Time signal station VNG Lyndhurst (Victoria, Australia): December 13, 1971

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

Broadcaster: Time signal station VNG Lyndhurst Victoria Australia

Date of recording: December 13, 1971

Frequency: 4.500 MHz

Recption location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Mode: AM

Notes: Recorded on December 13, 1971, here is the announcement given by station VNG in Lyndhurst, Victoria, Australia transmitting with 10 kw on 4.5 MHz shortwave. This station was active from 1964 to 1987. Receiving location was Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Amazingly, the recording was made on a cheap Demonstration Musicassette that had tape placed over the ends so it could be reused. It still plays today and was used to produce this digital version. The announcement is given twice and goes: "This is an Australian Post Office standard frequency and time signal transmission from VNG, Lyndhurst, Victoria on 4.5, 7.5, or 12 Megahertz." This was given during the 15th, 30th, 45th and 60th minute of each hour according to their QSL card.

WWVH: Circa 1971

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

Time signal station WWVH in Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii was occasionally heard over WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado from my receiving post in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada in the 1970's, particularly on 10 MHz or 15 MHz. Here is a recording of their voice announcement from 1971, when they were still using the term Greenwich Mean Time as opposed to Coordinated Universal Time. The familiar "Aloha" is heard at the conclusion of the announcement.

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

WWV: Circa early 1971

Photo by Agê Barros

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

Prior to July 1, 1971, time and standard frequency station WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado was giving ID's in Morse code as well as voice every five minutes. They were best heard here in southern Ontario, Canada on 10 and 15 MHz.

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

WWV (Skylab - Apollo Telescope Mount announcement) : circa early 1973

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

Early in 1973, WWV made this announcement that they would make regular broadcasts of planned ATM (Apollo Telescope Mount) schedules by the new Skylab space station.

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Experimental Station KC2XIO: Circa 1971

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

KC2XIO was an experimental radio station operated by the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, Colorado between July 1970 and May 1971. This was to gather information in preparation of the format change for WWV and WWVH which happened in July 1971. Here are two recordings of their voice announcement (one male and one female) as heard in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada on a Hallicrafters S-52 receiver that was hooked up to an outdoor longwire antenna. The frequency used for these test transmissions was 13560 kHz shortwave.

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

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

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

Tropical Radio Telegraph Company (Point To Point): Panama City, Managua, and La Lima

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

Notes: With roots over 100 years old, the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company (a subsidiary of the United Fruit Company) used to operate a few radiotelephone stations in Central America during the years prior to the Internet. They often could be heard on various shortwave frequencies transmitting a repeating test message so the receiving station could tune them in. I managed to pick up 4 of their stations in the early 1970's. These recordings are from La Lima, Honduras; Managua Nicaragua; and Panama City, Panama. I have not been able to find the one from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, but maybe it will surface later.

Broadcaster: Tropical Radio Telegraph Company (point to point)

Date of recording: unknown

Starting time: unknown

Frequency: various

RX location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Mode: Single Side Band

WWV Ionospheric Scientific Modulation Test: March 10. 2022

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Matt Todd, who shares the following short clip of the Ham Sci Ionospheric Scientific Modulation Test:

Date of recording: 3/10/2022

Starting time: 1908

Frequency: 15

Your location: Hu

Your receiver and antenna: SDRplay RSPdx with wire loop around perimeter of attic

Mode: AM

Notes: Ionospheric Scientific Modulation Test on WWV recorded March 10, 2022 at 1908UTC on 15Mhz in Hugo, MN.

Information about the signal from the Hamsci website: HamSCI's WWV/H Scientific Modulation Working Group is exploring possibilities for additions to WWV and WWVH's modulation that can be used for science purposes.

https://hamsci.org/wwv

Civil Air Patrol Net 1 Message: January 24, 2022

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Matt Todd, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Civil Air Patrol

Date of recording: 1/24/2022

Starting time: 2001

Frequency: 14914 kHz

Receiver location: Hugo, MN

Receiver and antenna: SDRplay RSPdx with wire loop around perimeter of attic

Mode: Single Side Band

US Coast Guard Radio Station NMC: Summer of 2003

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bruce Atchison, for sharing the following recording and notes:

As for radio station NMC, I forget the frequency. It was somewhere in the aircraft band, somewhere about 8000KHZ. I used a Kenwood TS440S transceiver and I believe it was taped in the summer of 2003. Sorry I can't be more exact.

CHU Canada (Time Station): July 1993

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bruce Atchison, for sharing the following recording and notes:

This first [recording in a series I’m sharing] is of CHU Canada. I recorded it in July of 1993 on 7,335 kHz with my Kenwood TS-690S transceiver:

NIST Radio Station WWVH as it sounded in the 1980s

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Myke Dodge Weiskopf, who shares the following recording and notes:

NIST Radio Station WWVH as it sounded in the 1980s. To contrast with other recordings of the WWVH station ID, note that announcer Jane Barbe does not say (her now-famous) “Aloha!” at the end of this version.

This recording was found at WWVH in 2015 on an undated cassette labeled “JB on Old Audichron TCG” (which stands for Time Code Generator, the device which reconstructs and plays back Jane’s voice over the air). As such, the precise broadcast year is not known, but it is consistent with the voice and broadcast format of the 1980s, until the introduction of the short-lived digital voice in 1991.

An excerpted version of this recording is found on "At the Tone: A Little History of NIST Radio Stations WWV & WWVH." This unedited version is being shared by special arrangement for the Shortwave Archive.

WWV Time Station (15 MHz): November 3, 2017

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Emilio Ruiz, who shares the following recording of WWV and notes:

Sad for the news, the closing of WWV is like close a park, a comunity place where scientifics and enthusiast of radio could learn and experiment not only about time, radio propagation too. I not have much money for bought radiofrecuency equipment for repair or make my own radios, i use WWV for that. 

To go to the future it is not necessary to destroy the past, I'm teaching to children about science and technology and when talk about radio share with they the listen of WWV with old radio receiver (BC-548Q), for they the sound of ticks and the history about radio and time is a amazing topic.

I wrote this review (in Spanish) about WWV for those SWListeners and Radio Amateurs who do not spoke English,--I think can be useful.

I hope radioamateurs of U.S. can reverse the decision.

Broadcaster: WWV

Date of recording: 11/3/2017

Starting time: 14:00

Frequency: 15000 kHz

Reception location: Chiapas, México.

Receiver and antenna: Dipole antenna, Keenwood R-600

Shortwave Radio 1974: Canada, Argentina, Spain, West Germany, Albania, utility stations

Many thanks to SRAA Contributor, Brian D. Smith (W9IND), who notes:

Want to know what shortwave radio sounded like in 1974? This 55-minute recording, recovered from a cassette, was never intended to be anything but "audio notes": I was an 18-year-old shortwave listener who collected QSL cards from international stations, and I was tired of using a pen and a notepad to copy down details of the broadcasts. I wanted an easier way to record what I heard, and my cassette tape recorder seemed like the perfect means to accomplish that goal. 

But it wasn't. I soon discovered that it was simpler to just edit my notes as I was jotting them down — not spend time on endless searches for specific information located all over the tape. To make a long story shorter, I abandoned my "audio notes" plan after a single shortwave recording: This one.  

Still, for those who want to experience the feel of sitting at a shortwave radio in the mid-1970s and slowly spinning the dial, this tape delivers. Nothing great in terms of sound quality; I was using a Hallicrafters S-108 that was outdated even at the time. And my recording "technique" involved placing the cassette microphone next to the radio speaker.

Thus, what you'll hear is a grab bag of randomness: Major shortwave broadcasting stations from Canada, Argentina, Spain, Germany and Albania; maritime CW and other utility stations; and even a one-sided conversation involving a mobile phone, apparently located at sea. There are lengthy (even boring) programs, theme songs and interval signals, and brief IDs, one in Morse code from an Italian Navy station and another from a Department of Energy station used to track shipments of nuclear materials. And I can't even identify the station behind every recording, including several Spanish broadcasts (I don't speak the language) and an interview in English with a UFO book author. 

The following is a guide, with approximate Windows Media Player starting times, of the signals on this recording. (Incidentally, the CBC recording was from July 11, 1974 — a date I deduced by researching the Major League Baseball scores of the previous day.)

GUIDE TO THE RECORDING

0:00 — CBC (Radio Canada) Northern and Armed Forces Service: News and sports. 
7:51 — RAE (Radio Argentina): Sign-off with closing theme
9:14 — Department of Energy station in Belton, Missouri: "This is KRF-265 clear."
9:17  — Interval signal: Radio Spain.
9:40 —  New York Radio, WSY-70 (aviation weather broadcast)
10:22 — Unidentified station (Spanish?): Music.
10:51— Unidentified station (English): Historic drama with mention of Vice President John Adams, plus bell-heavy closing theme.
14:12 — RAI (Italy), male announcer, poor signal strength.
14:20 — Unidentified station (Spanish): Theme music and apparent ID, good signal strength.
15:16 — Unidentified station (foreign-speaking, possibly Spanish): Song, "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep."  
17:00 — Deutsche Welle (The Voice of West Germany): Announcement of frequencies, theme song. 
17:39 — Unidentified station (English): Interview with the Rev. Barry Downing, author of “The Bible and Flying Saucers.” 
24:36 — One side of mobile telephone conversation in SSB, possibly from maritime location.
30:37 — Radio Tirana (Albania): Lengthy economic and geopolitical talk (female announcer); bad audio. Theme and ID at 36:23, sign-off at 55:03.
55:11 — Italian Navy, Rome: “VVV IDR3 (and long tone)” in Morse code.

Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race HF Recording: December 28, 1998

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Neil Howard, for sharing the following recording and notes:

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht race of 1998 was tragic as huge seas & storms decimated the fleet, leaving 6 people dead and 5 boats sunk.
 

HOW this was obtained
 

This recording of the SSB HF transmissions from 1998 was recorded by me from Queensland, using a newfangled unattended recoding program on the PC and a very ordinary Sangean ATS-803a receiver using a random long wire Antenna - from memory this was on the 8 Mhz Marine band, and is the co-ordination of the search and rescue from the 28th Dec 1998 and covers from around 8:30PM till 10PM - The automated recorded stopped recording when the signal noise dropped below a certain level and thus some was lost.
The recording goes for 30 mins, as that was the limit that was set to save disk space, but there is a lot of empty noise.

I present this recording as it was recorded, warts and all for your education *** I dedicate this to those lost at sea ****

HIGHLIGHTS
(Times are approximate)
4:11 "Rescue 253" 9A helicopter) locates a life-raft
6:00 "Air force Sydney" is looking for a position of a yacht " Solo Global Challenge"
6:50 "RCC Canberra" (Who is co-ordinating) has a "hot mic" and is explaining the situation to someone locally
8:35 "Rescue 253" has sighted 2 POB on the life-raft - RTC wants to know if they are from "Winston Churchill"
9:39 Another "hot mic" in Canberra
11:56 "Tiger75" (A Navy Helicopter, I think) has the survivors on board, but still awaiting info on who they are
13:04 13:44 confirmation that there are 2 survivors of the "Winston Churchill" from the life raft, but the tragic news that 3 others had "rolled out" of the raft and are lost (Historical note- these three were listed as drowned)
14:46 Discussion about where the survivors are to be taken by Tiger 75
15:20 Info of the survivors is passed though, along with the news that the life raft they were "in" had no bottom.
16:33 Rescue 253 Says it has heard a beacon & is proceeding to the location
20:00 Another aircraft has gone to the search site from Merimbula (A town in New South Wales)
25:38 Rescue 253 updates beacon location
26;30 Rescue 253 Locates a boat at the beacon site that has been dis-masted & is in serious trouble.