Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:
Notes: The morning of October 21, 1971, provided some of the best reception of Papua New Guinea stations in the 90 metre band that I ever experienced. These stations were rare visitors to my headphones but I was able to make a couple of short recordings of two PNG stations that morning, and they have survived to this day on that same audio cassette (now 51 years old). This one of Radio Bougainville begins with a local chant followed by announcement on the hour. The station ran 2.5 kw and their signal made it over 13,300 km to my receiver that day. The recording of Radio Rabaul on 3385 kHz will be submitted separately. Audio quality is passable considering the recording was made using an open mic to the speaker of the Hallicrafters S-52.
Broadcaster: Radio Bougainville
Date of recording: 10/21/1971
Starting time: 1100
Frequency: 3.322.5 MHz
Receiver location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna
Hallicrafters S-52 (Image Source: Rich Post, K8TAD)
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, for the following recording and notes:
Notes: Another short clip from an old 1971 cassette tape, La Voix du Zaire in French with multiple station ID's. In the 1970's, I typically recorded stations in the hope of catching a station identification and a few details for a reception report. This one did help me get a nice QSL letter from the station.
Date of recording: 11/20/1971
Frequency: 15.245 MHz
RX location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bob Purse, curator of the excellent Inches Per Second audio archive and blog. Bob kindly shares the following recording originally made on reel to reel tape. All of Bob’s recordings are lost and found sound, so the only information he has for each recording are the notes included on tape labels and boxes. If you can identify the date or any other information about this recording, please comment.
Bob notes the following about this found piece:
This [recording is] from the spring of 1968. [It] is a recording of broadcasts from Switzerland. The sound quality goes in and out here - it's never great, which is often the case with these shortwave recordings, but it's almost all listenable.
Hallicrafters S-52 (Image Source: Rich Post, K8TAD)
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:
Notes: The Windward Islands Broadcasting Service heard with banana cutting notices for growers in St. Vincent and Granada prior to closing announcements giving frequencies and target areas. Due to "primitive equipment" and low budget during my high school years, the recording was made using just an open mike placed in front of the speaker of the Hallicrafters. The original cassette tape, which is now 51 years old, was used to produce this digital version.
Frequency: 11.975
RX location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following short recording of VOA’s Hausa language service recorded on February 26, 2022 in McGrath, Alaska on 11,900 kHz at 20:58 UTC. This recording was made with a Tecsun PL-880, DXE preamp and two tunable HF loop antennas.
Paul notes: “Hausa language gets lopped off for an English sign-off message and Yankee Doodle Dandy followed by a carrier cut 1 minute 20 seconds later.”
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording and notes:
VOA's Communications World with Kim Andrew Elliott from 6-24-1995, Topics discussed included:
- International radio news - Discussion about VOA budget and possible consolidation of VOA into the State Department - Underwriting messages on VOA - Weather reports on VOA broadcasts to Africa - Interview with Radio Prague about their innovative use of the internet
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following short recording and notes:
Broadcaster: Radio Difusora do Maranhao, Sao Luiz, Brazil
Starting time: believe it was around 0000 UTC
Frequency: 4.755
Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna
Notes: This recording was made sometime in 1970 using a Panasonic cassette recorder with an open mike next to the speaker of the Hallicrafters S-52. The familiar tune of Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head can be heard followed by the closing announcements in Portuguese. Lots of QRM and possible het due to station being not exactly on 4755, het disappears when station carrier goes off. Lots of fun on the 60 metre band in those days!
The following recording of Radio Ukraine International was broadcast via WRMI on 5010 kHz. This recording was made via a KiwiSDR in Bakersville, NC on March 3, 2022 starting at 12:02 UTC.
Note: The first two minutes of the broadcast are missing due to a glitch in recording.
We encourage you to explore the creative work from over 120 artists and composers.
A great many of these remarkable dynamic works draw on a wide array of recordings from the SRAA; the resulting compositions and soundscapes are rich with sonic textures, evocative collages of sound and memory, which emerge into further sources of inspiration.
Our profound thanks to Cities and Memory––and all of the participating artists––for this truly brilliant collection:
13 February 2022
UNIQUE ARCHIVE OF SHORTWAVE RADIO COMPOSITIONS LAUNCHED TO MARK UNESCO WORLD RADIO DAY
To mark UNESCO World Radio Day on 13 February, a unique collection of compositions built from eight decades of shortwave radio recordings is being released.
Shortwave Transmissions, a project by one of the world’s biggest sound projects Cities and Memory in collaboration with the Shortwave Radio Archive (), sees more than 120 artists remix and recompose iconic shortwave recordings to create brand new compositions reflecting on and celebrating our relationship with radio.
Recordings from the mysterious spy radio and “numbers stations” around the world
Coverage of world-changing events such as 9/11, the invasion of Kuwait, Kennedy’s assassination, Tiananmen Square protests, the death of Fidel Castro and many more
Rare international recordings from North Korea, Saudi Arabia, St. Helena, the Falkland Islands and Antarctica
Recordings covering a huge period of time from 1934 through to the present day
Space travel documented including the Sputnik, Apollo and Challenger missions
Recordings of famous voices such as Winston Churchill and King George V
Station IDs, interval signals and final broadcasts from radio stations
Stuart Fowkes, founder of Cities and Memory, said:
“Shortwave radio is one of the most fascinating sonic worlds - each recording is a unique time capsule capturing vital moments in world history as well as the thrill of pirate radio, clandestine radio stations, secretive number stations and military and spy radio.
These are sounds to be treasured: all of humanity is truly out there to be listened to at the turn of a dial - and is source material for some extraordinary compositions.”
Taking the world of shortwave radio to an entirely different place, each recording has been reshaped and reimagined as a creative recomposed sound by more than 120 musicians and sound artists, in turn reflecting on current concerns covering everything from climate change to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shortwave Transmissions is the latest project from Cities and Memory, a global, collaborative network of sound recordists and artists based in Oxford, UK. Previous global sound projects have included #StayHomeSounds (a global mapping of the sounds of the Covid-19 lockdown), Protest and Politics (the biggest ever collection of the sounds of protest) and Sacred Spaces, the first global survey of the sounds of churches, temples, prayer and worship.
It has more than 5,000 sounds on its global sound map covering more than 100 countries and territories, and more than 1,000 worldwide contributing artists since its launch in 2015.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Matt Todd, who shares the following recording and notes:
Audio recording of a MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio Service) of the establishment of a phone patch between a service member and their family member. This was recorded January 24, 2022 at 2148UTC on 13.927 MHz. It was recorded with an SRDplay RSPdx using a wire loop antenna.
Broadcaster: MARS
Date of recording: 1/24/2022
Starting time: 2148
Frequency: 13927
RX location: Hugo, MN
Receiver and antenna: SDRplay RSPdx with wire loop around perimeter of attic
