SAQ, Grimeton Radio: July 3, 2016

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Transmitter hall and antenna array. Image courtesy YouTube.

Transmitter hall and antenna array. Image courtesy YouTube.

ALEXANDERSON ALTERNATOR IN THE GRIMETON VLF TRANSMITTER. THE DRIVE MOTOR IS AT THE EXTREME RIGHT; THE SPEED-INCREASER GEARBOX IS JUST TO ITS LEFT. NOTE THE BRONZE-COLORED SHAFT COUPLING. IMAGE AND CAPTION COURTESY GUNTHER TSCHUCH AND WIKIMEDIA COMMO…

ALEXANDERSON ALTERNATOR IN THE GRIMETON VLF TRANSMITTER. THE DRIVE MOTOR IS AT THE EXTREME RIGHT; THE SPEED-INCREASER GEARBOX IS JUST TO ITS LEFT. NOTE THE BRONZE-COLORED SHAFT COUPLING. IMAGE AND CAPTION COURTESY GUNTHER TSCHUCH AND WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

Live, off-air, approximately seven-and-a-half-minute recording of a morse code (CW or continuous wave) transmission in English from station SAQ, Grimeton Radio, Sweden, on 3 July 2016 beginning about 09:00 UTC on a very low frequency (VLF) of 17.2 kHz. The signal originates from the historic Alexanderson alternator transmitter at Grimeton near Varberg on the west coast of Sweden, running at about 80 kW. The antenna is essentially omnidirectional.

The broadcast was one of two taking place on Alexanderson Day, 2016; the other being at 12:00 UTC. The transmitter was tuned up before each broadcast with many sequences of VVV VVV VVV DE SAQ SAQ SAQ being sent. The message began at about 09:00 UTC, lasted about 7 minutes and 20 seconds, and is as follows:

CQ CQ CQ DE SAQ SAQ SAQ <BT>
THIS IS GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ IN A TRANSMISSION USING THE ALEXANDERSON 200 KW ALTERNATOR ON 17.2 KHZ. <BT>
IT IS NOW 20 YEARS SINCE THE ALEXANDER ASSOCIATION STARTED. THEN MOSTLY WITH MEMBERS OF EARLIER AND PRESENT EMPLOYEES AT GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ. WE ARE NOW 650 MEMBERS AND OF THEM 26 NONE SWEDISH. THE STATION IS NOWADAYS MANAGED BY GRIMETON WORLD HERITAGE FOUNDATION. SIGNED: WORLD HERITAGE GRIMETON RADIO STATION AND THE ALEXANDER-GRIMETON VETERANRADIOS VAENNER ASSOCIATION <AR> <BT>
FOR QSL INFO PLEASE READ OUR WEBSITE: WWW.ALEXANDER.N.SE WWW.ALEXANDER.N.SE <BT>
DE SAQ SAQ SAQ QRX AT 12 UTC <SK>

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 CW mode with 0.49 kHz RF filtering. The CW tone is about 763 Hz and the message was sent at about 16 words per minute. Reception was fairly good with some atmospheric noise (QRN).

SAQ, Grimeton Radio: July 3, 2016
Richard Langley
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Radio Vanuatu: July 18, 2016

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Radio Vanuatu 7260 kHz 1832 UTC 18 July 2016
lekiodx
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Radio Vanuatu signing on in Bislama. Instrumental music until 1838 UTC when the national anthem is played. Welcome to the broadcast day, morning devotion, and news at 1900. Includes frequency announcement, ID's, and two health advice advertisements. Adjacent channel interference on both sides from CRI on 7255 and 7265. Usually the CRI broadcasts will drown Vanuatu out before 1900 (even on my radios with synch) but they were mostly loud and clear this morning. Transmitted with 10 kw from Port Vila to Vanuatu. Received in Sydney, Australia, with a Sangean ATS-909X and a Kestrel active loop.

Medi 1 (Morocco): July 15, 2016

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Medi 1 recorded in London, UK on July 15, 2016 at 2100 UTC on the frequency of 9575 kHz using a Tecsun PL-680 radio with the Lowe PR-150 preselector and DX Engineering NCC-1 phaser connected to two Wellbrook ALA1530S+ antennas (positioned indoors) to mitigate severe local man-made interference. News in Moroccan Arabic at the start, news in French one hour into the recording.

Medi 1 (Morocco): July 15, 2016
London Shortwave
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Voice of Turkey (English): July 17, 2016

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Voice of Turkey recorded in London, UK on July 17, 2016 at 2200 UTC on the frequency of 9830 kHz using a Tecsun PL-680 radio with the Lowe PR-150 preselector and DX Engineering NCC-1 phaser connected to two Wellbrook ALA1530S+ antennas (positioned indoors) to mitigate severe local man-made interference.

Voice of Turkey (English): July 17, 2016
London Shortwave
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Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation: July 17, 2016

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SIBC 5020 kHz 0934 UTC 17 July 2016
lekiodx
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SIBC broadcasting to the Solomon Islands with 10 kw from Honiara. This recording contains music, a feature about how much salt should be in a healthy diet, the news in Pijin (26:09), and then some lovely choral devotional songs. There is some mild adjacent channel noise from Radio Rebelde blasting away on 5025 kHz. Received and recorded with a Degen DE1121 and 40 foot longwire in Sydney, Australia.

Voice of Turkey: July 16, 2016

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Live, off-air, approximately one-hour recording of the Voice of Turkey in English on 16 July 2016 beginning a few minutes before 12:30 UTC on a shortwave frequency of 15450 kHz. The signal originates from a 500 kW transmitter in Emirler, near Ankara, Turkey, and was beamed 318° to Europe.

This broadcast was the first English-language Voice of Turkey broadcast produced after the start of the attempted military coup in Turkey, which took place overnight on 15 and 16 July 2016. The recording starts with the tuning or interval signal with time pips beginning at the 03m:00s mark. The news bulletin, following the sign-on announcement, is devoted to reports about the coup attempt. Regular programming follows.

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 9.09 kHz RF filtering. Reception was very good with a strong signal, no interference, and negligible fading.

Voice of Turkey: July 16, 2016
Richard Langley
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Eye Radio: June 7, 2016

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Live, off-air, approximately one-hour recording of Eye Radio on 7 June 2016 beginning at about 16:00 UTC on a shortwave frequency of 17730 kHz. According to the World Radio TV Handbook, this broadcast is one of two aired daily in the time slots 16:00-17:00 UTC and 04:00-05:00 UTC, with the latter transmitted on 11730 kHz. The broadcasts originate from a 150 kW transmitter of TDF in Issoudun, France.    

Eye Radio (http://www.eyeradio.org/), formerly known as Sudan Radio Service, operates an FM station in Juba, South Sudan, operating on 98.6 MHz. As Sudan Radio Service, it began broadcasts on shortwave before the FM station was constructed. Shortwave broadcasts as Eye Radio reportedly began on 26 April 2016. These broadcasts were brokered by Alyx & Yeyi.

The recorded program is multilingual and is in Arabic, English, and a local language. An extensive English segment, primarily on job training of women in South Sudan, runs from about the 17-minute mark in the recording to about the 40-minute mark and is an excerpt of the "Dawn Show" broadcast by the FM station. There are also some English public service announcements during the broadcast.

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 5.09 kHz RF filtering. Reception was fair with some noise, improving somewhat towards the end of the broadcast. 

Eye Radio: June 7, 2016
Richard Langley
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Radio Tashkent, announcing death of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev: November 11, 1982

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Brezhnev greets Gerald Ford upon his arrival at Vozdvizhenka for the Vladivostok Summit on 23 November 1974.

Brezhnev greets Gerald Ford upon his arrival at Vozdvizhenka for the Vladivostok Summit on 23 November 1974.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jack Widner, for the following recording. Jack notes:

R. Tashkent announcing the death of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev during the 1200 UTC English broadcast on 5985 kHz on November 11, 1982 (Brezhnev died Nov 10).  After funeral music there was regular programming (approx. 8:09).
Radio Tashkent: November 11, 1982
Jack Widner
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Radio Nacional Brasilia: July 3, 2016

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Radio Nacional Brasilia 6180 kHz 0700 UTC 03 July 2016
lekiodx
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Radio Nacional Brasilia broadcasting in Portuguese to Brazil. The recording contains music with the occasional ID. This is very good DX for me, as reception of South American stations is quite difficult in my part of the world. Transmitted at 250 kw from Brasilia. Received with an Eton Satellit and Kestrel active loop in Sydney, Australia.

Radio Svoboda: June 25, 2016

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Live, off-air recording on 25 June 2016 of the last couple of hours or so of the final evening broadcast of Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty) in Russian on shortwave. The recording starts at about 19:22 UTC using the frequency of 5995 kHz. The transmission on this frequency was from a 100 kW transmitter at Lampertheim, Germany, operated by the United States International Broadcasting Bureau, with an antenna beam azimuth of 55°. Just before 21:00 UTC, this transmitter left the air and the receiver was retuned to 9540 kHz for the continuation of the broadcast. The transmission on this frequency was also from a 100 kW transmitter at Lampertheim, with an antenna beam azimuth of 75°. The broadcast ended just before 22:00 UTC.

The recording begins with the program "Vremya Dzhaza" (Jazz Time), moderated by Dmitry Savitsky, in progress. It is interesting that one of the last broadcasts of Radio Svoboda on shortwave included jazz music considering how important jazz was for fostering U.S. culture and lifestyle during the Cold War. At 20:00 UTC, there is a five-minute news bulletin, followed by the program "Kult Lichnosti" (Cult of Personality). It features an interview with Yevgeny Bunimovich, famed Russian poet, mathematician, and politician. At 23:00 UTC, there is another five-minute news bulletin, followed by the program "Itogi Nedeli" (Results of the Week), a discussion of the week's news.

Signal quality at the beginning of the recording (on the frequency of 5995 kHz) is quite good. There is about a minute of silence around 20:00 UTC while the radio is retuned. After the station changes frequency, the signal is not as good. Also, there is now interference in the background from a Chinese station. Between about 21:22 and 21:32 UTC, the Radio Svoboda transmitter is off the air. When it comes back, the signal is a bit stronger and stays that way until the end of the recording. 

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 initially with 9.09 kHz total bandwidth RF filtering. After the frequency change, the bandwidth was changed to 5.17 kHz. 

Radio Svoboda: June 25, 2016
Richard Langley
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BBC World Service (Death of the Duke of Windsor): May 28, 1972

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The Duke of Windsor in 1945

The Duke of Windsor in 1945

Many thanks to SRAA contributor Ian Holder for the following recording.  Ian notes that this recording features the BBC World Service news bulletin which reports on the death of the Duke of Windsor. 

This recording was made on May 28, 1972 around 13:00 GMT on 11.75 MHz:

BBC World Service (Death of the Duke of Windsor): May 28, 1972
Ian Holder
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