Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening reports of recent Radio New Zealand broadcasts.
Carlos notes:
War on Iran, Radio New Zealand
Part of Radio New Zealand (RNZ) news bulletin (June 21 and 22).
Click here to view on YouTube.
Photo: Martin Wallgren
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Jamet, who shares the following news:
On July 2, 2025, the SAQ Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden celebrates its centennial — a hundred years of quiet transmissions that have bridged continents and eras.
Built in 1925, this UNESCO-listed radio station still transmits Morse code using a pre-electronic VLF generator.
A silent voice of peace across the globe.
SAQ to air at 100th anniversary on July 2nd 2025: https://alexander.n.se/en/celebrate-100-years-with-saq-grimeton/
English program: https://alexander.n.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Jubileumsdagen_Grimeton100_en.pdf
SAQ transmits telegrams worldwide on 17,2 kHz at 11.00 CEST (09.00 UTC) and 15.00 CEST (13.00 UTC). The startups begin at 10.30 CEST (08.30 UTC) and 14.30 CEST (12.30 UTC).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who writes:
From Jean-Michel Aubier on WOR list:
Radio Farda is back on shortwave since June 20, 2025:
Thank you for the tip, Paul.
Halley VI Antarctic Research Station
In the comments section of this post, I’d like you to share your recording of the 2025 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!
Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports the following message from the British DX Club:
Shortwave schedule 2130-2200 UTC on 5960 UAE, 9575 Ascension Island, 12065 Woofferton (UK), 13810 Woofferton (UK).
Listening to the 2017 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast from the back of my vehicle in Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré, Québec, Canada.
I’ve created this dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2024 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.
Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of this post:
Name:
Listening location:
Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)
Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)
There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.
To be clear: I will not have the ability to upload your videos for you–so please don’t email me your video files–you’ll simply need to upload them to a service above and share them here with a link in the comments. 🙂
As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!
Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team. The BBC plays music requests and sends special messages to the small team located at various Antarctic research stations. Each year, the thirty minute show is guaranteed to be quirky, nostalgic, and certainly a DX-worthy catch!
After successful listener events from years past, I’m once again calling on all SWLing Post readers and shortwave radio listeners to make a short recording (say, 30-60 seconds) of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today and share it here on the SWLing Post. Details on this below.
Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports the following message via the British DX Club:
Shortwave schedule 2130-2200 UTC on 5960 UAE, 9575 Ascension Island, 12065 Woofferton (UK), 13810 Woofferton (UK).
A slightly shorter version will be carried the same day from 1832-1900 UTC on BBC World Service English streams online as well as via DAB in the UK.
Recording the Midwinter Broadcast has become an SWLing Post community tradition! Read our previous post for more details.
I’m especially fond of this broadcast as it always falls on my birthday and it’s always fun capturing this unique DX!
During the Midwinter broadcast, I will publish a dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2024 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. When this post is available, I will link to it here. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.
So that there’s no confusion, I’ve turned off comments on this post so that comments are left on the appropriate article.
Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of the dedicated post:
Name:
Listening location:
Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)
Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)
There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services–like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.
If you have a photo you’d like to include in your comment, send me an email from the same address you used in your comment. I’ll manually post the image at the top of your comment when time allows.
As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!
Thanks to a tip from SWLing Post contributor Paul Walker, who spotted the news via WRTH and Mauno Ritola, we’ve learned that Voice of Nigeria (VON) is planning to reactivate its shortwave antenna system to better serve audiences across Africa.
According to a recent article from VON, the broadcaster aims to significantly expand its reach and improve signal quality as part of a renewed effort to fulfill its international broadcasting mission. The reactivation comes amid a broader strategic push to reassert Nigeria’s presence in regional and global media through improved technical infrastructure.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Conrad Trautmann, who shares the following guest post:
6/19/2025
By Conrad Trautmann, N2YCH
Stephen Hemphill, WA3ZAE, the owner of Solid Electronics Laboratories, fired up a vintage FM tube Phasitron transmitter on 42.8 MHz to put WA2XMN on the air at exactly 12:30 pm EDT today from the famous Armstrong Tower in Alpine, New Jersey. “W2XMN” was the call sign of Edwin Howard Armstrong’s experimental FM station that went on the air in 1936. “WA2XMN” is the official FCC call sign for the station Hemphill constructed with the cooperation of the tower site owners to commemorate Armstrong’s contribution to radio, Frequency Modulation.
W2XMN building at the Alpine Tower site
Hemphill explained that he attended a Society of Broadcast Engineers meeting that was celebrating Armstrong’s accomplishments, which sparked the idea of going on the air again on that original frequency. He thought it would be perfect to aim for the 70th anniversary of the first public broadcast of wideband FM. That anniversary celebration and broadcast was held on June 11, 2005. Today’s broadcast marks 90 years since that first FM Broadcast and 20 years since the commemorative event.
Hemphill built a transmitter based on the design of a General Electric BT-1-B, but on the lower frequency than what we now know as the standard FM band. Once turned on, the transmitter made 250 watts with no problem with a little headroom to spare and after warming up and settling in, had less than one watt reflected into 400+ feet of 1 ¼” transmission line into a vertical “ringo” antenna on the top, Western facing arm of the famous tower.
Stephen Hemphill poses with his Phasitron FM transmitter tuned to 42.8 MHz
Dual Eimac 4-250a power amplifier tubes
Armstrong Tower in Alpine, NJ (the vertical antenna is up there, trust me)
The audio broadcast today was mostly replays of the 70th anniversary event recordings. A temporary studio was set up in the tower site office building. The event was also streamed live over the internet.
WA2XMN temporary studio and audio processing.
Stephen Hemphill at the controls
The main audio mixing console used was a Gately Electronics Attache Case six channel mixer. Audio processing was done with a vintage Orban Optimod 8100A.
Gately Electronics Attache Case Mixer (apologies to all audio engineers for the pinned meters)
During the event, a web site address for enthusiasts to provide reception reports was given out. While we don’t have those reports yet, I contacted an amateur radio friend who was able to hear the station clearly 61 miles away in Ronkonkoma, NY on the eastern end of Long Island. That’s pretty good coverage for 250 watts!
Coupled with the special event broadcast was the annual picnic gathering of the New York Chapter of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, Chapter 15. Roughly 45 people attended and in addition to seeing the WA2XMN transmitter, they also got a first hand look at a few of the old Empire State Building FM Master antenna elements. Here’s a photo of your author standing next to one for perspective. I’m 6’ 5”.
To read more about this antenna and its history, visit this page researched and written by Paul Thurst, KH2R, owner of the “Engineering Radio” blog.
Conrad, N2YCH with an Alford antenna element from the Empire State Building