Radio Singapore International circa 1990s

For DX’ers in the 1960’s and 1970s a key listening objective was Radio Singapore. The frequency many of us heard the station on was 5,010 khz which was always a challenge in early mornings on the east coast of North America but nevertheless was heard frequently. The QSL card I received for that frequency is still one of my most cherished. But in the 1990’s Singapore was more easily heard via its new international service, Radio Singapore International. While I was working for Voice of America as its Southeast Asia correspondent, I used a Drake R8 to monitor regional broadcasts. This recording of RSI was made on that radio from my Bangkok listening location (I do not recall the frequency) using a longwire that was hanging out our apartment building in the very crowded and noisy Thai capital (also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Singapore_International)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording:

Voice and King of Hope WORD/KING - Lebanon: Circa 1980s

This recording of Voice and King of Hope WORD/KING was made in the 1980’s when the station was on shortwave in the 48 meter band at 6,215 kHz. This was the High Adventures station operating from the area known as “Free Lebanon” https://bit.ly/2zqsGOd Among the interesting things in this 15 minute recording, a weather forecast for the Free Lebanon area (at the end of the recording, just before a Billy Joel song), a commercial for an American eye specialist offering free eyeglasses, and a pre-recorded jingle “WORD”. The announcer also gives a mediumwave frequency of 945 kHz. Local time of this broadcast was before 7 AM Lebanon time. ID: “You are listening to WORD and KING, that’s High Adventures the Voice and King of Hope for the Middle East here in the Valley of the Springs in beautiful free Lebanon, on AM and shortwave.” Also, mention of the Maronite town of Marjayoun.

The signal from KING/WORD had that typical sound that we all remember from the time when propagation and solar conditions permitted reception of hundreds of stations still on shortwave. This reception was on either a HQ-180A or Drake SPR-4, two receivers I was using at the time and which I still have in my shack today.

To hear this nearly 15 minute recording of WORD/KING of Hope Lebanon…

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording and notes:

Neptune Radio (Pirate Radio): October 25, 2001

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recordings and notes:

Here is another little gem I dug up. Neptune Radio! Recorded off air on 10/25/2001, 0515 UTC, 6955kHz USB. It isn’t the best audio but it is intelligible and that was good enough for me!

HCJB: August 21, 2001

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recording which includes his name being mentioned on HCJB. Adam notes:

This is an off the air recording of HCJB: 9745kHz, 8/12/01, 0434 UTC. Recorded off air on a DX-398 and 100’ longwire.

Radio Botswana Interval Signal: January 2, 1981

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jerry Johnston, who has kindly shared his collection of airchecks with the archive. The following recording and notes originally appeared on Jerry’s website.

Sebele, Botswana
1981-01-02     0357 GMT     4845 kHz
10 kW

Cow bells and cows mooing interval signal.

Duration:   0:58
Filename:  19810102_0357_Radio-Botswana_Botswana_4845.mp3
Bitrate Mode:  vbr      Channel Mode:  mono      Sample Rate:  44100 Hz
Received By:  Jerry Johnston
Receiving Location:  Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Purple Nucleus of Creation (HF Pirate Radio Station): October 27, 2001

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recording and notes:

This recording was made on 10/27/2001, 0009UTC, 6928kHz USB with my Grundig 800 and 100’ wire. The Purple Nucleus of Creation was very strong and bizarre…. Maybe relayed by KIPM back in the day.

Adam also shared images of The Purple Nucleus of Creation’s amazing and intricate QSL card:

Russ Edmunds' Mediumwave DX Airchecks: 1968-1978

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Russ Edmunds, who has kindly shared another collection of mediumwave airchecks (click here to check out all of his contributions).

Russ notes that the reception location was Parsippany, NJ (in a garden apartment) using a Hammarlund modified HQ-150 and a 4' air core amplified loop.

Russ also shares details about each recording in the following table. All recordings have been embedded below:

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Voice of Russia (Moscow Mailbag): March 11, 2002

Photo by Michael Parulava via Unsplash

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Adam C. Smith, who shares the following recording and notes:

Moscow Mailbag, recorded on 3/11/2002 at 0310UTC on 17,595 kHz.

Receiver: Satellit 800 with 100' random wire antenna.

Voice of Greece: March 21, 2020

The following recording of the Voice of Greece was made on March 21, 2020 starting around 22:45 UTC on 9.420 MHz. This recording was made with a WinRadio Excalibur and skyloop antenna. Reception location: Asheville, North Carolina, USA.

Radio RSA: December 31, 1979

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jerry Johnston, who has kindly shared his collection of airchecks with the archive. The following recording and notes originally appeared on Jerry’s website.

Meyerton, South Africa 1979-12-31 2153 GMT 15380/17805 kHz English Radio RSA's 3rd annual New Year's Eve live call in program. I called in at 2320 GMT (separate cut on recoding, 19 minutes in). I was 13 years old at the time. You can hear my voice right before that cut, and again at the very end of the recording.

Duration:   46:15
Filename:  19791231_2153_Radio-RSA_South-Africa_15380.mp3
Bitrate Mode:  vbr      Channel Mode:  mono      Sample Rate:  44100 Hz
Received By:  Jerry Johnston
Receiving Location:  Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Radio Canada International (Shortwave Listener's Digest): July 26, 1982

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who shares the following recording and notes:

Date of recording: 7/26/1982

Starting time: 2130

Frequency: 15.325

Reception location: South Bend, IN

Receiver and antenna: Realistic DX-302

Notes: Here are two more back to back episodes from my collection of recordings of Shortwave Listener's Digest from Radio Canada International, this time from July 26 and August 02, 1982. This program's highlights are: ANARC 1982 Convention promo, Larry Magne's test of the Sony ICF-6500W, a look at underseas intercontinental cables with Walter Foster of Teleglobe Canada, Glenn Hauser's DX tips. The second program highlights are: coverage of the 1982 ANARC convention with guest co-host Bab Zanotti of Swiss Radio Intl., interview with David Meisel about the solar cycle, a rundown of the awards given out at ANARC 82.

BBC World Service: April 30, 1982

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who shares the following recording and notes:

Date of recording: 4/30/1982

Starting time: unknown

Frequency: unknown

Reception Location: South Bend, IN

Receiver: Realistic DX-302

Notes: From April 30, 1982 I submit this recording of London Calling the Falkland Islands. I failed to record the time and frequency of this recording but it likely came from Ascension Island. This recording was made during the height of the Falklands War and many mentions to the conflict can be heard in the broadcast.

Radiodiffusion Télévision Gabonaise: 1979

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jerry Johnston, who has kindly shared his collection of airchecks with the archive. The following recording and notes originally appeared on Jerry’s website.

Libréville, Gabon
1979?     4777 kHz
French     100 kW

Music, talk, ID in French. Time and actual date unknown, possibly 1979.

Duration:   25:04
Filename:  19790000_-_Radiodiffusion-Television-Gabonaise_Gabon_4777.mp3
Bitrate Mode:  vbr      Channel Mode:  mono      Sample Rate:  44100 Hz
Received By:  Jerry Johnston
Receiving Location:  Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Radio Free Grenada: March 1980

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jim Nall, who shares the following recording of Radio Free Grenada made in 1980.

Receiver: Kenwood R-1000

Antenna: Vertical

Reception location: Louisville, KY

ZNS-3, The Light: September 16, 2019

Live, off-air, approximately one-hour recording of AM radio station ZNS-3, "The Light" also known as Radio Bahamas Northern Service, Freeport, Grand Bahama, on 16 September 2019 beginning just before 17:00 UTC. The station operates on a frequency of 810 kHz with a transmitter power of 10 kW and a non-directional antenna.

The recording starts with public service announcements related to the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, which struck The Bahamas at Category 5 strength on 1 September, followed by a music selection. At 17:00 UTC (6 minute, 30 second mark of the recording), ZNS-3 joined ZNS-1, Radio Bahamas, for the "One O'Clock Report" news program. There was extensive reporting of the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. The news was followed by sports, weather, and community announcements. At about 17:18 UTC (24 minute, 50 second mark of the recording), ZNS-3 switched back to its own religious music programming and public service announcements and warnings.

The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with its built-in ferrite-bar-loop antenna in a hotel room in Miami in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception was clear but slightly noisy and with some periodic pulsating signal interference.

ZNS-3 is one of four radio stations operated by ZNS, the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas. It is a primarily commercial religious music station serving the northern Bahamian islands.

Hobart Radio International via WRMI: January 26, 2020

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Zach Rutledge, who shares the following recording and notes:

This broadcast includes a news segment on the aftermath of the wildfires in Australia, as well as music from Hot Chip and Men At Work. Plus, in place of Jordan's World Of Radio, they play a track from a Monty Python album. This broadcast highlights the higher than average fidelity of WRMI's transmitter on 5850 kHz, and was recorded with an ~8 kHz wide audio bandwidth for improved fidelity.

Broadcaster: Hobart Radio International (via WRMI Okeechobee, Florida)

Date of recording: 1/26/2020

Starting time: 0830

Frequency: 5.850

Reception location: Baldwin County, Alabama, USA

Receiver and antenna: SDRPlay RSP-1, SDRUno, W6LVP active loop antenna

Radio Luxembourg: September 25, 1990 (Part 2)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Anthony Pavick, who shares the following recording and notes:

Starting time: 2230 UTC

Frequency: 1.440

Reception location: Kirkwall, Orkney

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-2003 with whip antenna

Notes: Aircheck of Radio Luxembourg from late October 1990 (recorded Sep 25, 1990)

Note: The following recording is Part 2, click here for Part 1:

Radio Luxembourg: September 25, 1990 (Part 1)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Anthony Pavick, who shares the following recording and notes:

Starting time: 2230 UTC

Frequency: 1.440

Reception location: Kirkwall, Orkney

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-2003 with whip antenna

Notes: Aircheck of Radio Luxembourg from late October 1990 (September 25, 1990 recording date)

Note: The following recording is Part 1, click here for Part 2:

HCJB, The Voice of the Andes: June 26, 1994

QSL card from HCJB

Live, off-air, approximately 45-minute recording of English programming from HCJB, the Voice of the Andes, on 26 June 1994 beginning just before 03:00 UTC on 9745 kHz. The signal was beamed to North America from the HCJB transmitter facility at Pifo near Quito, Ecuador, using a 100 kW transmitter.

The recording begins with the final minute or so of the "Musical Mailbag" program hosted by Curt Cole with Michaelene Tetteh, Giselle Russell, Gail Pfeffer, and Ralph Kurtenbach. The interval signal and station identification then precede the time pips for 03:00 UTC. Next, "HCJB World Radio News" is presented by Ralph Kurtenbach including items about World Cup soccer, Haiti, and Rwanda. This is followed by "DX Partyline" with Rick and Lisa McVicar. The episode featured an article on the difference between UTC and GMT by Prof. Richard Langley of the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada (me). The recording ends just before the program concludes.

Reception of the broadcast was quite good. At times, some slight co-channel interference can be heard from, presumably, Radio Bahrain (Islamic chanting), and adjacent channel interference from Radio Moscow International / Voice of Russia on 9750 kHz.

The broadcast was received in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada, using a JRC NRD-535D receiver operated with a 6 kHz IF filter and with a random-length wire antenna draped around the listening room.

Europe 1 Longwave End of Broadcasting: December 31, 2019

Live off-air recording of the last approximately one hour of programming from the Europe 1 longwave station on 31 December 2019 beginning at 21:30:42 UTC on the frequency of 183 kHz. The signal originated from a 750 kW transmitter (perhaps operating at 375 kW; one of two capable of a joint power of 1500 kW) located between the villages of Felsberg and Burus in the municipality of Überherrn in Saarlouis, Germany, about 1 km from the French border.

Europe 1 is a primarily news and talk station owned by Lagardère Group with programming originating in Paris. It has an extensive FM network covering France and will soon be on DAB+. The longwave station has operated for the past few years using one or two of a pair of 750 kW transmitters and a two-mast antenna originally designated as the reserve antenna (the original four-mast antenna and the old transmitter in the original transmitter hall were all decommissioned following an antenna mast accident). The new transmitting facility was operated remotely by BCE (Broadcasting Center Europe) from Luxembourg.

The final hour of programming was the phone-in help program "Antenne Libre" with Olivier Delacroix.

The broadcast was received by the Web-interface wideband software-defined radio at the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands, with a "Mini-Whip" antenna in AM mode with 9.00 kHz RF filtering.