Radio Rabaul: October 21, 1971

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

Notes: Radio Rabaul on the island of New Britain, PNG, was a rare visitor to my radio shack in 1971. I was able to make this brief recording (along with one of Radio Bougainville submitted separately) using an open mike in front of the speaker on the Hallicrafters S-52.

I posted my first recording of Radio Rabaul in April 2022. Recently, I discovered this second short recording I likely made on that same day, possibly a little later as the signal was beginning to fade. The language was likely Pidgin however you can clearly hear them give out their frequency of "3 point 3 8 5" around the 24 second mark. A 3-tone chime on the hour and station ID are given at the end of the recording.

Broadcaster: Radio Rabaul

Date of recording: 10/21/1971

Frequency: 3.385 MHz

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

VLT4 ABC Radio (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea): May 3, 1971

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QSL courtesY of The Radio Heritage Foundation

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

"You are tuned to ABC Radio in Papua New Guinea; 9PA, VLT, and VLK..." This is the announcement from VLT4, the Australian Broadcasting Commission station in Port Moresby on 4890 kHz shortwave, on May 3, 1971 at 1100 hours UTC. A musical request program is ending, then station ID as above and into ABC national news. This was before independence in PNG. The station used a 10 kw transmitter on this frequency and could sometimes be heard in eastern North America with a readable signal.

Broadcaster: VLT4 ABC Radio Port Moresby Papua New Guinea

Date of recording: 5/3/1971

Starting time: 1100

Frequency: 4.890

Recption location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Radio Rabaul: October 21, 1971

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(Image by Rich Post, K8TAD)

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

Notes: Radio Rabaul on the island of New Britain, PNG, was a rare visitor to my radio shack in 1971. I was able to make this brief recording (along with one of Radio Bougainville submitted separately) using an open mike in front of the speaker on the Hallicrafters S-52.

Broadcaster: Radio Rabaul

Date of recording: 10/21/1971

Frequency: 3.385 MHz

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Radio Bougainville: October 21, 1971

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Hallicrafters SX-99 Dial

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

Notes: The morning of October 21, 1971, provided some of the best reception of Papua New Guinea stations in the 90 metre band that I ever experienced. These stations were rare visitors to my headphones but I was able to make a couple of short recordings of two PNG stations that morning, and they have survived to this day on that same audio cassette (now 51 years old). This one of Radio Bougainville begins with a local chant followed by announcement on the hour. The station ran 2.5 kw and their signal made it over 13,300 km to my receiver that day. The recording of Radio Rabaul on 3385 kHz will be submitted separately. Audio quality is passable considering the recording was made using an open mic to the speaker of the Hallicrafters S-52.

Broadcaster: Radio Bougainville

Date of recording: 10/21/1971

Starting time: 1100

Frequency: 3.322.5 MHz

Receiver location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Papua New Guinea: December 4, 1978

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Colin Newell, who notes:

December 4, 1978 0800 UTC - one of my most cherished recordings - anything from PNG was a treat and this was at a time (clearly) when their transmitters were running properly.

Colin recorded this broadcast from his home in British Columbia, Canada. It is, indeed, a treat to hear PNG once again:

Inaugural shortwave broadcast of Wantok Radio Light, Papua New Guinea: June 11, 2005

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Guy Atkins, who notes:

Inaugural shortwave broadcast and celebration of Wantok Radio Light, Papua New Guinea on June 11, 2005. Frequency was 7120 kHz. Receiver: AOR AR7030+. Antenna: Wellbrook Communications ALA100 Phased Delta Loop Antenna. Recorded by Guy Atkins at Grayland, Washington USA.
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00:00 Introduction by speaker or host named "Witness"
01:31 Song "Naso Joda" by the band P2-UIF ("P2-United in Faith"; the Gospel band's name honors those killed in the missionary aviation plane P2-UIF that crashed in Papua New Guinea ). A YouTube video of the song being performed live in August 2012 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQvkKWROal0
03:00 Praise for the signal of Wantok Radio Light to go out through all the world
03:50 Testimony of James
09:18 Solo music on harmonica: "Jesus Saves" performed by James
12:06 Phone conversation with "Brother Paul": salutations to Wantok Radio Light; praise for the new shortwave transmitter
15:52 More talk by Witness
17:50 Live music
23:40 Praise & talk with announcer Witness
24:52 Live Music
28:52 Talk & praise by Witness
29:43 "You're listening to Radio Light, Wantok Radio Light, live right here,  the one and only; live right here Amen, at the top of Minion House, right at the top. That's right! We're right at the top."

Wantok Radio Light, Outdoor Inaugural: June 11, 2005

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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Guy Atkins, who notes:

Inaugural shortwave broadcast and celebration of Wantok Radio Light, Papua New Guinea on June 11, 2005. Frequency was 7120 kHz. Receiver: AOR AR7030+. Antenna: Wellbrook Communications ALA100 Phased Delta Loop Antenna. Recorded by Guy Atkins at Grayland, Washington USA.
-----------------------------------------------------
00:00 Introduction by speaker or host named "Witness"
01:31 Song "Naso Joda" by the band P2-UIF ("P2-United in Faith"; the Gospel band's name honors those killed in the missionary aviation plane P2-UIF that crashed in Papua New Guinea ). A YouTube video of the song being performed live in August 2012 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQvkKWROal0
03:00 Praise for the signal of Wantok Radio Light to go out through all the world
03:50Testimony of James
09:18Solo music on harmonica: "Jesus Saves" performed by James
12:06Phone conversation with "Brother Paul": salutations to Wantok Radio Light; praise for the new shortwave transmitter
15:52 More talk by Witness
17:50 Live music
23:40 Praise & talk with announcer Witness
24:52 Live Music
28:52 Talk & praise by Witness
29:43 "You're listening to Radio Light, Wantok Radio Light, live right here,  the one and only; live right here Amen, at the top of Minion House, right at the top. That's right! We're right at the top."

Guy also notes:

Wantok Radio Light is still going strong, in this 10th anniversary year of their shortwave transmissions. Their current frequency is 7325 kHz, and the web site is at: http://www.wantokradio.org/. The live stream of WRL broadcasts can be heard at: http://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/PNGRADIO

National Broadcasting Corporation, Papua New Guinea: July 10, 2015

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SRAA contributor, Richard Langley notes:

Live three-hour recording of the 2015 Pacific Games coverage of the National Broadcasting Corporation, the Voice of Papua New Guinea (PNG), via a transmitter in Australia on 10 July 2015 beginning at 07:01:21 UTC on a frequency of 12025 kHz. At the time of the uploading of this sound file, it is not clear if the signal originated from the former Australian Broadcasting Corporation's lower-power facility at Brandon (as registered with the High Frequency Co-ordination Conference (HFCC) organization; 25 kW beamed 80°) or their higher-power Shepparton site with 100 kW transmitters. 

The recording, mostly in English with some Tok Pisin, includes commentary on the games being held in Port Moresby, music, news bulletins, public service announcements, and the NBC's drum, flute and bird call interval signal near the top of some of the hours. Note that PNG time is 10 hours ahead of UTC.  

The broadcast was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with its built-in telescopic whip antenna in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada. Signal quality is generally good and gets better towards the end of the recording as propagation conditions improved.