Category Archives: What’s On Shortwave

RTÉ Radio to broadcast GAA finals via shortwave radio

(Photo: RTE Radio)

RTÉ Radio has announced that it will broadcast the GAA All Ireland Hurling Final on Sunday 8 September and the All Ireland Football Final on Sunday 22 September via multiple sources including shortwave radio (frequencies and times below).

RTÉ Radio explains:

“In Africa, where many Irish people live and work, often in relative isolation with poor communications, RTÉ is providing special transmissions on shortwave radio.

[…]These services are part of RTÉ’s continued commitment to Irish people overseas and, over the years, has proven especially popular with those in geographically or technically isolated areas.”

Of course, RTÉ will broadcast both finals via the Internet, local radio and television.

On shortwave, RTÉ will broadcast on multiple frequencies–attempting to target most regions of Africa–so there’s a very good chance you could hear one.

Shortwave frequencies for Africa–September 8 and 22, 2013

Both Finals throw in at 3:30 pm Irish Time (14:30 UTC)

Southern Africa – 7405 kHz (2pm to 6pm)
East Africa – 17725 kHz (2pm to 5pm)
East Africa -11620 kHz (5pm to 6pm)
West Africa – 7505 kHz (2pm to 6pm)

VOA Radiogram 31 August/1 September 2013 includes Vietnamese and Russian

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(Source: VOA Radiogram)

This weekend’s VOA Radiogram will include sample text in Vietnamese and Russian. Vietnamese has all sorts of diacritics, and Russian uses a Cyrillic alphabet, so this will be a real workout for your decoding software. Your character set should be UTF-8. In Fldigi, this adjustment is via Configure > Colors & Fonts.

The program will also attempt to improve the performance of RSID (Reed-Solomon Identification), the brief signal at the beginning of a digital mode transmission that automatically switches decoding software to the correct mode and audio frequency. I produced the program using Fldigi 3.21.74AB. You will need Fldigi 3.21.73 or newer for the MFSK64 and MFSK128 RSIDs to work correctly. If you have a previous version of Fldigi, or another decoding software, I have provided time for the mode to be changed manually.

Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, 31 August/September 1 2013:

2:55 MFSK16: Program preview

3:10 MFSK32: Vietnamese and Russian text samples

2:58 MFSK32: Discussion of RSIDs

1:50 MFSK64/Flmsg: VOA News re dung beetles*

:56 MFSK32: Image of dung beetle

3:07 MFSK128/Flmsg/Base64: VOA blue logo*

2:16 MFSK64: VOA News re China hack attack

2:38 MFSK32: VOA Khmer radio photo contest

2:31 MFSK32: Image of submitted radio photo

1:10 MFSK16: Closing announcements

:15 Surprise mode of the week

*To make Flmsg work with Fldigi, in Fldigi: Configure > Misc > NBEMS, under Reception of flmsg files, check both boxes, and under that indicate where your Flmsg.exe file is located.

VOA Radiogram transmission schedule

(all days and times UTC)

Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz

Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz

Sun 1300-1330 6095 kHz

Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz

All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.

Please send reception reports to radiogram (at) voanews.com

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece

The Mighty KBC’s Giant Jukebox is moving to a new winter frequency

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I’ve just heard that The Mighty KBC is moving their Giant Jukebox program from 9,925 kHz to 7,375 kHz for the winter listening season. The KBC broadcast will still be scheduled on Sundays from 00:00 – 02:00 UTC.

The Giant Jukebox is an easy catch in North America and well worth tuning in as Eric always spins excellent tunes. For a sample, check out this recording from May 2013.

All India Radio: A Welcome Voice

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Many afternoons, I’m drawn to All India Radio on 9,445 kHz. I love what the ether does to their Bengaluru transmitting station’s signal as it travels at the speed of light over 8,700 miles to my home here in the southeastern US.

I enjoy, too, the way All India Radio announcers speak the news, in slow cadence, honoring the fine tradition of radio: “This is the general overseas service of All India Radio. It’s time now for the news. Please stand by…” I also delight in their English language news bulletins, which begin with “Namaskar.” I appreciate this–it makes it much easier for me to identify the station when listening on an analog radio like my BC-348-Q. I’m sure this makes a difference for many other listeners seeking their station, too.

I also love All India Radio–like I do the Voice of Greece–for their superb music. Where else on the shortwave dial will I hear the sitar sing, as on AIR?

But don’t take my word for it. If you live in North America and Europe, when conditions are favorable, All India Radio is a favorite listening experience for many–myself obviously included.

For your listening enjoyment, here is a 30 minute recording I made of All India Radio only an hour ago on 9,445 kHz, starting at 22:00 UTC. Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Voice of Greece update

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Good news from our reader and regular Greek correspondent, Christos:

I listen to the programmes of ERT, almost everyday.
They continue transmitting as usual, with full programming, even these days around 15th of August (Virgin Mary Day) which is the peak of the Greek holidays. Other years we had a 2-3 minutes news bulletin and a lot of uninterrupted music.

I have written some comments about it in my blog but only in Greek.

I also have another post with photos of the radio programming producers. I am sure you have listened to some of them from the VoG.

Christos then sent this listening report:

I have checked the frequencies of VoG at my summer house in Marathon. I found out that VoG is on air on 7450kHz and 9420kHz. I couldn’t hear anything on 15630kHz, the one that was active yesterday.

Be sure to check out Christos’ blog for more details (in Greek).

Additionally, Moshe commented on my last post with this logging:

VOG Was heard last night at the 19 Meter band (I was monitoring it with my tube radio, later on confirmed it on 15650KHz).

As for now, VOG is on the air on 19 Meter Band.

Thank you, Christos and Moshe–you’ve set my mind at ease for the moment. In my current travels I can’t easily receive VoG with my portable, so I’m grateful for these reports.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece 8-14, but no signal last night

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I’m a little concerned: last night I couldn’t hear the Voice of Greece on 9,420 kHz. Not even a carrier.

Though I’ve noticed they’ve had intermittent transmitter problems in some broadcasts (you can even hear it in the first minutes below) they haven’t gone off the air this long in recent memory. Not even when they were ordered to stop broadcasting. I fear that when the new Greek national broadcasting service emerges, their international arm may be cut. Their budget is tight and I imagine their shortwave service will receive strong scrutiny.

I would appreciate any news and reports from listeners. If you hear VOG on the air, please comment with frequency and time. [Update: Check out this post from Christos.]

In the meantime and for your listening pleasure: one hour and forty three minutes of the Voice of Greece. Recorded Wednesday, August 14, 2013 on 9,420 kHz starting at 00:00 UTC.

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