Category: THE SHORTWAVE RADIO AUDIO ARCHIVE

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.

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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.

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

Broadcaster: ETLF, Radio Voice of the Gospel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Date of recording: 3/23/1971

Frequency: 11.890 MHz

Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

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

Notes: Here are two brief recordings from Radio Voice of the Gospel, station ETLF, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In the first one, from 1971, there is significant QSB (fading) but they are in the clear. Listen for their four note drum interval signal, ID in English, and mention of the date Tuesday 23rd of March.

The second recording, also in English, is from the early 1970's during a transmission to West Africa in the 25 metre band where they are heard signing off.

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

Broadcaster: Radio Netherlands

Date of recording: 9/12/1978

Starting time: Unknown

Frequency: Unknown

Reception location: St. Cloud, MN

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-5900W using a whip antenna

Notes: Radio Netherland's shortwave transmission announcing the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978. I had tuned in to listen to DX Juke Box and heard that the show was being preempted due to the unexpected passing. Pope John Paul I was head of the Catholic Church for only 33 days, the shortest in papal history.

Live, off-air, three-hour recording of the special annual Gruss an Bord broadcast from German broadcaster NDR, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, on 24 December 2022 beginning at just after 18:00 UTC. The broadcast features music and greetings to and from mariners around the world. The Christmas greetings were recorded at two events on the third Advent Sunday (11 December) in Leer and on the fourth Advent Sunday (18 December) in Hamburg.

Relatives and friends had the opportunity to wish their loved ones at sea a happy holiday and a happy new year. The Leer event featured the Bingumer Shanty Choir and Anne-Fleur Schoch and her band while the Hamburg event featured Beatles experts Stefanie Hempel and The Silver Spoons. The broadcast was primarily in German with some greetings in English, Filipino, and Portuguese as well as German. A number of songs in English, too. A news bulletin (in progress when recording began) precedes the program for a few minutes.

In addition to being carried on the NDR Info and NDR Info Spezial networks, the broadcast was transmitted around the world on shortwave using transmitters in Nauen (NAU), Germany; Issoudun (ISS), France; Tashkent (TAC), Uzbekistan; and Okeechobee, Florida (RMI), U.S.A.; and was organized by Media Broadcast.

The schedule was:
1800-2100 on 6030 ISS 250 kW / 251 deg to North/East Atlantic
1800-2100 on 6080 TAC 100 kW / 301 deg to West/Central Europe
1800-2100 on 9740 NAU 250 kW / 130 deg to Indian Ocean - West
1800-2100 on 11650 ISS 250 kW / 148 deg to Indian Ocean - SoAf
1800-2100 on 13725 NAU 250 kW / 205 deg to Southern Atlantic
1800-2100 on 15770 RMI 100 kW / 044 deg to North/West Atlantic
RMI, Radio Miami International, experienced a power outage and was off the air for about the first two hours of the broadcast.

The recording is primarily of the transmission on the frequency of 11650 kHz for about the first two hours and 6030 kHz for the third hour as the signal degraded on 11650 kHz.

The program was received outdoors on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz filtering. Reception was good for the most part on both recorded frequencies although, as previously mentioned, signal quality on 11650 kHz degraded during the second hour of the broadcast necessitating the switch to 6030 kHz. There was some adjacent channel interference on 11650 kHz at times. Also, there was about a one-minute dropout of the 11650 kHz frequency around the start of the second hour of the broadcast. The last minute or so of the broadcast on 6030 kHz was interfered with by a co-channel digital transmission from Radio Romania International.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Russ Edmunds, who has kindly shared another collection of mediumwave airchecks (click here to check out all of his contributions).

Russ notes that the reception location was Blue Bell, PA using a Hammarlund modified HQ-150 and a 4' air core amplified loop.

Russ also shares details about each recording in the following table. All recordings have been embedded below:

The following recording of Paul Walker's Christmas Special on KSKO was recorded on a live relay from WRMI on 5900 kHz on Friday, December 24, 2022 starting around 00:10 UTC.

This recording was made on the U Twente WebSDR in the Netherlands.