Radio Exterior de España to abandon shortwave October 1st

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Harold Woering, who recorded the announcement by Radio Exterior de España which mentions the imminent cuts to all shortwave radio broadcasts on October 1, 2014.

I’m confident this time REE’s exit will be permanent unlike the last time REE left the air in 2012.

The announcement is clear, and so is the opinion of the show host who recognizes why shortwave radio is a more accessible platform for many.

Listen to Harold’s recording below from REE’s English language broadcast service Saturday night on 6,055 kHz (00:00 UTC Sunday):

Song of India: shortwave broadcast added

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation

Radio Riyadh to receive upgrades

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(Source: Ampegon press release via Andrea Borgnino)

Turgi, Switzerland, September 12, 2014. Saudi Broadcast Corporation (SBC), Saudi’s National Broadcaster, has contracted Ampegon through undisputed Saudi market leader First Gulf Company (FGC) for the renewal of their radio transmission site in Riyadh. Ampegon will deliver four 500 kW shortwave transmitters, four shortwave antennas HRS 4/4/0.5 and the BroadMaster broadcast control system. The new systems will replace existing analog transmitters with four tubes by modern analog/digital transmitters having single high power tube amplification and hence a much better overall efficiency. Saudi Broadcast Corporation has selected FGC proposal with Ampegon because of the capability of FGC to handle large projects along with Ampegon’s expertise and the reliability of their systems well known since decades. Ampegon had supplied several antenna and transmission systems in the past and feels honored to once again show presence in Saudi Arabia.

The transmitters will be manufactured in Turgi, Switzerland. Factory tests together with SBC engineers are planned for autumn and shipments before end of 2014. Commissioning by an Ampegon engineer will start afterwards and the new systems are expected to be on air within summer 2015.

Engineer Saleh A. Almeghaileeth, Vice-President for Engineering Affairs at SBC, is extremely pleased to work together with Ampegon: “Ampegon offers a complete solution approach including transmitters, antennas, broadcast control systems and DRM integration. We trust on Ampegon’s and FGC’s experience as they had delivered shortwave transmitters in the past that still work to our full satisfaction.”

Song Of India now taking requests

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(Source: PCJ International)

Coming soon from PCJ Radio International a new music program called Song Of India. This new program will feature classic Bollywood evergreens as well as music from Southeast Asia, Australia, England, United States and more.

To make a music request for our first program our email is [email protected].

Program teaser (click to play or right click to download)

The broadcast dates in October for our Medium Wave broadcasts to India are the following.

October 4, 2014 – 1330 to 1530 UTC (7 to 9pm Local India Time)

October 11, 2014 – 1330 to 1530 UTC (7 to 9pm Local India Time)

October 18, 2014 – 1330 to 1530 UTC (7 to 9pm Local India Time)

October 25, 2014 – 1330 to 1530 UTC (7 to 9pm Local India Time)

Frequency: 1125 khz

Numbers Stations: A bad day to be a Cuban spy

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While band scanning last Sunday (September 8, 2014) I stumbled upon the Cuban numbers station HM01 on 11,530 kHz at 17:30 UTC.

It’s always intriguing to hear shortwave numbers stations, but I prefer those that stick to pure vocal number strings; HM01 has numbers with digital bursts between number sets, which is a more fatiguing listening experience. Nonetheless, I kept it playing in the background as I tooled around the radio room Sunday afternoon, putting away supplies from my recent three week road trip.

Several times during the HM01 broadcast, I heard the audio (not the AM carrier) drop in the middle of numbers sets and digital bursts. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard hiccups on HM01 (see this post from last year, for example), so I wasn’t terribly surprised. Then, close to the top of the hour, HM01 audio dropped for a minute or so, then switched back to five-number sets with no digital bursts between; though I wasn’t copying the message, I suspected that someone in the studio intentionally, perhaps in frustration–or else accidentally–started the broadcast from the beginning again.

At this point, I started recording. The five-number sets continue for about a minute, then the carrier unexpectedly drops:

Since it was near the top of the hour, and HM01 broadcasts only tend to last one hour, I didn’t expect to hear the broadcast repeat–and it didn’t, at least on 11,530.

Via a little band scanning, I discovered that HM01 had unexpectedly migrated 105 kHz higher, to 11,635 kHz. This broadcast audio also begins a little awkwardly. You’ll hear the audio drop; I scan for a few seconds, then return to 11,635, and HM01 comes back. And this time, the numbers set sounds cleaner, with fewer problems. Here’s the recording:

I couldn’t help but chuckle over this…

Evidently, this message had some important content–otherwise they wouldn’t have re-broadcast the entire set the following hour, 105 kHz up from the original frequency (most likely protocol after technical difficulties). I imagine spies huddled around their radios, cursing at the interruptions and frustrated they had to listen for an additional hour; and I imagine the confusion at the broadcast site as they tried to diagnose the problem in a live broadcast. It’s during these little mistakes that numbers stations inadvertently tell us who they are (Radio Havana Cuba content has accidentally been played before on Cuban numbers stations).