Category Archives: Recordings

Pirate Radio Recordings: Wolverine Radio

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"It's time for some Wolverine Radio!"

“It’s time for some Wolverine Radio!”

Wolverine Radio was the strongest of the pirate radio stations I heard last night.

Wolverine was broadcasting on 6.935 MHz in the upper side band. Very good signal and excellent fidelity for SSB. Typical of Wolverine, lots of music variety and no commentary other than station ID throughout.

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Wolverine Radio–at least each time I’ve heard them–sends an SSTV image at the end of the broadcast. Last night was no exception, though I had a difficult time decoding, and no time to tinker.

UPDATE: Thanks, Ragnar of Pirates Week, for both of the Wolverine images.

Ragnar decoded both SSTV graphics using using MMSTV in Scottie1 mode.

Click here to download an MP3 of Wolverine Radio’s broadcast, or stream via the embedded player below:

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Listen to Cuban Spy Numbers Station HM01

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WFL_015Numbers stations have always been a dark oddity that pop up from time-to-time in the course of shortwave radio listening. There is unquestionably an air of mystery and intrigue which surrounds them. With the release of the movie The Numbers Station, many non-SWLers may be enticed to explore the HF bands.  A good thing, as it may draw fresh interest to this classic radio hobby.

I have heard numbers stations since I first started listening to shortwave radio broadcasts some thirty years ago, and I find that I often pause to listen (and to wonder) when I come across one on the bands.  The numbers station I hear most often, though the country of origin cannot be confirmed, is in Cuba–well, at least, we’re pretty certain of that. The same female voice, reading numbers in Spanish, has been Cuba’s calling card in the spy numbers world for some time.

Two weeks ago, on a Sunday morning between 10:00-11:00 UTC, I captured the Cuban spy numbers station widely recognized as HM01 (Hybrid Mode Number 01) on 5,855 kHz. HM01 broadcasts a mixture of AM voice and digital file transfer modes intermixed within the same transmission. The voice heard is the familiar Spanish female voice described above; the digital portion of the broadcast uses a mode called RDFT, a differential phase shift keying mode that has never become popular or standard in the ham radio world. If you’re feeling adventurous, the Windows software DIGTRX (download here) can decode RDFT.  Let us know what, if anything, you discover…

You can click here to download the entire HM01 broadcast as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio GaGa

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"All we hear is Radio GaGa!"

“All we hear is…Radio GaGa!”

For your listening pleasure: 28 minutes of pirate radio fun, courtesy of Radio GaGa.

Recorded on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013–starting around 00:10 UTC–on 6.925 MHz (USB).

Click here to download the MP3 of the recording, or simply listen below:
Standard Pirate Radio Disclaimer: This is a recording of a real pirate radio broadcast, and as such, may include strong or colorful language or lyrics. In general, if you are easily offended by the words, ideas, music lyrics, or music herein, you should slowly…back… away…

Radio Australia’s Jazz Notes

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Jazz Notes presenter, Ivan Lloyd (Photo: Radio Australia)

Jazz Notes presenter, Ivan Lloyd (Photo: Radio Australia)

One Radio Australia music program I make a point of listening to each week– besides Saturday Night Country–is a wonderful show called Jazz Notes.

Jazz Notes showcases the best in Australian jazz, often featuring new and original recordings made in ABC’s studios. The show is hosted by Ivan Lloyd and has been offered on Radio Australia for several years.  I listen to the show every Wednesday morning at 8:30 am EST.  If you’ve never heard of Jazz Notes, I can understand why, since it’s only a 30 minute show and begins at the half hour–but it’s certainly worth hearing.

Next week, make a point to tune your shortwave radio to 5940, 9580 or 11945 kHz on Wednesday at 13:30 UTC.  As you will hear in the following recording, listeners in North America will be most impressed by the strong signal out of Shepparton, Australia, on 9,580 kHz. Even an inexpensive portable receiver can pick up this robust broadcast.

Click here to download the full recording of Jazz Notes as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Pirate Radio Recordings: Rave On Radio

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1-RadioListening2

“Yep, I can hear him through the static!”

While Rave On Radio‘s upper side band signal was fairly weak, at least in my part of the world, on Friday night, I managed to record it just the same.  The broadcast started around 23:15 UTC (February 1st) on 6,925 kHz.

I believe I recorded the entire broadcast; if not, I at least captured the majority of it. This is not “armchair” copy, of course, but it doesn’t take seasoned ears to hear the IDs and music through the static, either. (Indeed, I rather appreciate this skill-dependent aspect of the listening hobby).

Click here to download an MP3 of the entire show, or simply listen in the embedded Archive.org player below:

Note: This is a recording of a real pirate radio broadcast. Though I don’t think this broadcast applies, if you are easily offended by strong lyrics and offensive music, you should slowly back away.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: The Giant Jukebox and Kim Elliott’s digital text on The Mighty KBC

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wurlitzerJukeboxThe Mighty KBC’s broadcast from Bulgaria was mighty strong last night into North America. I recorded the full 2 hour show of The Giant Jukebox on 9,450 kHz beginning at 00:00 UTC.

As I’ve come to expect from The Mighty KBC, this show has an marvelous mix of rock-n-roll through the decades along with Eric’s professional DJing. The Mighty KBC has real people behind the music mix, a refreshing alternative to the iHeart Radio and Pandoras of the world.

Click here to download an MP3 of the entire show, or simply listen via the embedded Archive.org player below:

Of course, this recording includes Kim Elliott’s digital text modes. For those of you who would like to decode it, here are the details:

At about 01:30 into the recording, 4xPSK63R is centered on 1000 Hz and MFSK64 centered on 2000 Hz. (For 4XPSK63R, use Fldigi 3.21.65 or newer: OpMode > PSKR > MultiCarrier > 4XPSK63R.)

At just before the end of the transmission, an image will be transmitted in the MFSK16 mode. Also, MT63-2000 (long interleave) will be centered on 1500 Hz. This will be an Flmsg formatted transmission, with html. Fldigi and Flmsg can be downloaded from www.w1hkj.com.

Please comment if you were able to decode.