("This is") were cut.

The recording is of the transmission on a frequency of 7305 kHz from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station (300 kW rated transmitter power, antenna beam 182 degrees). The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna outdoors in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception was fairly good with little noise and fading and reasonable signal strength, which was better than that on the parallel frequencies of 9505 kHz from Woofferton and 6170 kHz from Ascension Island. A fourth frequency, 6035 kHz, transmitted from Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates, was not heard. At the very end of the program, there is some slight adjacent frequency interference.

BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2020

BAS Rothera Research Station is located on Adelaide Island, west of the Antarctic Peninsula (BAS PHOTO)

A live, off-air, half-hour recording of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2020 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast, hosted by Cerys Matthews, featured messages and music for the staff of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) overwintering in Antarctica. In addition to personal messages from family and friends, there were special messages from BAS personnel and others including one from Sir David Attenborough. The broadcast was preceded by an approximately 1100-Hz test tone.

The recording is of the transmission on a frequency of 7360 kHz from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station (300 kW rated transmitter power, antenna beam 182 degrees). The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna outdoors in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception was fairly good with little noise and fading but signal strength was not very strong although much better than that on the parallel frequencies of 5790 kHz from Woofferton and 9580 kHz from Ascension Island.

BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2019

ANTARCTIC SEA ICE (BAS PHOTO)

A live, off-air, half-hour recording of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2019 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast, hosted by Cerys Matthews, featured special messages and music for the staff of the British Antarctic Survey overwintering in Antarctica. In addition to personal messages, there were messages from Princess Anne and Sir David Attenborough.

The recording is of the transmission on a frequency of 9455 kHz from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station (300 kW transmitter power, antenna beam 182 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 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception was good with little noise and fading. Due to a slightly late sign-on, the first word of the program was clipped.

BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2018

New Bransfield House, Rothera Research Station, British Antarctic Territory (BAS Photo)

Two live, off-air, half-hour recordings of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2018 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast features special messages and music for the staff of the British Antarctic Survey overwintering in Antarctica.

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 fairly good, albeit a bit noisy and with noticeable transmitter hum.

The second recording is of the transmission on a frequency of 5985 kHz from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station (250 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 synchronous AM mode with 5.08 kHz RF filtering. Reception of the broadcast was very good.

The program started slightly late for both transmissions with parts of the first one or two sentences missing. The program actually starts with "This is the BBC World Service in London calling Antarctica. Welcome to the Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast, a special ..."