Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:
It seems that fewer shortwave broadcasters utilize an interval signal these days. However, of the ones that do, at least a couple seem to have stood the test of time, going back over 50 years. The bellbird from Radio New Zealand comes to mind, and then FEBA, once broadcasting from the Seychelles Islands, and now airing programs from different transmitter sites, continues to use “What a Friend We have in Jesus”.
Listen to this signature tune here:
FEBA Seychelles recorded February 22, 1973 around 1800 UTC on 11955 kHz, as heard in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada:
Audio PlayerFEBA radio via transmitter at Al-Dhabbiyah, UAE (using SDR at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) recorded June 24, 2025 signing off at 0230 UTC on 9540 kHz:
Audio PlayerCan you think of any others?
73
Dan Greenall,
Merci pour ce bel article sur FEBA, un vrai voyage sonore entre hier et aujourd’hui. Toujours fascinant de voir comment ces interval signals traversent les époques. Une belle découverte pour les passionnés de DX comme moi !
Translation
Thank you for this wonderful article on FEBA, a true sonic journey between yesterday and today. It’s always fascinating to see how these interval signals have survived through the ages. A wonderful discovery for DX enthusiasts like me!
Got no recordings to post, but KBS World, NHK World Radio Japan and the BBC relay station on Ascension Island (“bow bells”) regularly use interval signals prior to signing on.
NHK’s is quite haunting and beautiful, if I remember correctly.
Does North Korea still use that weird electronic interval signal? Somewhere I have a recording of it from one of their FM stations yet it sounds just as bad in that format as it does on shortwave.
Thanks for sharing, Dan. I was a missionary broadcast engineer with FEBC for several years serving at KGEI (SFO), KFBS (Saipan) and in the Philippines (DXFE and others). Unfortunately, I never had a chance to visit the
Seychelles.
Dan…K7DAN
Nice memories of FEBA when it was doing test transmissions back then. Really conveyed that exotic feeling all the way from Indian Ocean. I still have my recordings.