Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

Listening across the globe: 2015 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast!

We gathered in the Comms Office to listen to the audition, during which our loved ones sent us their messages. Even though we all can talk to our families and friends on the phone with relative ease today, it was still a very touching moment. (Credit: Michal Krzysztofowicz, Halley VI Research Station)

On Sunday, 21 June 2015, the BBC World Service officially transmitted the 2015 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast–an international radio broadcast intended for a small group of scientists, technicians, and support staff who work for the British Antarctic Survey.

This is one of my favorite annual broadcasts, and I endeavor to listen every year. This year, the SWLing Post called upon readers to make a short recording of the broadcast from their locale. We received a total of thirty (!) recordings, from every continent (save Antarctica, that is; I’m sure the BAS team were too busy celebrating)…Wow! Thank you, participants!

Below are the entries, roughly organized by continent and country/region, including reader’s photos if provided. (If I’ve somehow missed including your entry, please contact me; I’ll amend this post.)

So, without further ado….

The Recordings

Africa

Morocco

SWL (Shortwave Listener): @K7al_L3afta
Location: Chaouia-Ouardigha, Morocco
Notes: The BBC World Service Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast. Woofferton transmitter.
Receiver: Tecsun PL-660 + 15m wire antenna.

Asia

India

SWL: Babul Gupta
Location: Barasat, West Bengal, India
Notes: Babul listened to the broadcast with his ICOM IC-R75 receiver, connected to a 176 meter long beverage antenna oriented in a West South direction.

Malaysia

SWL: Timm Breyel
Location: Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Notes: Here is a sound file of the broadcast monitored in central Malaysia, using the frequency 5.985 kHz via Ascension Island at 21.30 UTC. By 21.35 UTC, QRM from presumably Myanmar Radio overwhelmed this frequency. Worst of all, reception on 9.590 kHz via Wooffeton was in audible due to strong QRM from PBS Xizang. Transmission on 5.905 via Dhabbaya was the only audible signal after 21.35 UTC, and it was a paltry (SINPO) 15341, best heard in USB.

Australia

SWL: Rob Wagner (VK3BVW)
Location: Mount Evelyn, Victoria, Australia
Notes: All three freqs noted here at Mount Evelyn, southeastern Australia: 5905.1 – Off freq and with a slight hum but a good signal, 5985 – Best of the three freqs, strong and clear, 9590 – Good signal but with moderate QRM from PBS Xizang co-channel. Pity! I suspect that freq would not have been as good down south either. Overall, a reasonable success this year.

Australia

SWL: Michael Stevenson
Location: Port Macquarie, NSW on the east coast of Australia
Notes: “5905 kHz Dhabbaya was only just fair and rather noisy while 5985 Woofferton was fair and still noisy with 9590 kHz Woofferton was the strongest signal but was marred by CRI China here in Port Macquarie, NSW on the east coast of Australia!”

New Zealand

SWL: Chris Mackerell
Location: Motueka, New Zealand
Notes: Receiving setup: Elad FDM-S2 SDR, Wellbrook ALA-1530S+ loop. QTH Marahau, Tasman District, New Zealand 41.00S 173.01E

Europe

Cyprus

SWL: Arjen Huisman
Location: Kissonerga, Cyprus
Notes: Attached my recording of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter broadcast on 5985 kHz. last Sunday June 21st. Something about my listening conditions: I have been listening with a JRC NRD-535DG to which a 13,5 longwire has been connected, hanging outside on the (large) uncovered balcony of my apartment, 3rd (top) floor.

I live about 500m from the coastline of the western part of Cyprus, about 8 km. north of the city of Paphos in a village called Kissonerga. Generally reception conditions are very good here, so close to the sea with no high buildings around.

Denmark

SWL: Willy Andersen (OZ4ZT)
Location: Soeborg near Copenhagen, Denmark
Notes: Willy used an Icom IC-756 Pro with an inverted V antenna. He noted that 9590 kHz and 5985 kHz were equal in signal strength and quality.

Germany

SWL: Gunther Rose
Location: Wetter, Germany

Notes: Here is my recording of the last 1,5 minutes of the Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast 2015 on 5985 kHz. My receiving-setup: Tecsun PL-880 with telescope antenna (indoor near a window on the 4th floor), line out to Macbook (audacity-software) Unfortunately I got lots of RFI from my neighbour’s powerline adapter so the signal from Wooferton was strong but not noise-free.

Italy

SWL: Alessio Proietti
Location: Rome, Italy
Notes: Receiver: Tecsun PL-660 Antenna: Homemade dipole 20 meters long, 6 meters height Frequency: 5985 kHz AM

Italy

SWL: Gabriele Somma (IZ8094SWL)
Location: Salerno Roccapiemonte, Italy
Notes: recorded the broadcast on his Icom IC-PRC1500 with an antenna at 10 meters high.

Italy

SWL: Giuseppe Morlè (Joseph)
Location: Ponza island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy
Notes: I heard the BBC broadcast with my AOR AR 3030 receiver and Mini Whip antenna, and Tecsun PL-660.

Netherlands

SWL: Jonathan Marks
Location: University Twente, Netherlands
Notes: Here’s a clip from the University Twente SDR reception from Woofterton 5985 from 2145 onwards.

Poland

SWL: Dominik
Location: southwest Poland
Notes: 5845 kHz

Portugal

SWL: Sérgio Pimenta
Location: Porto, Portugal
Notes: [H]ere is my reception in Portugal (Porto, northern of Portugal), using a Tecsun PL-310ET with just the telescopic antenna on my kitchen window, very strong signal.

Romania

SWL: Tudor Vedeanu
Location: Gura Humorului, Romania
Notes: Receiver setup: Eton E1XM, 60m wire antenna.

Russia

SWL: Dennis
Location: Moscow, Russia
Notes: BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast 2015 – for SWLing.com. Moscow. Grundig Satellit 1400 built-in mini whip.

Spain

SWL: Michael Haun
Location: Menorca, Spain
Notes: Please find 2 recordings from your special Midwinter broadcast: 5905 kHz (S9+10, rapid fading, quite noisy) and 5985 kHz ( S9+40, fantastic signal).

Receiver used was a PERSEUS SDR and a 5×10 meters active loop antenna. Keep up the good work and 73 also to all in the Antarctica!

Turkey

SWL: Oktay Egi
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Notes: I am located in Istanbul, Turkey. I used Sony ICF-SW77 for listening with internal antenna on 5905 KHz. The sound was not clear but understandable. Time was 21:35 UTC.

United Kingdom

SWL: Mark Harper (MW1MDH)
Location: Saltney, England
Notes: “I’m running an IC-R75, on an internal, RF systems Windom, the ATU isn’t connected in the attached video. I’m located in Saltney, which is about 2 miles west of Chester, but just over the Welsh border by about 200 yards, I’m also just north of Wooferton! Hope the audio is ok, I’m running my 75 on an external speaker, just off to the side.”

United Kingdom

SWL: “Driverfilms”
Location: Newcastle Under Lyne in Staffordshire, England

United Kingdom

SWL: Andrew Svonja
Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire in the Midlands in the UK
Notes: On Sunday 21/06/15 at 21:30 UTC I recorded a segment of the BBC Winter Solstice broadcast to the Antarctic–SINPO reading was a complete 5 across the board

United Kingdom

SWL: Stephen Cooper
Location: Southport, England,
Notes: 9,590Khz on the Elad FDM-S2 with a 15m random wire.

North America

Canada

SWL: Fred
Location: London, Ontario
Notes: The recording was made using a camera in AVI format, which has been converted to MP3. The time stamp on the video is 17:46 EST. The recording is from a Grundig Yacht Boy 400. The best reception was by laying the Grundig flat with the radio antenna facing North East. No longwire or external aerial was used. I was also able to receive the signal on my Tecsun PL-380, but the signal was very muffled with excessive static.

Canada

SWL: Richard Langley
Location: Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada

Richard's Tecsun PL-880 and digital recorder in a protective plastic case outdoors.

Richard’s Tecsun PL-880 and Tecsun digital recorder in a protective plastic case outdoors.

Notes: Richard listened to the broadcast on 9,590 kHz. He notes that it was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna in AM mode with 3.5 kHz RF filtering.

United States

SWL: Dan Robinson
Location: Potomac, Maryland, USA
Notes: using a JRC NRD-515 receiver, with Wellbrook 1530 loop antenna.

Dan also included the following audio recording:

United States

SWL: Frank Colella
Location: Westchester County, New York
Notes: Sangean ATS-909 receiver

United States

A screen capture of the TitanSDR Pro as I recorded all three frequencies of the BBC Midwinter broadcast simultaneously.

SWL: Thomas Witherspoon
Location: North Carolina, USA
Notes: I recorded the broadcast on a total of three SDRs simultaneously: the TitanSDR Pro, Elad-FDM-S2 and the WinRadio Excalibur.

Screen capture of the WinRadio Excalibur

Screen capture of the Elad FDM-S2

I was very pleased to hear the broadcast on 9590 kHz. Since North Carolina was not in the path of this broadcast, it was a weak signal. All three receivers were using the same large outdoor horizontal delta loop at 60′ above the ground.

Screen capture of the WinRadio Excalibur

The following embedded audio player, should contain all three recordings. Note that the FDM-S2 recording (which is perhaps the best of the three) starts in the middle of the broadcast.

South America

Brazil

SWL: Flavio PY2ZX
Location: Brazil
Notes: Also noted the three frequencies in Brazil but 9590 kHz sounds better despite the presence of PBS Xizang. Great to hear such friendship spirit through the shortwaves! Congratulations BBC and BAS team. My recording:

Colombia

SWL: Rafael Rodriguez R.
Location: Bogota, Cundinamarca, Colombia
Notes: Greetings from Colombia. I could only hear the signal at 9590 KHz. The location is [at] a park close to my house (aprox. Lat 4 72 62 N Long 74 02 85 W; alt 2577 m over level sea).

I use a Degen DE1103 with Sony AN61 Antenna, to record a Sony ICD-P320 digital recorder.

Thank you!

Once again, many thanks to all of you who submitted your recordings of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast! We’ll be sharing this post with both the British Antarctic Survey and the BBC World Service. And to all of you, from the SWLing Post: Happy Midwinter! Happy Summer/Winter Solstice!

Please note that any map graphics used in this post were originally designed by NuclearVacuum and Ssolbergj–they have been modified for this post under a Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 3.0.

Dan demonstrates the Eddystone 6200 VLF/HF receiver

Thanks for recording the 2015 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast!

Reminder: Help record the 2015 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today!

14 Replies

As a reminder: I’m calling on all SWLing Post readers and shortwave radio listeners to make a short recording (say, 30-60 seconds) of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast and share it here at the Post (frequencies and time below).

The recording can be audio-only, or even a video taken from any recording device or smart phone. It would be helpful to have a description and/or photo of your listening environment and location, if possible.

If you submit your recording to me, I will post it here on the SWLing Post–and insure that the BBC World Service receives the post, too. The recordings will be arranged by geographic location.

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey's new base (Source: BBC)

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: British Antarctic Survey)

The broadcast will take place today at 21:30 UTC on the following frequencies:

5,905 kHz, Dhabayya, 203 degrees
5,985 kHz, Woofferton, 184 degrees
9,590 kHz, Woofferton, 182 degrees

I will (hopefully) be in the SWLing Post chat room during the broadcast. Please sign in and share your report!

SWLing Post DXpedition at PARI is all systems go!

6 Replies

Some of you may recall a post I published last year regarding a shortwave and medium wave DXpedition at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI), a 200-acre radio astronomy observatory and former NASA tracking station located deep in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Since this is the first event of its kind, we’ve been working closely with PARI staff to put the DXpedition together. And come together, it has.

I’m pleased to announce that we’ve now received the official go-ahead: we’re clear to launch the (first-ever!) 2015 SWLing Post DXpedition, which will take place Friday, October 9, through Sunday, October 11. Come join us!

PARI will soon post the official registration form on their website; of course, I’ll post an update when this form is ready.

Meanwhile, those of you who may be interested in attending, keep reading…and do join our dedicated email discussion group (more info below).

A few DXpedition details…

As I mentioned last year, PARI has agreed to handle all of the event’s arrangements, and will even provide a limited number of basic shared dormitory rooms to the first registrants who request them. An event fee will pay for facilities and PARI staff (see below); modest profits, should there be any, will benefit PARI’s worthy science education mission.

We are fortunate to be sharing the beautiful PARI campus with with a larger party of amateur astronomers, aka, a “star party,” taking place the same weekend; the DXpedition will benefit from this in terms of expanded facilities access. An additional benefit is that we can share our passion for radio with members of the star party, while learning a little about astronomy from their members. And for those of us who enjoy both, all the better.

Costs

The costs associated with the event are as follows:

Registration fee: $100

Lodging: On campus, the fee is $50 per night, per person, in a shared dormitory room; or $20 per night, per tent or travel trailer (no hook ups, though electricity is available). Want to come along, but not interested in roughing it? You’ll find numerous comfortable hotels and inns within a 30-40 minute drive of PARI’s mountain campus.

Meals: Catered meals will be provided for a modest charge to be determined (PARI is working with local food services to arrange our meals currently). Of course, you can always bring your own food and prepare it on-site, as well. The campus has a lunchroom with a microwave.

The PARI campus and accommodation

PARI was formerly a NASA tracking station, and following that, a Department of Defense monitoring facility. Because of the remote nature of the campus, basic on-site dormitories were built; scientists use these throughout the year as they conduct their research, and the shared rooms are available upon request.

Typical PARI dorm room (click to enlarge)

The dormitories are conveniently located in the heart of the 200-acre campus, and sleep about four to each room. These are simple facilities, and no private rooms are offered. Bathrooms (with showers) are shared, and separate buildings house men and women; thus the dormitories may not be the best option if you plan to bring a spouse, a large family, or young children.

Of course, if you enjoy camping and/or star-gazing, you can pitch a tent (just $20/night), or park your travel trailer on campus (also just $20/night). Note that this is not a travel park, thus hook-ups for travel trailers are not supplied, although power is available.

For those who prefer not to camp or stay in a shared room, the nearby mountain town of Brevard, NC (approximately 35 minutes from PARI by car) is a charming small town offering numerous hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and other comfortable private accommodations. PARI often recommends the Hampton Inn in Brevard, NC. Hotels.com and AirBnB offer alternatives.

Receivers, antennas, and other radio equipment

DXpedition participants should bring their own receivers, antennas, and accessories. If you wish to bring an SDR or tabletop receiver, there are quite a few places on campus where you’ll have access to power. At least one main listening post will be set up under cover, as well, for our participants.

Feel free to bring any type of receiver you like. A few potential participants have noted that they plan to bring a portable receiver only, and that’s absolutely fine–this is your DXpedition, your chance to sit back and listen to your radio without distraction, so any radio you choose to bring is the right one.

Of course, a few SDRs, tabletops, and portable receivers will be available for participants to try out, so if you can’t bring your own receiver, please let me know in advance; I’ll try to reserve a time slot for you to use one of the available rigs.

SWLing Post DXpedition email group

We have created an email discussion group for the DXpedition. If you are seriously considering joining the DXpedition, click here to become a member of the group as this is the place where we’ll organize and make further plans.

Since this is the first time the SWLing Post and PARI have sponsored a DXpedition, we’re certainly trail-blazing here. My sincere hope is that this event will lead to future DXpeditions…not to mention, real friendships among our readers and fellow SWLers.

Looking forward to the DXpedition–we’ll see you at PARI in October!

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece

8 Replies

Early this morning, around 01:14 UTC, I tuned to 9,420 kHz with the Elad FDM-S2 and heard the Voice of Greece for the first time since the Greek national broadcaster, ERT had been restored.

SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, also noted the strong signal from Greece. He has kindly shared the following information which he also posted in the DXLD Yahoo group:

“Greece is back on 9420 kHz this evening after being absent for some days and is now carrying the Voice of Greece […] program and not ERT from Athens or Thessaloniki. Noted with good signals in eastern Canada at 01:40 UTC. Radio audio is about half a minute delayed with respect to Internet stream: […](http://www.ert.gr/i-foni-tis-elladas/?). Not noted on other frequencies.

[…]9420 kHz signed off just after [02:00] UTC. Internet stream continued. And I should correct myself when I mentioned “not ERT from Athens or Thessaloniki.” Should have said not ERA from Athens or Thessaloniki. ERA is the abbreviation for Hellenic Radio […], as opposed to ERT which stands for Hellenic Radio-Television […]. ERT1, ERT2, etc. are TV stations while ERA1, ERA2, etc. are radio stations. This is a bit like BB1, BBC2, …, and BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, and so on.”

Richard followed up a few hours later:

“I continued listening to the Internet stream after the SW transmission ended, and at 02:57 UTC, the station identified itself in both Greek (“Edo Athina, I Foni Tis Elladas”) and English (“This is Athens. You are listening to the Voice of Greece”) several times, followed by the traditional interval signal and then what I believe to be the Greek national anthem at 03:00 UTC. A program of Greek music then ensued.”

Many thanks for sharing the details, Richard. My recording actually ended when VOG signed off–I suppose I caught about the last 46 minutes of the broadcast.

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

Correction: Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast transmission tests take place on Friday

2 Replies

In the title of my last post, I noticed that I’ve incorrectly stated that the Friday, June 19 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast tests were to take place “today.” While the post content was correct, the date in this title was not. My apologies for the mix-up–I’ve since corrected and noted this in the original post.

To be clear, the transmission tests for Sunday’s Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast will take place on Friday, June 19 2015 from 21:30-21:45 UTC on the following frequencies:

7,425 kHz, Ascension, 207 degrees
5,985 kHz, Woofferton, 184 degrees
9,590 kHz, Woofferton, 182 degrees
5,905 kHz, Dhabayya, 203 degrees

Apologies for any confusion.