June 21: Help record the 2019 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

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 of 40+ 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 at the Post (frequencies and time below).

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: British Antarctic Survey)

The recording can be audio-only, or even a video taken from any recording device or smart phone. It would be helpful to have a description and/or photo of your listening environment and location, if possible. Please only submit recordings made from your location–since this is all about how you’re able to receive the broadcast at your location, we would rather not include WebSDR recordings.

Audio should be in the MP3 format and videos either hosted on YouTube or Vimeo so that I can easily embed them without having to convert and upload myself.

If you submit your recording to me, I will post it here on the SWLing Post–and insure that the British Antarctic Survey receives the post, too.  The recordings will be arranged by geographic location. Note that due to my schedule this year, it might take a few weeks before I can curate all of the recordings (the process typically takes 8+ hours!).

Frequencies

UPDATE (June 21, 2019): Broadcast frequencies have been confirmed by the BBC as 5875, 7360, and 9455 kHz.

Please note that the broadcast begins at 2130 UTC on (Friday) June 21, 2019.

The following frequencies were provided by The Bulgarian DX Blog and were used in the BBC test broadcast. Typically, the same frequencies are used during the live broadcast—we will update this post with any last-minute changes.:

2130-2145 on 5875 WOF 300 kW / 184 deg to Antarctica English-very good
2130-2145 on 5990 DHA 250 kW / 203 deg to Antarctica English-fair/good
2130-2145 on 7360 ASC 250 kW / 207 deg to Antarctica English-very good
2130-2145 on 9455 WOF 300 kW / 182 deg to Antarctica English-very good

The Midwinter broadcast is one of my favorite programs of the year. I suppose, in part, this is because it happens on June 21–the Summer/Winter solstice–which also happens to be my birthday! Woo hoo!

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20 thoughts on “June 21: Help record the 2019 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

    1. Thomas Post author

      I’ll be publishing these frequencies and times on the blog this weekend, but thanks to Richard Langley we know the three chosen frequencies:
      5790 kHz from Woofferton UK
      7360 kHz from Woofferton UK
      9580 kHz from Ascension Island

      The time is 21:30 UTC on June 21, 2020.

      Reply
  1. Roberto

    Listenig on 9455 kHz Am mode, UTC 2132, sinpo 55454 . North West Italy locator jn34xx . RX: yaesu grg 100 ant: horizontal dipoleb v invertd balun9:1 long 77 Mts.
    73s de Roberto IU1MMU , Asti province locatore jn34xx

    Reply
  2. Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU

    Happy Birthday, Thomas!

    https://youtu.be/3rGxxBMWiVw is “49 seconds of the 2019 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast as received at WA1LOU in Wolcott, CT, USA using an ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and Hy-Gain 18 AVT/WB-A vertical antenna. I programmed the four frequencies that were originally announced for the broadcast into the IC-R8600, but learned afterwords that only three were used (5875, 7360, 9455). I had solid copy on 9455 throughout the broadcast. 7360 had a lot of fading, but was still fair copy throughout the broadcast. 5875 was very poor copy during the last 10 minutes; there was no copy for the first 20 minutes.”

    Stan, WA1LOU

    (I erroneously posted this reply to your FTIOM & UBMP post! So please delete that reply and meanwhile, I’ll get the hang of the Internet one of these days! LOL)

    Reply
  3. Massimiliano Fiorillo

    All three frequencies listened in Italy. Good signal but a little QSB expecially for KHz 7360.
    My video: https://youtu.be/uVs1y9la1oA

    SWL Report:
    Listener: Massimiliano Fiorillo IU4HMZ
    Location: Italy (Ferrara)
    kHz 5875 SINPO 55545
    kHz 7360 SINPO 44434
    kHz 9455 SINPO 55555
    Receiver: ICOM IC7410 – ICOM IC R71E
    Antenna: Yagi 5 Band 10 elements – Wellbrook Ala 1530

    Tnx and 73’s de IU4HMZ, Massimiliano

    Reply
  4. Ron M. Lackovic

    Hi Thomas,
    I listened to BBC Midwinter broadcast on all three frequencies. Reception was superb with exception of 5875 kHz. There was some digital mode traffic noise.
    Location: Corstorphine Hill near Edinburgh Zoo
    Receiver: Tecsun PL-880 portable plus long wire antenna.
    Time: 2130 UTC

    73 Ron

    Reply
  5. Matt - M0LMK

    All 3 frequencies received in Broadstairs, Kent, UK. I recorded the entire stream and eventually settled on 5875Khz for best reception with minimum QSB. I used an SDRPlay RSP1A with a 130′ End Fed Half Wave antennas set up as an Inverted L. The notch filters in SDRUno were used to remove the unwanted data signal from the passband with good results.

    Overall, a very enjoyable experience thinking of the crew of the BAS research stations and their long over winter experience.

    Reply
  6. Mr Paul Scott

    Broadcast received on all three frequencies at Maidenhead Grid Location: IO75sj with multiple receivers and antennas. Best reception was on 7360kHz Q5 audio S9+10dB with light QSB for last 5 minutes of broadcast but still fully readable. Using 40 Year old Yaesu FT-707 HF transceiver and 80m dipole antenna 28ft above good ground, strung East-West : Also received on 9455kHz Q5 audio S9 with slow rolling QSB down to S6 during whole broadcast. Using 40 year old Yaesu FRG-7 receiver and ‘G7FEK’ compact multiband wire antenna 24ft above good ground, strung East-West. : 5875 kHz reception was Q4 audio S8 with slow QSB down to S5 Using Icom IC-756 HF transceiver and 38ft vertical. Yours appreciatively Paul Scott, MM7WAB, Ayrshire, S.W.Scotland.

    Reply
  7. Ralf Bender

    I will try a full recording as in the past and post it on my YT Channel again. But this year I’m on the last day on my vacation. Hope everything works well.
    BTW: Happy Birthday Thomas !
    73s Ralf

    Reply
  8. Richard Langley

    The three frequencies to be used according to the HFCC registration for 21 June are 5875, 7360, and 9455 kHz.

    Reply
  9. Alan Pennington

    BBCWS Audience relations emailed me this morning confirming three frequencies will be 5875, 7360 and 9455. 73, Alan

    Reply
  10. Thomas Post author

    Thanks to everyone who notice the incorrect day on the broadcast schedule (Friday June 21, 2019 is correct). 🙂
    Thomas

    Reply
  11. Guillermo Nicolas

    Buenas tardes me interesa la información de emisoras de países lejanos y sobre todo de estaciones antàrticas,serìa un placer tener actualizadas las frecuencias y horarios para hacer escucha. Soy radio aficionado pero me apasiona hacer escucha en otras bandas, desde ya muchas gracias. Saludos cordiales Guillermo Nicolás desde Castelar Bs As.

    Reply
  12. adrian micallef

    give me the e mail address of swling post so i can send the mp3 audio, and the e mail address of bbc please.

    Reply

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