Texas Radio Shortwave: Additional broadcast options in June 2025

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Terry, with Texas Radio Shortwave who notes:

We added new broadcasts over Shortwave radio for June. These may provide Europeans with better reception and allow NAm SDR users additional opportunities to hear us. More changes are coming in July.

73.Terry N5RTC

Memorial Day Weekend: Last Chance to Snare the Indy 500 Special Event Station

By Brian D. Smith, W9IND

If you still haven’t caught the W9IMS Indy 500 special event, your final opportunity to earn the latest QSL card and certificate comes this weekend.

As announced earlier this month, the second special event of the year by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club – honoring the 109th running of the venerable race – is on the air from now through the end of Race Day … otherwise known as 11:59 p.m. Sunday, May 25 (Indy time) or 0359 UTC Monday, May 26.

For hams and shortwave listeners, working or tuning in W9IMS this week stakes your claim on a collectible QSL card that’s redesigned each year.

And if you happened to bag the first W9IMS special event during the week of the IndyCar Grand Prix (May 4-10), a contact with the Indy 500 station will put you two-thirds of the way toward achieving the 2025 version of the Checkered Flag Award.

But take note: You’ll have to wait 2 months for the third special event (July 21-27), which will commemorate the NASCAR Brickyard 400.

Tips on finding W9IMS:

  1. Check DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi) for spots listing the current frequency or frequencies of W9IMS. You can customize your search by typing “W9IMS” in the box at upper right.
  2. Go to the W9IMS web page (www.w9ims.org) and look for the heading, “2025 Operating Schedule.” Click on the Indianapolis 500 link, which opens into a weeklong schedule of individual operators and their reserved time slots. Although the special event can be activated at any time throughout Race Week, your odds of snaring the station improve dramatically during hours with a listed op.
  3. Look for the Indy 500 station on 20 and 40 meters – on or near 14.245 and 7.245 MHz – and there’s a bonus band if you plan to attend the race or be in the Indianapolis area on Race Day. Each year on the morning of the 500, W9IMS operates simplex FM on 146.52 MHz, working hams situated in the grandstands and the infield of the track, as well as those en route or residing in the local area.
  4. Remember that the published schedule can be shortened by adverse circumstances, such as local thunderstorms, solar flares, and a lack of calling stations. Don’t wait till the final hour to hunt W9IMS!
  5. However, hams who still haven’t worked W9IMS by Sunday may benefit from the policy changes that usually kick in at the end of Race Week. W9IMS ops tend begin calling for “only stations that haven’t worked this event” and often switch to contest-style operations, exchanging only signal reports to put more contacts in the log.
  6. Keep in mind that both radio amateurs and SWLs are eligible for QSL cards and the certificate. So if your ham station isn’t able to work W9IMS by Sunday night, you can create an SWL report by copying down details of other contacts – such as date, frequency, UTC, and the callsigns of a few stations you heard W9IMS working. SWL reports count as credits too, but the certificate will likely feature your name instead of your call.

If you succeed in your W9IMS chase, congratulations! The station website (www.w9ims.org) contains everything you’ll need to know about obtaining QSL cards and the certificate.

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Vatican Radio (May 21, 2025)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent Vatican Radio broadcast.


Carlos notes:

Pope Leo XIV appeals for Gaza, Vatican News, 11870 kHz:

Part of Vatican Radio news bulletin (in English): Pope Leo XIV appeals for Gaza. Listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on a Xhdata d-808 receiver.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Radio La Voz De Melo (May 19, 2025)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent Radio La Voz De Melo broadcast.


Carlos notes:

Pope Leo XIV will host negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, Radio La Voz de Melo, Uruguay:

Part of the news bulletin of Radio La Voz de Melo (Uruguay), in Spanish, about Pope Leo XIV’s willingness to host the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in the Vatican. Listening in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on the Xhdata D-808 receiver.

Click here to view on YouTube.

Paul’s Vesti FM Test Broadcast Recordings and eQSL

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Paul Jamet, for sharing the following eQSL card along with two recordings he made and submitted of the Vesti FM test broadcasts on May 19, 2025:

Off-Air Recordings

Vesti FM on 13,730 kHz at 19:40 UTC on May 19, 2025:

Vesti FM on 13,730 kHz at 19:43 UTC on May 19, 2025:

Get tuned in dad

Greetings to all SWLing Post community from the Imaginary Stations crew. This week we bring you another episode of the Fab Four beat classic, From Beatles to Beatniks Too.

Don’t be a square, drop out and spin that crazy shortwave dial on Saturday 24th May 2025 at 1100 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then again for Sunday 25th May 2025 at 0900/1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and at 2000 UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz (via the services of Shortwave Gold).

Get your beret and sunglasses on and tune into more good stuff from other cats who understand us beats, man. Fall into a shortwave world of hipsville for an hour!

On Wednesday 28th May 2025 via WRMI  at 0200 UTC we’re bringing you a (train) station called CTRN for all lovers of railroads and trains. Tune in for a mixture of steam and electric train classics for everyone, from the person behind the ticket kiosk, station staff and the humble passenger. Stand clear of the moving doors please!

More on CTRN here:

For more information on all our shows, please write to [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Micoud page here.

FastRadioBurst 23

June 2025 Schedule Updates: From the Isle of Music & Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who shares the following update:

From the Isle of Music, June 2025

June’s program will be the first of several episodes featuring the best of Cubadisco 2025, Cuba’s most important discographic awards.

Friday, June 13:
6070 kHz at 1700 UTC
3955 kHz at 2100 UTC

Sunday, June 15:
9670 kHz at 1700 UTC using booster beam E to eastern Europe and Eurasia (repeat of June 13 episode).

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, June 2025

June’s theme will be Bollywood vs. Lollywood, some of my favorite songs from India’s and Pakistan’s film industries (make music, not war, say I, and there will not be any losers in this episode) and will air as follows:

Friday, June 20:
6070 kHz at 1700 UTC
3955 at 2100 UTC

Sunday, June 22
9670 kHz at 1700 UTC using beam E (repeat of June 20 episode).

For those of you who were avoiding 3955 due to mixing product issues at the station, we have been informed that this has supposedly been fixed.

**In addition to direct radio reception, we do honor reception reports using remote SDRs as long as the whole program is described and which SDR is specified.