Category Archives: What’s On Shortwave

B14 broadcast schedules published

SX-99-DialThe new B14 shortwave broadcast schedule started on Sunday, 26 October 2014. You might have noticed that many online resources are in the process of updating schedules.

If you need up-to-date schedules in the meantime:

Happy listening!

Halloween = Pirate Radio

Haloween-Pirate-RadioHalloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates…so, here are two things you’ll want to do this Halloween (tonight):

1.

Check out Andrew Yoder’s pirate radio blog with its deceptively simple title, the Hobby Broadcasting blog.

Halloween

Andrew is the author of the Pirate Radio Annual and a guru on shortwave pirate radio. His blog is still relatively new, but he has already posted several station loggings and QSLs. He’s even logged some Halloween stations, as Halloween began last night in Universal Time.

2.

Like Andrew, listen for pirate radio stations today and throughout the weekend!  Turn on your radio anytime today, but especially around twilight and tune between 6,920 – 6,980 kHz. Pirates broadcast on both AM and SSB; you’re bound to hear a few. If you’re brand new to pirate radio listening, you might read my pirate radio primer by clicking here. I will be listening until late in the evening–of course, I’ll also be listening to the Global 24 sign on.

Happy Halloween to all! 

Global 24 Program List

Global24Many thanks to the Global 24 Radio team for notifying me that they’ve posted their initial programming. I posted the full list below, but you should also check the Global 24 website as they’re making frequent additions.

As a reminder: Global 24 Radio begins broadcasting tomorrow, October 31, 2014, beginning at 2300 UTC on 9,395 KHz.

(Source: Global 24 Radio)

Programs

News:

Feature Story News  – Top of the Hour News
European News Network – Top of the Hour News, Breaking News, Weekly News Review
Global 24 Breaking News –  Top of the Hour News, Developing News, Live News Feeds
Focus Asia Pacific – Daily News from the Pacific

International Relays:

  • Radio France International
  • Channel Africa
  • Voice of Russia
  • World Radio Network

Music:

  • Jazz from the Left – 3 Hours of Weekly Jazz with Raoul van Hall
  • The Rock Pile – 2 Hours of Weekly Classical with Raoul van Hall
  • Jazz for the Asking – 1 Hour of Weekly Jazz with Keith Perron
  • Blues Radio International – 30 Minutes of Weekly Blues with Jesse Finkelstein
  • Song of India – 1 Hour of Weekly Music for the Indian Subcontinent
  • Global Music & Turkish Talent Box –  1 Hour Weekly of International “Trending”
  • Global Music
  • Classical Worldwide on Shortwave – 3 Hours of Weekly Classical Music with Jeffrey Bowman

Easy Listening:

  • The Rendez-Vous  – 3 Hours Weekly of Music, News & Information
  • The Happy Station Show –  1 Hour Weekly of Music & More with Keith Perron
  • Switzlerland in Sound  –  30 Minutes Weekly with Bob Zanotti
  • Old Time Radio Favorites – Comedy

Drama:

  • Global 24 Present’s Shakespeare on Shortwave

Perspective:

  • The Kelly Alexander Show – 1 Hour Weekly of Current Events & Issues for Women
  • Peace Talks Radio – 1 Hour Weekly of Content from Peter Ingles (NPR)
  • Sons of Liberty – Daily Syndicated Broadcast with Bradlee Dean
  • The Stuph File – 1 Hour Weekly of Odd, Off-the-Wall fun stuff with Peter Anthony Holder

Science:

  • Exploration – 1 Hour Weekly with Dr. Michio Kaku

Radio:

  • Global 24 Daily Mailbag – 30 Minutes Daily of Listener Comments, Feedback and
  • Reception Reports
  • This Week in Ham Radio – 30 Minutes Weekly of Ham Radio “On Air” Events
  • World of Radio – 30 Minutes Weekly of Radio News with Glenn Hauser
  • Survival Radio – 30 Minutes of Weekly of Radio Information for Preppers & Planners
  • Viva Miami – 30 Minutes Weekly of Listener Comments and More with Jeff White, GM of WRMI
  • Media Network Plus –  30 or 60 Minutes Weekly with Keith Perron

Survival, Homesteading & Off the Grid Living

(Announcements Pending)

Shortwave Radio Recordings: The Mighty KBC

Kinks_Lola_Uk_CoverLast Sunday, I tuned to The Mighty KBC on 7,375 kHz, starting at 0000 UTC. The KBC signal out of Europe was blow-torch strength.

The Mighty KBC’s Giant Jukebox is chock-full of rock-n-roll and Euro-pop variety, spanning the decades. DJ “Uncle Eric” never disappoints.

If band conditions are as good as last night, you should be able to hear The Mighty KBC quite easily tonight.

In the meantime, here’s a recording from last week to wet your appetite:

Capturing spectrum and logging band openings last night

My 31 meter band spectrum display last night. Strong signals across the board.

Waterfall display of the 31 meter band last night.

Last night, band conditions were superb above 7 MHz. Both the 31 and 25 meter bands seemed crowded with stations; for a moment, it felt like a true solar peak.

This morning, solar flares have dampened down the excitement but I imagine conditions could favorably change at times this weekend, so stay tuned!

I recorded the entire 25M band for a couple of hours yesterday evening and a large portion of the 31 meter band throughout the night. Fortunately, I had just invested in another Western Digital Caviar Green 3 TB SATA drive, so there was ample space to make these (very) large recordings. I think this brings my overall spectrum storage up to 12 TB!?!

I love the fact that these SDR band captures will make for good listening sometime this winter when the sun isn’t being so cooperative. I liken it to radio time travel, but I believe David Goren (of shortwaveology.net) said it best in a comment he posted in “Confessions of an SDRaholic: when 4.5 terabytes is not enough“:

“My approach to recording SDR band captures is like assembling a collection of fine wines. I tend to record captures when there are unusual propagational openings…and while recording a whole swath of frequencies for an hour or so you can still tune around and make discoveries and even record them singly.. And then once the capture is done, you have it as long as you want to keep it.. So, on a static-y summers day I can go to the shelf and pull down “Ye Olde Auroral MW Opening 10/15/11? or “Hot Bolivian evening on 60 meters.” and I can make discoveries to my heart’s content. Since I can listen to an hour’s worth of each frequency it will take a long time to exhaust the potential of any particular capture, esp. with the ability to refilter and change. multiple parameters of reception.”

See? (I tell my wife) I’m simply building my collection of fine wines!

Below, you’ll find some of the stations I logged last night (actually, this morning in UTC).

Logs:

31 meter band beginning 00:00 UTC, 25 OCT 2014

  • 9410 BBC English Nakhon Sawan
  • 9420 ERT Open/VOG Greek
  • 9455 China National Radio 1 Chinese
  • 9470 AIR National Channel Hindi/English (vy wk)
  • 9475 WTWW English
  • 9510 China Radio International Russian
  • 9520 PBS Nei Menggu Chinese AND Radio Romania International Romanian
  • 9565 Radio Tupi/Super Radio Deus e Amor Portuguese (QRM from CRI 9570)
  • 9570 China Radio International English
  • 9586 Super Radio Deus e Amor Portuguese
  • 9590 China Radio International Spanish
  • 9630 Radio Aparecida Portuguese
  • 9645 Radio Bandeirantes Portuguese
  • 9660 Radio Taiwan International Chinese
  • 9665 China National Radio 5 Chinese or possibly KCBS Pyongyang Korean
  • 9690 All India Radio English
  • 9700 Radio Romania International English
  • 9705 All India Radio English
  • 9710 China Radio International Portuguese
  • 9730 Adventist World Radio Manumanaw Karen or possibly 9730 Myanmar Radio Burmese
  • 9740 BBC English (vy weak)
  • 9800 China Radio International Spanish
  • 9810 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
  • 9820 Radio 9 de Julho Portuguese
  • 9855 Voice of America Tibetan
  • 9860 Voice of Islamic Rep. of Iran Spanish
  • 9870 AIR New Delhi Hindi
  • 9880 Voice of America Chinese (vy weak)
  • 9935 ERT Open, VOG Greek
  • 9965 Radio Cairo Arabic
  • 10000 WWV Ft. Collins

25 meter band beginning  0100 UTC, 25 OCT 2014

  • 11520 EWTN (WEWN) English
  • 11580 SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng Chinese/Cantonese
  • 11590 Radio Japan Hindi (vy weak)
  • 11620 China National Radio 5 Chinese
  • 11640 Radio Free Asia Uyghur
  • 11650 China Radio International Chinese
  • 11670 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
  • 11695 Radio Free Asia Tibetan
  • 11710.7 Radio Cairo Spanish (transmitter noise)
  • 11760 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
  • 11780 Radio Nacional da Brasilia Portuguese
  • 11825 Bro Stair
  • 11840 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
  • 11855 Radio Aparecida Portuguese
  • 11870 EWTN (WEWN) Spanish
  • 11905 Sri Lanka BC English/Hindi
  • 11955 Radio Romania International French
  • 12020 VoA Deewa Radio Pashto
  • 12025 UNID
  • 12070 Radio Cairo Spanish (jammed or transmitter noise?)
  • 12105 WTWW Spanish

ERT Open (former Voice of Greece) moves to 9,415 kHz

View from the town of Litochoro, in the foothills of Mount Olympus, Greece. (Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia)

View from the town of Litochoro, in the foothills of Mount Olympus, Greece. (Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia)

Many listeners have noticed that the former Voice of Greece (ERT Open) has moved from 9,420 kHz to 9,415 kHz. This must be due to interference from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) who has been transmitting on 9420 kHz as well.

Here in North America, even when IRIB was broadcasting simultaneously on 9420 kHz, VOG always overpowered their signal. In other parts of the world, though, it was not the same case.

I’m happy VOG/ERT is still on shortwave and broadcasting to the world–though no one really knows for how much longer.

I recorded about one hour of VOG on 9,415 kHz, starting around 0045 UTC today. Enjoy:

Introducing Shortwave’s Newest Broadcaster: Global 24 Radio

Global24

This is one of the most exciting developments I’ve seen in international broadcasting in ages: an around-the-clock, fixed-frequency, commercial shortwave radio broadcaster, transmitting via WRMI.

The new Global24 will begin broadcasting on Friday, October 31, 2014 at 7:00 PM EDT (2300 UTC November 1st) on 9395 kHz.

Below, you’ll find Global24’s first press release:

(Source: Global24Radio.com)

(Hollywood, FL) Oct. 21, 2014 – Global 24 Radio LLC announced today that its inaugural broadcast will go live at 7:00 p.m., Friday, Oct. 31 (0000 UTC November 1), with a line-up of new and well-known programs and around-the-clock English language programming.  The broadcast can be heard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 9395 kHz on WRMI broadcasting from Okeechobee, Florida.

“We’re very excited about launching Global 24 and the important contributions it will make to shortwave radio listening – as both a medium worth preserving and a vital part of the modern media mix for so many listeners around the world,” said Phil Workman, general manager of Global 24.   “Our broadcast will appeal to dedicated shortwave listeners (SWL) all over the world looking for breaking news, opinion and music.”

Global 24 aims to revitalize the shortwave medium by bringing general interest news and entertainment into sharper focus for listeners looking for high quality programming on a daily basis.  Regular listeners will be informed, entertained and engaged in an ever more complex world.

According to Jeff White, general manager of WRMI,  “Global 24 represents another step in the long overdue commercialization of shortwave radio.  We are excited to be working with them on their ambitious program to engage and entertain a global audience.”

Additional press releases in coming days will announce our broadcast schedule, our Listeners’ Club, contests, sponsors, our web store, staff and much more.  Follow us on Twitter at @Global24Radio or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/global24radio.  Visit our website:  http://www.global24radio.com  to join our email newsletter for the most current updates.

I’m in contact with Global24 and will continue to post updates as they become available.

Simply follow the tag: Global24