Author: T Witherspoon

This is the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica recorded on June 21, 2026 at 09:30 UTC in Foulden, Scotland, UK. The radio was an Elecraft KX2 connected to a 31-foot 9:1 random wire antenna in the back garden. The broadcast starts on 9460 kHz, but I then move to 12070 kHz because it had slightly less local noise.

BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica: June 21, 2026 Thomas Witherspoon Download

Personal note

The BBC Midwinter Broadcast remains one of my favorite SWLing events of the year. I simply love the idea that the BBC would broadcast from two different sites on three different frequencies via shortwave to a relatively small audience of British Antarctic Survey scientists wintering over in Antarctica.

It's always a joy to listen live, knowing that they're celebrating midwinter with parties at their stations and hearing the voices, messages, laughter, and well-wishes of loved ones carried to them over the air by shortwave radio.

In an age of instant communications, there's still something magical about that.

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

Broadcaster: Xing Xing Guangbo Diantai (Star Star Broadcasting Station)

Date of recording: March 16, 2026

Starting time: 2358

Frequency: 19.052

Your location: Thailand

Your receiver and antenna: Kiwi SDR with Wellbrook loop

Mode: Single Side Band

Safe for children?: Yes

Notes: This is a "numbers station" broadcasting in Mandarin Chinese, presumably sending encrypted messages to Taiwanese intelligence agents in mainland China, from Taiwan. It appears to follow a set daily schedule, and begins each transmission with the tune of a Chinese folk song played on a flute. This is followed by station ID, given twice, and a few announcements in Mandarin, then a sequence of numbers read in groups of four. An excellent article about this station can be found on the Mount Evelyn DX Report written by Rob Wagner VK3BVW in May 2025.

Xing Xing Guangbo Diantai (Star Star Broadcasting Station): March 16, 2026 Dan Greenall Download

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Sandino, Managua, Nicaragua

Date of recording: March 25, 1984

Starting time: 0730z/1:30 AM local time

Frequency: 6200 kHz

RX location: St. Louis, MO

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-2001, longwire

Radio Sandino (Managua, Nicaragua): March 25, 1984 Paul Harner Download

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Nacional Da Amazonas

Date of recording: August 14, 1984

Starting time: 0809z

Frequency: 6180 kHz

Reception location: St.Louis, MO

Receiver and antenna: Icom IC R-71-A

Rádio Nacional da Amazônia: August 14, 1984 Paul Harner Download

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

Broadcaster: Israel Broadcasting Authority, Jerusalem 1971

Date of recording: Circa 1971

Starting time: 2130 UTC

Frequency: 9.625 MHz

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Mode: AM

Notes: The Israel Broadcasting Authority used to broadcast in various languages on shortwave in the early 1970's. Their English language transmission to Europe could often be heard well here in southern Ontario, Canada between 2045 and 2130 hours UTC on 9625 kHz. Here is a recording made circa 1971 as they concluded their program in English and switched to French at 2130 hours UTC.

Israel Broadcasting Authority, Jerusalem: Circa 1971 Dan Greenall Download

The second recording is also circa 1971. It begins with their interval signal, then sign on announcement in English.

Israel Broadcasting Authority, Jerusalem (Interval Signal): Circa 1971 Dan Greenall Download

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

Broadcaster: Radio Nacional da Amazonia

Date of recording: July 16, 2025

Starting time: 00:05 UTC

Frequency: 11.780 MHz

Reception location: Berthoud, Colorado, USA

Receiver and antenna: Sihuadon D-808 with telescopic antenna

Mode: AM

Notes: Here's a recording pulled from my radio archive of Radio Nacional da Amazonia from Brazil on the shortwave frequency on 11.780 MHz from July 16th, 2025. What's interesting is that this was recorded on a weekday, and usually, back-to-back music is not heard on weekday evening programming. Along with the announcers who are usually high energy are not in this recording. Around 20 minutes in, I stopped recording and resumed recording at 01:05 UTC until the end of the recording.

Radio Nacional da Amazonia: July 16, 2025 Liam Spencer Download

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

On March 16, I listened to V32 using the SV1BTL SDR in Athens, Greece. The voice came on at exactly 1800 UTC, but right up to 1759, the bubble jammer was being heard on that frequency. There did not appear to be any jamming during the actual "broadcast". The signal was very strong, averaging 20 dB over 9. At 1823 UTC, there were 12 users listening on this particular SDR, and 8 of them were tuned to 8742 kHz!

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

I made the following recording (March 15, 2026 at 1822 UTC on 7842 kHz USB)) of V32 using a Kiwi SDR in Alvito, Italy. The "tavajjoh" (3X) announcement comes around the 6:09 mark, after which the numbers seem to run together more, rather than distinct groups of 5.

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

Broadcaster: Radio Ghana circa 1971

Frequency: 11.850

Recption location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Notes: Back in 1971, Radio Ghana from Accra had an external service, this one beamed to North America and the Caribbean on 11.850 MHz shortwave. Here are two brief recordings of their drum interval signal followed by sign on in English.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor Jim Jordan, who shares the following recording of Radio Farda being actively jammed. Jim also shares these notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Farda

Date of recording: January 28, 2026

Starting time: 1700 UTC

Frequency: 7.5 MHz

Your location: NW UK

Your receiver and antenna: Lowe HF 150 plus 50m random

Notes: A bit reminiscent of trying to listen to Radio Liberty during the Cold War