Category Archives: Shortwave Radio

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1991 resignation speech via Radio Moscow

One of the advantages of hosting a contributor-driven shortwave radio audio archive, is receiving off-air recordings of defining moments in our world history. This is certainly one of them.

SRAA contributor, Richard Langley, writes:

“I’ve started to convert some of my old cassette shortwave recordings to mp3 files. I’ve uncovered a box of about 25 tapes with recordings mostly from 1990 and 1991. This was an interesting era for shortwave. There was the reunification of Germany, the breakups of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and then the First Gulf War. I monitored some of these events using my venerable Sony ICF-7600D receiver with the supplied wire antenna draped around my home office. I bought this receiver during a trip to Hong Kong (and the P.R.C.) in 1985. It was my first decent shortwave radio and I still have it but it has since been joined by several other receivers.

[…]

[The following] is a recording of President Mikhail Gorbachev’s resignation speech as broadcast live by the World Service of Radio Moscow. As the announcer says, “a moment of history in the making.” It begins at about the three-minute mark of the recording (at 17:00 UTC). The speech is followed by a program of classical music (filler), the News in Brief at 17:30 UTC, followed by part of the program “Africa as We See It.”

Richard: many, many thanks for sharing this recording–I can’t wait to hear the other treasures you uncover in your collection.

For your listening pleasure: Radio Moscow World Service from December 25, 1991 on 17,670 kHz, beginning at 1657 UTC. Click here to download this recording as an mp3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Trevor Baylis: a CBE in the New Year Honours list

1 Reply

Trevor Baylis (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Inventor of the clockwork radio, Trevor Baylis, has been made a CBE in the New Year Honors list.

Mr. Baylis very much deserves this honor as his inventions have directly and indirectly fueled many self-powered innovations we enjoy today.

I’m honored to have spoken with Mr. Baylis over the years; he’s a brilliant, caring fellow with a sharp mind for solving problems and inventing solutions. Indeed, his advice has been invaluable for my charity, Ears To Our World. [Thank you, Trevor!]

I’m proud to own an original Freeplay/BayGen clockwork radio; somehow, winding up this radio and listening to it play from that released energy never gets old. Indeed, it’s still magic to me.

Read the full news item about Trevor Baylis at the BBC News Technology site:

Inventor Trevor Baylis has been made a CBE in the New Year Honours list.

Best known for creating the Baygen wind-up radio, Mr Baylis was honoured for services to intellectual property.

Throughout his colourful life, which involved a stint as a stuntman, Mr Baylis has spent much of his time inventing or involved with engineering.

Most recently he has campaigned to make the UK a more hospitable place for inventors, and is seeking to help them safeguard their creations.

Continue reading on the BBC website…

SSB for the non-technical

Yes, there is a shortwave…!

5 Replies

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no shortwave. Uncle DX Dash! says, “If you see it on the SWLing Post, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a shortwave?

Virginia E. Layer
330 Independence Ave., S.W.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a digital age. They do not believe what can’t be heard or seen on their smart phone. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by Google. They seek credit cards, not QSL cards.

Yes, Virginia, there is a shortwave. It exists as certainly as sound and circuits and tubes exist, and you know that these abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no shortwave! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no heterodynes, no band openings, no propagation to make tolerable this existence. It would be a world without London Calling.

Not believe in shortwave! You might as well not believe in the ionosphere. You might get your papa to hire men to listen to all of the wi-fi radios of the world, but even if you did not hear shortwave, what would that prove? The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see ground waves dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can casually conceive or imagine all the wonders there are heard and unheard in the listening world. For that, you must wear headphones.

No shortwave! Thank goodness! It lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, shortwave will continue to make glad the hearts of listeners.

Happy Holidays from your friends at Dashtoons and the SWLing Post!

With apologies to The New York Sun. Our tongue-in-cheek editorial borrows from the timeless classic, “Is There a Santa Claus?” printed in the September 21, 1897, issue of The New York Sun. Click here to read the original.

A report from Antarctica

6 Replies

McMurdo Station, Antarctica. (Source: USAP.gov)

Regarding our post about Christmas carols in Antarctica, Nathaniel Frissel (KC4/W2NAF) at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica writes:

Hi, everyone! Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful time singing over the radio from Antarctica this year on 7995 kHz. We heard carols not only from McMurdo Station, but many of the other bases and remote field camps as well. This includes South Pole Station (American), Mario Zuchelli Station (Italian), Siple Dome Station (Italian), Grounding Station (American), Diamond Hills Field Camp (We think!) (American), and Science Event I-196 (American).

I have already received SWL reports from a number of listeners, and am very happy to report that a number of operators reported that they heard Hark the Herald Angels

Sing come through the static for about 30 seconds. This transmission originated from South Pole Station. So far, these reports have come from the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia. A few US stations believe they heard the transmission as well. Many reported using the University of Twente Web SDR.

Here are some recordings you can listen to:
Hark the Herald Angels Sing transmitted from South Pole Station recorded on 7995 kHz USB with U of Twente Web SDR (Netherlands):
http://youtu.be/KY7Qhhd6C3w

Hark the Herald Angels Sing transmitted from South Pole Station recorded on 7995 kHz USB from MacOps (McMurdo):
http://youtu.be/0q4gFNWdBK0

We Wish You a Merry Christmas transmitted from McMurdo Station (Recorded live in McMurdo): http://youtu.be/TAaWGlwq4B0

Your e-mail reports made everyone very happy down here. We are all very excited to receive Christmas greetings from around the world!

Merry Christmas, and VY 73 from the Ice,
Nathaniel, KC4/W2NAF

——————————————–
McMurdo Station – Deck the Halls
Mario Zuchelli (Italian Base) – Italian Christmas Carol
McMurdo Station – Let It Snow
Siple Dome – Anges We Have Heard On High (in Italian)
McMurdo Station – Little Drummer Boy
South Pole Station – Jingle Bells
Grounding Station – Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Diamond Hills Field Camp – Silent Night (with Ukelele Accompaniment)
Mario Zuchelli Station – Adeste Fideles
South Pole Station – Joy to the World
Siple Dome – Silent Night (in Italian)
McMurdo Station – 12 McMurdo Days of Christmas
Science Event I-196 -Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
Siple Dome – Adeste Fideles
McMurdo Station – We Wish You a Merry Christmas
South Pole Station – Hark the Herald Angels Sing (Reported heard by SWL Stations)

Nathaniel, I’m so happy to hear your signal was heard around the world. I listened, but never heard your carols break through the static; in truth, conditions were less than favorable here. I did make a spectrum recording, and will go back through it again.

Here’s wishing you and all of your colleagues and family a very Merry Christmas!