For your listening pleasure: beHAVior Night, a shortwave radio show (relayed by WBCQ) dedicated to showcasing music from the first four decades of the 20th Century.
This show was recorded on 7,490 kHz, starting at 22:00 UTC on December 8, 2013.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
(Source: bamlog.com/cubalist.htm)
Many thanks to David Goren for sharing a link to this excellent map of Cuba mediumwave locations. Check out the map along with Bruce Conti’s list of frequencies, transmitter data and more at his website: http://www.bamlog.com/cubalist.htm
President Vladimir Putin (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
This morning, I tuned to the Voice of Russia (a.k.a. Radio VR) English language service to hear the state news agency’s take on the sweeping changes President Vladimir Putin implemented yesterday.
I expected the story to be somewhat buried amongst international headlines, but instead I heard no mention within the one hour news broadcast. [Please note update at end of article.]
Here’s a recording of the broadcast from today at 13:00 on 12,075 kHz (which begins to fade toward the end):
I then searched through some spectrum recordings I made yesterday and discovered VOR’s American Edition broadcast on 9,395 kHz, starting at 23:00 UTC.
Even though this is the American Edition, I would have expected some mention of the news agency changes in the international news selection.
Ironically, VOR News prominently featured an article on their website yesterday regarding these changes within the state media. Indeed, it was the VOR News article that I posted yesterday on the SWLing Post.
Perhaps Putin’s move will actually make previous news reports regarding the demise of VOR on shortwave null and void? Only time will tell.
On a side note, I imagine this move by Putin could lower Russia’s position on the 2014 Press Freedom Index–they’re currently listed at 148 out of a possible 179 (with Finland in the number 1 position and Eritrea having the least press freedom at 179).
(Update: Please note that the title of this post used to read, “Voice of Russia news lacks any mention of sweeping changes to state news agency.” I’ve since updated the title to more accurately reflect my point, by replacing the word “news” with “broadcasts.” I also added the audio from yesterday’s American Hour and removed some links to international media. Many thanks to those of you who pointed out my confusing message.)
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Joost, for discovering and sharing yet another hidden feature of the Tecsun PL-880.
How to change the FM line-out level
1.) Turn on the PL-880 and select the FM radio band.
2.) Press and hold the number 7 for three seconds, the current line-out level will begin flashing.
3.) Use either tuning control to change the line-out level.
Unfortunately, it seems that the line-out level only works on the FM band (at least, on my firmware version). That’s a shame, too, as my shortwave and AM line-out levels default to a value that is much too high for a recording device, rendering the port useless. I value line-out for making reliable digital recordings while monitoring activity via the radio’s built-in speaker.
I hope this will be fixed in the future as I’m sure it can be addressed with a firmware update.
On a side note, I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about a full PL-880 review. I’m nearing completion of it now–about 75% complete. It’s a rather long review and (I hope) will be useful. The ‘880 has so many features (both documented and hidden) that writing a review is a daunting task! Check back soon!
You can follow all Tecsun PL-880 updates by bookmarking/checking this link.
The website Artificial Owl has posted some incredible photos of Duga-3–better known to many SWLs and amateur radios operators as the “Woodpecker.” What an incredible structure. Click here to view the photos.
Numbers stations get some spotlight in the wake of Jang Song Thaek’s removal from power:
(Source: Reuters)
Dec 9 (Reuters) – As a scratchy rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 8 fades into a sea of shortwave radio static, a robotic female voice starts speaking in Korean.
“Number 1913, number 1913, incoming message,” the voice says, before reading out seemingly random sets of numbers.
“68360, 75336, 80861, 94409, 03815,” it continues in an eerily authoritative tone.
The broadcast, a method of sending one-way secret messages to spies, dates back to the French Resistance in World War Two and is still in use on the Korean peninsula, where human intelligence remains the most important way of gathering information.
Blanket electronic surveillance and satellite imagery offer only limited penetration in isolated North Korea, where the use of mobile phones and the Internet is far below global standards. But reliance on antiquated methods and human sources has meant that the National Intelligence Service (NIS), South Korea’s spy agency, has a patchy record on finding out what is going on in nuclear-armed and unpredictable North Korea, with which it is still technically at war.
The agency may have scored a coup last week, however, by informing the world that Jang Song Thaek, the powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, had been removed from his positions.
[…]The radio messages have been used by the South for decades, say sources with knowledge of how the country’s secret agents operate.
“It’s classic – the safest way to deliver messages, it leaves no trace,” said former agent Yeom.
The messages work by sending strings of seemingly random numbers over shortwave radio signals to an agent in the field, armed only with a radio, pen and an easily concealed pad with corresponding letters on it that can be used to decrypt the messages.
“The first time I heard the South Korean numbers station now known as V24 was probably in the early 1980s,” said a radio hobbyist who only identifies himself by his call sign, ‘Token’.
Long-time listeners like Token say V24’s unique power signature and signal strength place its origin somewhere south of the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea.
An official at the NIS who deals with media requests said he could not confirm anything related to the operation of South Korean numbers stations.
But hobbyists say the secret station is being used less frequently.
“In July 2013, I received 62 messages, most of them in the first half of the month,” said Token, who monitors the signals from his location in the Mojave Desert in the United States. “However, in the first ten days of November, I only received three.
“I have never seen traffic anywhere near this low. This station could be winding down operations,” he added.[…]
Read the full article at Reuters by clicking here.
Also, on the topic of of Jang Song Thaek, check out this video from Radio Free Asia:
If you would like to hear audio from numbers stations, check out some of these posts and recordings.
