Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
I’m currently helping a BBC reporter who is producing an upcoming program about shortwave radio—and she’s hoping to tap into the incredible collective knowledge and experience of the SWLing Post community.
There are a few specific things she’s still trying to track down:
Recordings of what was heard when stations like Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, or Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty signed off. In other words, do you have final recordings for any of these broadcasters?
Audio recordings of a coronal mass ejection (CME) as heard on shortwave. I’ve heard this before–those broadband waves of fading–but I have no recordings.
Personal experiences of listening to shortwave while living in a closed or restricted country.
If you have recordings, firsthand experiences, or even strong leads, your contribution could help shape this program.
If you’d like to help, please leave a comment on this post–I’ll share your contact details with the producer.
As always, I’m continually amazed by the depth of knowledge and experience within this community—thank you in advance for any help you can offer!
The recent news that CBS is shuttering its radio network caused us to reflect on the glorious 99-year history of the company’s radio business, and gaze backward from this stretch of the road toward the media organization’s beginnings.
In the 1920s, Arthur L. Judson was a well-known manager of musical artists. After a meeting with RCA chief David Sarnoff, he thought he had a verbal agreement to provide musical talent for the new National Broadcasting Company, but he soon discovered that Sarnoff had instead set up his own NBC artist’s bureau. Furious over the humiliation of being outmaneuvered, Judson resolved to start his own radio network, to be called the United Independent Broadcasters.
He lined up a few investors, rented studio space at WOR in New York and signed up 16 stations. The network would pay the stations for carrying its programs, plus the talent costs and the hefty AT&T network line charges. All expenses would be paid for by advertising. The Columbia Phonograph Company agreed to provide an infusion of cash, and it became the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System. [Continue reading….]
It’s a wakeup call. Our future should belong to Main Street not Wall Street
The announcement of the pending shutdown of CBS News Radio isn’t just another media headline — it’s a wake-up call.
A clear example of what happens when decisions about our information, our communities and our voices are made in corporate boardrooms disconnected from real life.
This wasn’t a programming failure. It wasn’t a lack of audience. It was an accounting decision — made by people who don’t live in the communities radio serves, don’t rely on it and don’t understand its true value.
And that’s exactly why they got it wrong.
Radio has never been more important. In an era flooded with misinformation, algorithm-driven content and faceless digital noise, radio remains immediate, local and — most importantly — trusted. It’s the one medium that still shows up live, every day, in real time, for real people. [Continue reading…]
On March 8, 2021, a new radio station launched in Kabul: Radio Begum, run by women, for women. The timing was deliberate — the station opened on International Women’s Day, and just as the United States military was withdrawing from Afghanistan.
“I decided to launch this radio station in order to be ready for the day the Taliban takes power,” said Hamida Aman, the station’s founder. “We knew that as soon as they take power, it will be segregation, and again, it will be against women.”
Five months later, the Taliban retook Kabul and imposed new laws restricting women’s access to schools and their movements in public. Five years later, Radio Begum is still on the air. The station follows the letter of the law, even as restrictions tighten. It doesn’t cover politics or any subjects that are off-limits to public discussion among women under Taliban edicts. Instead, it focuses on health, religion, and providing educational programs to replace the schooling women are now prohibited from receiving.
“They banned schools, but not education,” Aman said. [Continue reading…]
Pagers, walkie-talkies and portable radios have reportedly been flying off the shelves of Moscow after the city’s roughly 13 million residents were hit with week-long internet disruptions, which some believe could be part of the Kremlin’s trial of a nationwide internet censorship system.
The blackout, which was first reported on 5 March, occurred initially in some of out suburbs in the capital, Moscow, before later spreading through the city’s downtown areas.
During the disruption, many foreign websites were blocked on mobile phones, while online government services, top banks and taxi apps also stopped working.
Russian media outlet Kommersant estimated that a five-day shutdown cost the city’s businesses between $54 million and $89 million. [Continue reading…]
The latest audience numbers from WLRH reflect a new reality — the audience that once listened for NPR programming is gone.
The station posted a 1.3 share for January 2026 (Nov-Dec-Jan).
This is a real loss caused directly by the format change.
Because WLRH dropped all NPR programming on October 1, 2025, this book represents the first full three months of the new format. (See my previous post for a more detailed explanation on how the Huntsville radio market is measured.) [Continue reading…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Carlos Latuff, who writes:
The first time I thought about illustrating news I listened to on the radio, I was a kid, in the kitchen of my aunt’s apartment, I think in the 80s. From her Philco Transglobe receiver, I was informed that a sea lion had appeared on Copacabana beach, or something like that. I imagined what it would be like to draw that unusual event. But it remained just an idea; I never got around to drawing it.
The 20th century passed, and in 2019, I decided to rescue that childhood idea from the past. I made my first illustrated radio logbook:
This minilog would be the embryo of what I now call an “Illustrated Radio Listening Report.” A way to record, in illustration form, historical moments listened on the radio.
I hope to leave to those who come after me, research material, both on History and on radio. With this in mind, I’m making available here on SWLing Postthis PDF with some of my illustrated reports of news captured by radio in 2025, related to climate change, a crucial theme of our times. This is my legacy as an artist AND radio enthusiast. Enjoy! ?
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David Iurescia who shares the following article from Radio Bulgaria–a retrospective that traces the history of the English Service of Bulgarian National Radio, marking nine decades of international broadcasting that brought Bulgaria’s news, culture, and music to listeners around the world.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Paul Jamet, who shares the following update and QSL card images related to Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) and Radio Bulgaria.
As Radio Bulgaria looks ahead to its 90th anniversary in 2026, Bulgarian National Radio has announced a new commemorative QSL card series for listeners who submit reception reports. The series will include 12 different QSL cards, each highlighting a key moment from the history of BNR and the Radio Bulgaria service. According to BNR, a new card will be released each month, along with a short publication explaining the historical background behind the featured image.
Paul also points to a broader retrospective titled “BNR at 90 – A Story of Pride and No Prejudice,” which looks back on nine decades of Bulgarian National Radio. The piece reflects on BNR’s history through periods of political change and technological transition, while underscoring the role of public broadcasting in preserving culture and maintaining a connection with international audiences.
Attached at the top and bottom of this post are two QSL cards from Paul’s own collection.
Many thanks again to Paul for sharing both the news and the QSL images!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who writes:
I know many of your readers are amateur radio operators and have a passion for all things radio. A couple of years ago, I was sorting through some of my old ham QSL’s and this one from W1PL caught my eye. A quick internet check confirmed he was indeed a silent key, however, I also uncovered his incredible story which I thought I would share here. Truly a remarkable individual.
Dr. Leslie (Laci) Radnay, W1PL
Dr. Leslie (Laci) Radnay, W1PL (1912-2008), is a story of how perseverance, determination, and the love of radio got him through the most challenging of circumstances imaginable, time and time again. In fact, it is truly the stuff that Hollywood movies are made of.
In spite of all of this, he was never too busy to help others. Certainly someone to look up to and admire for what he was able to accomplish, and I feel privileged to have had even just a brief contest-style QSO with him. He was instrumental in helping to start the Hungarian Radio Amateur Association and got on the air with a self-assigned callsign in 1928.
Attached are images of a number of QSL cards he issued over the years.
Thank you, Dan, for sharing.
Reading through Laci Radnay’s life story, I’m struck not only by the sheer scale of what he endured, but by how completely radio remained a constant thread throughout it all. Time and again, regimes changed, borders closed, equipment was confiscated, and lives were upended—yet radio, and the community surrounding it, always found a way back into his life.
W1PL’s story is a powerful reminder that amateur radio is far more than a technical pursuit; it is a human one. It builds resilience, forges lifelong friendships across borders, and, in Laci’s case, provided continuity, purpose, and connection through some of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
I’m deeply grateful to Dan for sharing this remarkable story, and honored to help preserve the memory of an operator whose life so beautifully embodied the very best of our radio community. -Thomas
During the Cold War years, many different signals could be found on shortwave that cannot be heard today. For example, there were two Germanys, several broadcasters from the USSR not including Radio Moscow, Radio Free Europe and others.
I have uploaded audio clips of these stations and others to the InternetArchive.
If you were adventurous like me, willing to tune outside of the regular assigned broadcast bands, and flip the BFO switch “on”, stations with odd sounding names like Giant Step, Sky King, Fanfare or Ivanhoe could sometimes be heard. These were typically tactical calls used by the U.S. military.
I recently dusted off an old 3-ring binder to look up what were some of the tactical callsigns that I was able to log from my southern Ontario listening post. They included Missionary, Toreador, Democrat, Retail, and Capsule.
My old recordings of stations “Pawnee” and “Fanfare” can be found on the Internet Archive here:
Information about these stations was hard to find, however, radio hobby magazines and SW club monthly bulletins were a good place to look. I have reprinted (below) some related material from Communications World magazine, which ran from 1971 to 1981.
If you would like to browse through all of their publications, follow this link:
“The Navy also has its point-to-pointers, including NSS, Washington D.C.; NPM, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and NPG, San Francisco. Overseas there are Navy stations in many locations, such as Naples, Italy (NNI), Londonderry, Northern Ireland (NST), Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico (NRR), San Miguel, Philippines (NPO), and elsewhere. Some military stations use tactical call names, rather than call letters, which makes the DXer’s hopes of identifying them rather slim. For security reasons these stations identify with names such as Overland, Kingfisher and the like. These call names are changed frequently and seldom is the hobby listener able to figure out just where the station he’s hearing is located. Some of these identifiers have been used so consistently, over the years. that DXers have managed to figure out their real identities. Toreador, for instance, is a name used by Navy Operational Radio, San Francisco; Pacific Radio is at Pearl Harbor; Ivanhoe is the U.S. Naval Communications Station, Norfolk, Virginia; and a whole series of stations using the code name Raspberry (as in Raspberry Jax, located at the Naval Air Station, Jacksonville”
CW Spring-Summer 1975 page 36
“SWLs will soon note that the armed forces don’t always use call letters. Instead, tactical call signs may be used to identify the station. You might, for instance, hear a station calling itself Ivanhoe or Capsule. Looking Glass or Migraine. Some tactical calls are changed frequently, others are used year after year and, as a result, no longer pose identification problems for the utility SWL. “Ivanhoe” is the identifier used by the Navy’s important Norfolk, VA base. Navy installations in Morocco. Iceland and Spain identify as “Fanfare,” “Port Call,” and “Pawnee,” respectively. The U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) has for years maintained a regular airborne alert. It is no military secret that at any time, day or night, SAC has jumbo bombers aloft—supposedly loaded with nuclear armaments—in readiness to retaliate should this country ever come under attack from an enemy. Clearly it is essential that these planes keep in continuous contact with ground command stations. Shortwave radio is one of the means employed. This SAC radio network is known as Sky King. Coded communications pass between SAC bases and the jets probably several times each hour. SWLs who stumble on these transmissions will hear, as part of the routine radio traffic, authenticator codes, usually two phonetic letters such as “Alfa-Tango.” The purpose of these codes is to assure plane commanders that the rest of the message is genuine. Various Air Force bases identify themselves in radio communications either by base name, such as “Hickam” (Hawaii’s Hickam Air Force Base), or by tactical calls. “Democrat” is used by March AFB, CA, and “Retail” is the call of Barksdale AFB, LA. SAC also has a flying command post, a back-up measure that supposedly would take command of SAC forces should “a nuclear attack wipe out the headquarters at Offutt AFB, NE. The command post in the sky uses the tactical call “Looking Glass.” Some SAC frequencies to watch are 6,762, 9,027, 11,220, 13,245, 14,744 and 17,875 kHz. There are other Air Force frequencies to watch for plane-to-ground. and vice versa, transmissions. Among them are 6,738, 8,764, 8,988, 9,020, 11,200. 13,201 and 17,993 kHz. “Raspberry” is a network tactical call used by naval air stations. “Raspberry Miramar” is the station at Miramar NAS, CA, and “Raspberry Jax” is Jacksonville, NASFL. You can find naval air communications in the 6.7, 8.7, 8.9, 11.2, 13.2 and 15.0 MHz frequency areas.”
CW (Fall-Winter 1976) pages 19-20
“The list of tactical calls is as long as your arm and most DXers find it very tough to connect a certain call with a particular service or military base. But here is a partial list of calls used by Air Force, Navy and a few Army operations. (Bergstrom AFB, TX), “Condor” (land mobile units), “Raymond 6” (George AFB, CA), “Raymond 24” (Little Rock AFB, 4LR). Pacific Missile Firing Range Network: “Plead Control” (Pt. Mugu, CA), “Outrider Control” (Barking Sands, HI). Strategic Air Command: “Skyking” (general call for airborne aircraft), “Outway” (Offutt AFB, NE), “Retail” (Barksdale AFB, LA), “Democrat” (March AFB, CA). Other Air Force “tacticals”: “Beaver Operations” (Ellsworth AFB, SD), “Letterman” (Hickam AFB, HI), “Hornpipe” (Cannon AFB, NM), Air Force Tactical Air Command: “Mainsail” (general call), “Fireside 1” (Langley AFB, VA), “Fireside 5” “Glucose” (Seymour -Johnson AFB, NC), “Lactose” (Shaw AFB, NC), “Fertile” (Homestead AFB, FL), “Acrobat” (Andrews AFB, MD), “Ringmaster” (NORAD Hq, Cheyenne Mt., CO), “Gull Monitor” (Keesler AFB, MS), “Format” (McGuire AFB, NJ). Navy Atlantic Command: “Ivanhoe” (Norfolk, VA), “Hampshire” (Ft. Allen, Puerto Rico), “Sheriff” (Bermuda) “Phenomenon” (Jacksonville, FL). Navy Pacific Command: “Butterfield” (San Diego, CA), “Dunkirk” (Honolulu) Other Navy “tacticals”: “Climax” (USS Enterprise), “Eagle Cliff” (USS .John F. Kennedy), “Jitterbug” (Balboa, Canal Zone), “Artesia” (Keflavik, Iceland) “Orange Juice” (Guam), “Missionary” (Norfolk, VA), “Top – hand” (Chief of Naval Operations), “T – Bone” (Adak, AK), “Sleepy Hollow” (Cutler, ME). Army “tacticals”: “Agitator” (Ft. Bliss, TX), “Civil Genius” (Ft. Huachuca AZ), “Popeye” (Ft. Bragg, NC), “Avon Studio” (Ohio National Guard), “Contact Tippic” (Indiana National Guard), “Flame Ivory” (Pennsylvania National Guard).”
I wonder if anyone else recalls hearing these? Please comment!
SWLing Post readers,
