This morning, around 11:15 UTC, I caught a pirate that I had never heard on air before: Boombox Radio.
Though rather weak, over the course of their 31 minute broadcast on 6,925 kHz AM, the signal did increase significantly (possibly as propagation improved).
I was very surprised to hear a North American pirate on at this time of the morning.
Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Boombox, great to hear you on the air!
“Turn up the radio Jim, I think I hear Stereophonics!”
For your listening pleasure: three hours of the pirate radio station X-FM.
This broadcast was recorded this morning, starting around 2:00 UTC, on 6,950 kHz AM. X-FM can even be received in C-Quam stereo–something I have yet to try.
This is a 10 year anniversary broadcast of X-FM and has an excellent mix of music (everything from Indie rock to trance) and Redhat’s live commentary. Superb signal strength, too.
You can download the recording of X-FM by clicking here, or simply listen via the embedded player below (note that I included X-FM’s full seven minute interval signal/leader):
Standard Pirate Radio Disclaimer: Though X-FM is quite a professional pirate (is there such a thing?), this is a recording of a real pirate radio broadcast, and as such, may include colorful language. In general, if you are easily offended by the words, ideas, music lyrics, or music herein, you should slowly…back… away…
Jazz Notes presenter, Ivan Lloyd (Photo: Radio Australia)
For your listening pleasure: thirty minutes of Radio Australia’s Jazz Notes.
This broadcast was recorded yesterday at 1:30 UTC on 11,945 kHz. You will note a little noise that bleeds over from jamming of Radio Marti on an adjacent frequency.
You can download this recording of Jazz Notes by clicking here, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
“Uh, Charlie, where did Bermuda go?”
My good buddy, David Goren, directed me to the VOLMET frequency for New York Sunday afternoon on 3,485 kHz.
VOMET, for those of you not familiar, is a worldwide network of radio stations that broadcast TAF, SIGMET and METAR aviation weather reports on shortwave radio, and in some countries on VHF, too. All of the reports are broadcast in upper sideband, using automated voice transmissions.
At any rate, they must have experienced a glitch which resulted in the loss of meteorological data for most of the United States. The broadcast preamble is as usual, but as soon as specific airport regions (mostly major US cities and some islands) are mentioned, the report takes a disturbing turn. It’s fodder for science fiction–one is not sure whether to be alarmed or amused by this eyebrow-raising data (or, lack thereof).
The end result becomes almost like a numbers station, sans numbers, of course. Take a listen for yourself by clicking here to download the recording, or listen via the embedded player below:
Map pointing to Truk Lagoon (Source: truk-lagoon.com)
SWLing Post reader, Chris Johnson, recently sent me a message confessing his love of travel combined with shortwave radio listening. When he told me about his enviable plans to travel to the tiny islands of Truk Lagoon in the Federated States of Micronesia–and to record some of the broadcasts he heard–I asked if he would allow me to share his recordings on the Post. Fortunately for us, he agreed!
Below are two of his recordings, the first from the Voice of Mongolia, the second from the Voice of Korea. Both happen to be very difficult stations to catch here in eastern North America. His comments follow each recording:
Voice of Mongolia Shortwave Broadcast to Asia and Europe. Using a Sony ICF-SW7600G with a whip antenna. Recorded on 29 January 2013 at 1030z on 12085 khz from the Blue Lagoon Resort, Truk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia. The broadcast interval signal begins at 1:35
Voice of Korea; Recorded on a Sony ICF-SW7600G using a whip antenna. 7 February 2013 on 15100 khz at 0500z Location; Puka Beach, Boracay Island, Philippines. The program was scheduled for 60 minutes but due to the frequent power outages in the DPRK, the program ceased at approximately 52 minutes.
Thanks, Chris!
Emma Swift is hosting Saturday Night Country while Felicity Urquhart is on maternity leave. (Photo: Radio Australia)
As on many Saturday mornings, this past weekend I sipped my morning coffee while listening to ABC’s Saturday Night Country from Radio Australia’s Shepparton shortwave transmission site on 9.58 MHz…some 9,800 miles from my home.
In this program, Emma Swift continues to fill in for Felicity Urquhart (who is on maternity leave). Swift, who is an amazing host and songwriter in her own right, focuses in this show on country drinking songs (amongst others) and on a few nostalgic country songs in the final set. Fortunately, I captured the whole show in two recordings.
Click here to download the first recording and here to download the second as MP3s. Alternatively, you can simply listen via the embedded player below:
The Archive.org download page for these recordings can be found here.
For your listening pleasure: two recordings of the pirate radio station, Radio GaGa.
Both of these broadcasts were recorded on 6.925 MHz in the upper side band on February 23rd, 2013; the first one at 12:40 UTC, the second one at 04:10 UTC.
Download the broadcasts from this page, or simply listen via the embedded player below: