Radio Nacional de Brasilia

I also caught Radio Nacional de Brasilia tonight, from Brasilia in Brazil. This was on 6180 kHz from 0305-0431 UTC. The signal was fairly strong but there was interference from another station on an adjacent frequency. The station was playing music, mostly Brazilian, with talk in Portuguese and frequent IDs. Received on the Kaito KA-1103 using its built-in telescopic antenna.

I recorded this and have posted the recording to archive.org.

Wolverine Radio

I was tuning around 7 MHz tonight and ran across a strong single-sideband signal with music playing. It was the shortwave pirate station Wolverine Radio. This one is heard fairly regularly and seems to have good coverage over eastern North America. But obviously no one knows where the station is located. Details of the reception:

• Wolverine Radio, 6945 kHz in SSB from 0125 to 0245 UTC. This was the last 25 minutes of their broadcast. Good signal, playing music that all seemed to be related to marijuana. No talking except for occasional "Wolverine Radio" IDs in a computer-generated voice. Then there was the sound of an SSTV (slow-scan television) image being transmitted, after which the station went off the air.

I recorded this and have posted the recording to archive.org. 

Voice of America on 60 Metres

I am up in Eastern Ontario for the weekend and as usual I have a portable shortwave receiver with me, a Kaito KA-1103. While tuning around the 60 metre band I caught the Voice of America in English on two frequencies:

• Voice of America, 4930 kHz, from VOA's relay site at Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana at 0350-0417 UTC. Weak signal with talk in English. Pretty hard to follow, as the reception was poor. 100 kW.
• Voice of America, 4960 kHz, from VOA's relay site at Pinheira, Sao Tome e Principe, off the west coast of Africa. 0417-0420 UTC. Talk in English. Weak signal. 100 kW. 

Reception of African stations on 60 metres used to be a fairly common experience, before most of them disappeared. I remember listening to Radio RSA from South Africa on the 90 and 60 metre bands frequently back in the late 1970s. Today it's a rare occurance to catch a station from that part of the world on these bands, since so few are left.

Radio Sawtu Linjilia

I caught a station on shortwave this afternoon that I'd never heard of. Radio Sawtu Linjilia (the Voice of Gospel), a religious station broadcasting to Africa. Frequency: 15315 kHz, at 1830-1850 UTC with a fair to good signal, broadcasting from Issoudon, France. It was in an African language. Short-wave.info gives the languages as Hausa and Fulfude, neither of which I would recognize. Received at Port Hope, Ontario, when I took a break from driving.

Recording: Shortwave Radio Inteval Signals

I posted to archive.org a compilation of shortwave radio station interval signals from 1976 - 1977. This recording also includes some clips on the history behind the identifying tunes used at Radio Nederland. Contents:

• Deutsche Welle
• R. Nederland
• Unidentified interval signal 1
• Voice of Spain
• History of R. Nederland's interval signal
• R. Nederland Arabic service
• Unidentified interval signal 2
• R. Canada International
• R. Nacional de Brasilia
• Interval signal history from R. Nederland
• R. RSA
• Voice of Iran
• R. Habana Cuba
• BBC Spanish Service
• Voice of Turkey

Update: Now also on the Shortwave Archive podcast.

Recording: DX Partyline on HCJB from 1976

I've uploaded yet another of my recordings of shortwave radio from the late 1970s. This one is a recording of the DX Partyline show on HCJB from Quito, Ecuador. This program was broadcast on December 7, 1976 at 0230 UTC on 6095 kHz in the 49 metre band. The main feature of this episode is a discussion with an HCJB engineer of the design and construction of their steerable broadcasting antenna.

Update: This recording has now been included in the Shortwave Archive podcast.

Another Ancient Shortwave Recording

I've posted another ancient shortwave recording to archive.org. This is a recording of a half-hour program of the Voice of Iran, from December 5, 1976 at 2000 UTC on 9022 kHz in English. This is interesting from the historical viewpoint because it is from a few years before the revolution in Iran that overthrew the Shah and established the present Islamic Republic.

Update: This recording has now been included in the Shortwave Archive podcast.

Today's Receptions on Shortwave

Did a bit of listening today on shortwave and here's what I caught. The receiver was the JRC NRD-525 attached to the 20 metre amateur band mobile whip. Not an ideal match but it worked well enough:

• WRMI, 15770 kHz, Okeechobee  FL USA, at 1945-1952 UTC with fair to good signal. Overcomer Ministry religious program hosted by Brother Stair.
• Voice of America, 15580 kHz, from Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana relay transmitter site at 1955-2000 UTC. In English. ID at top of hour and then into program "Music Time in Africa". Fair signal.
• WEWN, Vandiver AL USA, at 2000-2005 UTC on 15610 kHz. Good signal. In English. EWTN Catholic radio.
• Voice of America, 15730 kHz, from Greenville NC USA, in French with good signal.
• WWCR, 15825 kHz, Nashville TN USA, at 2010 UTC with good signal. English. Christian preaching.

Radio Kuwait

One logging on shortwave today: Radio Kuwait at 2038 to 2050 UTC on 15540 kHz in English with a fair signal. Public service announcement followed by ID and frequencies. Then into some European-sounding techno music and a song by John Lennon.