Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, April TimeLady, who writes:
This is a collection of Japanese SDR recordings I made over the month of May. Labelling may be “off” and I can’t find sources for some of the call letters of the stations I’ve heard; WRTH is only so useful, but it is still very useful anyway. The recordings are also biased towards what I’m interested in, which means mostly music programs, NHK programs, shortwave programs. Available in .wav, .mp3 and .flac.
Click here to listen on the Internet Archive.
April also asks:
“Does anyone know the call letters of the NHK shortwave transmitters located in Japan itself. Or the call letters for the Issoudun and Nauen shortwave complexes?
I’ve tried googling the answers for the first question in Japanese and the answers have been less than useful, most likely due to the kanji barrier.”
If you can help April, please comment!
I’m reply to April.
First. thanks for read my broken English. I’m mainly active in the Japanese shortwave community, so I’m honored to read response.
Yamata is the only overseas radio station in Japan. This is due to the significant change in Japanese governmental organization at WW2. Until NHK/Telegraph and telephones/International Communications, which were state-run, were restarted as separate companies.
Since KDDI is the base of international communications, NHK is still undertaking the transmission of international shortwave broadcasting even after the liberalization of telecommunications.
Now, short wave transmitted from Yamata is only NHK world radio and JSR Shiokaze(the national policy broadcast to the Japanese abducted by North Korea).
I research to NHK website and Broadcast license,The usage of callsign numbers was not written.
community member say, Now only 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 21 callsigns are used in Yamata.
Please tell me anything I can do.
Ko
Another reply to Ko. I am simply replying to thank you very much for your information on this matter. My Japanese would be significantly more broken than your English, which isn’t as bad at all as you might think it is. Sumimasen.
I will write for the first time in SWling.Sorry for broken Engrish.Because I’m holiday SW listener only japanese.
April asks.
“Does anyone know the call letters of the NHK shortwave transmitters located in Japan itself. Or the call letters for the Issoudun and Nauen shortwave complexes?”
1.NHK shortwave transmitters in Japan, Only KDDI?????(KDDI Yamata radio station).Radio station have 20 antenna,Use the antenna properly depending on the area and time.
Call letter is JOB6~JOB21,I can’t find use rules.
2.Issoudun and Nauen is one of relay station.NHK and Japanese government loves secrecy.Sometime calling relay station and areas.But almost no announcements.
Please tell me anything I can do.
Best regard.
Ko
I am replying to Ko.
First, I would like to thank you for your help on the matter. I can’t read Japanese that well, but I seem to have an OK enough passive fluency when listening to the radio. I am not aware what KDDI stands for. I am aware of the locations of the stations. The call letters for Radio Nikkei stations, for example, are easily available. I don’t understand why I can’t find the call letters of the NHK shortwave stations. I will follow up on the call signs you seem to have posted. I do commend NHK for having such a large shortwave presence; they really want to get themselves out there, at least in Japanese.
As for your comments about the Issoudun and Nauen transmitters at the end of every hour NHK transmits on them there’s an announcement that’s something like “NHK World Radio, Radio Japan, broadcasting in Japanese to Africa.” Then it is followed by news to Africa about things that might be of interest to Japanese or Nihongophones in general. I have heard news tailored to France, and I think when RCI and French Guiana still had their relay transmitters I heard news for North America, or at least Hawaii (???). Never have I heard a call letter announced for Issoudun or Nauen, and on the twice a day announcement of call letters on NHK stations I have heard NOTHING of the kind via Yamata, just a straight relay of whatever station JOAK in Tokyo has been broadcasting (which means an announcer saying “JOAK, NHK Tokyo dai-ichi hoso desu”) over the Yamata relay site.
I thank you for your help on this matter.
Replying to myself, in case anybody sees this and might gain information from it in this already extremely informative blog –
KDDI is a Japanese telecom company that for some reason owns the NHK shortwave transmission sites in Japan itself