Category Archives: Recordings

Pirate Radio Recordings: Undercover Radio

Saturday night, I had a chance to record three pirates on 6925 kHz: North Woods Radio, Captain Morgan Shortwave and Undercover Radio. For tagging, I’m posting each individually.

The final station from Saturday night is Undercover Radio.

Undercover Radio was broadcasting in AM starting around 03:18 UTC on May 13, 2012. The signal was great and there was a nice mixture of music and plenty of dialog. You can listen to the recording in the player embedded below, or by downloading the mp3 here.

Pirate Radio Recordings: North Woods Radio

Saturday night, I had a chance to record three pirates on 6925 kHz: North Woods Radio, Captain Morgan Shortwave, and Undercover Radio. For tagging, I’m posting each individually.

The first station I recorded Saturday night was North Woods Radio.

North Woods was broadcasting in the upper side band starting around 00:55 UTC on May 13, 2012. The signal was weak at first, but got better toward the end. You can listen to the entire broadcast in the player embedded below, or by downloading the mp3 here.

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Strange – Outpost No. 7

QSL from Radio Strange – Outpost No. 7 (click to enlarge)

Saturday night, after listening to some Voice of Greece Jazz, I happened upon Radio Strange – Outpost No. 7. This pirate deserves some recognition for the station’s homage to retro 8-bit & spacey sounds. I couldn’t tell if I was listening to an NES game soundtrack or an episode of Lost In Space. There’s even a Beatles song thrown in the mix…with a twist. Good fun.

Here’s the recording I made of the full 16 minute broadcast on 6925 kHz at approx. 00:15 UTC on Saturday, April 21:

2+ Hours of Voice of Greece Jazz

If you need a little jazz music in your life today, you’re in luck. Saturday, I recorded over 2 hours of jazz programming from Voice of Greece (see update below) on 9,420 kHz starting around 20:00 UTC on a Microtelecom Perseus. Propagation was good, and other than an occasional static crash, fidelity excellent for the SW bands.

You can listen via the player below, or simply download the MP3 by clicking here.

UPDATE: Once again, this long stretch of music with VOG was due to a strike. SWLing Post reader, Christos, comments below:

Another strike-day of ERT, so another non-stop recording for you. On Saturday they played jazz and on Sunday they continued with Greek music. Doing an exception this time, because of the coming general elections on 6th of May, they provided short news bulletins every hour, along with the usual announcements “we are on strike for our rights”. I enjoyed the same program from local FM. It was the only program transmitted from all national networks in both FM and medium waves. I visited the ERT Radio House, (Radiomegaron), the day before your recording was made, to attend a concert and I took a photo of a banner of VOG, in Greek.

Christos kindly sent me the following ERT image with the Voice of Greece in Greek:

ShortWaveMusic offers one-day music download in honor of World Radio Day

Our friend, Myke, over at the ShortWaveMusic blog has a very special World Radio Day gift:

As the preeminent blog dedicated to preserving and disseminating indigenous sound and music as heard via international radio, ShortWaveMusic is observing World Radio Day with a special, one-day-only offer: a download of the 5-CD retrospective box set, The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: ShortWaveMusic 2005-2010. This box set was compiled in 2011 for release on a prominent independent record label, but has since stalled at the gate for various reasons. As a result, I’ve decided to give it away on the occasion of World Radio Day – perhaps no more fitting time to compel others to enjoy the vast and kaleidoscopic array of music available via shortwave radio.[]

What are you waiting for? Go to ShortWaveMusic and get your free download–bookmark the site, too, as Myke offers some incredible recordings and journals of his audio/radio expeditions. (This is not the first time we’ve mentioned Myke’s work on the SWLing Post.)

Thanks, Myke, and happy World Radio Day!

Ian McFarland CDs now available as a digital download

Ian McFarland (photo courtesy: DXer.ca)

Want to do something good for yourself, your knowledge of SWL–and, in the process, help others? Let me tell you how…

Ian McFarland has made available his excellent shortwave radio CD series for download on DXer.ca (an already excellent site, if you haven’t yet visited). This CD set includes a series on interval signals, foreign language recognition, a look back at shortwave history, the state of international broadcasting today, and even a bonus antenna series.  I purchased these the moment I heard that they had become available as MP3 downloads in December.

And how, exactly, are you helping someone else by enjoying these programs?  Fully 100% of the proceeds benefit Ian’s favorite charity, a food bank and soup kitchen in Duncan, British Columbia.

It’s a win-win, and you need to be one of those winners! What are you waiting for? Click here to go to the DXer.ca online store!

Description of CD’s from DXer.ca:
Series 1 – Were you a shortwave listener back in 1974? If you were a regular listener to RCI’s popular SWL Digest program, which went off the air in March of 1991 in the wake of a devastating budget cut at RCI, then you may remember the SW station Idents & Interval Signals Series that was featured on this award-winning program.

That series featured over 100 identification and interval signals from SW stations around the world. Many of the ident signals heard in that long-running series are no longer on the air. If you feel nostalgic about the “good old days” of SWLing, you’ll be interested to know that this unique series is now available in an autographed two-CD set.

Series 2 – CD#1: The Foreign Language recognition course + A bonus CD of classic McFarland.

Ever feel like you could do better with radio listening on the SW, MW and LW bands if you could only identify the language? Help has arrived with the release of Ian McFarland’s foreign language-recognition course. CD One of this series contains 55 language samples analyzed by noted linguist, the late Dr. Richard E. Wood.  You’ll be pinning down DX faster than ever with this concise and complete audio series CD. A second bonus CD contains three flashback shows in their entirety from the Ian McFarland catalog of classics.

Series 3 – Yesterday and Today:  20 Years of SW Broadcasting. In what they feel is their “finest work ever,” Ian McFarland joins Bob Zanotti, Kim Eilliot of VOA, Jef White of WRMI, and a cast of listeners from the 20th Anniversary Kulpsville, PA, SWLing Winterfest in 2007. They combine a 2009 live forum with a flashback to 1989 – The joint SWL Digest-Swiss SW Merry-go-round program devoted to the International Radio Days conference in West Berlin in 1989.

Bonus Download Series A – The Ian McFarland Antenna Series – A must-listen for SWL’s, DXers, and radio enthusiasts at all levels, this 11-part study series covers all things made of solid and stranded copper wire. From the most basic random wire to the windom and the beverage antennas, Ian discusses the most common types of radio antennas, protecting your antennas and equipment with lightning arrestors, and some antenna book references. The McFarland Antenna series was first aired in the seventies, and this is the first time in almost twenty-five years that these recordings have been available in a high quality MP3 download. Two dollars provides one hour of interesting and informative listening on the subject.