Category: THE SHORTWAVE RADIO AUDIO ARCHIVE

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

Broadcaster: PTT voice mirrors from the 1970's Part 1

Frequency: various

Recption location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Mode: Single Side Band

Notes: Part 1 of 3
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.

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. These recordings were all made at Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, using either a Hallicrafters S52 or Realistic DX150A receiver hooked up to a long wire antenna.

1.  Australian Overseas Radiotelephone Service, Sydney

2.  Reykjavik Radio, Iceland

3.  Moscow Radio Telephone Station, USSR

4.  Radio Telephone Station, Warsaw, Poland

5.  Overseas Station Berlin, German Democratic Republic

6.  Yugoslav Telegraph and Telephone Administration, Belgrade

7.  Swiss Telegraph and Telephone Administration, Bern

8.  ITALCABLE, Rome, Italy

9.  Netherlands PTT, Amsterdam

10.  Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, Nicosia

11.  Cairo Radio Telephone Terminal, Arab Republic of Egypt

12. PTT and Radio Administration, Tel Aviv, Israel

13. Saudi Arabian Post, Telegraph and Telephone Administration, Jeddah

14.  Moroccan Radio Electrical Centre, Rabat

15.  Companhia Portuguesa Radio Marconi, Luanda, Angola

16.  RCA Global Communications, New York City

17.  France Cables and Radio Company, Lome, Togo

18.  Zambian Post Office, Lusaka

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Clinton Turner, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Nederlands

Date of recording: 4/20/1980

Starting time: 0530

Frequency: 6.165 MHz

Recption location: North Logan, UT

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-1600 with random wire approx. 50' (15M)

Notes: Happy Station Show with Tom Meijer, 20 April, 1980 - off-air recording
Overview of 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, letters

Live, off-air, three-hour excerpt of a recording of the provincial Cuban station Radio Metropolitana, CMBL, Havana, Cuba, on 10 November 2022 beginning at about 20:00 UTC. The station operates on an frequency of 910 kHz from a transmitter in the Villa Maria area of the Distrito de Guanabacoa municipality of Havana with a power of 5 kW and an omnidirectional antenna. The station also transmits on 98.3 MHz in the FM band.

The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 portable receiver with its built-in ferrite-bar-loop antenna in Marathon, Florida, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception was fairly good with some background noise due to the slightly weak signal associated with the over 200 km long-range reception.

Radio Metropolitana is part of the group of stations that make up the Provincial Directorate of Radio in Havana with studios in the FOCSA building in Havana's Vedado district. It is on the air 24 hours a day and offers cultural programming with a strong presence of music aimed at families in the capital city. Its slogan is "La radio de casa" and its theme tune is a fragment of the familiar song "El Manisero" ("The Peanut Vendor") by Cuban composer Moisés Simons. Both can be heard frequently in this recording.

The recording begins with a song by Puerto Rican singer Kany García followed by the program "De Buena Tinta" (literally "of good ink" but an idiomatic expression meaning "on good authority") beginning at 20:00 UTC. This is a news program for residents of Havana including events taking place, weather, and sports. At 20:30 UTC, there is the program "La Novela" (The Novel) with an instalment of "La Flor de los Sueños" (The Flower of Dreams). Next is "Un Amigo Cincero" (A Sincere Friend), a brief program on the literature of José Martí. The program "Por La Habana" (Around Havana) begins at 21:00 UTC. This program is mostly music with Cuban jazz, blues, and funk. Between every few musical items is a discussion of indigenous languages in Latin America and elsewhere and their impact on music. At 22:30 UTC, the program "Para Luego es Tarde" (meaning colloquially "no time like the present") begins. This edition features a discussion about corn (maize), its history and how it is grown, harvested, marketed, prepared for food and other uses. Midway through the program there is a musical interlude with a short discussion about the Bee Gees with excerpts of several of their songs. During some of the programs in the recording, mention is made of the 503rd anniversary of the founding of Havana on 16 November 1519. Public service announcements about health and other matters are also present throughout the recording.

Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty presumably test shortwave transmission on the frequency of 3975 kHz at 22.24 UTC on 8 February 2023. Received using SDR web receiver located in Germany.

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

Broadcaster: United Arab Emirates Radio from Dubai

Date of recording: circa 1983

Frequency: 21.655 MHz

RX location: Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Receiver and antenna: Panasonic RF-3100 and longwire antenna

Notes: By the 1980's, UAE Radio stations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi were using high powered transmitters and could often be heard nice and clear here in Southern Ontario, Canada with English language programs.
Here is an aircheck circa 1983 from United Arab Emirates Radio from Dubai broadcasting on 21655 kHz.

BBC in French broadcasting towards Africa in 13 Meter Band. Recorded in Europe February 5, 2023 at 12.00 UTC, the shortwave frequency of 21500 kHz. Recorded using Kenwood R-5000 receiver and Wellbrook ALA 1530+ antenna placed very close to the building wall (therefore gathering some noise interference).

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Radio Moscow

Date of recording: Unknown

Starting time: Unknown

Frequency: Unknown

Reception location: Plymouth, MN

Receiver and antenna: Hammarlund HQ-180

Notes: Radio Moscow's Moscow Mailbag hosted by Joe Adamov from 1978. Questions ranged from why a woman asks the questions on Moscow Mailbag and a male (Joe) gets to answer them, why does the Soviet Union ignore positive aspects of Western society, dissidents in the Soviet Union, and more.

Audio Block Double-click here to upload or link to a .mp3. Learn more

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker who shares this recording of Radio Romania International’s Hebrew Language Service. This recording was made in McGrath, Alaska, on 7,370 kHz at 17:31 UTC on November 20, 2022. Paul notes. “this is RRI with their once weekly 30 minute broadcast in Hebrew on 7370 from Galbeni, to the Middle East

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following recording of VOA made on November 22, 2022 at 20:34 UTC on 11,850 kHz in McGrath, Alaska. Paul notes that this was actually a program feed error because the Kirundi Language Service is normally broadcast at this time and on this frequency.

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

Broadcaster: Voice of America Okinawa Rhodes Philippines Greenville Woofferton 1970's

Date of recordings: various

Frequency: various

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Notes: In the 1970's, Voice of America relay transmitter sites often gave their location between programs. Some VOA programs were relayed via the BBC site at Woofferton, England (audio from 1971).

Reception of Rhodes in the 41 metre band was not easy here in Ontario, Canada as evidenced by that recording.

The transmitter at Greenville, North Carolina was their largest operation. That recording is circa 1973.

The Okinawa relay was heard on 7165 kHz, and Philippines relay 15185 kHz, both recorded in 1971.

The Yankee Doodle tune was played during most of these interludes.