Category Archives: What’s On Shortwave

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Cinco De Mayo

“What better way could we celebrate this day than listening to Radio Cinco De Mayo?”

Radio Cinco De Mayo made its annual broadcast on (you guessed it!) May 5th, 2013, starting around 00:17 UTC on 6925 kHz USB.

Early Saturday morning, the band’s condition sounded like that of summer, with atmospheric noises (a few static crashes, produced by local thunderstorms), but propagation was steady and the overall quality very respectable.

You can download an MP3 of the full recording by clicking here, or by listening via the embedded player below:

Check out Ragnar’s off-air recording of Radio Cinco De Mayo (and more!) on his PiratesWeek podcast.

UPDATE (May 08): Just received my Radio Cinco De Mayo QSL:

Shortwave Radio Recordings: The Mighty KBC

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The Art of Noise kicks off this Mighty KBC broadcast. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The Mighty KBC broadcast again early this morning (from 00:00-02:00 UTC) on their new summer frequency of 9,925 kHz. Their signal from Nauen, Germany was packing 125 kW–it was amazingly strong into North America. As we’ve come to expect, the KBC’s Giant Jukebox of music has a lot of rock-n-roll and Euro-pop variety, spanning the decades; DJ, “Uncle Eric” knows how to entertain and spin the tunes!

You can listen to the full recording below in the embedded player, or simply right click this link and save the MP3 file to your computer:

You’ll notice that Kim Elliott has another installation of digital text modes in this broadcast. Decode these digital modes using Fldigi from www.w1hkj.com. Be sure to check out Dr. Elliott’s VOA Radiogram website for full details about this broadcast.

Pirate Radio Recordings: Shrimp Boat Radio, WSBR (a.k.a. Freakin’ Awesome Radio, WFAR)

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“No shrimp? No problem!” Pirates on board! (Original source: Wikimedia Commons)

“We’re shrimpin,’ but they’re not bitin’!”

Last night, a very unique pirate radio station emerged from the static on 6,925 kHz USB: Shrimp Boat Radio. It seems a shrimp boat radio pirate found himself bored on board, due to a lack of shrimp–but his boredom became our gain with an offer to talk shrimpin,’ fishin,’ or just take music requests…live.

This is the stuff great pirate radio is made of. He started with a request for the Rolling Stones; next Black Cat Radio‘s Greaser Bob chimed in with a request for GNR. And there began an evening of pirate radio with live on-air requests.

You can tell that this was a completely impromptu production–and it was all the better for it. Not too long into the show, he took on the alternate name Freakin’ Awesome Radio (WFAR).

Hearing a live pirate radio request show was a first for me, and the sort of thing that gets this “content DXer” enthused. I’m glad I had the tape rolling! I hope he reappears on the band in the future.

Note that I start the recording at the very first announcement from WSBR. If you want to skip to the first music request, fast-forward to about 11 minutes into the recording (you’ll miss some great banter, though). There are a few long breaks of static in the recording where this pirate scrambled to find and play music requests, but this just adds to the authenticity.

Click here to download the full recording of Shrimp Boat Radio, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Enjoy!

All Africa: Digital Did Not Kill the Radio Star

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This is a brilliant article on the importance and relevance of radio by David Smith with All Africa. Below you’ll find some quotes, but it must be read in its entirety:

(Source: All Africa)

By David Smith

Radio threatens many of Africa’s big men.

Thugs working for Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe have recently been confiscating and destroying receivers. Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki stopped issuing import licenses. Other iron-fisted rulers such as Swaziland’s King Mswati III and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir rarely hand out frequencies, thus reducing the range of independent radio.

The actions taken by these big men merely confirm radio’s supremacy in Africa. It may be old technology, but it is still relevant and appropriate. While not everybody owns a radio, most people have access to one.

[…]A number of radio stations based outside of Zimbabwe’s borders rely on reports from in-country correspondents who use mobile phones and the internet, particularly social media, to send their reports to distant studios.

[S]hort-wave has the advantage of sending signals over vast distances, irrespective of borders and local broadcasting restrictions.

[…]Zimbabwe is not the only country where short-wave is used to bypass restrictive broadcast legislation. Pirate, or clandestine short-wave stations, often staffed by members of the target country’s diaspora, use high-frequency transmitters to send uncensored programming to dozens of countries, including Libya, Madagascar, Sudan, Western Sahara and all the states in the Horn of Africa.

[…]Radios no longer simply transmit. They also receive. The convergence between these two communications devices has created a new community and international platform for lone, isolated voices.

The list of radio stations that do not have an SMS or social network relationship with their listeners, despite their location, is getting increasingly shorter. Any station that fails to interact with its public risks going the way of the dodo.

[…]Video and digital did not kill the radio star. Radio is stronger than ever in Africa, thanks largely to its ability to absorb and adapt to changing technology.[…]

Thanks to author David Smith and All Africa.

Just one more article filed under: Why Shortwave Radio?

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Rádio Nacional da Amazônia

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Last night, Rádio Nacional da Amazônia had a booming signal into North America on 11,780 kHz. Rádio Nacional’s AM signal was very wide; I actually opened up the filter on my SDR to 16 kHz to record this broadcast. In truth, that’s probably too wide, but it certainly made for great audio fidelity.

So, if you’re in the mood for some Brazilian music and commentary today, this 168 minute recording of Rádio Nacional da Amazônia should satisfy.

This was recorded on Sunday, April 28–starting around 22:15 UTC–on 11.78 MHz. Click here to download the full recording as an MP3 file, or listen in the embedded player below:

Want more Rádio Nacional? Click here for other recordings.

VOA Radiogram for April 27/28 includes Thor50x2, PSK63F, and Flamp

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(Source: VOA Radiogram)

Apologies for not updating this website since the April 20/21 VOA Radiogram. I have been diverted by deadlines connected to my other full-time job, audience research analyst for the International Broadcasting Bureau.

Thanks to all who sent reception reports, screenshots, audio samples, and other materials from the past weekend’s program. MFSK held off a challenge from the Thor modes and remains the most successful of the modes we have tested.

However, because your producer omitted the Thor 50×2 mode — a mode that might prove to be robust — from that program, VOA Radiogram on April 27/28 will include a “make good” transmission of Thor 50×2. And a transmission of Thor 50×1 for comparison.

There will also be a transmission of the PSK63F mode. This rather slow mode performed well during VOA Radiogram 1, but we only gave it a minute. There will be a longer transmission of PSK63F this weekend to allow a better evaluation.

The last text transmission this weekend will be in the Flamp format. If you don’t already have it, please download Flamp from www.w1hkj.com. Flamp divides a text file into several blocks, each with a specific number of characters. If any block is received without the correct number of characters, that block is rejected. The missing block can be picked up during the repeat transmission. Flamp might be useful for those text transmissions that are received at about 90% copy, when occasional deep fades prevent 100% copy. In Flamp, under Configure, check both of the Auto sync boxes.

Here is the lineup for the April 27/28 VOA Radiogram:

MFSK16 (58 wpm) program preview
PSK63F (55 wpm), 2:50
MFSK32 text (120 wpm) and image, 4:28
Thor50x1 (180wpm), 1:48
Thor50x2 (180wpm), 1:46
MFSK64 (240 wpm), 2:16
MFSK128* in Flamp X2 format, 3:46
MFSK32 image

*Probably a good idea to set the MFSK128 mode manually rather than depend on the RSID

All modes will be centered on 1500 Hz.

Each mode will be introduced by a brief MFSK16 transmission, same as last weekend.

Please send reception reports to [email protected]

Twitter: @VOARadiogram

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.

Kim

Al Jazeera: Radio Free Sarawak offers alternative voice ahead of elections

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Clandestine station, Radio Free Sarawak, offers an alternative voice in Malaysia ahead of elections next week. For those living in remote jungle communities–places where the Internet is not readily available–Radio Free Sarawak can be heard on shortwave radio.

Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi reports from a village in Sarawak: