Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Watson, who shares the following recording. Paul notes:
“During the 1980s I was listening to shortwave radio from my home near London, in the southeast of England. I had a cassette recorder connected to the receiver and taped anything interesting that caught my ear. Little did I know that 40 years later the majority of these stations would have disappeared and I would have the opportunity to share these recordings with the world.”
This recording is part of a five-part compilation series Paul has created, grouping international shortwave broadcasters by region. The majority of the clips are in English and feature interval signals, station IDs, and sign-ons/offs—a rich snapshot of shortwave radio during its Cold War-era heyday.
This particular compilation focuses on: The Americas
All recordings were made during the 1980s, most in the first half of the decade. While frequencies and exact dates aren’t provided, Paul has kindly included timestamps noting when each broadcaster appears in the audio. These are listed below for easy reference.
We’re grateful to Paul for sharing this excellent audio time capsule, and for his efforts to preserve and document the golden era of international broadcasting.
The information that follows was posted on the IARU Global web site on July 18th:
AST & Science LLC (operating as AST SpaceMobile) currently deploys commercial satellites in Low Earth Orbit that utilize spectrum allocations within the 430–440 MHz amateur …
The CEPT ECC plenary meeting in June 2025 finalised and approved ECC Decision(25)01 that includes the technical and operational measures for the use of the frequency band 1258–1300 MHz by the amateur and amateur-satellite services in order to protect the …
The weekly RSGB news broadcast, GB2RS, is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, the Society is inviting you to collect awards for listening and logging GB2RS News broadcasts between Friday 1 August and Tuesday 30 September. There are four categories, including a basic listener award and a regular listener award. Full details […]
RSGB Board Director, Ben Lloyd, GW4BML has appointed Ian Stevenson, G3YNU as the volunteer RSGB STEM Champion. This new role fits with the RSGB’s strategy to bring amateur radio to new audiences and to highlight the link between amateur radio and science, technology, engineering and maths. Ian brings a wealth of experience to this role […]
If you are looking for an activity to keep the children busy during the summer holidays, why not plan a visit to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park? The knowledgeable and welcoming volunteers will be on hand to give an introduction to radio technology, how it works and why it is still relevant […]
Did you know that The Radio Communications Foundation offers funding to young people who need help with the Foundation licence exam fee? They need to be under the age of 21 and in full-time education. If you know someone who may be eligible, help spread the word and promote this programme. To find out more […]
Bury St Edmunds Radio Rally is taking place today, the 20 July, at Rougham Tower Museum, IP32 7QB. The doors open at 7am for traders and at 9.30am for visitors. Refreshments are available from the Museum’s cafeteria. Admission for visitors and car-booters costs £3 and is £10 for traders. For more details email secretary@bsears.co.uk The […]
