Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

4KZ: More info about Australia’s new shortwave broadcaster

Many thanks to Al Kirton, the General Manager at NQ Radio, who has kindly shared a few more details about NQ Radio and, specifically, 4KZ:

Hello Thomas

NQ Radio operates about 20 AM & FM transmitters in North Queensland, Australia. Our stations are 4KZ, 4AM, 4AY, KIK FM & KOOL FM.

In a couple of months or so we will be establishing a 4KZ shortwave service on 5055 kHz with 1 kilowatt.

The antenna is designed to give primary coverage from 200 km to 800 km from Innisfail. We suspect it will be heard with a low quality signal much further away.

Sincerely

Al Kirton
General Manager

Many thanks, Al! We’ll be listening!

RadioWorld: Despite Fears, ABC Shuts Down Shortwave Broadcasts

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(Source: RadioWorld)

The ABC has turned off its shortwave radio transmitters, leaving Australians in remote areas without easy access to lifeline radio

OTTAWA — On Jan. 31, state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corp. shut down its shortwave radio transmitters; ending both international broadcasts of Radio Australia and the ABC’s domestic service in Australia’s Northern Territory. The transmitters were located at ABC broadcasting facilities at Katherine, Tennant Creek, and Roe Creek (Alice Springs).

According to the ABC news release that announced the shutdown on Dec. 6 — less than two months before it took place — “The move is in line with the national broadcaster’s commitment to dispense with outdated technology and to expand its digital content offerings including DAB+ digital radio, online and mobile services, together with FM services for international audiences.”

[…]The majority of ABC audiences in the Northern Territory currently access ABC services via AM and FM and all ABC radio and digital radio services are available on the Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) satellite service.”[…]

Click here to continue reading the full article at RadioWorld.

How to find the Pyongyang numbers station (V15) including an off-air recording

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey (our resident North Korea specialist) who shares the following comment regarding our recent post about the re-activation of the North Korean Numbers station:

The Pyongyang numbers (designated V15) have either become less regular or changed their schedule since March. Its been a few months since I have personally received them – but I also haven’t been specifically tuning in for them lately so maybe I have simply missed noticing a timing change.

If you want to find the North Korean numbers, they are read out in a block between songs within the regular programing of the Pyongyang Pangsong radio station.

The choice of music immediately before the number block seems to indicate which recipient agent the transmission is directed to.

For Agent 27 “We Will Go Together with a Song Of Joy” is played, whereas Agent 21’s song is “Spring of my Hometown.”

The announcements typically take between 5 to 10 minutes to read dependent on the number of digits passed. The transmission schedule is variable; in early 2017 the broadcast alternated with a cycle of one week on Thursday night at 12:45AM Pyongyang Time (1615 UTC) and the following week on Saturday night at 11:45PM Pyongyang Time (1515 UTC).??

Pyongyang Pangsong can be heard on these shortwave band frequencies (it is also on MF & FM on the Korean peninsular):

3250 kHz, Pyongyang 100KW Transmitter

3320 kHz, Pyongyang 50KW Transmitter

6400 kHz, Kanggye 50KW Transmitter

Mark followed up this morning with a off-air recording of V15 on 3250kHz. Mark comments, “I will leave the decrypted message content to your imagination!”

Click here to download.

Mark: thank you for taking the time to write up this V15 tutorial and sharing this recording!

North Korea activates numbers station?

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Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post contributors who’ve shared this particular item from The National Interest:

North Korea Broadcasts Really Strange Messages As New Nuclear Weapons Test Looms

Pyongyang is reportedly broadcasting encrypted messages reminiscent of those used to contact spies during the Cold War.

[…]As North Korea prepares to mark a key anniversary — the birthday of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung — a U.S. Navy carrier strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson is on its way to Korea.

[…]Radio Pyongyang began broadcasting peculiar messages at 1:15 a.m. (local time). The messages included numbers and pages, such as No. 69 on page 823, No. 92 on page 467, and No. 100 on page 957.“I’m giving review works in elementary information technology lessons of the remote education university for No. 27 expedition agents,” the broadcaster explained before repeating her message.

The messages are broadcast over shortwave radio.

Yonhap News Agency reports the numbers are different from past announcements. Since June of last year, Pyongyang has broadcast its messages 32 times.

Continue reading the full article on The National Interest website…

Update: Since I haven’t gotten any direct listener reports regarding this numbers station’s reactivation, I’ve added a question mark in the title. Please comment if you’ve logged this station (and we’d all love a recording!).

One vintage radio in two classic films

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Hawkins, who writes:

This evening I watched the excellent Undercover: How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines on Netflix streaming. This is a 1943 training film for Office of Strategic Services personnel learning how be secret agents. The film was directed by the legendary John Ford who also took an acting role in the film. In this scene, Al is receiving his forged papers from an OSS agent before leaving for Germany. A radio may seen on a shelf in the background.

Undercover: How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines is also available on YouTube:

Click here to view on YouTube.

The next film is much better known. The same model radio makes a foreground appearance in Some Like it Hot. Osgood Fielding III has one of these on his yacht.

Maybe Osgood is laughing because the film takes place in 1929 and the company that made the radio was founded several years later.

I won’t spoil the secret of this radio’s maker and model. It will probably not take long for SWLing Post readers to come up with an answer.

Post readers: are you up for the challenge? 🙂 What model of radio do we see here? I’ll keep quiet, because it’s one of my favorite manufacturers.

And, Dan, many thanks. I really do owe you one because I was not familiar with Undercover: How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines. I can’t believe there was a WWII era Ford film I had missed. I, too, have Netflix but the YouTube copy you suggested is actually a better restored version in terms of audio. Thanks again!

RNW: Video of Flevoland Shortwave station

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Screenshot from Peter Veenendaal’s video of the RNW Flevo shortwave station

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Peter Veenendaal, who shares the following video and notes:

I am a former employee of Radio Netherlands Worldwide, which stopped broadcasting exactly 5 years ago next May.

Three years ago I made this short video of the Flevoland Shortwave station RNW used until 2007. It’s still there, idle and hoping for better times.

Click here to watch on Vimeo–All rights Peter Veenendaal.

Many thanks, Peter–most impressive! The magnitude of those curtain antennas is simply amazing. Thank you for sharing.

April 15: RNW returns for broadcast from original news van

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Schagen Auto Museum

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gerard Koopal, who shares the following:

Below an article about the return of RNW Netherlands out of a 1958 truck on april 15.
Although i suppose you can’t read German, the times and freq’s should be clear.

… zwar nur für einen Tag aber immerhin:

Am 15. April, also diesen Samstag, gibt es eine Sondersendung aus dem
Automuseum Schagen im Norden der Niederlande. Die ehemaligen Mitarbeiter
Dick Klees, Hans Hogendoorn, Pieter Damave und Ruud Poeze werden aus einem
originalen Ü-Wagen des RNW aus dem Jahr 1958 eine 7-stündige Live-Sendung fahren.

Die Sendung wird über Stream, Mittelwelle van Radio Paradijs auf 1584, 1332 und 1224 kHz und im DAB Kanal 8A in Randstad ausgestrahlt.

Ach ja: Kurzwelle gibt’s auch, von diesen bösen Menschen beim
Schortwääävsörvizzz:

… auf 3985 kHz zw. 11-18 CEST
… auf 6005 kHz zw. 11-15 CEST
… auf 7310 kHz zw. 11-12 und 16-17 CEST
… auf 15560 kHz zw. 14-17 CEST

Kontakt zur Crew während der Sendung per e-Mail [email protected]

Details in dutch:
http://www.spreekbuis.nl/radio-nederland-wereldomroep-komt-terug#sthash.XprqTws2.dpuf