In 1977, I had been SWLing for a solid 5 or 6 years. I seemed like I was something of a veteran DXer by then. I have been making tapes since 1972 (but only really kept a solid and organized library since the Spring of 1975. I approached each cassette like it was a concept album. I was learning to play guitar so it made sense - that if my recordings were to make sense in the future that I need to catalog them properly and they needed to have some kind of theme. In my wisdom, I started producing what I would call “My greatest hits” cassette of that year - everything carefully logged and noted. One of the results was my “ID’s and Interval Series” in 1977 that mimicked to a certain extent, Ian McFarland’s Language series of ID’s with Doctor Richard Wood. Here is the result with the youthful sounding 17 year old me!
Radio Luxembourg – 6090 and bonus CFRX 6070 December 1978
It was another time and place. The 1970’s. Radio was alive and well with no sense whatsoever than the decade to follow would not be exactly the same - well, it was in part… but change would come. Even in the late 1970’s, many old stations had a folksy feel to them - Radio Luxembourg was no exception. Based on whatever they were playing you had no idea what was coming next. In this little recording, we have RTL on 6090 playing a mixed bag of what sounds like light German big band music - or folkie pop - or what have you. Station ID at the end…. drifting into a snippet from our old friend CFRB in Toronto on 6070 Khz. All received on a DX150B and an Inverted-L antenna located on the West Coast of Canada.
Voice of America in English, November 7, 2021: 15580 kHz
Recording of Voice of America in English, November 7, 2021 at 13.58 UTC (shortwave frequency of 15580 kHz)
Station: Voice of America
Place of reception: Europe
Frequency: 15580 kHz shortwave
Date: November 7, 2021
Time: 1358 UTC
Transmitter location: Botswana
Transmitter power 100 kW
Transmission direction: Africa
Receiver: SONY ICF SW1 portable
Location of receiver: outdoor (far away from buildings to limit the man-made noise interference)
Antenna: internal telescopic 0,5 meter long
Recording device: SONY portable cassette tape recorder
Radio RNZ Pacific, November 11, 2021, 7390 kHz
Station: Radio New Zealand Pacific
Place of reception: Europe
Language: English
Frequency: 7390 kHz shortwave
Date: November 11, 2021
Time: 13.03 UTC
Transmitter location: Rangitaiki, New Zealand
Transmitter power 100 kW
Receiver: SONY ICF SW1 portable
Location of receiver: outdoor (far away from buildings to limit the man-made noise interference)
Antenna: internal telescopic 0,5 meter long
Recording device: SONY portable cassette tape recorder
Radio Europa 24, October 31, 2021; 6150 kHz
Recording of Radio Europa 24 in Dutch made in Europe on October 31, 2021 broadcasting on 6150 kHz shortwave
Station: Radio Europa 24
Place of reception: Europe
Language: Dutch
Frequency: 6150 kHz shortwave
Date: October 31, 2021
Time: 13.29 UTC
Transmitter location: Datteln, Germany
Transmitter power 0,25 kW
Receiver: Kenwood R-5000
Location of receiver: outdoor
Antenna: 30-meter longwire
Antenna location: outdoor, around 8 meters above Earth level
Recording device: wav portable recorder
Radio OZ-Viola, July 5, 2020, 5825 kHz
Recording of Radio OZ-Viola, July 5, 2020 at 12.40 UTC (shortwave frequency of 5825 kHz)
Station: Radio OZ-Viola
Place of reception: Europe
Frequency: 5825 kHz shortwave
Date: July 5, 2020
Time: 12.40 UTC
Transmitter location: Denmark
Transmitter power: 0,15 kW
Receiver: Kenwood R-5000
Location of receiver: outdoor
Antenna: 30-meter longwire
Antenna location: outdoor, around 8 meters above Earth level
Recording device: wav portable recorder
Radio Free Waves Bay, October 24, 2021, 7298 kHz
Recording of Radio Free Waves Bay, October 24, 2021 at 13.19 UTC (shortwave frequency of 7298 kHz)
Station: Radio Free Waves Bay
Language: Russian
Place of reception: Europe
Frequency: 7298 kHz shortwave
Date: October 24, 2021
Time: 13.19 UTC
Transmitter location: unknown
Transmitter power: unknown
Receiver: Kenwood R-5000
Location of receiver: outdoor
Antenna: 30-meter longwire
Antenna location: outdoor, around 8 meters above Earth level
Recording device: wav portable recorder
Dimtsi Weyane (Tigrinya language, Clandestine): October 21, 2021
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following short recording and translation, along with his artwork above:
Dimtsi Weyane, 17750 kHz, broadcasting in Tigrinya language to Tigray region in Ethiopia, from Issoudun, France.
Region is facing a civil war since November 2020.
Signal received at Catacumba Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 21, 2021, 16h57 (UTC).
This recording was translated my Saba Tsen'at Mah'deromt via Twitter:
KCBS Sinuiju (North Korea) 873 kHz: October 21, 2021
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following recording and notes:
873 kHz KCBS Sinuiju, North Korea at 1633UTC on Thursday, Oct 21, 2021 with instrumental North Korean music. Signal held out pretty decently for over 6 minutes. 250KW 3500 miles.
Receiver location: McGrath, Alaska
Receiver and antenna: C.Crane CC Skywave and Gary DeBock 5" FSL antenna
Radio Mystery 21, October 15, 2021, 4870 kHz
Recording of Radio Mystery 21, October 15, 2021 at 1827 UTC (shortwave frequency of 4870 kHz)
Station: Radio Mystery 21
Place of reception: Europe
Frequency: 4870 kHz shortwave
Date: October 15, 2021
Time: 18.27 UTC
Transmitter location: unknown
Transmitter power: unknown
Receiver: SONY ICF 2001D (running on batteries - to evade noise from power mains)
Location of receiver: in the building
Antenna: 1,2 meter CB-radio antenna
Antenna location: outdoor, around 4 meters above Earth level, 3 meters away from the building
Recording device: wav portable recorder
Additional equipment: RF-Systems AA-1 antenna adaptor for portable receivers