Monthly Archives: March 2015

Remembering Radio Canada International’s final shortwave broadcast

The transmitter building of Radio Canada International, Sackville, NB.

I spent the summer of 2012 in an off-grid cabin on the eastern coast of Prince Edward Island, Canada. That summer, I listened as two of my favorite shortwave broadcasters left the air within weeks of each other: Radio Netherlands Worldwide and Radio Canada International.

I was able to not only listen to the final broadcasts of Radio Netherlands, but also record them. I wrote a post about that memorable experience.

Ironically, though I was only a geographic stone’s-throw from the RCI Sackville transmitter site, I struggled to hear any Sackville signals as my location was too close for skywave propagation and a little too far for ground wave. Though I paid a visit to the transmitter site only two days prior, I was unable to hear or record RCI’s final broadcast.

Unlike RNW’s final broadcasts, RCI’s ended without fanfare and quite abruptly. This week, I heard a recording of that final RCI broadcast for the first time. My friend, Rajdeep Das, recorded it on June 24, 2012 in Kolkata, India. Rajdeep has kindly shared his recording with the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive and here on the SWLing Post.

This is a short 10 minute recording, beginning at 1550 UTC, June 24, 2012 on 11,675 kHz. Listeners will note that the broadcast ends abruptly during the mailbag program–obviously the Sackville transmitters were turned off prematurely.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

While we’re talking about RCI, I would also like to thank @LeedsRadio, @UKDXer and Al Holt for sharing the following brilliant QSLs and pennant:

Source: @UKDXer via Twitter

Source: @LeedsRadio via Twitter

Source: @grovekid2 (Al Holt) via Twitter

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane!

SWLing Post readers should note that Rajdeep Das has a DX blog you should visit. I’ve added Rajdeep’s site to our blog roll. Thanks again, Rajdeep!

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VOA Radiogram #100

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Dr. Kim Elliott, has been transmitting VOA Radiograms to a devoted set of global listeners for two years. Indeed, he recently passed a milestone by transmitting the 100th episode of the VOA Radiogram. Most impressive!

SWLing Post reader, Harald (DL1ABJ), recently sent the following message regarding reception of the 100th episode:

Dear Thomas,

Last weekend I decoded VOA Radiogram #100 on 17860 kHz AM (via Greenville, Edward R. Murrow TX station) from 1600 till 1630 UTC here in Germany.

Part of it was a text by Kim Andrew Elliott, KD9XB, telling a bit about his project of broadcasting text and pictures over AM transmitters on shortwave.

I am also attaching one of the pictures sent during VOA Radiogram #100.

Regards

Harald

VOARadiogram100

Click here to view/download Harald’s text file (.RTF).

Many thanks for sharing this, Harald. VOA Radiograms are successfully decoded by listeners across the world. If you’re interested in decoding a VOA Radiogram, or simply following the broadcasts, bookmark VOAradiogram.net.

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Special Broadcast: 70th Anniversary of Radio Canada International via PCJ

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(Source: PCJ Radio International)

This year marks the 70th Anniversary of Radio Canada International. On March 16, 2015 from 0100 to 0200UTC PCJ Radio International will present a special tribute program for their 70th Anniversary.

The program will include a recent interview with Eric Koch who was a presenter in the German Section. He will talk about the test transmissions that took place before the CBC International Service was officially inaugurated on February 25, 1945. And a special program produced and presented by Ian McFarland and Bob Cadman for the 40th Anniversary.

All times UTC
Latin America – 2300 to 0000UTC (March 13, 2015)
North America – 0100 to 0200UTC (March 15 from 9 to 10pm EDT)

Frequencies for the Americas are:
9955khz –2300 to 000UTC
7570khz – 0100 to 0200UTC

There will also be a special e-QSL issued.

Regards,
Keith Perron
PCJ Radio International

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Reminder: Shortwave Shindig Rebroadcast tonight

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David Goren hosts the annual Shortwave Shindig

As a reminder, the Shortwave Shindig will be rebroadcast today, March 7, 2015 from 10:00-11:00 PM EST (that’s Sunday from 0300-0400 UTC) via WRMI on 7,570 khz.

Shindig host, David Goren, has also informed me that he has had a chance to repair the program since it was off the air for 10 minutes during the original broadcast. He has also included a dedication to the memory of our friend, Martin Peck.

I plan to record this show, but would certainly appreciate other recordings as well to add to the archive. Again, for those of you who submitted off-air recordings of the original show, I will be posting them shortly after my travels.

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Medium Wave DXer, Johnny Bråtveit, interviewed by Oregon Public Broadcasting

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Check out this excellent in-depth interview with medium wave DXer, Johnny Bråtveit, via Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPD):

“About a month ago, our station received a fascinating email. It came from a Norwegian man named Tore Johnny Braatveit. He wrote: “I am one of those people who still really enjoys hunting for long-distance radio signals on the AM band. I am glad to tell you that I was able to pick up the AM signals of KOAC in arctic Norway.”

Braatveit sent us a recording of what he heard, and there’s no mistaking our litany of OPB stations beamed more than four thousand miles away.

Braatveit, who said we can call him TJ, says the serendipity of the search is what makes collecting radio signals appealing. “It’s the same as for a hunter or a fisher,” said Braatveit, “They know what they want, but they don’t know what they will get.”

Braatveit has been DXing – a hobby to receive, record and identify faraway broadcasts – since the early 1980’s. DX-ers use receivers along with computer software to collect the signals before reaching out to the stations with “reception reports” to verify what they picked up, hence the email he sent us.”

Listen to the full interview via OPB’s SoundCloud:

Tore Johnny Bråtveit also maintains a blog where you can listen to many of his medium wave audio samples. Click here to visit his site.

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Radio Canada International 70th Anniversary was bittersweet for some

RCI Action

We recently noted that Radio Canada International (RCI) celebrated its 70th year anniversary. While it was certainly an amazing milestone–dating back to WWII–it was a bittersweet celebration for some. Check out this article on the RCI Action blog:

“The flood of wonderful memories, fueled by the old and not so old photos of Radio Canada International’s 70 years, is now, as I write this, suddenly mixed with regret, lost opportunities, and missing colleagues.

In a way I dreaded this anniversary, not knowing how to deal with this important milestone.

RCI has survived all these years since its first broadcast on February 25, 1945, as Canada’s Voice to the World. But now, almost three years after an 80% budget cut that took us off shortwave radio, cutting us off from our listeners, how do you celebrate? How do you not look with some exasperation, regretfully, wistfully, at how little people, even colleagues, know about RCI’s proud achievements, and its path-breaking innovations?

The contradictions of how some viewed us and the reality is almost too much to bear. People say we used outdated technology, weren’t moving with the times, and no longer needed to explain Canada to the world.

Yet none of this is true.”

[Continue reading on RCI Action…]

Sheldon Harvey

My good friend, and host of the International Radio Report, Sheldon Harvey was interviewed by Lynn Desjardins of Radio Canada International regarding Radio Canada International’s 70th anniversary. Here is a link to the story and the audio of the interview now accessible through RCI’s webpage

Amanda Dawn Christie

On a similar note, you might check out this interview between Wojtek Gwiazda and film marker, Amanda Dawn Christie. Amanda is making a documentary film about the destruction of the RCI Sackville transmitter site.

Click here to listen to the full interview via Radio Canada International online.

Check out Amanda’s short video of several towers as they were taken down:

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Can you help George identify the mystery pip?

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WWV format

SWLing Post reader, George (NJ3H), writes:

I quite often see a spike in the evening on 4996 khz. From the listing, this is suppose to be RWM, in Moscow, a time signal station.

When I listen on remote receivers in Poland and Denmark, I do not hear time pips, but rather just hash.

On my Perseus, I can watch the spike go up and down each second. This makes me think it is caused by WWV. However, the 29th second seems to make the spike move up, even though WWV doesn’t have a pip at second 29. The remote receivers in Europe that I just mentioned do not have any time pips being broadcast. Does WWV cause a signal on 4996?

Can you shed any light on 4996? Should we be able to hear RWM in the Eastern US?

Good question, George, and I’m hoping a reader can shed some light on what you’re seeing on the spectrum display. I’m not sure what could be causing the 29th second spike unless it’s WWV transmitting a sub-audible tone.

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