Many thanks to SRAA contributor Andrew, who shares the following recording from Radio 4.
“I chose to record the programme on one of my old radios received on the soon-to-be-discontinued Droitwich 198kHz transmitter.
The radio is a Pye Mistral (picture attached) which was (almost) the first radio that I even had around 1972. It might even be tuned to the right place on the dial ("Radio 2", 1500m). That was the station that was broadcast on that wavelength back then.
It is not a well-performing radio, but it has a wide-ish audio bandwidth and the recording is probably as nice-sounding as it can be on LW - that warm AM sound that you refer to in the programme. Reception was on the radio's internal ferrite rod aerial in one of the rooms of the house here on the South Coast of the UK.”
This recording captures a special edition of BBC Radio 4’s The Sound of Soft Power, a documentary exploring the cultural, political, and emotional legacy of international broadcasting and shortwave radio. The programme weaves together archival recordings, listener memories, and contemporary reflections on a medium that once connected the world across borders and ideologies.
The documentary also makes extensive use of recordings preserved in the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, highlighting the importance of preserving off-air recordings as historical documents. In addition, SRAA curator Thomas Witherspoon is interviewed during the programme, discussing both the archive itself and the enduring fascination many listeners still have with shortwave broadcasting.
While this is not an off-air shortwave recording in the traditional sense, it is very much connected to the history and culture of shortwave listening. Andrew’s decision to record the programme from BBC Radio 4 Longwave using a vintage Pye Mistral receiver adds another layer of radio history to the experience — capturing the broadcast with the characteristic warmth and ambience of longwave AM reception just as the Droitwich 198 kHz transmitter approaches the end of its service life.
For those interested in radio history, international broadcasting, and the sounds of the shortwave era, this programme is well worth hearing.
This recording is being published on 27 June 2026 to mark the closure of the BBC Radio 4 Long Wave service from Droitwich on 198 kHz, bringing to a close one of the United Kingdom’s longest-running and most historically significant AM broadcast transmissions.
BBC Radio 4: "The Sound of Soft Power" (May 23, 2026)
Josephine McDermott
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CHU Transmitting Site in Ottawa, Canada (Source: NRC)
Many thanks to several SRAA contributors who have shared recordings of CHU Canada during its final days as a shortwave time signal station.
This first recording was sent to us via Ronald McKinnon and is the National Research Council’s own recording of the final minutes of CHU on the air. Here are the notes that accompanied this recording:
Broadcaster: National Research Council CHU
Date of recording: June 22, 2026
Starting time: 14:08:00 UTC
Frequency: 3.33 MHz
Location: Ottawa, ON Canada
Receiver and antenna: Raddy RF320 with built-in antenna
Notes: This is a recording of the last few minutes of the NRC CHU time signal over shortwave at 3.33MHz.It was recorded on June 22, 2026 just as the broadcast was being shut down. The broadcast had been in operation in one form or another for over 90 years. The recording was made from just outside the station in Ottawa in order to obtain maximum signal quality.The NRC's home page about this station:
CHU Canada: June 22, 2026
National Research Council
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SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, shared the following recording of CHU with notes:
Broadcaster: CHU
Date of recording: June 21, 2026
Starting time: 0:12 UTC
Frequency: 3330 kHz
Reception location: Washington, D.C
Your receiver and antenna: Na5b websdr
Notes: This is my last-ever recording of CHU Canada, as they have shut down all the transmitters today, June 22. Recorded with the Websdr na5b located in DC. https://na5b.com:8901
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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!
