Category: RSGB

Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa on February 11th, 1990. At the time, Radio RSA was still broadcasting to the world on shortwave radio, and provided live coverage of the event which was heard by many shortwave listeners. It will be recalled that Radio RSA had one of the most powerful shortwave transmission systems of any country for many years — with its familiar interval signal it was a regular for SWLs.

This recording of Radio RSA was made on a SONY ICF-2010 receiver in Silver Spring, Maryland. The first recording is of the full Radio RSA coverage, and the second is the Mandela speech itself, a portion that begins at about the 1 hour 10 mark. Mandela said: “A democratic and non-racial South Africa is the only way to peace and racial harmony.” Radio RSA was so strong, in fact, that it could be heard on my SONY AM-FM-SW Cassette Deck using only a short piece of wire as an antenna. At end end of the Mandela speech recording, can be heard a VOA newscast from the previous day covering the announcement by then President DeKlerk that Mandela would be released.

We welcome new District Representatives in three regions: In Region 1 Harry Mcdonald, GM1VFR will cover District 12 (Glasgow, Central and Lanarkshire) In Region 3 Iain Nicholson, M0MZR will cover District 32 (Lancashire), Keith Sale, M0JYP will cover District 33 (Greater Manchester) and Les Brown, M0LPB will cover District 34 (Cheshire) In Region 11, Callum […]

The RSGB would like to thank Rob Evered, G2RE and Emily Groves, M7MLE for their volunteering on behalf of the Society. Rob volunteered as the Youth Champion and Emily was Chair of the Legacy Committee. She has stood down due to her greatly increased personal workload associated with her charitable activities.

Join Keith Snyder, KI6BDR at 8pm this evening for this fascinating talk. You can watch Keith’s talk live here on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/webinars and on our YouTube and BATC channels where you can also ask live questions. Find out more about Keith and his presentation

The RSGB email system will be offline today to allow for essential electrical maintenance work to occur at RSGB HQ. During this time if you have an RSGB email account, you won’t be able to send or receive mail. Our apologies for any inconvenience. If works proceed to plan the systems will power up again […]

In 2022, one station in the South Pacific remains on shortwave, to the great delight of shortwave listeners. That station is Radio New Zealand, which as of early 2022 could still be heard with good signals. Back in the 1970’s Radio New Zealand was a prime DX target. Its sign on at 0600 UTC required staying up until 2:00 AM in summer months. For signs of good Pacific propagation, DX’ers often used VNG, the former time signal station in Australia, as a marker. If VNG was coming in well, then New Zealand and Tahiti were likely to be coming in well. It’s hard to explain the feeling a new SWL got hearing Radio New Zealand in those days. At a power of 7.5 kilowatts, the station listed on its QSL card (shown here) 9 frequencies, including 9.54 mHz and 11.780 mHz where I used to hear them. Other frequencies in 1971 were 15.280, 17.770, 6.080, 9.620, 15.220, 6.020, and 15.110 mHz for ZL2/3/4/5/7/8/10/20 and 21 call letters. The verification signer was H. Taylor-Smith at NZBC Broadcasting House in Wellington. Hearing this 7.5 kilowatt signal, with its characteristic fading as the signal made its way the many thousands of miles to Pennsylvania, was a real thrill. Here is the 1971 recording of Radio New Zealand, from sign on with its “Bellbird” interval signal and BBC news relay.