Author: T Witherspoon

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

Broadcaster: American Telephone and Telegraph Company 1970's

Date of recording: circa 1970s

Frequency: various

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Back in the days before the internet, radiotelephone communications were commonplace, and "voice mirrors" such as these from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company could be heard (usually in sideband mode) all over the shortwaves. These were broadcast so the receiving station could tune them in prior to actual traffic.

These recordings (Dixon and Oakland, California; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and New York City) are from the early 1970's, and receiving location was Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Receiving equipment consisted of a Hallicrafters S-52 hooked up to a longwire antenna.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: The 72 Ragchew Net

Date of recording: December 07, 2020

Frequency: 7272 kHz

Receiver location: Washington DC

Receiver and antenna: The NA5B WebSDR From Washington DC

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: This is my recording of The 72 Ragchew Net. This net is conducted every week on 7272 MHz. Recorded around 1150 UTC (11:50 AM). Recorded using the NA5BWebSDR from Washington DC. This webSDR covers shortwave, but also some VHF.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Free Whatever

Date of recording: May 08, 2022

Frequency: 6.955 MHz

Receiver and antenna: The NA5B WebSDR Located in Washington DC.

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Here is my recording of radio free whatever on 6.955 MHz, recorded on Mother's Day, May 8, 2022. If I remember correctly, I think this may have been recorded around 9:39 PM Eastern. If any of you haven't heard radio free whatever, they pretty much play all types of music. This was recorded using the NA5B webSDR Receiver that is located in Washington DC.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Thunder Chicken Radio

Date of recording: October 16, 2023

Starting time: 15:13 UTC

Frequency: 6.950 MHz

Reception location: Columbus, Ohio

Receiver and antenna: Tecsun PL880 with telescopic antenna

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: This is my recording of thunder chicken radio on 6.950 MHz, on October 16. I managed to record two pirate radio stations that night, the first one being this station, and then the second one being Smoky Dog Radio. This station was playing some music, and there were some slow scan television pictures, being transmitted as well. Recorded 8:13 PM Eastern

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Smoky Dog Radio

Date of recording: October 16, 2023

Starting time: 20:35 UTC

Frequency: 6.27 MHz

Reception location: Columbus, Ohio

Receiver and antenna: Tecsun PL880 with the telescopic antenna.

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Last night I caught two pirate radio stations. Here is one of them I recorded. Smokey dog radio was on 6.27 MHz last night. It was a pretty good signal here in Columbus, Ohio. I was also able to receive it on the NA5B WebbSDR in Washington DC, But I thought I would record it with my radio because it had a pretty good signal. I'd say it was a pretty good signal for a pirate. especially for me using a telescopic antenna with my Tecsun PL880. Recorded 8:35 PM eastern (20:35, UTC).

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Angelo Prieto, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Saudi International

Date of recording: September 04, 2023

Starting time: 9:00 UTC

Frequency: 15.120MHz

Reception location: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

Receiver and antenna: Tecsun PL-310ET, homemade copper beam antenna

Notes: This was the Islamic Call to Prayer (Adhan), This was the Bengali service of Radio Saudi International, Bengali is mainly spoken in North Eastern India and so that's where I pointed the antenna instead of pointing directly as Saudi Arabia.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Gert Irmler, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: R Chinchaycocha, Junín / PRU 4860 kHz

Date of recording: July 05, 1978

Starting time: 04:42 UTC

Frequency: 4.860 MHz

Reception location: Schwäbisch Gmünd, BW - Germany

Receiver and antenna: Grundig Satellit 2000, 30m longwire

Notes:

OBZ4Z R Chinchaycocha, Junín, Perú
QRG: 4860 kHz
QTH: Schwäbisch Gmünd / Southern Germany
Rec: 5th July 1978 / 04:42 - ca. 07:15 UTC (GMT) (!)
Rx, Ant: Grundig Satellit 2000 - 30m longwire
Px: S, anns, huaynos, ID
SINPO: 34322
Remark: July 5th, 1978 was a very special day - great LA reception with smooth fade-out far beyond sunrise. Picaflor's spellbinding folk song 'María Alejandrina' caused goosebumps (especially from 3:33 in the MP3). Text goes as:

"María Alejandrina, what a beautiful woman's name you have.
Your name is kindness. Your noble heart ...
I would like them to change my bad life for good.
She isn't Carmen Rosa, nor Ana María,
nor is she Margarita, It's María Alejandrina ..."

ID at 14:58 in sound file ('desde Chinchaycocha'), the station's transmitting power in 1978 was 0.5 kW ...

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

Broadcaster: Radio Denmark

Date of recording: 1970

Frequency: 15.165 MHz

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Notes: Here is Radio Denmark on 15165 kHz shortwave as recorded in 1970. Their interval signal is heard followed by announcement in English, then identification in Danish. Sadly, for most North American listeners, all of their programming was also in Danish in 1970.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bob Purse, who shares the following recording and notes from his excellent website Inches Per Second:

Next up, an hour long tape which is sort of peculiar. It starts off and ends up normally enough - just a couple of guys playing guitars - some instrumental duets, some songs with vocals.

20 minutes into it, though, a man starts speaking, and introduces a recording of a shortwave broadcast of a speech by the first lady of Guatemala, thanking Ham Radio operators who assisted the country during the then-recent (1976) earthquake. Then follows that shortwave recording, and then the man comes back and shares that he will be providing some recordings of his recent performance with another guitarist.

The earlier segment does not appear to be a "live" recording, and at one point, an organist (with one of those beat-box built in drums) joins them. But after the "thank you speech", it seems that we're hearing a club or bar performance. There's no applause, but there is talking in the background.

I guess what I find peculiar about it is that the sender put the "interesting" short wave broadcast right in the middle of the tape, in between highlights of his performance. That strikes me as a weird choice.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bob Purse, who shares the following recording and notes from his excellent website Inches Per Second:

For those of you who like it, here are two more entries in the series of Australian Shortwave [Note: Recording 1 was published on the SRAA last week], which I've been parceling out from time to time since not long after this blog began. I'm fairly certain the person who recorded these programs lived somewhere in North America, because all of the shows (up until this posting) were from episodes directed at that continent. But additionally, I wonder now if the person lived on the west coast of North America, because he or she made an effort (on the same tape as a show from 9/5/74), to capture Australia Shortwave during a program broadcast towards Asia and the South Pacific. The quality of the connection during that portion is, as you'll hear, quite poor, but it did come in, at a level and quality that I would guess it wouldn't have been received in the eastern half of the continent.